Making My Days...

Baby bumps

2012-02-13T17:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we threw a baby shower for my sister. She was besieged by presents and love.

Afterwards, I grabbed my sister and we went out to her backyard for the quickest photo shoot ever, before she headed off to a late mass. The light was soft and golden, and I finally got the baby bump photos I've been searching for.

You can tell how much she's looking forward to this little girl.

The baby shower went well.
We hung the house with garlands. They're the same ones we used to decorate her May wedding, almost 9 months ago.

I have to confess something:

Sometimes, I feel like showers are just polite packaging around a gift giving ceremony. I respect that, because people need the gifts and their loved ones want to give them good things, but that doesn't make the party very enjoyable. However, this one was actually fun.

We played a couple games, but my runaway favorite was one where we split into teams and made fake baby bellies. The teams were instructed to pick a model, and using saran wrap and a pillow, make a baby bump. The team who's baby bump most closely matched Sarah's won. Much hilarity ensued.

Annie got extra into her role, putting the pillow underneath her shirt and tucking it into her pants to get the right shape. She also did an uncannily good pregnancy waddle, hand propped on her hip to support her "aching back."

dreaming of summer

2012-02-09T18:51:00.000-08:00

My week has been a series of busy nothings. I've been finishing a lot of projects, but not too many of them aren't quite ready to be photographed, so I haven't been updating.

Also, the weather is dreary and grey. The trees and dead plants have had all of their ethereal beauty beaten out of them, and then been rained on.

All in all, I'm longing for summer.

I was organizing my digital files, and ran across a photomerge I created a couple of summers ago, during one of those soft, warm rain showers that go on all day.
I took a series of photos from the tops of the trees to the forest floor, then merged them together in photoshop.
I love the dreamy result.

Baking bread

2012-02-04T22:13:00.000-08:00

I've been practicing photographing food. It's not as easy as it looks.
I think that food tricks me, through it's smell, and the physical feel as I'm preparing it. I always think it looks better than it actually does. There are so many dishes that are lumpy, or brown, or both. It takes some serious tricks, excellent garnish, and a repertoire of cute serving dishes to make food look nearly as good as I think it does.

Bread however, is a very humble food. I find it, not good looking, but beautiful.

I love making bread. My mother made bread throughout my childhood. I love the smell of yeast, then the smell of the pale dough, then the smell of baking bread. With each stage, the smells get warmer until you get the piping hot bread coming out of the oven.
My favorite part is kneading the dough. It's very forceful, but such a constructive act. It's a wonderful way to work out frustrations. It's visceral, like a massage. The dough communicates with you. Underneath your hands, you can tell when it's properly mixed, when it needs more moisture, or more flour, or when it's developed the proper stretch and bouyancy of a well kneaded dough.

I was kneading up a large lump of dough up this afternoon. I was in that kind of zen place I get to about 5 minutes in, and I looked down at my hands, knuckling deep into the dough lump. And then I knew I needed to get my camera.
And get someone else to knead the dough, because it's physically impossible to knead dough and take pictures at the same time.

Luckily, Annie's home this weekend, and was quite willing to be my hand model/kitchen maid.
I love the stretch and pull, the motion and the stillness, and the way the flour dust on the counter changes as the dough moves over it and pushes it about.

doesn't the dough texture look rather like the craters of a moon?

Let your light so shine...

2012-02-02T19:48:00.000-08:00

It's Candlemas today. It's one of the more obscure catholic holy days. In the middle ages, it was one of the high Holy Days, as it celebrated the end of Christmas and the return to work. Now, it's simply the feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.
It's also the day the priest blesses candles for use in the church throughout the year, and in some churches, hands them out to anyone who goes to mass that day.

My parents happened to receive a couple candles (they go to mass most every weekday), and brought them home, to me, where I happened to be reading a blog post about, you guessed it, Candlemas.

Inspired, I decided to create some light in my own home for my loved ones this evening, and to share that glow with you.
Enjoy!

Incidentally, the tealight candle holders are old insulaters from industrial electrical wires. I've upended them. Some of them stand up great by themselves, but others I supported, using various thrifted vessels and stands.

A Shower for Baby Wombat

2012-01-29T13:20:00.000-08:00

Today, my little brother spontaneously complimented me on a design, rather out of the blue. I hadn't shown it to him yet, and so was surprised he'd seen it.
I was deeply touched, because it's rare for him to offer me an unsolicited compliment. (It's my own fault: when I finish something new I tend to shove it at various loved ones until they Give Me Opinions.)

The thing he complimented me on was the design for a second baby shower invitation.

My sister and my sister in-law are due within two weeks of each other, and another sister is due in September. My parents are surprisingly chill about it all. For how much they love babies, you'd think they'd be over the moon. Instead, they are totally laid back. You see, unlike most grandparents, who love that they can spoil the kids and then give them back, my parents would much rather keep the babies. Yes, they love babies that much.

I've been calling my brother's baby-to-be "Baby Wombat" because, well, first because it's fun. Second, because have you ever seen a baby wombat? Stinkin' cute (and I don't normally go for the whole look-at-small-animals-and-coo sort of thing).

I am unable to throw my sister-in-law a baby shower, because she's half the world away from me. So, instead, I'm throwing a virtual shower.
Ladies who know and love my brother and his wife will come, be fed a lovely lunch, and make cards to send them. Then we'll send them a small package of the cards, handmade items people have been making, and a lump sum so they can buy baby things there.
I tried and tried to think of a way to send them actual gifts, or a gift card, but to no avail. Shipping a gift easily doubles or triples its cost through postage and customs, and there aren't really any websites or merchants that cater to both the US and China/Korea.

The invitations for this event have been both a joy and a frustration.
They've been a joy because I quite like the design, and it came together beautifully in an hour or two with photoshop. Even the font came together easily, and I usually angst about the appropriate font for quite a while (to serif, or not to serif, that is the question...).
They've been frustrating because I think the printer is doing its best to die. It is printing everything with soft pinstripes, which aren't fixed by calibrating the printer or cleaning the print heads. It also won't print it with the intensity I really want, and it used to give me.

See how rich the yellows look in the digital version of the inside?

Even with the printing faults, they still look quite lovely. Even the pinstriping sort of looks intentional. I love the soft yellow roses. They're from a scan of yet another victorian post card. I also love the baby belly design being there, but not being too ostentatious.

Chipper as h*ll pillows, and weather to match

2012-01-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

The sky is a chipper blue, and my mood matches it.

Incidentally, so do my new pillows.

I finally finished my "bubble wrap" pillow. I got all of the bubbles done, and the intricate quilted panel I decided to do on the back. And then I forgot about it, more or less, for about 7 months. All that remained to do was some quick machine stitching and uncomplicated hand finishing for the seams on the front (the front panel has a vintage hanky behind all the "bubbles"). Still, it took me all that time to get from "I should work on this" to "I'm going to work on this tonight."
The bubble wrap pillow makes me smile every time I see it. It's just so absurd. And pretty. And I didn't make it for anyone else but me, which is rare.

The second pillow I made out of a men's shirt, when the first pillow looked lonely. So now they get to hang out together until I get the room assembled that they're going to go into, and refurbish the chair they will be on.

Here's a few more photos, so you can see the details, and the other sides of course:

The quilt I photographed them on is a vintage one that mom got somehow, but she doesn't remember it. I'll show it to her and see if it jogs her memory.
I suspect she inherited it from her side of the family at some point, put it away in her closet (because kids destroy things if you leave them out. Who knew?) and then forgot about it. With all the upheaval and room moving, it's surfaced again.

It's completely hand pieced and hand quilted. I think the fabric is 1930s feedsack prints. It's in excellent condition except for a tear in the middle from being folded so long. I think I can mend it, but before I do that, I've got to finish another set of baby shower invitations, mend my brother's star wars pajama pants, and make oodles of baby bibs.
I love the fabric that went into making the fan blocks. I'll alternate details of the quilt with pictures of other things that have been improving my mood lately.

Oh, this kid! I found his cut mug on kirtsy, and envy the photographer who captured it.

Yes, V-Day is just around the corner, but I like Valentine graffiti better than the typical stuffed animals and cheesiness.

I'm working on designing a logo and business card for my photography. This business card is just too delicious!

A happy strawberry from Elsa Mora.

Let us go in; the fog is rising.

2012-01-26T17:22:00.000-08:00

Reportedly, those were Emily Dickenson's last words. How very obscure, rather like both fog and Dickenson herself.

There's a lovely fog on tonight, lingering in the streets from this afternoon when it silently settled into the river valley. I'm sure it's not lovely for the people driving in it, who are all moving extra slow like the whole city is in one enormous funeral procession. But it's lovely for me, and my camera.

