If we want everything to remain as it is, it will become necessary for everything to change.~guiseppe tomasi di lampedusa

First, I wanted to share another cool postcard I got from Postcrossings. It's from Justyna from Poland. I love the name Justine but I'd never seen it spelled this way.

Secondly, I want to share with you my adventure in using the sewing machine in my art. Now, You have to understand that my sewing machine skills have been rather limited. After my stint in Junior High school Home economics class(many moons ago) making a very basic jumper, everything after that was pretty much self taught. I think patience or lack thereof was a major factor. Some years ago a coworker sold me this sewing machine for $100.oo. It sat in my then office for years and then got moved to the garage. Only recently since I redesigned and relocated my studio did I lug it back inside where it continued to sit until a few weeks ago. I've been seeing more an more stitching on art and really loved it when my buddy Robin sent me something through the mail with stitching on the envelope. From then on I was hooked. So, here's the sewing machine finally set up.

I started out with this piece on card stock- with torn dictionary pages, watercolor and spray paint, oil pastels, used waxed paper that I'd used to cover my table while working.

And then I reached into my stash of index cards that I'd been addicted to doing for months and started tearing them up. I took them to the sewing machine and began stitching around the edges. Mind you it was a mess. Back to the manual to figure out how to back up the stitching. Back to the manual to figure out which stitching, tension etc I should be using. I mean there was no where in there to tell me what to use for stitching on an index card. :) I was so frustrated when I started in the middle of the paper I got the bobbin thread tangled up which sucked up the needle thread and I was so frustrated at that point I forgot to take pictures of that little mess. Anyway, I kept at it and came up with this.

Then I went back to the index cards and added the flowers and the border, or what ever you call it across the bottom.Maybe it's a gate, maybe hedges. That card just happened to be sitting right in front of me shouting,"pick me!." So, here it is at this point.

Something was missing. I decided it needed outlining so I took a Sharpie Paint Marker and outlined some of what I stitched. I decided then it was quite nice. I even hand sewed with regular red thread, although I should have used embroidery thread, now that I think about it. Trial and error. Jam up the sewing machine but learn as you go. I surprised myself because the color choices are not really my usual.

So, that's all for now. Bye. Please come again.