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My Month of Softies. Meet "May". She is in the flowers, and she has a flower in her hair, and flowers on her dress, so, I think I've got the "may flowers" theme covered. Her face may look familiar. Felt hair and pipe-cleaner legs and arms, with a linen head. I love her sneaky look!
Framing is such a fickle craft. I got lucky over the weekend and had a wonderful framing spree. Everything worked out and there was no swearing at all. Bye, Big Head Falling Down.
ahh. These wonderful clothespin people that I received for my birthday made by The Small Object have been hidden away since I got them. Sadie wanted to take their clothes off. (and why not?) There was a bit of discussion over at Sarah's blog about how to display these gems (of course, Sarah has a clever solution) but because little hands roam around this house, they are now tucked away safely in a shadow-box frame. I'm a mama that allows a ton of hands-on play, but I have to draw the line when it comes to my art objects. I'm pleased as punch at how this all turned out!
so, I wired them, under their clothes, to the museum board (and one of them seemed to be wearing underwear made out of a pipe cleaner! Hmm, such a pleasing and amusing discovery!) and then added these nifty plastic clips that make frames into shadow boxes. I use really shallow ones to frame my quilts, but these are much deeper, about 3/4" deep.
Then I fit it all into the frame, and because the wind was blowing right, everything worked perfectly! I added the names, "Mr. DJ" and "Green Couture" on manila colored paper. (Hard to see here, but super cool looking, in a typewriter style font.) So happy! This frame is 6" x 6", a very fun size to play with and I got it here. I got the plastic framing strips here. FYI: The plastic strips are only sold in wholesale amounts if you buy direct. Also-Sarah just put a group of new peeps in her shop, buy them now because they are gonna fly fast!! You'll know what I mean when you see them.
More wonderful inspiration from Japan, this time from Patchwork Quilt Tsushin (#122 October, 2004) again on loan from the amazing library of Kelly (thank you!!) Look at all the teeny tiny pieces in this quilt! It makes my head hurt. I love the asymmetry of the border and the photo in the upper felt uses plaids in a really interesting way (look closer-click on the photo)
Oh happy, happy pin cushions. Gosh, I can't get enough of these. Almost as cute as Hillary's (but not quite.)
These muted/somber colors are not really me, but I really dig this graphic big/small wheel thing here and the whacky plaids cut in any ol' way with fun mixed patchwork blocks around the border.
I love this. Look what you can make from a turtleneck sweater, a big buttoned jacket and a shirt? A pair of slippers and a tote to put them in! I love this for 2 reasons, the rainbow stripes on the sweater and the slipper design on the tote, in case you forget what you put in there. Your slippers. I love accessories that have their own accessories.
Again, not my colors, but again, really amazing use of plaid fabrics.
Now this is a sewing kit. There are so many details in this little kit. It makes me want to make another one. I especially like the green scissors holder with the 2 flowers.
This I love for the way ugly colors of the bag and matching accessories in the top left photo. Wow. It's unusual to see these colors together post 1975, yet here they are, and lookin' great. And after seeing these other bags, all handbags I make from now on (I have made none, well, maybe one, about 4 years ago) will have hanging tags/smaller bags that match the big bag. Like a marsupial thing.
I'm not 100% sure what this page is about, but nice patchwork bag ideas. I like the "sketches" with actual fabric. Okay, enough photos. Please check out the quilts floating around over at Amanda's (she has 2 up right now!) and Lisa's (scroll down, all handmade!), very nice!
It went from 62 to the low 90's in 48 hours here in portland. Whenever it gets really hot I think BBQ. And then I think s'mores. Which is funny because I usually just make them in the kitchen over our gas oven, but I like to try to be authentic every once in awhile.
