This project started last summer.  I wrote part of the poem and posted it along with a photo of the dead pen to Facebook.  My friend Tore took the poem and expanded it with additional lines.

The poem was too silly not to use in some capacity.  I decided to embroider the poem on to fabric.  (of course!)

The skull design is artwork my friend and coworker Sam Solomon drew for me.  I converted it to stitches using digitizing software.  (Perfect Embroidery Pro).

The most time-consuming part (and the one I avoided for a year) was finishing the project for use as an article.

I took screenshots to show the step-by-step process, wrote the how-to article, framed the fabric and photographed it at the office.  Not surprisingly, I still had the dead pen safely stored away to display it on my ‘art piece’.

Content creation— whether it’s for our company’s blog, bi-monthly magazine or monthly e-newsletters doesn’t happen with a wave of a wand.  It starts with a spark— an idea. But then you have to exert energy to execute the idea.  Collaboration expands the idea into something better.  With planning it transforms into something that serves the interests of multiple groups.  It’s not enough to start the process— you have to see it through to completion.  And if you’re like me— sparks of ideas are striking simultaneously— and you’re so enthusiastic you have to start all the ideas…now!

(Fortunately, my role of content creation is not critical.  We have a team of freelance writers that provide creative and professional projects for the bulk of our magazine).  I like to say I “dabble”.

 

The best part is finishing the task and turning in an unexpected ‘gift’ of content to management.  Favorite subject lines I use:  “Merry Christmas!”  “Free content!”

The reply is usually the same:  “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Stop by Eileen’s Machine Embroidery blog to read Stitched Poetry.