UFO's....

Whoa!  It was a cute toadstool yesterday morning, 

today, looks like an alien landing!  

Which reminded me of stitching I need to address. 

So the neighbors are thinking....
this woman is a tad quirky....
why is she lying in the yard taking a picture of ??

When you dig, not shrooms, in drawers,
you find cool pieces...
that you need to work on!
Clouds & Sky mini sock
a Kimberly design©

Can't wait to show you what I come up with for this!
Guess that sort of commits me...
Clouds & Sky mini sock
a Kimberly design©

Stumbled on...

treasures.  Found a bowl of these at a flea market.  Wishing I'd brought them all home with me.  

Buttonhole twist silk, nothing holds color like this!

Displayed for now in a pottery bowl I painted forever ago.
Called 'Percy's Bowl' as my big silver Persian named 'Percival' would sleep in it at night.
Crazy cats.

Thursday...

My head is so full of images I want to paint on canvas, I'm overwhelmed.  Just a little....and loving it. There are odd flowers, peacocks, dragonflies, swirls, dots, to list just a few of them.  So no post of new needlework this week.  Just picture me happily at my desk with brush in hand and paint flowing onto the canvas.  

'Movement'
a Kimberly design©

Moving forward...

my small treat piece is finished.  Time to get to work on projects that have been waiting in the wings.

Very soon there will be new pieces to post! 

Sir Chancelot all in paisley.
collaboration of a Kimberly design© & Karen Grant

aka 'Paisley Pup'
a Kimberly design© & Karen Grant

If you saw the earlier post of the beginnings...he had a white canvas background.  After completing the stitching I realized the white was too stark.  So I went the other way and painted it in with the magenta, then worked a simple open stitch to fill.  He still pops and the background is fun...may grow up to be a pillow soon.  

time...

to relax....

...dogs know how to relax

My break piece, I've been holding this out as a carrot until all the biscornu were finished. Totally enjoying the basketweave in different threads and such fun colors.
Paisley Pup©2012
collaboration between a Kimberly design & Karen Grant

 I've no pictures of fireworks...my little point and click doesn't capture those well enough.  Below are what I would call natures fireworks.  Captured at Bok Tower Gardens this past week.  Enjoy!

Bok Tower Gardens 2013

Bok Tower Gardens 2013

Bok Tower Gardens 2013

Bok Tower Gardens 2013

Bok Tower Gardens 2013

Bok Tower Gardens 2013

Have a Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Last TaDa!

For the Biscornu Series, anyway.  

There will always be TaDa!s in my life.  

That's the way my mind works.  

Provence Biscornu...just says HAPPY to me!
a Kimberly design©2013

Bright, fun, lots of texture.
Provence Biscornu
a Kimberly design©2013

This was a wonderful adventure.
Merci Bien to all who joined the club through
 The Needle Works in Austin, Texas!
Provence Biscornu, seven of seven in a series by
a Kimberly design©2013

Provence...

Such an adventure this has been for me.  Designing, stitching, painting, assembling with my own fabric and I've loved every minute.  Even when my hands ached after hours of painting, I loved it.  

All things come to an end at some point and Provence is the last of this series for The Needle Works in Austin, Texas.  

Last steps in the painting process,
Provence Biscornu
a Kimberly design ©2013

Lots of texture...just the background to finish.
Provence Biscornu
a Kimberly design ©2013

Loving the fabric for this one.
Of course, I think I've loved them all.
Provence Biscornu
a Kimberly design ©2013

Background and beads today.
Provence Biscornu
a Kimberly design ©2013

I'll post pictures of it all 'dressed up' soon.  Have a lovely weekend. 

Seriously...

I could easily become obsessed with these flowers!  

My neighbor handed me this beautiful bloom today.  What a treasure, just look at all that color!

Funny story behind this...
a Frangipani Tree.

This spring I attended a Flower Fair held in the park downtown.  In one booth this guy had buckets filled with [my point of view] dead sticks.  Each stick had a blob of paint either yellow, white, or pink.  When questioned he told me that these 'sticks' became the trees that grew the flowers that make the floral leis in Hawaii.  So of course, I had to have one!  Mine looked like a divining rod sticking out of my market bag and I received several strange looks.  Mostly from my Mother.  

When we arrived home, I pulled it out of my bag and shoved it into the birdbath bed with my Pentas.  Still there and blooming it's little heart out.  

I find these Orchids to be so amazing.
These delicate looking flowers bloomed over a month ago!  Last count was around sixteen blooms.  Incredible!

[They'll be a glimpse of the next biscornu for you...hopefully in a post tomorrow.]

  Have a great night all.

Finished!

It amazes me how quickly time passes.  I set a goal for myself several years ago to not rush through each day.  To not look at the clock continually, to smile 'a lot', to listen and hear all said to me without contemplating my next part in the conversation.  This last probably being the biggest challenge. 

So here I am, tomorrow is already June 1 and I only have one more Biscornu to finish stitching & assemble, paint & write the stitch guide for.  Where did the last six months go?

Below is Lily Pond, its peaceful to me as I think of a real lily pad floating quietly on still waters.  They're all blooming here...one should go take pictures maybe...

'Lily Pond' Biscornu 
six in a series of seven designs
by a Kimberly design©2013

'Lily Pond' quiet bliss
a Kimberly design©2013

keeping it fun...

Me and Johnny Bravo hard at work here.  

This guy has lived on my desk devotedly for years,
makes me smile.

Duck!

Several ducks!  The lakes here are abundant with feathered friends.  My darling daughter took this picture, her caption....

"Mom getting to know the locals."

These quackers were adorable.  We had just parked across the street and before I had one foot out of the car, they were chatting us up, stepping off the curb into traffic!  Luckily people around here know this to be an all to often occurrence.  Traffic stopped, we rushed across and they followed still chatting us up.  I will definitely have something to give them next time.  

After several visits...finally a Mandarin.
Courtesy of Whitney's fine photography capture.  Yay!
These little guys were very camera shy.

A lot of nesting going on, we counted three eggs in this gals nest.  Dad was patrolling closely.

Promise....no more birds for a while.  More finished Biscornu soon!  

nice when a plan comes together...

The fabric arrived and YES! it's perfect.  Sometimes this is a 2nd/3rd try kind of thing, so maybe I'm getting better at this color matching.  My screen shot looks great, then the fabric comes and the color is so very wrong.  Now I design, print, tweak, print, tweak more....print again.  Then submit, say a prayer, maybe a few, and wait for the mail to deliver the perfect piece.  

Lily Pond Biscornu with fabric
a Kimberly design ©2013
Can you believe we're looking at June here!  There is that swooshing noise again, time flies!

My sweet Mom was wanting a Bottlebrush bush .  She was so excited to find the above at the market one Saturday morning.  I kept looking at it, wondering why it didn't look like the one I'd had a few years ago, another yard, another life.  

So we started researching on the web.  Turns out this is a Fairyduster, we love it!  

About a day or so before Mother's Day it started putting forth all these little raspberry looking pods.  Mother's Day morning, Voila!  It was covered with little fuchsia powder puffs. How fun to go out and find all this color.  

I love elephants!  I especially love them when they are gifts!  My darling daughter gave this very special tea cup to me for Mom's Day.  It's a Jonathan Adler, see me smiling.  

It's happily taking up residence most days on the red table by the purple stitching chair.  Just one of the many Smile Spots I've created in my cozy nest here.  

inspiration....

Isn't he awesome.

Can you see it?

Proud parents. 

Papa was so puffed...reminds me of my Swan below.
 

'Swan'
[card design adapting to canvas soon]
a Kimberly design©2012