The end is nigh. End of the year, anyways. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. We really didn't do much as money is tight and family were unable to be with us. But it was a very nice Christmas and the first in our new house!
The last few weeks I've had an influx on orders through my Etsy site. I had a stroke of luck when someone received one of my pieces through her secret santa. She was so happy that she shared it on Reddit and I got orders from that. Thankfully due to those orders and some subversive ornaments I sold, I was able to order a low-priced sewing machine. Next up, geek pillows! (Once I figure out how to run a sewing machine.)
Tschus!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Art therapy
This post is about a piece of art I created to help me heal from a miscarriage. If this subject bothers you, please stop reading now.
I'm not sure how to start this post so I'll just go through technical details first and see what happens.
I started this from a photo that Ron took of me the night we got our first positive pregnancy test. Seeing the word "Pregnant" on the stick was amazing. I always wondered how I'd really feel about it and I felt a rush of happiness. I've never seen such a wide smile on Ron's face before! We laughed, I cried, and then we just settled into a state of nerves and giddiness. Vowing not to tell hardly a soul, we ended up spilling the beans to some friends, his mother and a few coworkers.
As many of you know, that is the kiss of death on an early pregnancy. Why this is, I'm not sure. The happier you are and the more people you tell right away, the greater your chances are of losing it.
Anyways, you can read the miscarriage story here if you don't know it already.
I printed off the never-before shared photo from that night on a piece of fabric designed for computer printers. Then I found an image from good 'ol Google of an outline of the female form. I traced it onto the photo fabric and free-formed a very crude uterus and blood puddle.
This piece is about irony and grief. It's a juxtaposition of the happy, obligatory smiling face next to a positive pee stick and the blank, mute form of a woman, bleeding onto the ground.
To be honest, just manipulating the original photo and then stitching this up made me a little sick to my stomach. There were tears. I had to pause a few times and just do something else for a bit. However, it is finished and now the preoccupation I've had for several weeks over this project is laid to rest. When I look at this, I see happiness, pain and some peace. It's almost as if during the process of creating something, you take all those emotions out of your head and put it into your piece. I can visit the piece and go through the emotions if I choose to, or I can just reflect on it.
There you have it. Art therapy. Eventually I'll get some mounting board and frame it so it can join other pieces on my art wall.
Thanks for reading and looking at it. I appreciate comments but don't feel obligated. Tschus. :)
I'm not sure how to start this post so I'll just go through technical details first and see what happens.
I started this from a photo that Ron took of me the night we got our first positive pregnancy test. Seeing the word "Pregnant" on the stick was amazing. I always wondered how I'd really feel about it and I felt a rush of happiness. I've never seen such a wide smile on Ron's face before! We laughed, I cried, and then we just settled into a state of nerves and giddiness. Vowing not to tell hardly a soul, we ended up spilling the beans to some friends, his mother and a few coworkers.
As many of you know, that is the kiss of death on an early pregnancy. Why this is, I'm not sure. The happier you are and the more people you tell right away, the greater your chances are of losing it.
Anyways, you can read the miscarriage story here if you don't know it already.
I printed off the never-before shared photo from that night on a piece of fabric designed for computer printers. Then I found an image from good 'ol Google of an outline of the female form. I traced it onto the photo fabric and free-formed a very crude uterus and blood puddle.
This piece is about irony and grief. It's a juxtaposition of the happy, obligatory smiling face next to a positive pee stick and the blank, mute form of a woman, bleeding onto the ground.
To be honest, just manipulating the original photo and then stitching this up made me a little sick to my stomach. There were tears. I had to pause a few times and just do something else for a bit. However, it is finished and now the preoccupation I've had for several weeks over this project is laid to rest. When I look at this, I see happiness, pain and some peace. It's almost as if during the process of creating something, you take all those emotions out of your head and put it into your piece. I can visit the piece and go through the emotions if I choose to, or I can just reflect on it.
There you have it. Art therapy. Eventually I'll get some mounting board and frame it so it can join other pieces on my art wall.
Thanks for reading and looking at it. I appreciate comments but don't feel obligated. Tschus. :)
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Shaun of the Dead, in Galaga form
My latest swap piece is finished. The theme this time is a horror mash-up: take something from the horror genre and put it with something seemingly unrelated, like Abe Lincoln Vampire Hunter.
So if you've never played Galaga (seriously?!), then I suppose you need a frame of reference. Click on the hyperlink. It was an old arcade game that I used to play when spending hours at the mall. It was the only game in the scary, dark arcade that I played well. I'm still addicted to it and will happily play when it's available. The old game is pretty pixelated.
I had some help to come up with the pattern idea. Mr.X Stitch suggested using Shaun and Ed for the shooters when I threw my idea of a zombie/space shooter at him. Ron helped me with little details, such as including "red" on Shaun's shirt. I took my old Bruce Campbell pattern and changed the figures into Shaun, Ed, Mary the zombie and a generic zombie from an old Nintendo game. (I'm not sure which one but when I googled 'pixelated zombie' it came up.) I checked a bunch of screen shots from the movie to come up with basic colors to try and match the characters.
It didn't take terribly long once I made myself sit down and do it. I unfortunately didn't consider the size of it when finished so it was a weird dimension, like 8 inches by 7 inches. Not exactly frame-able. So I glued it to a thin piece of canvas and bordered it with some black ribbon. It is drying now. I think it could be popped into an 8 inch by ten inch frame if the person wants to hang it. I believe she lives in Germany so I will have another piece floating around Europe. Cool stuff! I like it. As soon as it is dry and I have some cash, I'll send it on over!
Have a good one, tschus!
