Countdown to Bar Harbor.....

"About midway along it on one of the uprights is a plaque marking the state line, and I for one always begin to feel wonderful the minute I've passed that marker.  The air starts smelling better, and the trees across the river on Maine soil look greener.  When I come off the end of the bridge, I always think, "There! Now at last I'm in Maine!" and everything is suddenly bright, even on a foggy day.  Maine has that effect on her partisans."

~The Coast of Maine by Louise Dickinson Rich

In exactly 7 months, Kinsey and I will be in the middle of our anniversary vacation to Acadia National Park.  Our first and last trip there, was for for our honeymoon, which will be 4 years ago in September.  We are super excited to go back and if you know us at all, you know we can mention Maine daily, especially Acadia.

So in 7 months we could be here (on the overlook of Bubble Rock):

Or here (on Sand Beach):

Or here (one of our favorite spots that we call Rice Beach):

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.  

The Ongoing Quest for Fabric and the Shirt of my Dreams

This past week, I found some really great fabrics for a few projects I've had in mind.  Above is my newest fabric additions.  The past couple times I've went, I've been really drawn to the "artist series" of fabrics they are carrying.  Last year I bought some of this fabric by Heidi Grace.  My usually crafting style doesn't really feature too much fabric that has busy prints.  I'm usually drawn towards small prints and not too overall distracting from the main color.  However, I often really find great fabrics with lots of color and big prints, but can't usually find a good use for them in my day to day sewing.  Maybe I'm just plain in my choices.  Or maybe I just prefer small prints.  Anyhow, I have yet to use the yard I got of this fabric, but I love it. 

Speaking of of big prints, I absolutely loved this one I found!  It's very similar to fabric that Ikea offers.  I like the flowers, birds, and nature inspired designs.  I'm definitely planning at least one pillow and another very exciting project with this one!

This fruit fabric definitely has a retro vibe going, but I think it will be really fun to use for kitchen textiles.  Maybe a few pot holders and kitchen towels?  It also would make a really nice and graphic pillow.  (Yes, pillows are a new favorite thing of mine.)

The whole reason I even went to the fabric store wasn't to stock up on fabric (which kind of happened anyway), but to find suitable shirt material.  Last summer, I made a few sewing goals.  The goals included making a dress (I even bought 2 or 3 patterns) and making a blouse.  I didn't make the dress (I did cut out 80% of the pattern pieces) and I made a few attempts at a simple tank with shirring.  The tank wasn't really what I wanted.  I think it might have been okay, but the fabric just wasn't right.  It seemed  little too stiff.  It seems to be really difficult for me to find the type of fabric I want for my shirt.  I like my summer shirts to be pretty thin, soft, and usually a simple print.  I have a few shirts I bought that have the exact material I want, which just seems to be 100% cotton or a cotton/silk blend.  But the only fabric at the store that's even close to the same feel I want, is either too silky or the silky/polyester/see through material.  All the 100% cottons are really stiff, even after repeated washings.  So I guess my question is, where can I find suitable shirting fabric that is lightweight and in nice prints?  

Until I find it, I figured I should start practicing.  So the top 2 fabrics in my new fabric stack and the purple gingham (which is almost the exact feel of the fabric I want, just not really the ideal print) are my practice fabrics. 

The pattern for this shirt I found last year on the Sew Mama Sew.

I love the the style of the shirt and the pleated details of the back.  Why isn't it easier to find shirts like this one in the stores?

So, I'll be practicing with my fabric and keep checking the stores until I find "the" lightweight summer shirt material I want.

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?