Bamboo Postcard

This is my stitched postcard that I made for the Great Stitched Postcard Swap. Why bamboo when the theme was time? I tend to think of time in natural elements. As bubbles or bamboo where a bubble will grow and then burst, where young bamboo is so flexible and older bamboo is thick and rigid.

Serendipitously a few days ago I visited an old house on the road near the river. It was up for rent and even though I'm not looking to move, I wanted to view the place. I wish I took pictures, but for the sake of privacy, I decided against it.

The house was built in the 20s. It had a huge brick fireplace and a closed in porch. There's something very charming about those kind of details.

It sits on a very usable acre with a view in each direction. I noticed that a gate on the east side and inquired about where it went to. The owner of the house said it was not within the property. After doing a walk though of the house, we went back outside and again I was drawn to the gate.

"Look at the bamboo forest. It's amazing!" I said, for on the other side of the gate, bamboo grew to 20 or 30 feet high.

The owner then confessed it was his and that he was a bamboo farmer. He said you can get inside the forest and everything is calm and the rustle of leaves reduces stress.

That sounded so inviting. I had a hellacious kind of day, and it was so busy that I didn't have a chance to mail the bamboo card off to Lex, so I still had it in my car. I told the owner I had something to show him.

And when I was set to leave, I pulled the card out and showed it to him. Well that was a mighty big grin on his face. "You're a bamboo lover too!"

Guess so.

Postcard Swap

I'm feeling kind of crafty and I'm looking for something new to do, so I decided to get involved The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap.

Check it out! You might like to participate too!

A is For Apron

I bought myself a couple of books from Joggles lately. Most were on sale like this one, A Is For Apron by Nathalie Mornu.

There are 25 projects and six extras. The Lemon Meringue apron is to die for. So cute! And the Josephine is really lovely too. Also there are a few smaller aprons for the little ones.

The book covers the history of the apron and a gallery of vintage, and basic sewing to get you started.

I happened by Joggles to score some felt, but they have tons of craft books. I'll probably review them all this month because they encompass my recent artsy crafty endeavours.

It's funny to think how when I was growing up, the last thing in the world a young woman wanted was to be seen in an apron. We were striking out in the working world in our manly power suits demanding equal pay and no glass ceilings.

And now young women are making piles of money developing a trend to sew and sell aprons and other handmade items. Good for them, I say.

Speaking of making money, well credit really, if you go to Joggles via the button under "Si's Buddies" and purchase something, then I get 25% credit of your total purchase (not sales tax or shipping) that will be applied to next time I need some ribbon or a fabric fix. One time deal for each person.

I've never done this kind of affiliate-type program, so we'll see how it works. Also Joggles is having a 12% off sale on everything until May 15. Enter the code MOM2010 (uppercase, no spaces). Look around. It's a neat store.

The Mermaid Moving Company or Just Iron Stars On My Boobs

I was looking around at my vast photo collection for a picture of a friend who has just entered the "Facebook World" and I found this little lovely mermaid. Isn't she sweet?

Or maybe she's in agony.

Anyway. I knew that this mermaid picture made it onto a blog o'mine, somewhere. I KNEW it! Turns out that I can forget what I had for dinner last night, but I'm right on about my blog photos. Only it takes me forever to find anything. And...
I always find what I'm not looking for.

Such was the case for the missing iron. I haven't ironed in many moons, my friend. But I'm off on an exciting new adventure that involves sewing, and an iron is imperative.

I looked where I thought the iron should be and found the ironing board. I quickly made cotton candy of the ironing pad. Did you know the ironing pad doesn't wash well? Well, it doesn't. That's okay. I can buy a new one. But where is that darn iron?

I know myself - unfortunately. I know that wherever the iron is, it is in its own box. If I put it in another box, say a box within a box, then it is lost. But I don't usually do this. So I know myself - fortunately.

And I move a lot - across town or new town. Not every year (at least not anymore), but maybe a few times every ten years. Thus I am never organized. eerr-umm. Let me say: I am a Taurus. I like stuff. My stuff means something to me. I take my stuff with me. My stuff was once a car-full, then a small truck-full, then a small U-Haul-full, then a large U-Haul. Now a large (not-so) professional moving company full.

So getting back to the iron. I got my aerobic exercise searching every damn closet in this house - even under the bathroom sink. Finally in the kitchen closet where the light bulbs and vacuum bags are kept, I paused.

Where did I put the iron at the old ranch house? Ding! Above the washer and dryer. Yes!

ps the guy on the phone is calling his wife. "Bring out the El Dorado, honey. With lots of rope!" Seriously. That's what he said.

