Neither turbulence nor spilling shall stop this art!

We are once again on vacation, this time in New Orleans. The excuse this time is that I'm attending a national seminar for the American Needlepoint Guild. I wish I could post some pictures from the exhibit but cameras were not allowed so you'll just have to take my word for it. .. there are some seriously talented artists represented!

Take a Stitch Tuesday

TAST Stitch 52 - Sheaf Stitch

TAST Stitch 2 - Buttonhole Stitch

OK. I'm going to get on my soapbox and argue that this stitch is not properly called the Buttonhole Stitch. Buttonhole is a knotted stitch used to make...buttonholes! This is Blanket Stitch, a looped stitch, and is used for decorative edgings and all sorts of clever things. For a more thorough explanation check out Marion Scoular's page on the subject.

The Diva Challenge

This week's Diva Challenge is to spill something on your tile and use that as your string. I spilled some red watercolor reminiscent of a drink I had in the French Quarter the day before and then
tangled on it when it was dry.

I also had a chance to do a tile for Diva Challenge 276 which was too tangle while moving. I did this tile on the plane. There was quite a bit of turbulence and not a lot of light so I decided to use an 02 micron instead of an 01.

I hope you are all enjoying this last week of August!

A New Project

I have decided to participate in Take a Stitch Tuesday which is currently on Stitch #51 (Buttonholed Herringbone).

I am also planning to do stitches 1-50 while doing 51-100 so, fingers crossed! Here is Stitch #1 (Fly Stitch).

I took an on-line workshop on keeping a Studio Jounal from Sharon of pintangle a couple of summers ago and she has just rebooted one of her other websites, In a Minute Ago, to blog about journaling. She is a great teacher so if you've ever wanted more info on this topic check it out.

The Diva Challenge this week is to explore the tangle ING. I had used it in a previous challenge but not routinely in my art so I decided to try a sampler of fillings for the triangles formed in this tangle. I enjoyed the process although the result is not my favorite. But that's art!

Monotangle of ING

A New Project

I have decided to participate in Take a Stitch Tuesday which is currently on Stitch #51 (Buttonholed Herringbone).

I am also planning to do stitches 1-50 while doing 51-100 so, fingers crossed! Here is Stitch #1 (Fly Stitch).

I took an on-line workshop on keeping a Studio Jounal from Sharon of pintangle a couple of summers ago and she has just rebooted one of her other websites, In a Minute Ago, to blog about journaling. She is a great teacher so if you've ever wanted more info on this topic check it out.

The Diva Challenge this week is to explore the tangle ING. I had used it in a previous challenge but not routinely in my art so I decided to try a sampler of fillings for the triangles formed in this tangle. I enjoyed the process although the result is not my favorite. But that's art!

Monotangle of ING

What a Beautiful World!

As promised here is a wrap-up from my vacation last week.

The purpose of the trip was that my friend had signed up to take a workshop from Susan Else who is a soft sculpture artist. We started our trip by going to a needlework exhibit at the Filoli Estate. This estate is part of the national trust and has been used in movies and TV shows. A great place to add to your itinerary if you visit this area.

The glass balls and flames are part of a sculptural exhibit

This is a reproduction of the front of the estate done
using an embroidery technique called Blackwork

A needlepoint reproduction of gardens at Filoli

The ballerina's tutu is done using a
technique called Stumpwork

I love the light that the artist
has captured in this needlepoint

After a lovely lunch we drove on to Mendocino which is about 3 hours north on the coast. The town looks like it is in Cape Cod and was used in Murder She Wrote as well as many other TV shows and movies. We were blessed with fabulous weather. Usually it is cold and foggy on the California coast until September but we mostly had blue skies and warm temps.

While my friend was in her workshop I tromped around Mendocino and Fort Bragg which is about 15 minutes north. I went to Glass Beach which has loads of beach glass washed in from the old practice of dumping garbage into the ocean.

The white, brown and green are glass which
you can find anywhere on Glass Beach

And I went to the Botanical Gardens. There were so many beautiful gardens that I have to restrain myself here.

Part of the Heather Garden 

The dahlias were in bloom and I had to include
the sign keeping people out of the dahlia beds

This sign was on the railing of a bridge over one of
the creeks. Somebody has a sense of humor!

I couldn't resist including these two pictures:

What's an artists' colony without an art car?

And this because of my love affair with trees

I also spent some time working on a few art projects that I brought with me. I had this fabulous old desk to work on in our hotel suite (the house was built in 1878).

I decided I wanted to develop a piece I did in my journal a while back. So I drew a version on tracing paper and then transferred the design to paper so I could cut out patterns and make a felt appliqued version. I really enjoyed the process.

Last but not least, this week's Diva Challenge was to use the Rio Olympics as inspiration for a tile. I used a picture of Rio and Sugar Loaf as the string for my tile and I used tangles starting with the letters R, I, and O.

Tangles Used: Raindotty, IndyRella, Insydout, and Ojo

Lightning Round

I'm on vacation this week and the wireless coverage here leaves a lot to be desired. So I will just post my response to the Diva Challenge and return with more details next week. The challenge was to use Meer and Auraknot in a duotangle.

Intersectional Art

Last week I went to see the 20th National Exhibit of the Embroiderers' Guild of America. This is a traveling exhibit and I certainly had to travel to see it...three hours each way. But there are some really amazing pieces and I am glad I got to see them. Here are a couple of pictures I took.

Beautifully beaded box top

This is all stitched!
by Lee Ann Kleeman

A stitched Zentangle by Catherine Jordan

Magnificent embroidered box also by Catherine Jordan

The exhibit has moved on to Iowa now and will finish up in Wisconsin so if you get a chance, check it out.

This week's Diva Challenge is to use the tangle pattern Knightstar by Daniel Lamothe. Daniel has taken inspiration from mathematical graphing. I love it when artists independently come to similar solutions. There was a needlepoint designer who also loved to play with graph paper and developed some needlepoint stitches that use the same concept. The stitch equivalent to Knightstar is called a Crescent Stitch. And if you stitch all the way around instead of just the two opposite sides you have a Jessica Stitch. (In the illustration of the Jessica Stitch I linked to, if you stitch only side 1 you have a Crescent Stitch.) I decided to stitch this week's entry and used some other needlepoint stitches that use the same grid base. The second square is made up of Rhodes Stitch and Waffle Stitch and I put a Jessica Stitch in the center.