keeping me in stitches

2011-11-29T21:52:00.000-05:00

come visit my current blog the stadium pajama company and take a peek at my process of stitching, painting and drawing.

applique scraps

2011-08-01T10:45:00.002-04:00

playing around with the applique shapes and scraps from my studio...fun day!

hand applique shapes

2011-06-17T09:31:00.000-04:00

another project i am working on this summer is hand applique shapes. oh how i love hand stitching! the shapes are loosely based on words, with the letter E being the place where i cut a circle. the base of the squares is cotton linen from used clothing. the applique shapes are flannel and soil noile.

compost stitching

2011-06-15T15:37:00.001-04:00

here are some more images of the compost drawing. i placed some osnaburg cloth and linen in my compost last summer and let it sit for about a month. then i took it out and rinsed it in water, dried it in the sun, pressed. over the past year, i have been playing with it off and on, trying to get the right composition. last week i poured some tea over it and let it dry in the sun some more. i think it's finished now.

compost stitching

2011-06-14T09:17:00.000-04:00

i finished my BFA degree in painting and drawing! i learned soooo much, and am letting it all settle in. in the meantime, i am stitching cloth that has been hanging out in my compost.

new blog

2010-08-06T09:08:00.004-04:00

i am moving my work to a NEW BLOG, while i focus on my senior thesis project at the Maine College of Art. will just be posting images to see if there is a connection in some of my randomness. hope to see you there!

paper and stitch

2010-08-05T12:08:00.000-04:00

my studio

2010-07-20T10:38:00.005-04:00

...a snapshot of my studio today. does anyone use the term 'snapshot' anymore? making patches out of scraps - one of my favorite things to do. hope to sell them at the MECA holiday sale this winter. yes, i am planning ahead:) i stitched my index finger to one of the pieces while free-motioning with the bernina...not the first time i've done that, but still a big shock and kind of bloody. i won't try to sell that piece!

summer embroidery

2010-07-17T13:26:00.001-04:00

still here. still stitchin'. staying cool for the HOT summer. xo

more stuffed yo-yo's

2010-05-27T12:17:00.002-04:00

having fun making quilt yo-yos with faces, and stuffing them and adding them to a tree branch on my studio table.

ms. emerick's art classroom

2010-05-26T16:23:00.002-04:00

a friend is going to teach art in barcelona spain this coming fall. she asked me to make her a sign for the classroom door. a nice, relaxing project to work on after school was finished!

woven cowl - partners for world health

2010-04-27T21:43:00.007-04:00

in my sculpture class we received bundles of hospital blue wrap from partners for world health. our assignment was to find creative ways to use the sterilized blue wrap, which gets disposed of in large amounts. here is my woven cowl.

partners for world health takes unused sterilized, hospital supplies and distributes them to third world countries. they have volumes of durable, sewable, easy-to-cut blue wrap - great for all sorts of projects!

more fobs & pods

2010-04-23T23:45:00.004-04:00

the semester will be over soon, so now i have time to catch up on the blog. i will be showing pictures of stuff i have been working on and people who have kept me laughing.

the fobs 'n pods are back...this time incorporated with cardboard sculpture a la karel appel.

yo-yo's

2010-03-17T20:38:00.003-04:00

making lots yo-yo's. i stuffed them and sewed groups of them together on a metal frame. these are part of my fobs 'n pods themed work...work about the things we use to cope with uncertainty.

tagging

2010-03-14T21:04:00.001-04:00

'tagging' nyc with stickers from my other blog...let's see if more hits show up on google analytics. influenced by keri smith's guerilla art.

more fobs & pods

2010-02-26T19:27:00.001-05:00

more playing around with the idea of fobs and pods...working with organic shapes on paint rags. right now i am working in 2D. i have a 3D project in the works...stay tuned.

