honeytrapped !!!

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Blossoms motifs 21-30

Who said the thieves were fools?! They were old hands at remaining free and unfettered (that's how they amassed that vast treasure stashed in the cave!*)! So, when 20 of their mates went missing – some wound tight, some cornered, roped in, corralled, split down the middle, and what not - they got into a consultative huddle to chart their future course of action. Most importantly how to avoid detection. By now they had realised that moving alone or in small groups made them easy targets. Henceforth they would move en bloc; split into 2 groups of 10 each seemed a safe bet to overcome their unseen enemy, Alibaba.

But our Alibaba was smarter by far and changed his MO (modus operandi), He laid a sweet honey-trap. Who can resist a ‘sweetmeat’ ;-P  He put forward his clever and resourceful slave girl, Marĵanah (Morgĩana in some online versions, pronounced Marjiinaa) who enticed and lured the entire group of 10 thieves to partake of the very many tasty candies till they doubled up in pain arising from decaying teeth! Who can think of anything else with a bad case of toothache, and were easily rounded up.

How cheeky of Alibaba – Was he being unethical and unfair in compromising their long-term oral health? Sadly, all’s fair in love and war.

So parading here are the captured blossoms motifs from 21 to 30, with their stitch count inked in respective images.

Techniques : rosette ; picot join to the right ; luggage tag loop or larks head knot ; lock join.

All worked in Lizbeth size 20 threads with a single shuttle.

Blossoms Motif #21

>2” X 1½”

Blossoms Motif #22

2½” X 1¼”

  

Blossoms Motif #23

2” X 1½”

Blossoms Motif #24

2” X 1½”

Blossoms Motif #25

<2” X 1¼”

Blossoms Motif #26

2¼” × 1¼”

This motif works well as an asymmetrical or freestyle corner motif.

Blossoms Motif #27

2¼” X 1¼”

Blossoms Motif #28

2¼” X 1¼”

Blossoms Motif #29

~2½” X 1¼”

Blossoms Motif #30

2¾” X 1½”

Spiraling out of control, lured by the sweetmeats!!! There's a lesson in this, isn't there! Enjoy festivities but control sweet temptations ;-P

A Blossoms spinning wheel mat ????

How will the last remaining group of 10 save themselves now? Wait for it - they may go underground or go digital ..... 

*Alibaba and the Forty Thieves from One Thousand Nights and One Nights aka Arabian Nights 

All Blossoms Motifs patterns will be listed here under Nature 2D.

quick art attack

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When I started this blog, it was meant to be about a lot of things around the home – both creative and practical. But very soon it lost it’s way becoming almost exclusively a tatting blog. Well, let’s take a break from that T word that seems to dominate my life!

Change of seasons means switching clothes and reorganizing the closets. And this time I found 2 of my art books (yes, even my clothes almirah has a huge shelf filled with books and also that T stuff – see the T invasion there?!!!) and was pleasantly surprised at some of the ‘artwork’ I found within. Totally forgotten and neglected all these years – that is the power of T! Aaargh, see there it is again! Before it manages to squeeze in further, let me quickly upload these scans.

First off, it was tough to get a good impression despite setting the scanner to highest contrast, lowest brightness and a higher resolution. I do have a tendency to sketch and colour lightly, yet it is a tad better than what shows up in these scans. I added the black 'frames' with MS Paint.

Colour pencils, June 2010

This scene is partially from some story published in a newspaper or magazine.

Sketch pens, April 2008 

This was a phase when I was watching Neil Buchanan’s show Art Attack 

and was inspired by his excellent command, creativity and quick artwork!

I made faint pencil outlines which were later erased.
Those squiggles in the base of the bowl add a cute little touch,  methinks. 

Water colours, March 2012

This is the kind of stuff I go for – freestyle. 

I’ve used the technique on greeting cards, sarees, home linen, etc.

The above 3 were done on fairly smooth A4 sheets from this art pad. 

They came loose while scanning.

The next 4 below I found within the pages of this smaller art pad 

(I’ve cut/paste the specifics in the image. click on image to enlarge).

The sheets held together during scanning.

Mixed media, April 2008

There is charcoal, chalk, crayons, & colour pencil. 

Bummer about all these light scans - 

those roiling clouds actually came out pretty good using blue chalk.

Pastels, April 2008

I’d bought a set of 24 pastels and was eager to give them a try.

Pencil, April 2008

Another of my favourite theme for sketching : bare trees (and roots)...

 with a bird (there are 2 in this sketch if you can spot them!) or solitary leaf (O Henry’s story is among my favourite) or some such to add a spot of 'life'. 

I absolutely love the way bare branches and twigs enmesh together, yet each has a distinct identity. Leaves I do like, but they mask the unspoken majesty of bare branches.

Water colours, March 2012

Trying the wash technique.

I realise they all look quite amateurish and need a lot more details/background. 

However, they were all accomplished in single sittings! 

So a nice breather from that domineering T (major oops again!!!) in blogging? 

Do you think I should organise more frequently? ;-P

Sharon's flakes

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Just too tempting to forego! Sharon shared 2 new snowflake patterns recently and I got to work immediately. Now, they look pristine in white, and snowflakes should be white. But you know me – I want to spice up the challenge and took to colours to see how they’d look. Also, to bring out the flower within.

This is the first snowflake (pattern here) originally worked continuously with one shuttle and ball, climbing out with a split chain. 

My coloured  rendition is done with 3 strands of Anchor embroidery thread 

which is equivalent to a Lizbeth 20. And no split chains.

Black shuttle for central ring & orange 0333 'ball' for rosette chains : <1¼" or <3cms

Mustard 0306, ctm : <2¼" or 5½ cms

Green 0204, ctm : 3" or 7½ cms

T{|{T

This is the 2^nd snowflake she posted here.

I used Anchor 40 this time, but worked continuously. 

Measurements after each round : 1”  ;  1½”  ; 2½" or 6 cms. 

Started with maroon, ctm for the central ring and 1^st round, then switched the core thread to cream. I kept the maroon shuttle, but snipped off the ball. 

In order to get the desired colour placement and eliminate colour blips, I used 

the Slope & Roll join instead of lock join in the 2 outer rounds; 

SLT to make the split chain in maroon, 

and the Reverse Join to switch positions after the split chain.

I remembered how to do the split chain, but unfortunately the colour is hard on the eyes and somehow that segment twisted while linking. The camera shows it all, sigh !

Future Ideas:  
This snowflake could work beautifully as repeatable motifs linked for a larger lace. 
But as I worked the outer round, it struck me how beautiful it would look as a continuous doily – the ‘formula’ for the last round can be repeated (with additional side rings) ad infinitum without having to change the stitchcount at all! 
Perhaps one of the middle or last round can have the central floral motif all around ?!

T{|{T

Wish I'd taken pics after each round for both snowflakes, 

because each round is beautiful and elegant!!!

In fact the rosette reminded me of a poppy despite the orange shade.  

T{|{T

And playing around, notice how cozily the 2 designs can fit together ....

 

T{|{T

I absolutely love Sharon's diagrams – simple and clear. 

And you can find the legend to those cute symbols here. 

Many many thanks, Sharon!