July 22

This last Christmas my fantastic friend Jost painted me a picture, but alas, German paper is different sized than ours and I haven't been able to find a frame for it.... until now!

One of my neighbors just moved out and I saw a lonely little backless picture frame leaning against the dumpster the other day. The glass was still there, and the wood had been kind of speckle spray painted yellow and black. So Perfect!

Yesterday I cleaned up the glass and tried to figure out what to matte the picture with and use as the backing and came up with cutting a grocery bag to the size of the glass and painting it black with india ink. The india ink didn't end up being dark enough so I just spray painted it, which worked pretty good. Then I just centered the painting on the grocery bag, taped it on and put it in the frame! Easy peasy. I did have to put some new hanging hardware on the back (it was originally set up for a horizontal picture), but that's not hard at all.

I am stoked that this painting is finally on my wall. Isn't it amazing?

July 21

Today is a big day in Lawrence... We have a great downtown and every year there is a huge sidewalk sale! I got there pretty early and I'm so glad for it, as i was actually able to find a parking spot and it wasn't yet unbearably hot (we hit 102 even without the heat index!) 

I don't really like shopping for clothes in that kind of crowd (long lines, crowded, etc), but I did walk away with some booty from a couple of the antique stores. I got a great deal at one booth on some sweater clips, a necklace, and a super cute pin (all for $6!). At another booth I got another necklace, some buttons, and a gorgeous vintage scarf.

I love this pin! And one of the sweater clips is of angelfishes, the other has kind of creepy hands!

I also went out to Milton's for breakfast, then had a job interview, took a nap, and completed a little art project that I'll post about tomorrow. It was a productive day!

July 17

It is hot hot hot in Lawrence! My goodness, we are in an excessive heat warning for a whole week! I'm pretty sure air conditioning will be high on my list of necessities when I finally get a new vehicle. For now I'm just staying in side embroidering and re-reading the last Harry Potter book in preparation for watching the movie tonight. (I'm excited.)

While I was watching Twin Peaks last week like a mad woman I was also finishing up an embroidery which I'm pretty happy about. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, which seems to be the story of my life.

The rocket girl pattern is by Cherry Hollow designs, and I just took the planets from a coloring book page. Here are a couple detail shots:

July 14

Well I'm home and well and happy I went on my trip. I have frittered away a couple good days on the couch watching Netflix and embroidering... I guess that's what summer is about?

After spending so much time in Florida and having NASA on the brain, I was seriously craving some space movies, so I watched a documentary called The Wonder of it All which was quite good. I just may still have to watch Apollo 13 this week though.

I also came across Twin Peaks and decided that I had heard enough about it and I should really just watch an episode.... or two... or three.. or the first season and a half... It is fantastic folks. I am hooked and I have Jennifer Andrews to thank. She has a series of Twin Peaks embroideries that I love and it got me curious as to what kind of characters these people were. I like her self portrait as the Log Lady best I think.

Also, in Sarah news this week, my Mystery Science Theater 3000 embroidery was featured on the website Mr X Stitch! This is exciting for me. I have more MST3K ideas to do... so maybe this is a sign for me to do them. I also just joined a Star Wars themed needlework group on Flickr, so I just may have to do one of those first.... I have also been lamenting my lack of flat pattern drafting since I got out of school. So much to do! I'll put that in another post however.

I just finished an embroidery that I'm super proud of today, but it is for a friend so I can't post anything until August. I'm getting close to finishing a space themed (naturally) one that I don't know what I'll do with yet. What does one do with embroideries that don't fit in hoops well?

Because I don't like having posts without pictures, here is another from my trip that my friend Kim took. How is my manatee impression?

July. 8

If you have tried to go to my Etsy shop, you will have noticed that I am in vacation mode. Why would this be you may ask?

I have been on vacation.

But that is a given. More specifically, I have been in Houston and then Florida. To see the last NASA shuttle launch. I'll wait for the envy to set in a bit.

...

Alright. 

I'll be uploading some photos of it to my Flickr, but here's one to wet your appetite a bit.

Photo courtesy of my friend Kersten Ficke.

July. 6

Found Here

I'm currently on the road, so I'll just update with a few great embroideries I've found on Flickr this week. I simultaneously want to do all of these. They are just text links because no one lets you save images now apparently. Really guys?

1. Adorable owl reading a book!
2. Lovely whale.
3. Petri dishes.
4. Summery landscape.
5. Muskoxen!
6. Bovine Beauty.

June 29

This sign is especially cool because it also features my friend's band Cowgirls Train Set!

Last night I went to a fantastic show called Horror Remix! I may have mentioned it before at some point; I used to go to them in Kansas City but now they have moved to Lawrence and I couldn't be more pleased. The premise of the show is taking two or three bad horror movies and editing them down to their most essential half hour ("all killer, no filler"). Each show has a theme (shopping mall movies, biker movies... etc) and the theme for this one was The Beast, or more specifically, evil pets!

The movies were amazingly bad and the show was hilarious. This was also the first benefit Horror Remix, a local organization named Fix Our Friends was there taking donations for low cost spays and neuters for pets of families who can't afford to fix their pets.

Here's the trailer:
Horror Remix Presents BEAST from Edward John on Vimeo.