Club 27.

You guys, I'm pretty bummed about the death of Amy Winehouse.  While I'm not entirely shocked about it, it's still so sad.  The fact that the whole world watched her fall apart makes it even more terrible.  They say she was happy and healthy in the end, having beat drugs and finally starting to overcome drinking.  It's good that she experienced happiness again before her death, she was too young to have so much pain in her life.  I don't care what anyone says about her addiction, she was an amazing and talented artist.

This was my ringtone forever!


This is one of my favorite embroideries ever, it's such a beautiful likeness of her.  It's completely hand-stitched by Totally Severe.  You can see more of her work here.  Check it out, she's one of the best!

One of my billions of etsy favorites.

Found here.

Sadly, she joins a long line of musicians that died young.  She's probably on stage, knocking the socks off of everyone in Club 27 as I type this.  Hopefully there she can find some peace.  RIP, love.  You will be sorely missed.

Caturday!

We don't have babies, so I pretend with my kitties.  Too bad I can't dress them up.

He loves being held this way, none of the other kitties will go for it.  Not even Chunky who used to be my biggest cuddle bug!  Oh well, one cuddly one is good enough, I guess.  I'm realizing poor Natasha doesn't get on here often enough, I'll have to change that.  It's not that she isn't cute enough, she certainly is.  She's just a bit anti-social so getting the chance to snap a good shot it rare.  She runs off most of the time.

Snapshot Friday!

Mmmmmmmm, felt.  What more can I say?!

(Well actually, it's Eco-Felt, made from recycled plastic bottles.  Pretty and recycled- Yay for green crafters!)

I'm a Bookworm- Part 2

I realized as I looked at my Happy Hoopy Wall that I never showed you guys what I got in the Phat Quarter Book Themed Swap.  I'm terrible! 

I got this little lovely from Salvaged Mutiny.  She's a talented stitcher who makes costumes while traveling the world on a giant cruise ship.  Find her on flickr or check out her blog!

Check out all the detail in the trees!   Isn't that awesome?  I love fairy tales, especially the dark ones, so this was right up my alley.  I'm certainly a lucky gal.

Well, that's all I've got for tonight.  I'm off to bed so I can get up bright and early for the morning shift at my work.  See you tomorrow for Snapshot Friday!  Sweet dreams, kids.

M-O-M

That title stands for "Man, oh man!"  As in man, oh man, I have to stop writing, "See you tomorrow!" I just look like a flake.  I've been crazy busy with my paper dolls project over the last few days.  I kind of gave up on it yesterday though.  I had washed and pressed it, then threw on a few more beads after tinting.  It was looking great, except for the hoop marks.  I don't know why they won't come out, I've never had a problem before.  Anyway, I decided to submit something else and I'm walking away from it for a while.

Or that title can count for this piece.  You decide.  I stitched this piece a while ago using a Sew Lovely Embroidery pattern, from their Mad Ink set.   

 I used one of those faux wood hoops that everyone loves so much.  This was my first time using one, so I can't really form an opinion just yet.  It's most likely just me, but I had a little bit of trouble with it.  Probably because I didn't stitch the piece it, I transferred it into there.  Let's just say, I need more practice with them.

It's stitched on a vintage bed sheet, the same one that I'm using for the paper dolls project.  I haven't experimented with it too much, but I'm starting to dig stitching on patterned fabric.

Alright lovelies, I'm off to work.  I have no desire to go today.  I'm sore as heck, but I'm going to suck it up.  I'm taking a small project to work on during my break, then back to the big stuff when I get back home.  I'll check in later tonight, this time I'm for reals.  If I don't, I fear I'll never catch up.  Later, have a craftastic day!

Caturday!

Ok, I guess it's not technically Caturday anymore, it's Sunday.  However, I haven't gone to sleep yet, so in my book it's still Caturday!  This being noted, I hope this is the last thing I do on this fine Caturday. It hasn't been going all that well since I came home.

He certainly looks happy though, doesn't he?  My baby Chunk loves his bags.  Whether he's in them or on them, he's content.  And a happy baby is something to be happy about.  Cutie McBiggins, that's who he is!

Be back tomorrow with more of the stitchy projects I've done lately.  There are a lot that I haven't shared here.  Sleep tight, Lovebugs!

Weekend Update!

I wanted to share a bit more of the project that I'm working on at the moment.  It's pretty big, so I hope that I can get it all done in time.  Anyway, here's more!  Not necessarily the best shots, but better than the blurry teaser, that's for sure.  They're "paper dolls" can you tell?

I've gotten a considerable more amount done since these were take, but there's a lot to do.  I'm a bit worried about the hoop marks.  I've never had problems with them in the past, but they seem obvious and dark on this fabric.  It's strange really.  I'm going to wash the whole thing in Woolite when I'm done, but if that doesn't work them the whole thing is toast.  Wish me luck!

