Pressed for Time, 2

The "Rainbow Book" has me thinking in terms of color.

Complements and value:
green and red, dark and light.

The warm side of the spectrum.

No value at all, just very light.

Complements of red and green again.
I see eyes in this one.

More warm colors, spring is here.

An idea seems to be developing in my head...something about "two"...two pages, two eyes...

Burgundy & Blue, 3

Clipping along at a snail's pace.

Falling asleep with needle in hand...

Pressed for Time

Because I live in a multilingual environment, certain expressions may suddenly appear strange, odd, and bizarre to me. I am indeed feeling pressed, as in squeezed...for time. The image in my head must have something to do with making "fresh-pressed" orange juice every day. The lines blur between words and images.

So being pressed means making use of small amounts of time, as we all know. 

In an attempt to clean out some papers, I ran across a small instruction manual. Just as it landed in the waste basket, it occurred to me that the paper wasn't shiny and the small size pleased me. So I rescued it and re-considered. 



Or maybe it was the name "Rainbow" on the cover that caught my eye. 

As my watercolors sit on the dining room table lately [yeah, I eat with my materials--no kids around and my husband gave up fighting it long ago], I talked myself into grabbing a few minutes before or after dinner to throw around paint. 

The first page was a bit on the quiet side, but that didn't last for long.


I try to stick to a wide flat brush (1") so as not to get picky about detail.


Just playing, laying down colors, no expectations. 

Thinking about how to interpret these into fabric...now there's a pleasant thought that could occupy me for hours.

Burgundy & Blue, 2

As the semester is well under way, my stitching is limited to late-nights. 


Just inching along...

Back to French Knots

After The Pen, I thought I'd never do French knots again. I lived French knots for 3 years...









And, yet, I'm back to doing them. It' going to take many more, however. I can barely see the ones I've done. Tried some yellow ones but the visibility is low. No point in doing them if they're not visible--I'm not taking them out, though. Don't see the point in that either.

I'm thinking I'll have to take over the living room floor. It's the only place big enough to work this through.

Still a lot of pinning. The logistics are a challenge.

A Hand-painted Vase

Aunt Ruth, my maternal grandmother's oldest sister [sounding like the Hobbits and their genealogies here, or like Tunisians, who talk about family genealogies like Hobbits] hand painted a vase that I inherited. Besides the fact that it's pretty and I love the colors, this vase appeals to me because it contains sentiment and connects to the past.










It makes a good subject for drawing, so when Sketch Club was at my house, I pulled it out.               



I started with a light pencil sketch in each box, then marker outlines, then watercolors.

Just playing, no expectations...

Just Playing

My brushes and watercolors sit at the end of the dining table so that after dinner I can just pick them up and play for a few minutes. Working on backgrounds to see what the paint and brushstrokes do.

















Blind sketches of a coffee pot. I like these two together, complementary colors. 
Supplies and projects seem to be spread all over the house, taking over. Pretty soon there won't be enough room to eat dinner at the table!

Every Picayune Leaf? 2

Back to adding on leaves on the pomegranate tree, stitching them down on the machine one-by-one. The flecks of green give a shattered look that I'm liking.

It needs a few more leaves on the sides I think. It will have to go up on the wall and I'll stare at it a few days...

On My Work Table...

Today B.B. stands for "Biscuit Bandit", the kitten who came to live with us a few weeks ago when my husband found him by a dumpster. The reason he picked B.B. up was because he was both clean and friendly and we were out of cats.

Obviously, I'm not making a lot of progress. B.B. particularly likes the warmth of the lamp and apparently the pins in the Pomegranate Tree don't bother him. Looks like I'll have to tuck him into my sweater like a kangaroo. Then we'll both be happy. He can sleep and I can sew.

B.B. = Beige Background

I've been working on the B.B., that is, the beige background, for the pomegranate tree. It's an odd "technique"--I've never worked like this before. Just applying fabric and topstitching it to the next, or under. Whatever. Lots of wrinkling and unevenness. I have perfect faith that it will all quilt out. This has the oddest shape. I'll eventually have to square it up in some way. It measures close to 6' in all directions. Yipes. This is going to be a bear to hand stitch and yet I'm looking forward to it.