Friday, November 26, 2010

"Just Because Gift"

I've always gotten great pleasure in giving unexpected gifs for no reason at all; but, "Just because."   I received a packet from UK the day after Thanksgiving,  with that sentiment written on a note page.
This is why I'm sitting here just happy, and so tickled; and, well pretty much like a kid at Christmas!

Festive Butterfly earrings Designed and Tatted by Jane Eborall, UK


Jane will surely be having a good laugh!  I left a comment today on her blog, "Tatting and Not Much Else",
wondering how the magnets for the bookmarks were enclosed.  Now I know!  This is truly an ingenious idea and Loyal was very impressed.  Truly 'form and function"; terribly clever is our Jane.  
I am truly blessed in our friendship.

Really, this is as though I had Christmas morning quite early!

Meanwhile, I've been doing a bit of embroidery since I've been home; and, it will be ready to mail to California December first.  All I have left to do is tat a couple of small motifs to applique to the top of one of  the potholders I purchased for youngest daughter's Christmas gift.
 (Don't worry, since she works with computers, she never goes near one any other time!)  
The 'funny' part of this, which I may have caught at the last pressing, is do you see the 1/4-inch that I left unstitched?  LOL  I managed to do one of these a day, so it is seven days work.



Of course, there are two more but I became weary of using up space for embroidery!  Simple stuff, but to make it interesting for me, I Googled each spice for the correct colors.  There were many choices as most spices have many varieties.  Many of them seem to have hues of lavender and purple.  I learned quite a lot about the spices that I researched!  Because we use variegated thread in tatting (I never used the variegated embroidery threads when I did a lot of counted x-stitch and free embroidery) I blended a couple of colors to get interesting root colors; as with the garlic.  Stitching is back stitch and french knots. I did a bit of satin stitch on the Saffron and decided I didn't want to do that much work; and, as these will be put in the washer repeatedly I kept it simplistic.


8 comments:

Jane Eborall said...

Glad they got there safely and that you liked them!!!!

Tat-a-Renda said...

Your stitching are all so lovely. I have never been able to do embroidery. I have problems in getting the stitches all evenly spaced.

You are so lucky to receive the gifts from Jane. She is amazing and innovative with her tatting.

Gina said...

Excellent work! She will love them! I know she asked for them but that makes it all the better. Sometimes we ask for simple things because they are meaningful.

Ridgewoman said...

Thank you Gina, that means a lot coming from you. And, Jon, the spacing is because of the tatting and determining space for picots. Tatting has really improved this sort of stitching for me.
As I've said, I don't know how to sew; but, hand stitching fascinates me and I'd love to know how to do Brazilian embroidery. The Colcha Embroidery is mostly a couching method with 3 ply wool on silk or heavier blanket weight cloth.
Had I begun all this much earlier in life, I would have embraced a lot of the fiber arts; but, tatting would always be first with me…
I'd rather give a gift that someone asked for and really wanted than merely to buy a gift that they could have bought for themselves. BB really likes hand crafted arts: Mouth-blown glass pieces (vases, sculptures), paintings; wood arts (like hand-fashioned chairs) she, too, had the same art history Professor as I and we share some of the same interests.
Thank you for your comments. bev

Valerie said...

it's wonderful to see your embroidery - those "spices" look good. did some when i was in elementary school but never picked up again since.

used to think i can never sew (bad experience in school) but i surprised myself when i started making teddy bears.

you are certainly right about getting gifts that people would like than something they can't appreciate. :)

'RainbowRose' Connie Faulconer said...

Love those dragonfly earrings!

Oh BJ your embroidery is sooo very nice! I'm blown away how you have one one a day! You must be pretty fast at embroidery. I have no doubt your gifts will be cherished!

My sister-in-law taught me yrs ago to use a quilting needle for embroidery,,so that smaller stitches could be taken and they really pop then. Which I haven't done any in long time, unless of course you count faces on teddies LOL!

You are definitely a lady of many many talents!

LadyShuttleMaker aka MadMadPotter said...

The embroidery is FABULOUS Grams!!!
I enjoy reading your comments on my blog so much...they always make me smile!
I am excited to meet the newest furry purry edition to your family...will you be posting pics?

Rose Anne B said...

Thank you Bev for your comments on my blog! I see you do AWESOME embroidery - which can also be used on a CQd block too.

As for the lovely gifts you've received they definitely are lovely treastures from Jane (I use her site/patterns many times).