1998..continued.............

I had the big search this morning and found these two pictures of the polar bear(there were two and were double sided)...and the bottom of the other side of the Santa I showed yesterday....this is typical of my picture taking...I didn't take the top half of the reverse side of the Santa, because it was more or less the same but for the arms.......any way..this gives you an idea of what it looked like...I was never sent a picture of the finished piece...oh well...that's life...

When I doing designs for the White House, sometimes I was sent a nice thank you note and a professional picture of my piece in place....The Clinton's were oh so polite in this respect...a couple of time I also received a picture of the Clinton in front of the big tree...I will find some of the pictures....

1998.....

I was looking for some pictures yesterday and I found this picture...actually two photos that I cut and taped together for a complete look.... on the back it was marked 1998....time just zips on by....I can barely remember painting it....just....it was for the 1998 White House Christmas display , was on 13st ,tall and two sided..the other side having different animals....all in blue, white, gold and silver...

sometimes I laugh at myself...you would think I would have taken more pictures ..and better record of the stuff I designed for the White House....at least this one had the date...after painting full time since 1972....it is hard to remember exactly when and where and who for......your body of work is too vast and some days I am lucky I remember what I painted two days ago...lol...... things sometimes take a detour in the old noggin..then pop up days later....... all the designs I have created and painted seem to merge into one big hunk!...lol...

well at least not all my cheese has slipped off the cracker.......It just occurred to me that this Santa was holding a gold cord and there were two white polar bears (doubled sided)...like reindeer....I know I have seen a picture of the bears....will look later today...I am really cooking today...lol....scary how things just slip your mind....maybe I am crazier than I thought?

Decorated Cake

I painted a design on the top and edges with acrylic paint......I then added some sparkle clear paint... my husband sprayed a sealer on the cake.....the next step, I glued satin ribbon around each joint and then made white organdy bows and glued them on...next came the pink satin roses and tiny crystal flowers on top...the final touch was the pink fimo roses along with green plastic leaves..... the best glue I found was all purpose fabric glue.....the super glue I used

did a great job gluing the flat back sparkle flowers on top and the fimo beads, but was not good for the ribbon and satin flowers...I am not that crafty , so I didn't see the need for different glues...

you learn something everyday.....anyway...now the cake was finished and the final bit was needed.....sorry but this will have to wait......it adds to the whole experience ....lol.....a hint...there are two holes in the top of the cake...

The Cake!

one morning a couple of months ago, the first words out of my mouth were..."I have a great idea for a Squiggee model".....

my husband is use to what we both call ,one of my crazies....there isn't anything my husband can not make out of wood....so I described a three layer wedding cake to him...I wanted it a certain size ...and after cutting the wood, filling any little imperfections in the wood...sanding it ...gluing and screwing it together...he applied a sealer coat and then a semi flat white paint....

the cake was beautiful ...just what I had in my mind....so now my turn ...to what we call ,putting the Squiggee on it......which I will show on tomorrow's blog...it is always better to wait ...FYI the cake is solid hardwood.............

The Needlepointer Oct 2009 Retreat..the scoop tomorrow !

Custom for the girl in all of US

Picky Picky

I can see why customers want a painted canvas rather than count from a graph in a book...OK if you are doing a small piece , but lets be real !!! most of the complicated graphs are just a horrifying task...and if the customer requires a deign from a graph to be altered...then they really do need help....I find that most graphs are too picky picky...fussy.....this lady with the head shell gear was altered to fit a space... she was square and had more shells...and her colors were softened.....she reminded me of Medusa in flower and shell form......snakes are not my thing at all...so flowers are just fine....so now the customer can sit back and relax and work her canvas....

although I thought the whole point of graphs are to save the expense of the painted canvas...

the painted canvas will never go out of fashion.....and is far more relaxing than a graph to work from......she does have the look of another world...she could reside in a Victorian formal garden....just waiting to be kissed and the spell broken...she would be released and be a whole ,tall ,slender beautiful woman ,in a shear floral print dress holding a single shell.... her long golden tresses bound only buy a blue silk ribbon...wooooooooo...too many fairy tales when I was young..!!!!

The Scoop On The Bird

What a journey this guy has had.....I designed Mr. Gobbles around three years ago at the bequest of a customer wanting a stand up turkey for her Holiday table.....I then added a
peacock to this series and there it stopped, until I decided to wholesale Squiggee......
As I have been making up some of my Squiggee designs for models , it has occurred to me that any shaped design needs to have a model for maximum effect....a friend and great stitcher , Margaret Travis expressed an interest in working a model for me ...after inspecting the turkey design, she was anxious to start ..so off he went to Margret's house for her to preform her stitching magic on him...
upon returning to Squiggeeland..Mr. Gobbles had acquired a first name...Godfrey....
I then beaded him ( Margaret is not a big fan of beading.).. he was all set to hop a plane to
Camden Maine for yet again his next step.....to be transformed into very cute bird at Stitcher Square...
Squiggeeland's wonderful finisher( a link to them is on this page)......
to my surprise when he arrived home again and he popped out of the box...yikes..the very unexpected...the V gussets were not closed but finished ..like stand up feathers....
so I called the finisher , all the while looking at Godfrey on the opposite table...thinking...what a cutey he was.......sometimes the unexpected is the very best....and we here in Squiggeeland like to march to a different tune...so Mr. Godfrey Gobbles , took a couple of twirls then back in his box and caught the first plane out to WA State to Squiggeelands first trunk show in Everette WA at the Needlepointer....where we hope he will shine... then back to Texas and Dream House Ventures for a needed rest before his next gig...the big TNNA show in Jan 2010 in CA..
the life of a star Turkey...lol...must be nice...

Presenting Mr. Godfrey Gobbles

More Old Friends

Yet again, I have been painting some of my favorite characters from childhood...these custom Beatrix Potter characters might not be flashy or innovative compared to some of the canvases out there today, but these classic designs always make me feel grounded, to my childhood ...cosy.....as a child I had all the little books, that so cleverly fit in my small hands , and way before I could read , I would sit and look at the little drawings and they would tell the story....the first thing I remember in the nursery was the bone china figures on my dresser of Jemima Puddleduck, Mrs. Tiggywinkle, Peter, and Floppsy Moppsy and Cottontail

I had a jacket when I was about four, that had big brass buttons and it was always referred to as my Peter Rabbit Jacket.....such a sad day when It was too small for me and became a hand me down to my sister....

Literature has always been an important part of my life.....like music...it marks a certain time in your life , and these characters , always make me feel young and fresh...they evoke such memories...a true delight to paint...

Old Friends

Some designs remain classic....Pooh will always be that for me...while painting these custom pieces I was reminded how I first learned to read. My mother loved Pooh , and that love transferred to us when she would read to us about Pooh and all his adventures. This was the first book I read to my mother. She would sit back sometimes with her eyes closed and laugh at all the silly bits, like it was her first time hearing the story. These stories will always have a special place in my heart and I laugh at them to this day....it is very hard to pick one story as my favorite, but it would have to be, when pooh gets stuck in Rabbits hutch......having to stay in the hole

until he became thinner and could be pulled out like a cork in a bottle

all this from his greed in eating all Rabbits honey...way to funny...I had a stuffed Pooh that was so loved he literally fell apart...he was mended many times ..but alias had to go to the happy hunting ground..my mothers way of explaining how he just wasn't there one day when I came home from school...the poor bear had lost his stuffing , one eye and was bald and had a certain well loved smell about him...by the time pooh went away , my interests where elsewhere...too big for a baby stuffed animal...how silly we are...I would love him back on those days where you just need a pal that will listen and just smile...