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!

today i am being a fauve. this is a copy i just did of georges rouault's 'head of a woman' 1939. rouault, was a french painter who showed with the fauves, but i think he was not actually considered a fauve. so maybe i am altering art history here. anyway, i love the faces he paints. gives me inspiration.

another patched pair of pants. these didn't need patching, but i love to take a piece of an old sweater, some felt and embroidery thread and put it together on something.

playing with water color paints and adding texture.

here are the beginning diary pages. scroll down to see others i posted a week or two ago. eventually this will be a book.
























i have a yellow beetle named 'lukyduk' (my vanity tags). she is my favorite car so far.

the most BEEOOtiFULL girl in the world. this is lindie, my honeybee! here she is making her first sock monkey. I LUB U.

what is this? painting in the snow. my opus tutor, james hunting (http://www.jameshunting.com), likes me to make things big and loose. so here it is big and loose painting in the snow. it's fun to try! i am pretty sure he is going to tell me now to stitch it. so i will do that and show you in a future post.

oh...and, thanks for saving me from the lobster pot. happy travels!

big hiney is going on a trip. BYE!

stitching on paper - a first for me. this is part of an opus exercise, which combines making marks on paper and then stitching on it. i coated the paper with matte medium to give it some durability. i like the feel of stitching on paper.