FOBS & PODS

2010-02-25T23:07:00.002-05:00

playing with the idea of 'fobs & pods' in my work. this is stitching on a silk-screened, tea stained muslin.

flip dolls

2010-02-22T18:22:00.003-05:00

i have been wanting to make a flip doll for a long time. i wanted to make the doll represent the 7 deadly sins and the 7 virtues. i put together a few prototypes, made of cloth. then i decided if i really wanted the contrast of sins and virtues, i needed to go over the top. one side is made papier mache and the other is made of cloth.

corrugated cardboard collage portrait

2010-02-21T19:14:00.004-05:00

something new for me...working BIG. this piece is about 4 feet square. had a great time cutting corrugated cardboard with a utility knife and shaping and re-shaping the face.

print 'n stitch

2010-02-04T10:06:00.004-05:00

very excited about my new skill with screen printing. for one of my classes, we had to make a two-sided card to give out to prospective students. one side of the card was to show them the kind of work they might be doing in our print department. the other side was to be an artist statement. on the one side i screen printed some organic shapes from things hanging around my studio. on the other side i stitched and drew on mylar and shot the screen through the mylar. then i used my sewing machine to stitch through the printmaking paper following the lines of the organic shapes. i made 100 of these guys. my first foray into such a large edition. very fun and satisfying.

i took a one-week intensive screen printing class last month with the GREAT kevin townsend. take a class with kevin if you get the chance! he is a fabo teacher!

my work at space gallery

2010-01-22T23:35:00.003-05:00

my work is hanging in a show at space gallery in portland maine. tonight was the opening. the piece i had hanging was embroidered text messages. i forgot to go to the opening:( the show will be up for another week or two or three.

home sweet home - studio

2010-01-21T10:18:00.002-05:00

happy new year to all! here are a few photos of my comfy small studio in portland maine (yay!). swamped with work at the great maine college of art and having a great time. more pix to follow.

what is hanging on our door for the holiday?

2009-12-23T20:45:00.001-05:00

this is hanging on our front door. made with grandkids using stuff around the house, including dryer sheet angels! santa image is from a sculpture by cameron stewart, called 'zenta.'

HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON TO YOU!

organic shapes of cloth

2009-12-19T15:18:00.000-05:00

paper circles

2009-12-09T16:13:00.001-05:00

playing around with circles and paper and raw edges and minimal stitching...

LOVE TO ALL.

cloth zine pages

2009-12-04T23:21:00.004-05:00

i named this piece 'art school prayer flags.' they are made from pieces prints i worked on throughout the semester. i photocopied the prints on to cloth and then made relief rolled words from cut up cereal box. the words i chose to print were words that i thought would be good reminders for someone on the treadmill of an art school semester - rest, love, exhale, veggies. one of my fellow classmates suggested that i should also have included the word 'bathe.' oh, yeah...i know it really isn't a zine, but it's how the piece evolved.

zines

2009-12-03T21:03:00.004-05:00

we had to make zines as a final project for a printmaking class. here are my zines!

i was home sick for the past few days and didn't have much to work with. i don't really have a press in my little teeny apartment, so i did the best i could with what i had. of course i had plenty of fabric. will show you the final result on the next post.

doodling

2009-11-22T12:26:00.001-05:00

sometimes i have to take a break from school work and doodle with a new set of markers. ahhhh...

fabric collage

2009-11-21T12:23:00.002-05:00

more playing with collage for my drawing class. making this image of two kids using various media.

paper collage

2009-11-19T20:07:00.002-05:00

working on a collage project for a class. school is sooo fun! more to come.

tea bag stains

2009-11-04T16:46:00.002-05:00

doing to experimenting with tea bag stains on cloth. while i was knee deep in tea bags, i noticed the stains they were leaving in my sink. i like those shapes alot!

repetition with collographs

2009-10-30T22:56:00.003-04:00

playing with repetition some more. using strips of bicycle tire tubes printed on muslin. i like the way the stray threads printed an image, too. can't wait to stitch these!

working on repetition

2009-10-29T23:29:00.004-04:00

playing around with repetition. i used cut up bicycle tire tubes tied together with thread. i liked working on this. my classmates thought the work was pretty dark...

