the picture ledge is up....

The other weekend, Kinsey and I finally got around to putting something on the space above our bed.  We have two fabric panels on each side of our bed for a few reasons.  The previous owners' had a floor to ceiling curtain along this entire wall and they left that massive curtain hook in place.   I didn't like the whole wall being covered, but it did bring a major focus of the otherwise large and long room to the bed wall.  We also have a built in air conditioner unit to the right hand side of the bed.  We both hate how this looks and haven't used it in the 2.5 years we've been here.  I suppose we have either a high tolerance for heat or it hasn't really been super hot.  Or we might be crazy.  (It has gotten rather uncomfortable upstairs a few nights a year and we opted instead to set up camp downstairs in the living room.  This might seem crazy to some, but it's actually a fun change.  And our cooling bill in the summer is quite low.  We aren't full on crazy though, we do have a portable tower fan and a ceiling fan in the living room.)

Anyhow, the curtain panels serve mainly to block the unsightly air conditioner unit.  The large empty space in the middle has always bothered me a little.  

We purchased two of the Ribba picture ledges probably over 6 months ago or longer.  They just sat to the side of the bedroom waiting to be used.  We initially wanted to have them stacked two high behind our bed, but realized that we didn't have enough room to do that.  So we opted for just one.  (The second Ribba ledge still sits, waiting for its turn.)

This took all of about three minutes to hang.  Of course, it made us wonder why we've waited so long.

I just randomly threw some objects up on the ledge for now and will probably frequently change things out.  I was thrilled to finally have somewhere to properly display my fabric plush trees I got for Christmas a few years back from Kinsey.  The print beside the trees, is of Maymont Park in Richmond (one of our favorite places!)  by Art Shark.  

The lion/man/eskimo type print is from the wonderful company, Sukie.  The little bear card is from laura george.

best prints you've ever seen....

I'm very excited to share some of my husband's newest work.  Kinsey has been drawing for quite some time and is super creative.  He made his younger sister's wedding invitations this past summer and has been playing around with hand drawn text for a while.  A few weeks ago, he opened his own  hand drawn illustration shop on etsy.  His shop is called eager illustration.  

Currently, he's been working on a lot of animal portraits.  I love all of them, but the owl is my favorite.  I really need to have him print one for my craft room.

They all feature an original animal drawing and below is a banner with hand drawn text.  All the prints are hand drawn and then digitally colored.  Most of the prints feature a wonderfully textured paper canvas which gives a nice dimension to the artwork. 

He also is doing portraits of people.  Lincoln, anyone?

Just this past weekend, we did a craft show together and his prints got a really good response from customers!  Check out his shop and blog for more information!   

the gift of art prints

A few weeks ago was Kinsey's birthday.  One of the gifts I got for him was this great print from etsy by laurageorge.

The very top has the heading "things I'm thankful for" and includes just about everything we love.  

Here's a fun little card, too.  Also from laurageorge.  They kind of look like potato people.

This one I got for Kinsey last September for our anniversary.  It's from etsy by artsharkdesigns.

The print is actually of Maymont Park in Richmond, Virginia.  Ever since we went to Richmond in 2007 to sell our crafts at Spring Bada Bing we've loved going to Maymont.  It is a huge outdoor area/mansion/educational center and has some really amazingly large trees, too! (In fact, I called it the "land of huge trees" in an old blog post about the park here .)  I was thrilled to find a print of this wonderful place and loved the couple with umbrellas image.  

You + Me + the Jellys (or Jellies)

Ever since seeing the jellyfish exhibit at the Baltimore Aquarium this past fall, I've been really fascinated with them. So much so that I've started to find myself sketching them in groups for no apparent reason. Then, I embroidered this orange one for my current exhibit.

My favorite jelly inspired design so far? Definitely this one. Two jellys (or is it jellies?) holding tentacles in love? Yes.

Offering them as pictured or customized with your choice of names.

Korn and me

Just the other day, the local paper put my "Sewn Stories" exhibit in the "Top 5 Things to Do" at number 3.  Right between a concert by the hard rock band Korn and a lecture about Martin Luther King Jr.  Yeah, that's right Korn.  