So-I was thinking about s'mores tonight and how to improve upon them, if that is even possible. The Hershey's chocolate is so crappy, but so good with the marshmallow. However, I could deviate and try a better chocolate. And then what about the whole "homemade marshmallow" thing? Okay, I really thought making marshmallows from scratch was silly. Or at least not for me. It's like making crackers. I cook a lot, but you will never find me making my own crackers. I draw the line there. But now I wonder, homemade marshmallows? Has any one tried this? Is it hard? Is it worth it? And, most importantly, how do they toast? I'm a "light the whole dang marshmallow on fire" type of s'mores eater. The thing has to be black and look like ash, no slow toasting for me.
editorial comment: I can't over-emphasize the amount of black molten destruction she looks for in a "toasted" marshmallow.-pete
anyhoo-this all reminded me of a recipe grammie and I made for Christmas and it was so good, easy and trashy, yummy, yum-yum. I don't really eat junk food at all (really! well, I realize I just wrote about s'mores and red velvet cake and now rolos in the span of 3 days, suspicious, no?) but this trashy recipe is good. Not bad good, but good-good. The salt on the pretzel mixed with the rolos is super tasty and the salt cuts some of the rolo sweetness. There's nothing better than salt and chocolate. Except maybe s'mores.
rolo turtles
Heat oven to 250, unwrap rolos and place onto mini pretzels (circles or some sort of round-ish shape) cook about 4 min. until melty, and then take out and press 1 half of a pecan on top and squish it down. Let cool and eat like crazy. These are also really good chilled, like from the fridge. Fun for kids too, you can let them do the squishing after you take them off the hot cookie sheet.
Okay-well, I have to show some more birthday goods-we have beautiful the Wier Ware creamer, sugar, and butter dish from grammie and a 1st edition of the Mary Frances Sewing Book! Sweet Jesus, be still my beating heart. I almost couldn't look at it. All the patterns are still in it! ohhhh! I put it away immediately because Sadie thought it was way too interesting. I am still in shock she bought it. 1st edition! wow. wow. What a special gift. I will cherish it Mom, thank you.
And to the left is a lovely vintage quilt book from Amanda, (thank you!!) which grammie immediately jumped on and won't put down. And here I am modeling an apron from Stephanie, who gave it to me when she came over this morning for a special visit. (yes, I got to meet a weblog friend and it was so fun!!) And yes, she is sweet, funny, down to earth, and I am so lucky to have her in Portland. You know how when you meet someone and you just click. Well we did. And I feel like I have know her a long time. And Sadie, somehow, was a amazing self sufficient 2 1/2 year old the entire time Stephine was here. I'm not sure who had the real Sadie, and replaced her with the quiet clone, but no worries, the real one reappeared shorty after lunchtime.
And my dear and thoughtful friend Leslie sent me these goodies, so well wrapped, from The Small Object. Leslie knows of my obsession with Sarah's creations, and she picked out the collector cards and the wonderful "i got your back" snail pouch. wow. And then Sarah, slipped in these AMAZING friends that she knew I was in love with.
Yes, I have them and they are dang cool. Big smile on my face right now. Thank you wonderful friends and family.
*thanks to all you webby friends for the sweet b-day wishes!*
pete made this red velvet cake, all by himself, from scratch. wow! and yum-yum-yummy! I love red velvet cake, because it makes no sense. It's red, but isn't flavored "red" at all, it's just like a white cake, only dyed red.. No one eats it here in the NW at all. Most people don't even know what it is. We had friends from the south who thought we were insane when we made a big deal about it, because everyone eats it down there-or at lest knows of it.
here's the inside of the cake! It's about the 7th time we have made it for my b-day and I think this color is the best. Here's the beautiful necklace (wood and resin-by cristina aucone) pete got me from motel-
along with these other goodies. The robot card was form the girls, and pete drew the bike card. I get an old bike!!! I can't wait to pick one out. the lovely pins from I'm smitten, and the flower, is from super maggie. Oh happy-happy. More soon, 'cause celebration lasts until Sunday (that's when I'm having my generous family come and help in the garden-god bless'em! there are a ton of weeds! but they get lunch and cake-so it's not all bad.)
Hooray! today is my birthday! This lovely card came from tania, she too is a May b-day girl, so we swapped cards (lucky, lucky me!). It is also Bob Dylan's b-day today as well as Queen Victoria. There you go. More photos to come of loot and fanfare, must go eat cake for breakfast now. *update-it is not rainng today! blue skies so far, oh joy!*
No, not technically a quilt. But, it is patchwork. I had an itch to try a patchwork apron after posting all the aprons last week, and this pink number is what I busted out. I normally don't use these colors, but fell in love with this little pink flower print that I found thrifting on Friday-it's the pocket fabric and
I used it on the back of the apron. I added an extra patchwork square for a pocket on this side too-so it is reversible! This side is for getting down to business, the patchwork side is for company. Because I do so much entertaining nowadays. . ha-ha.
