I have decorating block whenever it comes to my home. I know! A graphic design background! A love of sewing! What the what? My husband agrees with you. I’m paralyzed by taupe walls, by indecision, and by some wishy-washy ideas with a lack of follow-through. Drives Mr. Wren crazy.
After I mentioned this (in those exact words) here on the blog, I decided to start doing something about it. I'm starting small, a piece here, something-hung on the wall there. I want my home to reflect my less-is-more, God-is-in-the-details style and the people who live here.
I also needed a new Couch Craft [defined as that which you create with your hands while sitting on the couch in the evening watching, or rather listening to, TV]. I found one in an old UFO (unFinished object) begun in 2012. A perfect reflection of those who live in my home. Including my inability to spot spelling mistakes.
I also needed a new Couch Craft [defined as that which you create with your hands while sitting on the couch in the evening watching, or rather listening to, TV]. I found one in an old UFO (unFinished object) begun in 2012. A perfect reflection of those who live in my home. Including my inability to spot spelling mistakes.
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| Mr. Wren said, "it adds character to the work." I eyed him skeptically and moved on. |
I started this project with instructions/guidelines from Martha Stewart. Then I sat down with some graph paper and colored pencils and set to work pixel-izing Mr. Wren, myself, and The Peanut. I made sure Mr. Wren was taller than me (a good 8" taller in real life), and that I was wider than the trim man he is. With his consent I also replaced one pixelated line of hair with skin tone.
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| She's a long bean stalk but she's not up to my shoulder yet. Then again, Mr. Wren should also be a head taller than me... |
The Peanut took more work. The first two versions of her were too big. With each progressively smaller Peanut, I taped a new piece of graph paper on top of the original, rather than re-draw Mr. Wren and I.
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| The Incredible Shrinking Peanut; Honey, I Shrunk Our Kid; The Peanut does Benjamin Button |
I enjoy sketching out projects and notes with pencil on paper. The find pleasure tactile feel of creating and I appreciate when drawing "mistakes" can spark new ideas. But if drawing (or even coloring squares on graph paper) intimidates you, or if you don't want to invest in graph paper and colored pencils you don't already have, you can still do this project with a spreadsheet. Make your rows and columns the same height and width and go to town changing the background color of each cell. Just be sure to save often and with different names so you can go back to an older version if you choose.
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| I added the balloon to balance the composition. You can see here that even the balloon changed height as The Peanut shrank. |
Once I had my pixel-sized family all planned out, I sat down to stitching and TV watching; two years ago when I started this project that would probably have been ...a quick check of my now dormant Twitter account informs me it was mostly Sesame Street -- I'm sure that's not what I was watching in the evenings and yet it's all I was talking about back then. (I will always admire the creativity and workmanship that goes into making that show come together.)
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| It's like a clothes on the wall (or floor) pic that I use when showing off my sewing. |
I worked from a box of embroidery floss my kid sister put together when she was making friendship bracelets in elementary school. I can't remember how I came to be in possession of the box. But as long as I'm working UFOs, I feel I should maybe finish the incomplete bracelet in the box for her. Unfortunately the box let me down when it came to flesh tone. A trip to the store later and our mini-pixel selves had faces and arms. That's when I noticed this project would have worked better on true white rather than variegated oatmeal canvas; us pale, blond-ish types are pretty oatmeal-toned to begin with.
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| Note the careful arrangements of lowercase lettering. |
I took time to plan out the lettering for underneath. What is puzzling is that all my sketches show lowercase lettering, but I stitched uppercase. Maybe that's how it happened.
I didn't notice it at first. I was getting ready to buy a frame when I saw it. A missing "h" turned this loved and much tweeted about project into a two-year UFO. (That's not bad for me; I have a bead-loom camera strap begun before I even met my husband and before digital cameras that is still on the loom, still incomplete, and has now moved homes with me at least three times.)
I am aware I have a good eye for visual detail but I can't see spelling mistakes to save my life. [If you ever see a glaring one on this blog, let me know. I won't be offended at all, I'll be very grateful!] Note to self: you're currently working on another project full of words and lettering, maybe ask someone else to proof it for you.
Two years after I set it aside, I sat down with Big Bang Theory and Elementary to remove the lettering and to re-stitch. I debated what year to add to the bottom, 2012 or 2014? Then I realized I only needed to remove the left half of the lettering starting between the P and the Y. The 2012 stays. It was a lovely evening project. A Sunday afternoon trip to the store and it had a frame. Now it needs a place of honor on our wall.
I realize I didn't make much headway against the taupe with this matte and frame, but I feel the tone on tone highlights the subjects of the portraits by letting the purple pop -- you see the image I made, not the matte. For now, it's a decorating start. Hopefully it won't take me two years to actually put it up on the wall.
I didn't notice it at first. I was getting ready to buy a frame when I saw it. A missing "h" turned this loved and much tweeted about project into a two-year UFO. (That's not bad for me; I have a bead-loom camera strap begun before I even met my husband and before digital cameras that is still on the loom, still incomplete, and has now moved homes with me at least three times.)
I am aware I have a good eye for visual detail but I can't see spelling mistakes to save my life. [If you ever see a glaring one on this blog, let me know. I won't be offended at all, I'll be very grateful!] Note to self: you're currently working on another project full of words and lettering, maybe ask someone else to proof it for you.
Two years after I set it aside, I sat down with Big Bang Theory and Elementary to remove the lettering and to re-stitch. I debated what year to add to the bottom, 2012 or 2014? Then I realized I only needed to remove the left half of the lettering starting between the P and the Y. The 2012 stays. It was a lovely evening project. A Sunday afternoon trip to the store and it had a frame. Now it needs a place of honor on our wall.
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| Ahhh. That's better. A two-year UFO made complete in one evening. |
I realize I didn't make much headway against the taupe with this matte and frame, but I feel the tone on tone highlights the subjects of the portraits by letting the purple pop -- you see the image I made, not the matte. For now, it's a decorating start. Hopefully it won't take me two years to actually put it up on the wall.
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| I think I'll add it to the wall in this area. I feel I need a third something (letter M, maybe?) before I can hang the new family portrait though. |
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You should really see all that goes into each project!
From my model preferring to wear washi tape on her belly button instead of the clothes I've sewn for her, to the ingenious way that I’ve re-purposed my favorite sewing tool, a chopstick, into a spool pin for double needle sewing on my machine. Daily updates on Instagram (and Flickr) of works-in-progress will give you that behind the scenes view you’re looking for, and sneak peeks of First Tuesday Tutorials, too.
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