Spring Thaw Part Deux

Well today was a scramble to find fabrics that would be suitable for Spring Thaw Life at  65 MPH after yesterdays filming flop.  I thought I was filming the construction of the piece, machine stitched, when in fact the camera turned off about two minutes into the filming process.  So here's to tomorrow's filming secession!  Until then here's a new pile of natural and indigo dyed cotton and silk fabrics, and cotton cheese cloth.

Here's the link to yesterday's supplies filming session... I will still be using some of these threads, etc., for this new piece.

Threads and Stuff

Various threads, yarns, and fabrics, I'll be using to create my latest piece Spring Thaw: Life at 65 MPH

Winter Bling

 A detail shot of a piece I am working on called Winter Magic: Snow at 65 MPH.

All that's Precious

Winter Magic sample piece... I don't know about you but sometimes it becomes hard to push myself to add more layers, more stitches because all of a sudden the piece became precious.

 What if I make a mistake, what if I don't like it, what if I stab myself with the needle and bleed all over the piece? So I have a sample piece set aside to see if I'll like that particular stitch, layer, texture, etc., and yes even then it can still be hard to push myself to add more to my original piece.

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?