In Progress Craft Projects

Below are some of my in progress craft projects. I hope to eventually finish them and post an update.

The public domain photo above of Camille Pissarro’s 1897 “The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning” is from https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437310

I purchased a diamond painting kit of “The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning” by Camille Pissarro from AliExpress Zamyel Store
- Due to the YouTube video “What a Copyright Strike Taught Me – A Wake Up Call for the Diamond Painting Community” by Tiny Worlds of Wonder (https://youtu.be/l7Vo44-B6bc) I don’t want to take any chances with copyrights.
- I have older craft kits I purchased and did not think copyright was an issue with them. Going forward I going to make sure it is a copyright free item and stick to the public domain photos and or older paintings or have something uniquely my own.
- I purchased the larger size of 50*70 cm for just under $20, and I already put together some 20″x30″ stretcher bars with acid-free foam board for it. I am very happy it works well with a somewhat standard frame size. The actual painting size is smaller than 20″x30″ and I already cut a piece of of this shiny almost metallic black fabric for the background on the frame and zigzag stitched the edges and attached the fabric to fusible interfacing.
- The actual diamond painting canvas is finished as of March or April 2021, but I still have to frame this. I have stretcher bars with acid free foam board already assembled, but in the future I plan to use canvas panel boards as they are more storage friendly and sturdier than foam board. There are so many options with framing I am not sure how I am going to frame this. I might just wrap this painting with black fabric and then glue and seal the diamond painting to the foam board on the stretcher bars. For future pieces I may seal and paint and blend the edges of a canvas panel.
- For reference, if I decide to paint blended edges on this the top two colors per the color list are DMC 3072 and 452.
- This is finished probably as of 2023 or 2022, I just have to frame it.

Autumn Tree Cross Stitch Kit
- - finished the cross stitch probably in mid 2019
  - still have to
    - soak it in water to remove the print
    - add additional beads and sequins
    - frame on stretcher bars
    - figure out what frame to use as now agree with the benefits of a frame and glass/Plexiglas

Summer Tree Cross Stitch Kit
- as of April 2020, still working the actual cross stitch and then to add beads (just a style option I like) and frame on stretcher bars (14 in x 14 in or 35.56 cm x 35.56 cm)

Spring Tree Cross Stitch Kit
- finished the cross stitch probably in mid 2019
- still have to
  - soak it in water to remove the print
  - add additional beads and sequins
  - frame on stretcher bars
  - figure out what frame to use as now agree with the benefits of a frame and glass/Plexiglas
  - I have each of these cross stitch four seasons trees completed as of March 2021. They were started in 2017. However, I am still working on framing them.
- This is also finished maybe as of 2020 I just feel I have to frame them better.

Für Elise – Adult Beginner Level Version

This is a video of myself playing a beginner version of Für Elise by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). It is a live unedited performance. I recorded myself several times with my cell phone and a Focusrite Scarlett and chose my favorite performance. I chose the colors orange and white for the falling notes because my shelter adopted former stray cat, Ezra Ronnie, is orange and white and Für Elise is a fiery and dramatic and recognizable song kind of like the colors orange and white.

The collage that I made for this video has photos of three cats. One cat looks similar to Ezra. Another cat looks similar to my first cat, Tabby, who passed away years ago. She was a wonderful cat. This song was a bit of a challenge. Also, I learned it around August 2023 and am just posting it here rather late in March 2024. Measures 45 to 56 were probably the hardest part of the song to learn. Maybe in the future I will try something like the Soundbrenner Pulse or a regular metronome to help with the rhythm. I did not use any metronome device and was just feeling the rhythm. The metronome is almost distracting to me so something like the Soundbrenner Pulse would probably work better for me. For some people the traditional metronome is preferred and works well for them.