I AM ON MR X STITCH!

Sooooooo excited! This is the dream. Seriously. YAY! Thank you, thank you!

Stitchgasm!-Spes

Deep Blues Festival

Boogaloosa Prayer from Toledo OH - the guy in the green jacket/black hat
is the drummer for one of my all time favorite bands A Night In The Box!

Three of us headed up to Minneapolis, MN this last Saturday to check out the Deep Blues Festival. It was an entire weekend of music but we could only go for the day so we just got the outdoor day pass. There were bands playing all day starting at noon both indoors and out. It wasn't until later that we found out we would have really liked to have seen some of the indoor acts. I guess we will just have to go back next year!

Boogaloosa Prayer- Toledo OH

My camera was low on batteries so I only took pictures of the bands I really liked! The only problem I had with the festival is the outdoor acts were SO LOUD towards the end I actually thought my ears were bleeding. This made me feel really old- but I am not and I am the girl who LOVES loud music. Oh well. I didn't need that extra bit of hearing anyways.

Adorable Canadians. The Schomberg Fair from Toronto.

C.W. Ayon - Las Cruces NM

The Schomberg Fair - Toronto Canada

I do like a man who can rock a banjo.

Public Enemies

Yes. This is an embroidery inspired by the new movie Public Enemies. It is a combination of some of my favorite things- old school gangsters, Johnny Depp, and embroidery(what can I say? I am complicated). Well anyway I didn't love the movie as much as I thought I would but I will have to see it again before I make up my mind. The embroidery is a slightly simplified version of the actual 'wanted' poster for John Dillinger. I took off a lot of the small text but I did add just a little to explain the rewards a bit.


I just finished this piece so I still have to wash it to get rid of the last few signs of my tracing and then I will iron it to get rid of a few more of the wrinkles- but I was just so excited about it I wanted to put it up asap! The small portraits of Dillinger did not come out quite as true to life as I wanted but it was close enough. The small print reads: "$10,000.00 for the capture of John Herbert Dillinger or a reward of $5,000.00 for information leading to the arrest of John Herbert Dillinger."

Thrift Finds- Scrapbook

I found this little gem at a local thrift shop that I hadn't been to in AGES. I may have mentioned before that I love old photographs and I also love old scrapbooks! It looks like this one hasn't even been touched and it came with an entire pack of filler paper still in its original plastic. Grand total: $4.

I also got a whole bunch of zippers for a couple of dollars. All in all a good day. Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Olga _2(Family Portrait Series #2)

Olga _2(Family Portrait Series #2)
Originally uploaded by spes.craft

Olga is finally finished! She is embroidered on light gray cotton and backed and framed with black felt. She is available in the shop now.

T-Shirt Quilt

i have had megan nicolay's "Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt" for a long time now and it is one of my favorite standbys to pull out for inspiration or a fun project. i have been wanting to do a t-shirt quilt for a long time mostly because i AM the girl who keeps every t-shirt she has ever owned- and i am trying desperately to grow out of the 't-shirt and sweatpants' look i have been rocking through college. but the nostalgic person that i am can not bear to just 'throw away' or donate t-shirts that still have a lot of meaning to me. so the other night when i was bored (i work the night shift so on my nights off i need to keep my self busy) i knew that this was the project i wanted to tackle. i had already picked out an bag of about 20 t-shirts for the project and an old kids sheet for the back (princess jasmine rocks!). this quilt took me four hours- mostly thanks to my new toy- my first rotary cutter! how did i ever craft without it? i love it. it is pink and amazing. in the end i used a couple more t-shirts so i wouldn't have any completely blank squares. i love it. it is soft and comfy and reminds me of all sorts of fun things (one of the shirts is from 6th grade!). the only sad thing is that it is way to warm here to actually use it. but the harsh minnesota winter is always just around the corner- so i will have plenty of time to snuggle up in this and read a good book.

has anybody else done this project recently? i had one neighbor who made one completely out of the cross country t-shirts her son had accumulated throughout high school!

Walther (Family Portrait Series #1)

Walther (Family Portrait Series #1)
Originally uploaded by spes.craft

I have always loved old photos. I am not quite sure exactly what it is but I have always thought that they are the best. I even find myself going back and using them as inspiration again and again....so...

This is first in a series of embroidery portraits I am doing. They are inspired by old photographs. Not all of them are going to be people actually in my family but maybe some of them will be if I can find some old photos. This portrait was inspired by this picture of Walther Nernst. Walther is embroidered on a light gray cotton and is 'framed' with black felt so he is ready to just hang on the wall or put into a bigger frame.