Back to the Back of Mom's Hamsa

Stitching detail on the back of the Hamsa piece.

I finally finished stitching the back of my Mom's 80th Birthday Hamsa piece.

Now I need to add beaded loops and a couple of beads at the corners. I'm thinking about using some African white heart beads (red with a white center). They will go well with the red stitching.

Here is a photo of the front of the piece with the special hamsa I designed for my Mom.

I will be journeying down to Savannah in early August to escort my parents up to Maine for our annual family reunion. I know she will be happy to finally have the finished piece.

The Searching for Roy G Biv Challenge continues through midnight tomorrow (Saturday)...so there is still time to post some yellow photos.

Mom's Birthday Hamsa Continued

 I finished stitching my mom's 80th birthday hamsa at the airport yesterday.

When I got home, I looked through some of my other printed fabrics. I decided to stitch another Star of David on one of the printed doily fabrics. My original thought was to put it on the back of the hanging (and I probably still will) with the red strip of XOXOX fabric.

But I also liked how the star related to the hamsa...like mother and daughter.

I will need to put this aside temporarily as other projects are calling me this week.

Robbin's Woven Bag

Robbin's finished bag

For the past two summers, my extended family has spent a week together in Cape Cod, MA. Both summers, I designed a fiber art project for the family (and in particular, for my talented niece, Ivy) to work on.

Last summer, I designed a special weaving loom (an ingenious one, I have to admit!) to create two possible bag designs.

The loom I designed for last summer's project

Robbin working on her woven bag last summer

This weekend, when we all got together for Mom's 80th, Robbin brought her bag. She put the finishing stitches into her lining. I was so pleased to see the finished piece.

A peek at the beautiful lining

Robbin seemed pleased as well.

Celebration Time!

Spending time with family today celebrating Mom's 80th!

Shh...It's a Surprise! Birthday Hamsas

I've been hedging my bets and working on two versions of the hamsa design. Both are in process. Hope at least one gets done!

I'm on the road tomorrow. Back to Savannah to celebrate Mom's 80th! She is an amazing woman, still playing tennis and golf and involved in her community. Hope those genes got passed on to me!

Needing to Dig Out

OMG I can't believe I'm showing you all this!

 It feels like it's been a crazy month. Lots of weekend travels. Too many classes to prepare for. Too many projects on my mind.

The studio, as you can see, is in a total state of disarray. My Mom would cringe, if she could see it! I really need to dig out..excavate down to those lower layers. Put things away. Throw things out.

 And yet... we are leaving again this Thursday...this time back to Savannah for my Mom's 80th birthday celebration. It seems likely that it won't all get completed by then.

Which brings me to my gift dilemma. I have designed this hamsa for my Mom. As it is a special birthday, I thought I would stitch this hamsa. So, I created two pieces of cloth and because I couldn't decide, I started stitching on each one. Then my neck and shoulder started to really hurt and the prospect of really stitching (and my friends know what I mean by really) seemed like it might be an impossibility.

Mom's hamsa design in process

First piece of background fabric painted and printed using a doily.

Second piece of background fabric painted and printed with a doily.

So now I thinking...should I do this in colored pencil? Should I carve a block and print it? Should I just stitch it as an outline on the fabric in a contrasting color...should I do more than one thing?

The finished design with hidden hearts and Star of David.

I am having trouble with decisions...my mind seems about as cluttered as the studio.
And of course, the bathrooms need cleaning and the garden needs weeding.....