Here's both sides being modeled by Delia and I. Notice how nicely the jammie pants match. Boy. Well, you know, it was first thing in the morning. And isn't this the perfect birthday apron? Especially since Pete will be making me red velvet cake. yum.
so, next Tuesday is my birthday. may 24th. and I am a b-day freak. I always try to make a huge deal of mine, and I always have a lot of fun. And, good things always happen around my birthday, like Stephanie mentioning this new fabric thrift shop, about 3 minutes from my house-where these lovely fabrics came from.
and these wonderful little buttons. The prices at this place are garage sale prices-I couldn't believe it.
amazing patterns, which are a real weakness for me right now, even more than fabric. left to right, starting at the top row: we have a transfer, mushroom needlework kit, crocheted hat and mittens patterns, more needlework on a swanky shirt, more embroidery transfers, decals for crafts projects, and a great flower needle work kit.
a special little bird dish, that I couldn't resist
and "oh my god, I'm freakin' out" crocheted bird patterns! okay-really I just about lost it when I found these. I need to learn how to crochet NOW. These are all worked in what appears to be single crochet, in a circle, not hard right? Imagine the cool color combos, wool types (fuzzy yellow mohair! pink and red alpaca! add some crazy stripes,we are ready to go!) ohhhh.
**update** April 2007-
I have been getting requests to swap/copy/trade these patterns with people, and unfortunately this post is 2 years old and I no longer have these patterns-sorry!
the aprons sent me for a loop and now I need to focus. amanda sent me the sweetest swap package last week with all the goodies you see here, plus a lovely little knitted chicken that miss delia loves and eats all day. she sent me vintage cards and patterns, cd's, plant dyed felt (love!) and copies from a toy making book that she knew I always wanted, somehow. oh, and the I'm smitten card (how could you part with it?) and the glass magnets-thank you!
and now the rest of the postcards I received from the swap! which was great fun. .
so-here are the lovely cards starting top row left to right: karen, brenda, kerry, lynda, miss fae and christy. and karen did not have me on her list, but I begged her for her card anyway-and then I didn't even send one back to her! how lame and rude of me! (karen, I only made 10, but I make it up to you!) here is mine-and thanks again myra!
Every year the Oregonian lets 5-12 graders design the local ads for a day and I always freak out when I see these ads. They are so great and I love knowing that the advertisers actually paid for them. My favorite on is above, for so many reasons-but the clincher for me is the pyramid.
I wish my Safeway store looked like this! look at the little pears!
hmmm-yummy breakfast. I'm not totally sure what the object on the right is. .steak? I think it's a steak and fries. With pancakes and a sandwich. Well, why not?
I did a bunch of framing of animal prints last weekend. This one is for grammie, for mother's day, a bit late, I know. I don't want to see that dog go! Also-6 are going to Emoda gallery in Louisville, KY-so if anyone is near there, go check them out! Emoda is a beautiful shop/gallery, I wish it were here in Portland.
Oh-how I love aprons. so here is more about aprons-this one shown above is from Country Living magazine and a free pattern on how to crochet it is here. I'd love to try this-until now my crocheting experience has been making a square that sort of resembles a coaster-or just a pitiful wad of yarn. The magazine blurb also mentioned this wonderful exhibition of aprons (and so did stephanie, hillary, and kim, thank you-that's what reminded me of all this) and the article suggested buying super cheap vintage aprons on ebay-so for all you junkers and thrifters, please snatch them up before the ebay sellers do!
here are some photos from great books I have right now from the library regarding apron history and all things apron-y:
children's apron turning into a bonnet! from Gingham Aprons of the '40's and '50's, by Judy Florence-a book solely about gingham aprons and the handwork that goes into the embellishment of them.
from Aprons-Icons of the American Home, by Joyce Cheney-great general book with glossary (lots of terms to know!-who knew?) I love the chicken (obviously) and the blue birds! Thanks amanda for posting about this book.
