Category: creativity

From the vault.

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That there pillow got started I don’t even know how long ago. It had been moved from the basket of unfinished projects to a new location and when I went through the stash this weekend, I found it. I had pieced it together before I put it away – it had trim covering the seams pinned down, but not sewn. I can’t remember why I put it aside, but it had been long given up on.
Pat’s grandmother was a quilter and while I admire the craft of it, I just haven’t felt drawn to it enough to do it. This was my first feeble attempt at it. While I like the results, I’m not sure I’m going to jump into more quilting anytime soon. Grandma had made this amazing crazy patchwork quilt that I fell in love with, that she used old ties in the making of. It’s really a work of art and way beyond my feeble beginner skills. Somewhere along the line, I acquired a book about crazy patchwork and it broke down the crazy quilt process into small bites, pillows, laundry bags, instead of a queen size bed quilt, so it seemed dare I say, approachable? Although I still don’t think I could ever come up with something as beautiful as Grandma’s crazy patchwork quilt.
The pillow in question was made of various scraps from items in the living room, or things that would seem to flow with scraps from items in the living room. The leopard print is some throw pillows, the purple canvas is a fabric sample from the company I bought the slipcover for, as is the red canvas (it was the reject color), the red geometric pattern is from some pillows, as is a white brocade, the rest just seemed to flow with what was there. I even threw in some patterned purple velvet that was a dress scrap, as a small shoutout to the purple velvet sofa that lives under the purple canvas slipcover (Because babies & purple velvet sofas don’t mix well. Although that statement also applies to me I need a slipcover. On everything). I can’t even remember how long it took me to put it together – not long I think. The trim I pinned down was mostly upholstery trim, white & blue (?), with some chocolate brown grosgrain ribbon thrown in here & there. I left some of the white down and then proceeded to swap just about everything else out and start over. I used bits that went with the color scheme, bits that I love (the green leaves and the chicken ribbon) and that fringe piece? A scrap from Edie’s Christmas stocking. Over all, I think I like it. It looks great with my orange walls and my purple velvet sofa, even when it’s slipcovered. I might try another one sometime. Maybe.

What I did with my weekend when I only had a few places to be.

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My latest inspiration for 11 year old boys.

One plain T-shirt with unbleached, unfinished muslin flair. I’m really digging it myself actually. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out, despite how wonky the ‘S’ looks in that photo. It’s not really that wonky, I promise.
I finally had a weekend where I had some time and energy to knock out some projects and it was soooo nice. Or at least, work on some projects besides household chores. I got some laundry done, some baking done, and most importantly, some sewing done. That up there is Pat’s nephew’s belated birthday present. I also pulled a few things out of the vault and got going on them again. I’m really excited about both of them and promise to share as they are finished.

I love my new sewing machine.

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Among the items in the long ignored basket was this vintage embroidered tea towel that had definitely seen better days. I knew I could salvage the good part, but what to do with it? Do you see how flipping sweet that is? It needed a new life and one that would showcase it well.

