Pine Needling

Last weekend I was away from home stitching with friends in Chincoteague, Virginia.

It was a wonderful, relaxing few days away where we stitched all day and never had to worry about our next meal because the local seafood is so good.  

Located toward the Southern end of the Chesapeake Bay, Chincoteague is the entryway for Assateague Island National Park so the outdoors is full of inspiration...

And egrets, herons, ibis, kingfishers and other birds pepper the landscape...

Whenever this group of talented women gets together, there is lots of sharing...

And this year, Canby Robertson offered to teach us how to make pine needle baskets...

I wrote about Canby teaching at EGA National Seminar last post here.

After cleaning and prepping the pine needles that Canby had collected on our behalf, we used a size 20 chenille needle, C-lon cord, and a piece of drinking straw to craft our baskets...

Adding pine needles through the straw and stitching the coils into place...

 

Everyone chose their own color cord...

And the baskets were as unique as their makers...

The result after about two days was this nifty pile of prettiness...

I was thrilled to learn this new and practical technique using pine needles that I can collect in my woods...

Though mine was the smallest, I have big dreams of making more pine needle baskets...

While we were laboring over our wee woven works, Canby had finished an entire cracker basket...

Which she promptly turned around and gave to her friend Rosemary.



Gifts were given all around and teaching a new skill is the greatest gift of all.   Thanks Canby.

If you're interested in pine needle basket making, Canby recommended this book by Judy Mallow.

And if you're interested in visiting Chincoteague, VA, I can't recommend the Hampton Inn highly enough.  It's rated #1 in the country and they live up to their reputation!

And the oysters and scallops served here, and here, and here are out of this world.  I know because I ate at all three...ahem...multiple times.

See you next time.

Button Porn

If you've been following my blog for a while, you might remember that my Mom passed away over seven years ago in 2008.  Since then my Dad has continued to live in Naples, Florida...a place that has grown very dear to us since my parents moved there almost twenty years ago.

That phase of our life is closing as all of the friends that my father had in Naples have either died or moved away.  Rather than live alone, it's time for him to move back home to Baltimore to be with his family and friends here.  So Jim and I just returned from a trip to Florida where we began the process of helping Dad to get his house ready to sell.

Though we did a lot of work while we were there, we found time to have a little fun.  Well, for me...a LOT of fun.

That's because we had read about a flea market early last Saturday morning and decided to wake up to get there when it first opened.  When the alarm clock sounded, Jim moaned and started to beg off the whole venture.  Not me.  I was determined to go.  "Well, I'm going", I said, and I threw back the covers and leapt out of bed.  He groaned again but followed me out...what a love.  My Dad was up and came too.

Poor blokes.  They didn't find much except for newspapers and coffee.

But me?  Well, I never made it past the first stall.

It happened to be run by Silvia, a seventy year old woman whose 1988 four-door sedan had one dusty box of buttons after another.

Honestly, I couldn't believe my luck.  SOOO many beautiful buttons...



 And all for 50 cents to one dollar apiece she said.

Sorry I have no picture of the stall...it was too early and I didn't even think to bring a camera.  If I had known the treasure hoard I was going to encounter, I would have saved my pennies and arrived before dawn with an entire news crew!

Next to Silvia's tables, I was lucky to find these two little brass mirrored boxes for five bucks so I had something to hold my choices.



They cleaned up beautifully when I got home.  And so did the buttons.  I loved washing them in a bowl of soapy water and brushing them with Jack's old baby tooth brush.

There were so many buttons at Silvia's stall that I had no choice but to focus my efforts.  I didn't have a ton of money or time, so I went for my one of my current loves...smokey gray carved mother of pearl...



*sigh*

They were all so lovely that I was inspired to photograph them by families.  I just couldn't resist.   I should have been embroidering the last six goldwork honeysuckle leaves on my Japanese embroidery sake ladle but the buttons were far more seductive.

This group of celluloid and metal against a vintage piece of beaded net just makes me swoon...



And these steels, metals and glass stand up better when paired with an old embroidered shoe fragment...



And oh...the astounding beauty of pearly white, carved mother of pearl...



See.  You wouldn't have done your Japanese embroidery either.

Jim was happy to have a task so he dug through all the pearl buttons to pull this collection together...



They are all over 1.25 inches and I plan to send them to my friend Gerry of Older Rose who paints them with the most lovely birds, bees, flowers and cottages and sells them in her Etsy shop.

She even paints haunted houses on the smokey gray pearls.  Makes me want to do a Halloween block.

And speaking of Halloween...

She had two HUGE wooden boxes of just butterscotch bakelite!  But I just ran out of time...

Probably my greatest pleasure was discovering the quaint charm of buffed celluloid.  

Buffed celluloid is a plastic button popular in the 1930s.  I only own a couple so when I saw them all together in a big wooden box, I couldn't resist purchasing enough of them to make an instant collection...