For another laugh (or two depending) you can read the interview posted on the Yellow Wall Gallery's blog here:  

In the interview are links to fun things like the Berenstain Bears website and Legos, which is worth the time it takes to read the interview alone!  

Show is up....thumbs are blistered

Show is up and done! We hung my art up in the Yellow Wall Gallery at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore on Monday.  Here's a portion of the pieces before their titles and prices went up.  

I'm pretty relieved to have everything done.  This was my first time doing a completely solo show.  I'm very happy with the final 12 pieces that made it to the walls.  As you may know, most of my work is usually in round embroidery hoops.  I love using them, but it can hinder the overall design and shape.  By doing my work in proper rectangular frames, I was able to play around with a lot of ideas I've had in my head lately.  

While I love sewing and embroidering, I don't share that same love with framing.  So that's why the framing waited until the very end.  Meaning the 2 nights before the show went up.  Most of my frames were made of unpainted wood and needed to be painted.  Here's Kinsey painting the frames two days before hanging.  Yes, it's nighttime.  And yes, there is a few inches of snow on the ground.  And yes, he did have to shovel some in order to stand where he is.  This is why I married him.  (And because he can reach things like honey on the very back of the top shelf at the grocery store.)

This was by far the most crucial supply!  It's a heavy board that has acid free adhesive on one side that you stick to your fabric.  It keeps everything nice and even and if done right, doesn't show wrinkles.  This board also doubled as the backing of the frames because most of my frames were open backed.  We (okay, Kinsey) used small tacks and nails to attach the board to the frame and needless to say his thumbs are a little numb currently from pushing so many tacks down on every frame.
Making a last minute adjustment. 
Here's 2 of my favorites....well, actually 3.  

"someone is outside the tent"

"the logger's wife" and "the logger"

I love these two portraits!  I had the idea in the very last couple days and actually finished them the day before they were hung.  

Also, the artist reception will be this Friday, Jan 21st from 6-9pm!  More details are here!

Sneak Peek at the Art Show....

So my solo art show is less than 2 weeks away (opening on January 18th) and I've been pretty busy finishing up my final pieces and getting everything framed and ready to be hung.  I've especially enjoyed being able to work on a slightly bigger scale than what I'm used to.  I'm often hindered by the size of the embroidery hoop I'm using, so being able to do things in standard frames and rectangular shapes has been a fun change.
Here's a planning stage shot of a new piece I finished (see the end of post for the final piece).  I initially planned to do a full bear who was turning over some rocks, but settled on using just the back side of the bear.  Here's also my beloved rotary cutter and my brand new cutting mat.  I've been using a really old mat that had all sorts of ink spills and gashes in that sometimes made cutting a straight and even line a little challenging.  

Here's a detail of an embroidered ship that I'm in the middle of.  

Here's a before and after of one of my favorite pieces I just finished. I've been playing around with the concept of having a bear sort of "walk off" the page leaving behind his footprints in the snow. I initially had planned to do this in a circular embroidery hoop, but thought the overall design would seem a little cramped in the space. I decided to go with a more traditional rectangular shape for the design. I love the fabric that the brown bear is made with. I actually have no idea what the official name of this fabric is, but it's sort of suede like on one side and a more flat cotton appearance on the other side. The best part is that it doesn't fray. So it's perfect for using when you want sharp/complex edges and don't want to do a proper applique. I've had pieces of this fabric for years. I acquired a stash in my crafts class my senior year in high school in both this brown color and a forest green. Unfortunately, my stash has been dwindling down pretty fast lately.


And here's the after. I love the contrast of the white snow and dark tree trunks. All the trees were made from leftover scrapes of the felt from my owls. I kept the jagged edges on the trees for a little extra detail and more realistic appearance. This work also marks the first time I've ever including a child in a piece. A little reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood perhaps?

Busy, busy, busy

I've been pretty busy getting ready for my art show. I've also been busy making ornaments for our tree. I hope to have some ornament how-tos in the next couple of days, but in the meantime, here's a sneak peek at two of my new pieces!

I love, love, love the stitches and colors in this one! Any guesses on where it is?

