Doll

another trip, another bag!

I even added one of my printed patches to the pocket.  This bag is to put my computer and my other bag into.  Last trip, I didn’t take the computer and my regular bag isn’t big enough to hold it comfortably.  I am not going to leave it home this time though… I really missed it when I went to London.

The fabric was given to me by my niece, an interior architect.  Thanks Laurel!  I absolutely love it!

So, now that the update is finished and I can stop stressing about that, I’ve moved on to stressing about my trip to Portland, Oregon.  Not too much really- it is just that it is such a long travel time.  I am trying to figure out books and projects to bring.  I am hoping to meet up with some fellow artist/crafters … if you are interested, email me or leave a comment.

This is the first quilt that I made that I considered a success- I was happy with the design and function.  I made it in 1978, 30 years ago.  The top and bottom edges were originally navy and white stripe.  I also used that fabric in the dark areas.  The design has changed because of how it faded but not ruined.  I used another stripe fabric from an old dress that has completely disintegrated.  This quilt has seen a lot of use and it is stained, torn, all around pretty ratty.  If I get inspired to make another quilt, I might use this design as a starting place.  I’m going to put this photo onto flickr so you can see it big if you are interested.

My new bag is done- another messenger/ schoolbag design. The last one I made was looking very worn out indeed. This is a very similar design. The changes- slightly bigger, longer and adjustable strap, slightly different pocket configuration, button closures.

I took these photos with the bag empty. The front-

You can see that I found my left-over pieces from the first bag and have used them up. With the flap up- 2 layers of pockets in the front.

The back- more of the old fabric. A large slip-in pocket in the back.

It is a real mish-mash of colors and fabrics. The purple on the inside is a home decorating fabric sample. The brown is cotton twill from a pair of pants. I recycled the hardware from an old schoolbag.

I’ve put my stuff into it. It seems so roomy now … but that won’t last long, I’m sure.

Onto other news. First- Happy Valentines Day everyone! And Happy 4th blog birthday to me! That was yesterday actually. I am constantly amazed at the wonderfulness of the internet. I am looking forward to another great year!

I AM going to London- the tickets are purchased and the hotel is booked. I am tagging along on a business trip. If anyone wants to meet up, I will be there from Wednesday through Sunday. I can bring freezer paper as a bribe!

The trip has meant a bit of reshuffling of schedules and as a result, on Tuesday, my son and I drove up to Portland, Maine. We went to visit the Maine College of Art. I love visiting these art schools. It is so much fun to see what is being created, all the tools and equipment, the amazing studios. And it surprises me that mostly I have no desire to go there anymore- I have so much in my head that going back to school would be a huge distraction… even if it would be fun to play with the toys- hee hee! It was fun to see Portland too. It is only 2 hours away but I have never been there before. They seem to have an exciting, thriving art scene. I think it would be a great place to go to Art School. We will see.

On the drive up, an entire thermos of coffee managed to leak out into the bag with my computer. Of course I spent the whole visit with a niggling worry that I had fried my computer. I brought it home for Ben to look at. Not too terribly bad. Now, two days later, I have an odd splotchy pattern on the left side of my screen- not so awful, except when I am trying to look at photos… which is, of course, what I do a lot of.  Hmm.  Maybe we will take it to the MacHospital while we are away…

this time for me! With a trip to London looking very likely now, I figured I needed to do some wardrobe enhancement.

I’d been meaning to make this for a few weeks. I made the big decision of what colors to use and laid it out for a general idea more then a week ago- and then it just sat there-

When I heard the news about a possible trip, that was the push I needed and I put it together yesterday. I got some input from Eleanor since she has been wearing her scarf for more then a month now. She suggested that I make it wider. This one is about 14 1/2 inches wide. I put a lettuce edge on it. People think it is hard to do, but really it couldn’t be easier. I do a zigzag stitch around the edge- that is it. The zigzag stitch stretches the knit just enough to give it a ripple effect. What would really be hard would be to put a zigzag edging on a stretchy fabric and not have the waves.

Now I need to make myself a new bag!  Back to the drawing board…

Finished- one tweedy tiki-

and the side-view-

The signature-

Here is one of the distractions that I was thinking about when I wrote the “revving” post. The tug got strong enough that I spent yesterday and part of this morning playing around with dyes. I have a collection of dye packets that I started accumulating in the mid-seventies when I was in college. They are mostly Cushing Acid Dyes. I have a paper with a photo of what the colors are suppose to look like. I also have my preconceived idea of what olive green or burgundy should look like. I have found neither to be even slightly helpful in guessing how a certain dye packet would look on my wool fabric. I decided it was time to test them all out and make my own reference.

