The Doll, "Maureen"

Having decided to make the Irish angel part of the series of "ethnic" costumed dolls, Anne Stradal offered to stitch her for me after her wings were clipped and her halo gone, and is almost at the end of a beautiful job of doing so.

If you have missed it, and the progress in stages, be sure to go watch at The Cape Stitcher, as the finale will be shown in a few days.

Angels Among Us

I believe there are angels among us - but of course not sporting wings and a halo. (These things did not appear in art until the Renaissance)

Someone (a good friend, of course) suggested that my two little angels other than the birthday girls had an "ethnic" look about them, and prodded me with two more requests - A Swedish angel first.

I had to look up "Swedish National Dress," and found one that was created in the late 19th century (I'll check my date on that) by a woman who wanted an identifying costume. It's blue and yellow, of course, as is the Swedish National Flag.

The white flowers are daisies, but I had to conventionalize them here, as the figure is small, and they wouldn't stitch well except in silk ribbon. I made them into little six petaled flowers to be worked in Smyrna cross "bumps."

The next one speaks for itself as to origin, and I really enjoyed the designing of it. My goal was to not make it trite, which was a challenging task! I do hope I'll get to see it stitched.

The lace on the bottom of the apron is shown as little blue squares, indicating where to put Smyrna crosses as "bumps" (in white, of course) representing the beautiful Irish crocheted lace. The Irish were the ones who started replicating lace long ago with crochet!

I've been so fascinated with dreaming up costumes for these things that I may decide to make them a little larger than the 7 3/4" and leave off the halo and wings - just standing dolls of some sort.

I will probaby travel to Mexico next, in my thoughts, as there are regional traditional costumes there that are breathtaking with their embroidery.

The Angels Finished!

I hadn't planned to show these again, but am pleased with the way they look together - and also by the fact that I finished them at all. I'm bad about putting things down and starting something new.

The green skirt on the "Margarita" angel (margarita is "daisy" in Spanish) has no shading, but is worked in Nobuko, which gives it a nice texture against the solid basketweave of the apron.

As the green is dark, it recedes and doesn't distract from the apron.

I'm now trying to get inspiration for what to do next - it's still so hot in Austin, I think my brain is baked. At least we've actually had rain this year, and it's still green out there.

Angel Wings, Etc. (random commentary)

The "Calla Lily" angel is finished except for the wings!! As there is nothing carved in stone about angels having white wings with feathers, I have chosen another way. (more on the history of wings another time).

Incidentally, speaking of wings, if you haven't already tuned in to The Cape Stitcher, be sure to watch Anne Stradal as she stitches yet another of the "birthday angels." Her version of these guardian spirits has gold wings in December! Quite beautiful.

Also, at this point, I want to thank the people who have so kindly and generously offered their time in stitching models for me - I only needed a few, and have it covered already - but thanks beaucoups anyway!

Back to the subject of wings: I couldn't use white, as that would run into the white blouse - so chose DMC floss #712, which should be fine next to the sleeve. It will darken and dull when worked in basketweave.

The #822 that was used on the first angel is too dark for this one, I think, and doesn't have that little tinge of yellow that's in the #712.

The detail shows the floss (#822) before stitching, and how very light and bright it appears until stitched in basketweave. Then it is considerably darkened, due to the light on the surface being broken up by the stitches. An amazing effect that should always be considered when choosing threads.

In this detail, you can also see that I have taken out the sparkly earrings (I really didn't like them, as inappropriate for this lady) because I accidentally found the thread I originally wanted to use - Frosty Rays Y136. Much better!!

I have a lot of painting to do today, so will stitch more tomorrow, as I actually need a break from this project for a littlle while.

The Angel on Monday Morning

I worked a lot of hours on this yesterday, so she's showing more color now. I do like working on the unpainted canvas, as it's more exciting to see the pattern emerge this way.