Holy cow! the scenic apron, the childern's one-piece with the kitties and dogs-and vintage pattern galore! My favorite of the 3 books: Aprons of the mid-20th century, by Judy Florence-wonderful general book, tons of photos, (more than the others) and a really great section on the vintage sewing patterns of aprons. I am going to buy this one for sure.
so, I'd love to do "a month of aprons", like a month of softies-think of all the themes. I would do a clear plastic one for sure-for you know, the 60's theme (or naked theme!) but gosh dang it, I can't do another thing right now or I will implode!
I'm in the middle of a commission for a wall quilt textile art piece (see above-what to call these things? I'm not sure, "fabric painting" seems silly and "quilt" isn't right-just textile art? must figure this out) So, for now here are some links to some tools, fiber artists, and textile/quilt sites. I promise a fat-quarter dyeing tutorial soon.
my favorite mini iron that I use to applique tiny pieces of fabric
my favorite tool to make bias binding
my pen for drawing the quilting designs-it washes off with water
I haven't tried these cotton sheets that you send through the printer-but I really want to
new needlework art (to me) from megan withmash at motel
donna wilson fiber artist (love the cannibdol-this site makes me nutty!)
layers of meaning-fiber art webkog resource site, has an amazing amount of info and links
the quilt index, which is a online catalog of quilts (vintage in various museum collections (thanks thimble)
okay must sew now and finish framing prints-
Regretably (sic), our Sunday paper took an erratic bounce, knocking over your tall plant pot and cracking it. This is very rare for me, but I will make it right, personally, as you specify.The number below forwards to our local cell mobile response team until 10:30am daily and we (can't read the word here) and messages after that. My home number is (503) 650-xxxx. I do care about your service a lot. Sorry. Your carrier, Brian.
Here's the damage. How proud we are of the completely dead plant in the pot, along with the wadded up teabag that has been there for at least a month. Yay us!
I've been itching to use this kaffe fabric for so long and finally got a chance to bust this out yesterday-but the sun won't cooperate! so this dress is being modeled indoors by miss sadie, as miss delia looks on. .
these dresses will be available on king pod-in which ever fabrics I have around. I thought I'd get away with just smocks this summer-but everyone wants dresses! well, so does sadie, so there you go.
So, after my last post about this series of books, I got a few out of the library. The Mary Frances Cookbook just came in and oh my god-
I can't quite believe how wonderful these illustrations are. All the cookware has this naughty, sweet attitude-I am kind of bugging-out here. This book, like the others, were written to teach little girls about cooking and preparing meals, and cleverly, the lessons are wonderfully told in a story with talking cookware (how can you resist?)-their smiles are almost menacing, like they know something you don't. . .sauce pan and auntie rolling pin are my favorites.
Lovely mouse-and a great lesson on folding napkins. And there are recipes like "Thimble Biscuits" for your dollys, naturally, where you actually cut out little biscuits with a thimble. so cute I am in pain. And "A Man's Lunch" which is Boiled Mutton. Well, of course.
Too good. I will post another one soon, I have checked out 3. So far, this is my favorite, for the illustrations alone. Warning-before you run out and buy these for you and possiblely your small ones, in the hopes that they to will love to learn the domestic arts (ha!)- these are period books, and have some political incorrectness that pops up in unexpected places, not exactly "free to be you and me" but, oh my, I love them. And the library.
Pete was so excited this morning. This is why-these are self-replicating robots!(via NPR) Please go and watch the movie of how they replicate-it's so funny and somehow, cute, in a mezmerizing way. They sort of have this creepy david cronenberg/matthew barney thing going on, which is so cool but kind of icky. They remind me of the creepy gaming pods in the movie eXistenZ. So,they are supposed to go to planets and clone themselves-but I'd rather have them here and hanging out in the yard.
my illustration friday-mischief.
I always forget about Target's Red Hot Shop-aren't these lovely?
