Peach on earth. Good will toward men.

Tomorrow is Christmas, 2014 and I wish you all the joys of the season and the very best of everything for the New Year. Let us all pray, regardless of the faith that each of us espouses, for peace and love and kindness to all.

This little Santa has been on my Christmas tree since I was first aware of Christmas. It was on my Dad's tree when he was an infant. As the eldest of four siblings, I was given this little batting ornament and I treasure him even though he is faded and tatty and missing one arm! Some day, when he is old enough to appreciate him, I will give my Santa to Oliver.

Here is my treasured little amputee Santa.

                   And I wish you this much joy and wonder this Christmas. God bless you all!

                                       
                                           Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!

                               I will post this to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com

Clock stopped- for now

We are having dear friends to dinner tomorrow and Christmas dinner for family next week so, for the moment at least, work on the clockworks has ceased. Here is my workspace as of midnight last night. I hope to make it pretty in there for our visit tomorrow!

That is pattern, lightbox, water bottle and FAABBBRICCC!

Yukkk, eh! Wanna make a bet that it SHALL be tidy by tomorrow afternoon ;-)

And the progress on the Clockworks??? Well,

This is where I started yesterday .

I had a little dyeing session because I needed a bluer purple to do the bit under the big wheel and lots of other areas.

And this is where I finished off last night.

Can you see the spot I am nattering about??

This morning, I removed and plan to revise the little space on the right side that looks too bright. It is the "hole" in the wheel on the right side. I don't like it as big or as "lively" as I have made it.

Later the same day. I have cleaned the house top to bottom and have made dinner for tonight AND tomorrow night. Have I worked on the clockworks? NO. Not today. In fact, a day off would be good. TWO days in fact. I am just looking at the colours in the photos I took and they are a bit too high! The colours are subtler than they appear here. There is a LOT of detail to be added. I would love to have all of the substrate covered by Christmas but that may not happen. Not to worry. It WILL get done . I am enjoying doing it anyway.

I used the new Steam a Seam II and was a little disappointed by the fact that it DOES sticky up your machine needles :-( Ah, well, I just keep an alcohol wipe handy and keep the needle clean that way.

The microwave is beeping at me so I am off to deal with that . I plan to send this off to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com. This could be my last post before Christmas. It is, however, my plan to write a little Christmas message to you all next week so watch for it!

Ticking along

Progress IS being made . This is a VERY complex piece but IF it works, it should be very interesting. I have put all of the deepest shadows in (black) and am now at stage two- the deep rusty brown shadows.

The second layer of shadows

Perhaps you begin to get the idea. It's Mummy knows what is happening :-) There is still a lot of this rusty brown to do, mainly small spots and dots that will go on TOP of the top layer but there are some larger areas to do too. I am really enjoying this one but I can only do so much before having to stop and rest my brain for a bit! ( poor old thing I am!) It is good to be working again.

I would NOT like you to think I have been sitting on my duff! I am working VERY hard on my photography - and REALLY enjoying it! It was ccolddd today . I HAVE to find some warmer gloves but I did go back out this afternoon late to take a few shots at a now favourite little pool I have discovered on the Grindstone Creek behind our house. I NEED warmer gloves! Did I mention that??

My favourite little pool

I LOVE the redness of the late day light. No editing on these pics. The colour is all natural!

Yesterday morning  when I went down there,  I arrived on the edge of the creek bank JUST as four Mallards swam away at GREAT speed :-( Two pair- and I missed them!  

I am LOVING this spot! Being outside shooting photos is very liberating to me . I forget everything else and just concentrate on what I want to do. VERY therapeutic! Hoping you are enjoying this little diversion on my blog posts. I am enjoying doing them!

Like clockwork

HaHa! I have started work on the clock workings. I HOPE to get enough done this week so I feel comfortable putting it aside so I can get ready for Christmas. Christmas is just not the same with no children around the house. However, we shall try to make it merry for family here. Thank goodness for iMessage and Face Time :-)

I have started here with the deepest shadows. I want this piece VERY punchy so I am using BLACK for the deepest shadows- not my usual style. I cannot tell you the last time I used a piece of black commercially dyed fabric. This time, however, I BELIEVE it is what I and this piece need. "Time" will tell!

To date, I have drawn my pattern and had it enlarged at the print shop. I have cut a piece of plain cotton muslin big enough to act as a substrate for the appliquéd bits and I have pinned one pattern under that muslin to help with placement of tiny pattern pieces. Now, with the aid of the second pattern copy and the light box, I am numbering and tracing my pattern bits onto freezer paper, ironing fusible onto the back side of my black fabric( either Wonder Under or Steam a Seam II), cutting them out and fusing them in place.

To date- here is my "progress" - if I dare call it that just yet!

I admit it is NOT a stellar photo . However, I believe you CAN see the beginnings of the gears and levers.

Obviously there is a LONG way to go. I am auditioning some fabrics today that I have already dyed. I keep wondering if I have enough so that I do not have to dye before Christmas. I may have . Stay tuned.  I will be after the deep brown and deep purple shadows next. I HOPE to make a second post later this week. Wish me luck!

As it is Tuesday, I will post this offering to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com I have not looked at TNTN yet this week but there is always SOMETHING interesting going on there! Check it out.

Back in the saddle ?

I MAY be ready to start a new piece of work- based this time - VERY uncharacteristically- on a manmade object!!! I have been photographing anything and everything and took a bunch of shots of the inner workings of one of our many antique clocks.

Here is my original photo. Not wonderful as a photo but great to work from, especially after...

...I played about with it in Photoshop Elements!

I will need to dye some fabric for sure but before that, I must decide on the size and have my pattern printed. I am doing the cartoon this afternoon and will take it to the printer- hopefully tomorrow. I am kind of excited about this one. Hope it turns out nicely. I hope to use some interesting fabrics and some heat transfer foil too- copper, silver and brass. We shall see but I am looking forward to trying it.

As DH was out almost all day today, leaving me carless, I spent the day (suffering with a very sore back) playing cameras in the front window . I was still fooling around with the lily and WB settings and my reflectors...

I used the gold reflector to see if I could "warm up the light on the lily ! Seemed to work.

The Love of One Orange is at the bottom of the page here . It was really fun to do. I LOVE the light shining through fruits. I am just kind of crazy that way!

The Love of One Orange. Nice light 

I am having a hassle with the layout of this post but am going to post to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com  I hope others have not had the kind of trouble I have had here  tonight. Enjoy the posts this week and send one in yourself :-) Happy creating!

Pretty happy with this one. I used a gold reflector to really "warm " the light up!


As well, I ended up taking MANY photos of one of our little clementines - VERY delicious and delicious to photograph too. I keep looking at these trying to decide if I could quilt one of these photos of the orange??? Hmmm!

The Love of One Orange- same orange, different view