Seen around town and new swap piece

I really need to work on my blog titles. :) Anyways, I thought it would be neat to post some photos of embroidery and fiber art pieces that I see when I stop at museums.

It's amazing how much stitchery you can find when you really stop and look for them. Normally I see them at antique and thrift stores but I rarely have my camera on those trips. This time I made an effort to look for them while at the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Historic Site in Olathe, Kansas. It is the last working stagecoach stop and living history farm on the Santa Fe Trail.



This is a fantastic quilt in great condition. I'm not sure what type of quilt style it is, maybe one of you know?



Friendship, Love and Truth. I saw chain and satin stitches for sure but it was a little far away so I was unable to examine it further. Plus, flashes are a no-no on these things.



These two were way too far away for me to get a good photo but they were very pretty.



The staff work on all kinds of needlework and knitting while they wait for visitors to tour the home. Here is a sample of some of the on-going work they are doing now. It's kind of fun to look at the hoops and be able to identify the types of stitching being used.



And finally, you'll remember my previous post about the little pigeon for the Phat Quarter swap over on Flickr. This is the awesome piece that I received from FiberArtsy. This is a quote from the book World War Z, by Max Brooks. I think this is one of the best zombie books I've read so far. Phalanx was a drug mentioned in the book that was created so people didn't develop "African Rabies." Brilliant!! I think her ability to envision a small segment of the book into such a clean, crisp and beautiful embroidery is amazing. I could never hand draw something like this to begin with and then to stitch it so well. Well maybe after loads of more practice! So thank you FiberArtsy! I can't wait to hang this up!

Please head on over to Phat Quarter and join the group if you haven't already. You don't need to be an experienced stitcher to join. Just join, start making stuff and people will help you with advice and inspiration. :) Once you post some photos to the group, you can join in a swap. They have them every time there is a month with five Fridays. Or if you are looking for a broader based crafting community, please go to Craftster! There is literally something for everyone on there: bakers, painters, knitters, stitchers, sewers, etc. And they often have swaps and stitch-alongs too. I can honestly say that I've met (online) some of the nicest, smartest and most wonderful people through these craft groups.

Are you oozing with love and creativity yet? :)

Hope you all are having a great week, tschus!

Catching up

Here are images of the last three projects I worked on.  I have some ideas of things I need and want to do soon.  Some of them involve Christmas presents.  I better get started on those!  November will probably go very quickly.


Come Get Some tote bag feature the almighty Bruce Campbell!



The first of the 1898 Antikamnia Calendar series.



This was a piece done to recognize domestic abuse.  Yes, it's a personal story.  No, not going to blog about it.  However you can check out Craftster if you want to know more about the piece.  Enough said on that.

Rowdy is shrieking at me to go outside so I'm cutting off the blog for now. 

Mas besser

Here is my cross-stitch that I referred to in a previous post.  The recipient received it so I was able to make the photo public finally.  I kind of miss this piece.  It looked good sitting in our living room.



I did a piece yesterday for a Craftster challenge and I'll have that posted by Monday.  I'm also working on a piece I patterned after an obscure 1898 calendar.  Hopefully that will be done soon.  I've got to stitch something together to trade with a woman at work who makes and fixes jewelry.  I've got some things for her to fix!

That is about all I can think of for now.  This is a busy month so I'm sure there will be more blog posts to come.  Tschus!

Things to do to pass (waste) time

We hit the jackpot this weekend at Game Co.  It's like Game Stop only more vintage, and they pay a lot more for your games.  We got a nice credit with them and picked up several used games.  I was pretty geeked to find two Evil Dead games on XBox:



I haven't played A Fistful of Boomstick yet but I did play Regeneration for over an hour today.  It is HILARIOUS.  Ted Raimi does the voice of your midget Deadite sidekick and Bruce does Ash's voice, of course.  There are a lot of catchy one-liners and general hilarity.  The best part?  You can lock on your enemies and punt the Deadite to attack them.  I love it!    Since having an XBox is relatively new to me, I didn't pay much attention to these games before.  I now have all the ED games but not all the games with Bruce's voice.  Which is ok, as I'm not sure how much of a geek I want to allow myself to be.  Here is a link to the games: http://www.bruce-campbell.com/group.asp?grp=49

Crap, I just noticed this as well: http://www.bruce-campbell.com/pilot.asp?pg=action_figure It's a BC action figure.  Crap....$60?  I may be a geek,  but I'm a cheap geek.  Damn.

The other thing I did this weekend was finish up a book called Shadow of the Wind.  It is one of the best novels I have read since The Historian.  The author, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, writes very descriptively.  The setting is 1940's and 1950's Barcelona, set in the aftermath of Spain's civil war.  It's a mystery and very well woven.  I'm sure I could have figured out some of the twists and turns if I had let myself think about it, but I really enjoy just letting a story take me along.  I can't write a good review on it but you can find some great reviews on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Wind-Carlos-Ruiz-Zafon/dp/1594200106  Apparently The Angel's Game is a prequel that just came out in English only a year ago.  I'll have to grab that up soon.



Long story short, read it.  I was dubious at first but I went from summer beach reading to this book.  You have to get your brain in the right mode to really let the story suck you in.   If you read it, let me know what you think!  I should really join a book club but am too damn lazy.

I also finished another cross stitch but will have to wait to unveil it until after I send it.  I made it for a swap for a photo group I participate in on Flickr called Phat Quarter.  After the recipient receives the piece, I'll post photos of it.  It's actually very lovely if I do say so myself!  I also finished an embroidery not long ago that is for a breast cancer awareness challenge on Craftster.  It's another photograph-to-embroidery piece:



This photo has over 12,000 hit on Flickr, but that's probably only because my boobs are partially showing.  I hate that pervs are looking at it but the photo has done some good.  I've had some people contact me to ask about the reconstructive part of mastectomies.  I personally feel better having talked to someone who has gone through this before me, no matter what it is.  So I keep the damn picture up for others to find, in case anyone else has questions.  The contest on Craftster starts in a couple weeks and I'm eager to sumbit this.

Rowdy is shrieking/whining for his supper so I better go.  Dogs do not like to wait for their supper!  Tschus!