New project... sort of.

Is it really a new project when you've been chewing it over in your mind for several years?  What the best execution of it would be, what methods and techniques to use and most importantly the time to actually embark on it.  I have embarked on my new project journey and have been on this road for around 2 months, give or take.  

How about some back story, my husband is very funny he likes to poke at me (sometimes in the most literal sense) and one day in 2009 he was poking at me, finger and all.  I had responded with something like "I'm almost mad." and he said something to the effect of "well poke it till it's almost mad, then stop."  We rolled and laughed, we may have been inebriated slightly at the time but I had jotted it down in my sketchbook and thought it would make a funny embroidery.  I worked it up and had an idea of what I wanted but no real plans to do it anytime soon.  In 2009 I had plenty to keep me busy with the kitchen curtain project I was working through.
So every now and again I flip through the sketch book to think over ideas or to make changes to ideas that I've been chewing on in my mind.  Earlier this year I was finishing the cross stitch Wizard and decided that I was going to take on the poke it project.  Here is my thoughts/diabolical plan...

Cross stitch phrase - Stitched on 22 count Aida fabric and used my own typography.
*Sadly the lettering is a bit close on one of the lines- I've decided that the imperfections are something that I can live with and I've gone so far I refuse to pull it out and re-space them.
Stitch border around phrase - I Chose Black-work designs
Trim project and secure all around cross stitch fabric to prevent it from unraveling *this has already begun  (piece A)
Place piece A on top of 2nd fabric - I've chosen a natural linen and trace out second border

The second border will be like little windows, 4 longer and 4 little corner squares.  Inside each I plan on embroidering things that you would not want to poke with a stick till mad.  Bear, Bees, Red Ant Hill and a Skunk.  The second border will offer more diversity for stitches and techniques and will add the spice of humor to the piece.  It's been a long time in my brain, turning over and over as I considered how best to assemble it and create something worth hanging onto and something that will be funny.

Who loves progress shots?  Anyone, anyone... yeah me too.

You can see how the fabric is unraveling, I will put in a row of white cross stitches all around once I've finished this part to prevent it from going any further.  That will keep it from falling apart more and will connect it to the base piece of fabric.

I could pull out the A and move it over, that would give the 3rd line a bit more breathing room.  It is alas only the beginning of this project and I've a long road to sew.  Feel free to click the images, they will enlarge for your viewing pleasure.

Keep on stitching!  >^_^<

Painting again

I feel like I have my hands in all sorts of wonderful things at the moment. I think I have the attention span of a 3 year old sometimes. Been stitching of course, hopefully will be able to share that project at some point (going to be epic, epic I say!)  Been drawing and capturing ideas, I've also been playing around with clay, Knickertwist shared the most wonderful video tutorial on her blog "Pixie Hill" about how to make her sweet little mushrooms and a second showing the amazing teeny fairy houses... so cute and so fun, this can go in a million directions. I'll have to get a few pics of what I've done so I can share also. If you want to see (and you really should) click Here for the tutorial on how to make the mushrooms. Go ahead, click I'll wait...
Great right? I love her blog and her artwork is just inspiring, I want to fill an entire wall with it!

Anyhoo, onto the painting. A friend and co-worker had her birthday and so I decided to make something for her. Though now I've realized that there have been a few other birthdays that I missed completely or could have gone bigger on. I'm going to have to remedy that I think... right the painting. Lookie.

That is Micky and Minnie skipping off into the sunset hand in hand. It took me around 20 hours overall = all 4 Twilight movies (looking away), the 6 hour BBC version of Pride and Prejudice followed by Kate and Leopold and rounded off with the newest episode of Eureka off of the SyFy channel website. About 2 days and one evening and I fit just a tiny bit of yard work in there too (pretty sure the neighbors were glad about that one) though more time needs to be spent out there too.
Overall it was a very quick painting for me, usually I'll spend ages or years sometimes just because I'll set it to the side and never get back around to it.
I have to say that I've really, really missed painting.  Now I want to paint more but how can I paint when the (epic) embroidery sits and waits, the clay houses are begging for paint and moss roofs and I have people actually wanting me to make things for them. When did I get so busy with crafty things and when will I fit the dishes and laundry into this busy crafting schedule? I've so much to do and so many things that I would rather do. Guess that is the plight of any artsy/crafty person.

Well...

Keep on stitching my stitchy friends!  >^_^<