embroidery shading, movement and color

i have been working on getting thread to work like paint - showing movement and shadows. i took a charcoal drawing that i had made and translated it into stitch. mostly i like the apple made of french knots, even tho it looks like a pomegranate. can you tell those are bananas on the lower right hand side? hmmm...not too sure about them.

what to do with an old sweater

i have so many nice wool sweaters that are out of date or need some oomph. my solution is to embellish them and give them a new life.

THANKS

Thanks to zoe

'you make my day' award

i have been nominated by zoe for a 'you make my day' award. wow - THANKS. zoe is one of many fun bloggers who i visit online regularly. your inspiration is great!

no, this isn't a self portrait...just playing with needle and thread.

http://www.lissinstitches.blogspot.com/
oops...here is a link to zoe.

monchomatic painting...of me

well, for some reason i can't help myself. i have been painting everyday. this is a new thing for me. i read that danny gregory's dad painted a self-portrait everyday. so, why not? i am learning alot.

havin' fun...stitching

enjoying going through things i made a few years back, that have been packed away. i think this was going to be a messenger bag, or something... i went through a phase of making bags only from scraps and things that were on the floor of my sewing room - a fun way to clean up!

beautiful slop sink

not sure what i loved about doing this painting, except that i do love slop sinks in painting studios. it looks to me like each artist left behind a little bit to tell some story.

i have been painting every morning. since my sewing machine is still living in maine and much of my fabric is in storage, i have been opened to something new... wonder where this will take me?

nothingness...

sometimes it is nice just to play with a running stitch on felt for no reason at all. here is a tracing of my hand in stitch.

love to all!

yikes! not another self portrait...

ok, so i promised no more self portraits, but that was 2007. this is a new year:) i surely don't consider myself a painter, but i do love what painting is teaching me about color and texture and light and shape. some of my favorite textile artists, started as painters and so, perhaps i can learn something from the process. i like to imagine this painting done in cloth and stitch...

tao te ching

here is another piece from a few years ago that had been in storage and now is out. i made lots of tiny quilting stitches on a piece of blue silk shirt that someone gave me. then i added things (detritus) from my walks thru the city. and then i stitched a quote i like from the tao te ching. you know i don't understand much of that tao te ching stuff, but it all sounds so good.

back to blogging

maggie is back. we have been in the midst of moving and have had very limited internet access for blogging. so sad to have been away from blogville.

here is a photo of a quilted story that had been in storage. i made it a few years ago when we had a 17 year cicada invasion. the embroidered quote says 'suddenly millions of noisy 17 year olds appeared in my neighborhood.'

glad to be back. missed you all. xo

embroidered story

more pages in the embroidered storybook. i can let the secret out now that this was part of a xmas present for my hubby. we had a rough year and this is our love story. as you can see, i didn't finish it in time for xmas, but it was done enough to give it to him. and now i will spend the rest of the year completing it. love to all.

more embroidered story

embroidered story

i have been wanting to make an embroidered story book. this is the beginning of it. stay tuned for the ongoing story.

hooray! last self-portrait

seems that safari wasn't happy with blogger's new changes, so i am now working off of firefox. ok so, no more self portraits for the rest of the year. school is over and i am back to blogging. happy holiday season.

blogger problems :(

big problems posting photos on blogger for the last week. anyone have any ideas what to do??

embroidered maggies...again

more pieces in my series of embroidered self portraits for my portraiture class project. soooo fun.

another embroidered maggie

school is brutal this time of year, but not complaining, cuz i LOVE it all, but not much time for blogging. ok, here is a finished homework assignment. guess i can't get enough of myself:)

home sweet home

so i have been really missing a sense of home these days. this is a woodcut project i did on the theme of home. the first photo is the mock up drawing, the 'key' block printed on mylar and the carved blocks. the second photo is after the first printing of the light blue sky background and adding the tissue paper chin colle. then, voila! - the final wood cuts inked on various papers and cloth. this was great fun and i highly recommend it as a habit to cultivate.

hope everyone has a place where you feel at home. xo

stitching woodcut

another piece in my series of self-portraits. here i am indulging in one of my favorite activities: hand quilting.

embroidered maggie

hi everyone. i haven't forgotten you. school is keeping me busy and my frequent weekend commutes to be with my beloved big hiney. anyway here is part of a project of self-portraits i am working on. love to all.

i'm on the cover of people magazine

anyone who knows me knows that my primary goal in life is to avoid being on the cover of people magazine. so when i had to do a class project with my self portraits, i thought this would be a fun opportunity to play with the idea of putting myself on the cover. now all i have to do is learn photoshop so i can clean it up and play with the text - inserting my own name with the headlines of hysteria. wouldn't the whole thing look great as an embroidery?

sock monkey friends

these bright guys are 'dottie' and 'stripes.' made by suzanne freed, from atlanta. they are for her granddaughters. her first sock monkeys ever! let's give her a big hand. suzanne and i met in cyberspace on the very active quiltart email list. Quiltart is a great place to find out anything you want to know about making arty quilts and hearing funny stories. Thanks for your contribution to the sock monkey world, suzanne.

portraiture drawing

what have i been doing other than neglecting the blog? i have been working on my drawings for portraiture class. we have a 100 heads sketchbook to do....

IRRITABLE in woodcut

here is my self-portrait for my relief printmaking class. maggie as irritable...just right!