Happy 40th Birthday to me!

Thursday was my 40th birthday! Today is my birthday party. When searching for a theme, my mom & I were trying to find something "me" & cheap. Enter my fabric stash!

Red toile canvas by Waverly

Using my plethora of red toile fabric & a bit of plastic sheeting, we covered all of the tables. 

Basic red toile cotton & Twizzlers

Two redwork portraits of me

Next, we used some of my redwork portraits & pinned them to the Irish lace curtains in the dining room.

Redwork portraits of Gavin DeGraw & Richard Marx

 Then we put out the scrapbook & my senior yearbook. The bulletin board is for book quotes the guests were asked to bring. My best friend is making the cake. I will post that later. Can't wait to see it.

Vintage redwork & portrait of Solomon Northup

Happy Stitching!

Grow Your Blog 2014- Redwork portraits

I began embroidering in 1998 when I started a summer job at the Saratoga Battlefield in upstate NY. All of the other interpretive Rangers had skills when we were stationed at stop 2 on the tour road (the Nielson House), except me. I read for a few weeks, but I had a difficult time putting my book away when visitors arrived. Plus, my introverted nature would allow me to use the book as a crutch. I needed something else. As a kid I did long stitch needlepoint, & remembered enjoying it. Therefore, I decided crewel work & embroidery would be perfect.

Me as an Interpretive Park Ranger in 1998

Now, here I am, nearly 16 years later, still embroidering, & writing/blogging about it! Sharing my work on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram...

My current love is embroidered portraits. Ones that I completed recently are of 2 of my favorite singer/songwriters.

I have loved Richard Marx's music since I 1st heard Should've Known Better on Fly 92.3 FM (Albany, NY) at the ripe old age of 13. I have seen him in concert 3 times, & have all of his albums. I sing along in the car, & on my ipod while I embroider in my room.

Portrait of Richard Marx traced on muslin

I typically trace the pattern, either one I create, or one I buy, on bleached or unbleached muslin using a no. 2 pencil. As I did in the above image.

Generally I watch movies or listen to music while I stitch. Here, I had a night of music movies while stitching.

About half way through embroidering Richard Marx

The finished redwork portrait below. I'm thinking of creating a bunch of embroidered portraits of singers that inspire me & make a quilt out of them...

The finished embroidered portrait of Richard Marx

I re-discovered Gavin DeGraw when he appeared on Dancing With the Stars. I bought his current album then, & started listening to his 1st album that I got when I worked at Borders in Saratoga Springs, NY. (Oh, how I miss Borders.) Now I have all of his albums & listen to them almost as much as the a fore mentioned Mr. Marx.

Traced out and ready to stitch- Gavin DeGraw

 I love redwork embroidery for 2 reasons.
1.) Red is my favorite color & that's why I was originally drawn to it.
2.) it is very simple & clean. By simple I mean crisp, uncluttered, unpretentious, not easy. There is still a certain level of mastery required, though it is great for beginners because it, typically, only requires mastery of 3 different stitches (back stitch or outline stitch, french knots & lazy daisy).

I love the way this portrait came out. It is casual,  & slightly primitive, but modern in its own way.

Gavin DeGraw portrait completed

Thank you for visiting!
Tisha
Aprilsongstress
 aprilsongstress@gmail.com
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For the complete lists of blogs participating on Grown Your Blog 2014 click here.