When Silvia saw the caliber of gems that I had pulled from her hoard, the price per button jumped up a bit.  That was OK with me.  It was still a phenomenal deal.  She says that she had a great day because of me...sometimes she only sells a button here or a button there.  As if on cue, an older gentleman walked up and bought one button to put on his pants.  I told Silvia she should be selling them online but she says she's too old to start all that now.  She didn't even know what Etsy was.  Sorry folks, I tried.

Today I am back to the Japanese embroidery frame. I'll update my progress there next time. Thanks to all of you for stopping by and commenting on my Winter Wonderbird last post. It was the perfect welcome party.   It feels good to be home.

Paper Roses

Hello Blog, it's so good to be here again.

After a looong month, I'm finally back in the saddle and have resumed a normal schedule.  Never, ever, ever will I take my back for granted.  As of today, I can sit for longer periods of time and I'm trying to be conscious of taking breaks to stretch and walk.   I'm also back to yoga and swimming and it feels wonderful.  I feel for all those folks who have chronic back problems...now I'm a bit more understanding of what you go through.



Last week, my niece Ellie put on a recital at her school.  After years of performance in theater and in singing groups, she was selected as one of three high school Seniors for the Steward Senior Honors Performance Award.  As part of that award, the recipients prepare all year for a Senior performance recital which was held last week.

It was a bit of a big deal in our family as we've spent many years watching Ellie's performances so we wanted to make her something special to commemorate her big day.

Her middle name is Rose so we gathered together the cousins and set about making her a bouquet of paper roses to be given to her after her recital.



There were many tutorials online for paper flowers but we loved these coffee filter roses on Aunt Peaches blog.

I bought a bag of commercial size filters from the office supply store and used RIT dyes from the craft store in different shades of red, pink and yellow.



It was easy to vary the shade by diluting with water or by dipping the center of the filter in one color and the outside of the filter in another.

I put them in the dryer on air dry.  When they came out they were a wrinkly mess so we straightened them out and sorted them by color and intensity.



The easiest rose was made by cutting the filter into a spiral and then pleating the spiral strip along a piece of masking tape...

Once the strip was pleated, we rolled the pleats around a wire stem to make our roses...

This step took a bit of practice and each person's roses had their own personal flair...

Even Jack's.  In the past year, Jack has become increasingly fond of the color black.  After the girls left he asked if I had any black dye and set about making a black rose for Ellie's bouquet...

We also made a few coffee filter peonies...

And painted a sign...

By the night of the recital, we were all in attendance, flowers at the ready...

She was brilliant.

Of course I'm biased.  I've heard Ellie sing and perform for years but this was the first time that she had the freedom to create her own production.

From the selection of her songs, to the timing of her delivery, to the emotions that she was able to convey through her voice and body language...I was taken on a journey.  And I was very moved by what she had to say...where she had been, were she is now and where she'd like to go.  To me, it was all there...a deep and tender message from her heart...to everyone who heard her perform.  She was more than a singer and more than an actress.  She was an artist and it was beautiful to see.

Afterward, we waited in the lobby for her to come out, bouquet at the ready...

And signs held high...

While we waited, we had time to notice that four of us were wearing striped dresses...

The Star and her Stripes (too bad I didn't think of that picture until now!)

When she arrived, there were enough flowers for Ellie and the arms of her parents...

And we were happy to see that our paper roses held their own when placed near the real thing.

In fact, Ellie didn't even realize they were paper until someone told her.

An everlasting bouquet of roses made by her supporting cast of girl cousins...

and Jack who loves black.

Happy Monday everyone.

Crazy Mentors

Eight years ago I began blogging.

At that time I had just discovered the practice of crazy quilting.   The mixed-media, anything-goes approach to the art form was a perfect fit for my magpie nature and gatherer personality. 

I sought out as much information as I could find which led me to the websites, blogs and stores of this talented and beautiful group of women you see below.  I fell in love with their work first, spending countless hours soaking up the knowledge they so generously shared...

From left to right:  Susan Elliott, NickiLee Seavey, Lisa Boni, Allie Aller, Maureen Greeson, Betty Pillsbury, Shirlee Fassell

Now I just love them for the greathearted souls they are.  

I have such gratitude for all they've taught me. I wouldn't be the embroiderer I am today without their guidance.  They have left their mark on my work and my life is all the better for their mentorship.

When I heard Allie and Lisa were heading East, I called Maureen to see if we could stop by for a hug.   There is no finer hostess than Maureen Greeson and so she did what any good hostess would...she invited Betty, Shirlee and NickiLee who live within driving distance and we had ourselves a Gathering. 

It was a banner day for us all...sitting around Maureen's table, sharing stories, laughs and our latest work.  Most of us hadn't seen each other since the Crazy Quilt Gathering in 2011 so there was lots to catch up on.



It was one heck of a show and tell!

Allie shared a couple of her quilts but had packed most of them away by the time I got my camera out (sorry Allie)...



