Inspired to stitch - Mr X Stitch

If you do not know about the Mr X Stitch blog you should go over and have a look. 

The blog showcases the unexpected side of needle craft. The images can be shocking, evocative and thought provoking. It is like going to a museum from the comfort of your armchair. If you want a 5 minute tour of what you can expect on the blog, they put together this great video, which I got off the FB page:

I have been honored to have my work showcased on this blog twice now. The first time was a look at the portrait of a cat I made last year in a feature called Too Cute for Tuesday. (Click to enlarge.) He is my sister-in-laws cat, and is, indeed, cute.

Today's Mr X Stitch post is about location, and here is the question I had to answer. 

My question: Tell me about a time the inspiration to create a stitched piece came to you from a sense of place. This could be a physical location in the world or an experience of internal geography. (A city, a bus stop, a room, a journey, a particular experience in the world, etc.) What was the location and what did you make? Tell me about your process.

 I choose to talk about my sunset pieces. To find out for yourself how they were inspired by location click here and find out for yourself.

Two of the three sunsets are available in my Etsy shop, if you are inspired to own one.

Sunset on a good life

I finished this piece on Friday, the same day my husband and I had to say goodbye to one of the family. Making these sunsets can be fun, and I was thinking of making it and putting it in my store, but now I think that I will keep it as a beautiful momento of a beautiful life.

I was luckily enough to know Bandit for 11 years. He was with me for five moves across three states and two countries. In him, I always had a friend to keep me company as I was looking for jobs and getting to know a new city. He and his brother were always preforming antics or being drop-dead adorable to distract me from worries or loneliness. He would always check on my every couple of hours if I was home to get a hug or to ask for food. Until the last months, he would always great me at the door.

Bandit on my handspun crochet blanket

About three years Ago I did a felt portrait of him, just to see if I could. I think I was able to capture the smile and the love in his eyes.

Needle felted portrait

Photo that the portrait was based upon

 Bandit was the other one in the household that loved wool, and things made from wool, as much as I did. He loved to huff (smell deeply) and roll in wool, be wrapped in wool blankets, and play with the wool toys I made him.

Classic sunbeam shot

 There are too many words, and none at all to describe the love we had for each other. So anything I can think to say seems, insufficient. I know that he was one of the great loves of my life, and one of the best friends I will ever have. He would come to comfort me when I was sad, cheer me up if I was angry, and celebrate with me when I was happy.

His fur was a soft as a bunny.

I know that I will miss him everyday for the rest of my life, and that I was very lucky to have known him.

Goodbye Bandit, rest in peace.

Getting ready for the holidays

For some reason this year I feel very festive. As we get closer to the holiday (and the first time I have ever had family over during the holiday) we are all getting ready.

3D Egg shaped needle felting fun

These were needle-felted as part of my egg head inspiration week. For some reason I was inspired to create one a day with only the rough guideline of a ball or oval shape being the starting point.

 Beaver - What can I say? It started off as more no specific species and morphed into a beaver, even down to the yellow teeth. I did start out with just the facial features being flat against the head. I put it down for the night and the next day I thought, "Yes! he needs 3D features" and started adding more wool to the the nose, cheeks, and eyes. 

Some advice to other needle-felters out there, it is amazing what out-lining a feature can do. The smallest line of black or pink can really make a feature (such as an eye) really pop and become more believable.

 Purple head - I am so proud of that hat. It is hollow and the brim took for ever. I love the fact that his skin is purple but the rest of him looks so normal. I knew from the start that I wanted him to have a bowler hat, it was after doing some research on google images that I realized that he needed both a mustache and a monocle too. I decided to make his other eye a pale green color because it went with the purple themed skin. I decided not to put little feet on him because it took away from the effect of " everything is normal except for the colors".

Black cat - this is a cartoon version of my cat. He often gets bug eyed stares on his face. I really had fun filling out the features on this head to make them stick out, especially the nose.

What I have learned: Making Cartoon animals is so fun and freeing. There is no tying to work out all the little details to make it realistic. Plus you can have googly eyes and strange colors.