Thursday, May 7, 2009

From Piddlin' to Productive.

Workshop Companion 001


You got to use your imagination...clean edges...black vertical lines in the gray area, close together in size 12wt cotton...a singular vertical line of black tube beads about an inch in from the right....the black lines near the circle will maintain the circular edge under the round...no stitches in the copper section but the tiniest of seed beads (not sure of the colour) sprinkled in.  I thought of placing a little bit of shimmer under the circle but didn't want the metallic reflection to go into overkill.  I'm going to bead around the circle.  These pieces are for design and familiarity with canvas.  I don't have a jean needle which is what I'd prefer to sew through this...I'm going to try it with a universal needle, size 14.  I'm trying to decide on just how to finish the edges...I know I want it clean but not bulky...there will be black batting but I'm thinking the back will be either heavy water colour paper or sewn to black foamcore.  Any suggestions??????


Here is the piece I'm beading on in the previous post:


Workshop Companion 003 


There will be more beading but this is what I did to wind down the last 20 minutes in the workshop.  Its about 12inch-ess by 14 inch-ess, meaning I'm just guessing at measurement.  Deborah, my sister, wants this one but wants me to make another one with a mirror image.  When she told me, I was like "really????"; this is the type of exploratory busy playing around that I would only share here on my blog and then hang at home or store for reference, so I was kinda shocked when she said she wanted it.  When I started this piece I just wanted to work with the zig-zag free motion stitching, thread painting, and straight stitch free motion.  The beading was added because it relaxes me and I want to use my statsh...I discovered today that I don't really have a good assortment of purple or orange beads.  There was something else I discovered today while painting.....ummm....oh, I like Golden's Zinc White in fluid acryllic.  It is such a very bright clean white that plays well with other colours.  The bottle I have is a 1 oz bottle and its almost gone.  I also love Setacolour's Raw Sienna.  Need to remember this in order to save for larger bottles.


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When I go to the gym (all of week 2) it is early morning and most of the people there are clearly senior citizens...now I'm almost 50, but the folks I encounter are people, without hesitation, I say are my elders.  They see me with the oxygen tank and come over to give me encouragement and advice to take it slow and build up gradually...and some joke with me about returning...I get so tickled inside because these 70+ year old individuals are the ones hogging the treadmills and bikes going at rapid speed.  So with that surrounding me, I couldn't quit if I wanted to!  Seriously, I feel very much at ease and not at all intimidated.  On Mondays, 2 women play raquetball and I can see them when I'm on the weight machines and I do wish I had that type of stamina.  One of my senior buddies caught me watching them and I guess she could tell I was a little saddened...she came up to me and said "don't worry, that will be me and you next year"...we fell out laughing.  I told her I was going to hold her to that. 


I left there and picked up my oldest and his 3 y.o. son and went to breakfast...I left the camera in the car otherwise I would have thrown up a cute-grandchild photo. 


Peace,


 


 


 



5 comments:

  1. Thank you for showing the beaded piece- I think your sister has good taste. Can't wait to see the canvas piece done-- but you've made a good start.
    Keep up the gym workouts- they will only do you good. (From one who wishes she had that kind of stick-to-itiveness.)

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  2. That's an hilarious the encounter with your new "elder" friend. Good on you for getting into the gym. I find that i just let things slide when I join one so exercise bike at home for me.
    Love the new piece. These days circles resonate with me big time.

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  3. I found out that Michaels and JoAnns will accept each others coupons - I collect a fistful and that's when I stock up on Setacolor at Michaels 40 or 50% off. If you have not tried it, check out the lime green transparent -it works wonderful and unpredicted results over warm colors. "Fawn" is another favorite....and that first picture made me go."OOOooo".

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  4. love the circles and beading!

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  5. My take on most of life as I approach 50 is "if it ain't fun, I don't want to do it". This current trek (and I've had many other attempts that fell flat) to the gym is fun...at first it was going with my older son but on days that he didn't go, I had fun...and even when I'm not feeling good and went, it was fun.
    I'm more of square/rectangle woman, so I'm not sure where the circle attraction is stemming from...
    I hope to remember that about the colours...Fawn and Lime Green...are they owned by the same company??? I print off and cut out my coupons and I'm lucky to find one when I'm ready to shop...gotta find a better system.
    thanks Marie...I like adding the beads...thought I was goin to wind down today with putting more on that piece but time caught up with me and it was time to go before I realized it. :)

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