embroidery hanging in a show

2009-10-28T13:39:00.002-04:00

my work is hanging in a show for BFA students at the maine college of art.

printing with bubble wrap

2009-10-27T19:14:00.003-04:00

funny...some classmates put bubble wrap on the floor to the entrance of the studio. they sat around and watched the reaction as each person walked through the doorway, surprising themselves with the loud pop from walking on the bubble wrap! somehow i fell for the joke three times. so i had bubble wrap on the mind and decided to print with it on muslin. won't these pieces look great with stitching on them?

re-use, recycle, make art

2009-10-26T10:38:00.004-04:00

at the beginning of the semester i wanted to put a 'maggie signature piece' on my studio curtain. i grabbed what i had in my apartment and came up with this. it has been a good subject of conversation...but i think the bell ringing every time i go in and out of my studio might be kind of annoying. can you tell what it's made of?

bh & irritable 4ever!

2009-10-25T19:14:00.001-04:00

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to the love of my life.

surprise!

2009-10-25T10:39:00.004-04:00

i am learning the ins and outs of screenprinting. one of the first pieces i worked on was a 'night monitor' t-shirt that print majors wear when keeping an eye on other students using the printshop after hours to be sure it gets cleaned up and stuff like that. i successfully screened the images on the back and front of the t-shirt and left my shirt on the drying rack. when i came into the studio the next day, there was my shirt, hanging on my studio curtain beautifully embellished and personalized by fellow student, kat lamont while putting in some later hours the night before.

drawing and stitch - exquisite corpse

2009-10-24T14:01:00.005-04:00

in my drawing class, we were exploring kind of an exquisite corpse drawing exercise. each person drew with a variety of objects and a variety of materials for a specified amount of time. then we each got a part of everyone's work. we had to make a cohesive piece of work using part of all of the drawings. i played with repetition and stitch and simplicity. what i like best is how it looks installed with glass head pins. i was inspired to use glass head pins after viewing the work of shannon rankin.

bad buddy in the print shop

2009-10-23T20:34:00.003-04:00

lots going on in the print shop. we have a lift, called 'buddy,' that we use to pick up the ultra heavy litho stones. i decided to introduce bad buddy to buddy. they have become good friends.

resolving work with cloth and stitch

2009-10-22T12:48:00.005-04:00

here i am back in portland maine at the maine college of art and enjoying every minute of working on my BFA in the printmaking department. printing goes well with cloth and stitch. i am a real novice with a alot of printmaking techniques, so i fret about making my work look like a printmakers work 'should' look. at heart i am a textile or embroidery artist...so, after haggling with my 30 day project, i came up with this idea as a beginning. i am really happy with it. i printed on muslin with coffee grinds. i ran the printed text thru my inkjet on kettle cloth backed with freezer paper. folks in the department were really curious about my techniques. i am breathing a sigh of relief about integrating what i love with printmaking.

ode to the baltimore green awning

2009-09-21T15:02:00.010-04:00

in keeping with drawing and stitching a daily gratitude list, i focused one day on the green awnings in my south baltimore neighborhood. a few days later, i received an invitation to join in a baltimore print exchange and turned my embroidered piece into a hand-colored linoleum print!

summertime

2009-08-25T18:27:00.011-04:00

it has been a fun summer of not working much and not going to school. so i spent my time being a bad influence on grandchildren and their friends: we made sock monkeys, chewed bubble gum cigarettes, and hunted for frogs. most of these pictures were taken with my phone.

