Free Pillow

Another use for the free fabrics, a pillow. Because, apparently I just don't have enough decorative pillows yet. Hey, I have to keep my pillow-fighters well supplied, right?

These two pre-quilted, very soft cotton rectangular pieces were just calling out to be combined somehow. In my ribbon box, I found some blue and yellow ribbon to complement them.

First I went around the edge of each piece with yellow or blue thread, zig-zagging to keep the batting in a bit better. Then I used a decorative stitch to anchor down the ribbon an even distance from the fabric edge. Some buttons were used to hide where I had to piece together the yellow ribbon. It was the perfect size and color, so that was my solution to not having to run out and buy yellow ribbon.

Did the same process on the blue side. No buttons required as the ribbon was long enough. I figured this could be the lay your head down side, with no buttons to bug you.

To assemble the pillow I then sewed the two pieces together around the outside edge of the ribbons, left a little space, stuffed with leftover batting edges (never throw anything out, right?!). Sewed up the gap, and voila a cozy pillow. I'm using it as a reading pillow, very cushy and nice, plus the texture of the cotton is very soothing somehow.

This exercise makes me realize how lucky I am, because it is really nice to have all this stuff on hand and not have to go out and buy things to make something I'll really enjoy using in my home.

Anticipating Coraline

I'm really anticipating going to see Coraline this weekend.

So is Alex.

And Zach too.

If you haven't made your own button portrait yet, go check out the Coraline website.

Here are two youtube videos about the movie which is directed by Henry Selick who also was involved in The Nightmare Before Christmas (another fave around here).

First part of the "First Look" on HBO (be sure and watch for author Neil Gaiman's fabulous dog, Cabal romping in the snow):



and secondly a truly creepy, Hitchcockian promo made by Neil Gaiman in his house, if you're even the least bit scared of buttons, do not watch it!:

An interesting collage and catalog of different types of buttons, which play a pivotal role in the story.

Manipulating Fabric

One of the coolest things I've seen in a while, was friend Debbie's presentation at our recent CQFA retreat. She showed off some of the fabrics she created in a two week summer class called "FrankenFabrics" at Cabrillo College with instructor Richard Elliot. All of these are polyesters of different types which are secured around something like marbles, blocks, rocks and then boiled. The shapes created are then set into the fabric permanently until you boil it again.

Well, I just had to try this out for myself. I found a nice, yet teeny-tiny silk skirt with a polyester crepe lining at the local Goodwill, and took it apart. This is a picture of The Boiling Of The Fabric! Marbles were secured at regular intervals with small rubber bands. Boiled for about 20 minutes.

Then it was hung up to dry for about a day. After removing all the rubber bands and marbles this is how it looks:

This is what the whole piece looks like when it is hung up. Pretty interesting texture was achieved.

And this is the remains of the silk skirt which was deconstructed that I'll now incorporate into a piece with the manipulated skirt lining.

Some close ups of the interesting surface created by this technique.

I'm looking forward working with this flexible and strange fabric, making an attempt to corral it into a more 2-D shape. It will be challenging I'm sure. One thought I've had is instead of stitching in and around the shapes by machine I'll tack it down by hand by stitching on beads in and around the "grape shapes".

Surrendering to Creative Cycles

Oooh, I love this chapter title of the 4th chapter in 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women, which I'm reading with many other book bloggers at The Next Chapter.


This subject really resonated deeply with me, as I've definitely got a very distinctive creative cycle, which is challenging and frustrating when I forget about it. Which unfortunately I ineveitably do. So it is good to read about what the function of this up and down and around and around cycle might actually be in my life. There have to be some beneficial things to be gained out of the low points in the cycle right?

Sometimes when I'm down in the cycle, where it is dark and murky I wonder where the goodness and light is, I get impatient with how long it is taking to return to the easier part of the cyle.
But reading this chapter helped me to realize that this part of the cycle is absolutely essential to a creative person.
void=fallow=allowed to rest=neutral zone=a vauum
Natural Order of Dormancy and Blossoming

"The void beckons like a doorway to transformation and new beginnings." - Gail McMeekin

I know that I struggle against this idea and don't easily accept it as a natural course of events, but that knowing is going to be helpful the next time I'm really stuck down in it.

