I'll Take Mine Black!

This is the sister piece to Cappuccino, Prega! Same black and white background, but colorful prints and hand-dyes for the mat, cup and saucer. Everything is fused down, but no stitching has been done yet. I'm also not sure what object to place on the table with the cup - Cappuccino, Prega has a bottle of cream. A bottle of Amaretto maybe? Bailey's? Hmmm ... both have possibilities. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Cappuccino - Finale

It's now completed and ready to hang! I fused the binding and then obsessively stitched frosted glass seed beads all around the perimeter every quarter-inch or so. I picked up the binding print at Keepsake Quilting last Saturday - I needed more black and white fabrics for the next piece in the series.

Here's a close-up on the froth - you might be able to see the blanket stitch a bit better at the base of the steam.

Now I think I need to go downstairs and my myself a cup of coffee!

Cappuccino

It's telling me it's done and it's ready for finishing. The name has been changed to one more appropriate given the beading.

The coffee bean beans are actually glass; the cappuccino foam is an assortment of frosted white beads. I used a single strand of silk thread to outline the dupioni steam with blanket stitch. I also used perle cotton in a running stitch to create steam swirls - too chunky to be called "quilting" but manages to hold the upper part of the quilt sandwich together.

I really like it and I know it will look great hanging in the restaurant - be sure to click on the image for a close-up.

Beads and Frogs and some Fun with Illustrator

I've been working on Cafe au Lait - added some bead froth. I'm going to have to rename it Cappuccino I guess! I also started doing some hand-quilting - I was using some variegated purple/black thread and following the swirls on the tablecloth. Right down the center of the white swirls. It had a dizzying effect. Too dizzying, so I ripped it out. I really just need to finish it up so I can bring it down to the restaurant.

I've also been working on my self-portrait. I wanted it to be somewhat realistic so I've decided to place myself in one of our Troutman rockers that I have up in my studio, next to the window and my sewing table. Of course there needs to be coffee in the picture.

My laptop has a built-in camera, so I took a couple of pictures of myself sipping coffee from my favorite cup. I had to do it twice - once holding the cup with my left hand and once with my right - so I could still click the button to take the picture. I then merged the pictures and placed them on top of my rough line drawing and amazingly everything lined up! Now to actually find the right fabrics. Maybe tomorrow? We're supposed to get a lot of snow tomorrow evening - if I get everything together I'll have plenty of handwork to do should the power go out.

... I apologize for this interruption

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