There aren’t a huge number of tourists in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in the eastern part of Bolivia. The foreigners that do turn up don’t tend to arrive solo. So when I showed up alone and with my big dorky camera, I looked pretty conspicuous. It’s a little unnerving to unapologetically take photos of a big and busy city. I think when it comes to travel, we only see what we want to see. So I don’t know if these photos are reflective of anything. It’s entirely possible that I’ve captured the skin of the city and failed to reveal the heart.

This trip was a real comedy of errors. I lost my luggage! I got lost in the middle of the night! I got locked out! I got locked in (the door had to be broken with a kitchen knife)! I got called a heathen! I got computer viruses on my new camera! I almost got robbed by gypsies! And it was AWKWARD sometimes. But I lived, damn it. And I met some fantastic people along the way, people who were so kind that I could never possibly thank them properly.

A few more photos of Santa Cruz here.

Cioa,
Sarah

There´s been a serious lack of updates around here lately, I know. But I really do have an excuse: I´ve (temporarily) run away to Bolivia.

I wrote that like it was a sane thing to do.

It seems in vogue now for single women to run off to exotic countries, and while I´d love for this to turn out like some Eat Pray Love fantasy trip of a lifetime, I´ve been hampered by a streak of bad luck. This trip does not make me want to take up yoga. It makes me want to take up smoking. I´ll be hanging out in Santa Cruz de la Sierra for one more week, then it´s back to the regularly scheduled programming of fabric designs and wacky embroideries. Please, wish me luck.

Ciao,
Sarita

I’ve added three new backgrounds, seen here…

…And two new wallpapers.

This one features the mythical jackalope, a taxidermist’s fusion of a rabbit with antlers that roams freely (and fictionally) in the Southwest. I was sort of fascinated with these things as a kid. And really, any excuse to draw a bunny.

And this one is a quote from Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. I am trying to read lots of the classic books that I’m told everyone reads in high school (though I don’t think anyone actually does anymore, because I definitely didn’t). As hard as I am trying with this, I had brief relapse from the scheduled reading plan when I picked up a copy of Twilight (and shut up you know it was awesome. It’s like eating candy for dinner).

Love,
Sarah

I’ve added a new wallpaper to the site:

I’ve also made three new backgrounds:

…And a new font. Cursive fonts are terribly difficult to make, especially with the cheesy free software I’m using, so this typeface is a little wonky looking. Probably works better at smaller sizes.

That’s all for today!

Yours,
Sarah

I’ve got seven new background patterns!

I drew some of them by hand and some with software this week, so I’m all over the place with colors and styles. Drawing these things by hand tends to make them look a little more old-fashioned (or at least more homemade) than what I usually do with software and a mouse. But I’ve got to mix things up now and then.

Yours,
Sarah

Here are seven new backgrounds for you:

Maybe it’s time to freshen up that Twitter profile?

More patterns coming in June!

Much love to the late Dennis Hopper.

-Sarah

I’ve added eight new patterns to the site, which brings me to a little milestone.

There are now 200 patterns available for download! I can’t believe I’ve made 200 of these ridiculous things. The backgrounds page is taking an awfully long time to load nowadays.

For this batch of backgrounds I experimented a bit with watercolors. The watercolor look is pretty hard to duplicate using software, so I splurged on a $2 set and did it the old-fashioned way.

That’s all for now. Ciao!

-Sarah

I’ve finally finished this embroidery. It’s been staring at me (and pretty intently, for an inanimate object) for weeks and I sewed the last bit up this afternoon.

It’s Dwight Schrute from "The Office," whose character owns a beet farm. There’s a scarcity of Schrute related art. Why, friends?

I’ve also made a new font, named after a fort built in 1839 in my hometown of Sacramento. Because, well, why not?

Have a lovely Tuesday!

-Sarah

I am finally getting around to updating this little site. I’ve got five new backgrounds for you to enjoy:

I also uploaded a few new iPhone wallpapers to my Flickr page.

When I was out and about today I noticed the line of people in front of the Apple store waiting to buy their iPads. I figured that since lots of people are buying tiny new computers today, I might as well make some tiny new wallpapers to fit them. I believe I got the right dimensions for the iPad, but since it’s so incredibly new there’s some debate about what resolution these things use. I went with 1024 x 1024. If that’s not right, then please, one of you early adopters has to let me know.

I uploaded 24 designs to Flickr. Most of the designs have been seen before in some form on this website, but many come in exclusive sizes and colors.

I’m working on a new embroidery, and (because I never learn) a new font, so hopefully I’ll add those soon.

-Sarah

I’m back with a new embroidery:

I’ve never seen Amy Winehouse in real life, but I’m guessing birds could comfortably nest in her giant beehive. Apologies for the bad scan. In real life it looks almost like a graphic design instead of an embroidery. At least until you look at the back:

I’m always curious to see what other embroideries look like on the back. It’s sort of interesting in its own messy, abstract way.

I’ve also got a brand new font. This took an amazingly long time to create because the program I normally use up and decided to start charging me money to use it. So I had do research and download a new program to make this thing, and it took nearly a month to get it finished. So I probably won’t be making too many fonts from now on.

I was going to draw the Queen of Diamonds but I heard she’ll beat you if she’s able. Yes, that really was a "Desperado" reference.

This font also has a lot more characters than the others, so if you ever needed to use the Icelandic alphabet or the IPA symbol for a voiceless palatal fricative, then this is for you!

Þ€ÅÇΣ ØÛ┬

-Sarah