I couldn't resist. I went out and took pictures while the light was transforming from an underwater-afternoon light, to a unworldly evening light, punctuated by glowing tungsten and florescence.
The mist made even my neighborhood look dreamy, which is no small trick, as it's a mix of abandoned homes, unkempt rentals, and owners trying to keep up appearances.

I wended my way towards the river, expecting to find it quite dreamy in the fog. Instead, I found it next to impossible to see at all. It just disappeared into one quiet meditation in Middle Grey, rather like a Whistler nocturne. The camera actually picked up more detail than my eye could without straining. It was...beautiful.

The pictures have a temperature to them: the same misty cold that was seeping into my sweater while I was taking them. So grab yourself a cup of something warm while you peruse.

I thought about adding little notes, saying things about where each picture was taken, or what I like about them, but it seemed rather besides the point. I mean, the whole thing about fog is how disorienting it is, how each familiar place and object is rendered strange, sublime, and unreal.

Now I'm off to pour myself a steaming cup of chai.

Print Design for Sarah's "nest egg"

2012-01-19T19:05:00.000-08:00

I've been ignoring various projects I'm supposed to be finishing (can we say really late Christmas presents anyone?). Instead, I've been working on a braided rug for my new room (more on this later), and designing the invitations for my sister's baby shower.

The invitation is very pink, especially once it's combined with the pink envelope and the pink-and-black bird sticker I designed to seal them.
I forgive it because I really like the nest I drew.

The most interesting part for me was the evolution of it as a graphic design. I have digital documentation of almost all of the stages because I was emailing back and forth with my sister.

I started with an image I created as part of a future wedding suite. It's meant to be on the back of the RSVP postcards. (The frame for the main invitation is an adaptation of the frame in this post.)

Then I added an egg I created digitally and filled in the background. It ended up blue because I was thinking of robin's eggs.

The mommy to-be pointed out the inappropriateness of blue, seeing as how she's having a little girl, so I turned it pink.

Somehow that was less than thrilling. I tried making it even more pink.

I kind of liked it, despite a sincere aversion to pink. My mother and sister didn't.

I tried to tone it down.

I tried pink with blue flowers and almost heaved. Baby pink and baby blue really don't look good together, which is probably why almost all designs incorporating both incorporate another color, such as grass green.

Finally, I tried pink egg, black floral design, and a pink border.

viola. Something everyone could be happy with.

Here's what the inside looks like:

I'll show you what it looks like all printed out tomorrow, when there's better light to photograph by.

Winter texture

2012-01-13T23:17:00.000-08:00

It finally snowed!!!

As I was photographing the snow, it was already melting and sliding away.
The temperature plummeted in the hours following, and we still have snow on the ground, but it's not clinging to every little hummock and detail of the landscape the way it was when it was fresh and wet.

I've been noticing the texture of plants and trees recently.
The cold weather seems to wear away at plants, changing them into something different than what they were in the fall.

Last night, I went out to fetch something from the car. The snow was coming down exactly like the glitter in a snow globe.
I've never seen it look like that. It looked like fake snow in a movie. It was so shiny, you could mistake it for glitter, both on the ground and as it floated through the air.

Snow falling at night is practically impossible to photograph, and certainly beyond me.

Silent, Soft, and Slow...

2012-01-10T14:33:00.000-08:00

This Longfellow poem always gives me a frisson. I took these pictures almost exactly three years ago, and feel that they match perfectly. I always think of them both, together, at this time of year.

Snowflakes

Outof the bosom of the Air
Out of the cloud-folds of her garmentsshaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over theharvest-fields forsaken,
Silent, and soft, and slow
Descendsthe snow.

Even as our cloudy fancies take
Suddenly shape insome divine expression,
Even as the troubled heart doth make
Inthe white countenance confession
The troubled sky reveals
Thegrief it feels.

This is the poem of the air,
Slowly insilent syllables recorded;
This is the secret of despair,
Longin its cloudy bosom hoarded,
Now whispered and revealed
To woodand field.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

how I wish it would snow.

ewww! gross!

2012-01-05T13:07:00.000-08:00

The Christmas flower arrangements have gone bad, and today I got rid of them, with the exception of some mums and greenery that are, against all odds, hanging on.
There are few smells more disgusting than putrid flowers.
It's smells warm, and slimy, and gag-inducing, and... icky.

While I was emptying the vases and trying to hold my breath, I realized that there was an odd, morbid, picturesque quality to the arrangement I was about to dump.
So I decided to take pictures of it.

Every once in a while, I get the urge to take pictures of truly gross things. Sometimes I decide not to, but other times, I give in. I wind up with these photos that I have had no idea what to do with. However, I now have a blog, so no I do have something to do with them: inflict them on you!

In addition to the dead flowers, I've included pictures of a burnt cookie sheet, a dead pet fish (he's in the plastic bag because I was about to return him to the store for a refund, but then my mom lost him in Meijer. True story. ), and a house that burnt down in my neighborhood a couple winters ago.

enjoy! (insert maniacal laugh here)

best of 2011: still life and windows

2011-12-31T23:51:00.000-08:00

Blogger uploaded the pictures for this entry in the order I shot them in, throughout the year. I decided to leave them that way. It seemed fitting somehow.

Happy New Year everyone!

More lovely pictures after the break!

Best of 2011: Portraits

2011-12-30T00:54:00.000-08:00

It's been a good year for portraits. Tons of friends and families, and friends with families.
I've found babies are especially fun to photograph. They're ridiculously spontaneous.

It was also the year I finally started getting decent portraits of my best friend, Ann. I've been trying to photograph her for years, and they've all been less than satisfactory. Either I was making it too "arty" or she was too conscious of the camera, and subtracted some of her personality from her face in order to "pose." Somehow, we both became comfortable enough, and I got some we both really like.
I also managed to get a couple good pictures of my father, who is also hard to photograph well.

this is my mother, working on pottery late at night. I doubt she even knows I took this picture.

smooches,

smooches!

The thing I've noticed about photographing new mothers, is that their attention is so completely not on themselves. Their life seems to be one unending vigil, overseeing their child.

charming isn't she? I love how her face looks like rubber. We were in the middle of her engagement shoot and all the smooching was making her giddy.

best of 2011: Landscapes

2011-12-29T21:49:00.000-08:00

I've been sifting through the photographs I've taken this year, deciding which were most successful, which ones have something in them worth exploring further.

I take a lot of photos of people, and these ones are the ones that end up copied to a disc, shown at family gatherings, or printed out.
However, I also take other pictures. I shoot what I see, and I'm not always gazing at people. Sometimes I'm gazing off into the middle distance and finding something there that is well worth capturing.

These pictures don't get shown off so much. I keep them in a file on my computer, edit them at my leisure, and critique them later. I don't have many people around me that I can discuss the relative merits of a photo with, so I have an interior discussion with myself about its composition, lighting, whether it captured what I saw, whether it still captures my interest, and originality of the subject matter. It's good practice, and keeps my mind fresh. Most importantly, it fills up that well inside of me: the one that I must pour raw beauty into, lest I run out of beauty to pour out.

Some of these photographs are more successful than others. Here's the ones that I feel have been most successful this year, organized by subject matter into different posts. Here's the landscapes:

dream a little dream

2011-12-26T15:24:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, I stumbled across a picture of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (of Finding Neverland fame) and just loved the soft femininity of it.
I put the photograph in my photography inspiration folder, vowing to shoot a picture of a woman that looks as dreamy as that. Then, when sorting through my photos, I found that I already had.

It's a funny old world isn't it?

I found the portrait on a blog run by one of the librarians of the Beinecke Rare Book Collection. It's a lovely blog, full of interesting pictures and book related tidbits. I stumbled across it while doing a google search on wombats, of all things.

Count the Blessings that are Real.

2011-12-23T18:46:00.000-08:00

"If I cannot bring You comfort,
Then at least I bring you Hope.
For nothing is more precious
than the time we have, and so
We all must learn from small misfortune.
Count the blessings that are real.
Let the Bells ring out for Christmas
at the closing of the Year!"

-Hans Zimmer, "At the Closing of the Year"

That quotation has been running through my head the past couple weeks. I think it's because my family is going through a period of change, and all of the discomfort, confusion, and opportunities that come with it. We don't have much comfort this Holiday season, but a great, great deal of hope.

This is a strange Christmas in my family.
We are at once more, and less than we have always been.

