Happy New Year!!!

Ghost Owl

Drew this very dark and smudgy owl yesterday as part of a class assignment.  I can't wait to get him printed to fabric, add text, and stitching.

Making Smudgy Lines on Fabric

I've been making smudgy lines on fabric this weekend!

Gelatin Plates

Multiple pulls off of my gelatin plate with acrylic inks and aloe vera gel.

Autumn Color Palette

Color palette I chose for my 5 Days of Autumn Workshop Challenge.
Pearl Cotton, Sequin Mix, and Painted Timtex.

Autumn 2015 Five Day Challenge

Autumn 2015 Five Day Challenge

Starting October 31st, 2015

Here's a taste of what we will be doing during this challenge:

Day One – Mono Printing with a Gelatin Plate and Acrylic Inks

Day Two – Adding More Color

Day Three – Drawing on your printed fabric. 

Day Four – More Color, Texture, and More Lines! 

Day Five – Stitch and More…

This Challenge is available to paid subscribers only, you still have time to join us!  

Five Days of Autumn Challenge

I am working on the latest issue of Almost Stitched coming to inboxes on the 15th! As part of this newsletter I am also offering up a Five Day Challenge Celebrating Autumn for subscribers.

The challenge will involve fabric, a geli plate, writing and stitching onto fabric, acrylic inks and aloe vera. Join us!!! 

Tsukineko Inks with Aloe Vera Gel

In our last newsletter I demonstrated how to use Tsukineko  Inks with Aloe Vera Gel to paint fabric. In the upcoming newsletter, October 15th, I will demonstrate how to use these same inks and aloe vera gel to make monoprints using a geli plate! Join us to learn more!

Help Me Celebrate my 49th Birthday Today!!!

On the 24th I will send out a complimentary newsletter with links to our facebook group and more. So please join me in a new  year of writing, stitching, and so much more! 

I'm looking forward to sharing stories, and more with each one of you in the coming year!

Birthday Give Away!!!

Tomorrow marks my 49th Birthday!!!

So to celebrate my birthday, which happens to land on the first day of Fall this year, I am hosting a give away to my Almost Stitched Newsletter, that's right a one year subscription for free!

The give away will begin at midnight tonight CST.  

See you at Midnight!!! 

Bjorkboda Marsh

The rushing sound created by blades of grass rubbing together still lingers in my soul.
The wind, smelling strongly of country smells, an earthy tang of fresh manure.
I long to live in the country, with no impedance of houses, loud traffic, and the smells of town.

Sondra's Story

Sondra's Story in progress.

Pen and ink on cotton fabric backed with release paper, layered with Shiva Paintstiks.

Cookbooks and Stories

I recently checked out a bunch of cookbooks from the local library and the young man checking me out stated "you must really love cooking".

Well I do, but that's not why I checked out a huge stack of cookbooks, I was checking them out because cookbooks often contain stories within their pages, not just recipes or photos of food.  He seemed rather surprised when I told him this fact.

Not all cookbooks contain stories, but some of the better ones do.

My grandmother gifted me the book "White Trash Cooking" by Ernest Matthew Mickler cookbook sometime around 1993.  It was so fantastical that I thought the recipes weren't real.

They're real alright as are the stories about being so dirt poor that if company stopped by at dinner time one extended the meal by simply adding water.

It was the stories in the cookbooks that got me to wondering about my other "favorite" how-to books.  A'yup they're all annotated, by the author(s), with stories throughout the instructions.

Continuous Writing Exercise

Prompt: Continuous Writing Exercise
Challenge: Try writing your story without any breaks between the words, it becomes easier with practice.
Next: Continue with this exercise using my sewing machine and fabric or timtex.
Photos soon.

Self-Portraits

I've been working on a new series of self-portraits when I have down time from reduxing my studio space.

You can see more about the studio redux on my other blog kbaxterpackwood! I should be done with everything in a month, that is my self-imposed deadline, and things back to normal starting Labor Day weekend!

Abandon

Are you living, loving, and creating with abandon?  If not, then why not?

Studio Redux

It's been a few days since I posted, I swear I go into total lazy mode when July 1st rolls around! Actually I've been busy working on my studio, it's an unorganized nightmare in here and I realized that it's really now or never.

