Slow Stitching 2025 - Feb - Week 4

K3N Cloth Tales Comfort Coverlet 2025 Slow Stitching project - Week 4.

I visit several wetlands with my camera during the summer.  It seem appropriate to add this element to this piece.

I have birds, clouds and a sun in the sky. I have trees and water ripples in the center.

In the foreground I put a duck and cattails with water ripples.

Since this was the last week on this piece I added a fall leave and a winter snowflake on the right hand side.

I think I will be assembling my 12 piece together at the end with a backer fabric to hide all my stitching.

Next week we move on to March's piece.

Slow Stitching - Kite Coaster

I made this coaster for my sister who is celebrating a birthday.  

She likes to fly kites so I decided to put one on this coaster.

I cut a 4x4 inch foundation fabric. I cut my blue sky piece and then my felt pieces for the hills in green.  I cut a cloud. These pieces were basted to the foundation layer. Then stitched with a running stitch and a coordinating embroidery floss.

I cut a piece of interfacing for the kite and then cut the 4 colored quadrants and stitched them onto it. Once complete I stitched it to the coaster and added the kite tail. 

I chose a white felt for the back, white embroidery floss and the blanket stitch to hold the front and back layers together. 

Cards - Gallery - B&W photo cards

I brought some new cards to the Art Gallery Gift Shop today.

I created a set of black and white images.  The photos are printed at a local photo developer and mounted to the front of a heavy 110lb card stock base.

The cards are A2 4.25 x 5.5 inches with a white envelope included.

The inside is left blank for a personal message.

In this image are the seashell with a black background and a grass seed head against a black background.

This card features a flower called Astrantia major "Alba".  It features a beautiful bokeh background.

It was photographed at the botanic park.

I brought 2 of each of these 5 designs. 

I also took the opportunity to bring home cards which have been sitting there for a while.

The card on this left in this photograph is dried grass in a snow bank but it could as easily be sand.

The one of the right is a cloud shelf where the clouds are heavier and darker.

It's been so long since I had been through the process of updating stock at the gallery.

Now that I am retired things are a little different in my record keeping.

Everything changes.

Recent Snapshots - Zoo

I took a visit to our local zoo to see if I could supplement my collection of bird photos.  Last time I was there the exhibit was being worked on. 

I managed a decent photo of the Kooburra despite the narrowness of the bars of it's cage.  They did not laugh while I was there but posed quite nicely.

The exhibit is called Arctic Shores and houses 2 type of seals - Harbors Seals and Northern Fur Seals.

They were swimming and have a great time with those of us looking in.  

I love the color of the water and the bubbles they create with their rapid movements.

This is a Barred Owl.  There were a couple in the enclosure and they sat quiet as we the humans admired them from a distance.

I can imagine in his native environment he would be very hard to spot.  Nature is a wonderful thing.

It had rained most of the morning which delayed my plans for a visit.  As you can see the sun did appear occasionally between a very cloudy sky. 

The rain held off for which I was grateful.

This is the one winged bald eagle named Zeus who lives at the zoo.  Of course, it could not be released.

I love it's eyes which are quite piercing. 

I did not watch it feeding but I heard comments from others around who did.

I got a great photo of Lucy the Elephant as she was taking her walkabout the grounds. 

Of course, she had 2 attendants who accompanied her but I was glad not to have them or the row of people taking photo across from me. 

They had just given her a drink and a bit of a spray down from the water hose.   

Nice to see her out and about instead of on concrete.

This Brown Hawker Dragonfly was very cooperative.  It sat there for quite a while so I just kept taking photos from different angles.  Maybe it was having a nap.

I had not see a brown one before.

Excellent opportunity.

Here is a mosaic of three of the animals I photographed at the Zoo. 

The top right hand is a Red Tailed Hawk.  I missed the shot which had him with his wings spread and the red tail very visible.

Sharing with
Through my Lens #106 hosted by Mersad.

Mosaic Monday - House Canvas

Here's my last canvas.  I wanted to make a house one which could be given to someone who just purchased a house or just place in the front hall.
I started by creating a gradient background from blue at the top to earthy colors at the bottom using artist pigments Carribean Blue, Laguna and Yellow Citron. I painted yellow onto watercolor for the bright windows. I cut my house from white textured card stock. The main body, the roof and chimney.  I cut out windows and framed them with paint.  I painted the door and cut it out.  I painted a path way to the door and the tree trunk in darker colors.  I cut out the foliage for the tree and added birds and flowers.  I crunched and stained tissue paper in green and adhered it to the bottom of the canvas to create grass.  Added some clouds in the sky, smoke from the chimney and a red heart in the peak of the roof.

Submitting this to Mosaic Monday hosted my Judith at Lavender Cottage.

Retirement - Canoe

I made this card for guy who is retiring.  Lucky guy! He likes to canoe so he likely will do more of it during the summers than he has so far. 
I started with a navy card and added a textured light blue paper for the sky.  I added the tree next which is a Sizzix die. I added the medium blue below for the water.  I cut the canoe with my Cricut with the "Just Because" Card cartridge.  This cartridge has good layers so I was able to cut the pieces in separate colors and assemble the element.  I added some ripped clouds and a punch circle sun in the sky!