Enjoying… tomato soup, Cinematic Orchestra’s mellow beats, coffee house conversation, time for thought, thankfulness, colors, perfect temperature, flip flops, pride, life without expectation or assumption. Steve’s at band practice, the dog is safely kept at home, and I’m sitting here also feeling shocked and a little overwhelmed by the possibilities that lay ahead of me. I’m only 26. I shouldn’t be this blessed. God, what the hell are you thinking? I’m not complaining… I mean, this is what I’ve always wanted. I’m extremely thankful. I guess I just didn’t really expect this to happen until I retired at like 55. When one is faced with the option to not work on a daily basis, it seems they would be elated and have all these aspirations of things to accomplish and dreams to fulfill, wouldn’t they? I haven’t had time to prepare myself so, I’m not sure what my aspirations or dreams are just yet… or maybe I’m freaking out because I can now actually work toward them. I have to make something of myself. I don’t have an excuse anymore. Here goes everything…
Monthly Archive for April, 2008
These make me smile. A bit of nostalgic old fashioned charm. That’s what I’m all about. Throughout history, these have been made from scraps of leftover fabric, but these pincushions are made with ribbon remnants, shirting fabric, and felt. These new materials work especially well because its edges won’t fray. You could also give these as a gift or use them to decorate your crafty space. You could also venture out to create other fruit and vegetable pincushions. I have way too much time on my hands…
Tools and Materials:
Fabric and ribbon remnants
Sewing machine
Needle and thread
Scissors
Fine sand or emery
#3 pearl-cotton thread or felt, for berries’ tops
6-strand embroidery floss, for seeds
Fabric glue
How to:
1. Begin by printing out the template [provided by marthastewartliving.com] Trace the cone template onto fabric, then cut out the shape. Fold the fabric into a cone shape, right sides facing, and stitch together along one edge, leaving a narrow seam allowance.
2. Sew an even running stitch along the perimeter of the opening (will be the top of the berry). Before cinching the top, place the cone in a small jar for balance, and fill it with sand or emery (keeps the pins sharp). Pull the thread taut, and stitch the top closed.
3. For the strawberry’s top, trace the cap template onto a piece of felt, cut out the shape, and affix it in place with a drop of glue; then sew along the edges with a slip stitch. Or, create leaves by sewing long stem stitches onto the strawberry using the pearl-cotton thread, leaving a loop of floss at the top for a handle. Embroider seeds onto berry using embroidery floss with a single stitch or a French-knot stitch.
I’m sitting in my living room drinking coffee and eating leftovers from our Zachary’s Pizza gathering last night. Oh, the sweetness. A good friend of ours, Dan, was in town. We met in Berkely at this pizza joint that has become so popular, we had to wait for about an hour and a half to get a table. Luckily, they served beer, so we were content with that and the company. Dan and Steve go way back. A lover of life and dreams, that one. It was good to see him.
This morning I found a site to share, Reprodepot Fabrics. They have really cute vintage, retro and Japanese imported fabrics. They carry patterns, buttons, patches and sewing accessories as well. I was surprised to see that the prices aren’t too bad either. Great stuff… check it out.
These coasters make a great housewarming gift. Each takes about 15 minutes to complete, so it’s easy to plan on making a set of four or six for a generous gift. I chose some reproductions of 19th-century fabrics for this project. I like the way the small scale of the prints complements the small size of the coasters and the fine sewn lines of the concentric rectangles of quilting.
[Excerpted from Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson]
Tools and Materials:
4 1/2-by-10-inch piece of fabric for each coaster (*Note: 1/4 yard of 45-inch-wide fabric will yield 8 coasters if cut precisely.)
High-loft natural cotton batting, 46 by 36 inches
Cotton thread in a color to blend in with your fabrics (I used mustard yellow)
Walking foot for sewing machine
Finished Measurements: About 4 inches square
Construction Notes: Use 1/4-inch seam allowance throughout, unless otherwise noted.
How to:
1. Prepare fabric: Wash, dry, and press the fabric.
2. Cut fabric: Cut one 4 1/2-by-10-inch piece of fabric for each coaster. (If you’re making coasters from 1/4 yard of fabric, cut two 4 1/2-inch-deep strips from selvage to selvage, trim the selvages, and then cut each strip into four 10-inch lengths.)
3. Cut batting: Cut one 4-inch square of batting for each coaster.
4. Assemble coaster: Fold the fabric in half, right sides together, to form a 4 1/2-by-5-inch rectangle. Sew the two 5-inch sides closed so that only one side of the rectangle remains open. Trim the corners, and turn the fabric right side out.
5. Tuck the batting smoothly inside the fabric (this can be a bit fussy at first, but it gets easier with practice). Fold the coaster’s open edges to the inside, covering the batting with one fabric edge, and finger-press the folded edges in place. Make the corners as square as possible. Your piece should measure about 4 inches square.
