Monday, March 17, 2008

Catch up and breathe

My goal of finishing is.... well, not finished. This weekend was one of those weekends where you cover your head and hope the ceiling doesn't fall on you because hey, everything else is shitty so it only makes sense that the house will implode all over your face in a shining example of "Eff you! Love, The Universe."

Okay, I'm being dramatic just a tiny bit. But it was still a fairly stressful weekend. Dane went on the beach trip that our group of friends goes on every year. I couldn't go last year because it was scheduled for the very weekend of my wedding shower (which ended up sucking ass anyways because only four people showed up. I was feeling very loved that day).

This year, I was very prepared to go, and at the last minute felt like crap in a flaming bag on someone's porch being stamped emphatically with no concern for staining of the loafers. However, as I understand it, the beach this year was incredibly windy, the zipper on our tent broke, and Dane woke up covered in six inches of sand. They all had to dig out their shoes, and Tanya told me last night that getting sick and not going was the luckiest thing that's ever happened to me. I don't have sand in unexplainable orifices, which is always a plus.

So, here is the finished owl art quilt. Isn't it beautiful?


(Go here for a larger picture.)

I clipped the wings down, since they were a little overpowering when they covered most of the lower body. I used free-motion embroidery to "paint" in the eyes and feet (here's a freaky little picture of demonish owl eyes) and to detail the quilt. There was no batting used in this quilt, just a backing fabric, since I knew the stitching would get rather heavy. I also intended for this piece to be frameable.

Also, below are the scans I promised from the book I made for Tanya's birthday. I very simply decorated several pages of a blank journal with pages from an old Biology book, images of some of Tanya's favorite things, some pictures from Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Squee since Tanya likes those comics as well, watercolor crayons, stamping, and some other random decorating techniques. A bit of monoprinting, some stitching, a bit of white tulle, and a very lovely drawing of a human skull on the cover, and she got her book and loved it. The idea was that she could get inspiration from, and add to, the altered pages, then do some creative exploration of her own on the other blank pages in the book.





So, after such successful projects, I have little squirrels and hedgehogs running around in my head, and I shall have to immortalize them in fabric as well. But, alas, that is another day, or possibly another century.

I'd love to hear what y'all think. I welcome praise, criticism, insults, and small furry mammals in cages (possibly a guinea pig).

5 comments:

Judi W. said...

I can do praise, criticism, and insults but the small furry mammals escape me! The owl is tooo cute - came out great! Don't you love FME? If your fabric book comes out half as awesome as Tanya's book, it's going to be a masterpiece! Good on ya!

Shashi Nayagam said...

Oh how lovely the owl is ! The pages for Tanya's book are awesome too. You did a great job inspite of feeling a bit down. That book is going to be a masterpiece as Judi put it.

HElen said...

Love this owl! It is so very much adorable !
The book you did for Tanya - is wonderful, great!!!

And thank you so very much for your comments.
Helen

ArtPropelled said...

Love the owl and the pages. Lucky friend to receive such a special gift.

MOONSTITCHES said...

What a lovely quilt you have made!