We have 3 new spouses, 2 new neices, and a couple more little ones on the way. Our year has been such a year of abundance.
However, all this abundance has caused certain deficits. Less time for doing homemade stuff, less flexibility in schedules, leading to fewer scheduled family events. Less energy leading to less baking, less decorating, or any of the other finishing touches that make Christmas feel that much more...Christmas-y.

However, some traditions remain constant.

We always decorate our parents house on the 24th. This is because, as my parents explained to me when I was very young, before the 24th, it's not Christmas; it's Advent.
This lead to such a pleasant sense of expectation throughout the month of December, and to marvelous memories of Christmas Eve. Each year, we cheerily cover every available surface with decorations of every kind, ranging from beautiful victorian angels collected by my Grandmother, to the cheesy, paper things we made while still in pre-school.

So tomorrow, despite all the changes, we will be decking our halls, and preparing the way for the Christ-child in a blaze of light and joy.

In preparation, my sisters and I went to the Christmas tree farm to pick up some swags and a wreath for our parents door. It was lovely, and they were so very silly, so I felt the need to share.

Story telling, and stories told.

2011-12-13T14:02:00.001-08:00

My little brother Paul reading "Bearskin" (ill. Trina Schart Hyman) aloud.

My 7 year old Korean niece is creative, a trait she inherited from her mother. Her drawings are full of detail, and are beginning to show active observation of the world around her. Most kids are busy drawing "symbols" of the world around them. (ex: the lolly-pop shaped things every child knows is a tree) My niece is beginning to observe reality, and incorporate details from it into her drawings. For example, she drew me as a princess surrounded by a cloud of diamonds, and she got my hair-do right. I don't have much contact with her, because they live, quite literally, on the other side of the world. However, I do whatever I can to fan that spark of creativity.

I've sent her art supplies, but have been waiting until Christmas to send her some inspiration. Various of my siblings pooled our money, and bought her the same books that inspired and enthralled us as children. Some are still in print, but a fair amount of them are not, which makes finding good copies an "adventure." We picked some books illustrated by Trina Schart Hymen, The Golden Book of Fairy Tales, and of course, some Dr. Suess.
Now here's the problem with our little scheme: my niece can't read english.

She can understand spoken english pretty well, though. So, I decided to record family members reading the books aloud to her.

I knew it would be a good gift to give, and one full of familial tradition.
For me, opening these books feels like coming home, the same way Southern Ohio hills are what looks like home, or the way bread rising smells like home, to me.

I was read to a lot as a child, and it was a wonderful, warm experience. My father read to us a great deal. By the time I came along, many of my siblings had learned to imitate my father, and read aloud to the children younger than them. My sister Mary was particularly enthusiastic about this. There were probably hundreds of nights where she read to us while we worked on the dishes. We loved being read to, but hated doing dishes. We liked to stop mid-dish and just listen. I can still hear her saying "I won't keep reading unless you keep working."

I made sure that my father was one of the ones who I recorded.
He read "The Sleep Book" by Dr. Suess.
It's a book I can remember being read to me by his father. Apparently my grandfather read to my father when he was a little boy, and so my father learned to bond with us by reading to us frequently. We would perch on whichever of his limbs were most available. Little kids got precedence over big kids, especially if it was a picture book. The best spot, if he was lying on his stomach on the floor, was straddling his back, and peering over his shoulder at the book.

As I was preparing for the readings, I opened my favorite children's book again (The Mechanical Doll, ill. Trina Schart Hymen), and a phrase jumped out at me. I heard it in my sister Mary's voice. She was young, probably 18 or so, and trying to sound like a jaded, 60 year old man. She slowed her chipper, clear alto into a world-weary drawl. Her voice acting may have been over-the-top, but it sure worked for me.
The illustrations absorbed me completely, even though there's only one every 3-4 pages. That book is magic:

Isn't that peacock feather just delicious? Plus, I love the bit of sulkiness in his angry face. It saves him from simply being a vicious b*st*rd for hitting something as beautiful as that.

She devotes the same meticulous attention to every inch of her etching plates, creating a richly toned image full of intricate detail. (I am a complete sucker for detail.)
I didn't realize they were etchings until years later when I took a printing class. I just thought they were ridiculously detailed drawings.

The thing is, I can hear the text so clearly in my sister's voice, but I can't for the life of me remember when she read it to me, or even picture where we were.

I hear The Jungle Book and most of Orson Scott Card's books in my father's voice (there are chunks I hear in my brother's voice, so I know he must've read it aloud too). When I pick up Dr. Suess, I hear my grandfather's soft, scratchy voice. I hear Anne of Greene Gables in my sister Rachel's voice. I hear "Mrs. Mike" in my sister Sarah's voice. I hear so many books in my brother Jacob's voice. among them are tit bits of "Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy,"Anne Fadiman essays, short stories by "Connie Willis" and just about anything he found humorous or interesting.

I can remember mourning, from a very young age, that there weren't more pictures in the Golden book of fairy tales. The pictures there are are so very glorious, that I just always wanted more.

like I said, glorious. (this is apparently an illustration from Thumbelina, but I had to read it again to find the part where there was a frog with a crown in Thumbelina.)

Oh, that windswept hair! (the monkey is a creeper, though. like a zombie monkey.)

These birds just make me laugh.

I drew my women like this throughout grade school (impossibly long neck and almost complete lack of nose notwithstanding):

I spent hours figuring out how to draw facets on jewels too, inspired by those rich pieces. (because of course Donkey Skin wore girdles of precious gems while hanging out with livestock and pretending to be a pig herder)

Guys were supposed to look like this:

especially those fantastic, perfectly articulated hands, and wonderful ankles. You can tell she spent years being rigorously drilled in anatomy at art school, and then learned to exaggerate them somewhere else.

My father still reads aloud. It's a highly specific love-language of his. He reads to my mother frequently. They used to read their prayer journals to each other. Now he mostly reads her books about the Civil War.
He also reads to whichever of his children are around. One of my "little" brothers is on break from college. They've been trundling their way through some Asimov. He reads to me too, but we're in between books. We both like sci-fi, but our tastes in authors don't overlap much, and it's too soon since the last reading to revisit "Canticle for Leibowitz" or the Ender's Game series.

As I've been writing this, Dad picked up our copy of Cinderella. It's a 1974 edition, illustrated by Sheilah Beckett. He kept snickering at the bits mom altered so it wouldn't contain any magic. (It's a long story why she did this, but in our copy, the Fairy Godmother is now an Angel, magic is miracle, etc.) He was truly moved by the way that Cinderella and Prince Charming gaze at each other across the page spread where they meet.

I think perhaps that's the secret of good reading aloud. Dad slips behind the words, and believes in them himself, so that we, his listeners, could also be caught up in that imaginary world.

Dad's right about the gaze. The prince is truly entranced. I was too, when I saw the illustration, but mostly by the dress. Oh, how I wanted that dress! And the hairstyle, which is held up by magic, er, miracle. I know this, because I tried, repeatedly, to replicate it on my own head when I was little.

Beckett has this neat trick of having a pretty limited tonal range (none of her lines are much darker than medium grey), yet conveying an atmospheric, deep space, full of detail and life.

I certainly placed myself inside the books. On the last page of Cinderella, there's a little flower girl, that I was half convinced was me. I did look a lot like that as a child. But it was the magic of the book: It made me want to be her, to be part of the story.

Teach me to love.

2011-12-13T10:27:00.000-08:00

I'm preparing a christmas package for my brother, who currently lives in China with his Korean wife and daughter. It should, if all goes reasonably well, be mailed out today.

There's so much love being shoved into that box, along with the various gifts. There's love layered in the pages of the children's books, and nestled in the folds of the wrapping paper, laid to rest beneath the bows.

Some of that lovingness is made up of handmade gifts. Handmade caramels. Cards hand drawn by my other neice, handmade earrings, and the most beautiful tiny hand-knit sweater and socks for the new baby they're expecting. My sister B made the sweater, and pictures of it are probably up on her blog, or will be shortly. I also decided to give my brother a folio I made, to store precious images and/or documents.

It was a cozy, warm process, making what I did, and then packing up my carefully wrought gifts with those of my family.

Inside the folio, I nestled the program from my sister's November wedding, and a print this:

I miss my brother, and his family quite a bit. It's too much love to keep to myself, so I must export it, and hope they receive it in good condition, all intentions properly interpreted, unmarred by the distance it must travel.

A gift for you.

2011-12-10T06:16:00.001-08:00

In the spirit of the season, I made a printable to share with you.

In a fit of post-wedding-I-can-now-do-whatever-I-want-with-my-spare-time madness, I staid up until 3 am the other night, scanning in the fronts and backs of Victorian, Edwardian, and 1920s era postcards my mother has collected over the years.

