Venus of Willendorf

Most likely as a result of a conversation with my sister, I crocheted this small Venus of Willendorf doll. I did not have a pattern. I crocheted her from memory. The head and torso are one piece. The arms, legs and breasts are seperate pieces, stitched to the torso. This and at least 2 others (given as gifts) were small. A subsequent conversation with my sister resulted in a larger version of Venus. This followed the same pattern, but on a larger scale.


This doll was my first entry into a staff show at the Gallery. She sat unceremoniously atop a glass case. I am told she was highly regarded by fellow staff members, and for a month or so she was high art. More frequently she is an amusing pillow.



The next time I made a large doll I attempted one continuous stitch (rather than putting pieces together) The breasts are a challenge as they are more bouyant and of notably different sizes. She is also blue.

Knuckles like Rosey Grier

When I was young and I would crack my knuckles my father would say, "You're going to have knuckles like Rosey Grier." I had no idea who that was. It was explained to me that he was a football player, a very large one at that. My only other exposure to Rosey Grier was his song on Free to be You and Me, "It's alright to cry". I felt certain that, more than any 8 year old girl at the time, I truly appreciated Rosey Grier.

Imagine my delight when my father informed me that Rosey Grier did needlepoint. I have only recently begun to explore the medium. While I can get into a Flow with it, I have not yet reached that comfort level I enjoy with crocheting. I hope that I might find some inspiration in Rosey Grier's Needlepoint for Men from 1973.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/extremecraft/sets/491625/

me and my cat

This is what happens when I am left alone for too long

I call her Creepy. She is a child sized doll made from childrens tights, dollar store yarn, and thrift store fabric and clothes. Each strand of her red chenille hair is hand threaded. The whole doll was handstitched (I did not own a sewing machine at the time). While she has spent a majority of her existence in a chair accompanied by her friend the Captain (another doll I crafted), she did have a brief stint in a staff show at world-class art gallery.

I also made that oddly shaped, handstitched blue cat (as seen above with Creepy, and to the left) with a fabric that both fills me with tickles and sadness. The fabric is of cats with the words "purrfect", "cuddle kitty", and "me and my cat" printed all over it. The cat, and a malformed squirrel now reside in a basket by the fireplace. I believe that my aversion to pattern results in some pretty wonky creations.

Pablo Picasso - His Amazing Life

It is 1:30 am. I am awake because I became obsessed with creating a small cross stitch pattern of a strange stuffed animal I purchased for a dollar at Target. In cross stitch the the animal measures about 1.5"x1.5".

I was trying to clean up a bit, and was putting shoes away in a my front closet when I rediscovered this stuffed animal, which I had purchased years ago to give to a friend. I decided that I would finally put a gift box together for her. It would include this stuffed animal, which at one point I deemed too adorably bizarre to give away. As I carried a small box, a pile of green yarn and the stuffed animal back to my room it occured to me. This little guy should be a cross stitch. So, I stacked my graph paper and a pencil onto of my pile and off I went.

After laying in a rough sketch I began to work with the squares. It is difficult to surrender detail, I am still learning the capabilities of the medium. I find it soothing to break images down into little cubes. I wonder if this is how Picasso felt when he was being rocked to sleep by fairies as a cartoon duck sang to him.