At this point, she appears to be wearing white opera gloves - but I'll put "skin" color there today. (DMC floss #950)

I used T-Stitch on the sleeve, which ordinarily I wouldn't do right next to another textured stitch, but in this case, it's neatly separated by the single line of burgundy outline, which keeps the edge from being jagged.

I'm loving the yellow skirt - which is DMC floss - as it adds the finishing touch as far as the color scheme goes. As in grandmother's flower garden, the yellow needs to be there. Notice how the basketweave progresses. The dark fold was worked first, and then the background around it. Very simple.

I took a second photo of the hair at close-up, hopefully to show the direction of the satin stitches. (DMC floss #300) Due to the dark color, I couldn't get the shine of the stitches to show up well, demonstrating the different directions of the stitches.

Be sure to visit The Cape Stitcher today, as Anne has finished the December angel - and has done a gorgeous job of it!. I learn a lot from watching her, myself.

Calla Lilies and Earrings - the Angel Progresses

The angel with calla lilies has been very enjoyable, due to the bright colors - she's so cheerful!

The lilies are conventionalized, as they are in Mexican art, and rather flat looking, so I jazzed them up a bit by using Kreinik #032 blending filament with #3865 white in basketweave. I like this white better than the "blanc," which is great for many things, but would be too glaring for this piece.

I also felt that due to the lilies' being flat, the background should be textured a bit. Normally I don't do this, but in this case it worked! Nobuko was used, and I'm pleased with the way it fills the area - which was, of course, first bordered by outlining with the burgundy to keep the edges neat.


For the headband, neck trim, and earrings, I used Kreinik metallic 1/16" ribbon in 001Vintage silver. I chose using the ribbon instead of braid, as, due to the construction, the ribbon lies flatter and has a beautiful sheen - especially on the "bump" stitch that makes the earrings.

The hair is worked with satin stitches and DMC floss in 4 plies. The turquoise insets are RG Frosty Rays YO34. I would have preferred using the petite FR, but this is what was in my stash already, and the color is perfect.

Next, showing another idea that popped into my head yesterday. I had to make a quick sketch on crumpled tracing ipaper - but it serves. I decided to do one with a fat braid on top of her head, and a flower on the side.

The next step was to put the tracing under a piece of scrap canvas and play with stitch drawing it so that it works and will stitch properly. I have no idea at this point what she'll be wearing. The colored Sharpie drawing pens are great at this point! This is a project for another day - hopefully by Monday! Meanwhile, several people have asked what I'll do with these angels.

I have mentioned "stand-ups" several times, and by this, I mean a flat, padded, shaped piece with an easel on the back. I want people to see that angels in needlepoint have other uses besides just hanging on a Christmas tree, and as they are guardians, after all, they need to be visible all year..

This is the back of a Celtic cross I did a number of years ago. Vikki Pinson did the finishing, and, as always, did a remarkable job.


It is flat, lightly padded, and backed with moire'. There is also a cord attached for eventual hanging on a wall, if desired. Vikki only needs about two threads of background stitched around these shapes, as she does all of the stitching by hand - no glue at all - so is able to curve it neatly and well where necessary.





















On this cross, I didn't yet know about using fewer rows of background, so added too much. Oh well.

The Angels Painted

At best, stitching is slow - so I decided today to paint two of them that I'll be stitching myself so I could see how my chosen colors will look. Also to see if they'll work, as they are fairly bright and unusual for this sort of thing.

This first one actually looks better in the almost-finished-stitiching version, as the flowers on the headband and neckline give it so much life.

The second one is rather unusual, but I'm pleased with her - except that I had to paint the headband and neckline and earrings in gold because my new silver paint pen still hasn't arrived. I can retouch when it gets here.

I like the bright look of this, and decided after painting the yellow skirt that it needed that touch of burgundy. I have begun to work this one, and have used cotton floss with blending filament for the calla lilies.

The turquoise background of the apron won't be quite as bright when it's stitched, due to the light breakup of the stitches. Surprisingly, I do like the yellow skirt!! It works well with the lilies.

More Color on the Dress!