Then I realized that I actually have no spare time to do whatever I want with, because Christmas is right around the corner, and most of my Christmas presents this year have to be shipped, which means I can't exactly spend an all-nighter the 24th, getting them done. Well, I could, but then they'd get them for next Christmas instead of this one.
(Which is exactly what's going to happen with some handmade aprons I promised my gal-pals last year. Sorry ladies.)

So, I've had these lovely Victorian images, and decided to turn the only Christmas related one into a free, printable Christmas card for you peoples.

My printer was behaving, for lack of a more technical term, wonky, so it may print a bit more vibrantly for you. It kind of glows in an old-timey sort of way.
to download the printing proofs, follow this link.

The fonts I used are Maxinitiale and Heart Sweet Heart.

I also just love this postcard, not for the image, though the holly is lovely, but for the mushy things that the sender scrawled all over every available bit of the front.
Here's the original:

In case you're finding it hard to read, it says:
"With best wishes"
"Doz oo love me yes?"
"Oh, you kid!"
"How about this? xxxxx xxxxx"
"From you little Honeysuckle Tessie"

I don't know who this Tessie is, but she sure wasn't afraid to let the whole world (and the post-man) know about the depth of her affection.
She sounds perfectly lovely and enthusiastic. Plus, she has lovely penmanship.

2011-12-09T17:51:00.001-08:00

Stars, keep the watch. When night is dim
One more light the bowl shall brim,
Shining beyond the frosty weather,
Bright as sun and moon together.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the star, is on the way

I've liked posting these verses. However, I've gotten impatient, because I have at least 3 post's worth of things to show you. Some are things I'm working on, and some are just beautiful.

So, I'm posting both verse 3 and 4 tonight, and then tomorrow I get to finally give you a free printable of Christmas cards.

people look east... verse 3

2011-12-09T07:46:00.001-08:00

Birds, though you long have ceased to build,
Guard the nest that must be filled.
Even the hour when wings are frozen
God for fledging time has chosen.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the bird, is on the way.

The artist is Ernesto Cailvano. I stumbled on him while perusing butdoesitfloat.com, one of my favorite art blogs.

There's just something about his imagery that I quite like, every time, whether he's doing a floral study, or something abstract and geometric.

Have I mentioned how much I love using Google to search for images? I frequently download hi-res images so that I can look at them again, organize them into collections, and hopefully use them as inspiration for later work. It helps to have them culled out, rather than loosing track of where they are.
The problem is, once I've done so, I frequently lose track of who the original artist was or where I found it. Or, sometimes, I got it from a location where the source wasn't properly sited in the first place. Enter Google to Save the Day, and let me learn more about the art I love.

another ernesto Cailvano link.

his artwork at the Marker Heller Gallery.

People Look East... verse two

2011-12-06T13:46:00.001-08:00

Furrows, be glad. Though earth is bare,
One more seed is planted there:
Give up your strength the seed to nourish,
That in course the flower may flourish.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the rose, is on the way!

Glorious, aren't they?

the roses are scans I took from Edwardian era postcards, so they're copyright free. Feel free to download and use them for whatever suites your fancy.
I think I'm going to turn the red and yellow roses in to the background on my computer.

People look East...

2011-12-03T13:10:00.000-08:00

People look east
the time is near.
At the Crowning of the Year
Make your house fair as you are able
Trim the hearth and set the table.
People look East and sing today
Love the Guest is on the Way.

I love that song.
It's one of a few pre-Christmas carols that an imaginative choir director will insert during advent to mix it up instead of singing "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" again. Not that I have anything against "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." In fact, I know at least 4 verses of it. I always hear it in my mind in my father's warm tenor.

Anyway, back to People Look East. It's words were written in 1928, but it's tune is much older: a French carol called "Besancon"It's the perfect Preparing for Christmas song for me. The tune bounces with optimism, with a beat you could sweep floors or wax furniture to. It helps me remember why I'm doing all this shopping and working on these projects. It also reminds me that I haven't waxed the furniture in far too long.

I'm going to do 4 posts: 1 of each verse, with pictures to match.

These beautiful floral arrangements were created and photographed by Sarah Ryhanen of Saipua.

Her blog is here.
She also regularly writes floral arranging tips for Design Sponge. lovely, lovely, lovely.

Wedding Certificates... or the importance of a piece of paper

2011-12-01T14:27:00.001-08:00

I have a funny story to share with you.

My sister forgot to get married.
That is, they left the marriage license at home, and consequently didn't get anyone to sign it, and therefore were not legally married.
So, in the eyes of God, their souls were bound irrevocably together. However, in the eyes of the state, they were still two starry eyed lovers who had gone to church and then thrown a big party.

They didn't realize this until about 11:15, when we were packing everything up to get out of the reception site in time.
Under more "normal" circumstances, they would've waited until the next morning and tracked the priest down after Sunday mass at his home parish, and sheepishly asked him to sign it with them. However, they had chosen to have their wedding celebrated by a friend, a Dominican Father who is living in another state, and they didn't know when he was leaving on Sunday.
Luckily they knew he was staying at his (local) parent's house. So at about 12:15, they knocked on the door. Father Joe was thankfully still up, and they got married, for real, at his parents kitchen table. The priest's mother got pictures. I'm dying to see them.

In lieu of showing you my sister's "real" wedding photos, here's a few pictures of Jewish marriage certificates from Yale's Beinecke Rare Book Collection.

enjoy!

A link to the Beinecke Rare Book Collection website.

Wedded bliss

2011-11-29T16:38:00.001-08:00

My sister Rachel got married on Saturday to the love of her life: James Bond.

The priest made copious 007 jokes during his homily.

It was a glorious wedding. I did a great deal of the photography, which was easy. Shooting beautiful pictures of my sister and her groom was a bit like shooting fish in a barrel.

Now that the bride and groom have a disc of proofs, the mother of the bride has seen the pics, and the mother of the groom has a disc of pics on the way to her, I feel free to share a few with you lovely people.

Rachel and James are two of the most prayer filled people I know. They worked hard to fill their wedding with prayer and thanksgiving, meaning, and beauty. They succeeded marvelously.

I'm just a little bit proud of Rachel's bouquet, since I made it and got it to cascade every bit as much as she'd been hoping for. Here's a closer picture:

Around the ribbon, we put a rosary and a medal of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of marriages. There was another St. Nicholas medal inserted into James's boutteniere. The medals were a gift from Tammy Hemmerle, who also did a smashing job with the choral solos.

Rachel had 19 different musicians and singers singing parts and/or playing piano, violin, flute, bohdran, and bagpipes. I hope I'm not forgetting an instrument. It was beautiful, despite several of the musicians having just met each other that morning for practice.

Rachel had a small horde of flower girls. Half of them helped with her chapel length veil, and the other half scattered rose petals before her. However, their main task was to look ridiculously adorable.

They did this with enthusiasm and panache.

My favorite part of this picture is the little flower girl who is hugging Rachel's train. She's keeping it from getting dirty trailing on the ground, but you can tell how much she adores it. The little girls loved Rachel's outfit, particularly the veil which I think they regarded as a particularly beautiful toy.

A couple more pictures of flower girl cuteness:

She's listening attentively to Rachel and James singing a duet. They sang "Set Me As a Seal" to each other, and to dedicate their marriage to the Holy Family. I cried behind my camera. It was just so beautiful. It was James's idea, which is a little surprising, as it's such a Rachel-ish thing to do.

I love it when guys are so in love, they simply can't hold their beloved's hand with just one hand. Only holding with both hands will do.

The wedding party looked pretty smashing too.

and, of course, a good time was had by all.

Wedding sneak peek

2011-11-23T13:54:00.001-08:00

My sister is getting married the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Due to a volunteering spirit and a love of large scale craft projects, I have been, am, or will be, the invitation designer, centerpiece creator, project coordinator, florist, prop maker, and official photographer, not to mention little odds and ends projects, like the cake topper, hairpins for the flower girls, and a spot of sewing on the dress itself when the seamstress went temporarily insane and did everything to my sisters dress except what she wanted done.

I bit off just enough to make myself completely crazy trying to get it all done.

However, it's worth it. My sister is more precious to me than words, and the projects are finally coming together in a beautiful, memorable, and meaningful way.

Today, we decorated the reception hall. It's really, really good to see large projects come together, like the "Picture Wall".

A total of nine people have put in hours of their time to make this set piece for the reception. It's a large wall, with holes cut into it, so that people can pose behind it for a "framed" portrait.

The cream on cream "wall paper" is actually a repetitive stencil pattern that took way too long, but looks beautiful anyway.

