Ode to John Hughes

I have seen some of John Hughes's movies at least 50 times.  They are so wonderful; filled with love, sadness and hilarity.  But for me, they speak to the truths of being a teenager.  As a teen you will love someone that doesn't love you back, struggle with finding independence from your parents, rebel against stereotypes, make mistakes and be so miserable sometimes that even you can't stand yourself.  Hughes had such a wonderful way of capturing these truths in my favorites of his movies--Pretty In Pink, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Some Kind of Wonderful and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I thought I'd look around for fellow Hughes lovers and see what some folks have created.

"Some Kind of Wonderful Yarn Art" by BrandyLynnandPaul

This amazing cross stitch pattern of the Pretty In Pink cast by weelittlestitches

You can also get the Breakfast Club pattern

"Neomaxizoomdweebie" by bombastitch

"Breakfast Club Vampires" by paghababian

"Ferris Bueller You're my Hero" embroidery by alwaysinspired

"Try A Little Tenderness (Duckie)" by Jessica Deahl 

Duckie is one of my favorite characters.

"The Donger" print by KRUSTYstuff

Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club watercolor by alliefraley

Another favorite character and Colby and I share and common fondness of John. We quote him often.  Luckily someone has put together the best of John Bender for us all to enjoy.

Cute Crochet

I find myself picking up crochet items at the thrift--usually kitchen items like hot pads, pot holders or things I can use for dish rags.   They're usually dirt cheap and you can just throw them in the wash.  But every once in a while, I find something so totally cute that I just have to have it and it will not be used for anything other than to be cute in my kitchen. 

Quick stitch....tea towel

I finished a quick stitch on a tea towel for my cousin's house-warming gift. They are going with a sunflower theme for the kitchen.  Pattern is from here (towel too--I love these towels).  The best gifts are handmade.

Sleepy Kitty

Well of course Maggie pretty much took over the little crocheted blanket that my mom me got for a whopping $1.  But look how cute she is sleeping on it--much cuter that I would have looked using it.  

Thrift finds...wowza tablecolth!

Look what I found at the good 'ol Hospice Flea Market! This amazingly stitched tablecloth. 

It's a good 4 ft by 4ft or so. It has beautiful Asian (Japanese I would guess) buildings, trees and decorative motifs.

It has the teeny tiniest stitches I've ever seen. 

What a score! 

Rediscovery

While going through some of my old things, I found this handmade book I made back in college.  Man did it bring back some memories.  It was a very personal piece, I guess it still is.  But seeing this again, made me remember the creativity I once felt--the feeling that I could really make something and the freedom of it.  I made this in a pinhole photography class, the photographs are of toy horses, the larger one I've had since I was a child.  The prints are cyanotype, a beautiful blue print.  The papers are handmade and everything is hand-stitched, there's pieces of fabric incorporated also.  I do miss having the space and resources to do things like this--make my own paper, access to a darkroom.  Just a bit more inspiration for myself--I have been really dragging on this new painting--feeling very unmotivated and time is ticking away.  So these sparks of inspirations I'm finding are really helping me clear my creative block. 

Hey Man...

I have finished a new piece using another Sublime Stitching artist series pattern.  This time an amazing Michael Sieben design.

I also used another textile that I found at the thrift store.  I love the crochet work on this one.  The delicacy of it is a great juxtaposition of the embroidery  itself--heavy stitches and color. 

I've pretty pleased with my fill stitches though I still seem to have a bit of a problem with tension causing the fabric to pull.  I don't know if that will just happen or if it's something I can prevent.

I tried to give some depth with colors in the hair.  I like doing hair with split stitch becuase it gives texture.  You can check out Michael Sieben's artwork here. I really like his work, it's very colorful and expressive.  At first it seems quite simplistic, but it's heavy in content.  Here's a few I like.

Lighter Or Darker
9" x 9" acrylic and pencil on panel

Need To Talk
9" x 9" acrylic and pencil on panel

Discovered
12" x 12" acrylic and pencil on panel

Look familiar?

Whats New
9" x 9" acrylic and pencil on panel

**In other news: Jenny Hart featured me on the Sublime Stitching blog!  Color me excited! I am a big fan of Jenny's embroidery--check it out here!  Also, the amazing Connie asked me to put this cross stitch on about.com's cross stitch page--pretty cool.  She's doing a great job with the cross stitch page and has tons of free patterns if you want to give cross stitch a try--she's a great resource.  I'm starting a couple new stitches and working on my painting--trying to stay busy.  The weather is getting warm and everything's in bloom!  We are heading to Florida in a couple weeks and I'm really looking forward to the down time. Til next time!