Funny, Candyce! It would take more than a tropical storm to blow out my candles these days!!! LOL
Happy Birthday, Harper - Part 7
Happy B-day my dear friend...
Pebbles is wishing you a Happy Birthday, Harper. Wilma and Fred were down the road, so they didn't get in on the party action. Now Pebbles would like to know if she can have her cake.
Laurel
Romeow is wanting to know if it's chocolate or vanilla.
Oh, Harper! I am sooooo sorry that I missed this new thread - Happy Birthday, anyway ^_^
Hi, Michaela, haven't seen you in a while. Happy Birthday, Harper! Do you like the fall weather?
Happy "exactly one month til your birthday" birthday!!!
edited to remove dancing smiley icon that didn't work with my mac.
Sorry Harp. He was really cute, too!!
This message was edited Sep 12, 2008 12:58 PM
OHHH, so now I know when to expect fireworks!!!
HBD, Harper
Harper - missed you at Well Sweep Farms today. I get lost without you driving! lol!
Hi everyone! Thanks for all the birthday wishes.
I'm so sorry I couldn't make it today Cat. I might've gotten us lost too, but we'd have been lost together! I hope you had a nice time.
Catawampus and Cleopatra just got spayed and neutered on Wednesday. They came home behaving as if nothing happened. Spry little kittens they are! Well, Cleo isn't jumping up on tall furniture just yet, but she looks great. They did lazer surgery and the opening looks very small.
I appreciate the smiley Nance!
Yes, Carrie. I do like fall weather, but only on the warm days. ; )
This is going WAY back but the stitch of the fantasy flower is a blanket stitch, often used to finish the edge of blankets. I'm not sure that ever got answered.
I want to take up embroidery. I love it. Just wish I could find the time.
I don't like rainy fall weather! Today I got wet and stayed cold forever, or three or four hours, whichever is longer. Happy Birthday!
Embroidery sounds like a good thing to take up at [insert number of your choosing]! The countdown has begun....28 days to go???? Happy "Within the Month" Birthday, Harper!!!!
I have loved needlework all my life. I'll take some photos and post. I design and make hand quilts as well as embroider. I study many techniques for embroidery, but my formal training is in Japanese silk embroidery. I belong to a guild, the Pomegranate guild. They have a website if you're interested. Needlework is like yoga and one must practice daily to be skilled. I fall off the wagon with the gardening season, to the chagrin of my teachers, and pick up in winter.
Then there's the Maypop chimbly and folks that have taken up residence in the chimbly. Who can think zen embroidery thoughts whilst this transpires? There are machine noises and human noises that make the rhythm of stitching impossible.
Laurel
I would love to see some of your quilts and silk embroidery, Laurel. I am not so talented....some of my cohorts at work tried to teach me to crochet during lunch one day, but I was just not getting the coordination part. I did a lot of cross-stitch when I was younger, but I like the small hardanger cloth and my eyes aren't up to par for that anymore. I want to learn to quilt so that I can make some nice quilts for our beds here at the farm. With the age of the house, only quilts fit in on the beds here. I have some nice quilts that I bought (back when I had spendable income...LOL) from a quilting guild in the Adirondacks, but I don't trust toddler grandsons to nap on those!! Of course, once I put the time into making one, I won't let any dogs or toddlers on it either! LOL
Louise, I'm up at Maypop and have some turned needle applique hand squares in progress here. I had this idea to design a piece based on "old fashioned" Southern garden favorites. I have trouble sitting while the weather is calling me into the garden. I'll get back to it when things cool off. Since we've had no rain this summer, there's been little reason to stay inside. My mom used to say I was the reason Ritilan was invented. :>).
The silk and hand quilts are all temp controlled and coddled in Atlanta. I'll take some photos of the squares tomorrow and post if I can. Will try to remember about the rest when I get back to that other life.
Laurel
Oh, Yay.......can't wait to see them, Laurel.
