Chuck Palahnuik Swap

Wow I haven't posted in a while. Colby and I went on vacation and I'll try to post a few pics of that soon but I've been wanting to post these pics of some of the work I did for the Chuck Palahnuik Swap on Craftster. I love Chuck's books and was so excited that this swap finally happened. I had an awesome partner, nostrum, from Australia. So here's what I made for her!

I thought a bookmark would be appropriate--so I stitched this one with a quote from Choke that says, "If you're going to read this book, don't bother." Fitting really. I then added the knife and fork design from the book and free-handed a steak--a t-bone no less. I really enjoy the repetitiveness of cross stitch---seeing the design and lettering slowly take shape. Really enjoyable.


A small embroidered patch based off of the dead bird image on the cover of Lullaby. My partner mentioned that she liked the image so I know I wanted to do something with it. I had originally thought about making it a stamp, but the more I thought about it, I knew the lines of the image would translate well to embroidery. I backed it with felt so she could sew it what ever she likes.


A necklace with images of Chuck's book covers and of him, funky charms and beads. I wanted to make a wild, whimsical necklace that was like the ones he actually makes and has sent to fans. I used small wooden tiles and good 'ol Modge Podge to glue the images down. Then I added a quote on the back of the tiles that I thought best represented each book. I also added charms and beaded items to fill it out. This was so much fun to make and I truly wanted to keep it.

The back side with the quotes.


My partner said that Fight Club was one of her favorites so I wanted to make something based off of that book, but I wanted to do something different. I thought so hard about what to do for this, flipping through the book, looking at quotes. Then one day, it hit me--the haikus that the narrator writes. So I stitched it out in pretty lettering on pale purple fabric and added a queen bee design from an Aunt Martha's pattern and framed it all up in a fancy frame. I even used some metallic thread for the wings and didn't really fight with it that much! I love how it turned out.

The Queen Bee


So now I'm just waiting to receive my package from nostrum. I can't wait to see what she's made for me.

Jar of Mini Whimsies Swap Part 1

My latest swap was the jar of mini whimsies. Don't know what a whimsy is? I didn't either until I got on Craftster. A whimsy is basically a small item like a toy, button, charm, a bit of ribbon, game pieces etc. The whimsies are then collected and put into a jar and shipped out to you partner! My partner was mamaphunk from Missourri. She sent me some awesome whimsies, alot of vintage items and cute plastic charms. Here's my jar chock full of whimsies.

Everything all dumped out and sorta sorted.

Some close-ups. Mah-jong tiles ( I think), shells, metal flowers, plastic bowling pin.

Plastic charms including skates, boots, whistes, tooth holders, mini roulette wheel, hotdog, plane.

Some blinging rings.

I love these charms. They say "I'M IN THE DOG HOUSE." Way to cute.

Wonderful felted and beaded balls made by my partner. I want to learn how to do this! They are gorgeous and will make a great necklace or bracelet.

Some of my favorite items though I love everything! A graduate cake topper, plastic girl possibly also a cake topper, the mini roulette wheel, an old compass, plastic charms including the hotdog, flamingo cupcake topper. This was a fun swap and I began looking at things differently. I found myself saying--I could put that in the whimsy jar! So fun.

Just realized that Maggie is totally chowing down in the background. hee hee

Tea Towels

I received some awesome towels from my Tea Towel Swap partner, zombiekilla. I mentioned that I was really into birds right now and she stitched the most whimsical and creative designs. She really did a great job with making something that it totally me! They were also stitched on these really vintage looking towels which I love. Without further adieu:

The bird with the red balloon. She used such fun colors!


The bird with flowers. I love this image and again such great colors. Really fantastical looking.


The bird looking at his reflection. Probably my favorite design. He's checking himself out in the mirror and loving what he sees.

Thanks zombiekilla for these great towels!

Tea Towel Swap

My most recent craft swap was a set of embroidered tea towels. I had a great partner, zombiekilla, that had awesome interests and I had a blast stitching for her. I loosely based the towels on pin-ups which were one of her interests but wanted to incorporate her other interests into the pin-up idea. So, I ended up stitching a tattoo girl pin-up, a zombie/horror pin-up and a chunky girl pin-up. I worked really hard on these and was so pleased with how they turned out. Here they are:

The tattoo pin-up. I based this design off of a book that had on her wists of Angelique Hautkamp's artwork. The center figure is based on one of the paintings and I added roses and skulls to complete the design. I really wanted to keep this one. I put alot of work into this and just love how the images came together.