My top of the line circa 1960-something Singer had stopped holding a stitch and I never could get it to do anything fancy. Certainly nothing like this:
So this Christmas eve, when Pat put a great big box under the Christmas tree, I recognized the paper from the bag Uncle Kevin had dropped off a week or two before. It must be for Edie I thought – I went to bed thinking he’d gotten her something big she’d been begging him for. Was I surprised when the next morning, Pat put it in front of me! And what was in there but a brand spanking new sewing machine! A computerized one no less, a realm I had considered entering, but had no idea where to begin and just not sure I wanted to invest our money in. Problem solved all the way around.
I noticed last time I had visited said uncle that I had left my favorite apron – nothing fancy, just a plain white workhorse I’ve had forever that has definite chocolate and red wine stains. Next time I went to visit, I managed to see the apron, but it mysteriously disappeared before I could pack it. Uncle Kevin mentioned something about perhaps using the new sewing machine to make a new apron to replace it – I’m not sure if I was supposed to make one for me or for him.
I’ll admit, it took me awhile to really delve into using the new machine. Between losing my creative mojo there for a bit and then having the learning curve of a new machine, I was hesitant to start a full blown project. I needed the instruction manual in my lap the entire time, the presser foot arm was in a totally different place, how could I really sink my teeth into anything new? It required way more concentration than I had.
I’ve played around with it on some little projects – like some applique T-shirts for Edie’s pals – to get my bearings on it. Finally, I started feeling a little more comfortable with it. Really started liking it. Realized it had been way too long since I had a sewing machine that I had any confidence in because halfway through anything on the old one, I would have to stop and take it apart and put it all back together again, fingers crossed I could finish. Half the basket I have sitting there blocking the entrance of the happy corner are things that my old machine crapped out on, that I got frustrated with and put aside.
I really started missing my apron. I used that thing almost daily. I decided to make myself a new one, but without the apron in hand, I didn’t have a good pattern for one. But I really needed another full apron. They work so much better for me than those half ones (as evidenced by the stains on the missing one) especially when rolling anything out. My wardrobe choice of wearing mostly black and a love of baking bread need a moderator. A full apron works beautifully in that capacity. I used another apron I have (but admittedly, don’t like the line of as much, but it will have to do for now) and managed to find a way to use some of my fancy new stitches on the hem and the tea towel on the top.

A little unbleached muslin, some off white grosgrain ribbon for ties and voila. My first completely finished project with my new sewing machine.
Thanks Uncle Kevin. Hand over the apron in question and you will get a fancy new one too, just like it. Well, minus the flowery parts.

On a roll.

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I don’t know if it’s because the weather is warm and I feel like I don’t need to spend all my energy keeping warm, or if it’s because I can see all the dust bunnies living right out in the open of my house with this more light and longer days of the approaching spring or if it’s because my dear babydaddy is not home and so therefore I have no one to hang out with so I might as well get some stuff done, but I have been a bundle of productivity lately. In a myriad of ways too. Over the weekend, I cleaned multiple closets out, actually scrubbed our bathroom down, worked in the yard AND found time to make things. I am very impressed with myself right now.

I made those lovely hoops for Edie for Valentine’s Day and finally got around to hanging them this weekend. (I also got around to hanging the lovely mirror she painted and gave me for Christmas. Clearly, we don’t hang things in a timely manner around here.) I had totally intended to make a whole collection of them, only to find that I could not find any wooden hoops around town the Friday before, so I grabbed what I had and used them. I think I ended up hanging them a little too far apart, which will force me make a few more for her, which I had originally intended, I just need to remember to look for some new hoops next time I’m out (that would be key, really). I filled them with a vintage linen napkin that had seen better days but was somewhat salvageable, a sheer green paisley that I thought would look divine on her pepto bismol pink walls and fabric from her great grandmother’s stash. Actually, it is a lovely lavender on lavender satin that was her grandmother’s prom dress. I just cannot take a decent picture of it and I’ve been trying for days. I’m going to fill in around what’s there, but I love she has family heirloom vintage scraps hanging on her walls. I’m pretty sure I have some more lying around here somewhere.

And, both sewing projects I did this weekend involved pieces from the big basket of unfinished projects/ironing. I am really proud of myself for finally tackling that. I need to finish one project (that required a trip to the store today, where I realized when I got home I totally forgot to look for wooden embroidery hoops, ARGH!), the other won’t get posted until someone returns from the Great White North. I gave myself a week to clear that pile out and while I haven’t met that goal, I really have been working on it a little bit at a time. Clearly, I am on a roll and I kinda like it.

Springing back.

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After a long and busy week of single working motherhood it’s finally Friday. And oh so delightfully warm in that sun. It’s nice to see the earth again. Even better to see things springing back to life.

