November
2003
Sunday,
November 30, 2003
Thanksgiving Working Holiday
Chronic story, it's vacation or the weekend. Instead of sitting
on my ass and relaxing like sane, normal folks, I'm sitting
on my ass sewing and making stuff like mad. So, while I had
a lovely and relaxing Thanksgiving day, I worked about 16 hours
on Friday, 18 on Saturday and 6 or so today. I think someone
needs to shoot me in the neck with a tranquilizer from the neighboring
rooftop. While I was happy to have those four days to work uninterrupted,
I feel like I need a break now.
So, here's what I made:
1. Indigo Blue Silk Scarf. I dyed this raw
silk years ago, for another project. At that time I also dyed
an equal chunk of silk gray and that's my big warm winter scarf.
The raw silk is variegated and dyed beautifully. If folks email
and say they seriously want these scarves, I'll buy more raw
silk and get out the dye. This is 9.5" by 82" and $120. It's
soft and drapes wonderfully and it very warm. There's one of
these until throngs of people email me demanding more.
2, 5, 7. These are skinnier scarves made from
cotton dyed awhile back where I had a batiking day with a few
friends and realized that batik was a pain in my ass, not something
I had a knack for. The first color combo was 7. Once I pieced
the strips together, I sewed up the side, pressed it flat and
slid a strip of batting inside. I just started quilting in this
dentile pattern first down one way and up the other. And when
I finished I did a little dance, because it turned out to be
such a lovely object. I think of 7 as "sherbet", 5 was next
and I think of that as "dandelion" or caterpillar and 2 was
the third color set and it's "dusk." 7 is made of 5 pieces of
fabric and longer, 5 and 7 are made of 3 pieces each and therefore
shorter. I call the shorter ones "scarf-lets" or are good kids
scarves. There are two of each color. And the colors are slightly
more muted than the flash makes them look here.
3. I picked up about a yard of this black and
silver knit remnant, because I saw it and thought, "rock star
armwarmers." Personally, I like to call them sleevies after
my all-time favorite joke:
Q: Where does Napoleon keep his armies?
A: In his SLEEVIES!
I always get excited about the punchline and end up shouting
SLEEVIES!
So, now I have a pair of sleevies, plus 3 more pair for other
wannabe rock stars. They are darn warm and cozy. And I feel
like a Muppet werewolf wearing 'em.
4. Here's a big ol' scarf made out of a pair
on uncut corduroy pants (thanks again, Jim!) and a cropped wide
wale spring green jacket, I never wore b/c it was just a little
too cropped for my tastes.
6. Here's a lone flannel scarf-let of hand
dyed cotton flannel. Yep, I tend to binge on dying fabric. That
was my favorite part of working in the costume shop in college,
getting my hands on the dye cabinet. In theater design class,
I could dyed my costume design swatches to whatever color I
wanted. Thanks to my friend Amihan, I am now a devotee of Dharma
Trading and their Procion dyes.
So, this binge sewing was to create some more new stuff for
the DEPART-ment
show. So, I'm not going to post these to the Shop,
hoping they sell this weekend. If you simply must have something
above, email
me for details and prices. Hope to see you Chicago
reader there!
posted
on 11/30/2003 08:12:06 AM
Saturday,
November 29, 2003
Quiltariffic!
Here is my first completed quilt! WOO HOO! I done pieced it
and machine quilted it myself. It is the Housewarning/Christmas/Birthday/Christmas
present for my best friend Jim. That's how long it took to make.
Really it didn't take very long, just a big breather between
the basketweave center and the borders.
The genesis of this quilt is that Jim and I bought the same
pair of green thin wale corduroy pants from Old Navy, he the
men's version, I the women's. Both our pants crapped out at
the same time, along with a pair of black cotton pants I had.
Those three pairs became the basketweave. When I saw the center,
I thought, "this is for Jim." Jim's got a corduroy kind of personality.
My efforts were stalled until I got more pants, since the point
was to repurpose pants instead of buying new fabric. Two different
women donated two pairs each and the remain 6 pair were bought
cheap in Minnesota at Unique Thrift Store in St. Anthony (?).
