floor scrap collage

in the opus visual studies module, we have an assignment in which we are to experiment with paint and color and collage and texture. after i was finished that assignment, i had a lot of colorful scraps on the floor. as i was cleaning up, i saw one more collage in the works. i picked up each scrap and laid it down, without cutting or altering the shape in which i found it. this piece reminds me of the work of one of my favorite illustrators, sara fanelli.

diary quilt

this is a diary block that is both funny and sentimental to me. about 10 years ago, i started making weekly small quilts - diary blocks - thanks to the influence of st. quilta . at that time, one of my kids was in a particularly upsetting and difficult emotional black hole for a long period of time. one morning, she was looking in the mirror, and asked out loud "do you think i am losing my tan?" it was such a relief to hear her say something lighthearted and teen-ish. i knew then her old self was starting to coming back.

stitched ink drawing

i really enjoyed making this ink drawing of my linen closet. when my tutor suggested that i stitch on it, it seemed impossible, as the drawing is very small and i thought it would fall apart with all the stitching. i made a copy of the drawing, covered the paper with gel medium, and did a little stitching. it was fun and i like the way it is beginning to look.

embroidered faces

a few years ago on the everyday matters yahoo group, there was a suggestion about making a one inch drawing everday. someone posted a grid of 30 one inch squares. so everyday, i drew a face of someone who came into the shop where i was working. some of the faces really charmed me. i scanned them, blew them up to 2" each and printed them on fabric. then i embroidered over the drawn lines. still have never figured out what to do with them. once they were matted at put into a show. but now i think i'd like to stitch them on a pocket or bag. any ideas?

love quilt

this is a photo of a photo of a wedding quilt i made a few years ago for my good friend and acupuncturist. it was machine pieced and hand quilted. the light color rectangles around the edges are where the wedding guests wrote notes to the bride and groom.

i don't have many quilts to show on the blog, even tho i have been a quilter since the '70's. many of my things are in storage, including a hard drive with lots of quilt images. also, now that i am in school and living in a two-room apt, there is not much space for all of my fabric, batting, etc. and it has been good for me to shift my focus to embroidery and painting and drawing for a while. once-in-a while you will see something quilted here, i promise. can't get too far away from my roots.

LOVE today.

happy sock monkey reunion

look! here she is. irritable has been found. she took the long, long trip across the ocean and to the desert to see her love. big hiney can hardly wait for her to jump out of the box and give him a hug!

they are jumping for joy!



after celebrating, they are settling in to watch their favorite tv show, the wire.

sock monkey and buddha

looks like 'shut up' made it to baltimore safe and sound, via the traveling sock monkey house and seems that he found buddha when he got there.

rumor has it that irritable has been found in baghdad...more to come!

can i lend you a hand?

what makes me want to stitch stuff like this?

mamajules has a good posting about lost gloves. something intriguing about them...

sock monkeys: big hiney pining for irritable

here is big hiney in his trailer in the desert, far far away, wondering where his love, irritable, is. he is pining at her picture on the computer, but it makes him feel too sad to know that she is missing.

watching a music video of kate bush and eating a candy bar seems to be the only thing that soothes him. (rock on!)


"wait! i think i heard something at the window," he says. could it be..?

sock monkeys looking for irritable

what is going on? meanie and bad buddy and art girl can't find their seven deadly sins cousin, irritable! where did she go? they looked all over the house.







































then they looked in the woods. meanie and bad buddy and art girl are scared. where could irritable be? the seven deadly sins family will be lost without her!





























if you have seen irritable please let us know:(

circles collage

circles is the theme of my final project for the visual studies module at opus. i read an article by keri smith in the recent issue of somerset studios. this inspired me to play with circles on paper. these "sketches" are about the size of a playing card. not sure what i will do with them, but i bet if my tutor has his way, it will involve some representational stitching. we'll see...

crocheted purse

since i packed away my wool sweaters yesterday, it thought i might be time to pack away my winter purse, too. i made this purse last year and i love it. i especially love the vintage fabric lining and the special beaded zipper pull. i saw a similar purse in an advertisement for patons yarn, but could never find the pattern, so i made it up. it's basically granny squares. happy day!

embroidered shirt

yesterday i put away my wool sweaters and got out my spring wardrobe. this is one of my favorite pieces: a thrift store shirt come alive with embroidery

button paintings

paintings of buttons. for the visual studies part of the opus BA, we have to take a photo of a group of things in analogous colors on an analogous background and then paint it. i am a real beginner at painting, but had a great time doing this. i also love the look and feel of the pallette after i am finished mixing colors.

granny triangles - crochet

one more crafty habit...crochet. these granny triangles started out to be a blanket for the couch. since my hubby likes thing in shades of blue i thought it would be funny to make an orange and pink blanket for him to use when cuddling up in the living room. after a while i got tired of making so many triangles. what to do with a UFO? use it to embellish something else. so i sewed it on to a boring grey sweater. voila!

traveling sock monkeys

one of my best little buddies, jack, is here sleeping with is friends the seven deadly sins sock monkeys. he fell fast asleep on new year's eve, just missing the fireworks over the baltimore harbor.









since his sock monkey friends are now living far away in portland maine, we decided to have them travel, via the post office, and take turns having regular sleep overs at jack's house. the sock monkeys are keeping a travelogue of their journeys.





here is toothache, just back from a visit to baltimore. he returned covered in lots of dog hair, so i know he had a good time there.















now it's shut-up's turn to spend a few days with jack. bye! hope you have a fun time.

error function

some opus practice. these are made of dripped water color paint on paper. the paper is surfaced with gel medium, so i could stitch on it


the top two photos are playing with the mathematical term ' error function.' seems to me that it applies to things other than math, too.















in the bottom photo, i had picked up some scraps of embroidery thread from the table and hand-stitched them on under some netting. when i was almost finished, i saw the shape of a women in the threads...so i added a heart.

traveling sock monkeys

well, big hiney, the love of my life, arrived safely in baghdad. as you can see he has a little jet lag and needed some pop tarts and a nap. the pop tarts were a big shock to his system, as he is only used to eating chick peas and tofu, but i guess he will adjust. i think he misses irritable terribly, but...all will be well. love, love, love!