4/20/10

Nature Done

My Nature squares are done and I am finally getting them posted - yeah!!
It was fun to pick and choose things I really like from nature.
Amy Powers who came up with the 39 square challenge is working on a new challenge and I think I may participate. Embroidery has been meditation for me.

4/15/10

Ta - done

This is my sampler completed and framed - I framed it in black - but you can't see that part - I am really pleased to have gone through this process it was great to do something creative every day for a month - thanks to Amy Powers - tomorrow or the weekend I will post my nature sampler

4/8/10

More Nature Squares

I finished the last of my squares today.

Ecckkkk - I am out of a project! I need to think of something else that forces/allows me to create every day. This has been a really great experience for me and I really don't want it to end. Thanks for coming along with me. Tomorrow or the next I will post my completed samplers...

For today here is my dragonfly - dragonflies are fairies in disguise...



this square is suppose to be the warmth of the sun. I love the feeling of the sun on my face...













a feather - soft and wistful...













these are some little rock treasures given to me by my students....








and finally a shell and sand - I love the ocean

4/7/10

Nature Squares

A few more stitched squares for my nature sampler:
The first one is a salmon - this green and salmon variety (coho) swims up the Cedar River in my town. If you go down to the library (which is built over the river) in the late fall you can watch them make their way upstream - I could watch them for hours (except it is too cold and usually raining). They are lovely and it is bittersweet to think they are swimming upstream to lay their eggs right where they were born only to die. Salmon are amazing - they go from sea water to fresh water - simply amazing!!

My next block is wheat. My grandfather and uncle ran a wheat farm in Genesse, Idaho. You haven't lived until you have laid in a truck of freshly
cut wheat - comforting and I can still taste the crunch of having a few grains. Unlike my siblings, I only drove truck for my uncle once. Dropped the clutch. I am not known for my great coordination ability :)

Finally, eggs - another amazing fete of nature.



4/6/10

52 Projects: Week 11

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This week I don't have pictures to share of my project. Here is what I did...
I have had a box under my desk at school for almost a year now. Sad little secret! It was filled with all the stuff I didn't have time to deal with last June when school was over. I kicked it every day when I did grading or any other thing at my desk.
Finally, I took the time to clean it out. There was a lot of stuff in there...I found my vacation folders and absent folders, half of it was garbage, another bit was shred, and then there was all my little treasures from last years students - aww :)
Best thing I found: my 8 ball (now I can ask w=questions again)
Worst thing I found: a cookie from a year ago (little treasure)
Most interesting thing I found: bingo cards (6-what was I thinking?- they are the 'close the window' kind - guess maybe I am suppose to make something with them)
What I gained: leg room and it makes me smile when I notice it isn't there - priceless

4/5/10

Squares

Happy Belated Easter to you all - we dyed eggs and had a grand time Eastering.

I haven't had much time to embroider until today and on my squares I am to the point where it is really just some final decisions and repair work.

First, I fixed my ode to Vincent Van Gogh - from his birthday on March 30. He would have been horrified at my first square - this is much more in keeping with his swirly style...

And then I finally made a decision about the last four squares - I wanted my sampler to only go through the month of March so I had to have the last squares sort of work together... don't be surprised if they look different tomorrow because there is another idea nagging at me...

I am working on finishing touches - sewing back on broken beads and repairing poor choices - and adding a border...


4/3/10

Catch up and mustard on my Nature squares

I got hopelessly behind on my nature squares - mostly because I want to add some realia and can't do that until the end and so I wasn't sure how many squares to do...excuses, excuses...
So, here is my caterpillar - he is one of those green and gray fuzzy kinds the gray thread at the bottom is fringy.

Last weekend when our yard was fit to walk in I did some yard work and uncovered my primroses - why do only the white ones survive year to year? Anyway I am not complaining - I love seeing them stick out among the dead leaves and debris. We have had much rain this week so I will not be stepping into my yard for awhile....


And finally, a butterfly - he looks not quite right but I am going to let him stay - nature is never perfect - or it is perfect in its imperfection?

When I was in the yard last week I saw the most perfectly gray and slimy slug that I will be stitching next - you can't live in the Pacific Northwest and not have a slug on your sampler...

Have a happy Easter and don't eat too many eggs!!! There is never a pleasant outcome...