Cutting the remaining pieces sucked. Maybe a larger rotary cutter
may have helped, bigger than my 45mm puppy. Sewing was fine
- just lots and lots and lots of fuzz everywhere.
To quilt the top, I bought low-loft cotton fusible batting and
dark navy flannel backing. Quilting wasn't too bad, got through
my tough little Brother sewing machine pretty well. Kept the
quilting really simple by making it a squared spiral.
The binding? Well, I considered making my own navy flannel bias
tape. Didn't have enough flannel left, and was quite frankly,
ready to finish the quilt. I bought navy cotton quilt binding.
Pinned it, sewed it. It's slightly lighter than the backing.
And if you scrutinized it, it's the weakest sewing. But I think
Jim will spend his time warming up under the 66"x66" lap quilt
rather than inspecting it. And soon it will be inaugurated with
Jackson and Rufus's cat hair.
I threw it in the wash and the dryer and it looks just so durn
soft and comfy! And it's kind of snazzy to think that pieces
of this quilt where who knows where on the lower halves of many
folks who saw who knows what!
posted
on 11/29/2003 11:42:38 PM
Monday,
November 24, 2003
Four More Designs
Not collages, but four computer drawn design (in Illustrator)
I did in 2001. Since I was in the CafePress zone, I thought
I should add these designs, since I got 'em.
And once I got all ten designs made into greeting cards and
postcards on CafePress, I thought, "Wait! IN-VI-TA-TIONS!" So,
onto making invitation versions of 'em...
Update: These four designs are available in
my
CafePress store as greeting cards (sets of 6), postcards
(sets of 8), and invitations (sets of 6) - Click
here for the heart in hand, click
here for the patchwork, click
here for the snowman and click
here for the menorah.
posted
on 11/24/2003 10:54:28 PM
Saturday,
November 22, 2003
Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel I Made You Out of Paper.
When making 6 things on a theme, it's common to have favorites
and runts of the litter. Boy, I am proud of all of these! Maybe
just a little "over" the first one, the Christmas tree. I'm
lovin' the colors and of this Hanukkah one. The yellow circles
are gold wrapped chocolate coins, or just coins. I see them
as the chocolate ones. The coins are made from a Pier 1 shopping
bag with the ever-popular gold joss paper over it. It scanned
pretty well, but it's always tricky to scan shiny things. That's
why the reindeer has a minimum of sequins and I used a matte
silver for the dove.
So, as soon as I got done with the dreidel and felt a momentary
"Ahhhh..." I thought of a seventh design. I'll likely do it,
but after I get some other stuff done.
Update: This design is available in my
CafePress store as greeting cards (sets of 6), postcards
(sets of 8), and invitations (sets of 6) - Click
here for the dreidel.
posted
on 11/22/2003 07:40:40 PM
More Holidayness!
Three more collages done. I'm cookin' now. I wanted to go
retro-ish and take advantage of that lovely color combo of
pink and brown on the reindeer. Boy, the toughest thing for
me to draw are any of those equine animals - huge bodies,
skinny legs. Very vexing, but I eventually got something I
like.
The dove was easy-peasy and I really love the way it turned
out. The silver burst behind the dove follows my love of cutting
paper combs (more of that someday).
The skater was made from wanting to cover the winter weather
aspect of the holidays. When drawing the girl I thought, "ya
know, not everyone has to be white." Sort of the default since
it matches my skin. Years ago, while I was participating in
rubber stamp conventions, I made a sign with 6 girls on it
of all sorts of ethnicities. One black woman came up to the
booth and said, "She got afro-puffs! You should make those
stamps." So this African-American girl has those afro-puffs.
And she's right, I should make some multicultural face stamps
- but not until some of the current inventory gets low.
I wanted to make more than four, less than 8 collages for
these new cards. I could make these indefinitely, and I would
if things were selling. (Buy! Buy!) But I'm shooting for six.
Working on a dreidel for the final one...
