A good question has come up several times over in the Paint•Stitch•Bead classroom. Is it possible to reuse a vinyl stencil? My knee-jerk reaction to this question is to say “nope — vinyl makes for a one-and-done stencil.” But is that true? Is it truly not possible to reuse a vinyl stencil? I painted this […]
Pint-Sized Projects
For the past 3 years, I’ve been working on large Stitched Paintings. As much as I love these embroideries, they are big projects and often take months to complete. A month or so ago, I thought I would try — one more time — to figure out how to work on pint-sized projects that don’t […]
A Special Sofa for my Castle
When I purchased a home in Mexico, I didn’t just purchase a home. Nope! True to my overly vivid imagination, I bought myself a castle. And, of course, not just any old sofa belongs in the living room of a castle –– only a very special sofa will do! When the hotel in our compound […]
Forging a New Creative Identity
For the past three years, I’ve been on a nice, long time-out from my business. During that time, Jack and I bought a home, sold a home, and moved from the middle of Minnesota to the middle of Mexico. But more importantly, the break gave me time to forge a new creative identity. I needed […]
Masks for Teletón Guadalajara
It started with a phone call. “Benjamin? It’s Becca in Chapala. I have a question. Are they going to need masks for Teletón when they re-open the hospital in Guadalajara?” Still in the midst of a mask-making project for adults, Becca thought the folks at Teletón might need 400 masks for the children in the […]
StarFlower 5 Complete!
Completions are a big deal here at Cedar Canyon, especially when a project stretches out for months. Needless to say, I’m happy to say (shout?) StarFlower 5 Compete!!! Ahem… did I say that loudly enough? When I wrote my last update a few weeks ago, I was chuckling about the value of Ugly Brown Beads […]
The Case for Ugly Brown Beads
As much as I love bright colors on dark fabric, there are times when my muse takes me off in an unexpected direction. My current project includes a lot of stitching in warm colors in graduated tones. (Think gold, rust and deep reds). It even provided the case for — get this — ugly brown […]
StarFlower 5 Stitch Update
I’m at a particularly happy stage with my current Paint • Stitch • Bead adventure, so I thought I would pause and give you a StarFlower 5 stitch update. Start with Paintstiks My normal working order is to create Renegade Stencils using the Silhouette Studio software and then cut the stencil(s) from vinyl with a […]
Are Paintstik Colors Eraser-Proof?
One of the things that makes me crazy is adding stitching to a shape and then deciding that it just doesn’t work. After several stops and starts on my current project, I knew I had to give up on lattice-work for this particular shape. But that left me facing a big (and rather scary) question. […]
Create a Habit in 3 Steps • Round 2
When I wrote about this topic back in 2017, we were preparing to sell our house in Minnesota and my life was overly busy. Today, I have far too much unstructured time on my hands due to the Covid-19 pandemic and local stay-at-home orders. Thankfully, one strategy – to Create a Habit in 3 Steps […]
Fill the Hole in a Vintage Guatemalan Huipil
On a trip to Guatemala in February, I purchased a number of vintage hupiles (Guatemalan blouses) from Chichicastenango region. I loved the geometric designs in the weaving and knew they would be perfect for an upholstery project. But… when you repurpose these used garments for a project, you have to Fill the Hole. And that […]
Mask Maker’s Secret Weapon
I’ve looked at (and completed) more fitted fabric face masks in the last few weeks than I care to think about. After stitching over hundreds (and hundreds) of bumpy, lumpy seams, I realized that a Mask Maker’s Secret Weapon was staring me right in the face. Well, not exactly staring at me. But only a […]
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