Happy Mother's Day

Wishing all the moms a happy mother's day! Enjoy!

heART Therapy

I must be in need of some serious heART therapy. Ever since I stitched up that first little wool and felt heart a few weeks ago, I haven't been able to stop. They just keep coming! My couch looks like an explosion of felt, sweaters, floss, and beads. I know it's therapy because I have no purpose for stitching them. Nada. Zilch. I just thoroughly enjoy the act of pulling a needle through fabric again and again and again.

But as the pile of hearts grows, ideas for other projects has grown along with it. (Not that I'm in need of more ideas--far from it!) I suppose I'll have to let the hearts run their course and wait until they tell me what they want to be. Or maybe they don't want to be anything. Maybe they're just a little pause in the creative process. The calm before the storm. I do feel a torrent brewing somewhere close by. What creative thing do you do when you need a little therapy?

I Heart The World

It's the time of year when just about every weekend you can find a place where artists gather to present and sell their work to the public just in time for holiday gift giving. I have a whole list of local shows I plan to attend and yesterday marked the first. There's just something about seeing so much creativity and hand made goodness in one place that makes me happy and gives me hope. It happens whenever I visit a gallery, museum, art show, or inspirational blog. I feel energized. I feel alive. I feel like I heart the whole dang world!

I saw some adorable little hand sewn felted heart pins that totally rekindled my desire to do more hand sewing. I've been itching to get out my needles and floss and do something with all those thrift stores sweaters I felted a while back. So last night, (when I should have been finishing up my map art for the last class this week) I gathered up a few supplies, found a cozy spot on the couch, and sewed to my heart's content. Sometimes you just have to create when inspiration strikes.

Meet the Monsters

I've had a couple of requests to post my stuffed monsters on this blog, so here are a few. They're made from upcylcled wool sweaters, embroidery floss, buttons, and polyester stuffing. This was a relatively unmessy project that I could work on while watching TV that would utilize some of the thrift store sweaters that I've been felting. This little guy is named Sydney--after the city in Australia. I sent him to my daughter to help scare off the wacky squirrels at her college that jump onto window ledges, chew through the screens, and invade dorm rooms. So far, so good. No squirrel invasions yet.
I made this guy for my friend Casey using her favorite striped sweater from middle school. When she discovered a hole in the sweater, she decided it was finally time to say goodbye and she asked me if I wanted to use it for anything. I never refuse "an art project waiting to happen" so I took the sweater and made her a Christmas present.

Lastly, meet Arthur McFitz. Arthur is the official mascot for Artfits, the altered book club that meets at my house twice a month to play and create altered books. You'll be seeing more of Arthur because Cathy has decided to learn needle felting and she is making a number of mini-Arthurs that are adorable.

I decided to post the monsters to show the progression to the next stuffed project that I'm working on. Right now I'm just calling him "the guy." This new softie is more human--well, if someone with a blue head and orange body can be considered human. At the moment I think he looks like a cross between outsider folk art and a deranged Muppet. You can decide which after I finish him and post pictures.