I love this toy cart you build and paint yourself-(but it's not super cheap, especially for the labor)-and these napkins are super cool
But I am most happy about these items-oh, yes, I have a decent amount of sci-fi/fantasy geek in me and that lightsaber makes 8 different noises!
all these great photos come from an issue of Quilts Japan, (2002, #5-not sure how you would get back issues-but here's where to buy current ones), a magazine that Kelly let me borrow from her amazing collection of Japanese craft books and magazines. I believe this magazine comes out 6 times a year. It's pretty thick and has patterns, although I think it would be easier for me to make my own patterns for most of these projects-just so I don't have to keep referring to something not in English-also-if I make it up as I go, it can never be wrong!
love this skirt and top-but I think making the semi-circles on the skirt would cause lots of swearing.
tons of color- I really like the apron with the stripes turned to an angle
click for bigger view of these-look at the goodies on the little bulletin board
I really love these colors together a "so ugly it's awesome" color combo.. I think it's time for me to make some tea cozies-I seem to be showing them all the time.
hanging quilts
I really like the little apple tree. Velcro fun-time for the babies.
Our rhododendron at it's best. happy mother's day.
I was able to do some non-quilt type sewing. I got a bit to excited by the sun, and was inspired by this from Tania, so I made this skirt (same fabric as this) but now it's rainy and cold. This is fun a $3 vintage sheet-great deal. I'm going to make a dress for Sadie out of the rest, and there's even more left-but can I say, once again, how I hate sewing with blends? I really do. Thank god I have a serger and did a rolled hem (in hot pink) so I wouldn't have to deal with trying to press that edge.
and I can't believe I had to bring the high chair up again for Delia. It's seems like she was just born-and now she is eating! I made this cushion (a total rip-off of Erin's cute one for Lilly's chair) and the non-detail- long distance-shot is to spare everyone from seeing just how really dirty this highchair is and to show one of my paintings, "friendly squid". Love the wooden highchairs, but if you leave anything on there-it's like cement-I have to scrape it with a pallet knife.
Lisa De John has a show in Portland at the New American Art Union (see all her other pieces from gallery link) and the opening is Friday, May 6th, from 7-10pm and as you can see, her work is rad. So, all you Portland people should come check it out. She's a sweet gal, great artist, and has the coolest last name in the world. Also she works with animal images-which can't seen to get enough of.
Creative and wonderful knitter, Jess, sent me goodies from England! (she is kool-aid yarn dying right now! you have to see.) I have a thing for royal items, and this tin is sooo good. I love it. My royal collection is quite small, when it grows a bit I will post about it.-oh she sent buttons, and a lovely vintage postcard and a little needle project for a preserve cover-I need to get on the ball to get it done by berry season.
goodies from Hannah came, we did a little swap, and oh boy! okay-the robot card? so good! And the SWANK 70's hair-helmet cards are going straight on the fridge. The candy she included is now in my belly, so I won't show that, lovely fat quarter under all the goodies, and handmade cards in beautiful paper-and ribbon ALWAYS needed. And needlework transfer designs, thank you!
5 of the 10 postcards arrived and I am so happy! amazing creative peeps out there! This sexy number is from Heather-
this sweetie-pie is from Benita (I can't seem to find the right weblog for her)
Joelene stitched around all her post cards and added felt hearts!
lovely printed artwork from Robin
and Cat made a color print of her wonderful college-
oh happy-happy mail! I will post the last 5, and the one I sent, when they come in. Thank you fellow swapies! I love them! And thanks Myra for the great idea!
I just got this book "Handmade Felt Book" (ISBN4-277-43024-4 (thanks to a post from Kelly mentioning Therese wanting to sell it) and I am quite pleased with what was inside-
I am WAY into felting, both needle and wet, well, as much I can be without ever having tried it. how sad. I have a wad of roving looking at me, I poke it sometimes as I walk by, but that's it. Would these creations take forever to felt? Time, especially-standing-in one-place-type of time, is limited right now. Maybe I should revisit this in the fall. Anyhoo, it's a good book and the visual instructions are quite good (again, coming from someone who does not know how to felt)
king pod has been updated! New items have been added like art prints, baby clothes for summer, and of course, more small quilts. I also have added a place for commissioned quilt work and my large quilts-so now there will be one place for all my textile work. Oh, organization is so pleasing!
