2023 FAIR DAY!!!

IT WAS A WONDERFUL FUN YEAR AT THE FAIR THIS YEAR AGAIN...BELOW IS MY "UNDER THE SEA" WITH A FIRST PLACE RIBBON AND A CREATIVITY ROSETTE!!!

SANDY HAND MADE THIS CREATIVE FROG BY HAND, AND RECEIVED A FIRST PLACE RIBBON AND A CREATIVITY ROSETTE!!!

"LOOK FOR THE SIGNS" RECEIVED A SECOND PLACE RIBBON!!!

"MERMAID UNDER THE SEA" RECEIVED A FIRST PLACE RIBBON!!!

"SUMMER IN THE PALOUSE" RECEIVED A FIRST PLACE RIBBON!!!

"UNDER THE SEA QUADRUPLED" RECEIVED A SECOND PLACE RIBBON,  ALONG WITH A GIFT CERTIFICATE AT PATRICK'S YARN AND FABRIC STORE! 

"AUTUMN IN THE PALOUSE" RECEIVED A FIRST PLACE RIBBON!!!!

 

TO MAKE IT EASIER TO SEE EACH PICTURE, BELOW I WILL POST SOME CLOSE-UP PICTURES AND SOME DESCRIPTIONS...

LEFT BOTTOM CORNER, CRUNCHING UP VELVET MAKES IT LOOK LIKE CORRAL REEFS!

LOTS OF TYPES OF YARN AND STITCHING LOOKS LIKE UNDER SEA WEEDS!!!

NEXT IS "LOOK FOR THE SIGNS"...

I LOVE WORKING WITH BLUE AND PURPLE...

I BOUGHT THE CENTERPIECE FROM ZEN TO ZANY, WITH PERMISSION TO USE IT IN MY QUILT PIECE. 

THE PEACOCK LACE IS FROM BARBARA NICKI SEAVEY WHO DYES WONDERFUL LACE PIECES USED IN ALL MY ARTWORK!

NEXT I LIKE TO CALL "THE MERMAID UNDER THE SEA"

THE MERMAID WAS PAINTED BY ANNETTE GRAVES FOR ME!!

"SUMMER IN THE PALOUSE" IS NEXT...

THIS WAS A FUN PIECE, FOUND THE WHEELS ON ETSY. USED SOME DRIFTWOOD, GLUED TO FELT, ADDED TONS OF FRENCH KNOTS AND THEN WAS ABLE TO SEW TO THE WHOLE PIECE!

THE BROWN FABRIC MIMICS THE WHEELS!

LOTS OF ROCK BEADS ARE ADDED UNDER THE TREES ABOVE AND BELOW!

THE BUNCHES OF BEADS MIMIC CLOUDS!!!

NEXT IS THE "AUTUMN OF THE PALOUSE"...

PIECE OF DRIFTWOOD AGAIN WITH FRENCH KNOTS!!!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, "UNDER THE SEA, QUADRUPLED!"

THIS WAS A FUN PIECE, BECAUSE I WANTED TO SHOW UNDER THE SEA IN VARIOUS COLORS!!!

THE FUZZY YARN WAS FUN TO WORK WITH...JUST TACK DOWN AND ADD A FEW BEADS!!!

WELL I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE JOURNEY WITH ME!!! I AM ALREADY WORKING ON SOME GOOD SURPRISES FOR NEXT YEAR!!!!

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE MY JOURNEY OVER THE YEARS, CHECK OUT THIS LINK TO MY FLICKR SITE FOR PAST AWARDS! NOW UP TO 23!!!!

HAPPY STITCHING!!! AND THANKS FOR THE VISIT!!!!

BJ SANDUSKY

 March 23, 2023                     FREE EBOOK GIVE-AWAY

                                                       CREATIVE EMBROIDERY, 

                                        MIXING THE OLD WITH THE NEW

                                                          PROMOTIONAL TOUR

I have volunteered to do a book review of Christen Brown's new book: Creative Embroidery, Mixing the Old with the New, now available on Amazon.com!

Let me tell you, this is a must-have book for Newbies and us Oldies alike!!! So much eye candy, instructions, on fun projects.

This is just one example, of making hankies in a hoop and decorating it with flowers...I need to do one for my sewing room wall!! Hankies, anyone? Of course, we all have that collection growing that we don't know what to do with.

