Finishing a Finished Piece, or Punk Is "Framed"

So the "Hell" piece, along with The Joker, are going to London for the Stitch and Craft Show! Nice, right? Well that led to some questions about how I plan to finish it. When last we posted, "Hell" was done, but not finished.

It's still not. But only because I am being completely anal about it and just have not finished the finishing! But I did finish the finishing on the previously finished "Punks Not Dead" piece.

I plan on all the pieces in the series, at least initially, to be finished with a duct tape "frame". For this piece it is red. For "Hell" I just got back from the store and got black duct tape. But why? For "Hell" alone I have some great ideas on a frame from making one out of chain-link fence to Windy's brilliant idea of spray-painting a fence onto a traditional frame.

It's all about the time and place these pieces represent. Before I found the amazing Julie Jackson and her life-changing book, I was a broken and beaten shell of a man. Completely destroyed and physically handicapped from a failed relationship, I was broke, unemployed and sleeping on my nephew's floor in my sister's house. I was a alcohol, drug and depression-ridden mess. The more things change the more they stay the same, right? Of course, I am far from depressed these days.

Anyway, these were the days I was so broke I would recycle cans to pay for thread. I would pay for the thread to hide the fact I was stealing aida cloth to work on. Or hoops. Or whatever else I needed that cost more then thirty-five cents. It is important for me to say that I am in no way glorifying my actions, nor am I in any way trying to justify them. It's simply a statement of fact of where I was at that time. Please do not steal from your local craft store...unless you absolutely have to. And don't do drugs...unless they're good.

These pieces are supposed to remind me of those times. Of making things I thought only I would get and hanging them up with duct tape because I didn't know what else to do with them. I will most likely get the mounting boards for them and I hope to add chains or chains of safety pins for the hanging hardware. I really think that this throwback to my roots truly represents what I wanted to catch with these pieces. Of course if you think it is just lazy posturing: FUCK YOU!.

See, punk's not dead at all!!!

Punks Not Dead!!!

Although I have heard it might be taking a nap after a long lunch (thanks to Mr. X Stitch for that bit of comedy gold)!!!

So where do I start with this one? For anyone reading this for a while you may remember I was excited about setting up a booth at a punk rock swap meet that unfortunately never happened =( This was a request from the person putting it together and was going to be "swapped" for my table fees. Like I said it never happened so I kinda worked on it for a while but lately I wanted to get it done.

It's done:


So it took about six months and I do not know how many hours. It was not an exclusive relationship, though. About 1.5 miles of DMC 666, which I believe is bright christmas red. There is probably a little DMC 321 in there too, which I know for a fact is I'm not paying attention to which red I grab this late at night! There are a few mistakes but I will try to save those for a day I don't have anything to post or if everyone requests it (jerks). I don't know how many stitches there are (sorry, I threw that info away back in January) but I did make the pattern using KG Stitch, a free program, and I am nothing if not cheap! I really will keep track of this for future projects!

Thanks for sticking with me on this, it has been fun. Next up is a kit of Tinkerbell for my daughter's 5th birthday. It's big and it's due by July 25th!

Comments: What big projects, if any, are you working on and what about the little updates to the blog? Suggestions? Critiques? Don't care?

Give Me An "E"

So Windy took Kadie out shopping for father's day. I needed to get away from the house so I went to Starbucks, through on an ipod playlist and got busy! I know I "never stop stitching" at home but there are lots of things people do at home that they prefer to do out. I mean how many people do you see reading at a coffee shop? You can do that at home too! So, yeah, I like to stitch in public. It must have something to do with my exhibitionist nature: I just like to be seen!!!

A Is For Anarchy (Insert Snarly Punk Face Here)

I was on a decent track last night and am still working today. Here is the "A" all done! Why did I start in the middle and then work my way back to the beginning? It worked for Star Wars and I don't even have a Jar-Jar Binks!

Currently listening to Stephen Egerton - Seven Degrees of Stephen Egerton.
Currently watching Futurama.
Currently eating: COFFEE!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone Is Making Me Work!!!

First off... I got some big love on the latest Stitchin n Junk podcast big thanks to the great folks over at Mr X Stitch for that. If you are here because of said love, welcome. If you just hit "next blog" and are trying to figure out why you are here: Pterodactyl Cupcakes! Figure THAT out!!!

Here are links to a couple of the projects mentioned on the podcast:

The Pac-Man ghosts can be found here and the Star Wars Valentine here.

My internet connection was M.I.A. for a while and I finally heard the new podcast last night and knew I would have to post a little something while finishing my latest project. I was not sure what to do. Fortunately Windy always finds something for me to do...it just usually involves the dishes.

Here is where I am with the Punk Is Dead project. Windy just came home 17 minutes ago and looks me in the eye and says: Can you finish that by tomorrow? I guess they are having a huge sale on mounting and framing...which ends tomorrow and she wants to do that for my fathers day gift. Nice but couldn't you tell me about this two days ago? And what the hell am I still posting for? I have a whole lot of Star Wars to watch, music to listen to and stitches to cross!!

See you tomorrow.