This little canvas is going rather fast, to my surprise. However, I think stitching it on the unpainted canvas helps me stay focused, as it's interesting to watch it come alive with the color.

I should be able to easily finish the apron tomorrow, but am waiting for the skirt thread to arrive by mail. I wanted to show a bit of the calla lily angel tonight, but the white lily I've stitched doesn't show up well enough with no background behind it. Maybe tomorrow.

Meanwhile, check out The Cape Stitcher, as she has made some wonderful progress on the December Guardian Angel!

Coming to Life!! The Angel has Color

The first picture is a detail of the face in progress - it looks kind of ghoulish at this point, but I wanted to show how I did it - something I worked out. I'm doing this in basketweave, of course (also called "diagonal tent stitch").

The arrow on the left points to where I've stitched over the eyebrows and eyelids in preparation for putting them back in with backstitches on top with just 2 plies of DMC floss. This is something I observed the counted X-stitchers doing years ago - an interesting technique, and it works well on needlepoint in this case.

You can see only two little dots remaining where the eyelid was. I left the lilps bare, as they will have pink tent stitches.

The arrow at the lower right points to basketweave in progress so you can see that it goes continuously up and down the diagonal, just skipping where there are already stitches or where it needs to be left bare - as the mouth. This makes a much prettier surface than it would breaking up the areas. These scans don't really show the color or sparkle as well as a photo would, but late at night the light isn't good enough to do it well either.

The next scan is what I've done so far, and it's so entertaining at this point, with the colors being added, that I hate to put it down to go to bed. Oh well.

Be sure to check out The Cape Stitcher today, as I think she might have some of her angel stitched - I'm anxious to see it!!

Guardians-by-the-Month: Changing Things

I thought I had discarded all of these things to avoid ever painting them again, but I found the entire file, unmarked, in the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet waaaaay at the back. I'm actually rather glad to have them, as I'm on another angel binge, and making smaller ones that are much simpler.

It's interesting to me, looking at what I was doing or not doing 13 or 14 years ago with threads and techniques. I wasn't stitching these myself, but had to bear in mind what other people who bought them might want to do. The diamonds are obvious, and were to be worked in whatever was available that sparkled.

The sweet peas are twining around the angel at the bottom and up the sides, and would be worked in simple basketweave to properly show the shading. Lots of gold metallic (Kreinik) was expected on this angel.

I really enjoyed "April" several years ago when I started doing the Birthday Crazy Quilts (you can see these by clicking on the label on the side bar), and had been using silk ribbon for a number of years already - quite a challenge working out the sweet peas!

Also, I had been using beads for a very long time, so made the diamonds with Sundance beads - #250 hexagonals (size 14 for 18 mesh canvas) for the glitter.

It's August now, but I'm not yet ready to do the smaller, updated version. However, looking at the silk ribbon gladiolus (Sword Lilies), I've decided to do the new one with silk ribbon also.

The original angel shows Poppies as the symbolic flower, but I was delighted to find the gladiola as a wonderful, colorful substitute, and my daughter, whose birthday is in August, agreed.

This gladiola project was a great collaboration in that I sent Jean at River Silks a picture of a few flowers - a gorgeous photo- and she matched the colors in silk for me, and sent me what I needed to make them come alive. I had to work these out for myself, as I couldn't find any in a book.

In looking at "September," I'm thinking she must have been one of the very first ones - I have a September daughter - because instead of painting asters across the bottom as I did the other angels and their flowers, this one is holding them. This is a difficult flower to paint any larger!

It was a delightful project, however, in silk ribbon on the CQ birthday heart for this month. I'm not happy with the face - I hadn't yet worked out better features, and she has no ribbon in her hair. There are a multitude, however, of areas for using sparkling/shining/interesting threads to make her come to life and be beautiful!




















The October angel of long ago is showing what looks like Day Lilies - the only resource I had for this, besides what I had already known or assumed, was the Hallmark Store, as I painted these years before I had a computer for internet research.


