Last week on Art with a Needle

Longtime readers know that every year I make personalized ornaments for a slew of family and friends.  Some years it's easier than others to figure out what to make, but often I stew over many different plans before finally stumbling, exhausted, onto what I want to do. 

So far this year I have settled on, and then rejected, (1) making organza envelopes into which I would slip a calligraphed Christmas or holiday song, (2) machine embroidering everybody's name onto canvas, perhaps accompanied with a portrait of Santa Claus, (3) calligraphing the names onto paper and mounting on mat board, and probably a few others that came and went before even developing into plans.  But today I not only made a decision, but sent my daughter-in-law on a mission to buy the materials I need while she was in the fabric store. 

I did this guy as a miniature, then decided my drawing skills and endurance aren't up to doing it 50 times.

















This is not the latest I've ever gotten started on my ornaments -- I have left it as late as the day after Thanksgiving -- but it's sure down there in the bottom decile and I'm not proud of it.  This week will be a busy one. 

Every year I like to make an ornament for one or two of my blog followers, just to say thanks for reading.  If you'd like to be in the running, leave a comment before Thanksgiving evening.

After I wrote about my daily calligraphy while I was away on the sea, Rachel commented: "I found the densely packed script far more interesting and inviting than the regular script."  I think I agree.  I have even considered tearing some of those pages out of my sketchbooks and framing them as freestanding Works Of Art.  Or maybe it would look dumb to have the date on each page, and I should make some new ones, without dates, that aren't part of the daily art project.

Here's my favorite ornament of the week, a little accordion book made from a postcard announcing a museum show:

You can check out all my daily art, calligraphy and miniatures, on my daily art blog HERE.