New Year and Stitching Hope

 Happy New Year!!! I always love this time of year because I feel like the slate is cleared and I can start over. I know that I can start over every day if I want but there is something about the end of something and beginning of another. I'm grateful for all my experiences in 2012 and looking for more of them this year. I didn't spend a lot of time blogging last year but I do miss that. I thought about doing it every day but .. aaacccckkkk here it is the 11th already!!! So .. i'm going to start now and see what I can muster.
I love having creativity in my life every day. I still enjoy so many different things. I wonder if this makes you less if you don't focus on just one thing. I find it keeps me from ever being tired of creating. I think the biggest thing is feeling like I have so much to make ... how will I ever get it all done? I'm just going to keep going. Stitching, drawing, painting, sewing...
Hopefully, the new year will bring more structure and I will have the means to continue doing what brings me joy.

                                                                              
I love the feeling of stitching silk onto a blanket remnant I just love the texture it creates. The red above is a silk dress that I dyed .. it's never recommended to dye fabric that has commercial color because there is no way to know if there is something toxic in those chemicals but heck, we wear it don't we? I'm still committed to using recycled material to create with. As time goes on my mind is flooded with possibilities. I just loved the red color. It's going to be a small bag. I love making different bags. I have two started to share with you here. The second bag is all recycled material along with some over dyed fabrics. I guess the photos show the detail .. these make me happy. Thanks for stopping over and sharing my joy. I hope your year is filled with the same!!!

Rusting Right Along

I haven't blogged in a while so thought I'd share some things I've been doing. Besides loving so many different media I am still compelled to create new and different things. I still love love love creating rusted fabrics. I've found some interesting ways to use them. I have some in a gallery near where I live. Here are some photos of work that I recently took into the shop. The shop is Art&Light gallery in Greenville, Sc not far from where I live. These pieces are for sale. Everything here except the photo of the sunset.
It's always a challenge trying to make art for a living. So when I'm not sewing and selling clothes I'm busy rusting, walnut dyeing and painting. I want to get an online shop going as well ...hopefully that will be soon.

I'm always open for words of wisdom if any of you would care to share how your able to live as an artist and make ends meet if you happen to do that.

The sunset .. I love the way that the sun seems to roll under the clouds like a mist of light rolling in.

And here is the link to the gallery i am in: http://artandlightgallery.com/uncategorized/tammy-millers-sustainable-forrest-art/#more-1072

Functional Art

WEll even though I haven't been posting I have been so busy creating. I have now been creating garments that I am trying to sell. I have been reconstructing some gently worn clothes into new and fun styles that I love. I have mixed them with fabrics that I have altered with dye or reverse dye if you will. I finally spent a little time photographing a few of them. I was able to use the dress form that I created a few years ago and used my front yard as a backdrop. The yard looks so beautifully green and lush. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get outside as much as I have in years past. I have had so many bug incidents that I am inclined not to go outside and even though I love taking photos of bugs, I am not happy about being stung three times by wood scorpions and one yellow jacket sting on the bottom of my foot. And no I wasn't walking outside barefoot. :) I have been sewing like crazy though.

As I go on I am hopeful that I will be able post my garments in an online shop. If you are interested in these items .. let me know!!! THanks for stopping over and as always I love hearing your comments.

Flat Out Under Pressure

A few weeks ago I participated in an event in my hometown called the title of this post. The purpose was to compete with other local artists to win a spot on a trash bin. Doesn't sound to illustrious but if you won one of the top eight spots you won a little cash and the top winner won an all expense paid trip to Tuscany. I thought that alone was worth the try .. cause you just never know. So I did the necessary things to enter and after 24 hours of effort. Oh you had 24 hours to create something and turn it in. Here is what I created. A collage of rusted papers and cloths and my painting and cutting and arranging and it all came together. I was very happy with the results of this work. I didn't win but that's ok because I had a blast creating. I had spent most of the day outside working on this because I just seem to be happier outside and while I was out there something kept buzzing my shoulder and when I looked I noticed it was a dragon fly and this made me very happy so I included him in the painting. If you look closely you'll seem him in there. So overall a good experience and if it happens again next year, I'll try again !!!! Oh and for those of you that have been following me I've just been busy so I haven't posted so much but I'm hoping to pick it up again soon!! ANd more photos to come too. THanks for stopping over and I'd love to hear your thoughts!!!

