Just some things

Just wanted to note a few things today. First, big thank you to Pam for featuring my collection of Big sad eyed art. I've been collecting them for years and really love the genre. Pam has a great blog you should check out. Every day has a fun theme and she's a hell of an embroiderer!

Next, scoot on over to Mr X Stitch. They are celebrating the one year birthday of one of the best blogs featuring modern needlework and having tons of giveaways! Check it out!

On the home front, I've entered my work in to artSpark which is a part of sparkCon right here in Raleigh, NC. It's an awesome festival featuring art, music, dance, film, fashion, design and more. If you happen to be in the area I strongly suggest you check it out. I'm really looking forward to the fashion shows. NC is so full of talent and this festival really showcases it!

Also I'm signed up for two craft swaps! I haven't swapped in a while and really wanted to do something again. I'm in the Teal Towel Tour and a Coraline Swap. Both should be lots of fun!

Colby and I are going on vacation next week and will be gone for a week and half! We are going to the Ruby Mountains of Northern Nevada for some camping and then to Yellowstone for some more camping. I can't wait. It's been way too long since we've been camping plus we're both going to places we haven't been. I really need some time way from work and life and desperately need to unplug---and just maybe I'll hit it rich in Nevada! It's so easy to get tied up in the day to day that I lose sight of what's really important to me. So hopefully this trip will help me reconnect to that and to Colby. We definitely need some "us" time. So adventure awaits us!

Sorry Maggie, you have to stay with grandma and grandpa.

Um um what else......oh it finally hit in my brain that I need to do something to be healthier. So for the last few weeks I've been eating better, exercising and trying to go more organic, local etc. I'm not going to lie--it's been hard, but my body thanks me for the five less pounds it now has to carry around. So, I'm carrying on. I need to lose more weight, get more fit, eat better food and prep this body for nice, long, healthy life. My brain and heart will thank me for it. I've been reading some great blogs about eating healthy and weight loss which have really inspired me also. Plus, it's really got me thinking about my life and choices I've made. It's not easy being an overweight person, even if you're happy with the way you look. I see these feelings and ideas creeping into my art.

I've finished something for my friend Julia as part of that whole facebook "I'll make you something" pay it forward deal. I'll post pics as soon as I get it out to her. She checks my blog sometimes so I don't want to ruin the surprise.

I guess that's about it for updates. I'll come back from vacation hopefully rested and ready to go.

Birthdays

Well I've been busy with simple gifts the past week or so. Both my mom and Colby's mom have birthdays in July, I decided to embroider them both a kitchen towel. Sweet and simple. For my mom I did a rooster playing a guitar from an Aunt Martha's pattern.
My mom likes roosters because they remind her of her father. Some folks called him Rooster.


Sadly he died just a few months after I was born so I never got to meet him. I owe him my love of junking!
I really love this little guy--the fan I call her. Just singing away totally enamored by the rockin' rooster.



Next up I did another Aunt Martha's pattern for Colby's mom. He actually picked it out. I held up a few choices and I guess he thought his mom would like the bees--and they really are cute patterns. I picked pretty colors I thought she would. I have found the even though I know alot of different stitches and like to practice them, I really just like to keep it simple. So I mainly use backstitch, stem stitch and split stitch. Again, simplicity is the key sometimes.



Ok so what else is going on:
**Went to see Tori Amos Friday night and she was wonderful!!
**Got my application in just in time for the Chapel Hill Juried series for next year. Hopefully I'll get another show!
**Thanks to kittykill for the shout out on her blog about my They Live cross stitch piece!
**Soooo ready for my vacation in September! Colby and I are going out west to Northern Nevada and swinging through Yellowstone. Can't wait to go camping ---it's been too long.
**Thanks to Mr X Stitch for mentioning my show on the most awesome needlecraft blog!