Entering this one

My goodness! Is it time for another giveaway? If you like fabric, this is hot hot hot. Since I'm a fabricoholic, I'm doing a jig.

Creatures of the forest

I like the bear. He's all what up man. Wild boar don't look that sweet in real life. And rabbits are cuter.
Maybe I should do REAL LIFE embroidery. Or has that been done?

Crazy Quilt

This crazy quilt was made by my great grandmother and her friends and relatives in the early 1900s. When I was a young girl, my mother enlisted me to help her repair and finish the quilt.
The old quilt was missing pieces and thread bare in areas. So we chose fabric and patches to replace some of these pieces. Hence the animal print above. That was from a cat costume my mother made for me for Halloween when I was six years old. I'm sure the butterfly and lady bugs patches were also my idea.
I believe this above square was worked on my great grandmother (My mother's mother's mother) because of the initial "B" for Boyce.
Notice the difference in the needle work between the two blocks above.
This is original and the colors are quite vibrant.
There are embroidered flowers, birds, an umbrella, an anchor, spider and web, and owls. It appears that many of images were stamped onto the material.

I am showcasing this quilt for the Bloggers Quilt Festival. Come join the fun!

Day 23: Climbing Mt. Manly Quilt

Quilts are funny little creatures. They start as big swaths of cloths and turn into their own story. One thing I've learned thus far in designing a quilt for The Mister is ...

DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!

Now I've got lots of fabric I will not use for this project or probably ever, but we'll see, and that the mixed set of manly ideas are like mixing your drinks. It's enough to have me spinning for at least seven months. 

Oh I know it's my fault. I just thought the color scheme, the theme, I thought that he might like to be a part of the design concept. Well some input is one thing, but fergoodnessake. Stop Stop Stop I don't need any more INPUT! 

All that said. I started on the manly man quilt WITHOUT a plan. And it is shaping up nicely.

Day Nine: Making Progress

I'm not sure what my mother would think. I have re-purposed various items of hers when she was alive, and she seemed fine with it, so I would like to imagine she would have no problem with what I'm doing now.

What I'm doing is cutting up her puff quilt and using the fabric to make two of my three quilt projects, the postage stamp and the hexagon. 

My feeling is that my mother didn't like the quilt very much in the end. It was a memory quilt. She was trying to reduce her fabric stash, so each puff was made from some fabric leftover from some garment or project that she made. Each puff was like a little pillow stuffed with pillow stuffing. Sorry to get all technical on you.

She made it for my parent's bed, a king size, so the thing is huge, and as I rip it apart, I'm noticing that her sewing machine had tension problems, and I just know that bugged her royally. But she didn't rip it out and do it over. She was done with it. Just get'er done. I can still see that determined look in her eyes. Just get the damn thing done!

Thirty years later my brother brings it to me. It smells like 30 years of garage dust. All the puffs are probably full of dust mites. The thought of this makes me choke a bit and my stomach kind of flips too.

  

So the game plan is cut the quilt apart, throw away the stuffing, wash the fabric, iron the fabric, and cut out hexes and squares. The execution is slow and I'm finding using scissors painful, so I may have to switch to a knife.

  

So here at Day Nine I am making progress and I'm enjoying meeting up with the memories of some of the fabrics. 

  

As far as the manly quilt goes, well that's an entirely different story.

Day One: Commitment

I've decided to take up the challenge of creating Every Day In May. I write. I draw. I dance. I play. I am all over the place when it comes to creating, so a little bit of structure might just what the universe has in store for me this month. One of things that has been kicking around in my head usually about 3 am in the morning (I also write killer blogs around that time too, but I seldom get up to put them on the computer) is a few quilting projects. Three quilting projects to be exact. Two will be executed mostly by hand, and one will be machine driven.

I want to make a postage stamp quilt. That is just really small squares of fabric sewn together. Size unknown.

I want to make a hexagon quilt using the paper method. I'm not sure just how big this might be. Maybe a tea cozy. Maybe a pillow. 

I want to make a manly quilt for my guy. Lately he is into flags, so I kind of want to do a flag-like quilt to give to him for his birthday. I asked him to pick three colors. He choose black, brown, and purple. So that's going to be challenging enough. 

But here, oh blogosphere, I commit to working on these three quilts, not necessarily to complete them, but to work on them Every Day In May.

 Thanks Loobylu and French Toast Girl!

I Heart Singer

Behold! The old Singer sewing machine! My parents were quite clever one Christmas (oh about 30 years ago but whose counting) when they wrapped up a small package that fit in the palm of my hand. Unwrapped I found it was an old time sewing machine pencil sharpener with a little note that said something like "Judy, if this is not what you wanted, go down the hall and get the real one." So clever! But I was totally confused. What? What? What hall? A real old sewing machine? What are they thinking?

