I’ve gotten a little done on the pears. Here they are, all basted down. They are made from 5 wool recycled sweaters and one piece of woven wool.
I am appliqueing them, using that method I learned at Purl last summer-
and now they are sewed down. That’s a piece of cashmere that they are sewed onto, from my Mom’s stash.
I’m sorry about all the problems with the blog and comments and all. Hopefully we will figure out a way to get things running smoothly and consistently again.
I just finished my pages for Theresa’s book.
I stuck closer to my comfortable medium this time- fabric and sewing.
Here is the west coast house open-
and the east coast house-
The hard part was figuring out how to put the goodies into the pocket without having everything spill out, every time anyone picked up the book. I made a card and attached my little goodie bags to it. I put papers and other stuff straight into the pocket- the things that are less likely to fall out. Look how fat the book is already! I can’t wait to see how they look in a few more months!
If you are interested in seeing other paper bag books, I found some by putting “paper bag book” into an ebay search. Very interesting.
Besides the blanket, I’ve been working on other stuff… things are not going smoothly. Back in January, I posted a photo with some sketches of ideas I wanted to work on. For at least 2 weeks, I’ve been working on making a big head baby… I can’t get it to work for me. I can’t get my little sketch and the vague idea in my head to turn into a finished 3D design that I’m happy with. Maybe I need to get the idea into better focus…
So, I’m trying a different approach. These guys are little- just about 6 inches tall. Sort of 3D sketch dolls.
Yesterday, I broke down and set up a work table in a heated room. My attic studio has been unbearably cold. I think the cold had cut off my creative juices.
And remember that personal rules discussion? Now that the blanket is finish, here is the project next in line for my not-art/ house stuff category. It’s going to be a sofa pillow.
before I forget- does anyone have any fabric with map imagery on it that you’d like to trade or sell me? I’m looking for something map-like but not too terribly specific. I was looking at hankies and tea towels on ebay, with state maps, but it really wasn’t mappy enough.
And my blanket is done!
It has a little fringe, all the ends that were in the middle of the rows are sewn in, I washed it and now it is ready for keeping us cozy. It has started already-
I just couldn’t help myself when I was photographing the blanket.
It took me 5 1/2 weeks to knit. I only used yarn that I already had. It weighs 1 lb and 10 oz. It is approximately 4 ft x 4 ft. It was knit with worsted weight wool on size 10 1/2 needles which made a loose and drapey fabric. Here is a photo on Flickr that shows the blanket spread out.
Happy Valentines Day everybody. But that isn’t the big holiday this week around my house-
Yesterday was my third year blog birthday- and considering how much this blogging thing has enriched my life, it is most certainly worth celebrating! I am hoping for another wonderful year of meeting new people, swaps, round robins, feedback, exchanges of information- the community. That’s been the best part.
It’s a snow day today. Peter has no school. In our town, they blow a very loud horn when school is canceled or delayed. Seems so very old fashioned.
I managed to get a lot closer to being done with my blanket this past week.
When we were visiting Eleanor this past weekend, we sat around and talked and I knit… It is now 47 inches long. I have 2 more color stripes I want to do. I ran out of brown (the constant stripe color)- grrr. I thought about buying some more, but no, the whole point of this project is to use up what I have. So, the last stripes are black. I doubt anyone will complain.
A clarification of sorts- I start tons of projects that don’t get finished. It’s just that the blanket project is in my head in a different category from what I think of as my “art” projects. The blanket is a home project. I have a long list of home projects I want to get done. Curtains and throw pillows for our new futon sofa are at the top of the list. It’s these home projects that I am trying to keep under some control. My personal rules are VERY complicated with oh so many exceptions, footnotes and extenuating circumstances. Good thing I can make them up as I go along!
Look at that! I won a prize! My contribution was chosen for the ACA award which means that next winter, my art will be on the cover of the catalog- I got a call on Thursday to tell me that I’d won and it made my day, my week, maybe longer! There was an opening today where they made a presentation of prizes. They said very nice things about my piece and asked me if I had anything to say… which of course I didn’t- I froze- uhhhh.
And here are flowers that we were suppose to give to Eleanor. We were down in New York for Friday and Saturday.
