Just the Right Thing

 I love to find or make a special little gift for someone I care about. Sometimes it's just a card with one of my fabric landscapes on the front. I have a couple of friends who collect my cards and that warms my heart. My sister-in-law is a very lovely person who recently got a new job which she loves. She is also an amazing cook and baker, so when I saw some baking themed fabric at a thrift store, I knew that I would cut out this little motif and make it into a "badge" for her! I think she'll get a kick out of it! And the card (not handmade) is just right for her happy personality!

I have a wonderful friend, Elaine, who will soon be turning 94 and who lives in an assisted living residence. We frequently exchange letters - handwritten, which is rare these days - and I recently sent her a Marjolein Bastin card which she raved about. Elaine loves nature and I had found the card in a thrift shop, so I went in search for a book by this artist for her birthday. Luckily I found this one on EBay in great condition! Elaine also loves and has made many miniatures, and this pop-up card with tiny animals and houses seemed like just the right thing for her!

Finally, this little book I made for my grandniece Madi was a big hit! She and her parents are always very appreciative, so I'm working on a new project for this little cutie. Stay tuned!

Making or finding things for others is so much fun, especially if it's just right for them, don't you think?

Autumn is here!

 I love this time of year and we've had some nice fall days, but, this being New England, the weather report says that it could be in the 80's by the end of this week! Putting away summer clothes will have to wait. And the leaves are only starting to change so it will be awhile before it really feels like Autumn.

I just finished a couple of fiber art pictures for our local arts collaborative's October exhibit. For the first time, I actually did a fall scene, using rough decorator fabrics and all sorts of lace and trims. I was pleased with how it came out!

My other picture was a more summery scene, a bit of a windy day, full of movement. I used  silk ribbon, fabric and even a few twigs for the trees! Unfortunately the twigs kept breaking as I worked the branches with embroidery thread, so they are mostly embroidered!

In addition, I did a couple of 5x7" pieces for the exhibit's fundraiser to benefit PAWS, our local cat rescue organization, from which we have adopted 4 wonderful furry friends, so I was happy to contribute!

And finally, one day I was in a playful mood and put together this little autumn collage! I really want to do more collages and get better at it, but I always feel like mine are not collage-y enough!! Of course, that's silly because there is no hard and fast rule about stitched collage! The point of them is to have fun, so I'll just make more and enjoy the process!!

I'm happy to be back to blogging. It was such creative place for me for so many years and it's nice to be able to record personal events and things that I've made. October is going to be a busy month for us as we are having our attic insulated and have to be out of the house for a few days. I'll have to be sure to bring a project or two to keep me busy while staying in the hotel!

Happy Autumn!

Celebrating #49!

Bill and I celebrated our anniversary last week in the same way we've always done it, 

visiting the historic Longfellow's Wayside Inn where we had our wedding.

As always, our first stop was the Inn itself, where we had a delicious lunch 

in the main dining room.

After visiting the gift shop we drove to a nearby country store, along the way

passing the Martha Mary chapel in which we were married so many years ago.

There is also a little fabric store which I just HAD to investigate, but the quality of 

the fabrics was pretty bad so I only bought 1 yard!

It was a sunny, hot day, much like our wedding day,

and having this meaningful place to visit after all these years

is so special.

It always brings us back to that wonderful day in 1977 when 

we became man and wife.

Happy Anniversary to us!! ❤️

Finally Back!!

I am breathing a huge sigh of relief today! Can you hear it?

The reason is that, after a very long struggle with Blogger, I am finally able to post 

photos on my blog and continue writing it! Hurray!!

Here's a project I finished recently for my great niece, Madi.

I started with an I Spy play mat, after collecting scraps of animal 

fabrics from all different sources. Then I thought, what if there were 

little duplicates of the squares to put on top of each square, 

to make a matching game? The little squares became pillows

and I even made a matching drawstring bag to hold everything!

It seems like Madi loves her gift!

Madi is my older sister Carol's granddaughter. Carol passed 

away in 2020 of Covid, so she never met this little sweetie, but Madi 

looks a lot like her grandmother when she was little, so that is lovely.

