18/52 and 19/52

So I know I said I was going to post two pieces last week. But I have been insanely busy since returning from vacation and just haven't gotten around to it. So I did the two pieces this week. Don't worry though, 18/52 is still based on a photo from last week and 19/52 is from this week. I actually finished one on Monday and one on Friday and only just now have had time to post.

Last week's image comes from a dinner party that Anthony threw at my house last Wednesday. I was working and only showed up for the end of it, but I hear it was very fun. They had homemade vegan pizza that I tried when I got home. So delicious. Anthony got a little carried away with the digital picture and snapped a few dozen shots of everyone whether they liked it or not. I loved this shot of Shay and Aurora sitting on the back porch. That dog will just let anyone cuddle with her as much as they want. She's just a big floppy teddy bear of a dog and wants nothing more than to be held.

This piece is the first time I've done a circular image within the square canvas frame. It was originally going to be a pizza but I decided that was a little stupid. So I just kept it simple, which worked out well since I was in such a time crunch. The paisleys are just some little appliques that I found at Ben Franklin but I thought they worked well with the color scheme.

"Cuddle Slut"

There's not much to say about the next piece. I have been insanely busy sewing various things all under tight deadlines. I had to mend and hem a huge bag of clothes for my friends Christine and Colin and I've been working on two outfits for a charity fashion show next week. The jury to decide if my pieces get into the show is on Sunday and I'm freaking out because I have soooo much more work to do.

So because my sewing machines have been controlling my life this week, they were the only option for this week's artwork.

I ended up only using one in the piece for aesthetic reasons. All of the fabric scraps are from fabric that I've been using this week. The sassy prints belong to Christine's vintage dresses, the burgundy and black fabric are from Colin's shorts, and the gold leather, denim, and lavender nylon are all from the fashion show. The color scheme coincidentally ended up being kinda red, white, and blue (and purple) which was fitting, because I was stitching during USA's incredibly stressful World Cup game against Algeria where we won in the 92nd minute!

"Oh, Brother"

17/52

Sorry Guys!

I was on vacation all week and chose to take a little vacation from the project as well. Don't worry, there will still be one piece for every week in the year. The pictures used for this piece were taken last week and later this week, I'll post this week's piece.

On to last week's art then! I spent the past week at my parents house in the Outer Banks with my friends Charlie, Chris, Alison, Stef, and Anthony. Like always, it was a blast. We did nothing but lay on the beach, shop, and enjoy refreshing beverages all week. One beverage was so epic that it resulted in a photoshoot.

I'm talking about The Fishbowl. Charlie and Chris discovered it in a magazine and we made it last year too. It didn't turn out right last time. The recipe says to use Nerds candy as the pebbles but the colors bled together and turned the Fishbowl into more of a RiverBucket.

This is last year's monstrosity:

This year we used blue Jelly Belly jellybeans and even blue sour mix and the coloring was perfect. And just because I love you guys, here is the recipe:

5oz Vodka

5oz Malibu Rum

3oz Blue Curacao

6oz Sour Mix

16oz Sprite

16oz Pineapple Juice

1 cup jellybeans

4 Swedish Fish

Sliced Lime

Soooo delicious. This is just one of the dozens of pictures that we took drinking it. There were five of us there that night and we were rotating around taking turns at the camera. We laughed more that night then any other that week.

Here is the finished piece. I want to get away from using people and faces too much in the project so I focused mainly on the drink in this piece. I think its cool seeing only our mouths. The stitchwork isn't terribly impressive but I've got to finish two this week! Though I did make sure to use a new stitch - Satin Couching - on the straws. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couching

"Fishbowl"

8"x10"

16/52

On Sunday, I went to the new Croaker's Spot location on Hull St. with Lindsey, Shawna, and the adorable Anthony. The food was freaking amaaaaaazing. Best southern fried seafood I've ever had. And the design of the space was great too. Everything about it was very authentic. New favorite restaurant!

We saw the bartender making limeades to order and got very excited. So we asked for a round of limeades but demanded the addition of vodka. They were called Electric Limeades and were amazing.
This was the stained glass sconce above our table. You guys know from Week 10 that I love stained glass, so I took a picture to incorporate into this week's piece.

So here we are, the first appearance of my boyfriend, Anthony, on A Year In Stitches. He's been demanding his inclusion for weeks. He came very close last week with an adorable picture of him and Aurora, but ultimately Butch Walker won out.

Also, this week has a distinctly southern feel not just because Croaker's Spot is so delicious. On Friday, I was accepted into Savannah College of Art and Design!!! I start this September on my Masters of Fine Arts in Fibers. This is seriously the best news I've gotten in a long time.