Tale of a Shooting Star…

Or at least some of my work. 😉

Last night, I suddenly got the irresistible bug to hang some of my more recently framed pieces, at least those upon whose home position I had already decided. These are my first stitched pieces to actually be hung in my home – ever. I have one other piece that was framed by my mother years ago that is sitting on my mantle (so, technically, it’s not hung). But, to be honest, I hate the frame. I love my mother, but the frame choice was… not my favorite. So, I’ll be pulling it apart and reframing it at some point. This may be my chance to do my own framing, as I’d like to reuse the glass and just replace the frame. The mounting is slightly wonky, as well, but I think my mother pinned it, so hopefully I will have the opportunity to lace it.

Anyway, on with the show:

First is Vintner’s Sampler by The Sweetheart Tree:

I finished this beauty as my last possible finish of 2006. I’m pretty sure I finished it in the evening on December 31, 2006 while visiting my in-laws.

Next is Seasonal Dragons by Sherry Stepp-Aweau:

I have this one hanging high over my TV and center speaker.

It has been nearly impossible to get a good picture of it, for some reason. I’m a little disappointed with the anti-reflective conservation glass, as it still has glare issues, even if it diffuses the glare more than regular glass would. In fact, the diffusion makes it exceedingly difficult to capture the details of the stitching.

I think that Michaels’ museum glass might actually be better, but I’ll reserve the final verdict there until I get my posters back in a week or so. Not that I would ever let them touch a stitched piece of mine, but I’m considering the possibility of ordering the frame, mat(s) and glass from them and then mounting it myself. Someday, I want to do all of the framing myself. I actually want to do all of my own framing now, but I’m still sourcing molding for the frames and haven’t even looked into the glass yet. I am one step closer, though, as I just purchased a mat cutter a couple of weeks ago. Even the low end one that I bought is pretty easy to use and produces nice results, if you are careful. I want to experiment with fancier cuts and see what I might be able to do myself that would cost a fortune to have someone else do. You know, in my oh-so-abundant spare time…

Anyway, back to this piece. It was a round robin piece. I stitched the spring dragon in the top left corner, then it went to Leslie for the summer dragon in the top right corner, Outi for the fall dragon in the bottom right corner and Christine for the winter dragon in the bottom left corner. It was started in 2007 and finished in 2008. For some reason, I never took a picture of the finished product before it was framed, which has turned out to be a real shame.

Okay, so I have one more picture for you before I go.

This is a Futurama poster that I bought for Terry last year for his birthday, I think. We finally framed it after one of our recent Michaels frame purchasing sprees. It will go up in our home office, once we finish renovations. Due to the work moves. Which is still a whole other post that I haven’t written yet.

Speaking of work, I’m working this weekend. We’re in the waiting period right now. Watching this job run is like watching paint dry. I think I have a couple of hours before it completes, so I’m off to do some cleaning. Or framing. Or rubber stamping. Or finishing. Or some of everything. I haven’t decided yet.

I did framing work on 5 pieces today. Two of them are re-works because I decided to put glass in them. In order to do this, I had to rip them off of the mat board around which I had wrapped the pieces and then glued the overlap to the back. It was a delicate operation to separate them from the mat board, iron on interfacing and then cut to fit the frame. I feel much better now that they have protective glass in front of them.

This one will go back to work in a few months, after the remodeling is complete (that’s a whole other post):

This one goes back to Terry, after I removed it from his work cubicle more then a year ago (I think). It, too, will probably go back to work after the remodeling (Terry and I sit in the same building):

Next, I framed this piece (Sue Hillis’ Wine a Bit) that I stitched last August:

So, it now looks like this:

The wine bottle charm is so thick that I couldn’t use glass. It is mounted on acid-free self-adhesive board.

While digging through my pile of finished pieces waiting to be finish-finished, I found this piece (Just Nan’s Crystal Heart) that I stitched last May:

I just happened to have a frame laying around for a 5 x 5″ piece and it didn’t look too bad, so it now looks like this:

I used spacers to allow for the charm used in the center of the piece.

While in Walt Disney World last month, we bought a bunch of artwork that needed to be framed. Yesterday, I went to Michaels and picked up frames for Wine a Bit and this Tinker Bell postcard:

I also had two large posters custom framed. They will be ready in about 2 weeks and I can show them off then.

When I was at Michaels last week (yes, I’ve been there a few times recently), I picked up a frame for this Tinker Bell sketch and immediately popped it in when I got home:

I love this piece because it is a sketch actually done by a Disney artist, not a print or poster. I have a limited edition Tinker Bell print that is already matted that will also need a custom frame, once I pick up the posters. I also need to pick up two more frames for 5 x 5″ stitched pieces, if I can find them. I need one in brown and one in white. If I can’t find anything premade at Michaels, I’ll take them into Lise at The Strawberry Sampler to be framed at some point. Maybe during the next framing sale, but I’ll have to save up for it, because I have at least one other piece (and hopefully at least one more finish by then) that I’ll want to have framed.

I’m going to press Terry into service tonight or sometime soon to get some of these pieces hung up, including the two pieces that I had framed by Lise during May’s framing sale. I haven’t taken photos of either of these yet, so I’ll take and post some once they are hung.

One more thing to show, while I’m at it. I made this beaded bookmark today, as well:

It will be one of a series of bookmarks that I am going to make for my father-in-law’s wife, Nan. She likes to read and has one lone, well-used paper bookmark to her name, so when we were up there in August, she asked if I would stitch her a bookmark. Of course, you know me, I couldn’t make her just one. I decided to make bookmarks using all sorts of crafting techniques. So, she’ll get this beaded one, two stamped paper ones, a stamped leather one and at least one stitched one.

I can’t believe that I didn’t crawl out of bed until 11 AM today and still managed to get all of that framing, plus the bookmark, done by around 3 PM. I’ve also done a lot of cleaning since Friday. I’ve generated 5 or 6 bags of garbage already and 2 bags of donations (mostly clothes) that we dropped off at Goodwill yesterday. I think I might bake a cake tonight, too. Plus work through some laundry. And pay some bills. And call my mother. And write a letter to my grandmother. Hmm… I think I should log off now.