Monday, March 21, 2011

Contest results are in! (commence jumping up and down in 3 ... 2... 1...)

CMP ATC - December 2007
(that's an ATC I made years ago! Figured y'all have the Moon embroidery burned into your skulls by now)

More than a year ago, I worked the first stitches on my high texture hand embroidery of the Moon. It traveled with me across the country, and kept me inspired and busy for many months and thousands of stitches. Last fall, I entered it in the Etsy/NASA Space Craft contest and was overwhelmed by the generous support and kind words from readers, crafty friends, space geek friends and folks I'd never known before. On Friday, a group of incredibly impressive judges gathered at Etsy Labs in Brooklyn and judged the finalists in the contest.

High Texture Hand Embroidery of the Moon

We were told we'd find out the results sometime today, which meant there was much fretting and wringing of hands over the weekend (ok, just some nervous wondering). Then came the news: I had won the prize for best 2D Original Art. I was honored and humbled to be recognized, especially given the gorgeous pieces of art in my category.

Initially, I was a little bummed - for a couple of reasons (hear me out). First, two of my good Space Tweep art friends, Jen Scheer and Catherine Baker, hadn't won. We'd all been cheering each other on for months, and so I was sad that we weren't able to pull in a Space Tweep Sweep and all get to celebrate.

I also thought that only the Grand Prize winner would have the opportunity to have their work (or a photograph of it) flown on-board the space shuttle, and really ... that was all I cared about. Gift certificates to Etsy are awesome, but mostly I wanted to see my embroidery make its way in to space - where I've wanted to go since I was a kid. Jen pointed out, though, that the announcement article mentioned that all winners' work had the potential to fly on-board the space shuttle. (silly me and my skimming!)

So ... WOW. You guys ... just ... wow. There's a decent chance my embroidery will actually fly on-board the space shuttle in.to.space.

My first crater! (a.k.a. My First Buttonhole Wheel Cup)

I'm just - well I'm speechless to be quite honest. And I've been talking up this Moon project for so long, I'm sure a lot of you are sick of hearing about it! But thank you - thank you for sticking around, for the support and kind words and voting, for blogging, for the interest in embroidery and space and for creating a creative community in which works like this can blossom.

The hardest part of all of this was saying goodbye to my embroidery. I packed it up (in GOBS of bubble wrap) and shipped it off to Brooklyn for the event, knowing that the only way I'd get it back was if I didn't win. So just as I started to jump up and down and celebrate winning, I got a bit of a letdown to know that I'll not ever have the embroidery back in my possession again. I don't have all the details yet on where it will end up, for how long, who will be in charge of it, what will happen to it after it's been on display (or flown) and so I have a bit of heartache tonight, too. This was one of my first pieces of true, honest-to-goodness, pour my heart and gut and soul and everything in to, art piece. I spent hours upon hours with this piece. I had conversation after conversation over it. I shared excitement and information with people over it. I had quiet time alone with it. It was a huge piece of me. And now it's ... gone. Not GONE gone, but just not here with me. And that's harder than I thought it was going to be.

Stitch in Public day!

But I'm still hugely thankful, and excited to find a way to get out to Florida for the launch. I didn't win the trip out there, but I'm already working on a way to afford the trip out so I can see my artwork launch. And believe me, I'll take every word of support, every wish for winning, every good thought/vibe/love you all have sent over the last few months, with me.

Thank you. No other words say it better. Just Thanks.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Moon Update: Judging Event on Friday!

House stuff is going really well, and we're actually getting close to being done. I'll be posting more pictures and progress very soon, but also wanted to give an update on the Moon embroidery project and the Etsy/NASA Space Craft contest.

Friday night, March 18, is the live judging event in Brooklyn, New York. I carefully framed and wrapped up my embroidered Moon and shipped it off. We got word today that the show is all set up, and the panel of judges is ready to go. It's an incredibly impressive (and intimidating) panel.

I'm in very good company. Two fellow Space Tweep artists, Catherine Baker and Jen Scheer, are also finalists (along with 117 others) and have really awesome entries. Just seeing this much space art enthusiasm makes my heart happy. I'm so inspired, and I'm already plotting my next space art project. Thanks again, so much, for all the kind words, thoughts, support and votes. I'll keep you posted on the results!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Making Progress

The quite around here means things have been busy. And boy have they. Even though we are using a contractor, managing this huge renovation has proved to be a wee bit overwhelming. Add to that some new responsibilities at work and helping kids adjust to life in a new town, there hasn't been much time for blogging. My bad!

Fortunately, I have been taking lots of pictures, and that's the fun stuff, right? I'll have to do all the wrap up, detail kind of posting later, because quite frankly ... my brain is fried. But for now, enjoy these progress pictures. The changes are overwhelming and exciting. It's fun to see things moving along, but it's also terrifying to see a place you love so much getting torn apart. When I look back at our original pictures of the house, I think, "awww, but it's so beautiful! What have we done!?" Demo was crazy. Seeing things ripped down to studs freaked me out a bit. Now, though, the progress is getting to the exciting part. We should be (knock on wood) just a few weeks away from wrapping this huge project up.

Kitchen, side one


Kitchen, side 2





Living Room windows


(these just went in today! There will be another window on the right side of the fireplace tomorrow!)

Master bedroom/bathroom




There is much much more where this all came from. Think tip 'o the iceberg here. But hopefully it's enough to see what's been happening, and why I've been so absent lately. More pictures later!