To my delighted surprise, I found this time around, when I was doing the Birthday Crazy Quilts, that the Calendula is the October flower. Same kind of colors, and beautiful with the opals! Also much easier to render in silk ribbon!



NOTE: If you aren't familiar with the beautiful River Silks silk ribbon, there is a link to it on my side bar under "Good Stuff" - it's worth taking time to see!

Angels with Personality: a Preview

This is what they look like before painting - an entire day's work, and only two small canvases. (the figure is 7" high) It's the initial idea, then the drawing on paper - and then the hard part, which on things this small take a lot of stitch drawing to make it work. One could just smear the paint onto the canvas without regard, but then the poor stitcher would have to struggle with where to put the stitches. (There is a lot of this going on these days)

The first one is "July" of what I've called the "birthday guardians" - but it may not get past July and December (which has found another home). Trying to make the flowers stitchable, and coordinating the colors of jewels, flowers, and dress, hasn't come easily.

When I was a child, my mother explained to me that I have my own guardian angel that not only watches over me, but tries, usually in vain, to keep me out of mischief. I felt this entity sitting on my shoulder, whispering in my ear when I was about to make a good or naughty decision. (She's still there in those little twinges when I might be about to make a not-so-good decision.)

In Psalms 91:11, it says "He hath sent His angel to watch over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." I feel this is my personal angel, and as such, needs to share a bit of personality with me in order to be comfortable as we travel this road together. This is what led to the next one, which actually suits me better than Miss July!.

She had to have earrings, of course, and flowers on her dress and in her hair. Now to go spend the day painting these ladies (angels in the Bible were men - but I am giving myself the liberty of turning them into pretty girls.)

There are actually not a lot of angels on the needlepoint market - and these are very Christmas oriented, from what I've seen. They are either ornaments to hang on the tree, or stockings to hold gifts - or tree toppers. My thought is that our guardians are with us all year, and also, it's a waste to do something pretty that then resides in a box in the closet for 11 months.

I thought it might be fun to have one sitting on my work table - with an easel on the back for standing. Mine will be beside St. Clare (Patron of embroiderers/needlework) when I get her finished - I lost my original pattern, so have to re-do her.

The Angels Return!

Many many more of these were hiding in a file folder with no label. Once again, I will apologize for the poor quality of the pictures. This was way before my days of electronic devices - I had an HP color copier that didn't require a computer, but ink ran out at inopportune times, and I hadn't developed the good sense to always keep a back-up package. I was running out when I made these scans, but the canvases had to go out in a hurry and more "imagined," drawn and painted, so I hadn't the time to go get more.

This first one shows fairly accurate color - and, looking at it now, I can figure out what I would change if I were to do it again. (NEVER!) I'm not happy with the hair, so would give her a new style. This one is obviously for Christmas, as it's full of symbolism - but some of these things aren't necessarily that, as the holly has meaning that pre-dates Christianity by many centuries.

As for stitching, this might be enjoyable now, 9 years later (this was a Governor's Mansion project). I would use R.G. Petite Very Velvet for the blue vest, and DMC Satin floss for the ribbons and light blue trim. Of course there would be plenty of Kreinik 002V #12 braid.

The arrangement at the bottom of the skirt has a lot of possibilities for surface embellishment, but not necessarily all silk ribbon embroidery. Of course the gold dots would have to be beads!

The musical angel gave me trouble with the face - which is precisely why I don't enjoy painting people. angels or otherwise! I think this would be better top stitched for the features. I do like the hair - but always have a fear of someone using French Knots and making it look all wooly and kinky - or bullion knots, which look like Medusa or a lot of worms.

I don't really remember the true colors on this, but I like the drapes and folds in the dress and cloak, as well as the addition of the jewels. Also the position, as it's refreshingly different.

This angel looks like she is accompanying an annoucement, rather than bringing a message! There are different kinds of angels, of course, so this one could be somebody's guardian, and she's trying to get their attention.