The Finished Quilt

I can hardly believe I finally finished it. There were so many things that distracted me along the way and I must say that I finally see how much of a commitment there is to such an endeavor. There are so many stitches in this. And no there are no fancy stitches or perfectly lined up edges .. but it still manages to be a wonderful  quilt. The edge that I decided to go with was a recycled dyed t-shirt. The wonderful ochre/greenish color just seemed to be the perfect compliment to the black and grey and greens in the main parts of the quilt. It has an overall earthy feel to it and I just have to say .. I was really really pleased with the outcome.

Several of you have asked about the discharged leaves on the dark gray fabrics. Those were done using actual leaves in my yard. I either painted or sprayed the underside of a leaf where the veins are and then pressed onto the fabric and then the other images I simply used a branch of leaves as a stencil and sprayed the area around the leaves. This left a lovely impression of the leaf shapes. The center Leopard that you will see in the full finished quilt on the bottom was painted freehand by me with bleach also .. I have given some thought to creating an online class of my discharge techniques with more detail of my methods. Leave me a comment if you'd be interested in that.

Probably the most unexpected outcome of having done this quilt was the joy that I had in giving it away. I felt as though I learned a lesson. If you've never tried it .. you should!!

So here is the finished quilt. I had to climb up a ladder to see the whole thing. I suppose I could have put it up on a wall but I really don't have a good one for that. .. The very last thing that I had to do was wash it to make sure that everything stayed together and that any parts didn't shrink up and change everything. I was pleased that it washed up so nicely and it was even softer than before, a great cuddle blanket. I shipped it that same day and the owners have it and their son Royce loves it. And that made my day. Thanks everyone that came and posted on the previous blog post about this quilt. It's meant a lot to me to have your comments.
And please feel free to leave any for this one .. Goodness and light to all of you.

The evidence of Gratitude

I know it's been a while since I have posted. I have no logical reason for this except to say that I have just been trying to keep up with my life. Even though I haven't posted in a long while I just haven't stopped creating. Sometimes life just interjects so much that I needed to retract from spaces that have made me feel vulnerable in the past. I have participated in Magic Diaries last year and learned many good things about stitching and continuing.. I am sad that some have stopped following me but I understand. A while back I posted a few photos of a design I painted on fabric. It was using the discharge process. I created it for a quilt that I was planning for a friend and used it as my diaries project. This quilt is a thank you for Karen and her generosity and then as I continued it came to mean so much more. You see there was a time when I had been through painful and difficult events in my life and one person stood out in my life to show concern and give encouragement. Karen's brother is that person.  I realized near the end of this quilt that I have invested a great deal of time in each stitch. The hardest part has been continuing when it seemed that no end was in sight. Oddly enough I never met him face to face yet he taught me so many things. It seems strange to say that.  With his help I learned the very important value in loving my self in a very literal and concrete way. Every day on the tip of his tongue was this phrase, "you can not see in others what is not inside of you" or "when you love yourself you won't feel that way" and many other things. His teaching really changed my idea of what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. And so even though this quilt will go to his nephew for his new great nephew. And even though this was stitched in gratitude for the gifts of Karen, this quilt is every much a testimony to the love and care and especially the time that Karens brother gave me. His name is Jim. He died several years ago ... at the time I didn't think that I would survive his loss ... but I have and his memory and the things I learned from him have great value to me and he lives in my heart always. So while it may not seem like much to those that have stitched many quilts .. this is a first of this size for me. Jim always accepted me unconditionally .. and this quilt isn't perfect .. doesn't have perfect stitches and won't have a precise and perfect binding on the edges. And that's just the way he would have liked it. So I just can't tell you what it feels like to stitch love and gratitude into this cloth .. for Karen and her new grandson and for Jim. I will always love you and be grateful for what you have given me.

 I love this quilt with all my heart .. it's infused with so much love and gratitude. My heart is swelled with so much joy. Thank you Karen for your kindness and continuing to be just like your brother by helping me, this is for you, with all my love. Oh one more thing I have added the binding since these photos were taken and as soon as the weather clears up I will take more photos and share the completely finished piece then. THanks for stopping over!!!  The botanicals are my own discharged fabrics and the inbetween animal prints are recycled garment pieces.

 Yes this was done on a fuzzy blanket. So the back stitches kind of disappear into the fuzz. It's been fun to stitch and keep myself warm this winter. I will miss this.