Be back later tonight with Caturday!

Snapshot Friday!

In one way or another, I tend to leave my mark everywhere I go.  Today's photo is an example of that.  These were a few of things that my honey found while cleaning out his car a few weeks ago.

What can I say? I like to be prepared at all times.  Actually I know at least two of those needles probably came from noticing them in my pant leg while we were driving around.  I have taken them and stowed them away in the little cubby under the handle in the door.  I'm like a squirrel, I also hide ponytail holders and lip balm there.  Although, this time of year is really not good for the lip balm.  Summer here means opening your tin of Burt's Bees to find the contents have shifted drastically, like the stuff in overhead bins.  

Ok, now I'm off on a tangent.  Blabbering really.  I'm suspecting it has something to do with not wanting to get back to cleaning the kitchen.  Oh well, I have to because I can't stitch until it's done.  See you later, with an update on my current piece!

Words on Wednesday!

See you tomorrow?  Wow, I was feeling ambitious when I wrote that, considering it was a holiday weekend.  I should have known that I would be more focused on stuffing my face with delicious grilled food and maintaining a frosty beverage at all times.  Although the "off to pet someone" part was pretty accurate.  Our babies got a ton of attention this weekend since it was both of us at home.

Last week I missed "Words on Wednesday" because apparently I can't keep track of time and realized too late that it was actually Thursday when I wrote it.  Oh well, turns out for the better anyways.  Looking back at it, it's a bit grumpy and depressing, reflecting my mood at the time.  Trashed it.  This week it'll be happy!

Today's words are, "Officially Licensed!"  I received my signed contract back and I am now officially licensed by Sublime Stitching!  Yay!  

It's crazy to think that years ago a little ol' ad for Jenny's patterns in the back of a Juxtapoz magazine got me started on this crazy embroidery journey.  Now I'm licensed by her company to sell items made from those patterns!  It's really mind blowing to me.  I never would have thought that a little curiosity about a new hobby would turn into so much, it's practically my life now.  I've learned so much and met amazing people, all thanks to embroidery.  It's nuts!

I'm happy that I can share this news with you, it's very exciting for me.  Now that that's done, I'm off to get in a little stitching before work.  Then I'll be back at it when I get home, I've got to get this thing finished by this time next week!  I'll share another picture soon.  I know that last one was horribly vague.  Bye for now!

Caturday!

Out of all the cats, Boris is the neediest.  He demands attention and will not take no for an answer.  When he decides he wants cuddles, you'd just better stop and oblige him.  You're not going to get anything done until you do.  Several times a day, he'll walk up to you and nuzzle until he's asleep in your lap or you pick him up.

This is his favorite way to be held if you're standing.  (Yeah, they're really picky around here.)  Dead weight....prepared to dig his claws into your shoulder the second you attempt to put him down.  Obviously our pet's need to come with instruction manuals if anyone from the outside ever plans on interacting with them.  Until we get those written we'll just have to continue to cater to their every whim.

Off to pet someone, I'm sure.  See you tomorrow!

Snapshot Friday!

There's something wrong.  Maybe I'm in some sort of alternate universe or I'm coming down with an illness.  I'm not myself today.

This evening I left a craft store empty-handed....on payday!  And I also picked this beverage on our trip to the grocery store.  I don't know what's going on, but I'm not sure that I like it.  I'm going to have a shot of whiskey and watch some violent mobster or zombie movies in the hopes of finding the old me.  I stitched all afternoon so my wrist is killing me, time for a break.  Nighty-nite, folks!  See you tomorrow for Caturday!  Meow!

Sneaky Peaky

How are you on this fine Friday?  Happy Canada Day to the readers in the North!  I'm home today and furiously digging into my to-do list.

As promised, a little teaser from the the project I'm working on right now.  It had to wait until today for a new picture, bad lighting last night when I came home from work.  Plus, the ones I already had were much too obvious.  I wanted an ambiguous shot.  So nice of me, huh?

Curious?  More to come soon, it's going pretty quick.  Probably because I'm really excited about it.  I have lots of smaller pieces planned around this concept.  While it's a very specific theme it still leaves room to experiment quite a bit.  That's probably my favorite thing about embroidery there is so much freedom to create different effects.  Ok, could I be any more cryptic with this description?!  You just have to see it to understand, I guess.

I'll be back later with "Snapshot Friday!" bet you thought this was it, huh?  Nope, just a sneak peak.  In the meantime, I'm off to blast records, stitch, clean my house (ugh!) and start a new art journal.  This one will be just for Sam, it's a swap long in the works.  A page a day for a whole month! I can't wait to see what Sam make's me, I love her style.  Anyway, see you again soon.