The flying angel with the trumpet is definitely making an announcement! I like the change in position, as well as the fact that she's airborne, as one gets tired of doing the same old "face on" stance. The imagination runs out and they get stale.
The last one is a different version of a Texas wildflower piece. The color almost totally ran out, so I have no idea what color the dress was, but I do like the hair.

The bluebonnets and Drummond's phlox needed a garden of their own - they bloom at the same time in the fields and at the Johnson Wildflower Research Center, along with the Indian Paintbrush (too much orange for this composition, so I didn't use them). As for how I would stitch it?? I wouldn't - no way!! Maybe silk ribbon flowers, but no more.

An Art Nouveau Angel

I should have cleaned out my files a long time ago. I found another buried treasure I had forgotten about.

This is one of the angels I painted for the tree in the Texas Governor's mansion in about 2001 or 2002 (I don't remember exactly). I love Tiffany stained glass, so put a motif from a lampshade on the skirt on this one.

As I remember, I intended for her to be holding a swag of gold chain to be stitched on with chain stitches in metallic gold AFTER the thing was completed. Instead of a sensor, it was to end with a small gold cross. I don't know if that was done, as I never saw it completed.

Anyway, this one has some potential, I think, and I might even enjoy stitching her - so will probably paint it again, and figure out something to do with the hands.

It's a busy design, so won't take a lot of textured stitches - but certainly can use some sparkling and/or shiny threads, along with some metallic braid for the leading of the glass. (which I will draw more carefully this time.)

Since finding so many of the angel pictures, I've been on a quest for the history of angels, and have found some amazing things. Although there have been winged creatures (messengers) in ancient cultures and faiths, as in the Greek and Roman pantheon - Angels as we know them didn't have wings in art until the Renaissance!

Also - angels were all men. I remember laughing about this with a shop owner back when I was doing this project, and we decided the angels needed to be pretty with nice hair styles, so had to be ladies. After all, we each have been assigned a heavenly guardian - which is our own personal angel.

Stocking Cuffs! More Old Files

I was looking through old files again today, and found a whole folder full of stocking cuffs I had forgotten about. LOTS of them.

For many years I did nothing Christmas, as there were no shiny/sparkly threads to make them look right - and also, the images are simply not in my head, as I "see" other types of design.

About twelvle years ago, after I had moved back to Austin and decided to start designing painted canvas again, I painted some for various customers of the two shops here.

There was also the factor that I had become a grandmother, so anticipating that I would have more than one of them, I knew I'd never do a complete stocking - nor would I want to stitch one. (it would take too long) I like the look of just the cuff with the body of the stocking being velveteen.

I've never been a fan of needlepoint Christmas stockings, as they are generally too "busy," and have too many things going on that really don't show up well when hanging over the fireplace. As decorative accessories at Christmas, the cuffs with a plain body are great!

The William Morris cuff looks really bad in this scan, as my ink was running out when I made the copy - so it doesn't show up well, and has strangely colored streaks on it..

I painted this one later when Madeline was about four years old, and Julia was a new baby - and showed her a collection so she could choose what she wanted. I was astonished that she chose this one! The other grandmother, also an "art" person (she was a curator at the Kimball Museum in Fort Worth for many years, and did her master's in Art History) was not surprised, as she said that of course our granddaughter has wonderful and sophisticated taste.

I stitched it with a lot of metallic gold outlines, and had less white at the top. That was worked with pale green beads on white, and her name was machine embroidered on the foot of a dark blue velveteen stockiong. It was really pretty! Julia's had red poinsettias with some turquoise "jewels" here and there, as she is a December girl.

The next scan is one of a pair, but I can't f ind the other one. I had a lot of fun painting the originals, but discontinued it quickly so I wouldn't have to do it again.

The two cuffs with ornaments are simple and effective, I think, and names fit nicely over the strings that dangle the ornaments from the swag. I used as inspiration the ornaments showing almost every year in the Smithsonian catalog - these gorgeous art museum catalogs, including MFA Boston and the Metropolitan are outstanding for visual images to inspire one, but I'm always aware of copyrights, and some things I only use for personal and not commercial - like the Metropolitan Museum angels. I started doing those for myself in 1985, and adding one every year..

