A fun project - Creative Output / Got Mangoes?

Creative Output - with thread!

A Stitched Portrait of My Dog!

This was a fun idea I saw on a PBS TV show called Quilting Arts with Pokey Bolton based on the magazine of the same title.  

She showed the viewers how to make a portrait of your pet using just thread!

I keep my special thread in a jar

it stays fresher that way - just kidding!  It looks decorative in my sewing room and with the lid on it keeps the dust away.

Simply find a nice picture of your pet

print the photo out on wash away foundation paper 

and stitch over the image.  I don't have a shot of this because I did this project before I started blogging about my projects

but it comes out a little like this.

Stitch over the image until you have filled in as much as you want - a lot or a little.  I lowered my feed dogs (sounds like a pun, doesn't it?!) on my machine and used an open toe foot like for quilting

and this was good practice adjusting my speed that I was comfortable with.  Mistakes don't show - they blend in!  So the only real mistake is I should have picked a less hairy puppy picture - but it was a fun project and good exercise.

Then just wash away the paper with a good rinse  when you think you've filled it in to your liking.  All that's left is a thread portrait!

Teddy is not the puppy he was in the photograph, but I think he likes it!

Got Mangoes?  How do you peel one of these things?

Cut the fruit off the pit - that center slice is what's around the pit.  It's pretty large, but you can cut a bit off each side.  Then score the flesh of the fruit horizontally and diagonally.  

final step is to push the fruit out by bending the peel back

and then cut your tasty treat off the peel!

This doesn't have anything to do with my cookbook challenge but I thought it was good information.  Mix up mangoes with raspberries and blueberries for a healthy antioxidant rich salad!

Simple stuff today, I am getting ready to drive my son to college - 9 hours there and 9 hours back the next day.  Yeah.

Pam

p.s.  teenager tip:  don't put the college cling on the van until after he has completed his first year, wants to go back and is welcomed back!