Needle Painting Progress

Welcome back to Arpinotes! I've been working on my needle painting and wanted to share my progress with you.

This is the semi-complete sampler to learn the technique.I chose not to complete the little bird that you can just barely see in the bottom right hand corner. I want to do him closer to the time when I do an animal project. (which may be sooner rather than later, more on that in a minute)

This little flower is the Cerise Anemone. It takes me about an hour for each petal or leaf. It takes another hour or so for set up and about 30 minutes to frame and finish it.  Just as a technique side note. I use a larger than necessary piece of background material and I use a liquid no-fray glue so that I don't have to sew it. It gets cut off at frame -up time, I don't think it would be healthy for the piece to have glue of any kind left on the fibers (can material have health?).

Here is the little Dog Rose. In the book it is called Sunset Alpine Rose. If you have this book you will think I've done something terribly wrong. You see I loved the colors in this little flower but most of the color was toward the center. Now a real Dog Rose is pretty much all a bubblegum pink color so it's just an artistic fancy as far as the color is concerned. Well at any rate I inverted the colors because I loved them so much.

I don't know if colors in pictures ever do the subject justice. Certainly that is the case here. There are 12 colors in this flower. The leaves are almost hinted with olive tones. The petals range from a deep peachy coral to buttery yellow. I really loved doing this flower. It's going to a family member who needs a hug just now. I won't say who because they might read this post!

The finished Anemone went to a dear friend and sister in Christ. I promise not to frame all the projects the same way but I really thought the eyelet lace made them sweet and homey feeling.

  I have several ideas floating around in my head for next projects and I have several that are started but not finished. One of them is a birth sampler. I'm not quite brave enough to attempt it yet but the design is finished and I'm contemplating color schemes now. I'm also thinking of one or more Bible covers and jumping ahead in my needle painting book. May God bless you with more knowledge of Himself today!

3 Little Dresses

It was whopping hot in the South last week and I am not ready for it! What a treat it was when Mom allowed Sister and I to wear our slips as nightgowns on hot summer nights when we were small!  A slip was a light weight sleeveless sort of dress that you would wear under your dress for modesty. From what I gather it was only different from a petticoat because it had a bodice and a petticoat only went under the skirt. Since modesty has all but disappeared, so slips have vanished into antiquity! Well I wanted a slip for Sparrow to be able to sleep in (and wear under thin dresses). So I found a usable pattern and made them myself! I did go a little bit further than I wanted because I made not slips but very thin dresses. I also went farther than I intended with decorating them!

I used Butterick 3772 as a pattern but I didn’t follow the pattern as far as embellishing them.

The first dress needed no embellishment. It was so sweet just how it was that I didn’t touch it. This is a close-up of the material:

I bet Mrs. Noah requested the ark be pink! I got this material for less than a dollar ( I think) from a scrap bolt at JoAnn Fabrics – bonus!

The next 3 dresses I did in assembly line style so it went really fast but there were a few “happy little accidents” (gotta love Bob Ross!).

Dress # 2 was also from a print that needed very little decoration. I did decide that hand sewing the hem was too fussy so I simply made two folds. The first fold I basted and the second I straight stitched into place. So I did need to cover the unseemly hem. Lace! I don’t think the pictures are able to show how soft and delicate this gossamer lace is in reality. It’s as if someone made lace from a spider’s web. (shivers).  This material is very silky and light but not transparent. It’s the same as the gingham that you’ll see later.

   Dress # 3 might just as well be the gingham since I‘ve already mentioned it. This one needed eyelet lace. Pink gingham and eyelet lace just sit next to one another like old friends.

   If you look very closely you can see minute holes in the fabric, maybe that can give you a better feel for the type of material that these are. I’m sorry that I didn’t remember to look when it was purchased. I bought  these two fabrics  from Wal-mart at $1/yard.

   I had never done Chicken Scratch embroidery before and really enjoyed doing it! It worked up very quickly and for the most part I didn’t need to look at the pattern because it’s repeating! It was very easy on my eyes after doing so much needle painting lately. I found the pattern for free.

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

   This last dress is regular quilting grade cotton. Calico outside the USA. It’s hard to tell here but with the back being a print and the front being white it gives the illusion of an apron. This was one of those “happy little accidents”. I cut out the back of the dress and then realized that I had made a bonnet out of the material and now I didn’t have enough to complete the dress. So, I grabbed some plain white and just kept going.

(Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without -right?).

As it was I had plenty left over to make the little pockets and I know Sparrow will love having a place to put her treasures.

*note to self: check pockets before washing!!*

  Eyelet seemed to want to go on this one too, so it went on the hem and pockets. The little bird I found as clip art and it seemed to want to live on this dress with the eyelet. It’s backstitched except for the eye and wing. The eye is satin stitched and the wing is trellis stitched.

May your night be full of rest and your tomorrow be blessed.