Eleanor directed a play at school and this was performance time. It was fantastic! Sorry about the flowers though…
On another topic- I am so sick of my knitted blanket project. I am pushing to finish it because I have all these other things I want to work on but don’t want to start until it is done. One of those personal rules things.
My postcard is up on the ArtStream shop now- check it out. There is loads of great artwork for under $100.
Week 4- The blanket continues to grow. It is now 35 inches long and weighs 1 pound 2 oz. It seems much heavier as I’m knitting it. A big plus right now- it covers my lap and it’s been freezing around here!
I’ve been thinking about pears-
I’m not sure where this is going.
And, I’m working on a new design which involves…
messes. Scrap paper, scrap fabric, tape, glue, and a trash can.
This is what I’m working on. No, they aren’t aliens.
Here she is, sitting in the kitchen. She is not done yet. Her wig is not finished, just pinned on. I’m thinking about a hat. There were a few other things in the bag that I haven’t used. I’m still thinking about them. I don’t have to use them but it would be fun to use it all…
I really struggled to get the center opening of the vest and the cross-over of the coat to match up. I put lace around the collar but it doesn’t really show here.
the coat button- it was part of my bag.
The vest and the lining of the coat-
sleeves and lace at the wrist-
Here she is with my hand which may give you some scale. Also, little buttons on the sweater.
One of the challenges was how to make the layers close, without having too much bulkiness in the center with buttons, snaps, overlaps, etc. I decided to butt the edges of the sweater and make loop buttonholes. Same with the vest, except I used hooks.
Here are the shoes-
Since I’m not quite sure what else I want to do and I have another project pressing, I’ve started on something else… But really, I will try to finish this and not get completely distracted!
I didn’t get much done on the blanket this week-
It is 29 inches long now. It is getting bulky to work on- warm, but hard to maneuver.
My doll is coming along, although she won’t be finished for doll club tomorrow. Here is where I was this morning-
I wanted the sweater to be more form fitting. I ended up cutting it down the front and took some darts at the sides. No buttons yet- actually, I’m not sure about how I’m going to close the sweater.
The coat is mostly done- no button yet. She’s got felt shoes- no buttons yet. I am trying out this hair- undyed cashmere goat.
I decided she needed another layer- vest in progress-
And here she is at the end of the day with her vest on. I’m thinking of going with tibetan lambswool hair- it fills more space and the frizzies have a lot of personality.
Everything is pinned on- hair, sweater, vest, coat, shoes. Everything needs closures of some sort… well the hair will need glue. I’m still thinking about some lace too- I paint “dyed” some, but I’m not satisfied with the color yet. And I’ve run out of time for today.
I am doing another paper bag themed project- this one with my doll club. The idea for this one was that each person who wanted to participate would put a selection of materials into an opaque paper bag- a fat quarter, trims, buttons, whatever. Then, all the closed bags were shuffled up and redistributed. The idea was to get people inspired and excited about something new. Not that I need inspiration… I’ve got a huge long line of ideas I haven’t gotten to yet, but I wanted to participate anyway. I am finally getting to work on it (doll club is Thursday and I’ve had the bag since November!). I am using this project as a way of dressing some of my poor naked dolls- see New Years resolutions.
This is what I got in my bag- oops, I photographed the wrong side of the large floral fabric. There is also a beautiful button that somehow got misplaced before I started taking pictures.
Here you can see the doll I’m using- I took off her hair- it really gets in the way while I’m working. I’ll glue it on at the end.
and that is the right side of the fabric- it is beautiful. I was very lucky with my bag- thanks Jenifer!
and one more photo- I’ve got the pants mostly done. You can see the dotty waistband in the 2nd photo. The sweater and socks was what the doll was wearing before I started. I’ll have to decide about those. I have one sleeve on- very fancy, 2 fabrics because … I didn’t have enough fabric to make the sleeves so I improvised. I’ve got the lining chosen (the hard part), cut and sewed. Now I need to go put in the other sleeve and put the lining in. The girl probably won’t be finished by Thursday, but she will be a lot closer to being finished. Yeah!
And, thank you, thank you to everyone who has bought my cards! All the orders have been mailed so you should be getting them soon!