2009-08-08T14:29:00.002-04:00

maggie is here and i haven't forgotten the blog world. this has been a great summer. i am not going to grad school (but taking a few classes). i am not working (but looking for work). mostly i am just hanging out and enjoying my life. i have been making a gratitude list every day, focusing on the simple things. yesterday morning,there were birds in the alley behind our building playing in a spilled bag of cheese popcorn. i came back in the afternoon and they were still there eating and playing. here is my rendition of the event.

scrap quilt

2009-06-01T16:43:00.003-04:00

playing with some old scraps i have from various projects over the last 20 years. it's kind of fun to work with what i have, instead of needing to start or buy something new...and even more fun to have the time to do it! can't wait to hand stitch this one.

letting go

2009-05-29T09:10:00.006-04:00

here is a little drawing of ME. i am at a bit of a crossroads with school and career and not sure which way to go. i recently lost my job at the art center. the opus school of textile arts, where i was a BA (hons) student, closed a few months ago. i can't even give a link to that anymore, as they have virtually disappeared, after taking our course money. another program has opened in its place, named after the creative and inspiring late julia caprara but i have been hesitant to join, as i am not sure that distance learning was to my advantage. so i applied to and was ACCEPTED to an MFA program at the great and wonderful maine college of art, except now i am trying to figure out how to pay for it. anyway, i have been meditating everyday and writing my gratitude list and letting go. xo to all!

sowebohemian festival

2009-05-25T18:51:00.010-04:00

our local sowebohemian arts and music festival was this weekend - great fun, good food and lots of local bands. one of the events that supports the festival is a poster silent auction which will be held on june 7. here are the posters i made:

more community arts

2009-05-13T21:45:00.011-04:00

i have been volunteering with an artist-in-residency program at an elementary school with black cherry puppet theater, a local baltimore arts group. we worked with the students to teach them how to make paper mache hand and rod puppets, how to manipulate the puppets, how to make scenery and props, how to block out a show. we will put on a performance for families later this week. sooo much fun...and exhausting. this is all new territory for me. many thanks to b'more's fabulous black cherry puppet theater for letting me tag along for the past two weeks and apprentice with their enormous and hilarious puppet talents. and a shout out to local artist and puppeteer, jen strunge aka cotton monster who is on staff at black cherry and who taught me some good tricks of the trade.

baltimore's kinetic sculpture race

2009-05-02T23:54:00.010-04:00

a rite of spring every year here in baltimore is the kinetic sculpture race. this year i had the prestigious job of judging the sock creatures on each vehicle. here i am in all my sock creature regalia. and here are some photos of the fabo sock creatures that were competing. great day!

crocheted sculpture

2009-04-09T16:39:00.010-04:00

inspired by the work of liz grobler, i am working with the folks at the local senior center to make a crocheted sculpture. these women are the hardest working, most enthusiastic artists i have ever worked with. we are hoping that our sculpture, called 'warm welcome' will grace some of the local art venues in the coming year.

as you can see, being out of work is giving me lots of good community art time!

doodling

2009-04-08T19:30:00.006-04:00

in my last post i mentioned that i had lost my job and decided to make a gratitude list. i have gotten so many good responses from others who like the idea that i am posting our lists on a new blog.

my doodling here is not because i am idle. somehow i seem to be busier in the last few weeks. anyway, just showing some doodles, since they look kind of like quilts. and i will keep you up with my new and exciting adventures in the next posts.

story about losing my job...

2009-03-28T23:01:00.002-04:00

so along with lots of other people in this current economy, i recently lost my job. "don't worry," i think to myself, "something better will come along, it always does." here i am knocking on lots of (metaphorical) doors, and nothing yet...

what's a girl to do? write a gratitude list. so that's what i did (along with some collaging, and sewing and painting)... more of the story to come.

collage face

2009-03-16T18:42:00.004-04:00

here is what i do when i am supposed to be doing something else - i play with scissors and glue and colorful paper. not a bad way to procrastinate.

i like having my sketchbooks covered with fun stuff. so here are three sketchbooks - all ready to be used for drawing or glueing or thinking out loud.

many of my collage ideas, originated from a workshop with anne marie grgich. great stuff!

doodles and quirky things

2009-03-12T08:26:00.001-04:00

doodling about quirky things. guess i'll turn this into stitch one day.

booklie, the sock monkey

2009-03-05T13:21:00.003-05:00

i haven't shown a sock monkey post in a while! here is booklie. i don't know where his book is, but he does love to read as you can see by the tatoo on his back. yes, booklie does wear glasses - my stereotype of a reader, and true for me.

painted portraits

2009-02-28T20:06:00.005-05:00

last year i practiced painting self portraits. it was good practice for me. now i am working on...i don't know. are these portraits of anyone you know? mostly i am just working on how to mix and lay on color to make paintings pop.

important philosophy...