So right now I'm stuck waiting on boxes so that I can empty the cookie jars of Silk Cocoons, and pack those jars away, I have something like 30 cookie jars total.  Once the shelves are empty I can move stuff from the chicken coop (it's a cabinet of laying boxes 4x8x1 foot that sits on a 2 foot base) and then bye-bye chicken coop!

Next up moving my art supplies: inks, water colors, gouache, stickles, mediums, etc., onto those shelves!

I am now the proud owner of three carts, soon to be detailed with my custom designs.

June 30th Newsletter - Double Exposure

Coming up in June 30th's newsletter I will focus on 

Double Exposure as a Stitched Story.

Join Us Today!!!

Old Brass Stencils

These old brass stencils I purchased today have a story to tell, more later with that story on cloth!

And the Winner Is???

Congratulations to Herma Starreveld!!!

She has won a one year membership to Almost Stitched!

Newsletter No. 1

Storytelling 

Finishing up the first newsletter that's going out tomorrow afternoon!

I'm excited about my new stitched storytelling venue Almost Stitched! The creativity of our stitched storytellers promises to be extraordinary!

I'm so excited that I'm working on a give away!  I will give a one year subscription away to every tenth person who leaves a comment on this post. Share with your friends and family, please tell them if they want a chance to win a subscription they have to post a comment on this post NOT on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

I will be posting the sample newsletter this evening, for those interested in joining us next year, and don't forget the very first newsletter will be sent out tomorrow!

Join us for a year of Stitched Storytelling!  Membership is $8 (USD) per month.

Little Glimpses

Perfectionism is an addiction to disappointment. ~ k. baxter packwood 

New Directions and Almost Stitched Stories!

I will be putting up more information this week about this new adventure I am taking!

I will be offering a monthly paid subscribership (that auto renews how cool is that) for my new adventure! I think for this leg of my life I have finally found my voice (my brand even) in the land of stitched, painted, and written stories.

I came to this realization last month when I was working on my solo show and started creating vignettes of small pieces I had been working on over the years with text, painted images, and the like onto a mixed media paper (next time I'll use Illustration board it's less work) and then mounted and then framed the vignettes. 

I was worried the solo show was going to be a fail, I know both John C. Packwood and Brenda K Backman were both scratching their heads and I almost didn't hang the show, but once it was up it was one of those DAMNUMNNNNNNN moments!

And unlike natural dyeing where I always felt stiff sharing with others, this stiffness was because I was unable to convey what I was thinking and feeling without others telling me I was a cold hearted bitch, but this, this part of my life I LOVE sharing with others and it seems to flow naturally!

In fact one could say I'm overly passionate about sharing this part of my life and helping others extract their personal stories.

So in lieu of a workshop I am offering a montly membership where I will be sending out bi-monthly newsletters, with the occassional bonus newsletter with bonus content, like printable embroidery, imagery to use in your own personal art or for gifts for others, bonus instructions and bonus videos!  

All downloadables are for you to keep forever for your own personal use,  and are not for resale!  If you'd like one of my images to use in your artwork for limited resale, or for mass production, let me know I have licensing tiers I will be offering as well as higher resolution imagery that goes with those licenses!!!

Join Me for Stitched Stories and So Much More!

WIP - Spring Violas
Cotton fabric painted with Tsukineko Inks and Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Inks.
Hand stitched and blinged out with sequins, vintage cello beads, and glass beads.
Pearl Cottons and Aurifil Cotton threads.
Timtex core, cotton backing, mistyfuse. 

I enjoy creating stitched stories, this piece was a lot of fun to create and is far from finished.  One of my favorite flowers are the wild violets that pop up in lawns everywhere in the spring,

Violets are second only to Dandelions in my heart!

So with this in mind,  twice a month I will be posting here and via newsletter the most current story project I am working on!

The newsletter will host the nuts and bolts of how I arrived at my story and which techniques and products I used to arrive to the stories end.

The blog will host the appetizer, a tiny morsel of yumminess!

The newsletter will host the story, how I arrived at my story, and tips on how to create your own stitched story using your own voice!

There is also a hidden Facebook group where we can share our stories with one another for encouragement, etc.! There I will be hosting monthly challenges, etc.

Spring Violas in Progress

WIP - Spring Violas!

Almost Stitched Up!

I've been busy creating content for the Almost Stitched Newsletters, and other yummy surprises as well!  Stay tuned!!!

Welcome to Almost Stitched!

Welcome to Almost Stitched!!!