cherry tomato

so much to say, so little to show

I'm very pleased to pass on information relating to a new project beginning on February 1st involving some of the blog-world's most creative women sharing their talents with us through their blogs. Please check out Whip Up. i'm excited to see what they all have in store for us.

I still haven't fixed my usb port, but a new card is on its way. even though i don't have any photos to show you, i have been quite busy over the past week with new projects. I finished my first three dimensional softie this week, and was really happy with how it turned out. I first made a muslin version, then went on to use some of my prized vintage fabric to make a small deer. I've really been drawn to foresty-themed objects lately: deer and other woodland creatures, trees, gnomes, mushrooms, birds (of course), nuts, etc. I do realize i'm not the only person who has been into these things, but I find it's a nice diversion from a lot of the pink, red and generally "girlie" type things i tend to be drawn to. If I was a better blogger, I would provide you with links to some of the great things I'm seeing out there, but right now, my brain is not allowing me to recall any of the things I wanted to show you. Just trust me, these items are everywhere.

in addition to the deer, i also made my first art quilt this week. i'm not really sure if that's the proper nomenclature for what it is, and of course, if I had a photo, you could actually judge for yourself. Since I don't have a photo, you'll just have to go by my description for the time being. I used fabric to create a design on a solid light blue background and used embroidery to affix the decorative fabric to the background fabric and batting and to "draw" images on the fabric. It is an unapologetically summery image, which I think is clearly a bi-product of an image in my head of where I wish I could be right now. I know those of you in Australia have been frustrated by the heat down there, but I am so friggin sick of the darkness and rain around here. It would be so nice if we could just switch places for a couple of days. Seriously, that is all I would need to lift my spirits. Since that isn't possible, I'll continue to create bright, pretty things and fantasize about bright, sunny places.

This week I also received a Holga my sister. She bought it last year, and upgraded to a Holga with a Polaroid back last week and kindly passed her older Holga on to me. It even had film in it, so it was all ready to go. I still have a lot of research to do about using them, so if you know of any good resources, please let me know. Otherwise, I guess I'm going to use google and see what I can find online. Because it's been so dark here, I haven't really used it, but I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Some things that blair and claire wrote about recently about how to define an artist and how their work can be defined. Their thoughts are ones I have regularly, but I think it really boils down to this: for me, I create because i want to, i create because I HAVE to, and yes, it's nice to have others validate what you do, but ultimately, I find the act of creating enormously therapeutic and would continue to do it whether or not I ever received validation. I think once you start a blog, you put yourself out there a little, and you may become a little more concerned with receiving validation for your art. If you just create and keep it to yourself, it isn't as much of an issue. I have been very positively affected by the support I have received from the blogging community, and it has already helped to motivate me to keep creating and challenging myself. There is always going to be someone more creative, talented, or whatever than you, but it really should just be about what makes you happy. I think sometimes it gets difficult to keep that in perspective.

I'll leave it at that for today.

Just for fun, here's a picture of my dear kitty, Vedo:

Here he is breaking in Eric's new table before he applied any finishing.

a new best friend

eric was quite pleased to see that i finally finished Optimus Square today. he wanted him to have floppy arms, so i attached them at the shoulder for good floppage. eric has been running around shaking his arms Kermit-style and giggling like a little kid. it appears he has a new best friend.

and i'm not feeling left out at all because i received a nice little package today.

a shout out to amy for introducing me to jen corace. these are both screenprinted and sold through if'n books and marks. the pink elephant journal is for eric, and the day planner/analog PDA is for me. i used this as my planner last year, and it has served me well. However, it's a new year and time for a new planner. I like the big full pages for each date. i usually have a lot to write down for each day, so this should prove to be quite helpful. plus, it doesn't hurt that it's simply gorgeous.

recovery and cleansing

(at my mom's house)

I finally feel like i've recovered from christmas. i spent a lovely couple of days at my mom's house out in the olympic peninsula. it rained so much that even when it wasn't raining, it still felt like it was raining. the trees out there are so tall, and there are just so many of them, that they continue to drop water onto the ground long after the rain has stopped.

