when I let the inner child out to play ...

Springtime ...

It may be happening in other parts of the world

.... but here in Florida we are already

hitting record temperatures ....

oh Yeah!

Thank goodness there was a trip North 

in the plans and I could enjoy that 

beautiful bit of season ...

which is my favorite!

This weeks blog features an older design

of mine ... but I still absolutely love it.

All that life springing forth took me back.

It's called ...

"A Portion of My Garden"©

[available to shops through Ruth Schmuff Designs]

In the past I've thoroughly enjoyed gardening.
Anything I plant here has to make it on
it's own ... hence lots and lots of succulents!

There is a lot going on in this piece.
I used beautiful silk ribbon, hand painted silks,
and some
crazy fuzzy stuff too.

Many, many stitches
to add texture and depth.

Mountains Majesty!
My granddaughter loves to ask you what
your favorite color is.  Her Mama told her before I
arrived ... "when you ask Mimi, she's going to tell you
she loves all colors".
So true, although the new green of spring
really touches my heart.

Just WOW!

My Little Flower Child ...
this one has my heart in a tighter grip
than she has on those dandelions!

Lilacs seem to be a favorite of many.
It had been so long since I'd seen one
in person ... I didn't even realize
this was a different variety. 

September's Class...

I am full of stardust 

and just a bit of 

mischief making ....

.... and then I'm leaving town
on another adventure.

But first ...
let me tell you about 
September's Class at 
The Black Sheep Shop 
in Orlando, Florida!

"Curly Flower"©
Fifth in my series of  'The Nine'
Truly a POP of happy colors!
This design features Silk Straw....
in not one but three different techniques!
Ribbon Work with Memory Wire couched over it.
... and lots of French Knots with a tiny bit
of beading thrown in.

Click on the shop name above or give Anne Jones a call
for class information soon!
407 . 894 . 0444
Just look at that fun Turkey Work
with Silk Road Fibers Straw Silk!

"Leaves"©
Next to be brought to life with a
variety of stitches and techniques.
Just wait until you see what I do with these!!

Tree of Life

Seems appropriate to blog about my

Tree of Life 

today, on this first day of spring!

Tree of Life
is the third in my series of The Nine.
The first class will be held April 9th
at
The Black Sheep Shop 
in Orlando!
Call or Click the link for information.

Cute, just cute!

Played with different backgrounds again.
Darning dots on the left,
Couching to the right...
and a little bit of felt with beads & ribbon embroidery.

You can see the two different backgrounds really well here.
The quilt 'ish' looking circle will be mostly beads!!

Next up in The Nine series...
Happy Little Bug!
I have some really fun threads pulled for this
and of course,
some wild ideas on how to stitch it!

it happens...

the best laid plans...even those who over purchase...RUN OUT!!  Onward, mess ups, magic, and mint, life is good.

Mess Up...

See the last two little red dots above...
I couldn't squeak out even two more
with the ends out of my ort dish.
Thank you Ruth for calling Jean at River Silks
and thank you Jean for drop shipping one card to my humble door.
 Last two are now stitched and the background is well underway.
 More to come on that in my next post.

Magic...

This pile of metallic cord may seem ordinary to most,
but to me, it's magic.
I love making a bullion cord.
Three spools of Kreinik #12
and poof! 

Mint...

This is probably the last mint from
my farmers garden for this season.
Makes ones cuppa tea so nice to wake up with....
time does fly, spring will arrive fast enough.

design time...

...balanced with stitching time. 

Sometimes these two happen naturally, sometimes...not so much. 

Today I was counting out the border along the right hand side

...and I screwed it up.  

Ugh...the debate in my head is to start totally over 

or white it out and re count. 

Cute snail, cute flower, cute snail, cute oops, off center.

Are you doing a happy dance that I count this out for you!??

'Little Dancer'©2014
Getting a feel for color 
before putting brush to canvas.
This is typically how I 'do' it.

Coils...couched...sort of.
I laid a base of diagonal satin with Very Velvet, then coiled the Memory Wire. There is one tiny couch stitch at the very center
and then just around the outside coil.
Tiny ribbon flowers have been re stitched since you last saw a picture of this corner in my world of stitching.
As I worked another area my thread caught one of the Montano knots several times...another ugh. I think the end result is 'cuter'...so sometimes frustration leads to better results.

Our little Emma the world traveler,
here she is in Belgium looking her cutest ever!
Besides exploring the globe, she is sitting up and cutting teeth. There is just so much happening in her world! So much to be grateful for, her sweet smile makes my miscount of cute snail and flower border a mute point. I find myself just staring at her pictures and are we grandparents not the luckiest,
I get videos too!

brilliance...

or insanity :-)

Swirls on a design always throw me,
even worse when I do it to myself on my own design!
So late last night I had one of those blinding
flashes of  'try this you crazy lady'
These are tiny bullions with Soie Perlee,
actually easier than you think
because the silk slides so easily.
I did find that I had to spin my needle between my fingers
to un twirl the thread between each bullion.

Right away, I felt this was going to look awesome.
I have ripped out the little green stems...too fuzzy.

'Blossom'©
in progress, yay!