I've seen a number of these same ornaments, over the last few years, interpreted by several designers - and recently they are absolutely beautiful with other embellishments added, and used as individual tree ornaments. I stuck to simplicity and stitch counting for mine, as I felt necessary for using several in a small space.

I have to stay out of the files now for a few days and get some work done that has lagged behind with my chaotic lifestyle lately - but I'm enjoying weeding out old files and finding things like this.

More Angels and Tartans

It's only an "almost" angel and one tartan - but I did manage a lot of sketching on new angels today. This is a very very rough drawing, but I'm beginning to almost be pleased. I decided to do this one for July - hence the water lily.

Larkspurs are the alternate July flower, and would be easier to stitch, just requiring a bunch of French Knots with overdyed thread or silk ribbon. However, I like the symbolism of the lotus - as the Chinese revere it for having its beginnings in the mud at the bottom of the pond and then growing up toward the light at the surface, and blooming beautifully finally.

I wish I could do that. I think sometimes I'm kind of stuck in murky waters still - or some days, just sitting at the bottom stirring up a lot of mud.

Anyway, that's what this little ink drawing is about. The dress looks a bit drab, but I plan to add color above the water line also. The rubies are on the neckline of her dress and in her hair.

I have "May" also sketched in pencil with the lily-of-the-valley and the emeralds - but not far enough along to show. The faces are drawn directly onto canvas, as they must be stitch painted to look right and be easy to stitch.
The Alpine Meadows tartan is progressing nicely, I think. I'm enjoying it as relaxation from drawing.

Usually I won't use just one thread line on any plaid, as it does't show up or stitch quite right - but in this case, the white line had to stay at one thread only, or the entire pattern would have been way too large, and I like the scale of this one.

Since each stripe is bordered by one line of white, I rather like the effect - it shows up well and adds some additional interest.

I'll stitch some more over the weekend, but tomorrow I have to make another move - back to my daughter's house and the "guest quarters." (the Granny suite) I won't be able to think clearly to draw more angels until about Monday when the house quiets down.

I have decided to be an almost elderly runaway, and run back to Tallahassee where I can sit and contemplate the pine trees and other delightful things in nature. Austin hasn't any, and I need the inspiration I always find in north Florida..

A New Angel and More Satin Floss!

These are two unrelated topics, but I wanted to show both - and then retire to stitch for the rest of the evening. Enough of painting for a few days!! (being busy is good).

I was finishing an order of my Talavera crosses, and decided while the paint was out to go ahead and put the same motif on the skirt of an angel. This was from my favorite of them.

She's 9" high, so I was able to use the pattern exactly the same size as it is on the cross - just moved the elements around a bit. The wings are outlined in light metallic gold, and I can see using beads on the sunflower center as I did on the cross.

Next, the DMC Satin Floss. Last January there were 24 colors. Now there are 60!! I remember last fall when I first heard of Satin Floss, I called all over Austin and couldn't find any. Only one counted cross stitch shop had a little box of six colors.

I decided to go directly to the DMC site and buy some there, as I really wanted to try it. I had liked the shiny look of what they had before (can't remember the name of it - rayon floss) but it was not pleasant to use, and was crinkly. The Satin Floss is rayon - and is shiny and slilppery, but gorgeous, and when knotted up against the eye of the needle, it's easy to use.

What you see in the first photo is the entire collection as it is now - lots of fun to dump out of a bag and play!
Next, I separated it into shades, which is a wonderful development - there are actually FOUR shades of yellow and four of blue! The colors are rich and vibrant. I was doing this with a huge window behind me, so had the benefit of natural daylight, so I could see the true colors. It's amazing what effect one color has on another when placed side by side.