We made it in two 4x8' sections with removable triangle legs, to make it easy to transport and store. The frames around the portrait holes and the baseboard are glued on with liquid nails.

We only glued the frames on last night, so I've never seen it completely together until today.

After we got the picture wall together, we hung the wedding portraits of parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and one great-great-grandmother.

I love that we can take pictures of our current family and friends, surrounded by so much history and love. I also love that all of the couples pictures were/are married for 25 years or more. In this family, "till death do us part" has been both a fact and a promise.

The picture wall wasn't the only way we got creative with frames.

This is the bride helping assemble a backdrop made of frames that we installed behind the sweetheart table.

We bought wooden thrift-store frames, took out the glass, then stretched fabric in them the same way you stretch a canvas.

Then we hung them using twine and eye screws.

I love the clean blocks of color. They look so modern, but at the same time have the perfect vintage charm the bride loves.

Here's what the centerpieces look like:

I love the red of the sumac. It's so deep and rich.

One last pic:

I debated about including this, but it's just too darn cute.

Sometime soon, I'll post a tutorial both for the picture wall, which was darn hard, and for this kind of readymade cake topper, which is sinfully easy.

The fruits are prickly pears. We couldn't find any real pears that were the right (small) size, so we got these because they're hilarious. And they kind of look like Mr. and Mrs. Potato-head.

PS. Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall Beauty

2011-10-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first real frost of the season.

So I hauled in my lavender plant, picked a few of the late blooming plants, said goodbye to my seasonal lovelies, and did some hand quilting, which is about the cosiest craft project imaginable.

Today, I bought some cardamon, which is my favorite cold weather baking and cooking spice. I put it in apples, steel cut oats, pumpkin and banana bread, my coffee...

It's also a favorite spice in a lot of indian and Middle Eastern dishes, so I'm going to try a couple of those out as well. I may even bust out the turmeric (I'm an adventurous soul, I know).

Monday, I'll do the mulching and prepping beds for winter.
My wardrobe has already made the transition to rich autumnal colors and lots of lovely layers, though I have to mend my favorite sweater, as it caught a snag while I was in New York.

I love the fall weather, but It's such a transitory season. It is full of bright colors, harvest, and warm scents, but it's promise is winter, with it's scraggly landscapes, denuded vines, and having to wear socks all the time in my chilly house.
Still, I'll enjoy the trees while I can.

All pictures taken and copyrighted by me.

Embroidery and Elsa Mora

2011-10-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

It seems like this fall has been a whirl of activity.
As I've been travelling, or sitting in the evening unwinding, I've been embroidering.

I got totally enspired by Elsa Mora, a Californian artist who works in several media, including paper cutting, doll making, book art, pen and paper...the list goes on for quite a while. She does all this while maintaining 5 blogs and raising two children. wow.
Plus, I totally want her studio. oh, and her brooch collection.

The piece that particularly inspired me was this. And this and this.

I was in lust. I totally want a brooch like that. I would love the piece it's a part of, but the brooch, I simply have to have. However, I'm broke, and therefore can't buy it. So, that means I have to create something like that, without plagiarizing her work, but getting what I want. Good thing I'm creative. :)
Large embroidery projects get onerous after a while, but surely I could do something small like that! So, I got out my random collection of embroidery floss (mostly stuff that people gave me, figuring I was crafty like that), and made this:

Not too shabby for a first try. I also didn't look at the image that inspired me while I was designing this, on purpose so that I would create my own image and not simply copy Elsa's brilliant work.

It worked up pretty quickly, in a night or two. I have some brooch settings I inherited from my grandfather that I'm going to set it into, whenever I get around to it.

Inspired by that, I decided to make another piece, that I think turned out very well:

I had a lot of fun learning the lattice work couching, and the boullion stitch. However, I think my favorite part is the tiny green seed stitches that are like leaves around the white french-knot "blossoms." They're barely visible, but they add dimensionality, and help the blossoms stand out from the background. The whole piece is only a little bigger than a playing card.

I'm thinking of making some more small embroidery pieces for Christmas gifts. In the meantime, I'm working on this sampler for my brother and his wife. They're expecting their first child together. I think the middle is going to have the child's name in it. It's an embroidery pattern printed in blue. You can tell I get bored with one part of the pattern while working this big. I work on another section, then go back to plugging away at the couching fill for that heart. I'm going to do a different fill for each heart, in shades of pink and wheat.

I thought I'd also share with you my current favorite pair of earrings. They're made from antique buttons, probably victorian. All I did was remove the back loop and glue on posts. They're kicky, but don't get in the way of my scarves, and they go with everything.

PS. here's a link to some free embroidery patterns Elsa Mora made.
enjoy!

Night and Day

2011-10-21T16:13:00.000-07:00

I've been travelling this past week.

This hasn't stopped me from being creative. Primarily, I've been embroidering at odd moments and documenting the wondrous quirks of my friends children. However, in the various vehicles, I will look out the windows, and something catches me, frequently it has to do with the windows themselves.

The night photos are all in NY. They day photos are all in Philly.

Oktoberfest: an essay in pictures

2011-09-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

Last night, a couple of siblings, my father and I went to Oktoberfest.

We listened to polka music (a rarity in Dayton, OH),

saw among other things, impeccably crafted, warmly decorated pottery by Rick Paladino.

made Annie try on a hat that made her look like a extraordinarily cute snow bunny,

and admired the scenery.

A moment before I snapped this picture, this woman was stirring a large, steaming pot with a paddle, like a scullery maid of yore.

The lighting was spectacularly fun to photograph: both warm and mysterious at the same time.

My photography got progressively more moody and atmospheric.

We drank wonderful, deeply flavored beer, smoked cigars,

and toddled home, just as it started to rain.

PS. Oktoberfest is still going on today, until 7, I believe.

a pattern for you!

2011-09-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

There's an increasing number of babies in my life. I love this. Their bright eyes, pudgy hands, cute feet, not to mention the awesome faces they make when they yawn.
So, when a new life is anounced, I want to make something for them. The problem is, what to make.

Well, stuffed animals work pretty well, but you never know if the child's going to like them in, say, 2 years. Blankets take too much time, at least the ones I've been making. Clothes are complicated. Bibs however, are both pretty, useful, and are sinfully easy to make.
So I've been making a lot of bibs.

I used a free pattern from Burda.com to get the approximate size, then sketched out what I would like the bib to look like, traced it, and have been using that pattern ever since. Now, I've scanned it and digitally redrawn it so I can share it with you.
It prints out on two 8.5x11 pieces of paper, which you tape together, matching the gray dots.

You will need:

11x15" or larger piece of cotton fabric
11x15" or larger piece of cotton terry cloth, flannel, or a knit.
sewing machine
thread
2 standard size pearl snap or plain snaps (one is a spare, because I always mess up the 1st time.)

NOTE: the solid line is the cutting line. The dotted line is where you're going to sew. This bib is sized for a baby aged 5 months to a year. If you want the pattern to fit a newborn, simply cut the top part of the strap to the innermost half-circular line. The middle half circular line is for babies about 3 months old.

1. Put the 2 pieces of fabric on top of each other, right sides together. pin pattern to fabrics. Cut out fabric along the solid line.

2. Sew the two pieces together along the dotted line. Remember to not sew the short, straight end closed.

3. cut small notches along the curved edges without cutting into your line of sewing. turn the bib right side out, pulling it through the unsewn strap end.

4. iron the bib completely flat, pulling out the edges so it's fully shaped. Tuck the exposed edge of the lower strap inside. Iron it so it holds its shape.

5. stitch around the entire edge of the bib, 1/4 or 1/8 from the edge. It doesn't matter what distance you pick. Just be consistant.
this stitching will keep the bib from going wonky in the dryer, and close up the exposed edge.

6. follow the instructions on the package and attach a pearl snap.

Done!

to get the pattern, click here.

This is the first time I've published a pattern, so I would LOVE comments or notes on how I could improve my directions, etc.

Fields of Color

2011-09-21T12:07:00.000-07:00

Beautiful, isn't it?
It's possibly the most successful example of a Tumbling Block quilt I've ever seen. The colors are so perfectly chosen, and the design so bold. A halfway decent quilt is a thing of beauty and a usable object.
A great quilt is, well, Art.
I came upon this quilt through the book "Treasury of American Quilts" It's my favorite book of quilts. It's full of quilts that transcend mere craftsmanship.
Don't get me wrong, I love craftsmanship. I'm utterly intrigued by the relationship between folk art and so called "real" art. I've also found it easier to sew, paint, and collage useful objects with people rather than cloistering myself away and making "high art." It's easier to get paid too.