How I Spent Last Weekend...or How I Learned to Love Pinking Shears

This past weekend was the local Christmas craft show that a neighboring gallery puts on each year. So of course I spent my days off before the show sewing and embroidering like crazy. This was my first show where I've had my fabric owls for sale and overall they got a really great response and I sold more than I thought I would there.
I also came up with my new Christmas ornament of the year.  I recently re-discovered my fabric pinking shears and crafted this state badge ornament.  The design of course is based off my "My Heart's In Pennsylvania" series that includes magnets and pins.  I love being able to layer the felts and the texture that the pinking shears gave the final ornament.  I especially love this wood grain fabric one and called it "Penn's Woods".

Here was a scene I saw much of while making them. 

I hate to admit, but this massive pile is just round one of my PA ornaments.  I made at least double this the very next day.  I just like to make sure I have enough.

The show was very, very successful!  Thanks to everyone who came out.  With the last craft show of my year over with, now I can focus on making Christmas gifts and my two upcoming art shows.  One will be a collective with Kinsey and an employee at the bookstore and the other will be my first solo show.  Very excited about this!  I'll have more details about both soon!

1 Whale + 1 Owl= Lots of Little Owls

It all started with a whale.  A stuffed whale that is.  Kinsey made this for me early 2009.  I had seen a stuffed whale in one of my craft books and loved it.  Although the one I saw in the book was made of old jeans and didn't look quite as good as the one below.  
I love this whale and I won't lie, I sometimes use it as a pillow when I sleep.  So seeing how much I loved the first animal, Kinsey surprised me with this one last Christmas:

I was so impressed and couldn't believe he didn't use a pattern for these animals.  I told him he should really make more and sell them.  Who wouldn't love an owl like this?  But we never really got around to making more.  

The other week I got the sudden urge to see if I could make a similar owl.  I didn't want my new owl (or owls in this case) to be as large as the original, but not too small.  I also wanted to change the eyes and make them not as large.  I wanted to eliminate the zigzag stitching and give the a cleaner overall appearance.  Another area I wanted to improve was the shape.  I like the original and how the spiky tail is, but I thought a smooth, straight edge may be a little better for the overall shape.  So with all this in mind, I set out to create an owl of my own.  I started with this one....

I replaced the eyes and beak with felt, as well as the back of the owl is a solid piece of soft brown felt.  I liked the idea of a bolder stomach fabric and the simplicity of the shape.  

That owl eventually lead to a pair......
....which eventually lead to a small army of owls!

The final results: I ended up with an ideal length of about 10 inches and by replacing different features with felt, the overall feel is much softer. The owls don't contain any small parts and are filled with a non allegoric poly-fil. Just in time for Christmas...

currently in love with....

About a month or so ago, I was at work (I'm the manager of an independent bookstore), and stumbled across a pack of prints by artist, Suzy Ultman. The set was by Chronicle Press and contained 12 large prints featuring everything I love....owls, whales, bikes, apples, and more. Her illustration style is really simple, but beautiful and features a lot of nature themes.



Here's some images from the set:

This one is hanging in our living room and is one of the first things you see when you enter the door.




This one isn't in the set I have, but I'm in love with it. Evidently, she is supposed to release a fabric line similar to this print coming in December.



I picked up this stationary paper doll set at Urban Outfitters (see above post for details on their reusable bags) for a mere $2.99. Eight different girl dolls are included (2 of each design) along with these really beautiful and large envelopes and stickers. I'd like to send or give them away, but I think I may have to keep one of each for myself!

a good find....

The other day I came across these old medical plates from an old book via a friend at work. Parts of the body, stomach parts, and blood have the tendency to make me queasy, but I immediately loved these prints.





One of the really fun parts of them is that they have a number of different parts that lift up. It shows and labels the local of different parts of the body, the names, and the order everything goes in. The only downside is, upon framing these, you won't be able to lift up the parts. For now, I just have these loose.







How fun are these?

a perk of being a wife....

Lately, Kinsey has been practicing and creating a lot of art with dip pens and ink.  He's been doing a few over his lunch at work and in the evening if time allows.  His images are sometimes abstract, sometimes not, but always really beautiful.  He's been practicing write letters lately and often draws little pictures with a note or two attached for me.  What's not to love? 

Remember this?  I don't know how he keeps his hand so steady with all the detail. 

Look for some of his pen and ink designs in our Etsy shop soon!