(i think it actually WAS raining when i took this picture)

once i made it home, it looked like a tornado had ripped through the house. the christmas frenzy had left the house completely wrecked. eric and i have taken on some spring cleaning in the wrong season, but i think we both felt some cleansing/organization was in order. i want to go into the new year having things a little more organized. there are many new things on the horizon (new job, wedding), and i'm really looking forward to next year. i suppose i want to go into it with a clear head and a clean house.

that being said, my studio is just trashed. i can't even do anything in there. i plan to tackle that today so i can get busy on some project ideas i have.

i'll leave you with a couple of pictures of the log cabin pillows i made for my grandmother and my mother. i didn't show them earlier because i was worried they might look at this and get a peek at their gifts.

for mom

(for grandy)

my grandmother was so cute. she just loved the pillow, and once she opened it, she used it until the moment she left. anytime she sat down in a new spot she had to take her pillow with her. my grandmother has been quilting forever, so i was so pleased to get her approval.

well, i'm off to clean so i can get some work done!

pay no attention to the cat behind the chair...oh yeah, and the dust ON the chair

I'm posting this because I know there is no way my little half step-brother, Chhay, will see this. This is the bear I finished for him this weekend. The second I set him up to take a picture, one of my cats, Vedo, decided he needed to be in the picture. The funniest thing about his is that he did the exact same thing when I set up for a picture of Emma's kitty the day before.  After downloading the images, I was horrified to see the dust seemingly magnified on the chair. I had every intention of taking another picture sans dust, but I went crazy wrapping everything yesterday, and wrapped him up before I could take another picture. I promise, my whole house is not this dusty!

bad days and gender-biased toys

It's been a frustrating couple of days for me. Today, in particular, has been one of those days where every little thing seems to be going wrong. Not one of which in and of itself is much of a problem but when combined with all the others conspire to drive me bonkers. I'll give you an example of just one of the things.

I have been working on making some softies for my adopted, half-brother and sister. Yesterday I was plugging along just fine then ran out of polyfil. Well, of course, polyfil is essential to the creation of softies. I already had to run a few errands, so I just added a trip to the local independent sewing shop to the list. The store is rather small, and it didn't take me long to realize it did not contain any polyfil. I asked the proprietor just to be sure, and she was able to confirm my fear. I decided to do some other work, and make a trek to a larger fabric store today. I went to the store, grabbed plenty of polyfil and a few other goodies and walked up to the cash register. (you have to visualize this next part in slow motion). The cashier begins to ring up my sale at the same time I reach for my wallet, open it up, and glare at the empty pocket where my debit card should be. At about the same time the cashier declares my total, it registers that I do not have any form of payment. Mortified, I tell her I am going to have to come back to pick up the things because I didn't have any way to pay. The main problem with this is that  Eric was going to be borrowing my car for the day, and I really didn't have any way to return today.  Therefore - no polyfil.

When I got home, I realized I had some old pillows I could just cut open, and I used the stuffing from one of those to complete one of the softies. So everything worked out okay, I just would have liked to have avoided the whole situation.

This is the softie I made for Emma:

Here is one of the gifts I'm giving to Chhay:

Chhay is the youngest of my father's children and is the only boy. My father has always wanted to have a son, and as a result, he often tried to get my sister and me to engage in tomboy-like behavior. There were some things I was drawn to, but ultimately, I am just a girlie-girl (for example, as a young girl I absolutely refused to wear overalls because I said they were "boy clothes"). Even today, most of my closet is filled with skirts and up until two days ago I only had one pair of jeans. 

My sister on the other hand, obliged my father much more than me, and for many years was the de-facto tom-boy of the family. However, now my father has a son, and from the moment he and my step-mother brought him here from Cambodia, my father has spent as much time as humanly possible attempting to instill in him a love a football, and more importantly, a desire to play football. Thus, the football pillow. Of course, he won't be able to throw it, but there is some serious cuddle-potential there.

My next project is a bear for Chhay. It would be nice to get it finished today.

checkin off items on the to-do list

now that the christmas decorations are up, i'm starting to get a little more into the season. for some inexplicable reason, i have had a craving for hot buttered rum. i remember my mother drinking it on cold winter nights when we lived in germany, and i have had it once or twice. in order to satisfy my craving, i whipped up a batch of hot buttered rum batter the other night using this recipe . yes, it is extremely decadent and fattening, but that's what christmas is for....right? well, i know gorging yourself on decadent foods has something to do with it.

it was delicious, and had an amazing ability to warm me to the core (plus i got a little tipsy).

