I totally get it.

Kathleen Loomis, she of great quilt art, recently posted an article on her blog about animated embroidery. I have to say I was a bit skeptical. However, after watching this bad%ss video called Tharsis Sleeps, in which each frame is directed and created by the artist on an embroidery machine, I had to gasp in wonderment. I particularly love his quote that was posted on the Junkculture blog:

“I completely ruined any kind of social life,” Livesey says of the creation process. “I haven’t spoken to anyone in the past few months. This is the most ridiculously stupid idea.” - Nicos Livesey

See the video here: Tharsis Sleeps

progress

It rained and rained this weekend (over 7 inches!) which made being in the studio a true joy. I got a lot done:

• 3 hanging sleeves sewn and attached (hate making these),
• final embroidery details on a quilt that recently sold (see above pic),
• final naming ritual for said quilt,
• 5 quilt labels printed and sewn on,
• 1 piece that needed to be created and finished for the local guild challenge (this one was a bit of a struggle since the piece had some pre-requisites that do not follow my normal style),
• 2 quilts that needed to be packed for shipping (for the Earlville Opera House show coming up in Earlville, NY in July and August), and
• a complete cleaning of all horizontal surfaces in the studio. 

Now, I have cleared the decks for the Pundit series. 

Pundits - step 2

I spent most of the day yesterday creating this pattern for one of the pundit pieces. Admittedly, I chose one of the easier compositions to start with. I am determined to do this with precision piecing.  The pattern attempts to simplify that. It was a challenge to make the seam lines work so that they don't disrupt the message. We'll see how far my patience goes with those parameters. The nice thing about creating the pattern in Illustrator is I can experiment with size and construction details before I start cutting fabric. I have this paper pattern printed out on my design wall at around 46" square. I may make it smaller, this guy screams dominant, arrogant male to me. Which makes me think perhaps I need to do a dominant arrogant female too. The ones on TV are mostly blonde....

A trip to the local repair shop to pick up my trusty Bernina will get me jazzed up to begin. Today I will debut fabrics, and think about the line work that will finish it off.

pundits

I have been mulling over a series of pieces that I want to call pundits. They are inspired by all those talking heads in media who reduce the news to shouting matches and name calling. These are the roughs I have been working on (with a nod to russian constructivism). Next step, narrow these down to one and then try to figure out how to construct it.

Pundits, ©2014, Paula Kovarik

handwork

a vacation on the beach merits some bright and vibrant colors. I'll be without my trusty Bernina. So I think I will experiment with slits and stiches while listening to the surf. Hope they have an iron.