ABOUT UNEXPECTED SURFACES!

I struggle to keep up with blogging, but I will aim to do better in 2024!

2023 saw my fibre art go in new directions as I experimented, embroidering on unexpected (non-traditional) surfaces. I have been crocheting wire and using it as a substrate for several years but I mounted it in hoops or used it for small brooches. For a show at Morning Star Gallery in Matthews, NC I made a small rectangle wire embroidery and framed it in a small shadow box. It was a first attempt at framing my wire embroidery but it won’t be my last!

Surely the biggest art piece I have created was embroidering a woven chair. As an ArtPop Street Gallery artist, my 2023 cohorts and I were invited to submit for an exclusive show at the Cain Center for the Arts in Cornelius, NC. Following that amazing experience, our class exhibited at Fanjoy Labrenz Studio in Hickory, NC, which was another fabulous show also with an exhilarating, well attended opening reception.

A much smaller project on an “unexpected canvas” was a tennis racket that I embroidered and showed at Hart Witzen Gallery, Charlotte, NC in August. With echinacea growing in the garden, I was fascinated by their shape and the Fibonacci pattern of their stamens. I easily mimicked the shape but didn’t even attempt to try the ordering of the stamens. Instead I stitched on bugle beads which stand out from the French knot centers. They proved to be effective, adding dimension and texture. For petal highlights, I had the perfect pink metallic thread in my stash!

At the time of writing this, I am in the throes of another large project on a very untraditional surface, for the Director’s Choice show at the Cain Center. Vintage Snowshoes — talk about a challenge!

Happy belated new year!

APRIL IS ALMOST OVER AND SPRING HAS SPRUNG

Part way through this month, I had to cancel a much anticipated trip because of a horrible bout of food poisoning. Ugh, I hope I never experience that again! My trip is rescheduled for May.

In April I continued working on a large piece that I am excited to show at the ArtPop exhibit at the Cain Center for the Arts in June. More to come but I am keeping this piece a secret for now. It is the largest piece of fiber art that I have ever made and I am so excited. Because of the intensity of this project, I sustained a fiber artist’s occupational injury of pulling a tapestry needle loaded with thick threads through tiny holes. Ouch - first a blister on my index finger, then a red, swollen finger, 3 doctors visits, an antibiotic and an X-ray. Now hoping I build a callous and I will be buying a leather thimble so it doesn’t happen again!

This month, I crocheted pretty brass wire shapes, mounted them in embroidery hoops and used white toned wools, gold metallic threads and beads to embellish them. They are listed here, here and here!

I also made a hanging on a driftwood stick (picked up on a Sullivan’s Island beach) for a display at Station West, 919 Berryhill Road in Charlotte. When it’s hung in their gallery, I’ll post a pic. Meanwhile, here is a morning sun, studio shot while its still on the blocking board. Its title is Summer Flowers and it’s flecked with gold metallic threads in the fringe and the embroidery, gold beads too.

With Mother’s Day fast approaching, I made 2 embroideries to add to my Etsy shop. Our little garden is a host of colours, so I chose hues of wools and mohair that matched a bundle of flowers that I picked as inspiration for this design.

ArtPop Street Gallery and NEW YORK Times Square!

Last October, I noticed a call to apply for a local public art opportunity called ArtPop Street Gallery. I was vaguely familiar with the program because 2 artists I follow on Instagram, and have met in person, were chosen in previous years. That was the sum total of my familiarity.

I pulled up the link and realized that the deadline was coming up within a week, so I called my daughter to see if she would be available to photograph an embroidery piece and crop an image according to the requirements. It was more involved than a quick photo - there was a bio to write and on and on. That said, I was able to submit it the day before the deadline. I honestly didn’t think I would stand much of a chance.

