Monday, March 28, 2016

Bowie joins my gallery wall

And now for something completely (well, a little) different...

I had mentioned here awhile back that I had purchased a pattern from an Etsy shop of David Bowie that I wanted to make for myself.  The owner of the shop, Heidi, also has a blog (Hello Speckless) and that's where I first saw her creation here.  I bought the pattern from her Etsy shop here over a year and a half ago before I took the time and patience to create a 'David' for myself.  I've been meaning to post about it but I've been really busy with recording so my postings have taken a backseat.

I hadn't done any type of embroidery since I was in college.  I used to make stuff for my mom because she liked it but that was a long time ago.  In order to create David, I ended up looking up some of the basic embroidery stitches, which helped to jog my memory, and also decided to match my thread colors to Heidi's as closely as possible.  I liked her color scheme.

Weirdly, I finished the embroidery part on a Sunday night.   I showed it to George and he really liked it although he wanted me to add some sparkle to it like Heidi did.  I had decided to go with more of a 'sketch' look.  The following morning was when we heard that David Bowie had died.  We both really liked his music and George had seen him perform live back in the '70s.  I was glad I had made this personal memento.  Here's what it looked like when I first finished the sewing and pressed it:

Finished but not framed.

Heidi, the creator of this pattern had finished her 'David' off in the embroidery frame she used which looked really cool.  I wanted to add mine to a gallery wall that I've started going upstairs to our second floor so I decided to frame it in a more conventional frame.  I thought gold would look good and I ordered a gold painted wood frame from my favorite online frame shop, PictureFrames.com    I have many of their custom made frames and I've never been disappointed by the quality.  I chose this one for my Bowie picture here.   Here is the framed result:



I'm not wild about metal frames so I try to purchase painted or stained wood when possible.  I also ordered non-glare acrylic to cover the work. 

Here it is on the 'gallery wall' where it joins original paintings, signed photos, etc.  The wood in the lower right-hand corner is the handhold for the stairs.  This wall is a work in progress:




It was definitely worth the time and effort to finally get around to making my Bowie tribute.  I'm not ready to do anything else like this anytime soon but I'm very happy with the result.

Thanks for reading! To return to the FICTION WRITERS BLOG HOP on Julie Valerie’s website, click here: http://www.julievalerie.com/fiction-writers-blog-hop-mar-2016

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Making Easter items for the nieces

I really squeaked by this year to have something ready for my three nieces for Easter.  With all of the recording I've been doing lately, I've barely had any time to do anything else.  Oh well, better to be busy in this field...

I did manage to crochet three pretty hair bands with a thin boutique yarn -- cream with metallic sparkle threads -- and added a flower button to each one.  I packed these with the usual M&Ms and a Minion pen and they'll be going in the mail tomorrow.  Whew! 

Three hair bands.

My 'model' wearing one of them.
I've been planning to post about my David Bowie project which I finished before I became super busy.  Mr. Bowie has now joined my gallery wall.  Post with pictures coming soon!