Christen's book is going to be a great resource for all of us. We see Newbies ask questions on Crazy Quillt Divas of what to collect and how to use it! Well, this is a great book just for that reason.

Examples....Buttons...lots of button ideas and example, along with history. Hankies, laces, Ribbons, trims, threads, rolled roses and Yoyos! Great stitches dictionary and instructions.

I really enjoy all the Tidbits of History and information Christen adds.

I can confidently recommend Christen's book to all of us who are crazy about creative artwork.  You will learn so much from her book!

Also, a nice surprise for you, scroll below and place a comment, along with your email address. After 2 days, March 26, 2023, I will be choosing one from the comments  as a winner to win her ebook version. Once I have chosen a winner, I will send the contacts name and email to C&T Publishing who will then send them a link to access their free ebook.

Here is where you can find Christen Brown and her sources:

Christen Brown

www.christenbrown.com

Christen Brown on Facebook

Christen Brown on Pinterest

Christen's Creations Blog

Christen's Classes

Books and Products

Ribbonwork Gardens

Embroidered and Embellished

Ribbonwork Flowers

The Embroidery Book

Beaded Embroidery Stitching

Hand Embroidery Dictionary

Embroidery Stitching the Handy Pocket Guide

Embroidery Stencils the Essential Collection

Embroidery Stencils the Darling Motif Collection

Embellished Art Embroidery Project Planner

Hand Embroidery Dictionary

Creative Embroidery, Mixing the Old with the New

Thanks for visiting...I will check back on Saturday to let you know!!

BJ Sandusky

BJ's site

 Well, our lives have taken on a new journey....we added two fur- babies to our family....Meet Callie and Stormy...

Callie, the Calico, is a month older than Stormy.

Stormy, though younger, she is learning really fast from her new sister.

We knew we were getting closer to wanting some new kittens, when after Christmas we went into Helping Hands Adoption Rescue people and immediately fell in love with these two.  They both were relaxed in our arms so we felt they would be great together. But I told them the foster moms needed to keep them one more week, while I took down the Christmas tree and decorations and Kitten-proof my house! I removed all crystal, toxic plants and more.

Callie, adapted immediately and started exploring the whole top half of  the house and mapping it all out. Stormy immediately found the only hole we didn't see....right behind the washer and dryer!!!

Well, Sandy got her out, and put up a board to block the space, but for at least a week I kept the cats pan in the hallway of the entrance way, because she would not go in the laundry room. 

Now she is fine.

But the first 3 days Stormy stayed under the recliner in our living room, or under the bed at night. But she had not yet walked down the hallway, I had been carrying her each time. About this time we realized she must be younger than Callie, so I text her foster mom, and she confirmed that Stormy was born around the first of October, while Callie was born around the end of August!!! So now we realized we needed to nurture her more as a baby!!! Callie has been a big help there...she has taught her to be less fearful, chasing each other down the hallway and back again. Now she owns the place.

Both sleep on the bed at our feet. Then in early morning they come up to sleep at our pillows. We are so glad we got both of them and not just one!!!

Ever since we moved up to Lewiston and started exploring our new adopted home town, we learned about the area called the Palouse. Click on the word and learn all about it.

It covers a wide area of Eastern Washington and Western Idaho. All 18,100 square miles!!!

So here are some pictures of the Palouse in all four seasons.

Spring time is lovely greens...

Summer the greens are changing...

Autumn is harvest time and lots of golden browns...

Winter is awesome with the whites, that can also look blue, purple and pink!!!

While we have seen lots of photographers and painters work of the Palouse, it has been my goal to do a crazy quilt piece. But how to make it look like a landscape?

One day, I came across Karen Eckmeier on you tube. She also has a book titled, Accidental Landscapes! Well I was hooked!!! She makes landscapes so easy to do. 

Never one to stop with just one book...I started studying how others do landscapes.

But most of these are more traditional styled quilting.

I knew I needed to adapt these ideas with crazy quilt techniques. I printed off a couple pages of pictures of the Palouse to see all the colors.

For the sky I decided to use a cloth that was pinted as a sky!!!

I chose a piece of cardboard, had my hubby cut it to the right fit.

There's batting on the back and front of the cardboard, with the back fabric brought forward to make a border. Just need to add loops to the back to hang.