2009-02-23T21:47:00.000-05:00

felted apartment numbers

2009-02-22T19:38:00.006-05:00

old sweaters make great felted works! this one is a house number for the door on our apartment. fun to do and keeps me out of trouble:)

embroidered text messages

2009-02-15T17:54:00.003-05:00

in keeping with my love of keeping diaries, i have decided to stitch text messages i receive. i can't keep all of them in my phone and they are such a great snapshot of my life and the lives of those i love. another life-long project, that i will probably never finish, but will have a great time working on!

illustrated comics of everyday life

2009-02-04T21:18:00.004-05:00

i have been playing with the idea of doing comics in stitch. so lately i have been drawing a picture, in comic form, of things that come to my mind. i need to develop the characters a little, but i like the idea of transferring these images into stitch.

hand stitching is BEEEAUTIFULL!

2009-01-31T13:39:00.004-05:00

been working on alot of older, unfinished projects...must be something about a new beginning or cleaning up the past - who knows? anyway, it's fun. i love the way spiritcloth takes close up shots of her hand stitching. so i decided to do the same. hand stitching is so beautiful to me. i have loved that look since i saw my first hand-stitched quilt when i was a kid. i like the unevenness of hand stitching and the uniqueness of each stitch. i remember back in the day when i used to strive for 14 stitches per inch - ha. st. quilta cured me of trying to make small even stitches.

mrs. daisy sallow's crocheted diary

2009-01-24T19:50:00.009-05:00

while spending lots of time in airports and on planes recently, i had plenty of time to stitch. i have added some entries to my
stitched diary.

i like remembering how white lipstick was so vital to my daily existence. and how, even when i was 14, i loved to spend my money on fabric (material, as we called it).

the taylor porkroll can be seen here. it used to be one of my favorite foods. now that i am a vegetarian, i still think about taylor porkroll from time to time...like thinking of an old boyfriend.

this is what our german shephard puppy looked like. also funny that we named him 'snow!' he really did eat our couch.

why is this entry called 'mrs. daisy sallow's crocheted diary?' why not? do you know who daisy sallow is? many thanks to edward gorey for introducing me to mrs. sallow...a muse!

jumping in museums

2009-01-19T22:00:00.005-05:00

where has maggie been? i have been jumping in museums...or rather jumping outside of museums. inspired by one of my favorite
blogs
i went to paris with
bh and i was so excited to be around all of the art that i actually forgot to jump once i got into the museum. bh and i had a romantic time and ate delicious patisserie. it's good to be back. i cleaned my studio and am ready for the new year!

'tis the season...

2008-12-25T09:40:00.000-05:00

LOVe to all in bloggerland today!

small packages: the LAST MINUTE MAUL

2008-12-20T17:10:00.006-05:00

this is what i do in my day job. i work at a local art center in baltimore and was asked to put together a craft event this year. so...what could i do that would be different from all of the other myriad of excellent craft events in our city? i came up with 'Small Packages: the LAST MINUTE MAUL. Locally crafted art no bigger than a fruitcake.' we will see how it goes tomorrow. i can't wait! lots of good local crafters will be there.

scrap crochet scarves for christmas

2008-12-13T12:16:00.006-05:00

i have been having a great time using up the yarn in my stash...making scarves for everyone, including me! i HEART crochet.

portland and baltimore in stitch

2008-12-11T22:04:00.004-05:00

for my level 1 opus personal specialism i was working in the theme of cities and combined my two favorite cities - portland maine and baltimore maryland. this piece has wrapped wire, stitched bicycle tubes and a background of maps and a painted cereal box!

contrived work?

