Bored As Heaven

Ok, I'm not bored at all but I have wanted to do this piece for a while! I have a little book where I draw some of my ideas for future stitch projects and every once in a while one project will just get stuck in my head. During the time I was working on my Luke Skywalker project that is exactly what happened.

I knew I would have to give in and do it but I really didn't want to take that much time away from Luke. I had recently found a couple articles online about using half stitches in place of full cross stitches in an attempt to finish projects faster. Some use different thickness threads, some use three strands of standard thread instead of two, but of the projects I had seen they all seemed very well done. The process itself reminded me kind of starting stitching with needlepoint. I had to change the stitch direction on the right horn to make it look right. It's not my favorite thing I've ever done but at least it's done. I do like the idea of using half stitches for a project but I think it may work better on full pictures and not so much outlines or letters.




I know things have been slow but rest assured I have been working (stitching). There are a couple more posts written and ready so expect those soon. And there is a new site in the works (separate from WJ:IS) and there's more on that coming soon too!

Because I Need A Little Hope

Windy is still in the hospital and the doctors have started throwing out the prognosis' no one really wants to hear.

After finishing Hell and realizing I did not have the tools, nor the funds for the tools, to move on the the next project I anticipated doing I went back to the .img (that's image file for those not nerdy enough). I knew my next project was going to be closer to 25 colors and images of people, castles, aliens and cars. I also am REALLY digging the idea of stitching a portrait of a buddy of mine. I saw a pic of min a while back and the idea has been in my head for a while.

So some common ground was needed. I found an .img in my .img which was more portrait-ish then anything I have previously done. At 10,000+ stitches in 13 colors it seemed like it might be right up my style . So on 2/15/11 I started "A New Hope" and this is where I am at now:


The detail in the eye area is killing me with single stitches of a single color. But I am bring a good boy and following direction...for now.

The other markings are pencil. Because there is so much blocking in the same color I have found it helps me breaze through if I just mark it off. Then all I need is the project, thread and needle. No space for color charts and lists or what-have-you. So the face is generally at home and the rest is while out...or home and tired of looking at the details. Here's an earlier pick of just the four main colors.

I Got 99 Problems But A Stitch Ain't One!

I died a little inside with that one, and let's face it, I probably deserve it.

Sorry folks but with the usual issues of bills, rent, kids, job interviews and sadly Windy remains in the hospital, there has not been a lot of stitch time...let alone a lot of blog time. But I have been stitching and as I sit here on a Saturday morning, I am trying to get a little blogging done. So let's get it on:

After finishing "Hell" I really was at a loss as to what to do next. Yes, there are a couple more pieces planned for the punks not dead series but those require new colors and new cloth and new equals money. Unless you mean "new to you" but I don't think that really works in cross stitch. Exception.

So I started with going back to a piece I had lying around: Bender! I always wanted to put something around him...like a background. I borrowed a book from the library and found a darning pattern and ran with it. I always imagined it with a dark-ish green. I have no idea why but I did.



There is so much I would do on that piece if I did it again. Oh well. I still love it.

Speaking of love, Valentine's Day also came and went. As usual it came with a cross stitched love note to my dearest Windy. I have wanted to use the heart pattern a lot and I love this song by the Groovie Ghoulies.



I am working on a new project since February 15th and it is coming a little slower then I would have liked but so is everything else. I hope to start showing it off soon.

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!!!

How Could Hell Be Any Worse?

So after almost two weeks, my computer is finally over it's virus (I spent most of last night knocking on the fire starters at the grocery store - it's the best I could do). If you were wondering why the 12 Days ended half-way through, well, there you go. But I did finish!! In fact, I am happy to share that this piece will be flying to London for an exhibit at the Stitch and Craft show.


Started 8/2009 and completed 1/2011
13.5 inches square
Almost 13,000 stitches!

I was in a pretty bad spot when I started this. We had just lost Logan, I had just started the worst job I have ever had and I just wanted to take my mind off it. Plus I really felt the album title. I thought since Bad Religion was turning 30 in 2010, and so did I, this would be a great way to pay tribute and face the hard changes I was going through. So long later and things are better. Better is relative, but better then they were then. Here is a side-by-side with the other big punk piece I have done so far. The CD is just for scale.

The thing I learned most is that I don't want to stitch backgrounds. I think that's why my Obi-Wan project fell through and I have an idea to ride that walrus again. But that's another post.

I have always liked how stitches stand out against the fabric. It's not just a picture, you can feel it. I think by leaving out the red on this piece I can run my hands over it and feel the buildings, the windows...the whole scene. I lived in LA and I loved it. I can picture the actual skyline when I run my hands over the thread and in someways it takes me back.

There are other covers that I have planned and I have worked a major part of each piece to be blank. It's usually the largest solid color. One idea is the Groovie Ghoulies' World Contact Day. I would do that on light blue fabric so the sky does not need to be stitched. This creates a small contrast and gives the piece a true foreground/background. That's my thing, I guess.

Actually my thing right now is pancakes and screwdrivers. Which is why I am gonna have to wait to tell you about my new project. But let's just say I want to make my next project come off the fabric...!!!

Technical Difficulties...

Yes, "Hell" is done. I have become completely obsessed with a new project which has required a LOT of research and it is not easy to find. I'm sure it would be but I am still working in Safe Mode due to a virus that somehow will not kick rocks.

In the meantime go stitch. I will post a link to something or other that is cool in the meantime. I'd hate for you to think I forgot about you!

Check out this interview with Giggly Mama over at suchcoolstuff.

12 Days of Hell: Day Five: How Could Hell Be Any Work?

Wholly S-H-I-T! It was a busy day. I got almost no sleep and stitched the entire time I was not soothing a congested toddler who can't sleep.

The best news is that I finished page 9 of 9! The bad news is I was reading ahead. I still have a few more pages to do. I think that when I finished the usual column I was working on on page 9 the remainder of it looked like it could go by pretty fast and it did. 13 hours fast.

I think this is where things are going to start getting interesting! Actually things may have already reached maximum interest. This is where things will continue to be mediocre!