TAST Weeks 1 and 2

A few weeks ago, I said I was going to take part in TAST 2012 (Take a Stitch Tuesday) and I've been working on it in different ways, but hadn't sorted out the "how" part  for myself, because I didn't just want to do rows of stitching samples, I want it to work on something that will become something more than just a stitch sampler.  Finally, I decided that I'd really like to try to make a garden with these stitches, experimenting as I go and hopefully the results will work out.

The first week was Fly Stitch,  and I was experimented working on a light hand dyed linen.

The stitches were ok, but it wasn't the look I was hoping for, so I went in search of a fabric that was more green and began again.   This past week has been Buttonhole Stitch, so I added a little more stitching.  I'm still not happy with what I've done so far, but may keep working on this one and see where it goes, or maybe continue working on both pieces.......

During my search, I found a stitch sampler that I made several years ago and thought you might like to see it.

TTL mystery sock 2012 - spoiler alert!

Last year I finally finished the 2010 mystery sock (only took me 2 years, because I set it aside for a while), but this year I joined the 2012 TTL mystery sock group in the Through the Loops group on Ravelry, and am trying to keep up with the weekly clues to make a pair of socks in a month. This is not an easy feat, as they're being worked on between other things (like bookkeeping in time for taxes - yuk!).  Not doing too badly, since I've got both socks in progress at the same time, one is ready for the next clue and the other is getting there - maybe it'll make it too.  If not, she said the next clue will be the heel, so will give us time to catch up before starting the foot.  It's a challenging pattern, but beautiful, and I've taken the liberty of exchanging beads in place of the bobbles in her design, since I've never done them before, and want my socks finished asap, because I'd really love to be able to wear them to the Madrona Fiber Arts spinning class that I'm taking next month!  Well, here's what I've knit so far...

New Slippers for Ryan

These were gifted and worn before I realized I hadn't taken a picture, so I caught up with him and took this picture.  They're from one of Cat Bordhi's books and knit with double strand of sock yarn.

Holding Hands - Pastel Painting

Although I did complete this painting on Monday, I'm just getting around to posting it.  You know, it's that time of year when we are all busy...  Anyways, last week's challenge was LOVE, and the  only way I thought I could try to represent it with my limited pastel skills was holding hands.

My sketches:

The pastel painting:

With each painting I learn something new!

Amir's Ibis

This past week's challenge was "JOY", and although I had some ideas, I didn't know how to represent them in pastel, as I'm still such a beginner in the medium. For me, joy is time spent learning this new medium, and if I look at it that way, I did succeed, because I did a painting, and learned while working on it!

My husband took this picture of an Ibis on one of his photography trips, and I thought I'd try to recreate it in pastel.

Of course, it looks like a beginner's painting, because it is, but since it takes practice to get better, I'm practicing!  At least I can tell it's supposed to be an Ibis:-)

Details: pastel, with watercolor underpainting, on 12" x 16" on  Ampersand Pastelboard.

Current and Future Challenges

I'm continuing to participate in the Holiday Paint Out on Facebook.  This week's challenge is the word "JOY", and  I'm still trying to think of a way to represent it in a painting.

For next year, I've joined Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) which will be a year long challenge devoted to learning and using different embroidery stitches, as well as seeing what varieties we can come up with.  It's my hope that I'll not only learn from the challenge, but it will also inspire me to finish a large crazy quilt that I have in progress.  The crazy quilt blocks are finished, but need to be put together into a quilt, which is not as easy as it sounds, because they are very heavily embellished, and I know it all needs to be stabilized with more than the usual tacking stitches that crazy quilters use.  I'm thinking I need to be untraditional with it, using batting and hand quilting to hold it all together (machine stitching just wouldn't be right, and there is no way a machine could quilt the blocks anyways)!

Hurricane Ridge

People always seem to be amazed at all the different things I've learned to do, and although I've learned how to do some things from family and classes, I've learned even more from kits, books and videos.   This year I decided to participate in the Holiday Paint Out that CCP Videos is hosting. I missed the first prompt, which was COMMUNITY, so I'm starting with the second prompt, which is PEACE.  

In late summer, my husband and I took a trip to Olympic National Park, and traveled up Hurricane Ridge.  The views are spectacular, and when we hiked along the ridge it was so peaceful, and if it is possible, a more beautiful view around every bend in the trail.  So after thinking of several ways to represent peace, I decided I wanted to paint from one of the pictures I took when we were there.  It is painted in pastel.

Here's the first layer:

My finished painting:

The original photograph:

Details:  pastel on 9" x 12" Wallis sanded paper.