2/52

I've made it through another week! As promised, I'm going to explain the story behind the ridiculous picture from Monday's post.

My roommate, Nicole, and I like to do karaoke. A lot. (In fact, our friend, Lindsey Oliver, has already requested that a karaoke embroidery be included in this project) Last Wednesday, as we made our plans for a "Say My Name" duet, the roomie and I decided to make haste to Ukrops where we could turn all of our spare change into drinking money (at a store that has never sold alcohol) with their magical Coinstar machine. We couldn't resist taking a picture of me with the money bags in front of the machine to tweet to all of our Twitter followers.

And then, of course, we had to document the subsequent wads of cash. I believe I had $29 and Nicole had $17. And believe me, we drank like royalty with Babe's' $2 PBR drafts and Miller Light bottles.

Here is the finished piece. Nicole and I rollin' in dough because we are totally ballin'. Again, the medium is Graphite and PrismaColor Markers on muslin with cotton embroidery. This time with the addition of sequins! The stitches used are just a simple backstitch and a chain stitch. This is the first time I've used sequins (Shocking, I know!) and I had a lot of fun with them. Definitely expect them to appear again in the future.

(Dimensions: 8"x10")

Week 2 Inspiration

This week's inspiration image is this shot of my roommate, Nicole, and I. We are awesome. And ballin'. So awesome/ballin' in fact, that this is the profile pic on both of our Facebook pages.

I'll wait to explain the story behind the pic until I post the finished piece. See you Wednesday!

1/52

One week down, 51 to go!! Last night, I finished the first piece in this yearlong series. The photographic inspiration was this picture I took of Aurora and I while we were snowed in last week. We were curled up on the couch and she was spooning me, which she never does. Usually she just sleeps on top of or between my feet. So I reached out my camera phone to document it and she opened her eyes groggily just as I snapped the picture.

Below is the final piece. I drew the image with pencil and Prismacolor markers on muslin. Then stitched a few hundred French knots (my favorite stitch!) to simulate snow in place of the couch. Dimensions are 8"x10"

Please don't hesitate to leave feedback in the comments!!

Starting on Piece #1

Today, I've started the first piece in my 52 week project. The subject is sure to be a recurring theme throughout the year, me and my cocker spaniel, Aurora. (full name: Aurora LaFawnduh Lansbury) Here are a few sketches I made while planning the piece.

Yeah, I know, the photo sucks again. I think my good camera is in my car and, seriously, it's too cold outside to walk down the block for a camera.

Now, to get back to my french knots. They take a lot of time people!

Reeeeally Belated Christmas Presents

I'm getting really excited to start my first piece of this project. Until then, here are a few pieces that I made for friends as Christmas presents. Our Christmas party got cancelled due to snow and tonight is the first time I'll be seeing them since then. Each one is based on a quote from one of their favorite movies or songs.

"be careful what you wish for..."

for Stephanie Breijo

based on the movie Coraline

"i am listening to hear where you are"

for Matt Luger

based on "Two-Headed Boy" by Neutral Milk Hotel

"i'll make the most of it, i'm an extraordinary machine"

for Jenna Kole

based on "Extraordinary Machine" by Fiona Apple

I especially like the "Extraordinary Machine" piece because Jenna has had 3 surgeries on her arm over the last 3 years. She broke it pretty bad and had to have metal plates screwed into her wrist. She's been in chronic pain ever since and has had all sorts of ridiculous complications. This piece is an homage to all of the crazy crap she's been through and a promise that things will get better.

Hope you guys like them!!

Day 2!

Today is the second day of my blog. Still trying to figure out what to make for my first piece. Maybe I'll just post some of my previous work for this first week while I gather photos and stories for inspiration.

For now, here is a picture of a huge box of vintage embroidery thread that Mim gave me yesterday to get started on my project.

I'm so excited to put it all to use. It's so pretty!

Also, I took a better photo of the piece from the last post. Better? Should I still get a better camera? Anyone want to give me lessons on how to light these shots better?

And I need to find someone who knows HTML to help me make this blog more attractive. I'm good at design but I have no clue how to edit anything on here. Anyone wanna help me out?

An ambitious beginning...

I've been thinking about this for a while now. My friend Mim has convinced me that I need to go ahead and jump head-first into the year-long blog concept.

It all started with this picture I drew and embroidered last year:

This is a picture of me, my former roommate, Victoria, and my then boyfriend, Charles, on my 21st birthday. I don't remember this moment at all but the snapshot has lived on as one of my favorite of all time.

So, for the next year I will be posting a piece of embroidered artwork on this blog once a week. Each piece will be based on a snapshot or event from my life from the preceding week (although this piece is based on a shot from 3.5 years ago). Throughout each week I hope to post photos of my progress leading up to the final product. (Don't worry, I will use a better camera in the future. This shot was taken by camera phone) I think this will be a fun way to document this random year in my mid-twenties as well as a healthy encouragement to never stop creating the artwork that I love.

Wish me Luck!!!

Michael-Birch