Pokemon Dice Bags 1

                       Beedrills and Mew

Pokemon Dice bags are fun to make! They're colorful, easy, and you can embellish them any way you like. They make great gifts! Here is one that I made for my son Sean for Christmas I used several patterns for the Beedrills and made a wrap-around picture.

For this bag I used a 14 count Aida cloth in pale blue, then used a cerulean blue acrylic paint to dry brush the darker streaks across the fabric before I started the cross stitch. Then I added water to the paint to thin it out and added more streaks. This not only makes the background more unique, it adds a sense of action for the Beedrills.









The bags range from about 5 1/2" wide and about 6" deep. The bags are good for holding card decks as well as gaming dice. I made this bag for my son Sean.

I did the cross stitch using cotton floss for the main bodies and heads, but the wings are filled in with an iridescent "Light Effects" DMC white floss that is a fiber core wrapped in plastic. It looks really good on the wings! I used a rayon thread for the drills which gives them a bit of a shine.

Even Baby Beedrill wants to 

       get in on the action!

I make the ties using either a fabric that matches the lining fabric or any color that will look good with the bag. Strips can be about 14" long and a about 1 1/4" wide. Fold the strip in half, stitch almost down the middle (you want a little less fabric at the cut edge), trim the cut edge a tiny bit to make sure it will fit inside, then turn inside out.

Now we have pretty little MEW. Mew looks good on a bale blue background with free form clouds of different kinds of white thread, such as the regular cotton, shiny rayon thread (which is a bit harder to work with), and the iridescent "Light Effects" plastic floss. I filled in the clouds with various blackwork stitch patterns so that each cloud is different.

This is the backside. For some reason, when people look at embroidered pieces, they develop this irresistible urge to flip it over and look at the back.

Mew gets a nice pink satin ribbon to set her off. Those blue eyes of hers are complimented by the blue of the bag. This was a gift for Anna Bastis.

Project Board

                  I've decided to ORGANIZE!

So here is what I am using. This is a bulletin board that I made many years go. I got it out and I'm using the backs of my business cards to write down the projects. 

Notice the use of colors: Gules, Sable, Argent and Azure. Where have we seen those before?

Most cards just have one project on them. But if I have several projects that are related, and space left on the card, I'll write down two or three projects.

I I slip them under the grosgrain ribbon, again grouping them in groups of similar projects. If a project is more important or needs to be done first, I will place it by itself, so nothing else covers it up and hides it.


I haven't decided what to do with the cards once I have completed the project - put them in a small box and keep them as a reference?

  Two For One Special!

Yesterday evening, specifically February 17, 2015, I decided that, since this 6" embroidery hoop was wood, I should do some wood burning on it. Rob did a great job of making this video for me while I was doing some Blackwork embroidery in the other room. Thank you, Rob! heart emoticon 

The Frog in the hoop is a Strawberry Poison Dart Frog done in chain stitch and satin stitch, and the leaf outline is done is stem stitch and running stitch. I still have some spots to go on the frog's back but I haven't decided on what stitch to use. This will be the cover of another "spindle" book that I'm making, like the Heart book.

So, what's a Biscornu? How do you do it? According to Wikipedia, it is pronounced "bee-ss-corn-uh)". I thought that it would be like "bis" as in biscuit, "corn" as in corn, and the "u" as in you like biscuits and corn. Good enough. It comes from the French word that means "skewed, quirky or irregular." So it's sort of like me.

It's a pincushion, basically, an eight-sided figure that is stitched so that it has eight sides, stuffed,usually with a button or two in the middle to make it puffy, and big enough to fit in the palm of your hand. It could be decorated with tassels and beads, so I imagine, with the shape it takes, it could also be used as an ornament. I will have to experiment more with these.

But until then, this is how you make a biscornu. Enjoy!

Beginning:

First are the embroidered sides. You need two. Mostly these are seen as identical to each other. I used three or four shades of green and two shades of brown. I did the work, based on Elizabethan Blackwork stitching, on 18 count Aida cloth. This was a scrap left over from some other larger project. It's amazing what you can do with scraps!

The square is about 3 1/4" across, or 8 cm.

This is the front and back. I added a running stitch border around both sides to use as a guide and also to become part of the joining stitch.

I pinned down the sides of the top half. This made it easier to match up the sides and bring the running stitches together.

I matched up the corner of one side to the center of the other half. This is what gives it the eight sides and that shape for which it is known.

Construction:

This is the first side sewn. So far his has been a flat piece. But now each successive side will soon help to give  it that round shape.  

Going around the first corner:

You just keep going around, matching the corners of one side to the center of the other. This piece traveled around with me. It is a small project so it is easy to carry around.

When you are down to the last side, then it's almost ready for stuffing.

Stuffing:

These are the tools for stuffing. I used the 100% Polyester Stuffing that you can get just about anywhere, and a stick from a roasted ear of corn that I sanded  down to make sure it was smooth. I've also used chop sticks that I sanded. You just want to make sure that the pointed end is rounded enough so that it doesn't poke through your fabric. This point helps to direct the batting into corners. 

You want the corners to be filled in a little tightly to help hold the shape but don't push in so much that it gets hard. You don't want to pack it in so much that your biscornu isn't soft and squeezable.

     Stitching up the last side.

Finishing:

Now that the whole thing is all stitched up - wasn't that fun? - just add a button on top, or one at the top and one at the bottom. They are  1/4" buttons, one dark brown, one light brown, to match with the acorn colors. 

