Canadian Creative Stitches

Class Project

Hooter the Owl, 2015

Wool strips on linen, 12" x 14"

This piece is a project from the class Canadian Creative Stitches taught by Benita Raleigh (highly recommended). The stitches are borrowed from crewel embroidery.  They are hooked by counting stitches and rows (which I was a little lax about after the initial beginning of the pattern).  My patterns were hooked with a #5 cut.  The cut ends are to be left on the back of the piece, but because I want to use this piece as a pillow that will get daily use, I pulled many to the front as I would in traditional hooking.  Some of the stitches are chain stitch, weaving stitch, reverse brick, chess stitch, chevron, cobblestone, and beaded stitch.  Benita states that the stitches are more obvious when you use contrasting colors or at least different values of the same color family.  She recommends that when using these stitches in your work there has to be a balance between using the creative stitches and regular rug hooking stitches.   When I started the piece I was not concerned with what I'd put in the background.  A plainer background may have accentuated the stitching more, but I opted for clouds and the moon.   This was a fun class.

Beach Pattern

ATHA Challenge

It's nice to see that a pattern I drew for the 2013 year end challenge is still being hooked and needle punched by members.

Beach Ladies, 2015

Needle punch embroidery by Linda

Linda's work is always a joy to see.  Her punch needle work is very appealing - the textured surface is like a miniature hooked rug. 

Adapted Beach Ladies, 2015

Rug hooked piece by Ellen

Ellen changed the pattern by making one lady a gentleman - a happy couple.

Thanks for sharing the finished pieces with me.

Binder

Notebook Cover, 2015

My most valued recipes were in a file folder and slowly getting tattered.  Some were my mother's, some my mother-in-law's, and some just plain delicious.  I decided to put them in plastic sleeves and in a binder.  I found an old blue, cloth covered 3 ring binder at the local recycle center and painted it in greens and red craft paint.  I added some lighter tones through a stencil. The spots are dotted tissue that came with a purchase.  I tore it and attached the pieces with acrylic matte medium by first brushing the cover, placing the tissue on the wet medium, and then painting over the tissue with a brush and medium. I like the way the tissue nearly disappears.

Library Project

J. Osterholm, 2015

Acrylic on Strathmore acrylic paper, 5" x 7"

Jane Wilson, 2015

Acrylic on Strathmore acrylic paper, 5' x 7"

These two small paintings were done for our town library.  These two ladies were directors of the library in their time.  The library has photos of all past directors framed and on display.  There were no photos for these two women......therefore, the black and white paintings.  The top painting of Ms. Osterholm was painted from a colored photocopy and Ms. Wilson's portrait was painted from a photo by Steven King that was published in a special section of The Landmark newspaper in May of 1995.  

A Zentangle

Zentangle, 2015

Micron pen on Canson Multi-media paper, 7" x 10"

There was an interesting blog entry on the Cloth, Paper, Scissors website that defined the 4 types of tangle art. I wasn't even aware that this form of line art had different styles having begun using it after viewing the Zentangle website, blog, and newsletters created by Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts. I'm not exactly sure what style fits this imaginary flower design - is it a Zen-doodle or zentangle inspired art?