The Norse Rune, Harvest is described by Ralph Blum in The Book of Runes as: "Be mindful that patience is essential for the recognition of your own process which, in its season, leads to the harvest of the self."
Usually I think of harvesting as something outside of myself, but this really struck a chord for me, that all this work of self-examination is going to end up with the end result of a harvest of a new self. At least I hope so!
Trusting that it will come to pass eventually is the unwavering faith I must continue to put in my own creative re-emergence, even when it seems that there is nothing actually changing.

Tumbling On

Friend Jaye gave me a great gift, she cut a tumbler out for me for my tumbler charm quilt from all the fabrics she bought last year. And, oh you must go see her Fabric of The Year Quilt project, it is amazing!

What a great big bunch all those tumblers made. Very polka-dotty and fun. I sewed them all together and made three more strips for the king-size quilt this is intended to be.

One of them ended up quite long, down onto the floor, but it is the exact right size for the bed. Looking in my project box, I realized I had a lot of strips now, I wondered how many and how they'd look together. I put them all up on the wall and saw that many of them were quite short compared to the one long and correct strip, that goes onto the floor in the picture above.

And there was already a big stack of tumblers that I had cut out over the last year as I went through all my various projects. So I sewed those together and counted and matched up and now all of the strips are the same length and I'm much much closer to have a king-size bed sized quilt top. Hours and hours later...

Although they are still in strips and not sewn together...
I'd say this is maybe 2/3 of enough to make the whole quilt, there are 18 and 1/4 strips done. So I still have a whole lot of cutting and sewing to do for this project. One of those long-term projects that it is fun to pull out and revisit on occasion.

Some Scraps Corralled

So I've been lamenting my overload of scraps lately right?
Well, at last weekend's wonderful CQFA retreat, I managed to make a substantial dent in one of my scrap boxes by sewing random strips to a foundation. (The foundation was free fabric of course, the most atrocious seaside vacation print, no I'm not showing it to you, my retinas are still recovering).

The intention for these is to make many more of these quilt chunks of different sizes and then wide border them all in a deep red for a bed quilt. Or maybe black, we'll see.

I've been inspired by reading about scrap management at Quiltville. Not sure I'm into going quite that far to get the scraps organized, but it is making me think about how to make this valuable resource easier for me to actually use .

First Quilt Finished of 2009

Last year I made my niece a big ol' bed quilt, which was backed with flannel in various colors. Those very colorful flannel scraps were lurking on top of the giant pile on my worktable that was stopping me from starting in on anything new.

I swear they were mocking me and teasing me.

So I sewed them all together and made a quilt out of them.

Hah! So there!
The plaid flannel is from something else, but was also in the same scrap heap. I thought it made a good contrast to the solid-ish colors. The quilt ended up 30x38".

I like how it turned out. Maybe she can drag this one around the house and have the big one on her bed now?

I free-motion quilted it using these new gizmos, Quilt Sew Easy Discs. They work pretty well. Not that much better than my old rubber dotted knit gardening gloves, but somewhat easier than taking gloves on and off to fool with the thread. I'll be trying them again.

Atomic Pillowz Program Expanded

More pillows needed to be converted into Atomic Pillowz. Alarming Orange was called for, so into the 70's bin I dove:

No, I chickened out and didn't use this. I just didn't think I could bear to look at it every day in my studio. But what is it for? Why do I still have it? Should I use the "quilting" stitches as a guide and actually do what the fabric says to??? Don't you hate such bossy fabric?!

A bandana-ish print in a very strange orange brown, do not adjust your monitor, it really is that color! And yes, I used it in a pillow, along with some intense gold cordoroy.

No no no. I did not use this knit! Isn't it fabulous though? Soon to be part of a doll, I think the legs would be best.

After all this auditioning of fabrics, several more pillows have been covered in combinations of new and old fabrics. All in the atomic pillowz series, they make for a fluffy spot to sit and bead on my quilts by the window.