in the meantime i have been plugging along making gifts. today i focused on my two adopted, half step-brother and sister. i'm not entirely sure that's the correct title for them, but to clarify, my father and step-mother have adopted two children from cambodia, emma and chhay (pronounced like chai tea). they are absolutely adorable, and if i had any digital pictures of them I would be happy to share them with you. Anyway, i always try to give them useful gifts, and i am drawn to gifts of the artistic type. In years past I have given seven year-old emma an easel and cooking and baking dishes and utensils, so I thought this year I would give her an apron. I figured she could use it for a multitude of purposes. she loves the colors red and pink (as do i), so a pink and red apron it is:

here is a close-up of the  pockets:

i think this will be absolutely adorable on her!

since i've been long-winded enough today, i will wait until tomorrow to post a picture of one of the gifts I made for chhay.

winding down

I'm finally feeling like I've recovered from the sale this weekend. my studio is still a wreck, but i'm going to be tackling that this evening. i can't even begin to think of my next project until i get it in order. i would take a picture of it to show you just how bad it is, but i'm way too embarrassed. i do have plenty of things i can't wait to get started. over the past few weeks, all i have had any time for is making items for the sale. now that it's over, i can finally channel my energy towards other things. I'd like to knit up one of the cuties from Jess's book. Knitting would be a nice distraction from all the sewing I've been doing lately. Don't get me wrong, i love sewing, it would just be nice to work on something a little different. 

I haven't even begun to decorate for the holidays! This is truly unusual for me, I love this time of year, and normally I start decorating the day after thanksgiving. I'm finding it very difficult to get that warm holiday feeling without any decorations. I plan to remedy this problem within the next couple of days.

For those who are interested, I am posting some ornaments in my shop. All ornaments are made with hand-carved stamps on white cotton fabric. The back of the ornaments are made with various holiday fabrics. Each ornament is stuffed with polyfil and has a red, green or pink bow tied on top. Below are some pictures of what I have available.

Black bird in snow, reindeer:

Pink poinsettia, tree

Blue bird in snow, red poinsettia

I am selling these for $6 each or 4 for $20 plus $1 shipping and handling. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

all set for the sale

As promised, here are some pictures of some of the items I'm selling tomorrow. I have already posted pictures of most of the pillows and some of the aprons, and you can see all of the items on flickr. I am only going to post some of those you haven't already seen.

all ready to go!

some short cafe aprons:

 

other aprons:

and some pillows:

I still have to make some signs, but other than that I'm ready to go! I'll get some pictures of the sale and post them tomorrow evening.

hoot!

I made this pillow for my grandparents. My grandmother  has always liked owls, and I just happened to have purchased some new fabric that I thought would work perfectly. My grandparents have been a huge source of support and inspiration to me, and as I get older I realize the importance of maintaining a close relationship with my family. I grew up away from all but my immediate family and returned to Seattle during college in order to cultivate a closer relationship with my extended family. I have become very close to my grandparents, and I realize how fortunate I am that they are such an important part of my life. I don't get to see them nearly as often as I would like, but I maintain close contact with them by phone. It is so comforting to know that in a time of need, I have family that will always be there for me. I was recently in such a place, and my grandparents really came through for me (as I had no doubt they would). I hope they appreciate my small token of appreciation and know how much their love and support mean to me.

goodbye, flash

I received some very sad news this afternoon. After about two months of suffering from upper respiratory problems, my mother and step-father had their cat, Flash, put down. Apparently he had a tumor in his sinuses, and he wasn't going to improve. He was a dear cat, and I will truly miss him.

He came into our lives over ten years ago, when my step-father found him living in the woodpile. He was a scrawny looking thing with a stubby, crooked tail, and was in desperate need of some love. I always tell people that Flash adopted us. He just showed up one day and never left. Maybe it's because they were the only two males in the house, but my step-father and Flash always had a special relationship. That cat would follow him everywhere. The only time he couldn't really follow him was when my step-father would go outside during the winter, usually to shovel the driveway. The ground was far too cold for his kitty paws, and he wasn't permitted to go outside, but his little kitty brain just could not understand that. He would sit and stare at the door and cry and cry in the hopes that we would let him out to join his buddy in the snow.

so, because of their loss, i decided to try my hand at making a stuffed cat to give them. Certainly it will not take the place of Flash, but I just wanted to send them a little something. I have made very few softies, and the ones i've made have been pretty wonky, but here's my latest effort.

I had a really hard time with the dress because I've never made any clothing that small. I just had to kind of make it up. Anyway, it's the thought that counts, right?