New and Old

I have many embroidery and sewing things to update and post on today! First I need your help!! One of my projects is making dish towels for my Mom for her birthday. The question is, What is this object? As I understand it this pattern is out of copyright so feel free to print and use it. I thought it was a lantern but what are the big wheel like things on the sides – stylized glow from the light? A grinder of some kind? If you take away those wheel like objects it seems less lamp-like, more urn like? (who wants an urn on their dish towel) I’d love to hear your ideas on what this object is…

   Next up is the finished duck. I’m very pleased with the way it came out!

With those two projects well underway I started a “class” to hone some skill at needle painting. I’m using Trish Burr’s book as a class on my own. Generally I’m the type to start at the hardest level of this sort of thing. I guess I’m just lazy and don’t want to practice. In this situation though I want to really push myself to do things in the proper order. Not unlike practicing penmanship or violin or any other art. What a blessing this book is turning out to be.

   The above pictures are: The cover of the book that I’m using, a very close up shot of a single flower petal and the bottom one shows the trick of how I’m really doing this! Bright light is essential for this type of detail work. I’ve strained my eyes several times now and am determined to avoid doing it again! The magnifying glass really helps cut down on the eyestrain as well although it’s a bit difficult to get used to using I find it well worth learning to adapt. I have yet to adapt to a thimble though! Eventually I will get to the last level in this book which is this level of difficulty… Yikes! “I think I can, I think I can”. Please, if you are interested in needle painting seek out Trish Burr. I’m not paid or reimbursed in any way, the lady has no idea of my existence. It’s just well worth it.

May God bless your day, Dear Reader! Oh, don’t forget to comment on what you think the picture is for my Mom’s dish towel!

Free Toddler Color Learning Toy

   I'm not sure if toy is the right word there but Sparrow thinks it's a great toy!
     Husband and I went to the lumber yard the other day for some green stain (to be used on the shingles of the doll house we got for Sparrow). While we were waiting our turn to mix the stain I spied the paint chips! We have a bed frame to paint so as I was browsing the colors an idea formed. I gathered paint chips of all the basic colors. When we got home I punched a hole in the top corner of each and used a zip tie to hold them together. You could do this a million ways and any piece of string, ribbon etc. can be used to hold them together. If you are inclined you could also attach magnets to the back and use them on a cookie sheet too. Many ways that a person could utilize this free learning tool! Have fun!!

 

10 Commandments

   It's common knowledge right, the 10 commandments. "Can you name them"? "Can you name one, say the 4th"? "um, well..."

   To my horror I recently realized that I didn't know them. I set out together with my husband to learn them straight away. I'm not very disciplined with in myself so I'm taking the easy route and learning them simplistically first. Then I'll learn the actual verses. Here's how I did it:

  

    I am using hand gestures as a sort of memory trick. There are many ways to learn the 10 commandments in this manner. I suggest you view many and take from each one the gesture that makes the idea stick for you. Since my camera batteries are dead at the moment I'll just write them out and trust that you'll be enthusiastic enough about God's word to seek out videos on your own. It really did only take about 15 minutes or less for me to get this. 

1- There is only one God

(index finger pointing upward)

2- no idols

(use both index fingers bending one as if it's bowing to the other)

3 - Don't take the Lord's name in vain

(use the standard finger gesture for the number 3 it also forms the letter 'W' - for the word 'word' cover your lips with these 3 fingers to remind yourself not to use your lips)

4- keep the Sabbath holy

(use the first 2 fingers on each hand pointing them downward to suggest a chair or bed to rest on bringing to mind that God rested on the 7th day)

5 - Honor your father and mother

(keeping one of your hands flat fingers together make a downward swoop with your hand as if spanking a child, I remembered this one first because it was so cute)

6 - don't murder

(hold up one hand, fingers apart these fingers represent people. Point your index finger of your other hand at these 5 'people' indicating shooting them. *remember not to use your thumb as a trigger for your finger gun because having 7 fingers raised may throw off your commandment order and make things difficult to keep straight*)

7 - no adultery

(hold up 5 fingers on one hand again representing multiple spouses. hold up 2 fingers on the other hand  representing a proper husband and wife)

8- don't steal

(hold up all of your 8 fingers tucking in your thumbs. The idea is that in some countries they still cut off your thumbs for theft)

9- don't lie

(hold up four fingers of one hand and lay the entire other hand on an "air Bible" as if being sworn in for court)

10 - don't covet

(using both hands make a grabbing gesture into the air)

Exodus 20 KJV:
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. 

OR

Deuteronomy 5 KJV

 ¹And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.
 ²The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
 ³The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
 ⁴The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,
 ⁵(I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,
 ⁶I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
 ⁷Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
 ⁸Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
 ⁹Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,
 ¹⁰And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
 ¹¹Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
 ¹²Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
 ¹³Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:
 ¹⁴But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.
 ¹⁵And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
 ¹⁶Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
 ¹⁷Thou shalt not kill.
 ¹⁸Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
 ¹⁹Neither shalt thou steal.
 ²⁰Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
 ²¹Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.
 ²²These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.