Touch Me Thursday #5: Fuzzy Wuzzy

Day 223 This is the story of what NOT to do...so we will precede it by showing you a vintage Dumbo ornament in all it's fuzzy wuzzy cuteness.  He is missing the pink on the inside of one of his ears but I might redo it for him because it makes him look more pitiful.

When you have been working on a project for a few months now, a hand embroidered project, one with LOTS and LOTS of tiny detailed stitches...you DON'T leave it exposed at night even if you are exhausted and you just forgot.  Because that ONE time you forget the cat decides your project resembles a most lovely scratching pad that you left out just for him.  I will admit that despite the innocent looks he was giving me because jeez mom wasn't I proud of him using the present I left out for him and not the couch?  I did a lot of talking loudly that morning, it almost sounded like yelling but then I realized that this was an opportunity to rework the project with ideas to 'do better next time' that I had as I was going along like some more shading details, different fabric to stitch on and seed beads.

The fuzzed up unfinished corner of the project with the fibers pulled up into little pills and piles.   The embroidered parts were just a disaster of pulled stitches SIGH.

And of course who doesn't love an excuse to go get some fabric and use a coupon!  This cotton fabric is lighter than a denim but more open weave and pliable.  Like a heavy linen maybe?  Not too sure because I pick a lot of fabrics by touch and forget to look at the type...it says 'Michelle solids' on the receipt from Hancock Fabrics.  I will definitely be using these again as I am really pleased with this fabric and the wide variety of colors is comes in so if you know who makes this let me know but I have it in my notes to check it out when I go back.

The sketch started again.

A wide range of colors to choose from for shading and decorating.

 What will you create today?

Touch Me Thursday #6: Doing Lines

Day 196  Mind out of the gutter folks~merely a play on words~those days of being a party animal are far far far over just not my scene any more man too bourgeois ....I mean seriously I AM turning 40 in a few weeks gotta be an adult at some point *ahem not that I am an adult by any stretch most days*

So my texture project today was part of Monday's Mad Scientist Post and I will post more on the process later and why I went in a different direction than originally planned.

Any hey hey I was trying to figure out how to make the lines of my ravens three dimensional, I wanted the sharpie drawn lines to pop but not in a big way only to make someone take a second look to see if they could see a thick line or was it just a trick of the eye....and I think I succeeded here you can't really tell until you get close and it makes you want to touch a tentative finger to see if it is a drawing or not.

Cool beans eh? I am all about the cool these days because everything is 3D HD and I am sooo hip LOL LOL yea we're not gonna discuss my obsession with old lady polyester the wilder the better shirts on this post.

I used a dark blue slightly thicker than a 6 strand embroidery.  Not sure the type of thread it is a thrift store find with no wrapper.

Here are some shots up close right on the paper.

A simple backstitch was all I used on this project.

This one is finished and you can see the blue  color but only at certain angles....NICE.

Back tomorrow with some adventures from Taichi.  What will you create today?

Touch Me Thursday #4: Double Bass

Day 192  Working on my orchestral piece and trying to capture the curves of an instrument.  In this case the Double Bass that is in the band.  These are the basic outlines and I plan on going back in to do the little curves that are in either side of the 'waist' (not really sure what they are called).  But I was trying to experiment with capturing the curve in stitches and I didn't really want to do the entire thing in filler stitches because I wanted outlines of each of the instruments.   This is how I like to work with a plan and a look in mind but making sure I stay organic and flexible if things 'demand' to be altered as I work.
 It will be interesting when it is finished!

Double Bass

Back tomorrow with some more Taichi adventures.  What will you create today?

Touch Me Thursday #3: Reptilian Scales

Day 183  Wrapping up another order for a client this hand embroidered Ouroboros on a pillow.  The design is from a Dover clip art book of monsters I got at the library and I just free hand sketched this into my sketchbook and then the final one onto the fabric. 

Reptilian scales close up Credit

Ouroboros on the hoop.  I love this design it has been quick to work up and this is my 5th one now!

I love these scales, they are a lot of fun to sew. 

See you tomorrow with another visit from Taichi Tabananica.....what will you create today?

Touch Me Thursday #2: Tumbleweeds a blowin' in the bathroom

Day 177

Tumbleweed green annoying large, prickly, first to pop out in spades after a rain, pretty much the ONLY green on the desert mesa Credit 

Tumbleweed, dead blowing in the wind, iconic symbol of the old west that really does blow down the streets and EVERYWHERE else, sometimes as large as a VW bug, tend to pile up in HUGE piles along fences, doorways and walls... Credit

I am always fascinated by these annoying weeds so I decided that they would be my next texture project.  I wanted to make a hand towel for our downstairs bathroom and so I sketched out a short stitch design in a ball shape on this white flour sack material.  And then I felt the need to add a cheesy slogan...as a friend said "if you're gonna do cheesy do it big and that is certainly cheesy" GOOD exactly what I was going for :) That and it explains the design itself and the tumbleweed decor in the bathroom.

3 colors of DMC floss in a randomly stitched tumbleweed design

These are the very bottom of the tumbleweed, where they would have attached to the ground...the rest of the weed is VERY prickly and when we were cleaning them out of the yard one day I thought they were incredibly interesting shapes.  My wonderful hub thought so too and proceeded to get pricked clipping off the rest of the plant to get to these, never again lol.  The things hanging on them are Devil's Claw seed pods and are extremely cool little structures themselves!

I really like the shapes that they make set together displaying the unassuming bottom of the tumbleweed with the claws of the pods......we have them all hanging on the wall in our bathroom.

Look for a visit from Taichi Tabananica again tomorrow....what will you create today?

Touch me Thursday #1: Night blooming Jimson Weed

Day 172:
Yep you have traveled back in time to yesterday.  I was so busy whining about being hot and sick of Summer on Wednesday and Thursday that I did not get to starting my first experimental stitching project until the night time.  I have been wanting to explore texture with stitching for a while now, something free flowing and organic.  Where I don't worry so much about the stitches themselves as how I want them to feel or look like they should feel.

Every week I will pick something I observe and try to recreate it in stitches...this time it was the smoothness of these giant night blooming flowers that I have so missed this Summer.  The plants are only just starting to peek up above the ground after being stunted by the heavy fire smoke a few months ago.

 I think I could have interpreted this better by working longer to shorter stitches filling all the way from top to bottom and working my way left than what I did which was work the stitches in rows starting at the top.   But I do like that the white glows and I think it captures the soft smoothness of the flower.  These trumpets are over 6" in length and incredibly delicate.  I outlined the flower in a thicker white, then filled in with regular DMC white.  I will try to get the numbers of the thread colors I use when I can, right now I am using  up leftover colors I have and they are without their packaging.
Sorry about the crap picture I had no idea white on dark fabric would be so hard to photograph :(.

Until next time....what will you create today?