Cruising with Needles

I'm sure you stopped by to see needle creations but, alas, I have gone with my husband's mother and his entire family on a once-in-a-lifetime Disney cruise. And you can be sure that I'll be taking my needles with me. I won't be able to post about it since they charge an incredibly exorbitant rate for internet access! So, I'm afraid I can't afford to send you daily updates from the deck of the ship...*sniff

In giving thanks this week, I intend to include all of you, my Blogging Needle Friends (BNFs for short) in my gratitude prayer. Life hasn't been the same since I met all of you and that's the truth. And I'm oh-so-very grateful for the work of my hands and my family who supports it all.

BNFs forever,

Susan

My Needle's Garden

Let's take a walk through the garden
That my needle made for me.



A thistle bursts beneath my hand
And leaves drop from the trees.


The shamrocks rise to bring me luck
And the beads are spread and sown.


A greater joy for garden work
My heart has never known.


My fern is blessed with pearls of light.
My roses face the sun.

My hands have settled down to rest
for my needle's work is done...

Miniature in Translation

Happy Monday! Here's a pic of the Canadian maple leaf I stitched over the weekend -- translated into miniature.

My stitched leaf is actually about 20mm -- reduced from the original which is a whopping 55mm or 2.75 inches...

I really wish I could have found crystal rose montees/diamantes small enough to use...the smallest I have is 2.5mm which means I would only be able to use 10 or so -- too big to get the outline of the maple leaf...I also couldn't find pearls small enough for the center "filling" so I used 3mm swarovski crystal bicones...they give a lighter effect than I would have liked but 15/o seed beads looked wrong as well...

So I had to resort to 1mm x 1mm bugle beads -- these silver-lined beads are truly like specks...they are the teaniest tiniest beads that I've seen commercially produced today.


I photographed them all together so you could get an idea of the scale. Very tiny...so if you choose to use them, make sure you have good glasses!

I bought them at New York Beads Inc. in the garment district of New York City -- they don't have them on their website but they may help you if you call them. I only saw them in silver-lined and gold-lined at the time.

And please don't ask me about the project it's being stitched on...it's a surprise...shhhh....

Interpreting Leaves...

I have the need to stitch a Canadian maple leaf motif on another project I'm working on...

And I found that the shape and design of these vintage leaf appliques are exactly the kind of "look" I want...


These leaves were beaded onto buckram or crinoline...and then cut out to create an applique ready to be applied to something else.

My only challenge now is to interpret them down from this size -- which is about 3 inches -- down to about 1/4 inch...a significant reduction.

It's cold and rainy here as the big Nor'Easter blows through....but this gray light shows off the colors in the leaves to best advantage. It's a great time for a walk in the woods if you don't mind getting wet.


It's also great napping weather and a day where a bowl of oyster stew might be just the thing...

I don't have much time to work on my bead journal project for the next few days...my non-needle life calls me away...

Art Supplies

Don't you love getting new art supplies??


I've made these mini versions of canvas, palette and brush for my current bead journal piece.

Slowly but surely plugging away on this piece...


I'm sure for you, it's like watching paint dry...


I think the beading will start next...and I plan on beading improvisationally...no plan for that at all...

Well...

Except maybe for the hat...

I can't wear just any old hat...

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you may have missed the first few posts for this project. You can check out the origin and the progress of this piece here, here, here and here.

Thanks for stopping by to check up on me...until next time, my friends...

How I Post Bigger Pictures in Blogger

I love big pictures and so, when I first started blogging, I went off reading all of the blogging hints to increase my picture sizes in Blogger.

Many of you have asked me how I do this so I thought I would share the one technique I remember from my days of searching and figuring it out. I know there are many other better tips and techniques out there for managing your photos so this is definitely not the only way....it just happens to be the one I use.

OK. First I upload my pic...the pic size I typically use from my camera is 8X11 or 8x12 -- large and centered:


Now, I proceed to the "Edit Html" tab which is behind your "Compose" tab---

When you are looking at the Edit Html page, you'll see this language at the very top of your post where you just uploaded your pic...OK. Now I delete width: 266px; height: 400px; and I change the s400 number to s800 -- which then doubles my picture to this...


and the Html now looks like this...If your pics are being cropped on the right side after you've made this step, you may need to change the html language in your blog template to increase the pixel width of the body of your posts...but that is getting way to technical for me and I can't really help you with that.

I am not an expert on this topic and there is plenty of information freely available if you google what you're looking for...it does take time to figure it out...

For those who know what I'm talking about, my header wrapper is 1060 px; my outer-wrapper is 1060 px; my main wrapper is 810 px and my sidebar wrapper is 220 px...

But I'm not telling you my weight....

I hope this helps some of you who have asked...

Playing Dress-Up

Just covering the bare essentials...and still working...