My Alabammy sister designed and made her daughter's wedding gown and also designed and made the lace on it. The lace was made up of the flowers mentioned in connection with weddings in the Old Testament. It was incredibly simple and beautiful and was featured in a magazine, which I have in Fla. I've already mentioned that she got the Big Brains in the family, and she also got the stitchery genes as well. Don't you wonder what I ended up with ????? Here's a hint......I ended up with the Big Tomatoes! LOL
"big tomatoes" lol
Laurel, what is the name of the silk embroidery. If I remember you mentioned it somewhere and did it start with an "N"? either that or I dreamed it.
It is Nuido, Jan, and there is a website. Nui means "needle worker", or "stitcher" and a "do" (in Japanese, pronounced dough) means a way of life of life. So the Japanese martial arts often have "do" as part of the name. Like taekwondo and aikido too.
Geez, Louise, some people have all the luck. I grow over thirty kinds of tomatoes, mostly heirlooms, but I have never been able to claim "big tomatoes". Maybe some that are large, fleshy, cannable types...but sadly not truly zoftig.
Laurel
Oh, mine are BIG Baby!!!!
So naughty. I'm trying to bond with ya'll in the veggie sense. You seem to be growing everything bigger and better (up there).
L
Our chimneys are nothing compared with yours, Laurel! Actually. I can't really say that - our house was built around the same time as DH. There are probably Olde New England chimneys as spectacular as yours; ours just isn't one of them.
He he he he.... you guys are making me laugh.
Okay, up at the crack of dawn and took some stitching photos of the flower squares. 'scuse the ugly fence. It's to keep the dogs contained while the chimney work is underway.
Here are the four completed squares and one in progress. They are my interpretation of purple cone flowers, Cherokee roses, a blackeyed Susan, a hydrangea and a dalily. I have several more I'd like to do.
Here's a close up of the cone flower in progress. Using two layers of fabric, I draw my design and then cut and stitch a bit at a time.
After the turned needle work is done, I add a layer of cotton heirloom batting and a backing fabric. Then it is quilted.
God, Laurel, those are stunning! I'm sure you said already, but do those become a quilt all together, like a bouquet, or one panel per quilt, so one can really concentrate on it? How about Queen Anne's Lace?
Here is a detail of the hand stitching. I used a batik fabric under the top fabric to try and get that hydrangea "feel"
That's a great one Carrie. I sash them all together when done and then quilt the entire thing to a backing. Here's the blackeyed Susan.
...and a stitching detail.
Here's the Cherokee rose. These fabrics were part of my Mom's collection. I inherited her sewing room when she died.
This is usually the favorite because of the cutwork, but not mine. A daylily.
and a detail...
What beautiful handwork, Laurel!!! My hat is off to you. I like to do counted cross. I was looking at nuido online. It is very interesting and intricate.
Thanks Jan. I love to quilt and, most of all embroider. Counted cross stitch drives me nuts. I always get lost in the pattern or lose the thread. lol So nice of you to take the time to look at nuido.
Laurel
Laurel - those are exquisite!! I love your choice of colors for each square/flower. What an heirloom work of art this will be when you finish it! You are quite accomplished! How nice to have your Mom's sewing room contents! I'm sure that makes each piece using her fabrics even more special. Thank you for taking the time to post these. Love 'em!!
I used to hook rugs and needlepoint? Is that the one where you have a stiff canvas and thread and a darning type needle and yarn? when I was a little girl, but I could never follow the rules. I did much better when I got a little older and could free-form applique stuff onto my clothes. Sometimes beautiful, sometimes rebellious.
Laurel, your nuido is incredible. My history is with clothes and usable things - bags, pillow cases, quilts. I would want to wear it, use it, put it on a bed, a pillow. But that's just me. Whatever the end result is, your process is an amazing one. I can see how it would be like meditation.
Do you have a favorite?
Laurel, that's some beautiful work!! WOW, I love the brillant colors!