I'm so happy to be back on my blog and hope you enjoy visiting here!!

 

Seasons Book Completed!

 I was happy to finish my Seasons embroidered book recently. As I was working on the last page featuring winter things, I realized that this would be the perfect gift for someone who has been very good to me and would really love it. I hurried to finish that page and the cover and it was a joy to gift it to my friend Susie for her birthday. Susie hosts a group of us every week in her quilting cottage, generously gives away fabric when we need it and makes little charity quilts for the babies in the NECU unit in a Boston hospital. She is a treasure and l was so glad to give her this little treasure. I was delighted to see how happy it made her!

  I've been wanting to update my blog, so here I am, probably talking to myself since I don't know if I still have any followers! This has been an incredibly hard year so far, with all that is going on in our country. I really fear for our democracy. I don't plan to talk about that very much here, but it has been quite a drain.

Because of the anxiety I've been feeling, I'm trying to do everything I can to create joy, and that always includes making art! I have a few projects going on right now and I thought I'd post some process photos. I usually put my finished projects on Instagram, but here's where I am at the moment.

My ongoing project this year has been my little embroidery book. I'm still working on the Summer page, which I'll be hastening to finish. I draw the little pictures with a Frixion pen and the lines disappear with heat after the embroidery is done. Only a few(?) squares to go!

This was my Spring Page - more pastel colors and springtime themes.

I'm also making some 5x7" pictures to donate to my Arts Collaborative's October exhibit. We have an area where these are displayed and sold for $10 and the money is given to a local charity. It's a fun way to make a little something and feel like you're contributing to a good cause. I'm making several little landscapes (these are in process) and a few cut paper window pictures.

The other thing I have going on is making some little cat ornaments for a craft fair in October to benefit PAWS, our local cat rescue, which is dear to my heart. We have adopted our last 4 kitties from them and I love donating to this fair. I just need to hustle a bit as these are only in the beginning stages!

I'll post pictures of finished products when they're done!

So that's where I am right now. If anyone should read this and want to leave a comment, would you please sign your name within the comment so I'll know who you are? Thank you!

September is right around the corner. I love Autumn and always look forward to it!

Joy in Creating

Its been quite a while since my last post, but I've been busy trying different ways to use fabric, trims and embroidery. At one point, I was creating textile backgrounds with lace and embroidery and then adding lace and ribbon embroidered flowers on top. I think this creates a pretty effect and it's enjoyable to just create backgrounds and then later decide what to put on them.

This girl with her red cap and ceramic brooch was a long project which I enjoyed. It involved a lot of embroidery with simple stitches and the brooch was an earring  I purchased in Ireland many years ago. After I lost its mate, I could never bear to throw it out, so I was happy to find a serendipitous use for it!

I really do love to draw and stitch faces and hope to do more.

And, of course, I've made more little landscapes, mostly for cards I've been sending out. I don't think I'll ever stop making landscapes - I have a large stash of "landscape fabrics" - but I want to create some more complex compositions and include houses and maybe people. I'm not great at planning things out ahead of time. I usually just gather fabrics and place them down and cut out hills and flowers. However I had to laugh at myself recently when I realized I was repeating the same boring hills and one tree over and over on several cards. Next time I'll try drawing out a design and adding a house and a path, at least!

 

Something I'd like to get into this year is experimenting with collage, with fabric, paper and paint. I guess you would say mixed media! I am entering into this unexplored territory with a great deal of uncertainty, but I did a tiny bit of it with this star which I made at the beginning of the year.  

               

I've grown used to posting my artistic efforts, both good and bad, on Instagram (@judyhartman_artandstitch) in the last few years. But I really miss the 'good old days' of blogging! It requires more effort to blog, but I made some wonderful friends through my blog over the years, beginning in 2006. Lately I've been enjoying a wonderful blog called  Joyful Puttering  (joyfulputtering.blogspot.com) which is updated frequently and always features subjects I enjoy. Mary Ann Shupe shares a very positive and practical view of creativity and has inspired me to blog more often. So, thank you, Mary Ann! I hope I can follow through and become a regular blogger again!