The design takes on new perspective as the edges and corners turn back upon themselves.

See? Just about big enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

Yep. Reminds me of a biscuit!

Embroidery  Hack 1

In order to keep from having a bunch of floss pieces that I can't match up, I do this: 

I pull out as much thread as I want then cut only as many strands as I need, where the thread comes out from the skein.

I make the cut end near the skein and pull that thread straight out from the rest of the threads. That thread will come out straight and hardly needs to untwist at all. 

The rest of the threads will bunch at at my fingertips, but a gentle pull once the cut thread is free, and the remaining uncut threads all straighten out.

It works best to cut and pull just one thread at a time. If I try to pullout two threads, it just tangles.

What's New at the Orange County Fair?

After years of thinking about it, Rob finally nudged me to submit a few things. Good idea! Here are a few pictures, with some positive results.

They covered it over with a large sheet of clear plastic to help keep it clean...or to discourage people from touching it. I'll admit, I am a very tactile person and this is one quilt with lots of texture, especially with the extra puffiness and fluffiness of the lamb.

The last time I was at the OC Fair, maybe about 3 or 4 year ago, I remember that there were 4 pieces of some nice calligraphy there. So I decided to do a piece for this year. Rob suggested this selection from "The 13th Warrior".

My son Andrew took this photograph which is what I sent in to the Fair committee to see if it would be accepted for display. This was a juried show this year. I submitted 4 items and all 4 were accepted.

This is after it was properly matted, framed, and displayed. :) I'm already planning on something even bigger for next year. Once this is picked up after the Fair closes, I plan to take it out of the frame and have some good copies made that I will put up for sale. Size of just the calligraphy is 15" x 20".

I also included two hand-made books. One is a log book, meaning that the cover is wood. This means I have wood burning on it. 

That's an Honorable

Here are some of the photos that I sent in that show it in better lighting. These are what I sent in to the committee.

The next book is on display, near the calligraphy, but did not take a prize. Still, I'm delighted that it got into the show. The disc in the front is a woodburned piece.

Again, I would like to give credit to Andrew Garig-Meyer who helped immensely with the photo shoot so I could have good pictures to submit to the committee. Many thanks, Andrew!

The Orange County Fair runs from July 11th to August 10, 2014. 

You can check out their website at http://ocfair.com/2014/index.asp

The Cross Country Clearprint Project: Roasting Marshmallows

This is how I participated in the Cross Country Clearprint project! This is a project by the makers of the Clearprint Vellum sketchbooks where you decorate one page from one on the 10 books that they have going across the United States. I found this project posted on Facebook. All I did was to go on the site, http://www.clearprintpaperco.com/#!cross-country/c1oyi and follow the directions. They just need to know who you are and where to send the book. What you get is one of 10 books that travels across the country, collecting art, and you also get a free vellum sketchbook to keep just for participating. It's a pretty good deal; one page of artwork gets you your own Clearprint Vellum Book. There are a few rules as to what they can accept for the subject matter but the rules make sense because the artwork is getting posted on line. The idea of the project is to reach out to artists and give them the experience of trying out the product. You can use any medium you like on one page, then send it back. The only catch is that you have one week to complete the work. So this is what I did and what I found out about the paper. I used a combination of inks, watercolors and colored pencils.

The advantage of working with this kind of paper, which is basically a sturdy tracing paper, is that you don't need to line it for the calligraphy. You can do all your preliminary work on another sheet of paper, deciding on which size nib or pen point that you want to use, and which style of calligraphic hand you want, and figure out which works best. Then just slip the lined paper beneath the vellum and calligraph. No guidelines to erase! This also helps with placement of the components. Slipping rough sketches behind the vellum helps with composition. I decided on a smaller dragon in flight, a motif that I though would look better than a large dragon character that would be place behind the monk who is writing about the method of roasting marshmallows. (He has a little "Press" card tucked into his headband.)

The fun of this paper is that you can do artwork on both sides of the page. It is sturdy enough that neither the inks or the watercolor I used bled through. However, imaged painted would show through from one side to the next. The bird and tiny beasties hiding among the interlaced vines at the bottom are seen as something hiding in the mist, or the distance.

This is the finished piece. You can click on it at the link below to see it on the Clearprint website.

Roasting Marshmallows

Along with your page within the book, each participant gets to add to the cover. The cover of the book is of a heavier weight vellum that is smooth and takes ink well. I added my griffin and positioned him to relate to the decorative motif that the previous artist drew. I used a fine point Rapidograph pen over a rough draft that I drew to place the character next to the first figure so that they would relate. I hope that once the book is filled, the front and back covers will also be displayed on the Clearprint site so we can all see how they turned out. I'm sure it will be a big surprise! 

This is the cover with a plain piece of paper behind it. It blocks the first picture in the book. Below you can see the inner cover that is detachable cardstock. This is what you place between the inner pages since they are thin and drawing on one page can leave indentations that show up on the next page. You can see just how thin here.

I hope you enjoyed my contribution to the Cross Country Clearprint project! I had a good time doing it and got to experiment with a new type of paper for me. I found that this paper holds up to a moderate amount of water, erases well and has a nice plate finish that is not too slippery. It does have a habit of the corners curling up slightly while working on it. If you don't use a heavier piece of paper beneath the page on which you are working, it will leave impressions on the page beneath it. But knowing what to expect from the paper allows you to prepare for it. Clearprint Vellum products are made by Chartpak, Inc.