Alice in Wonderland, the movie

Have you seen the movie Alice in Wonderland yet?

Stephen Greydanus gives a far better review than most (the link is inclusive and has an excellent viewer comment included).  Simplistic me, I enjoyed the 3-D graphics, and believe it was worth the price of admission to enjoy the graphics and costuming.

Loved the Queen of Hearts' red valentine mouth!  And Tweedledum and Tweedledee were captivating.

An enjoyable film, and popcorn and soda were not necessary concessions for added entertainment value.

Using Crayons & Watercolor Pencils to Tint Fabric

Thinking I would try crayons or watercolor pencils to tint fabric in preparation for embroidery, I researched some options. I knew that crayons could be used to color fabric, but was unsure of applying the waxy color directly to the fabric, thinking the color would run. However, TintedLinenTutorial gave these easy instructions:

Trace your pattern onto your fabric very lightly with a pencil or a water soluble marker... Tape the fabric down on the corners to a flat smooth surface.Take out your crayons and color! You may need to color a little harder in the fabric because the ironing will soften the crayon. Experiment with shading to add depth or only color a few things to really make a bold statement. Try to color in the same direction because the strokes will show (unless this is the effect you are trying to achieve).

When you are satisfied with yourself, sandwich the fabric between 2 pieces of plain paper. Set your iron to the "cotton" setting. Press the fabric sandwich slowly and smoothly. This will 'set' the crayon. You may need to press a few times to get the results you want. I did mine a few times to soften and melt the crayon for a smoother effect. From this point you can either back the design with another piece of fabric or place in an embroidery hoop. Embroider your heart away! Use different stitches, beads, sequins, etc.

The possibilities are endless with this technique. Experiment, be brave, try new things!

But wouldn't it be easier to just embroider a design, and then color it in with crayon? Apparently, this option of "coloring within the lines" is a no-no, because in another thread discussion, Contadine said:

You could stitch first, but that causes a few problems - You can't get right up tight to the stitching without getting some wax on the threads. Once you iron, that wax melts a little and makes your stitching look funny. If you scrub the piece heavily between ironing, you'll rough the threads up too much, and they'll look very fuzzy.When you iron, place a piece of copier paper on your ironing board, and then the colored fabric face down on it, and iron from the backside, or you'll get melted wax everywhere!

OK, so now I was ready to try my hand at this. I pulled out some old fabric cocktail napkins from the 1940's which were still usable, and had nice hand-work on the edges.

Now for a design choice for embroidery...a pink ribbon since Relay for Life is a timely June topic, and I recently knew of a friend with a breast cancer recurrence who might need a "pick-me-up".
Here is a picture of five napkins with pink ribbons crayoned on them. The blue outline is a water soluble pen that I used for sketching the ribbons on the napkins. Then the napkins were ironed between white copy paper to take off some of the waxy color.

And here is the finished product on the right. The pinks came out pretty well, and I was surprised that so much color stayed on the fabric. A heavy embroidery floss in dark pink was threaded and used for the outline whipped stem stitch.

More examples of using crayons to tint fabric can be found at TheFlossBox. Another great source for embroidery patterns can be found at Needlecrafter. And I found some cute pictures drawn by Beatrix Potter through a Google search, and some transfer-worthy images of Peter Rabbit here.

Jemima Puddle-duck of Beatrix Potter fame will be my next quilt square for a baby blanket, and I plan to tint Jemima with watercolor pencils in blues for her hat and pinks and roses for her shawl.

Check out the Beatrix Potter website for delightful illustrations, and more about her life here at the BeatrixPotterSociety. If you are a fan of hers (like I am), you might be interested in seeing the movie Miss Potter. Renee Zellweger was the star, and it was a delightful film IMHO.

At VintagePatterns, an entire free catalog from 1886 of embroidery patterns is available on-line and in the public domain. This site is fascinating. Tutorials are also given of how to turn the patterns into usable designs.

And to think that our foremothers probably used some of these patterns on their lingerie!

Windows Movie Maker - Song & Spring Pictures to Video

I have been trying out a new craft on my computer through the free Windows program called "Movie Maker". Since I had lots of digital pictures of growing flowers and some original oil paintings of flowers, I decided to marry them and created this video. Superimposed into the video is the upbeat song from the recent movie JUNO. This might give you a smile (just click on the arrow on the blue screen below).

lyrics from the movie JUNO

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and green
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and green
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall,
The rumble of your water would be my call.
If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow
Just as long as you were with me, let the cold winds blow

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were the wood, I'd be the fire.
If you were the love, I'd be the desire.
If you were a castle, I'd be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

By Barry Polisar (from Polisar)

The Other Boleyn Girl

Since reading a book of the same title by Philippa Gregory last year, I have been fascinated not only by the correct depiction of the historical facts, but also to see the costuming for the 16th century. So I was anxiously awaiting the movie on big screen.

If your history needs a bit of a brush-up on the facts surrounding King Henry VIII and/or Anne Bolyen, this site The Monarch succinctly displays information pertaining to that era.

If you want a professional movie review, visit Rotten Tomatoes for all the background movie information, including the cast of stars.

But what I was panting to see was the costumes. And I desired the entertainment element of viewing on screen the bizarre facts of how Henry VIII split with the Catholic church and forever changed the face of English history.

The golden hues of pastoral settings and vivid, metallic colors in the women’s gowns and Henry’s attire were, indeed, lovely. And I was impressed how accurately all the known facts were crammed into a two hour movie.

I did crave feasting my eyes on more banquet scenes and the food of the period. Only two rich background shots, one of roasting meats and one camera-hurried dinner at court, were all the viewer was served for food eye candy; even those shots were miserly portioned out by the film editors.

Thank Heavens for NetFlix where I can again see the movie and frame-stop those two quick scenes!

Also, I was disappointed in the portrayal of Henry himself. Instead of the curmudgeonly, portly, syphilitic older man that he must have been at the time these events occurred, The King was represented by this hunka-hunka guy Eric Bana who was young enough to be my son. Really, I am not ancient, but the guy was no old, bad toothed, probably odiforous, overweight monarch, either. He (Eric Bana) was HOT!

Portmann and Johansson were lovely (sniff). In my humble opinion, it was Catherine of Aragon, Wife #1, (Kristin Scott Thomas) who was the true star. How could one's sympathies and heart not go out to this sweetly portrayed, once beloved by her husband, saintly, elegant yet soon displaced wife?

If you want another viewpoint (and male oriented), read what my husband thought of the movie in his post today: Chicks Flick.