Now I will do some close-up pictures to show detail of different techniques used and who I learned them from!

The lime green is a strip of Sari silk, folded in half, with the frayed edge sticking up on purpose...I learned this technique from Rashberry Stitches who does such beautiful work!

The Cattails are from a type of yarn I finally found after searching many years, from Vicie Tobin. If you cut them just right, they look like cattails!!!

You will see lots of "rocks" that I have collected, and again inspired by Rashberry Stitches!!

More rocks!!! And in the middle of the picture, the weird shaped light brown piece and the pink piece next to it, are coconut wood chips!!!  The Laces are all from my friend and fellow crazy quilter, Barbara Nicki at RavioleeDreams. You can also see more ribbon with the raw edges sticking up!!!

More rocks, etc.

Of course, I have to have my shibori in every piece I do!! But it also represents the fields lines as they have been plowed!!!

About this time I came across the post that Betty Pillsbury did on embellishing driftwood...

And she referenced Salley Mavor of Wee Fold Studios and her work!

Needless to say, I became obsessed. Over the years, friends like Pat Winter have sent me piece of driftwood from their walks on the beach. So I have a few to work with.

The top one, you can still see the felt on the edges.

But when I saw the video of Betty's and how she used chinile threads, I knew I had to try.

Last tip, when doing a blind hem stitch around the border, while working on cardboard, you have no play, so a half circle needle is a must!!!

Thanks for visiting....time for lunch with Sandy, and Naps with our fur babies...any corrections needed will be done after that, but I just wanted to give you a chance to see this post.

Happy Stitching!!!

BJ Sandusky

 

Happy Autum Days are here again!

Hard to believe, but it's October already!!!! It has been a very busy, fun and productive crazy quilt year for me!!!

Became great friends with Cindy Wattenbarger when she commissioned me to make her a version of my "Never Forget" patriotic piece. I added a few charms that made it personal for her.

 

The back fabric gave me the idea to title it "Long May She Wave." It was a very fun piece to do.

Pat Winter had made a post on Crazy Quilt Divas Facebook, that if we put a block together, she would do the embellishing. 

Obviously, the theme is all about Dragonflies!!!!

September is our local county fair month! And I decided to see how many quilts I could get in the show.

By choosing different categories, from hand embroidered to crazy quilt with hand stitching, I was able to enter 6 recent quilts. I was completely blown away when all 6 took a First Place ribbon, with one also getting a Creativity Award.

"Yellowstone Memories", judges comments: Very nice, love materials used; remarkable design. Fabrics were purchased at West Yellowstone Fabric and Yarn in West Yellowstone.

"I raise a Hallelujah", judges comments, love the embroidery, and needle work.

"His Winter Star", judges comments: stitching is nice; creative and imaginative; feels a little too busy, hard to figure out what the theme is.  Really????

"Our First Christmas without our three", judges comments: Beautiful Project!

"Suffer His Little Children", judges comments: Such Variety! Lovely Wall Hanging and stitching very nice! This one had a business card attached from a local business that fell in love with it and wants to diisplay in their business. Which we will do in November.

"I will see a victory, because the Battle Belongs to You, Lord", judges comments: Love the design;Nice blanket stitches on pictures; theme and use of pics great; like the way you tacked it down; end corners could be tacked down by hand. (they were!) This one recieved two awards!!! Also recieved a $25 gift certificate to shop at Patrick's Crafts and sewing store in Clarkston, Washington!!!

Even Sandy recieved a ribbon...an old damaged frog, we were going to throw away. He decided to recycle it by painting it...Ain't he cute!!!

That brings my ribbons up to a count of 19!!! You can see the others from past years on my Flickr site!!!

Recently I have fallen in love with watching videos by Rashberry Stitches on her Facebook site. She is so creative with her creations. I admired her work and consequently she saw mine, so we decided to make a swap. I created a Under The Sea project for her in her color choices.

I wanted one of her scenes in tourquoise and lavender, the colors of my sewing rooms.

Check out her videos!

At the end of this month I am teaching a Crazy Quilt Class again!!!

As always, thanks for visiting...lots more in the works for next year already!!!

Happy Stitching,

BJ Sandusky

https://www.flickr.com/photos/60882932@N06/