New cross stitch

Well I finally finished this cross stitch piece that I started several months ago. I had wanted to finish it for Colby's birthday back in May which obviously didn't happen. I just got busy with painting and moving and all that stuff. It one of Colby's favorite movie quotes. It's from "They Live" which is an awesome John Carpenter movie from 1988. The basic jist of the movie is that there are aliens living among us but you can see them with these special glasses. The main character played by Roddy Piper discovers all of this and wants to bring the whole thing down. It's a great movie and Colby and I love to watch it. So here's the piece featuring possibly the best movie quote...............ever.

I'm pretty pleased with it even though it's full of mistakes. I figure Colby won't notice them anyway. I also added the "special glasses," the shotgun he uses to kick ass, an empty gumball machine, and the aliens as they look through the special glasses. Here's a little closer shot of those.

I gave it to him yesterday and he really liked so I guess that's what really counts. So I just have to frame it up.

Art show

My art show opened last Friday. Everything looked really great. The gallery did a great job with my pieces and it was really great to see everything hanging in a real gallery. Very exciting stuff.

Here's my wall with my name and everything. So now I just need to get moving on new pieces and get more of a collection together.

Postcard

I dropped off my pieces to the gallery this weekend! So everything is ready to go. While I was there I picked up some of the postcards that they made up for the Exchange Gallery Shows. It was very exciting to see my piece on an actual piece of advertisement. Silly I know but here it is!

My piece is on the second row, sixth picture.
The back lists all the artists for the year. You'll see me under July

The opening is on Friday and I hope to get a good response. It's always nice to hear feedback from other folks.


Other things that are going on:
*Colby and I travelled down to the Outer Banks for friend's wedding. We saw friends we hadn't seen in years and a had a great time!
*Happy 1st Birthday Baby Isaac!
*Transformers 2: eh--it was ok
*Really wanting to travel again. Seeing all my old Alaska friends made me miss the seasonal life I once had.

New Painting

Well I've finished up one more piece for my group show at theVisual Art Exchange. I think I've got a decent little set for the show of approximately 4-5 pieces. I'm a little nervous but excited as well. I just hope to get a positive response. This one is called "Multiplying." I'm very pleased with it, the colors and layers. So we'll see.

Flea Market Finds

Well I went to the annual Hospice Flea Market this weekend. It's a gigantic flea market selling everything you can imagine. It takes place in this old factory building that has no air conditioning and is hot hot hot!! I could only stand about two hours there but I found some great stuff! Here's some highlights of my finds!

A great little set of needlepoint work of the seasons. I can only assume there was a fourth season somewhere in the boxes and boxes of framed art. I like the winter one the best.

This absolutely adorable cross stitch of rabbits taking a shower in the rain water from a flower.

A small cross stitch of the classic bathroom phrase; "If you sprinkle when you tinkle, please be neat and wipe the seat" This immediately was hung up in my bathroom.

An awesome little milk glass sugar dish with a great design. This will be put to use!

A cute little crewel piece of a girl with flowers.

All this little bits and bobs of lace and trim and eyelet.

This fabric which has a small pattern of horse jumping girls. Very cute and I can't wait to use it for something. I also scored a ton of muslin for cheap and a pretty pink. I was very disappointed with the fabric section this year. They have always had four to five rows of fabric and this year there was two! I didn't find hardly anything good like I usually do.

One of the best things I found was this set of paintings featuring a bull fighter.

They are hand painted and are dated 1959! I just had to have them.

They immediately went up over my couch.
Finally, this set of crewel pieces depicting famous scenes of Revolutionary America. They are from a stamped set dated 1972 from Paragon No. 0906. Someone worked very hard and long on these. They are quite remarkable and I am going to try to frame them soon.

The classic march

Paul Revere

Betsy Ross

Washington and his troops in the winter at Valley Forge
I paid only a dollar each for these! I couldn't believe it. It seems that whomever priced the needlework did not think they were worth much. All of the other pieces I purchased were either a quarter or fifty cents.

Well those are the highlights. I scored some pretty good stuff this year. Now I just have to wait until next year!