Happy New Year!

I always make a resolution to simplify my life and say "no" to things that I don't have time for. Well, I guess I screwed up already... again.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to wander around a railyard and photograph some fun, colorful graffiti. I have no idea if I was trespassing or not... but nobody yelled at me so I take that as in invitation to come back anytime. :) I've had an idea in my head for a while to create a collection of photographs of graffiti that make it seem less grungy and "offensive". I've never considered it offensive (I actually scope out passing trains to find the coolest examples), but it is technically vandalism and most communities frown upon this type of artistic expression.

My original goal of this project was to soften the harsh texture of the rusty steel coated in layers of spray paint with soft, shiny embroidery stitches. Also... I've heard that cross stitching is "coming back"... whatever that means.


While I was sorting through my photos, I decided to get them printed to look at them laid out together. Then I thought, "Hey, wouldn't these make awesome New Year's cards?!?" and I ordered multiples of many of the graphic close-ups. The fact that Snapfish was running a deal on 100+ prints really helped that decision as well...

Of course, I needed to try out some of the techniques I'd be using on my art photos, so I attempted to construct a sort of "needle stamp" to punch a series of holes in the pictures that I could then stitch into. It didn't turn out too well.


The pins are too long and bendy so they don't make a nice grid pattern...


I then resorted to drawing out my shape on graph paper and individually poking holes with a pin taped to a pen. Tedious and time consuming? Absolutely. Worth it? I think so. I actually even got my hubby to help poke holes in the greeting card parts, which I embroidered then stuck on with 1/8" thick foam tape.



I love how these turned out. Each of the 27 cards is unique, and it was actually kind of fun deciding who got which one. Some of the colors in the photos reminded me of this friend or that relative, and some of them were much more manly. Everyone who has received one so far has thought the were adorable... and the message of "beauty is everywhere" really resonates with me. Beauty comes in all forms, and can be found even in the most unexpected places... like on the rusty side of a beat up old train car.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Football Blanket Crochet Chart

Image
Here is the chart I worked off of for the football blanket... it is sized for a baby afghan, about 36 by 48 inches, but the chart can be easily modified to make it bigger. I worked the entire blanket in double crochet, and the white laces in the center were made with the tapestry stitch, in which the color not being used is carried across the top of the work and the stitches are made over it, concealing the color. Here's a pretty good tutorial for the tapestry stitch, although as I stated earlier, I did all double crochet for this project, but the concept is the same. For this particular blanket, I used five balls of Bernat Waverly yarn in brown, and almost a whole skein of Red Heart Super Saver in white for the lines and laces. I believe I used a size J hook, which made the project go nice and quick. Adjust the size of yarn and hook to fit your needs- everyone crochets differently! Happy crocheting! :) Update: if you love this football blanket, check out my football...
Read more

Temperature Record Cross Stitch

Image
I tried telling people years ago that cross stitch was cool again... and I WAS RIGHT! Pay no attention to the random pet hairs... I'm in this crazy cross stitch group on Facebook that features non-traditional subject matter, from naughty words to feminist themes to potty humor and beyond. While I don't consider it my style to be crass or subversive, I do appreciate the modern approach to a very old craft that is normally associated with "grannies" (not that there's anything wrong with that, either). This group has introduced me to a variety of interesting new project ideas, including the concept of a temperature stitch. Essentially, each day's high and low temperature are recorded in different colored stitches to provide a really interesting visual of our climate and seasons. This whole idea has my head spinning around ways to physically represent climate change in artsy-crafty form by going through the last hundred years and stitching a huge collecti...
Read more

Kaffe Fassett Jelly Roll Jam Quilt

Image
Here it is! I tried something new with this quilt, and I'm not sure I was 100% successful. The binding was unusual for me. I normally do the whole 2.5" strip, hand-sewn binding thing, but I wanted to try using the backing as the binding this time to keep it simple. I LOVE this backing fabric ; it's so soft, and it tied in so nicely with the color scheme of the Kaffe Fassett "Tides" jelly roll. I have noticed though, that this particular fabric shows a lot of poke holes, so be careful with pin placement and try to get your seams right the first time around. I worked really hard to turn my edges under nicely and pin well, at least every 2 inches. Unfortunately, as I kind of  suspected, some of the loose ends bulged out in between the pins as my presser foot went over them. Now that I've washed the quilt, I can see that I need to do some seam ripping to fix a lot of little peeks of batting and frayed edged. Sad face. I also noticed tha...
Read more