Posted on 1 Comment

Blown Out

Well, I had hoped to share pictures of our awesome both set up at Elver Park for the Fresh Air Craft Fair today.  But we got blown out.  Literally.  The vendor agreement said that the fair would go ahead rain or shine; it did not say that it would go ahead with crazy, gusty winds.
So here’s our booth part way through being taken down.  That’s when I remembered to take a picture.  It looked great and we actually held out longer than the people around us before the big wind came through.  The secret:  Attach the canopy to cinder blocks.  We were helping someone else keep her canopy from blowing away when the wind knocked everything off our table.
Look at the poor gourd lady.  This is when they cancelled the fair.  It was a bummer to do all that prep work and then have it cancelled but, ya know, shit happens and we met some nice people there.  Also, the wind distributed many of our new business cards far and wide.  
So on to planning our Etsy Shop opening.  It’s May 21st  and I’m too superstitious to make a crack about the weather not being able to affect that opening.  
Posted on 2 Comments

Halfway and counting down…

I’m calling this the halfway point.  I emptied the shelves and put lots of stuff into bins.  We’ll be moving these shelves into the next room and then putting in some way deeper shelves.
Gotta find a sunny spot for my table.  It all looks so spare and tidy now 
But this is only some of what I have to put back in an orderly fashion.  
Actually, I’m going to cal it the thirdway point.
There’s more here.  The quarterway point is starting to feel right.  I’d better get up and get moving.  
Posted on 1 Comment

Still here Update

I know.  No posts for a month and then two in a day.  What could I be thinking?  
Look at all that floor.  And, look! A table top that hasn’t been seen for months and months. 
I’m just so proud of myself.  It’s not done by a long shot but it’s so much better.  Now I know that I have way too much linen and have to make something out of it really soon.  Also I have lots of awesome IKEA print fabrics that I completely forget about.
We got the giant cork board up and hubs is busy hanging art still; check out what he did with my denim quilt back there is the guest/game/workout/storage room.
I got rid of lots of wool and some pretty linen clothing that I was going to cut up but then I decided against it.  So…whaddaya all say to a crap craft swap? 
The going away pile.
I think I’ll ask if Sector67 is willing to host one. Would you (local folks) come?
I might even give away some of my baskets – I haven’t used them in forever.  I do love me some baskets.
Posted on

Still here

I have had very limited access to the computer and a really bad time getting my pictures on to the web since my laptop’s unfortunate demise.  I haven’t bought a new one because I’m just sure we’ll be able to repair ours someday, somehow when we acquire knowledge that we just don’t begin to have right now.  but I’m sure we will one day.  🙂 
So, here is a picture of my project for today taken with the camera on my phone.
Check out that giant cork board that I scored at the ReStore for $5!  I think it’s like, eight feet long.  Awesome.
I’m tackling the fabric stash and trying to get rid of at least two bins of fabric.  Can it be done?  We shall see.
In the meantime, please enjoy this talk on creativity by John Cleese:
It’s a little over 30 minutes long so if you want the shorter version check out Brain Pickings, which you really check out anyway because I’m sure you would love it.  Thanks to my friend Jen for telling me about it.
Posted on 4 Comments

Part of the fun…

 …is the decision making process.
Do I like these with few, simple stitches best or…

…these, totally filled with lots of stitches.

Or both together.  Whichever I choose , do I mix them with blank denim squares or…

Or just the stitchy ones.
This one is my favorite today.

This one escaped that part of the process because I decided it was a postcard.
I just have to figure out how to address it and affix postage.  Any ideas?  Ones involving duct tape will especially get my attention.

The worst part by far is arranging the pictures on blogger. 

They almost never go where I put them
I’d love some advice there, too.  What’s the secret to controlling picture placement on Blogger?  Quilt squares are waaaay easier.


Posted on 1 Comment

Back in Business

One of the latest and longest lasting projects is my log cabin crazy quilt.  It’s inspired by the amazing quilts by the women of Gee’s Bend.  I was really taken with their corduroy quilts.  Here are some close ups of my attempt. 
It has pockets!  Everything except for the red and gold came from pants.  That really caused some issues because the pants have been worn and have a lot of bias to them.  I really had to embrace the chaos.
I’m not thrilled with how I hand quilted them together but I just really couldn’t wait to finish.  I worked on it in the spring until it was too hot and then put it away.  It’s been waiting for me for a long time.  I didn’t use any batting so the distance between the sewn bits ‘should’ be OK.  If it moves around I guess I can always add more.
The itch keeps you warm, you know.
The backing is a wool remnant that I bought at Gayfeather Fabrics.  It’s very warm but pretty itchy.  So I decided to edge it with velvet to off set the itch factor, at least around the edges.  I’m hoping that one pair of velvet pants will do the job.

Here are the pants cut up and waiting.  This is the only part of this quilt left to do.  I’ll sew them into a large strip and then edge the quilt.  I can sew one side with the machine (I hope) and the other will be hand stitched.


But, not today.  We are having a group of pre-teen girls over to make duct tape crafts with us today.  They won’t want me around though I’ll need to stay close so I’ll be sitting in the kitchen, burning cookies and working with this:
Keep your eye on this space to see what I plan to do with all this vintage bark cloth.