This time of year always inspires me. After walking around surveying the yard and making a mental list of what needs to get done, I went inside and walked upstairs and pushed aside my current to-do pile and quickly whipped up a welcome home present for my dear husband. Amazing how a frustrated, cranky mood can turn around by just spending a few minutes being creative and wandering around in the yard.

The best intentions.

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That is the ironing/mending/unfinished project pile taking up a big portion of the happy corner. I had every intention of working on that pile this weekend and instead I went shopping, hung out with Betty and was in bed on a Saturday night by 8:15. Today, while having a Princess Diaries marathon, I did manage to pull something off that pile and fix it. A pair of Edie’s tights. So there. I did work on it this weekend. I’ll try to make it my goal to knock it out this week. It feels overly ambitious, but it’s also a good idea. If I can knock that out, I can start on other projects and have a little more room to work with. Betty says that one should be organized if one is going to have a good space to work in.

Wish me luck. Stuff has been sitting in that pile for years.

Pondering picture taking and other things.

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I really need to figure out how to take a good picture of stuff I like to make. Definitely need to play with it more. Need to pay attention to light and things like that. I think that’s why I wanted to upgrade to a really good camera a while back. Because I have a hard time taking good pictures of stuff I like to make. And in trying to take those pictures, I’m realizing I have few places in my home that are picture worthy backgrounds. Hmmm. I should take that as a hint to declutter. We have a small home, we use just about every spare inch. I don’t think we need a bigger one – that’s just more house for me to not clean, I just could get rid of some stuff. There’s an idea.

I really do like my new camera. It’s nice. I bet I could get Edie to teach me how to take good pictures of stuff with it, since she’s figured out so many of the settings on there. I could also stand to learn to play more with photoshop and do all sorts of fun things to pictures, but I feel a little intimidated by everything I could possibly not know about it. I have a fondness for light and color though, so it seems like I should be able to figure it out, I just need to concentrate on it. I like to think though, that you can just be old school about it and take a picture and not alter it on the computer at all.

This here is one of the shirts I made for Edie’s pals. The other is black with a red linen center on the painted daisy. And they both have a coordinating smaller daisy on the right hand corner by the hem. Edie wanted them that way, so I made them that way. I outlined them both today in purple paint, but cannot for the life of me get a decent picture of it. But that picture almost works, right?

I like experimenting. I like trying to mix mediums – in this case, fabric and paint. I did a few shirts last year that were a mix of embroidery and an iron on transfer. I kinda like how they turned out a little more than I like this mix. But maybe I just haven’t found the right combo yet. Definitely something to kick around…..

The first step

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I have spent the last several months in a creative drought. Absolutely no juices flowing to get me going so to speak. I went on a bit of a knitting frenzy in December, but once I used up a good portion of my stash knitting scarves as gifts for a few deserving people, I couldn’t get inspired to start anything else. Especially anything that was most certainly not a scarf. Definitely not the shawl, sweater or socks I had promised my family members I was going to start on right away when I bought the yarn.

Out of the blue one day, a friend asked about making them a shower curtain. This friend had a few ideas, but they needed to be thought out some more and it got me started up again. I got to thinking about materials and textures and thinking in proportion, methods of construction – how to finish the seams, how to lay out the fabric. What fabric to use, how would it wash, wear, all that stuff I think I had started forgetting about. I pulled out my sketchbook, my old drawing tools, and borrowed a few of Edie’s colored pencils and markers. It made me realize how much I missed drawing, sewing, designing, everything I do to create things. I went to the fabric store, walked around feeling fabrics, pondered ideas, came home, hopped online and started ordering samples of other fabrics to be considered. It got me going again. For now, that project is on hold, which is good, because it allows me time to slowly dip my toes back into the water of creativity again. I’ll admit, I was slightly overwhelmed by the idea of sewing all that fabric. In the meantime though, I finally got around to making some long overdue gifts. Finally made something. A few things. Little things, but things nonetheless. I will certainly post some photos of that work here soon, but first I have to get them to the intended recipients.

It’s awfully good to feel that mojo again.