She shared her "Be Kind" quilt, the centerpiece of which was a cross stitch by her Uncle Hal's wife.

Detail of "Be Kind" by Allie Aller

It shows an amalgamation of both hand and machine techniques, using crazy quilt fabrics, trims and threads in a traditionally machine-pieced way. Allie's been playing with combining old quilting techniques in new and contemporary ways.  She has authored two books and is working on a third!

Detail of quilt by Allison Aller

Allie has starred in many posts on this blog as we've been friends since the beginning of my blogging life.  You can read them here.  You can follow her on her Facebook page or her blog, Allies in Stitches.

Next up is the magical, marvelous work of Betty Pillsbury...



Her quilts are full of fun, fantasy and the feminine divine...

Detail of Crazy Quilt by Betty Pillsbury

She's also an herbalist and works in union with the fairies to craft healing and medicinal herb products...

Detail of Crazy Quilt by Betty Pillsbury

Love the hand-colored image above and the flow of shibori ribbons in her quilts...

Detail of Crazy Quilt by Betty Pillsbury

You can learn more about Betty and her work at her website, Green Spiral Herbs,  follow her on Facebook and read this post I wrote about Betty's workshop in 2011.

NickiLee Seavey is known for her lace-infused crazy quilts and her Etsy business, Raviolee Dreams where she shares and sells her beautiful hand-dyed laces...

NickiLee brought a work-in-progress where she is appliqueing and embellishing her hand-dyed laces onto an antique quilt base...

Quilt block by NickiLee Seavey

The combination of the old and new is absolutely marvelous...

Quilt block by NickiLee Seavey

And the use of the antique quilt as the basis from which to grow the quilt was brilliant...

Quilt block by NickiLee Seavey

NickiLee can be found on Facebook or on her blog, Raviolee Dreams.  You can also purchase her hand-dyed laces in her Etsy shop here.

Our hostess Maureen Greeson has probably taught me the most because I started following her before I even began blogging.  

Most of my first supplies were bought through her shop (which is closed *sniff*) and she used to publish a newsletter where she provided free motifs and embellishment tips.  I still have all of those tips in my inspiration file.

Maureen didn't want to share anything so I begged her to get out a Four Seasons piece which is still in progress.

I just love her eye for elegance, lace and charming victorian ladies...

Quilt detail by Maureen Greeson

I have always admired this piece and the use of crazy-pieced laces as the background...

Quilt detail by Maureen Greeson

And this wisteria!

Quilt detail by Maureen Greeson

You can find Maureen on Facebook here, follow her blog here or read this prior post I'd written about this generous woman.

I'm also grateful to Maureen for introducing me to this spirited and talented lady, Shirlee Fassell...

Shirlee used to appear as a guest contributor to Maureen's newsletters and her ideas were some of my favorites.

Shirlee has studied tambour embroidery at École Lesage in Paris where I'd like to go one day and is now using what she's learned there to do her own thing.

And boy is she!  Currently, she is combining the traditional concepts of crazy quilting and tambour embroidery using a Lunéville hook and creating works that are altogether new and "Shirlee"...

Quilt detail by Shirlee Fassell

The pieces she brought to share are part of the Crazy Quilt Journal Project for 2015...

Quilt detail by Shirlee Fassell

Her pieces are treasure troves of texture...

Quilt detail by Shirlee Fassell

You can follow Shirlee on Facebook here, her blog, Needle and Hook, here and check out this earlier post I've written about her work.

Last but not least is Lisa Boni of Ivory Blush Roses.  Like Allie, I missed most of her show and tell but did catch the tail end of these stunning blocks she's making for the Crazy Quilt Journal project...

Quilt detail by Lisa Boni

She says that these colors are out of her comfort zone since she normally prefers...well...ivory and blush rose...and green/white...

You would never guess that these were out of her comfort zone...just gorgeous...

Quilt detail by Lisa Boni

Her work is impeccable.  

I didn't have a good individual shot of Lisa but I do have this one of us together sharing our love for margaritas...

And our outfits happen to match the new color scheme of her blocks.  Check out the rose pins that we're both wearing...a gift made by Shirlee with that hook of hers.

You can find Lisa at her blog, Ivory Blush Roses, or follow her on Facebook.

After show and tell, Allie put out a call for ideas by spreading a group of vintage stars that I'd picked up in an antique store.  The ideas were flying and the stars were moved around like chess pieces.

Did you see NickiLee holding Maureen's dog Gracie?  She wanted had her own opinions to add.

It was a rich day, full of connection and kinship, and you can see how stimulating and inspiring this group is.

We are so lucky to have this internet where we can show up on each other's virtual front porches and share our lives, our families and our work.

I never would have dreamed eight years ago that I would be gathering family-style with this talented group of teachers.  And just like meeting up with old high school friends, the internet allows us to "know" each other without ever physically having met.

The wonder of it all.