A little over a week later, Brooke Gibbons from ArtPop called me with the incredible news! I had to keep it a secret for a month until the reveal event in December. What a night that was! The big reveal was held in a local hotel and if I didn’t realize it at the time, it should have been a huge clue that my fiber artist life was about to change and become so much more exciting in the near future! That night the 20 chosen artists were each presented with a mini billboard replica “trophy”, a gift check, and a gold pin for the 10 year anniversary of ArtPop. We heard from Wendy Hickey, the amazing founder of ArtPop, as well as from several benefactors for this non-profit organization. I learned so much that night and met so many incredible artists, both from my cohorts for the 2023 year and alumni from the previous 10 years. Everyone was so welcoming and had such lovely things to say and great recommendations. That night, I couldn’t sleep as I was on a new high, recollecting all I had just experienced and learned!

The very next day, Charlotte is Creative, a huge local supporter of artists and the arts in Charlotte, featured the 20 new class members in a lovely online article… and a few friends called to congratulate me….Wow!

In January, we were away when I heard that “my” vinyl billboard was hung along our local Independence Boulevard. It’s along our main route to Uptown, so an exciting location. As soon as I returned to town, I went to see it on a rainy weekday during rush hour traffic, stopping to look around for it, and then, there across the highway it was. My eyes filled with tears - Wow again! Throughout the month, we each had a newsstand and a commuter train station erect a shared sign of our art, and then several digital media companies started displaying more images around town. We chose a frigid winter day to seek out many of the locations. Seeing a tall display with the night lights of our city and Panther’s football stadium in the surround, was phenomenal. The excitement just went on and on and we were all on a high!

THEN…..wait for it….we found that our art was being displayed in New York’s Times Square for the month of February. Of course we had to go! What a whirlwind but amazing 3 day trip it was! We took the subway from La Guardia airport to close to our hotel. Carrying our luggage as we looked for our hotel, I glanced down 7th Avenue and what do you think I saw? It was a corner of my art on a huge display. That was enough to get me all emotional and choked up - the hugest of Wows! Then we rushed to the front desk to leave our bags, but our room was ready so we could check in (at 10 am - almost unheard of anywhere, let alone there - took it as a great sign though.) At 11 am we were to meet up with 3 other artists with family members who flew up from Charlotte and what an exciting couple of hours we spent whooping and hollering for each other as our billboards came up. It was about a 20 minute rotation each time, and I can’t tell you how many of those 20 minute rotations we watched that weekend. Our hotel was so close that we walked past it every time we went out. Suffice it to say that my hubby was incredibly patient <3

The artists kept on commenting, “but it is just February - we have 10 more months to go!” So much happens every week and the opportunities that ArtPop and other local arts organizations present us with are phenomenal. I’m still trying to figure out how many of these opportunities can be applied to fiber art and fiber artists, because a lot of mural and painting work requests are out there every week :)

Please take a look at ArtPopStreetGallery.Com to read all about it. It’s a nonprofit so donations are more than welcome. You can sign up for their newsletter and will be in the know in case you qualify (geographically, etc) and want to apply for next year.

I took a chance and it is taking me on an unbelievably magical ride!

HOW TO REVIVE WILTED CUT HYDRANGEAS

Last week for my birthday, a sweet angel of a friend gave me a beautiful bouquet of the greenest hydrangea blooms. I arranged them in a blue glass vase with forsythia stems from the garden. I have had them now for over a week but have had to revive some of the stems 3 different times! Gradually the flowers have faded from brilliant green to a soft greenish white. 

I adore hydrangea! Their hues are so beautiful —from the palest pink to the deepest purple with all the blues, whites and greens in between. When I moved from a home with many established varieties, one of the first things I did was to plant some here. A couple of bushes are struggling to grow very big, but they still bloom enough that I can have pretty vases for a few of the summer months.

As much as I love them, hydrangea, do have one distinct problem: the cut flowers can wilt even though they have adequate water in the vase. Previously, I picked out the wilted flowers and tossed them out. Then a friend told me of a way to revive them!

This method surprised me because it seems counterintuitive, however, it seems to shock the wilted blooms and jolt them into new life!

First cut the stems. I do it at an angle so that a little more surface area is exposed. 

