Cusspots explained.....

Melly has posted about her recent acquisition of some of my stuffed cusspots, and the questions are rolling in.

 The name "cusspot" came to me out of the blue (like all my titles do) when I was thinking about how to name these little containers that I started crocheting at work rather compulsively. When I made the first one, I put it on my desk and put a few coins inside with the notion that the nickle and three pennies might breed like hangars in the closet tend to. Didn't happen.

Then I remembered how some offices and families have a Swear Jar that you have to put money into if you swear out loud, as a kind of punishment or deterrent to bad language. Where I grew up you got five upside the eyes for anything past "Hell" or "Damn" (and those got you the very evil eye). Of course, we swore like sailors when Mom or Dad were not within earshot.

I swear a LOT on my job, violently and elaborately, but inside my head, at my customers. I curse them all, need it or not. It keeps me from burnout. My  little crocheted container would never serve to hold a day's worth of swearing fines, they were not big enough to be real Swear Jars, they were merely CUSSPOTS.

I started poking thread ends into it instead of letting the bits fall where ever and getting more evil eyes from the vacuum cleaner guy late in the evening. The threads stuck to the office carpet like crazy and he had to spend extra NOISY ANGRY minutes around my desk once a week. In the spring, I pulled all the thread bits out and left them in the shrubs around the office for birds to make nests with.

What will you do with a cusspot? Melly is cooking hers!

Last Chance for Holiday Fiber!

I'm almost done "shop keeping" for this year....

I think tomorrow is the last day before Christmas that I could promise a package arriving in time for holiday gift giving (US) .  If you buy one at the regular price any additional bundles will be 10$ off  and I'll get them out to you by Priority Mail, lickety split. (Note: Dont use those PayPal buttons for this sale..email me for an invoice so I can work in your discount! )

WOO WOO!
Cloth for Christmas!

See the inventory at Random Acts of Dyeness (remember, ignore those PayPal buttons if you want that discount! Email me for an invoice)

Taken....

I'm starting to get that "what now" message from this piece and have twice forged ahead with uninformed, headlong sort of stitching only to stop myself and painstakingly pick the buggers out. The royal blue damask is particularly fragile.

I can see that I need to do something defining for that birds right wing and the blue moon. I've gotten too close to this one and need to step away for a while. Maybe some cooking, cleaning and shopping? Nah...

Juicy observes

How would you like to turn around in the studio and find this looking over your shoulder?

Juicy is Jake's cat and is just starting to fit in instead of spending every moment in hiding.

Although he is fierce and intimidating to look at, he's a big scaredy cat and bolts the minute anyone but Jake approaches him. Sweetie is quite put off by this incursion and has been walking around with her back fur all up in disgust.

it's Friday!!

 I spent most of my day off yesterday in bed trying to ward off a cold/the cold and working on this piece which is becoming quite compulsive.

Things going are are being revealed to me as I go.  Can you tell that I watched "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and was quite spellbound with the costumes and wigs, not to mention the intrigues and sea battles.

In a little while I have to report to the office for work evaluation and spend the day there interacting with live humans that I am not related to. I wonder if I  remember how.

found money art

Alexander Hamilton never looked so good. Melly, do you recognize this guy?

Taken By the Night continued

Elizabeth Barton's recent post about avoiding cliches made me focus on why I have not been doing any hand work for a while now. She actually had me sketching faces on paper last night!

The word "twee" kept coming to mind (and gagging me) as I tried one small composition after the next, each time with some literal objective in mind. Finally, I went back to my established way of composing - gathering small bits of cloth that work well together, color and textures, and then stirring the two dimensional pot until a  design emerges.
When something recognizable emerges, like figures, then I start to smell trouble. What is the story? How much to show? How much to leave in the wind? How far into cartoon do I want to dive.

At this point I have to rely on my admittedly limited stitch repertoire to define and refine. Faces are particularly deadly as they usually say too much. I prefer faces to be incongruous, contrary even, to what seems to be going on.
I don't want to to spell it out for the viewer.

Sometimes there are elements that have to be weeded out or brought into focus in an unexpected manner.

This piece continues to compel me.

sunday stitchin

Sweetie was annoyed that I abandoned our afternoon nap in favor of other things like bothering her with the camera and stitching in the afternoon sun for the scant hour and change that it  comes through the bedroom slider on the back of the house. If I'm ready early enough I can catch the morning sun in the studio now that the leaves are mostly off the trees in the front of the house.

sweater days

Brrrr. It's a sweater day in Georgia looking as if it could snow any minute. Spending this day chillin', stitching and watching old movies on the tiny TV. (and the occasional Lexulous move)
 Later there will be home made pizza and
"The Town" on the big screen.

just a little comfort

Waaay back when (note the date on the site!)  I did an entire series of digital images that used scans of commercial fabrics as fills. I was learning several graphic programs and teaching myself to write HTML code at the same time.

Here's one of my first websites..I did run right back to a comfort zone when I made my own gallery.

So to get out of the fiber doldrums, I did that little oil pastel and after staring at it for a while now and being pleased with the design, I'm going to try to take it back to the cloth..round and round we go!

but sometimes all we want is just a little quick  comfort.

Winter Banner

I had to take the Ducky banner down. Daily reminders of the pool at this time of year just make me sad.  Right now this looks like the back reaches of a primeval   swamp. There could even be alligators in there. You don't want to see it now.