I remember a 5th grade teacher I had who gave us basic enlightenment into color theory - and what the retina of the eye does with color. One exercise I loved was when he had us stare for about 45 seconds at a red shape (we cut these shapes out of construction paper) - and then look immediately up to a white board he had in front of the room. There, an image formed of the same shape, but in the complementary color - which in this case was green. Budding artist that I was, I was so enraptured with this, I didn't want to be bothered with anything else - like history, etc.
In the last picture, I have separated out the low intensity colors in the collection - gorgeous, they are! I really enjoyed my activity here, as color schemes automatically fell into place - I separated out these skeins and put them into little ziploc bags for future reference.

I remember in Maggie Lane's NEEDLEPOINT BY DESIGN, she said her favorite way of choosing a scheme, was to just dump out her trunkful of yarn and see what fell into place - it works!!

Angels in Talavera

This isn't what I intended to do today, but after having to trash my earlier efforts on the "birthday" angels - which were supposed to lead up, after much practice, to the version with Texas wildflowers, I went ahead and spent the day painting these much simpler ones - with Talavera patterns on them.

The first one was easy. As I said before, I simply used the pattern I did a long time ago with the Tlaquepaque ceramic design - it seemed to suit this as well, as they are both Mexican ceramics.
The design on the skirt is the same one I used for the fish.

The second photo shows the calla lilies - beloved in Mexico and also by Diego Rivera.

Next - the sunflowers, also used frequently, as they are also symbolic for many different religions through the centuries in Mexico. A beautiful flower, native of the Americas, it turns it's face toward the sun as it travels across the sky.
I forgot to put the white diaper pattern on this one, but have since added it - tired this evening, and didn't take a picture of the updated version.

The last pattern is taken from a more exuberant ceramic piece - This would be great for lots of glitz and sparkle and shine. There are some things I don't like on this one, and intend to re-do it. There are two more I'll have to leave waiting, as I have other things that have to be done first - but it's good to loaf on Sunday, and actually do something productive.

Angels and The Big Mess

I've worked really hard for two days now, and haven't a painted canvas to show for it. I have this odd feeling that if I don't produce something, I haven't worked. Stitching models in preparation for a magazine deadline doesn't count as work either, and I always feel guilty about sitting still to do it (and enjoying it).

About 12 years ago, I painted a series of "birthday" Guardian angels - and after about two years, was so tired of them, I discontinued. That didn't work, so I finally just trashed the patterns so I wouldn't have to paint any more.



I found two in an old file - just what I needed! June and July. I want to do these smaller and much simpler - so this has been added to the chaos on my work table.

Also there are the nine Talavera angels I drew yesterday, and two Tlaquepaque angels from the Gov's Mansion group. Also begun is the new July angel, in preparation for moving on to the wildflowers for the ANG event next year. (I'm practicing - but need to decide which size to use)

Have to get "warmed up." . I've drawn little "blanks" for these things so I can make sketches on them as they occur to me. So far, I'm not happy with my July angel, as the waterlilies aren't looking as I want them. Maybe tomorrow when I'm fresh and full of coffee. Size is one of my dilemmas, and I would really appreciate some feedback and opinons about this.

As I said, I've drawn little blanks for sketching - not complete, and I'll change the wings for many of them - these are just for ideas.

Anyway, the originals, both birthday and the Ceramic adaptations, are 9" high, but I have reduced sizes to 7" and think that's what I'd prefer, myself.

The 9" tall ones are great for stand-ups, but that's a lot of stitching. I've drawn the Talavera angels both sizes, and can't figure out which to paint. That's all part of "The Big Mess" you see here.

The June and July images aren't good, as they are scans of photos I took long ago - way before I had a computer and digital camera. These were done also before I realized a good finisher could do more shape around them - so I just made domed stand-ups.

The June roses were painted back when people were still willing to shade with basketweave, and I enjoyed the painting process to make them look right and still be easy to stitch. These have three distinct pinks on them - well separated, but reading as shading.

I'm going to have to go clean up the piles of clutter now - there's no room left on the table to put my paint palette. This happens sometimes when the ideas are coming too fast - but it's great! Much better than the days when I have no ideas at all.