Place the cut stems into a heatproof container. I use a mixing bowl.

Boil 3-4 cups of water.

Add boiling water to the mixing bowl so that the ends of the stalks are in the hot water. Leave them to steep for 2-3 hours.

When you come back, Voila! Most of the time you will see revived flowers!

The ends of the stems that were in the hot water do turn brown, but hey, who cares?  

I can usually do this more than one time, and each time the flowers look pretty for a more few days. When I put them back in the vase, I add fresh water with a few ice cubes.  I honestly have no proof that the ice helps, but it can't hurt!

HOW TO REVIVE WILTED CUT HYDRANGEA BLOOMS

DIRECTIONS

Put on a kettle of water to boil. 

Find a suitable heatproof bowl that will temporarily hold the flowers. I use a mixing bowl. 

Trim off the ends of the stalks at an angle and place the flowers in the heatproof bowl. I place the bowl against the wall so that the top heavy blooms have something to stop them from flipping out.

Pour boiling water over the cut ends of the stems. Make sure all stems are submerged but only for 2-3 inches. 

Allow to steep for a couple of hours. Most of the time, this will revive them, and you will be successful for a couple of times, maybe more. After that, you may just be pushing it too far!

Rearrange in original vase with fresh cold water and a few ice cubes.

Enjoy your flowers with new life breathed back into them for the second time. Or the third time. [Or the fourth time in this case!]

I hope you love this way to revive your gorgeous flowers as much as I do!

Disclaimer: This method works for me most times that I attempt it, and usually more than one time. You should experiment and see if you can breathe new life into your hydrangeas too.

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POCKY CAKE DECORATION

At the first of the year I thought I'd start a blog to complement my website. I imagined that the blog should be about things I make, like diy, that aren't only needlework, but things in my home and garden. I planned to include the occasional recipe that I thought worth sharing, and sometimes I would write a bit about a trip or a book or an outing.

Alas, January came and went and I didn't start the blog.  But today is my birthday which, in a manner of speaking, is another start to the year, so suddenly it seems like a good day to begin. And I can write about a cake decoration using Pocky that I made today!

What exactly is Pocky? Well, it's a little chocolate covered cookie or biscuit, shaped like a stick, that comes in a box, is made by a company named Glico, and one box costs a couple of dollars. They are available in different flavors in many US grocery stores in the Asian food section. My daughter introduced them to me a couple of years ago and I remarked then that they would make cute cake decorations. [Hint: they also make great stocking and Easter basket stuffers!]

Today I baked and iced a gluten free chocolate cake for our birthday - "our" because my younger daughter was  born on my birthday - and I had the idea to use Pocky and dip them in chocolate and sprinkles. I hadn't thought about the matcha flavored ones, but when I saw them in my store, I decided to go with them. I've been hoarding some mini silver dragee sprinkles and this is the perfect day for using them! I wasn't meticulous about covering the Pocky completely because I love the green matcha color showing through, and I also wanted some of it to show at the bottom end as well. Finally, I had some green candles [that I was also hoarding - insert roll eyes emoji] which complemented the matcha green and completed the look I wanted.

The directions are very simple, but here they are:

Pocky Cake Decorations 

INGREDIENTS

1 box Pocky chocolate covered biscuit sticks, any flavor

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

2mm silver dragees, or any other small sprinkles or sugars, poured onto a flat plate

Wax paper

DIRECTIONS

Melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe measuring cup in the microwave. Remove and stir after 30 seconds. Keep microwaving in 10 second increments, stirring in between, until just melted. Chocolate can burn super quickly in the microwave. [If you prefer to heat in a double boiler, that's great.]

Dip one Pocky at a time into the chocolate. You may need a knife to smear the chocolate a little higher because the chocolate in the cup doesn't reach all the way up the Pocky stick.  Immediately after applying the chocolate, dip into the sprinkles and roll over to cover all sides as much or as little as you prefer.

Allow the chocolate to set by placing on the wax paper. Now you are ready to decorate the cake.

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