Two of them are using fabrics that didn't make it into the final design for Lunaea's curtain so she gave them to me. Thanks Lunaea! This one above has the handprinted sad eyes fabric that I printed a while ago in the center, surrounded by the freebie strips of fabric Lunaea got from the nice lady at Judy's Sewing.

Thanks Lulu!

New glasses! Yes, they are red instead of purple. Made by Lulu Guiness just like the purple ones, but instead of swirls and rhinestones on the temple, there are dotted asterisks with silver bumps. I love them so much and am re-thinking what colors I should wear to go better with them.
It is quite interesting to see who notices, who comments, and who doesn't notice and/or doesn't say anything about them.
I'm not naming names, as I've gotten over taking it personally, but still, it is surprising.
Glasses are like a screen, a mask that one is always wearing (when you're as vision impaired as I am). I feel naked comparatively when I wear contacts. So when the mask changes so substantially, it seems like it would be a noticeable thing.

Following Your Fascinations

I'm a little late in posting this, my thoughts about the third chapter of the 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women, to read more, be sure to go over to The Next Chapter.

This third secret: "Following your fascinations" is very challenging one for me. "Fascinations have great power to keep us devoted and engaged". The chapter is all about how we need to figure out what we are passionate about, listen to our intuitive voice, and to silence our doubts long enough to be able to take risks.

When I first read that that about taking risks, I thought uh,oh, I'm not going to like this chapter very much. I find it hard to take risks, and have to really push myself to get out of my own way a lot of the time. But she points out the difference between spontaneous, impulsive risk-taking and calculated risks. A creative person needs to take both types, not just the leaping into the unknown with no plan type. Okay, good, I can deal with that. A little self discipline here is what is needed, coralling oneself from the distractions of all the shiny,fun things on the sidelines and having a plan to making a new leap.

"And the truth is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more." - Erica Jong

I think there is a lot that I'm holding back on trying, attempting, or beginning. And after reading this one chapter I'm realizing that I just need to break through that mini-wall of fear about failure, make a plan for following through and give it a go. Having a talent for worst-case-scenario thinking may be a plus here, I can imagine the worst and plan backwards from there...

What is it that you need to do, to take a risk? Once you've followed your fascination through all the safe waters and need to push your boat out into the bigger river?

Creature of the Studio

Look at this, I finally caught my studio cat in action and got a good picture of her. Pele is blind in one eye and we think, slightly brain damaged. Her brother knocked the scratching post over on her when she was a kitten and she almost didn't survive the injury.
She's a real sweetie, but only is seen after everyone else has gone to sleep. Most of the time she lives under the couch in the studio, but she loves to sleep curled up on my messy cutting table. So I have to remember to put the tablecloth over it when I leave the room, otherwise everything gets coated in her fur. bleah.
I feel like she is my cat since she inhabits the room where I spend my creative time.

Free Fabric Haul

Free Fabric Giveway!

I heard the siren call and couldn't resist any longer.

So the stars aligned and I finally attended the semi regular giveaway put on by a couple that really likes to recycle. They travel to San Francisco to get the display samples from interior design companies, spread it out on tables in their house, and then give it away to people who want it. Otherwise it would all get thrown away! Brilliant, eh?

(edited to add the web site for FabMo, check it out if you're in the SF Bay Area)

Can you imagine? All this beautiful silk? In the landfill?

Or all this linen, which I am going to try dyeing and painting and stamping.

A silk curtain, hemmed and everything, perfect size for a spot in my house.

One of the things I wanted to work on this year was trying sheers in some of my work. Here is some.

And then some more.

All silk blends, and all very useable!

Very pleased with what I was able to find, and I've already begun using some of it. Sure it is a bit of a hassle to take tags, and gluey stickers off, but hey, it is free, and it is staying out of the landfill...

Wrong Season, Right Chair

Newsflash: I finished something!
Yes, the old deck chairs that I was supposed to re-stain and make new slings for this last summer are done. For some reason I chose the middle of winter to do this.
Probably because of the week of 70F + temperatures we had.

Now they are stored inside the garage staying dry as the rain pours down. But they're done!
It was a good week to choose. I got to sit outside and enjoy them! Now I'm realizing that I really need to make little neck pillow for them. I have some coordinating orange/yellow print outdoor canvas that I think I'll use. Maybe they'll even be done by ....
next winter.

