HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

DEAR READERS.

Thank you for visiting, for following, for commenting. It all means a great deal to me.

I look forward to next year and more progress in 'the world of possibilities'!

Janet

Making Faces

I wasn't happy with the first smile I stitched on Claire's face. 

So I decided to experiment in Photoshop.

How can such a little bit of line and color say so much in an expression?

Outlook Improving

This is the view from Claire's workshop window.

Silk Soutache over mica window.

And the view from William's workshop.

The silk ribbon is a background for more special threads to come.

Thank You Emma! and Free Coloring Pages!

One of the pleasures of my morning routine is catching up on the newest blog posts I list along the right hand side of this blog. On the list for several years now has been "Emma's Workshop" or so much prettier "L'Atelier d Emma".

Today she shared my blog with her readers.

The artists she usually features create amazing contemporary textiles. That's why I read it. It is different from what I do but the world is a big place and I love to see what others are making.

So I had to laugh when I read my work described as "English kitsch"! Please don't blame the English, I'm American. But then I looked up various definitions for kitsch, English kitsch, American kitsch, French kitsch... well you get the idea.

To me kitsch always just meant bad taste. Maybe that is all it means. Maybe it has many meanings depending on the place, generation...

I found it can refer to anything funky and fun and pink from the 50's. 

That's OK with me.

(PS, a sweet reader has just set me straight about the french definition of kitsch. She said "No, Janet, Kitsch in France, does not mean tasteless. This word refers to the past obsolete. Moreover, the kitsch is back in fashion regularly.")

  Oscar Wilde said it best, "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."

 Thank you Emma for talking about my work. I am enjoying the comments very much. I love the opportunity to share my work with a wider audience!   I also love now knowing kitsch is good!

And the drawings? They are included for everyone's coloring pleasure.

Casket Doors

I set up the front doors for the casket. I gave the window space a light blue wash and the walls a beige. I started stitching the floor. I love the checks but this type of floor is much too grand for the workshops of Claire and William. 

But the turning point against this background was when I discovered I drew it 1/4" too short!

Plan B. 

First I made the doors the correct size. Good plan.

I decided not to color wash the background. And I didn't draw the straight lines of the shelves and windows before mounting the background fabric. I will trace as I go. 

So here are early drawings of William's and Claire's workshops.

And the templates I will use to construct their figures.

Templates for the heads too. 

Meanwhile I have been stitching little details to add later.

Flower pots for the window sills.

And the views outsides the windows.

Inaugural Village Christmas Market

The dollys in the village decided to hold their first ever Christmas Market.

It is important to come dressed for the weather.

For a first ever event the dollys were delighted with the outcome.

And with their new winter capes.

Lucy came too. Her cape is bright red wool.

The stalls were filled with goodies from the village.

A Slightly Different Thanksgiving Bird

I am not in charge of the turkey today so I have the chance to share a different bird I just completed. 

I started it during the Embroidered Casket Tour in York, England.

I almost finished one feather that day.

Now he is complete in all his glory. If you are interested in making one of your own check out this site.

My Own Personal Stitcher!!!!

My notebooks fill with drawings faster than I can possibly stitch.

One of my sisters (I have 4 and one brother!) has recently started to embroider.

This, I believe, is only her second piece, maybe third. And it is one of my drawings.

I love drawings right out of my notebook. Drawings that haven't been 'fixed'.

But best of all I love how my sister has interpreted it! Her palette is different than mine.

I love that her voice came through this very whimsical design.

Thank you for letting me share this Claudia!

It is a beautifully done piece.

Lucy Returns

Lucy is back from her big adventure. You'd look frightened too so high above the city of Edinburgh!

Fortunately a pub and a pint were never far.

Now that she has had a chance to rest and unpack Lucy would like to share some of the goodies she found in her travels.

We would like to thank the country of Scotland for kindly providing Lucy with her own set of the royal jewels! She promises to wear them often.

Behind the jewels is a new pillow for the royal (Lucy's) bed. It was one of three kits provided on The Great Casket Tour. Meant to be made up as a pin cushion I made it into a doll bed pillow instead.

Also tumbling out of Lucy's bag is a new friend she found in the pretty city of Bath.

How convenient that dolly and the pillow were stitched in the same colors. I wonder how that happened? 

Lucy was very bad about keeping up with her travel journal. Look at all of those empty pages.

Lucy's friend Sue came back to the states with us. Her skirt is made from a remnant found at Liberty's of London. The horsey came from Edinburgh's Museum of Childhood.

Sue has arrived with the royal sword of the Stair Palace. She found it languishing in Portobello Road and knew it should be reunited with it's rightful owners. There will be a great ceremony when that happens. Stay tuned. 

Lucy is trying to work on project #2 from the tour. 

But first lots of tiny peacock feathers must be stitched.