Update: These three designs are available
in my
CafePress store as greeting cards (sets of 6),
postcards (sets of 8), and invitations (sets of 6) - Click
here for the reindeer, click
here for the dove and click
here for the skater!
posted
on 11/22/2003 10:28:13 AM
Friday,
November 21, 2003
Getting Christmassy!
Here's the first two images I'm working on for new products
in my CafePress store. I plan on putting these on 5"x7" greeting
cards, 4"x6" postcards and on journals (for collecting holiday
ideas or making into a seasonal photo album). The elf is charming
the socks off of me. Next, a reindeer image utilizing the tres
snazzy color combo of pink and brown. Keep an eye on this space
for more. I'll report when the products are in the shop and
ready!
Update: These two designs are available in
my
CafePress store as greeting cards (sets of 6), postcards
(sets of 8), and invitations (sets of 6) - Click
here for the tree, click
here for the elf!
posted
on 11/21/2003 05:18:12 PM
Wednesday,
November 12, 2003
Third Pink Collage
Here's the bird collage that was started on Saturday night,
finished this afternoon. Um, started because I had too much
pink paint on the first, so I made these "feathers" on a piece
of masonite. Drew in the details and flipped the board so that
it made the feathers sort of like stylized trees. Decided to
put a bird cage on the background holding, logically, a pink
bird. It's 9"x12", mixed media on masonit and it's also available
in the
shop.
posted
on 11/12/2003 06:00:41 PM
Monday,
November 10, 2003
Portraits of Imaginary Women No. 5: Alice Beckett
Here's the second collage started on Saturday night. It's the
5th in
the series. This one was inspired by the Certificate
of Achievement. I knew I wanted to do a school girl and I had
to figure out what her name should be and her achievement. I
settled on Alice Beckett, which means "good little beak" so
her achievement was a vow of silence. I really like the way
she turned out. Only one tiny thing, the top of her head covers
up the detail that her teacher is named Miss Pink. I'd like
to have had an elementary school teacher named Miss Pink - oooohhh...
perhaps that's my next portrait...
Like most of the
others, she's for sale. She's 9" x 12", mixed media
on masonite and $200.
posted
on 11/10/2003 10:55:55 PM
Saturday,
November 08, 2003
New
Collage Work
Today's weather was gloomy but electric* and tonight I knew
I had to sit down and do some drawing. So, I got out paper,
pens, paints and my big book of collage fodder. Before I went
to bed I had one collage finished, one about a third done and
one just started. I mixed pink paint for the first, and having
too much left over, started the second and third collages.
The first is going to be my mom's Chirstmas present. That wasn't
the intent, but the result. If you're not my mom, click
here to see the collage and read the story. I'll
post the other two as I finish them.
*I found out Sunday, that Saturday night was a lunar eclipse
- that must have been what made the air so unreal.
posted
on 11/8/2003 11:34:27 PM
Monday,
November 03, 2003
MY
HANDS ARE SHOT. I can recommend only cutting corduroy with the
sharpest of rotary blades. Instead of the brute force
method I employed this weekend. Ugh.
posted
on 11/3/2003 12:45:00 PM
Sunday,
November 02, 2003
Quilts,
Cuffs,
and Jewelry,
Oh My!
Quite a productive weekend. The tally: one quilt top, five pink
and green cuffs, 20 necklaces and three bracelets.
*whew*
The quilt top is made of 13 pairs of corduroy pants and is for
my friend Jim. I had the basketweave center done, but finshed
all the rest. It's roughly 6 feet square. This'll be a super
comfy lap quilt since it's made of worn, but not worn out, cords.
I made 5 of the pink and green cuffs inspired by a remnant of
the minty leafy lace. They're three inches wide. Still working
on the fasteners. Right now mine has hooks and eyes, but not
sure if they'll stay hooked. May modify the hooks or find a
plan B. A little R&D to do.
The coral and black/white jewelry hanging on the left are glass
beads, the browns on the right are wood beads with silver color
spacers.
Time for rest. I could use a weekend. ;)
posted
on 11/2/2003 10:27:46 PM
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