Inspired Stitches - Ramblings of a Blackworker

Just found this blog entry this evening, showing an idea for finishing your Needlework Building Blocks needlework stitch. Beautiful work and great idea!

Boy, it’s been that typical week before vacation… Work has had me jumping, and somehow I actually still have my brain after it was spent entirely on my customer. Of course, in the middle of this type of week, that’s when I get hit with the fierce creative juices, which then make me work like a mad-woman at home also. This Saturday morning, I’m bleary-eyed and spent.

I’ve been playing around with some ideas that I’ve had in development for a couple of years now. The funny thing about creativity, is that there’s no way to control it. Snippets of ideas come, I start getting them down on paper, and then the juices end… just like that. Right when I think that I’m on to something, they dry up, and those partially worked ideas get shelved until they come to life. Looking back, and looking at my current designs, I can see the weird trail that they’ve taken. I also have learned, that these partial ideas that tend to hit me, usually make ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE. Jim will come in, and mistakenly ask me what I’m doing. After about a 30 minute tortuous discourse from me, which is making no sense, he finally collapses under the desk in pain. Well, not really, but that’s what the look on his face looks like. These types ideas definitely have to have incubation time for them to germinate, then come back for a little air, then more germination time. Eventually, they’ll be completely born, and become designs. Hopefully, I can do something with my current inspirations, so that I can share, but until then, I’m not going to bore you with the insanity…

Well, busy day getting ready for Memphis! I’ll be touching in during the week, so talk with you then!

Holiday weekends are just the best - aren’t they? I don’t know what it is, but that extra day away from work just really does make it perfect. Jim and I spent the day in complete laziness, taking a picnic to our favorite Virginia plantation - Brandon. Here’s what we saw for much of the afternoon -

- as we napped the afternoon away.

Brandon (the plantation) was the inspiration for my beginning the Garden Traditions series. The series isn’t meant to recreate gardens, but simply to catch the inspiration from these gardens. Take a look at the borders of my blackwork Brandon, and you’ll find an urn, a pineapple, and bushes surrounding the formal gardens.

Take a look around Brandon (the plantation), and you’ll find an urn…

… a pineapple (sorry, didn’t get that photo), and bushes…

surrounding wonderful garden rooms…

AAAAHHHHH!!!! Just writing this I can feel my blood pressure dropping, and I almost can feel the breeze from the amazing James River.

These pictures just don’t do the garden justice, but I wanted to give you a peak as to what awaits anyone who visits there. If you’re in the Richmond area, don’t miss stopping by Brandon, and taking a look at it’s wonderful gardens.

PS - For you history buffs, Brandon’s farms are believed to be America’s longest continually running agricultural enterprise. This year Virginia celebrates 400 years since the US was first settled at Jamestown, and Brandon’s farming began just a few years after…

The design development process is very funny. It puts you in holiday moods at all the wrong times of the year.

This weekend I’ve finalized more of my Christmas designs, which will be coming out in the next couple of months. Now that it’s finally getting nice and warm in Richmond, I’m in the mood to dive into my Christmas boxes and start decorating. I’m really excited about the Christmas coming out for your stitching pleasure.

I’ve finally formalized my first chart with designs for Tokens and Trifles Sewing Cards. If you haven’t seen these cards, you just have to try them out. What an easy way to get those quick gifts taken care of. I’ve not even shared with my model stitchers - as I’ve stitched all the models. They’re a great travel project, because the sewing card and threads fit nicely into a small ziploc bag, and in my purse. Several of the models went with me to England, and what great airplane stitching they were. Even didn’t take up much space in my luggage - which definitely was a consideration. Keep an eye out for them, they’ll be coming out soon.

More are in the works - as I have another nice stack of sewing card models in ziploc bags a’waiting my stitching.

Well, can you hear it? Silence!!! Linda returned today from vacation, so Max the puppy is gone. We really did love having him here, but it’s a wonderful thing to be the aunt of a puppy. They come to visit, but then they go home. Almost as soon as they left, Jack immediately began a long Sunday afternoon nap, which still continues. AAAAHHHHHHH - tomorrow we can sleep in!

Color and blackwork. I just love the combination, and love even more playing around with it. I’ve just gotten back my 4 models from my A-Maze-ments series, and am so excited about them. You see, the 2 designs which have already been released, I released showing them in 1 color.

Then, as I developed the models, I decided to play around with the DMC Linen Threads, and color. I took each of the 4 designs, used different combinations of the linen threads, changed the border schemes on each, sent the model kits out to my model stitchers, and crossed my fingers. Well, they came back, and they’re really beautiful. Each definitely has it’s own look, and I really love the combination of the 4 together.

Here’s your little sneak peak at how they came out.

I’ll be revising the current 2 charts to reflect the color options, and will be releasing the remaining 2 A-Maze-ments designs - Traveler and Wanderer - in July, 2007. Keep your eye out for them.

Until then, play around with color on other blackwork projects. What a great opportunity for you to pull out all those leftover partial skeins, and let the creativity soar.

Isn’t it funny how creativity shows up in everyone in different ways?

I was reminded of this when an old friend of mine, Susan, nicely reminded me that I hadn’t e-mailed her back - oops! Sorry Susan!!!! Susan and I went to college together, and she’s currently a fiber artist, putting out wonderful art quilts.

If you want to see some truly creative and colorful fabric art pieces - stop in at her site Creative Chick. Susan’s use of texture and color are amazing, and I’m envious of how she works with all the different elements.

I’ve always had a more structured and ordered creativity. As a kid I’d sketch on my father’s engineering pads - with the different shapes of grids - of course keeping with the lines. Even in my profession - interior design - don’t ask me to do a freehand sketch of a square. It will come out somehow roundish and oblong - and definitely not to scale. But, get me on the computer with AutoCAD, and I’m all over it, and will get you 10 different ideas in as many minutes.

Back in college is when I realized that everyone was creative in different ways. Susan and I had a couple of other sorority sisters also in the arts, as well as a couple of big brothers, and each one was different. In my freshman year, I remember sitting in the studio of my first freehand sketching class, hanging out with the skull of a goat (think I named him George), struggling over it for hours. Then, one of our big brothers walked in, an art major, and immediately was able to quickly sketch what I still couldn’t after hours, and helped me figure it all out. I still have those pencil sketches, and I’m proud of them - since I really did sweat that class out. Somehow, my sketches of George ACTUALLY look like a goat!

In the business world, creativity might not show up as artsy, but it exists. Ever watch an executive mentally work through a problem, and effortlessly work through the logistics of a complicated deal? That’s amazing to me as well.

If you don’t think you’re creative - you are!!!! Go and find it… it’s a wonderful way to release yourself. If you know you’re creative - use it and stretch your creative muscles.

Want to exercise your creativity? Susan offers some great classes online that will get you playing in color, fabric, beads, and thread. Stop in at her Joggles Class Listing to see what she has to offer. MMMMMMMM, I might just need to finally try my hand at one this summer… How cool is this piece!?!

What might you find interesting to play with? Let me know, I’d love to hear!