CreativeSpace

stitching for skulls

Doesn't seem my usual style, does it? Hey, we've all got a dark side.

 

I was one of a hundred artists invited to participate in an exhibition as part of Skull Appreciation Day in Richmond, VA on Saturday, June 4. We were given an unpainted paper mache skull as a base, and our imaginations did the rest.

Noah Scalin is the creator of the Skull a Day blog (and book) and the author of 365: Make Something Every Day Challenge workbook. The man is seriously busy being creative.

As you all know, I have tons of quilt pieces from my Grammy and two Great-Grandmothers but I'm not a quilter. Yet. I say that but by the time I actually get around to it, I may be old and living in a condo with a herd of cats. I figured the fabric pieces might be perfect for the skull project, and after giving it a lot of thought, I decided to sew flowers.

 

 

Images of Georgia O'Keeffe's work got stuck in my brain. I loved her juxtaposition of bones and flowers, and with that in mind as inspiration, I began sewing.

 

I broke just about every sewing rule while doing it too. I left threads hanging and showed every stitch and knot. The messy chaos of it reminded me of pulling clover from the flower bed. The roots go everywhere. The plant may look small at the surface, but there's a forest of roots beneath it.

 

 

Thoughts of my grandmothers stayed with me as well. Quilt pieces are like small snips of time, remnants of a shirt or dress or coat from long ago. There are memories attached to each, and it felt like I was working with their past lives as I stitched the fabric together. I wished the grandmothers were with me to tell me their stories and to laugh about where their quilt pieces ended up. (After the initial surprise wore off.)

 

The Muse of The Day

"My knitting chair is a BRIGHT, acidic yellow color - a color that I hated as a child, but can't get enough of as an adult. Seeing it here, next to my blog banner, I notice that the very same yellow color is in my apron. It is a color that goes with nothing, but a color that I love to see, especially when it is next to something all natural in tones like the wood floor and walls."

via themuseoftheday.typepad.com

Carolina and I share a passion for creative endeavors, and I've been enjoying her adventures for awhile now. Her latest post is no different. The woman's ingenuity constantly amazes me. Please enjoy her latest creation while I go back to digging my way out from under 9,340 lb of packed stuff. (Have you ever had the contents of your household weighed? It's mind boggling.) I'm off to find my bloomin' saute pan.

rapid rabbit

When I was six, my grandma sewed me a rabbit family for Christmas. They lived in a quilted carrot, and the entire family was portable. Wonder of wonders, I found them in my doll trunk last week, still in good condition. I brought them out to show Little Bear and was amazed all over again at the tiny detail of this cast of characters.

My Dear Sim received a similar family, and I believe we dubbed Brother Bunny, Rapid Rabbit. Because of the big R on his chest and his red cape, of course.

(Papa Bunny looks like he's part of a lineup, doesn't he?) I just wanted to show his cute little handkerchief and cotton ball tail.

Little Bear was immediately intrigued by the bunny family and settled underneath the table to play with them. Soon I overheard Mama Bunny shushing Baby Bunny repeatedly. I restrained myself from leaping to Mama Bunny's defense. That she was probably only shushing Baby Bunny because they were in church, and Baby Bunny was very likely making extremely loud noises throughout the homily. What's a Mama Bunny to do?

I finally had to interrupt when I peeked under the table to discover that Little Bear's diaper had come undone and was now circling her ankle. She could have cared less, and it didn't deter Mama Bunny's continued shushing one bit.

 

The beauty of a buttercup bag

(I apologize for the less than stellar picture. I took this pre-Christmas present camera.)

I am one of those people who loves to peruse the internets, discover ingenious crafting projects, and then make them. OK, maybe not. But I mean to, like, I have every intention of making it. Just ask my bulging closet...aka the place where crafting dreams go to die.

So I saw this bag on Made By Rae, a site where I love to lurk, ogle, and generally salivate over her sewing creations. You'll probably recognize her fine handiwork from the Big Butt Baby Pants I made last year. Frankly, I have a sewing crush on the woman. When I saw the Buttercup Bag pattern, right away I knew I had to make it. And the pattern was free! It was a sign from the heavens. It was sewing destiny.

The pattern was simple, and I bought a remnant of heavy weight fabric for my test run. The directions were brief, which had me a little bit worried, but my previous adventure sewing a tote bag served me in good stead. And I made pleats! For the very first time. (Yep, I'm giving myself a big pat on the 'ol back.) Plus, there were plenty of helpful comments on Rae's post about what other people did with the pattern. The first thing I did was enlarge it. (And you'll be happy to know that based on my previous experience with the baffled man at the office supply store, I winged it on my own with the self-serve copier with success.) The original bag was sized as a great "going out" bag when all you needed was a lipstick, a compact, your license and cash. For moi, I needed at least ten times the space to carry all my stuff plus Little Bear's crap. There was no way How Now Brown Cow was fitting in the original Buttercup Bag.

The lining was made with the dotted brown material, something I had stashed away for a skirt but then thought better of it. I much prefer this use.

Now, my Sweetings, I'm off to ponder my next sewing project since it will probably become next week's giveaway celebrating my 1-year blog anniversary. It's certain to be a good one. Ta!

Mil grazie

You're looking at hazelnut-chocolate chunk biscotti made by Yours Truly just yesterday. Are you drooling yet? Because I certainly am. My big assignment this weekend was to finally, FINALLY, get my thank-you package finished and ready to mail by Monday. And here we are!

I have always wholeheartedly supported the idea of biscotti and eating what basically amounted to a crunchy cookie with my morning cup of joe. Yay to the Italians for concocting such a thing in the first place. But the few times I purchased them from a store, they were so hard that I failed to enjoy them due to my worry about chipping a tooth. 

The biscotti recipe came courtesy of Martha's baking book and was surprisingly easy to make. Although they have crunch, it's not overbearing. Because they were intended as a thank you gift, The Husband and I only sampled the ends that were too ugly to send. Just to ensure that they were gift-worthy. As they cooled, there were many wistful glances cast in their direction chock full of yearning. We resisted! We stayed strong! And now they're safely away to the arms of their intended. *phew*

This was the second part of my thank you project. I had a group of photos developed from the trip that I then mounted on to colorful paper backgrounds. I made it so the photos can be slipped free of the mounted corners, and if someone wishes to frame one or do something else with it, they can do so without the sticky trouble of having to peel the photo free of the paper.

Here's the final product:

I'm very pleased with how everything turned out. I just wish I was present to watch them open it.