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.

15/52

On Friday I embarked on the most horrific road trip ever just to see Butch Walker and the Black Widows play in Towson, MD. At noon, Erin Meadows and I departed Richmond. At 1, we arrived in Fredericksburg where we got some food and met up with Stacey. And then we sat in traffic for 5HOURS STRAIGHT. It was horrible. The trip should have taken 2.5 hours, tops.

But we arrived in one piece. And we looked amazing, if I do say so myself. Unfortunately the venue smelled and looked disgusting and was populated with a bunch of seriously troubled individuals. The girls behind us piled up about 10 beer bottles at my feet instead of finding the nearest trash receptacle and the man next to us had an insane case of gas.

Fortunately, the bands were great. The opener, Locksley, looked like they couldn't be older than 17 but they were surprisingly awesome. And Butch rocked like no one else possibly could. He is seriously the best live performer I have ever seen in my life. I've been going to his shows for over 10 years now and he never ceases to amaze.

Like always, we were right up front and got great pictures. I love this one but I wished my camera could have captured the lighting a bit better. So I thought it would be perfect to use and try to give it more color.

I've been using sequins pretty frequently in my work and I've been wanting to do a piece that was done entirely in sequins. I may have gotten a little bit out of control with this one but I was just having so much fun! It looks ridiculous next to all of the other pieces hanging on my wall. But this project is all about trying out new techniques and learning as I go along, so I'm proud of it!

14/52

This past Saturday was a time-honored Richmond holiday. The Strawberry Hill horse races. Everybody puts on their biggest hat and fanciest dress and heads out to the raceway to have the biggest party of the year. It's pretty much just a mile of tailgaters getting absolutely hammered. Now, I went to art school at VCU, so I have never been a part of the cornhole-playing, kegstanding, cooking-out-at-a-sporting-event community that so many of my friends have been at other universities. So this event is like entering a whole other world. Like an athropological study, if you will. I'm proud to say that I fit right in and every year I have the time of my life.

This year, I went with a group of friends that I know through my friend Josh's kickball team. They are a crazy bunch of individuals and I love them. Pictured here are Me, Josh, Sarah, Jessica, and Garnett right after we arrived at the races. This was after only several mimosas but before the beer started flowing, the shirts came off, that box of Franzia was destroyed, and before I got the most insane sunburn (despite using SPF 50).

Sadly, I had to crop Jessica and Garnett out of the artwork for compositional reasons. But Josh is the reason I know all of them and Sarah was my "safety buddy" for the day. Garnett and Jess, please know that I love you. It's nothing personal, and I swear I didn't delete your number from my phone.

Metallic thread is still the most infuriating thing to use but I love how it looks and just can't stop myself. I also added some glass beads this week which I have never used before. That long skinny beading needle is really fun to use. They're supposed to represent the bubbles in the giant splash of beer behind us.

"Day at the Races"

Graphite and Marker on Muslin with

Cotton and Lurex Embroidery and Glass beads

8"x10"

Frankensteins!

I recently had the opportunity to show my artwork at my friend Jenn's restaurant, Strange Matter as part of their DIYFest May1-3. It was very exciting to get exposure to more people than just my Facebook friends and Twitter followers that occasionally click on the link to the blog.

For the show, I wanted to create some new pieces that weren't part of the blog project. I thought that the "diary of my life" aspect of the work on here might not translate well to a public show. So I tried to think of what the hipsters at this vegan restaurant/bar/arcade would like to see. And I decided on this "Frankensteins Monster" idea that I've been tossing around since Fourth of July last year.

Not much else needs to be said about the pieces. The titles explain it all. Also, these pieces are the first ones featured on this blog that are for sale! $150 each. Maybe I'll even frame them if I really like you!

"Anne Frankenstein"

Graphite and Marker on Muslin with Cotton and Lurex Embroidery

8"x10"

"Frank-Ben-Stein"

Graphite and Marker on Muslin with Cotton and Lurex Embroidery

8"x10"

"Franc-enstein"

Graphite and Marker on Muslin with Lurex Embroidery

8"x10"

"Lisa Frankenstein"

Graphite and Marker on Muslin with Cotton

and Lurex Embroidery and Sequins

8"x10"

"James Franco-stein"

Graphite and Marker on Muslin

with Cotton and Lurex Embroidery

8"x10"

13/52

This week's post is brought to you by 5 S Vine, the most awesome party house in Richmond. Unfortunately, the boys are moving on this year and 5 S Vine will be no more after this weekend. So they threw one last blow out bash on Saturday night as a final goodbye to good times. It was amazing. Here is a shot of part of the group singing "Kiss From a Rose." KJ's one stipulation for the night was that everyone sing this song. Best part of the night. By far.

Sorry my explanation is a little lame. The memories of the night are hazy, at best. Just enjoy the artwork, guys.

Clockwise from left: Julia, KJ, Colin, Daniel, and Aaron (That's my tiny face in the bottom left. And Chris right there next to me. Sorry dude, i drew you in but it looked weird so I had to erase it. I'm a horrible person!)

Clockwise from left: Julia, KJ, Colin, Daniel, and Aaron (That's my tiny face in the bottom left. And Chris right there next to me. Sorry dude, i drew you in but it looked weird so I had to erase it. I'm a horrible person!)

"Kiss From a Rose"