I have wanted to start a design/arts & crafts blog for 5 years. Yes, that's 5 YEARS, people! Well, today is the day. You gotta start somewhere. And this is my humble beginning.
My creative passion entwines my two greatest loves – graphic design with tactile, hand-stitching and embroidery. Over the years I have struggled, mostly due to lack of time, to evolve and discover my own voice. But I feel that I'm on the cusp of something good. Something really, really good. I have butterflies in my stomach and it keeps me up at night, so that's how I know I'm on the right track.
For years I have dabbled in stitching as a hobby better known as "time spent relaxing from my day job." A year ago, I quit that day job and recently discovered the works of Evelin Kasikov, Jillian Tamaki, and Emily Barletta. Holy smokes! I found my stitching soul mates. Finally, my connection between desire and creating the tangible has collided into the perfect storm.
I quickly went out and acquired watercolor paper and added to my already bulging thread collection. My very first series was a test of sorts . . . a shout out to Barletta's work and an experiment to see if it felt right. Well, the shoe fit. And now that I have that little test out of the way, I can't fall asleep at night because of the patterns, colors, materials, and techniques flying through my brain.
I look forward to using this blog as a way of recording my journey. Here are some images I captured during my test phase. My furry companion is named Lily, aka the Thread Thief. (Note to self: Never attempt punching hundreds of holes in watercolor paper without a thimble.)