Anyway, back to quilts
Some of my favorite quilts are color field quilts, mostly Amish. These women, forbidden from wearing bright colors, cover their beds with them instead.
The quilts, interestingly enough, pre-date color field paintings by as much as 100 years. The similarities in concept and color-play are startling.
It makes me wonder where artists really learn about color theory: whether it's the collegiate level science of Josef Albers and Hans Hoffman, or something learned much more fundamental, learned as we explore our natural world from a very young age.

This last quilt reminds me of the entire room of red Mark Rothkos at the National Gallery. I love those paintings. You'd think a room full of red paitings would be downright threatening. However, they're warm, and somehow soothing.

I couldn't find an image of them, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

I also love these Gee's Bend quilts. They were created by a family of women and their social circle starting in the 1930s. The put in mind Piet Mondrian, Joan Miro, and Hans Hoffman.

I could go on for a while about the historical context of these quilts, they've been written about fairly extensively, so I'll just include links to informative sites at the bottom of this post, rather than badly paraphrasing someone else's work.

gallery selling Gee's Bend Quilts

official Gee's Bend website

Mennonite Heritage Center

New room choice #1: To paint or not to paint (and if so, what color?)

2011-09-11T22:56:00.000-07:00

This was not what my bedroom looked like as a child, but I wish it was.

I think I'll just gaze at it for a while...

Sooo... I am probably switching bedrooms in my house.

Due to, er, difficulties, I'm living with my parents. But, now my little brother's moving out, which means he's vacating his man-cave of a room, which is, incidentally, the largest bedroom.

You would think this would make the room automatically up for grabs. Not true. All sorts of other family members get a vote in what happens to this room, including ones that haven't lived at home for years.
So, a great deal of discussion, and, to put it frankly, haggling, has ensued.

My father is mostly concerned that there are enough available beds should the youngest two boys suddenly move back in, or if one of my sisters wants to stay overnight, or both. My siblings are mostly concerned that I not paint over The Mural. I want to. I'm not allowed to, or I don't get the room ( and boy howdy could I use the extra space).

The Mural is a product of my youthful (8th grade thru Freshman year) enthusiasm, and has a long history behind it.
Back when I was very young, my siblings and I would switch rooms every year or two. I thought this was normal. Much later, I realized that we switched rooms whenever a new baby came along and mom and dad had to figure out where to put him/her. By the time I was 11, I was in a 12x13 room, along with four other of my sisters, ranging from age 8-21, and was sharing a full bed 8 months of the year (we were on a rotation, so that each sister got 4 glorious months of sleeping alone). We were like sardines, pickled in dust and estrogen.
So, I guilted my two sisters nearest me in age into saving money with me. We used the money to buy lumber for a loft, and paint for the walls. We lofted three of the beds, and designed the bottom two beds so that they could be removed .
I picked out the paint colors. It was not a discussion.
We painted the walls a sunny, buttery yellow with tomato-red trim. On one wall, we painted a mural. My sisters weren't happy with the original colorfield abstract landscape I designed, so, communally, we ended up finger painting in pine trees on the hills and adding a sunsetty glow to the dabbed on clouds.
This is The Mural.
it's ugly.

The thing is, they love it. And now, the two younger boys have been in that room for a while, and they're attached to it too.
I too am sentimentally attached, but that just means I want to take a picture before I paint over the gawdawful thing.

We've reached a compromise that I think will work. I get to paint the other walls and the woodwork any color I choose, but I can't paint the central panel of the scenic overlook. I'm going to tack up some fabric, though, so I don't have to look at it every day.
Problem solved.

Now, on to wall colors.

This is the wall colors I'm currently thinking about, but the wood trim would be a pale gray, rather than white. Also, I'm painting the ceiling cobalt blue with stenciled gold stars scattered across it.
I've always wanted to have a ceiling like that.

Here's the other options that have been tempting me:

that robin's egg blue is calming, but yummy. the thing is, the room faces Northwest, and is well shaded, so I'm afraid that it won't look nearly as good when the incandescent or flourescent light mixes with it.

I love these luscious zinnia pinks! They're so warm and summery, and wood looks so good next to them. I think this would be my first choice for a sitting room or studio accent wall, but it might be too visually stimulating for a bedroom.

So, what do you think? I'd love to hear your opinion!

"Serve God, Love Me. And Mend."

2011-09-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

-Much Ado About Nothing, Act V, scene II

I love that line. Benedict says it to Beatrice to help comfort her. Beatrice is freaking out about the plight of her cousin, Hero, and also suffering from a bad cold, as I recall. I find it a great mantra when I'm recovering from, well, anything.

I sometimes think it's a holy act to mend something.

There's just something about the remaking of something. I like it better than sewing an item from scratch.
When making something new, I have to destroy something perfectly good, (a length of cloth) with infinite possibilities, and limit it down to just one possibility.

Giving an old thing new life, however, that's just lovely.

There's nothing destructive about it, only constructive.

Last month I mended a hanky. I've never been so proud of myself.
It was a beautiful vintage hanky I'd gotten from my Aunt with diagonal drawn thread-work that makes my sister B go weak in the knees. I accidentally caught it with the end of a scissors while I was working on something else. Good mending is very close to embroidery. It requires careful, even stitches and a certain sort of patience. The mend, having been done successfully, is only visible from a few inches away, doesn't mar the hanky, and keeps the rip from slowly destroying the hanky.

It's especially nice when I can, through my own ingenuity, make it better than it was.

For example, grease stains are the bane of my existence. They can happen at any moment, and I can never tell if I've gotten them out until the piece of clothing is dry and it's far too late to budge that stubborn stain. A couple of my favorite shirts would've gone the Way of All Flesh, if it weren't for a little ingenuity on my part. Instead of pitching them, I decided to embroider them.

Now I have a couple of shirts that look like they came from Anthropologie. Simple crewel work does wonders, and stitches up pretty quick. Well, pretty quick for embroidery.

Inspired by this, I mended a couple pairs of my brother's pants. One I hand mended, but the other had huge bleach stains at the bottom (why mom uses bleach I'll never know). So I turned them into shorts.

I've also been transforming some pieces of Annie's. She gave me a pair of sleep pants that she'd worn out the cuffs on (they're far too long, so she's been having fun stepping on them). She thought they were scrap-worthy, but I used the printed edging of an old pillow case to make new cuffs and a patch pocket, and gave them back to her instead. She's excited because they're sooo comfy!

I also installed a drawstring waistband on a skirt to help it fit better, and turned a housedress into a smock top with a tie back.

Isn't the strawberry print totally cute?! I'm using the bottom for quilting, and for a baby bib for a friend. She's wearing her new shirt backwards in the picture. The pipings supposed to go in the front.

I also replaced a strap on a purse I got at the thrift store. It's doing time while my purse made out of ties gets a new strap, sides, and lining.
the original strap was a thin leather thing that did nothing for the purse. So I removed the clasps at either ends, and used them to make a new strap out of this gorgeous ribbon and a heavier woven strapping. It didn't take too long, and now I love this purse so much, I may not go back to my old one, even when it's makeover is completed.

I love being productive. At night, it makes me feel as if I've earned my rest.

A finished project: wedding invitations

2011-09-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

So, peoples, I've been working my tail off on a number of different projects (pics coming soon), but the #1 project that I've been working on this month is finally finished:
my sister's wedding invitations.

I printed them for the better part of three days.
Then we had a "party" were we got suckers, er, friends and family, to come over and assemble them.

We cut, folded, stuffed, and assembled until we could assemble no more, then sent the rest home with Rachel. (Insert evil laugh here.)

It was exhausting, but I'm very, very happy with the results.

Here's some pictures of them, for your viewing pleasure:

All images are copyrighted by, well, me.

The following rondel of St. Joseph can be used as a printable. I thought it would be a fun coloring project for Sunday school, or just for kicks.

Enjoy!

Plant hangers, bottle hangers, candle hangers...

2011-08-31T18:37:00.000-07:00

I feels like it's been too long since I last posted.
Here's some variations on the net hangers I've been meaning to show you.

These net hangers can be adapted to hang most anything, of any size, provided it doesn't have a prominent lip or bulge at the bottom.

A couple rules/tips that will help you adapt the instructions:

always have an even number of strands with no less than six strands per hanger.
if you want to make the knots closer together, to make the hanger look more like a net, add more pairs of cord strands or it won't fit your pot. The closer the knots are together, the smaller the circumference of pot they will fit.
add a final row of knots about 8" above your pot rim and 10" above your last row of knots to add stability. This wil keep your pot from falling out of the hanger even if it's swung violently, like, say, if your cat tries to get at it.
use heavier gauges of cord to hang heavier objects. This type of hanger can be made with everything from embroidery floss to rope, depending on what your hanging but, please, be reasonable.