2008-11-27T11:23:00.008-05:00

i am exploring the idea of contrived work...when is my work contrived and when is it me? here is a piece i just submitted to a show called GATHERING. i was very excited about the work as i was planning and working on it, but the final product is kind of 'so-so.' i am not too wild about it. i guess that 'so-so' work is ok if i am just making a sample for a course, but wondering what happens to my work when it is planned vs when i am doing it just for fun and experimentation? my work that is done just-for-fun seems so much more me and more spontaneous... what do you think? is there a difference between your spontaneous work and your planned work?

a veggie happy thanksgiving

2008-11-25T19:09:00.003-05:00

where have i been? i am not sure what has kept me so busy...opus work, for sure. also been busy planning and organizing my new and very fun event at work the LAST MINUTE MAUL.

if you live in the states, thanksgiving is on the way...the annual carnivore fest. it's a hard time to be a vegetarian. thought i'd play along, by showing you one of my altered thrift store sweaters.

xo!

stitching LOVE

2008-11-10T17:25:00.001-05:00

playing with paper and paint and stitch and glue and other stuff. LOVE!

more stitched cities

2008-11-07T21:46:00.003-05:00

still working on some samples for my opus module, combining the features of two cities: baltimore and portland. i traced the outline of the cityscapes from various photos i took of each city. then i cut up the tracing paper into small square, rearranged the squares into a new arrangement. i took the design from that arrangement and stitched it onto the piece of an old felted sweater.

O yay! for democracy

2008-11-05T19:06:00.005-05:00

i am going on a tangent from what i usually write about and opening a door about my personal side. i grew up in a city that was segregated and watched the city go up in flames during the '68 riots. last night, in that same city, i heard sounds of celebration on the streets. i watched my kids generation lose interest in the political process, after i had marched on washington when i was their age. today my kids, and other twenty-somethings told me how excited they were about having voted and having watched Obama's speech. last night BH called me from iraq and we listened to the speech together over the phone. TODAY is a new day in our country, and I think, in the world. O yay for democracy!

there is probably some good art inspiration in all of this, but i am up to my ears in opus homework...back to the drawing board and love to all.

stitching cities

2008-11-01T14:34:00.004-04:00

working on my current opus module, focusing on the appearance of line in a cityscape. i took images of the two cities where i spend most of my time: baltimore, maryland and portland, maine. i combined the images in several mediums: photocopies of photographs, wire and stitch. more exploration on cities to come!

painted circles!

2008-10-27T22:44:00.003-04:00

playing around with oil pastels. inspired by sue dove's work with color, i am playing with some of the exercises she recommends in her book, painting with stitches.

collage face

2008-10-15T22:38:00.002-04:00

playing with the collage style of anne grgich. anne is not only a talented artist, but a good friend. if you get a chance to take a workshop with her, it's well worth it.

banned names list - in stitch!

2008-10-14T20:31:00.004-04:00

a while back, i had some involvement with an arts organization, that had a 'banned names list.' this struck me as kind of funny, since we were not a group with any kind of policing authority. one day i was in a mood to stitch that phrase on a piece of cloth that reminded me of lined school paper. then i photocopied the stitching and stitched over the photocopy. it's hard to reproduce your exact same stitches. i guess it's the random spontaneity that i like about stitching - no two stitches are the same, as least not on my work. i have an idea to repeat this odd shaped paper over and over and hang all of them beside each other on a gallery wall.

stitching on a thrift store sweater

2008-10-09T22:19:00.001-04:00

i am away for a few days. love to all!

experimenting with textiles

2008-10-01T12:18:00.008-04:00

for my personal specialism module, i have to experiment with unusual materials using layering and cutting and twisting and lots of other things.

