Thread doodles

While I have been very active creatively, it would seem that I have been rather unmotivated to take photos and do much "posting" lately
I thought I might try to correct that today...so I just took this photo of a small project I am working on (in between others)
My own hand dyed (snow dyed actually) thread is being randomly stitched onto a piece of felted wool. The colours of this 1 skein of variegated thread, wander from palest blue to indigo to a fun apple green, I am enjoying the effect that is happening.  Like doodling....letting it flow and simply making decisions as I go along. ....each "square" will eventually be separated...for now I have partitioned off some segments giving me small "frames" to work within so that I will end up with lots of different stitched pieces (each square will finish at 2 x 2 inches)

Relaxing and meditative....Yes!.....but I do have a plan for them as well, interested?.....you will just have to check back later to see what these tiny stitchery(s) will become

See what others are stitching.....I am linking up to Kathy's Quilts   Slow Sunday Stitching  here

Searching for Spring

Signs of Spring are slowly starting to emerge....but since my gardens still have quite a bit of snow cover, it will likely be a few more weeks before the Crocus begin to show. Until then, this will have to do.

Papercutting

There seems to be a fair bit of interest in my paper snowflakes, but you know....it doesn't always have to be a snowflake shape, how about a simple square?
I used some of my designs (drawings) to see how they would look as papercuts and have posted lots of photos so you can see the progression.
I started with a 12" square piece of paper....folded in half, then in half again twice more, resulting in a triangle of folded paper (8 layers)
The next step is to unfold the paper, draw the design lines on to one segment (triangle) and refold being sure the drawn lines are on the outer layer
I use lots of staples to hold the layers tightly together. A hole punch and an awl are used to pierce the small closed areas so that I will be able to then begin cutting with tiny scissors
here you can see a few designs prepared for cutting.

I don't cut in any particular order, but I tend to cut the smallest, trickiest areas first and the larger, open areas last....this allows me to always have something fairly solid to hang on to.
In the photos below you can see the progression of one of the designs. Notice that I leave in place, as many staples as possible as I go along ( the secret, is to keep the layers held tightly together)

here is the design, carefully opened and pressed flat using a dry iron

and here are a few others I did, it is a fun way to be creative without investing a lot of time, materials or planning. I could imagine these designs as whole cloth stitching, painted cloth, stained glass, embroidery, stencils....all sorts of things

what will you create today?