Here's some of the projects I've been making:

Enjoy and happy making!

Printable Lovelies: Make Your Own Seed Packets.

2011-08-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

I've been collecting seeds.

It's that time of year, when the snapdragons, brown eyed susans, four o'clocks, cone flowers and other annuals in my garden are producing seeds. In order to make sure that they come back next year, I'm collecting some of their seeds to sew come spring.

I'm also collecting seeds to send off to a friend so she can use them to naturalize their hillside.

I'm also a cheap-skate, so I'm collecting clematis seeds from my mother's plants, to see if I can get my own vines for free-ziees, rather than paying a plant company for them.

I love clematis, whether it's the ethereal small white ones, that bloom in a haze of little stars, or the woodsy vines that have largish deep purple flowers. They always remind me of woodland at twilight.

The problem with collecting seeds is that you end up with all these tiny little specks, that look a lot like dirt, and bear no resemblance to their parent plant. I realized pretty quickly that I needed a system to keep track of them all, some way of labeling them...

So I decided to make seed packets ( a novel idea, I know) with blank label areas where I can mark the type of plant.

Being the nifty person I am, I decided to scan them, A. so I could make more, and B. so I could share them with you!

I've formatted them so they will print accurately 2 to a page.

Just print them out, color them in(optional), cut them out, glue the tabs together, insert seeds, glue the top closed, and label. Viola!

enjoy!

PS. they're also handy for scrapbooking, gift tags, etc.

My sister is using them as place cards for her wedding.

Hanging Lantern Tutorial, (plus why MS Weddings rocks.)

2011-08-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

This post is a tutorial for netted hanging lanterns like this:

But first, I have to say that I got the idea for hanging lanterns like this from Martha Stewart Weddings, and then go on a long tangent.

Have I ever told you how much I respect and love Martha Stewart weddings?

In high school, my best friend and I used to buy them, and look over them together, the way our peers were bonding over issues of 17 and Cosmo. Since we were/are both planning on being virgins on our wedding day, we found the craft tutorials, and beautiful dresses much more informative, useful and inspiring than the sex tips and make-up how-tos could ever have been.

We dreamed of the day that we would actually be able to use their tutorials and guides to plan our own weddings.

I now own over 40 issues of Martha Stewart Weddings, spanning over 12 years of publication.

They've been darn handy reference material for at least 8 brides, 2 of whom are my sisters.

When my good friend was planning her wedding in a neighboring state, I couldn't ship her my MSW library, so I scanned over 70 pages from different issues, made up an inspiration book, and mailed it to her. She loved it.

One of our favorite inspiration pics was of hanging candle lanterns made from pillar vases nestled into golden net bags. The net bags were originally designed as wine bottle gift bags.

They were gorgeous.

However, we were never able to make the lanterns, because those gift bags were some sort of 6 month fad, and have been impossible to find on the internet or stores ever since.

Well, those lanterns have stuck with me, lo these many years. When my brother was getting married earlier this year, I decided to see if I could make something similar, using kitchen twine and ball jars.

The People In Charge of The Wedding eventually rejected knotted lanterns as not quite fitting the wedding theme, but gosh darn did my samples look gorgeous!

They hung in an archway in my parents house looking extremely decorative for months.

I liked them so much, I figured out a myriad of variations to hang glass soda bottles, various sizes of plant pots, and this cylindrical vase:

I've decided to the fun with you!

The following directions are for making a hanging net for 8” tall, 3” diameter cylindrical vase.

Total time:

3-15 minutes, depending on # of strings being knotted and experience level.

You Will Need:

scissors

kitchen twine or another stout cord.

a vessel (in this case an 8” tall, 3” diameter vase from the dollar store)

Step 1:

measure off 8 lengths of cord. Each strand should be a comfortable arm span (about 4-4 ½ feet)

cut the cords at both ends.

Step 2:

tie a knot, using all of the strands, 2-3 from one of the ends. The 2-3” length will form a tassel underneath your vase.

Step 3:

Take two of the strands. Knot them together abot 2" from teh first knot.

Repeat with each pair of strands.

Step 4:

take 2 of the pairs of strands. Take one strand from each of the pairs, and knot them together about 2” from the previous knot. Repeat with the next pairs.

Step 4.5:

Once all of the interior pairs have been knotted together, there will be two available single strands on the “outside.” Take these two strands and knot them together 2” down from the previous knot.

Step 5:

check to see if the bottom of the bag fits your vessel. The first row of knots should be within ½ inch from the edge of the base, with the second row of knots reaching up the sides, beginning to form a “bag.”

If the vessel will not nestle in well, or the diamond shapes formed are too wide and stretched out, take apart your second row of knots, and reknot them, adding at least ¾” in between the second row of knots and the first row.

Step 6:

repeat steps 4 and 4.5, until your net is big enough to go at least ¾ of the way up the vessel. (about 3 more times)

If you like, you can add a final row of knots about 6-8 inches above the previous row. This row will rest above your vessel and hold the vessel in more securely. This final row may interfere with potted plants or vase arrangements, though, and may not be desirable.

Step 7:

Try your finished net on your vessel. Check for strands knotted to the wrong other strand (this will block you being able to put your vessel in, and make your hanger into a knotted mess). If it's miss-knotted, un-knot the relevant strands and re-knot them in the correct order.

Step 8:

Tie a knot about 8” to a foot above your final knot (6” if you put in a final row of knots above the vessel). As you're knotting, check to make sure the vessel is hanging level. A good way to straighten it out is to tug down on the tassel. This will add extra pull on the shortest strand and even things out.

Step 9: (optional)

braid the remaining length of cord. Braiding makes it look prettier. Plus, if you braid it, you can adjust the hanging length by putting your hook through different spots on the braid, rather than having to retie the final knot each time you want to adjust it.

Step 10:

tie a final knot close to the end of the cords. This is the knot that you will use to hang your pot, so make sure it's at the length you want your lantern to hang.

Step 11:

insert candle. Hang your lantern. Enjoy.

The Most Gracious Bride in the World.

2011-08-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted this week because I'm preparing a blog post that's a tutorial, and therefore needs more editing and planning.
I've taken the pics for it. Annie was willing to be my student/guinea pig/model, and she did a great job. Now just to write the thing and pic which pics illustrate the tutorial best...

I was planning on that being my next post, but then I went to a wedding shower today.

In addition to wedding mayhem, a ridiculously large percentage of my friends are getting married, or having babies, or getting married and then having babies, or... You get the picture. I am so happy for all of them, and the merry chaos it has caused in my life. I'm swimming in a sea of sewing projects, trying to make something for all of them.

This particular bride, the bride the shower was for, got an apron. I tried a pattern I bought because I loved the ruffles that edge the bodice and go over the shoulders. I love those kinds of ruffles. They're so 1950's housewife. She loved it too, as you can see in the pic of her in it.
The amazing thing about this young woman, is that she is the most gracious, gentle person I've ever met. She proved it today, by being the perfect gift recipient.

She opened every gift with such genuine joy and gratitude. It was written all over her face. I know that she got good gifts, and that certainly helps one be joyful about opening them, but she went far beyond polite thanks in the way she handled each item, examined it, and made eye contact with the giver.

I also love the way she laughs with her future husband, and the loving care of both their (large) extended families.

Here's a couple examples of her cuteness and warmth as she opens her gifts:

a couple more of my favorite things from the shower:

Favorite skirt:

Favorite baby (there were a lot of them to choose from):

Favorite odd moment

Favorite sweet moment:

Favorite picture:

At Last... My Etsy has come along.

2011-07-30T22:28:00.000-07:00

I've been swearing I'm about to post some things I've made on Etsy for, ummm...well, too long.

Well I finally did it. I have only posted a couple of things so far, but I hope to have at least 8-10 items posted by tomorrow night.

Here's some a couple pics as a teaser, but if you really want to see what I'm offering, you'll just have to follow this link.

Happy weekend!

Orchids and Alphonse Mucha

2011-07-28T17:18:00.000-07:00

Originally posted on July 21st, 2011

Today has been a sensory delight so far.

My top 10:

In no particular order:

the feel of spent eraser nubbins underneath my fingers

air conditioning, air conditioning, air conditioning.

the smell of warm tomato plants

rhythm and texture, as explored by floral arrangements

milk glass: soft lines, soft color

the weight of my camera in my hands

chicken noodle soup from a Thai lunch counter (with ground peanuts and cilantro in it!)

condensation on a glass combined with the translucency of ice behind it

the sound of watermelon being sliced (hate the taste, love the sound)

bee-yutiful new orchids

#1: Mucha illustrations.

