Well, I finally put the raku beads on #7 in the Straight-Stitch Series. The ginkgo leaves were not effective, but these flat round raku beads from the artist’s market in Santa Fe, NM are perfect! It will be difficult to send this to Collage Mania, but it IS for a good cause. I may have to make another one to keep, although there are no more of those raku beads. Hmm...





This is a sweet little piece (only 5" x 7") completed recently for a swap on The Thread Society Yahoo discussion group. The challenge was to depict something that would chase away the winter blues with promises of warm spring days to come. The little bluebird is a photo, which has been partially altered in Photoshop. The bird remains un-altered, but the sky and branches have been funked up for texture.

If you’d like to join The Thread Society Yahoo group, either go to Yahoo Groups and search for The Thread Society, or click the link on the left. We’d love to have you join discussions of threads, techniques, which needles with which thread (I’ll never understand), and more!

Thanks to Jeanelle McCall for the suggestion, although she didn’t know it, of doing raw-edge appliqué on top of the photograph piece. The main branch is frayed fabric held in place with free-motion stitching.

There are a few Potato Chip Bags (see the kit on my website) for a gallery ahead of free time to design, but I’m taking the raw-edge appliqué concept to a Threadography composition of a beautifully ornate door photo, taken in Portugal in 2004. Can’t wait!