green line: finished

there's no reason that this took as long as it did to finish. it was just an experiment that i liked the look of but got bored making. it's about 15" long and 2.5" wide. felt like it was 1 million french knots...but it was probably more like 1 thousand . still a substantial amount of knots.

this knot cluster is about 1.5" inches high. i'm completely aware i stopped before it reached it's limit.
but i'm not sure there IS a limit so stopping here was just as good as any place for now.

still one of my favorite process photos...

things I made this Christmas

I like to create a few things for Christmas time to balance out everyone's and my own urge to consume. I didn't have to buy anything for these crafts except cute bags for the cookies and a box of crackers.

First off is baking: I made everyone in my family an individually wrapped, handful of ginger molasses cookies. They are just about the only cookie I can make well. I also tried a vegan version of "Christmas Crack" which is just sugar and butter (toffee) poured over saltine crackers with chocolate chips melted and smeared over the top. You can add whatever topping on the chocolate; I picked chopped pecans. It's pretty good but I'd have 2 layers of crackers or waffle shaped pretzels next time for more crunch.

Then I wanted to make Nick a quick stocking. I traced mine and learned how to put it together with the help of youtube, my sewing machine and material I had on hand. Complete with lining, a cuff and no raw edges! I was pretty pleased with the stocking because I don't have much experience with sewing construction and it worked! The embroidery was just a quick solution but at least Nick has a stocking now.

My Christmas card is not my favorite this year, but here it is anyway. I suppose I did have to purchase the printed cards for everyone but drawing it was free!

It was supposed to be a reboot/continuation of this one i did 2 years ago. The older version is way better!

And finally, I cut, glued and embroidered these tiny pennant banners for ornaments for some people in my family. They're good on the tree or all year round.

What did you create this Christmas?

lesson: beginning embroidery & "monster pillows"

I spent a decent amount of time this fall teaching some kids to sew a bit. On paper and on fabric.
Though the self portrait projects can be simply BEAUTIFUL, many students just weren't into it because it takes some perseverance.

But, they did seem to enjoy creating a stuffed pillow shaped like a cute monster. They custom painted fabric, traced out what shape pillow they wanted, used some Heat N Bond to create iron on patches. They used those for eyes and whatever else they wanted.

Much like any first run project, it had a few problems, but in general I'm really pleased. I'm looking forward to making this even better for my next group with more shape and embellishment choices.

We didn't have a lot of time due to holiday schedules, so most only have the minimum required finshed, but a few kids were able to add a few extra details and new stitches. We're missing a few last minute ones in this photo above but we had 8 total, not including my sample.

teacher sample

This photo causes me lots of "cute aggression"

sunset stretch: in progress

it's a little melancholy that i'm making these sunsets as the days are getting shorter, winter is on the way and seasonal affective disorder is likely to set in soon.

anyway, -it's more than 1/3 finished...only about 4 more feet left to do (approximately 5-8 hours of work). and as usual, it's difficult to photograph...it looks much better when you take in the whole thing without a camera--often the case with sunsets.

i'm working on the 4th one down. 

just about to put in the brightest white parts to the left next...

in preparation for sunsets stretched

in the spirit of being contrary, i'm working on things that i normally wouldn't consider and making them okay to work on.

this is a concept sketch post for me and the final work will not be a photograph...though it probably will reference them. but here's where i'm starting: distorted fragments of photos Nick proclaimed as his "favorite sunset photos he's taken."

and there is no argument of their beauty! i'm only trying to think about bigger ideas behind the "sunset photo." *

a test sample of one approach. stitched on the back of an old reproduction painting i made in college.

yes, this will be challenging.

*i'll go more into ideas surrounding "sunset photos" later, but here's an editorial that touches upon my previous disinterest in them. 

creepy creature

art making progress is super slow right now for no good reason. but i did work a little more on my teacher exemplar for my "cool threads" class starting up soon. and this mildy disturbing and stubbly guy came out.

love letters continued

finished the love pillow case. ideally this would hang on the wall WITH a pillow in it.....
it needs a name. i've got 3 so far:

love letters
the case for love
support pillow*

thanks to all who helped make this happen. it's was a pleasure to spend some time with a part of you.

*so far this title is winning

fabric doodle

even though this is  a teacher exemplar, i'm excited about this process for myself. it's another one of those "i've been meaning try this out for an embarrassingly long time" things. turns out, it's fun and almost exactly what i had hoped for. the watery painted shapes is a common element in my work so this is also a sampler for myself as well.

first, i brushed some clean water onto some spare fabric. i added more colors after i took this shot:

i expected it to spread a LOT more. i might have to soak the fabric and let it drip dry for a bit when i do this again for myself.

i skipped some steps here but i added more color and water. i was really try to get a tie-dye effect. now, you could just draw and sew right on this and it'd look pretty cool. but i think this next step is going to be a hit with the kids. i used some fusible webbing and ironed it on the back of the painted parts i thought looked the best. then i cut out those patches from the fabric. fusible webbing is great!

then i cut out shapes that i wanted, peeled off the paper and ironed them on my final fabric. since it's a "doodle" i didn't plan this out too much.

i used a mark b gone pen to doodle a bit. the lines disappear with water.

the drawing and colors are all made with kids in mind so i don't think i picked colors and the doodling i would have if it were purely for myself. not too much drawing either because the more lines you make, the more sewing you have to do! i don't want students to see something i might work on for weeks and go nuts drawing lines they won't have time to sew. eventually this will be turned into a small "no sew" pillow that the kids will make. again, fusible webbing is awesome.

love letters

finally making some progress on something i've been wanting to do since last fall (some readers might recognize their own handwriting...if not now, then later). 

it's cheesy at first glance but i think it could be more layered in meaning when it's done. and it's definitely sincere. either way, it's a good way to keep working because i don't have a grand plan right now.

"...process, in a sense, is liberating and you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every day....and at least for a certain period of time you can just work. If you hang in there, you will get somewhere." --Chuck Close

green line

making things got pushed aside for a bit but i'm attempting to get back to work.

applying myself

my application for an artist residency has been submitted. i have no expectations and would be completely shocked if i were accepted.

the gathering of work, pushing myself to finish somethings and finally, stepping back and coming up with why i made them in the first place was an important process. so either way, i win. it's also like "it's been 1 year since i basically stopped teaching full time and here's some stuff i did instead." 

could i have done more? sure. but it took about 6 months to even get to a point where i was making things that interested me. 

there was an image limit so my workaround was to put multiple views in one photo. the photo quality isn't perfect but here's some submissions i finished this year. i've also updated my website (current work and past projects specifically).

working title: im there; youre hungry. 2015. hand embroidery. 39 selected texts that i've sent to my husband this past year.

bed head. 2015. silk screen.

what is next. 2015. hand embroidery on paper.

sprout. 2015. hand embroidered painted paper shown with chlorophyll beverages.

diamonds in the sky. 2015. painted & folded paper with cotton candy.

there's about 9 more slides in the portfolio besides these, and i'm hoping they show my versatility but also seemed connected to each other. 2-3 pieces are OLD, but i think they still work. 

the most challenging part by far was the proposal. what the heck am i going to do for a year long artist residency? i have ideas but explaining their function succinctly was extremely tough. i don't think i actually did it, but i certainly tried.

i wonder what will happen.