I've been working on the illustrations for my sister's wedding invitation. I started yesterday afternoon, and the creative process has been easy, flowing like warm honey. (everything is warm today. The entire midwest is warm today. Butter melts if it's been out of the fridge for 2 minutes.)

It's been an interesting process working with my sister on what she invisions her wedding looking like, because her taste is a study in opposites. She loves cascading bouquets, but adores the clean, modern lines of calla lillies and phaleanopsis orchids, and the structure of ranunculus.

She hates the fussiness of lace, but adores indian paisley prints.

She loves drawings of bare branches, but also likes ornately scrolled frames.

There's only one place that I can think of that provides both such minimalism and such excess: the illustrations of Alphonse Mucha.

Have you ever analyzed a Mucha print? His linework is flawless. He uses thick and thin line qualities to effortlessly push one type of pattern to the foreground and pull another back. He will intermittently leave the expanse of a gown un-detailed, while spangling the background with a myriad of stars.

The most important thing about a Mucha illustration: no matter how ridiculously detailed and complicated, the thing always makes sense, and has no awkwardness or sense of clutter whatsoever. He can also make a graceful repeat of anything from a seed pod, to crows wings, to frolicking lambs.

So, I'll stop raving about Mucha, and post a couple pics so you can drool for yourself.

Also included are some orchids my mother bought for me because they were on a ridiculously good sale, and the drawings for the invite, as they stand now.

Enjoy.

PS. If you want to drool over some more Mucha illustrations, follow this link. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

http://goldenagecomicbookstories.blogspot.com/search/label/Mucha

You're never too old to Play

2011-07-28T17:12:00.000-07:00

I was returning emails, when my best friend and sister started making the most unusual faces while messing with a shark, not too feet from me.

So we giggled, and I took pics.

Incidentally, it's her birthday. Happy Birthday Annie!

2011-07-28T17:07:00.000-07:00

originally posted on July 14th, 2011

I'm in the process of helping my sister plan her wedding. In particular, we're hashing out the invitations I'm designing, and narrowing down what her flowers will look like.

Oddly enough, I'm designing the invitation suite and all other printed material, making the flower bouquets, honing her concept design for table decorations/shopping for them, and I'm the official photographer. Plus a few other odds and ends.

This makes me less involved in her wedding than I was in my other sister's wedding this May.

Ridiculous, isn't it.

So, instead of the post I was planning on Alexander Ross: Interesting Painter, I'm going to give you a small sampling of the various pictures I've downloaded as flower/invitation inspiration.

Also, here's a list of places I've found with awesome, frequently un-copyrighted downloadable art and design images.

Enjoy!

Amazing downloadable lables, printables, and more. Not for commercial use.

http://blog.worldlabel.com/category/downloads

My favorite art blog, which sometimes features old book illustrations, where the copyright has expired.

http://butdoesitfloat.com/

wonderful print downloads. I haven't done anything with 'em yet except use them for computer wallpaper. But oh, how stylin' my computer looks!

http://www.patternpeople.com/

It's yale's digital image library. go figure.

http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/

My noble pincushion: it's trials and travails

2011-07-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

originally posted on July 12, 2011:

Have I ever told you that I simply adore my pincushion?

It's the perfect size, rather rugged, and marvelously cute and cheery, even when bristling with more sharp objects than a porcupine. As you may have guessed, I use it on almost a daily basis. It puts up with a lot from me, and seems as if it will put up with another 40 or so years of projects from me.

I spent most of today sewing on three or four different projects interchangeably. I am never able to work on one project at a time. I have at least 10-15 projects in various stages of production at any given time. It means that it's almost impossible for me to predict when I will finish any given project, but I am constantly making something.

There is nothing so satisfying as finishing up a project that I've been slowly chipping away at for a year or more. The first project I was working on is like that.

The first project is a baby blanket for a darling chubby cheeked baby girl. I started it months before she was born. I was sure I could finish it in time. Hah.

She's almost 1 now.

It was the first major quilt project I embarked upon, not to mention a totally new adventure into the wilds of hand applique.

Well, it was boot-camp for applique, but totally worth it. I love applique, but I don't like putting on intricately shaped objects with a bazillion little ins and outs. The leaves and stems were fun. Simple petals or abstract shapes would be quite fun too. The roses were a complete pain in the patootie.

My sister and I made "english pieced" squares for a border around the whole quilt. It finishes the edges somehow in a way that the quilt really needed.

Last night, I finally basted the "quilt sandwich" together, and am now stitching "in the ditch" around the roses. The negative spaces will be filled with floating quilted leaves and bees with their lazy flight patterns spiraling out behind them.

The next project is a pillow that's sort of a "quilt sampler." The front is all these ridiculous stuffed circular bumps appliqued on. It's rather like very colorful bubble wrap. The back is free-hand quilted images. It's wonderfully random.

I ran into issues figuring out how to make clean seams when dealing with the interior and exterior raw edges at the same time. Now, I think I know enough about sewing construction to move on, and finally finish the sucker. It's going to look so cheery on my bed.

The third project is burp cloths for one of my pregnant lady friends (this year is a positive bumper crop of pregnancies and marriages among my family and acquaintances.) Simple, fun, quirky, easy to wash. I'm making a set of 8.

The forth project is a revamping of a feather-weight cotton button down shirt that I've had for ages. I took off the typical shirt color, leaving it like a mandarin collar. Now I'm sewing some hand crocheted lace that my sister made me in between the two layers of the collar. So it will have a lovely small scalloped trim all around the neck. The next step will be white on white embroidery on the chest area of the front. I'm thinking abstract, crysanthemum based flowers and groupings of french knots. I'll post pics when I'm done.

Enough of the talking. Here's the pics of the projects, plus an embroidered hanky I hope to finish tonight.

Also encluded is some eye candy from the garden.

What I Really Wanted to Name This Blog: A manifesto of sorts

2011-07-28T16:43:00.000-07:00

originally posted on July 11th, 2011

I almost named this site Art= Necessity or Art:Necessary, and then thought, "Wow, what a supercilious, heavy clunker of a name." I do believe that art is necessary to daily life, more necessary than most people realize, but why hit them over the head with it with a title like that?

I thought about "Senseless Acts of Beauty," and then rejected it as being A. too floofy, and B. not true. I think that every act of beauty makes perfect sense, though the sense of it is not always obvious, even to the maker.

Then, what I really wanted to name this blog was "Make my Day" both because I make something virtually every day, and because what I make, remakes me. I also love the extended version of the quote in my header:

"If I had words to make a day for you,

I'd sing you a morning, golden and true.

I'd make this day last for all time,

and spend the night deep in moon shine."

It's the song the farmer dances to in "Babe."

As a bonus, I loved the gangster-ish overtones of the name. I could've worn a fedora in my profile pic.

Alas, "Make my Day" was already taken, so I had to settle for "Making Days..." I do like the idea of each day needing to be created, and of documenting the creation.

I have about 30 bazillion ideas for what to do for this site. I have patterns to post, tutorials to document, and observations about life, and the beauty it holds. I also intend to do a post each friday about an artist who inspires me, from Rembrandt to my favorite miniature ceramicist. Lord willing, I will get to them all.

However, one can only pack so much into the first post, so I'll settle for showing you some beauty.

I've been seeing some beautiful things recently, and because I have a decent camera, I am able to let you look at them too.

Seeing Red.

2011-07-27T22:29:00.000-07:00

Sooo,
It's that time of the month, and I'm having one of those months. Not the easy kind, but the kind that's a lot like having a nasty, messy version of the flu.
However, I've been noticing some of the beauties of it, and, being an artist, I want to document it.

The problem is, no matter how much I highlight the um, "vivid" aesthetics in a pleasing manner, it will always end up looking like the nastier kind of 80s feminist art. You know which stuff I'm talking about. If you don't, don't look it up. You probably didn't want to know.

So, having no way to show you that, here are 12 pictures, highlighting the color red that actually are beautiful. One for every month of the year.

But first, a word from Ms. Dolly Parton:
PMS Blues

artwork by Mary O'Malley

a beautiful whole cloth baby quilt

Rita Hayworth. nuff said.

Illustration from Owen Jones's Islamic Decoration and Ornament

more Owen Jones

the inside cover of "The Cock and the Hen ill. by Rudolph Mates

an amazing floral arrangement by Sarah Ryhanen. I believe she does her own photography too.

Florian Maier-Aichen

a really wonderful "mosaic" quilt done by a korean woman, actual name unknown.

best stamp. ever.