2010: I'm Not Making Resolutions, I Am Making Plans!

Alright party people! How Is everyone doing? Obviously I took some time away from the blog to focus on work, family and being lazy over the holidays (Go Team)! But I’m back, baby!

The reason for the title of this post is everyone always makes then breaks their resolutions (myself included). By December 31^st you can’t even remember what you resolved to do, and probably end up making the same resolution anyway! So this year I am making plans. One of my plans is to get out there and start meeting other people (locally) who do crafts with the same subversive mindset as myself. Another plan is to get out and start attempting to sell some of my work that is just sitting around. I’m not looking to make millions (yes, I am) but if I can make enough that the projects pay for themselves, and maybe a new set of guitar strings once in a while, that would be cool. But that’s not why I stitch, it would just be awesome!

With all of that said, I am hoping very soon to announce where I will be first. There is a Punk Swap Meet on February 6^th, and I am trying to reach someone about a table there. In the meantime, I am using this as the fire under my ass to start getting some of my to-do list done!

Looking forward to 2010: What project are you REALLY gonna try and do/finish?

Six Stitches With Brain Death - Part 2...AND 3!!!

Two new pieces from my Six Women project.

The World Is Wonderful
This is a line from the opening song. Obviously there is lots of sarcasm

We've Arrived
This is the song they sing in the skit where six "best friends" reunite for their 20th high school reunion. Naturally there are lies about how the have arrived but as the song goes on and the champagne goes too...well the horrible, funny truths come out!

I know this is a short and to-the-point post but I have three more to finish, some carpet to rip up and a friend's CD release show tonight. Needless to say I am a little busy. Sorry and look forward to a REALLY fun post with part 4! Until then, be excellent to each other.

Six Stitches With Brain Death: God Is An Alien

I am still plugging along on the Bad Religion cover but recently got inspired to do a series of small projects. Has anyone seen the play "Six Women With Brain Death or Expiring Minds Want To Know"? Well it ran here in Sacramento for ten years at the studio theatre until 2006. I made an effort to take anyone I could think of to this play and I literally saw it 20 times! It is now showing again for a limited time by the Lambda Players as a tribute to the original 10-year run and I saw it last friday and it felt like the play never went away, only I did. There was always something different each time I saw it and this time it was as if 3 1/2 years of "little differences" were added. I LOVED IT!

As the title implies the play stars six women. So I am doing six small projects. All will be titles of some of the skits or some of my favorite lines. I hope to give them to the actresses which is why I can't put this off until after my big project. This is from the skit and song "God Is An Alien". It involves a musical religion started after an alien abduction and the deely-bopper at the bottom is what they all wear during this skit. The letters are purple because so are thier robes.

I consider this a testiment to how much I enjoyed the play. Not just about the projects but I used metallic thread for part of the headpiece, despite promising myself to never do it again. Sure there are only a handful of metalic stitches but like Dan Andriano I was hating every minute!

Baby's First Stitch or First Steps Are For Sentimental Losers!

Finally got the band and title lettering done and am gonna post it in a couple of days but that's not what I am here to talk about today.

It's no secret I only have daughters. I mean Windy has a couple of boys who I love dearly but they have a good dad who cares about them and is in the picture so when it's time to do/learn certain things it will probably come from him. As much as I would have loved a son of my own I have always felt woefully under-qualified for raising one. I didn't get my driver's license until I was 25 and even then it was only because my ex was 8 months pregnant and I was pretty sure that making her drive us to the hospital while in labor was something only a real jerk of a guy would do and let's face it - I'm all class *cough* *cough*. So cars are out. I don't like them and only know how to put gas in them. I'm not very sporty either. I mean I get the gist of each game but damn do the real men get a little over excited about a sports team or what? And the one time I tried to watch a football game I could not understand why they called it the "red zone" when it wasn't red. There was a little yellow line showing how far they had to go to get a "down" or whatever but...nevermind. I don't do sports. Then there's diapers. Changing girls are easy: Front to back!!! That's all. As I gown man all I gotta do is shake it a little (a little more and that means I am playi, er, I only shake it three times. Ever. I swear). But if you are changing a boy's diaper I am pretty sure you gotta clean the little guy's three-piece and that's work people! Girls are sooooo much easier as long as you F2B! I'm told I don't even dress right. Something about the hearts on my belt and my purple velvet blazer. You know when you line it all up like this I bet Windy is pretty embarassed sometimes. Fuck it, she knows I love her!

So why all the rambling? Because my little girl is growing up! She loves to watch me cross-stitch. She will stand in front of me and when I push the needled down she drops to her knees to see it then she comes back up and laughs when I push it back through. She has started "helping" by grabbing the needle when I push it up (I can't control her as well when I can't see the needle too) and pulling it through. She hands it back and waits for the next time the needle shows itself to laugh and grab at it!!!