here are some photos of work samples using paint rags, plastic bags, melted wax, cut up bicycle tubes, wire, fabric strips, pieces of felted sweater, glue, tissue paper, magazine pages, paint, etc. i machine stitched many of the samples, which was experimental for me, as i am much more comfortable hand stitching.

happy bday to BH.

line drawing in stitch

2008-09-23T09:27:00.005-04:00

i have been working on stitching some of my line drawings of everyday life. here is a sketch of BH and me having lunch last year in a park when we were living in portland, maine. BH is eating his usual lunch time hotdog and i am having vegan food from little lads.

while i was working on this piece i discovered a kindred stitching spirit in the work of Iviva Olenick.

still life with chair, mug, window, blue ball!

2008-09-20T17:41:00.003-04:00

still practicing how to paint. i am working on color and contrast. this is an invented still life - a little sedate for me, but was a good practice tool.

slop sink

2008-09-10T10:15:00.003-04:00

another language assignment for my opus BA course in embroidery in cultural context. here i photocopied a painting i had done of a slop sink.
then i stitched words onto the photocopied paper.

typography and stitch

2008-08-27T09:33:00.004-04:00

my cultural stitch assignment on language is evolving more into an experiment on typography. here i have stitched onto a magazine page from vogue - kind of a play on the more conventional typeface of a table of contents. and then, of course, i had to take a pix of the back side of the stitching. looks like it fits in pretty well with the adidas advertisement.

meltdown

2008-08-20T07:28:00.005-04:00

here i am having a meltdown over bh suggesting that we buy a lemon tree for our living room. hmmm... well, in hindsight i did think it was funny, so i made this drawing which will soon become an embroidery.

stitched sketchbook

2008-08-10T21:40:00.004-04:00

i like to personalize the cover of my sketchbooks. this is a new one i bought for my opus homework: paint, magazine collage, stitching. yay!

stitched painting palette

2008-07-28T11:10:00.005-04:00

more on my recycling theme! i love the look of paints mixed on a palette. i mixed paints for a painting on a paper disposable palette. let them dry. added strips of newspaper and covered with a gel medium to give it a little strength. after that dried, i stitched on top of it. i kind of like the look!

stitched bicycle tubes

2008-07-24T08:43:00.003-04:00

playing around with some cut up strips of bicycle tubes. this idea of stitching together recycled materials really has me thinking!

by the way, the bicycle tubes are courtesy of bike the big apple tours.

4th of july recycled 'quilt'

2008-07-22T11:28:00.004-04:00

working on more ideas of recycled work for my opus cultural stitched textiles module. my husband, granddaughter and i took a long road trip over 4th of july holiday. i saved all of the packaging from food we ate along the way and cut it up into 'quilt' squares.

mola samples

2008-07-17T07:36:00.008-04:00

for my opus module on cultural stitched textiles, i have been exploring the mola. HA! i see how much more practice i need on my hand applique stitching!

the things we do for love OR sock goat on a boat

2008-07-12T13:39:00.007-04:00

let me start off by saying i am not a sailor, but we do own a sailboat. sometimes things need to be fixed on the boat that require going up the mast. i have avoided this duty for years, but decided to give it a try today. BH flattered me by telling me he need a 'light weight' person to do the job...so i did and it was actually quite fun. i took a sock goat with me for good luck. the sock goat was made by my friend gavin. as you can see, i did make it down ok, cuz i am posting on the blog and i couldn't do that very easily from way up there! back to opus homework!

more recycled sweaters

2008-07-07T21:24:00.003-04:00

my good friend in portland maine rescued an orange sweater from a yard sale and here is a doll i made for her from that sweater and a few others. since the doll, named 'funny,' will be living in maine, she needed a vest to keep her warm. here is a picture of her with the vest and without...and the beautiful portland head lighthouse in the background.

recycled patchwork

2008-06-29T14:48:00.004-04:00

more stuff stitched with the theme of recycling. i made a pair of shorts and a quilt top from old scraps of other quilts and some cut up clothing. i think we used to call this stuff 'patchwork' or scrap quilts, but now it's considered recycled:)

recycled sweaters

2008-06-21T15:34:00.005-04:00

for my opus BA coursework on cultural stitched textiles, i have been thinking of the culture of recycling. here is a doll/creature i made out of recycled sweaters from the thrift store. i washed and dried the sweaters several times to felt them. i'll be posting more recycled work soon!