Close, Closer, Closest

Walking around while waiting for new front tires, I finally got to take some pictures of a vintage motel sign I've always admired.
One of those things you see and say to yourself , "oh, I really should get a picture of it before they take it down and put up a Motel 6 sign". But you never do, because it isn't in a destination area, it is in that in-between destinations zone that one just doesn't ever have a reason to stop in. But when you are walking then there is time and opportunity and if you have your camera, all the better.

I took these pictures in sequence as I walked towards the sign. I think it is useful and interesting to look at them all together in a group, it helps me examine my use of framing and editing in my other art pursuits.

There is so much vertical emphasis with those big trees right next to it. They seem out of proportion to the sign.

Switching to a vertical format makes it seem more intentional to have all that verticality in the image.

From this view, it looks like the sign in hung on the tree right behind it.

My favorite view of the sign. I'd love to have that font to use on my computer. I bet there already is a "Vintage Motel Font".

For more great vintage motel signs (but not vintage Hotel signs! Oh no, not allowed) check out this flickr group.

Two More To Do

Here are two new patterns I've bought recently, they're both from Indygo Junction.
Now normally, I wouldn't buy something from a company that intentionally (at least I hope so!) mispells one of the words in their company name. That kind of thing just irks me, not sure why, but it does. Don't get me started on Disney's Winnie the Pooh. arrrggghhh, not helpful when you're trying to teach your kid's to learn to read and spell!
But the designs were eye-catching to me to get past the company name, as well as the interesting fabric choices in the models made up on the front.


I am admitting to myself (and you), that I know that I suffer from an addiction for buying clothing patterns that I don't always get around to actually making. I have several projects that have been cut out, (which is where most of my missing pins are, the pins are still holding the pattern paper to the fabric pieces!), and I have a few in-process projects in various stages of sewn-together-ness that have been in-process for so long, they are probably honestly never going to make it into my clothing closet.
But this particular pattern caught my eye. Probably because I made a skirt out of the fabric on the lower left part of the left-hand dress. But I'm looking for new ideas on what to wear during the day. Knit pants and tops or knit shorts and tops is just getting too boring. I did find that I liked wearing the skirts I made myself last year, so maybe a dress or two in spring-y fabrics would be a good bet for breaking out of my apparel rut.


Just look at the detail of the hem on the left. That was what made me buy this pattern. Oh, that and the cool fabric choices shown. And probably the assymetrical closure. That and I need new pj's and haven't much in the stores to my liking. Now to go shopping in my fabric stash for likely candidates to make these up. Maybe even in my box of Asian fabrics... I'll let you know if I actually start/and/or finish them.

A Beautiful Beginning

photo from Reuters.

I'm so proud of my country today, just beaming with pride, and filled with joy that we've finally passed one of the lines we needed to cross. Sometimes it is forgotten how young our country really is, compared to so many others, but now I am wondering: Are we finally growing up past our troubled teenaged years? Seems like it maybe...




The most stirring part of the brilliant inaguration speech to me was this part:


"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more. "



With fingers crossed that it comes to pass.

And on a girly, fashion-conscious level: do we have a stylin' first lady or what? Her outfit is just beautiful, so appropriate and fresh, (I'm coveting those green gloves!), apparently the designer Isabel Toledo didn't know that Michelle Obama would be wearing her design. That would make your day wouldn't it?!

And on a personal, admittedly petty level, I'm so relieved and glad to finally get to remove the Bush countdown clock from my sidebar.

Nevermore Redux

Since it is Edgar Allan Poe's birthday today, he would have been 200 today, don't miss seeing this "special" raven cake over on CakeWrecks.

And oh, here are the other postcards I've made so far for the Raven Postcards Challenge.

This one has machine embroidered leaves and other machine embroidery on top of cotton scraps and upholstery fabric.

This excellent logo from a bookstore snagged online, printed out on cotton, surrounded by cotton scraps including some of my older discharged works. I'm finding I like this one diamond stitch on my machine. It is repeated three times, so the stitching is substantial and stands out.