6. Quilt coaster: Attach the walking foot to your sewing machine, and set your machine to the needle-down position in order to turn each corner cleanly as you quilt. (If your machine cannot be set this way, hand-turn your needle into the down position before lifting the presser foot to turn the coaster at the corners.) You’ll start quilting at the outside edge, and sew in one continuous line to the center. Use the coaster’s edge as a guide to make straight seams the first time around, and then continue using the outer seams as your guide as you work your way inward.
7. Begin quilting about 1/8 inch from the edge on a side neighboring the open edge (you’ll close the open edge when you quilt along that side). Sew a few stitches, then take a couple of backstitches to anchor the quilting. Stitch along the side of the coaster, consistently staying about 1/8 inch from the edge. At the first corner, stop sewing with your needle in the down position. Lift the presser foot, and rotate the coaster 90 degrees; lower the presser foot, and sew to the next corner.
8. Repeat stitching along each side and turning the corner as instructed until you’re on the fourth side, then stop sewing 1/4 inch before you reach the last corner.
9. With your needle in the down position, lift the presser foot, and rotate the coaster 90 degrees; lower the presser foot, and sew 1/4 inch inside the previous stitching line to within 1/4 inch of the next corner.
10. Repeat the process from step 9 to form concentric rectangles of quilting until you reach the center of the piece. Finish the quilting with a few backstitches.
It seems that we bought the tickets like ten years ago… good thing too, cause we’re broke right now. Before I know it, the day will be here.
R.E.M. at The Greek Theatre in Berkeley on May 31st. It’s really a birthday present for Stephen. He’s the real fan, dating back to the beginning. I’m so proud of him. Happy birthday Steve. You deserve it, and more.
I’ve stumbled across something I am rapidly growing to love; using fabrics as art. I’ve always loved painting with layers to add depth and visual texture, and now I am appreciating the vast amount of interest that a piece of fabric can bring. Obviously, I’ve explored using my trunk full of mismatched fabrics to sew something… a quilt maybe? Quilts are beautiful and useful but it wouldn’t show the raw beauty that already exists. Having plenty of “cut-off” jean shorts in my life, I knew that if I was to throw fabric in the washing machine without hemming the raw edge, it would fray. Great. So I tried it. I cut a bunch of my fabric in strips of all sizes and washed them. What came out was incredible. Everything tangled together and made this great mass of strings and thread. I wanted to just hang it on the wall from there, but decided to take it a couple steps further. 
I took a piece of pine (10″x30″x1″) and painted it black. Then wrapped the pieces of fabric around it until it created something more interesting. I uploaded the finished result under my portfolio page. Scroll down to “Fabric” and take a look. Next, I’m going to sew the pieces together first before wrapping them. I’m thinking this will create a more uniform look, without sacrificing the imperfect quality of the fabric. It’s all a mess and I love it.
Folk art is described as a wide range of objects that reflect the craft traditions and traditional social values of various social groups. Folk art is generally produced by people who have little or no academic artistic training, nor a desire to emulate “fine art”, and use established techniques and styles of a particular region or culture. Along with painting, sculpture, and other decorative art forms, some also consider utilitarian objects such as tools and costume as folk art.
Antique folk art is distinguished from traditional art in that while it is collected today based mostly on its artistic merit; it was never intended as a category to be art for art’s sake. Examples include: weathervanes, old store signs and carved figures, itinerant portraits, carousel horses, fire buckets, painted game boards, cast iron doorstops and many other similar lines of highly collectible “whimsical” antiques.
[Definition taken from www.wikipedia.org]
I guess as an amateur artist, I identify with folk art’s non-mainstream, non-mass produced nature (if that makes any sense at all). What you see is what you get. Imperfections and all. I’ve always loved the idea of creating something new from already existing materials… making the old new, making the useless useful, and the imperfect beautiful.
Oh my! The best split pea soup I’ve ever tasted. And super easy because you just through everything into a crock pot or slow cooker and leave.
Makes: Serves 8
Cooking Time: HIGH 5-6 hours or LOW 8-10 hours
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
What you need:
1 (16 oz.) package of dried green split peas, rinsed
1 meaty hambone, or 2 ham hocks, or 2 cups diced ham
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 ribs of celery plus leaves, chopped
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup of fresh parsley, chopped, or 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
1 tbsp. seasoned salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. fresh pepper
1 1/2 qts. hot water
What to do:
Layer ingredients in slow cooker in the order given above. Pour in water. Do not stir ingredients. Cover and cook on HIGH 4-5 hours or on LOW 8-10 hours until peas are very soft and ham falls off the bone. Remove bones and bay leaf. Mach peas to thicken, if desired.
*Note: Great to freeze for later.
On Saturday, my husband, Steve and my sister-in-law, Shalina spent the morning in Martinez, California. Shalina takes awesome photos, so we went out there for a photo shoot. Our little Rosa dog came too. The pictures turned out amazing. Check out www.shalinalives.com to see more of Shalina’s work.
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