Her mom is gonna have to show her how to change a tire and paint a house interior but I can't wait to show her how to back stitch. Sorry the pics are a little small but I wanted to hide my "I'm 29 and balding" look make sure they all fit!!

How Could A New Big Project Be Any Worse?

What with starting he new job and everything I know I kinda fell short on finishing my Obi-Wan project. He's not dead, not yet anyway. Just on hold. I took a break from all stitching when I started the new job and started again after Windy and I lost Logan.

That brings me to what I really am hoping will be a fun multi-piece project: Album Covers! When I am not stitching I am playing my guitar and singing my little songs so music has always been a part of me and has always helped me to get through the tough times. Losing Logan was no different. I am starting this project with the first album I listened to after everything had happened. Bad Religion's How Could Hell Be Any Worse? It's not my favorite BR album but with everything I was going through I was sitting here scrolling through my music library and the album title just hit me so hard and I listened to it over and over and over.

There are some other ones I am looking forward to doing, although I think they will be of various sizes. Certain albums will hit close to home on an emotional basis and some may just be albums I like. There may even be one or two that I think will just make cool projects.

So here is where I am at so far:
It's got a long way to go but once I finish the lettering it will go quicker. I am so in love with the red cloth too!

I Love Rock and Roll So Put Another Stitch in the Aida Baby

I do a lot of quotes. Part of it is because when I look up at work or at home I want to see something that makes me smile, or laugh, or gives me inspiration. If it is something I made for someone else I want them to get the same thing…and think of me. I’m like that! Another part of it is, well, pictures seem to take a lot more time then I have project attention span.

I’ve done quotes from some of my favorite shows and songs. I have quoted songs I have written. I have quoted a lot of people who just say stuff that cracks me up. When it’s said and after we have had a good laugh someone will usually look at me and say “you should stitch that” and sometimes I do.

After losing Logan last month there have been a lot of sleepless nights and one night I decided to check in on www.mrxstitch.com. I went to most of the links including manbroidery.blogspot.com. There was this interview that Jamie (Mr. X Stitch) had done back in April or so. Cool interview and of course I love guys in crafts/needlework talk.

Well this is a quote from that interview. Being that I look up to Jamie so much I am kind of surprised that I didn’t do something from him sooner. In my post at www.craftster.org I even likened it to what young women probably felt like when they here Joan Jett sing “I love Rock and Roll” for the first time.

The fact that I am in the middle of a big project and stopped to truly do this one "one the fly" was kinda cool too.

So who's crafts (not just needlework if you don't want to) gets you going? Got a link? Share with the class!

Mu Unfortunate Return (The project I wish I didn't have to do)

This blog still exists!!!

As I mentioned back in May I got a new job where I don't have the opportunity to cross stitch all day. Some days I am lucky to get a lunch, truth be told.

The good news is the new job is going great. I am busy but at least I'm not bored. Here at home things have been good (and busy) too. Windy's boys stay with us a few nights a week now that we have their room painted and they have beds. It's summer so there are tons of things for families to do that are being put on by the city such as game show nights on wednesdays and movies in the park on saturdays. And I have been devoting a lot of time to my other hobby: playing guitar/singing/songwriting. Trying to get some gigs for the summer, etc.

The best part was that Windy and I were expecting another child. A boy. She has two but, biologically speaking (cause I love those boyos), I don't have any. I only have girls. She even let me totally geek out on the name: Logan Xavier. Yes, I was into all the "X" books growing up: -Men, -Factor, -Force, even Weapon-.

Unfortunately on Monday, July 6th I woke up at about one or two in the morning to the sound of Windy screaming. She had gone in to labor early. Too early. Logan did not make it. It has been a rough couple of weeks to say the least. We had literally just told our other kids they were going to have a little brother so we had to break the news to all of them.

All of my kids have birth announcements and Logan was not going to be any different. At the memorial service we wrote messages on balloons and sent them off. I included some of the lyrics from "99 Red Balloons" to the announcement and most of the balloons we used at the service were red. I live and grew up in Sacramento and Kevin Seconds has always been a hero of mine, musically speaking. I know 7 Seconds did not write that song but I have heard them perform it so many times and Kevin plays it solo/acoustic once in a while. To me the song sounds like surviving the end of the world and honestly that is a perfect explination of how this whole experience has felt. So the song seemed fitting.

Stitching has been very cathartic during this time. Sometimes I would cry so much I couldn't see the wholes in my cloth or my hands were shaking so bad. But it helped. It took my mind off things. It gave me an outlet. It helped me accept. So in the comments, how has crafting helped you? You don't have to talk about the situation you went through if you don't want but what did you craft? Why? What did you do with the project from such an experience and how did crafting help you through?

I missed you all but I wish I was not "back" yet. I wish there had not been a need for this project. But there was so I would like to share it with you.