Close-up of the figure. I just love the skull design on her face. Very sexy.


The zombie/horror pin-up. I found this image online and added the skull in her hand. I wanted to make her look gory and scary but also sexy.

I used a variegated thread for her hair that turned out really great looking. Sexy and scary.


Chunky girl pin-up. My partner is a supporter of the fat acceptance movement so I wanted to do a fat girl pin-up that was also sexy. I added the "Queen" banner and the leaves and flowers which are Sublime Stitching patterns to make it feel like she is a queen worthy of your attention. Fat and sexy!!


This may be my favorite swap so far. I got to stitch images that I normally wouldn't and really feel that I showed greater depth with these designs.

Travels

I have been away for while but I have been busy! Not only have I been crafting but I've been traveling a little too. Colby and I have been to the Outer Banks and the mountains in the span of two weeks. We love the Outer Banks. It's so isolated and peaceful and quiet. We caught the tail-end of a noreaster but had awesome weather the rest of our stay. It was a much needed break from work and just life in general I guess. We lounged around the hotel room, watched TV, sat on the beach, took a wild horse tour, and just forgot about everything for a while. We definately didn't want to come back!


Day one: Colby in the storm remnants. The water had reached the dunes and the waves were gnarly!


I love this shot of the sunset through a spider web. We walked along a trail that followed the sound and watched the sunset. We saw rabbits and deer along the trail after seeing a fox by our hotel. The area is full of wildlife.


Some of the wild horses we saw but check out the baby!

I mean how cute!

One last parting shot-these birds flying in front of the setting sun as I was flying down the beach in a 4-wheel drive. Can't wait to go back.

Embroidery: Grover

Jim Henson Craft Swap part two: I made this door hanger for my partner and was so pleased with how it turned out. My partner said she loved Grover and fondly remembered the "Near and Far" sketch where Grover runs back and forth to define the meaning of near and far. Quite brilliant really. So I tried to think of a way to craft "Near and Far" and immediately knew I had to do something double-sided--near on one side and far on the other. I found the images from online coloring pages which are a great resource for images, especially characters. I used fabric in different tones of blue to give it a "Grover" feel and added some yellow pom-pom fringe to add a little whimsy. It was a bit tough to sew the fringe on the machine but I made it work.

The front with a lovely image of Grover. I love his expression.

The back with different blue fabrics and a little Grover far away.
Detail of far Grover


Again, I hated to send this out! However, I did receive such wonderful things in return that I suppose it's ok. I can always make one for myself. (wink wink) Here is what the great ursulaandolive crafted for me.

Muppet themed push pins, Muppet buttons, Kermit inspired slippers, a "monster" journal, a knitted "monster" pouch in lovely red fuzzy yarn, the Letter H stuffie named Henny, and a puppet that looks a lot like me from the glasses to the paint brush she's holding. Everything was wonderful.

Embroidery

Now for those of you who don't know what a craft swap is (I'm actually pretty new to it myself) it's loads of fun. There is usually a theme, a specified crafting time, specified sizes of items to make (like one small, and two medium items etc), and a partner to craft for who also crafts for you. The packages are mailed off and you get wonderful handmade items. So for the Jim Henson Swap, which was my very first craft swap, I made this pillow featuring everyone's favorite frog, Kermit.
The image was from a pin image I found online. Then I backed it with this lovely Kermit fabric that I was surprised to find--Kermit being kinda old and not Spongebob, Dora, Hannah Montana or other characters of the day. I was so pleased with how the stitching came out on this. I added one of his catch phrases, "Hi Ho" and added a little button for detail.


It was really hard for me to send this out to my partner! I really wanted to keep it for myself. I do have leftovers of the Kermit fabric so I guess it gives me a good excuse to make one for myself. I just think his pose and gesture really capture the spirit of Kermit. He's such a treasure. So in the spirit of Jim Henson--dare to be creative and never stop dreaming.