PARADE SCHOOL

2008-06-17T07:42:00.008-04:00

been doing lots of good stuff: stitching and painting and all. two weeks ago i went to parade school. what a great experience! we made all of these parade structures in four days and week culminated in a PARADE! great community event. i kind of learned how to stilt walk, altho most of the other students were faster learners. i made a big purple prom queen, and an apartment building. three people carried the queen and i was inside of the apt building, carrying it with tall pole.

pix of my studio work area

2008-06-02T07:58:00.007-04:00

now that i am a little more settled, my studio and work area and quiet room is a little more settled, too. you can see pix of a few of my favorite things: my macbook pro, my red lips chair, and most importantly, my needlepoint chair. the needlepoint piece was made by my grandmother, helen, who i never knew. she stitched it in the 1930's or 40's and, i think, i got my love of stitching from her. my mom took the needlepoint piece and scoured flea markets and antique shops for just the right chair to use for the needlepoint. she gave me the chair as a gift many years ago and it has been my sewing chair ever since. my grown children sat on that chair when the were small and learning how to use the sewing machine.

my studio is in a small loft area overlooking our living area. i like that i can be up in the loft working and no one bothering me, but still hear my husband piddling around in the rooms below. we live in a restored school building from the 1890's and have 14 foot ceilings, so the loft space is just right.

embroidery and printmaking on pants

2008-05-29T07:15:00.004-04:00

what to do with 40 pieces of printed fabric? use one to patch a hole in the knee of my pants! this is just like i used to do with old bell bottom jeans back in the day:)

for some of you asking about my OPUS work, i have taken an unofficial break for a few months due to moving a few times and starting a new job. but i am getting ready to catch up with my cultural stitch module. be on the lookout for some mola samples coming soon!

printmaking on fabric

2008-05-27T15:56:00.004-04:00

i am experimenting with printing on fabric. i printed on linoleum with acrylic paint. the paint has lasted through two washings after i heat set it. not sure what i will do with this, but just playing around

painted faces

2008-05-19T08:19:00.003-04:00

here are a couple of self-portraits i have been working on. i have decided to practice painting by doing self-portraits for a year. at least i will always have a subject available - day or night, rain or shine! it has been fun trying different styles and seeing the way i see myself at various times.

when i look at the purses i just had on the blog and the embroidered faces i did last year, i must have a thing for faces...gotta think about that one.

found objects art

2008-05-09T11:04:00.002-04:00

more purses made from found objects and recycled materials. both purses have straps made of old neckties - very soft and comfortable to wear across your shoulder. the green purse is made from an old pair of corduroy jeans and the orange purse is made from old couch fabric. embellishments are broken pieces of jewelry and things i found on the street.

sandra dee dreams of the gee's bend quilts

2008-05-05T11:12:00.006-04:00

a few years ago, our fiber group had an exchange challenge. we traded bags of unknown stuff from our studio floors and had to make a textile image out of what we had. the person who i traded with had alot of materials with a 1950's kind of feel. we did the challenge at the time the Gee's Bend quilts were starting to come into public view and there was an exhibit of the quilts in Washingon DC at the Corcoran. with all of that in mind, here is what i came up with.

file your taxes early

2008-04-28T09:31:00.002-04:00

not only have i been rummaging through old boxes of stuff i haven't seen in years, but i just started going thru an old hard drive of photos. this is a fuzzy photo of a quilt, in progress, on my design wall. i was working on it five or six years ago, when my husband and i got too busy and didn't file our taxes on time. i was mad! i don't know what ever happened to that piece. i'll have to look around...