The Emptiness and Gratitude of Fall

I decided today to post here on my blog since it's been a while. I happened over to Jude Hill's blog Spiritcloth and felt led to add something new. Perhaps no one knows what people think in their heads .. i try to stay out of mine but often there is just too much in there ha ... and it's good (although at times scary) to have a place like this to put them. I still continue to find myself attracted to the little creatures that I run across on the property where I live. With this one there is a little story. I was out walking my dogs one morning and often I am looking where I am going and watching the dogs and just plodding along. This morning I guess I had my head down, it was cold and wind was brisk, my eyes were watering. As I walked a long I noticed this guy walking on the road. A long way away from water. My molly dog is mini dachshund and she is always finding something to get ahold of and for its fate I guess the little crustacean did not get seen by her. I'd say he was and she were lucky to have not run into each other as those pinchers there could really do some damage I'm afraid. So .. we walked past and I steered them clear on the way back home. I decided that this guy was so unusual to me that I would find my camera and go back to take some photos. So as you can see I did make it back and really searched for several minutes to find him. He stopped for a while and let me take some photos and when he realized that I posed no threat to him he continued his valiant effort to go somewhere. I know we have several streams that are nearby but he was far from any body of water. We had a few rainstorms during that previous few days but I didn't think we had any flowing streams by the road that would have somehow pushed him out into the expanse of this land. Nonetheless he was there .. in the middle of the road and i took several photos and just watched him going. I wanted to see where he was going and I knew that there was a stream up ahead. I think it may have taken hours to get there at the rate he was going and as the time passed he squeaked with every step. My lack of patience got the better of me and I decided to help him a long. With a piece of trash and a stick I carefully held him down and carefully walked him to the stream, which I am happy to say he is now in ... unless of course he decided to visit the neighbors up the road. And also you can see that the leaves have all gone now and there is little green left. Even the leaves on the ground have been crunched over and I have to hunt to find a whole leaf. I find myself more lonely with the grayness of these days.. so many gray days strung together, some rain and forced inside where the lights are low and the work is stifled with little room. But this day I was grateful to find this guy. I know he would have made it on his own. I didn't want to risk having a car drive over him. Silly ....i've grown attached to the creatures. More writing below. 

 

 

 

        I couldn't post about a crawdad with out wondering what it's showing up in my life now means. As with all things there is some lesson to learn here. Perhaps this seems odd but I take these events as wonderful gifts from the earth.....it's nice to have a conversation with the earth. I have been busy creating. I did want to also share some of that. I have been enjoying the process of discovery that pushing through things gives me. Here are some things I've been doing. Mind you .. this is just some of it. Thanks as always for stopping over and having a look .. I've got so many more things to say .. it just takes time away from painting and playing and making art. :) Stop by again soon! 

 This is discharged on the back of a garment. On the right is the close up of the eye. I read in Jude's blog today that they are talking about eyes there. I love eyes and always have.

Below is another discharged painting on fabric. Sometimes I wonder if it is a waste to do these since they will continue to eat the fabric.....maybe then I can just look at them as temporary works of art. As you can see .. the eyes just seem to peer through you. Next to that is more discharge just using leaves as a stencil. I love botanical designs.

 Below is rust on colored fabric. I have made several of these that I am going to be using in a few projects. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the color combinations here. Did I tell you that I love these colors together????

More botanical and did you notice that the leaves sort of resemble feathers????  and another painting on fabric. I guess as I continue I care less and less about what someone would think .. and even though you may think that is not something you would do .. meaning that you do care .. i mean this in a way that .. for me .. if I decide that I want to try something I say to myself .. why not? Just do it...who cares? THere is no wrong way really. Who decides what is right. And yes saying that reminds me that there has been much time in my life when I strived to do things, make art, create, do what I want to do but by the rules by what the teacher says to do ... maybe it's taken me all my life to just do what ever I like . ... seems silly but still true.
 and again with the eyes. I love to paint eyes. They seem to say so many things ...they look into your gut with out your even knowing. They see all that is hidden without telling. They say the truth .. and what you see is in you ......

 Another leaf that reminds me of a feather. and below the sunset that I witnessed with that fiery blood red sky ... the furnace of the earth ending another day ....illuminating the sky with brillance. Such a lovely sunset. Such a lovely day. I miss the summer.