This is what I did-

I collected all my white/off-white/cream wool fabric bits and set aside all the smaller pieces- odd shapes and smaller then 12″ x 12″- to use for my dye samples. I also cut up one white sweater with a 40% angora/60% wool content. I put 1/4 teaspoon (or less) of dye powder into a pyrex dish. (I have 2 pyrex dishes and a microwave that I just use for dyeing.) Dissolved the powder.  Added water, added wet fabric- at least 3 pieces of assorted textures, into the microwave for 10 minutes on high. Then I added a tablespoon of salt, stirred, and added a few more pieces of fabric, smushed into the dye. I let that sit for at least another 20 minutes, rinsed, threw it into the washer and dryer and then made my sample cards. I did 16 tests.

Here is an example card-

Dyeing this way makes it almost certain that the colors will be uneven- fine with me. The first fabric into the dyebath comes out darkest. The later fabrics can be not only lighter, but very different colors… The fabric texture and weave can really affect the look of the color- for instance the angora always looks lighter and hazy because the fluffy rabbit fur doesn’t absorb the dye like the wool.

Now I have these great piles of interesting and some very odd colors. Lucky me!
I was trying to see if I had something that would get me my favorite acid green, so the few bits left in my stash wouldn’t be so precious. I’m not there yet, but I’ve ruled out a lot of things and I have some ideas for additional experiments. I love doing this- it makes me feel like a mad scientist!

and another present that got finished-

This make-do is made on an old glass match holder-

The bottom of the container has a rough surface for striking the matches.

I made this for a friend. The match holder had belonged to her mother, but my friend didn’t have any use for it so I told her I’d make it into a pincushion.

I think I’m caught up now on my gifts and can start thinking about Valentines. And getting those tutorials finished that are half written in my drafts.

I am so far behind on everything… I’m still trying to catch up on a few gifts I didn’t… quite… get to… ahem.

A make-do pin cushion-

Made on a glass that had a large chip in the lip.

here is a back view-

detail-

and another gift- for our new little neighbor-

I’ll show more of this baby blanket soon.

I was looking for some earrings to wear to the selling event last night. I was thinking- I wish I had something that looked like my artwork. So… tada! I made these with my moo stickers!

they have stickers on both sides.

love this-

I found it hard to stop, once I got started. So, I have lots of new fabric to play with (or trade or whatever)!

These are the ones I mailed off to Bitter Betty today for the swap-

1. pears printed on light blue- this is showing half of the fat quarter. It is folded lengthwise.

2. Orange spirals and baby faces- also folded.

3.Green and black, Baby faces, folded fabric-

4. Flower babies printed on light blue-

5. and on off-white with different spacing-

6. Red birds, green leaves, light blue background-

I have the other half of the fat quarter of most of these. I sent the ones that didn’t have the mistakes!

Then there are these-

The bugs faded quite a bit when I washed them, so now they are mine. In general I wasn’t too happy with the ones I printed on the green Kona cotton. The colors must not have absorbed well, because all of them were a bit faded after washing.

I liked this one so much that in the end, I decided to keep it.

even after I’d printed up more in various color and image combinations! I am thinking about cutting up some of these for patches or ribbons.

these too- ribbons or strips-

These are odd sized test pieces and use up the ink/paint pieces. I won’t have any problem finding uses for these non-standard shapes.

and lastly, I needed fabric like this for my applique work-

I am so glad I decided to participate in the swap- just the incentive I needed to get me started. This is a crazy week though. Isn’t it always that way when we get back from vacation? I am having my workshop this coming weekend at my house- that means I have to clean up space to do it in! I’ve got lots of things on my mind and lots of things I haven’t had a chance to blog about yet, so if you are wondering why you haven’t heard from me, that’s why. If I owe you an email, write again. I might have lost it. Now, back to cleaning up!

I’ve been working away on my fabric stamping project. So much to learn!

I showed my carved stamps and first experiments here. Abby lent me a very helpful book. After looking through it, I made some other stamps by gluing string to cardboard in a spiral-

and also rice onto cardboard-

I love these patterns. I was thinking I would use them as background texture, but I really like them the way they are. I can really see using these patterns in my applique work.

BTW- I am not using acrylic paint for the stamping after all. As I have mentioned before, I have a house full of so much art supplies, I should always be able to find what I need. A few years ago, I bought some Createx colors and fabric medium at a yard sale (Thanks Beate!) and that is what I am using. I learned in the book, that you can make a stamp pad using felt. It really works! This is the felt (el cheapo variety) sitting on top of the color. I press the felt into the color using my palette knife, until it is saturated. Then, stamp away.

And here is what I’ve done so far-

bugs-

birds-

ack- a mistake! One of many, actually…

and flower babies-

They are being washed right now. Hopefully they will look the same afterwards.