But down the hall that they had to steer me to and on the bed at the end of hall there sat the box. No wrapping or ribbon but was clearly stated a Singer Sewing Machine (what was inside it is pictured below). Grant you, nothing fancy. A beginner's model really, but a sewing machine. I was one happy girl!

I love my first sewing machine!

Some years later (like yesterday) I decided I needed a new sewing machine to do bigger projects like a quilt I have planned. And lo and behold, I went to Target to see what kind of machines they had. I could have bought anything I suppose. But what I really I wanted is what I already have. 

To Be Honest. I love my Singer. And I could have kept using my old machine, but I don't like playing with ancient electronics. (Not that I'm ancient - well yeah, I guess I am.) So....

It's Judy's Birthday Week!

I bought myself a new machine. 

Now with Lime Green accents. 

On My Desk: Charm Stone & Shark Tooth

The charm stone is polished jasper from the Big Sur coast. The shark tooth was found on a hike at the old ranch. The fabric says to me "I like to sew!" 

On My Desk is hosted by Kirsty with the mostest.

Planning Future Projects

I woke at dawn and watched the clouds hang heavy. It rained last night, but I didn’t realize it was going to be a horizontal rain. So in the midst of watching the HBO miniseries John Adams I said to the mister, “My pumpkins! My corn! It looks like the top of the gazebo is going to shred in the wind!” I can be sooo dramatic sometimes. :)
He replied calm as usual. ”Well put the show on pause and let’s see what we can do.”
So we ran out there and bustled back and forth from patio to garage bringing in the pumpkins and corn as the wind whipped up the rain. He took off the gazebo cover and dragged into the garage, threw it over a step ladder. And we sighed and went back to the signing of the Declaration. Whew!

Last night too was the time to return to regular time. On to winter, I suppose. I love cloudy rainy weather. It puts me a creative hunkered-down mood. This morning I came up with three (more) projects. The first I will chronicle on my other blog. It has to do with propagating blue oaks to revitalize this area. The second project will be to recreate the Wizard of Oz characters as Christmas tree ornaments. And the third is to separate the husks from the corn and make corn husk angels tree ornaments. I guess I have a little Christmas on the brain.

Also currently in the mix are lounge lizard pajama bottoms in flannel. I will definitely take some photos of them when they are done as they are made out of some darling fabric.

Mom's Stash

When my brother said he found some of Mom's stuff and asked me if I wanted it, I said sure. At least I wanted to see what it was. He brought me a box or two every couple of months as he was helping my dad clean out the garage. Finally I reached saturation point and just stored the boxes unopened in the back bedroom of the old ranch house. 

  

Now that I've moved to the new ranch house, I've finally been getting around to emptying boxes and sorted through stuff. And guess what? I found my mother's stash of patterns! This is so cool and it isn't just garments. There are doll patterns and a variety of other goodies. 

I might have to make a toaster cover.

This Is...My Favorite Hobby Shop

This place doesn't have fabric, but there is a Beverly's and Betty's nearby. Honestly Law's is absolutely FAB! When the owners were going to retire, they offered up the store to their employees! You know, a co-op ownership. Is that cool, or what? And of course, the people that work there are some of the cutting edge around these parts. And they have hand-outs to teach you how to make things for free. I'm sure that's good for business, but still here in America where every - little - thing has a price tag. 

  

I must say I also very much like The Artery and the quilt shop next to the sweet shoppe in the park. 

  

I really get lost in Michaels in such a good way. Some people have their vice. I embace mine. 

  

Craft/Fabric/Hobby Shops!!

Thanks to Three Buttons (the host) and the theme-maiden, Handmaiden.

Go here to see everyone's fav!

Fat Quarters and Cat Quarters

Sometimes it's easy to see why nothing gets done around here. I bought all these fat quarters from Bee Square the other day. I'm kind of going through an orange phase. Thinking about making a tote or a wall hanging or something. And what happens? Well, a hundred degree heat happens, that's what. And my favorite buddy (who wears a *beautiful* fur coat all the time) asks me to turn on the air (me(n)ow please). So I do. 

  

It slowly cools the roasting house. Gotta love central A/C. Be without it for a few sweltering summers, and I will tell you it's like the very best thing in the whole world. 

  

Oh yes and it blows nicely on the craft table (aka The White Monster). Ahh! So nice not to sweat on my works in progress. So I lay out my newly purchased fat quarters to admire (what should I make, I ponder), and my not so fat cat jumps up to lounge on The (now cool) White Monster. He plants himself on the fat quarters and stretches out. 

  

So I say "Si, please get down!"

And he says, "Judy, old girl. You must be kidding."