So if you've never played Galaga (seriously?!), then I suppose you need a frame of reference. Click on the hyperlink. It was an old arcade game that I used to play when spending hours at the mall. It was the only game in the scary, dark arcade that I played well. I'm still addicted to it and will happily play when it's available. The old game is pretty pixelated.
I had some help to come up with the pattern idea. Mr.X Stitch suggested using Shaun and Ed for the shooters when I threw my idea of a zombie/space shooter at him. Ron helped me with little details, such as including "red" on Shaun's shirt. I took my old Bruce Campbell pattern and changed the figures into Shaun, Ed, Mary the zombie and a generic zombie from an old Nintendo game. (I'm not sure which one but when I googled 'pixelated zombie' it came up.) I checked a bunch of screen shots from the movie to come up with basic colors to try and match the characters.
It didn't take terribly long once I made myself sit down and do it. I unfortunately didn't consider the size of it when finished so it was a weird dimension, like 8 inches by 7 inches. Not exactly frame-able. So I glued it to a thin piece of canvas and bordered it with some black ribbon. It is drying now. I think it could be popped into an 8 inch by ten inch frame if the person wants to hang it. I believe she lives in Germany so I will have another piece floating around Europe. Cool stuff! I like it. As soon as it is dry and I have some cash, I'll send it on over!
Have a good one, tschus!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
“Fleeced” stitch
Didn't I post this yet? Ah well I'm sure you've seen it on my Facebook page. If not, this was the last stitch that I did. It's a quote from the tv series Deadwood. Al Swearengen is one of my faves and I had to finish this piece before I got to the actual town of Deadwood.
I want to make it into a pillow however I've never made a pillow in my life. So I'm considering a small sewing machine purchase and reading a crap load of tutorials. Any thoughts? I'd love some kitchy cowboy fabric for the back.
That's all for now. Pain, tired, looking at some life transition stuff....heh. No biggie!!!
Tschus.
I want to make it into a pillow however I've never made a pillow in my life. So I'm considering a small sewing machine purchase and reading a crap load of tutorials. Any thoughts? I'd love some kitchy cowboy fabric for the back.
That's all for now. Pain, tired, looking at some life transition stuff....heh. No biggie!!!
Tschus.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Something a bit lighter perhaps?
My last stitching project for the Flickr Phat Quarter swap. I took this from a drawing posted on the web:
Zen Kitty and his garden of zen poop is now residing in England. Not sure what I'll do next!
Zen Kitty and his garden of zen poop is now residing in England. Not sure what I'll do next!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Last couple of stitches
I just realized that I hadn't posted the last couple of stitches I did! The griffin was from a very complicated pattern I bought. The pattern numbers were odd so there were odd irregularities here and there. Drove me crazy! I had to compensate for some of that on my own so it's definitely not perfect.
That was given to my best friend from high school for Christmas. I am completely late on her birthday present. D'oh!
Bender was a pattern I put together in PCStitch about a year ago. The Phat Quarter (on Flickr) swap theme this time was for a cartoon or comic with text. I was ecstatic that I already had the basic pattern ready so it was a quick stitch. I haven't received mine yet but I have no doubt that this time I will receive something during the swap.
If you have PCStitch and want to swap patterns, leave me a comment! This is obviously not something I can ever sell due to copyright issues but I can definitely swap the pattern for free.
I bought some transfer pens and need to get some energy to work up a pattern on some muslin. I'll be sure to put in a post after I do!
That was given to my best friend from high school for Christmas. I am completely late on her birthday present. D'oh!
Bender was a pattern I put together in PCStitch about a year ago. The Phat Quarter (on Flickr) swap theme this time was for a cartoon or comic with text. I was ecstatic that I already had the basic pattern ready so it was a quick stitch. I haven't received mine yet but I have no doubt that this time I will receive something during the swap.
If you have PCStitch and want to swap patterns, leave me a comment! This is obviously not something I can ever sell due to copyright issues but I can definitely swap the pattern for free.
I bought some transfer pens and need to get some energy to work up a pattern on some muslin. I'll be sure to put in a post after I do!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Great googly moogly
Isn't that what Mr. Magoo used to say? Maybe I'm not remembering it right. I had my eyes dilated today around 9:30 and things are still a bit blurry. This is what I felt like driving around today:
Yes, I realize I should not have been driving. I used to really love watching old re-runs of Mr. Magoo. Maybe I'll have to do a stitch of him soon. Yeah.........that's the ticket.
Tschus!
PS
In finding the following image (in which I see myself and our dog Rowdy)...
...I found a blog which compares the United States with Mr. Magoo. Only the blogger calls the US, Amerikkka, and says the US is like Magoo in its relations to the Muslim world. I could explain further but I feel like just linking it will put me on some kind of watch list so I'll let you read it for yourself. http://ruminations52.blogspot.com/2007/02/amerikkka-as-mr.html Well, whatever your feeling on our government and its blunders, I am not sure comparing it with the KKK is right. But whatever.
Yes, I realize I should not have been driving. I used to really love watching old re-runs of Mr. Magoo. Maybe I'll have to do a stitch of him soon. Yeah.........that's the ticket.
Tschus!
PS
In finding the following image (in which I see myself and our dog Rowdy)...
...I found a blog which compares the United States with Mr. Magoo. Only the blogger calls the US, Amerikkka, and says the US is like Magoo in its relations to the Muslim world. I could explain further but I feel like just linking it will put me on some kind of watch list so I'll let you read it for yourself. http://ruminations52.blogspot.com/2007/02/amerikkka-as-mr.html Well, whatever your feeling on our government and its blunders, I am not sure comparing it with the KKK is right. But whatever.
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