October

October was the Riverwest Artwalk which for some reason, I have no pictures of!  What up with dat?

But it was also Halloween and I have plenty of pictures of that.  Soren was a Knight and Greenleaf was a Victorian Ghost.

What these pictures don't show is the great black lace bustle that was attached to the back of her skirt. I then used parts of the same costume to turn her into a Pierrot inspired clown for a parade that she was in with her Papa.

I got the skirt she is wearing from a sale at the Skylight Opera house.

August

Costumes for Gl and her friends for the Ren. Faire.

 It was chilly and rainy and totally AWESOME!!!!  We had a blast and will probably do it again this summer.

I also made a woven runner for the silent auction at the Zoo Ball for the Milwaukee Zoo.  I wish i would have taken a better picture of it.  It looks really McDonaldsey here.  The colors were Goldenrod, peach, and a deep red.

Birthday #38

 

 

 

 

New Quilt For A New Baby

Early last week I got a new niece.  She's totally adorable by the way.  I wanted to make her something so I decided on a light weight patchwork baby blanket.  Similar to the ones I made my own kids when they were babies.  I left out the batting and made the back flannel.  It's a cozy blanket for the warmer months without the bulk of a regular quilt.  Although I adore quilting I find most traditional quilting patterns too tedious.  I appreciate when others do them, but I just don't have the patience for them.  I prefer very basic patchwork and large motifs.  This large motif pattern is FIERCE!  I adore it and I will definitely use it again.

Greenleaf loved holding her new cousin.

Room Redux (While she was out)

Greenleaf's room is about 10 x 10.  It's pretty much a square shape with a closet on one side and the slanted walls of the roof on the other. This is what it used to look like.  A loft bed from Ikea allowed her to have some more play space on the floor (and let the dog sleep under there).  A small fold down top desk in the corner also doubled as a dresser and a large wooden chest (made by my uncle) was her toy box.  This birthday she is turning 10 and I thought her room should reflect her tastes a little better.  Here's what happened:

 She requested a dark pink room with black designs.  The initial paint was a disaster (way too dark) and I ended up going with a pink that I knew was lighter than she wanted.  We bought a new bed from Ikea with great big drawers underneath.  Black sheets, throw pillows and a black and white checkered throw blanket.  Her room gets hit by the sun pretty hard in the summer so I bought these amazing black curtains that keep the heat out. I painted that old desk with a glossy black and stenciled a cherry blossom branch on it in the wall color.

I picked up this black chair from Target and it's just right for snuggling down with a good book.  My initial plan was to stencil black designs on one of her walls but I could not find a stencil that I liked.  I did however find these vinyl sticker thingies and I love them!  They are fantastic.  The mirror is from Ikea and it's probably one of her favorite things in the room.

I left the book shelves by her door because she really needs those.  She could probably do with another book case in her room and I think that will come eventually but for now the last change I made was:

Putting chalk board paint on her closet door.  Here she put up a verse that she learned at camp and drew some pictures.  So....yeah, that's her room.  Not the pink she wanted but she says she loves it just the way it is.  Actually what she keeps saying is "I can't believe this is my room.  Is this real? It looks like a magazine."  She's managed to keep it clean for the 2 days she's been home.  That's about the best compliment I could ask for.

Recent Weavings

Cotton warp,wool weft. Star and Rose pattern table runner.

Wool warp, wool/acrylic weft. Floral Dance pattern table runner w/narrow borders.

Cotton warp, wool weft.  Floral Dance pattern table runner.

The Only Time I Like Snow...

 

.... is when I'm with them.

4 years

Somebody has a birthday coming up this Sunday (besides Honest Abe).  I thought he needed a birthday crown.

he picked out the buttons himself.

The Little Soul Suckers...

I used to be witty.  Really.  I was.  I was clever, witty and (believe it or not) even funny. I used to  have interesting conversations with people that did not involve my children or my dog.  So what has happened?  My theory is that my children are sucking my brains out.  Like little telepathic zombies, it's not their fault, they are only trying to survive.   Here's some stuff I've been working on while they have been actively lowering my IQ.....

christmas table runner for my sis

a roll out restaurant play mat for my nephew 

 

valentine crafts with kids

melted crayon hearts

 beautiful colors + green tea

Advent Calendar Project

At the weaving studio we get lots of fabric and yarns donated.  Some good, some bad, some that leave you a little perplexed.  A couple weeks ago, after cleaning, the ladies of the weaving center found themselves with a whole box of upholstery samples to get rid of.  Not wanting them to go to waste, we turned our minds to what we could do with them.  For example, at the Warped Milwaukee show we used them in a window display, we cut letters out of them to put on the wall, and I used a couple of them to make the Best in Show Ribbon.  I brought home almost a whole bin full of them and used some more to make Kumihimo bags for the Art vs. Craft show.

And now, I've found yet a couple more uses for them.  I'll only show you one of them today.  I'll save the other one for later in the week.  Do you do advent calendars in your house?  The Christmas my daughter was 2 was the year I started making her an advent calender.  Sort of.  I bought 25 tiny stockings, numbered them and hung them in her room.  In each one was a tiny toy or a piece of candy and she would get to open one every morning.  This went on for a couple years, with me buying more and more ridiculous pieces of, for lack of a better term, garbage to put in her stockings.  Once my son was born it got even more complicated.  Do I now buy him 25 miniature stockings and go through the struggle of finding little crap to put in them?  Do I make them share?  Do I just stop the tradition all together?  Yes, that's what I did.  It was too much of a waste.  I had once again gone overboard on something and now it was time to tone it down.

This year, as I sat gazing at these upholstery samples I had an idea.  

See the grommets at the top?  It's already ready for hanging.  And the edges?  They are already finished!  How much simpler could this get? 

All this fabric needed was some mini pockets.  And maybe a little decoration.  It doesn't even need to be perfect because it's homey and it's supposed to look homemade.  So the seams?  Don't worry about them.  I cut muslin (nina again!) into strips that I folded over, ironed,  and laid on top of each other. The longest strips are about 8 inches by 4, folded over the long way and ironed.  Then the folded side is placed to the top and the strips are  placed a little overlapping each other.

Pin in place and then sew the bottom edges with a zig-zag stitch.  Use a sparkly, festive thread if you have one.  Start with the bottom strip.  Sew the bottom edge,  unpin it and fold it down to do the next strip.

Once all the bottom edges are stitched you can put all the strips back up again, pin back in place and stitch their sides in the same zig-zag stitch.  Then measure out the size pockets you need.  I think mine were 1.5 inches?  Somewhere around there.  I used a ruler and a pencil and actually drew lines.  Then I traced the lines with a straight stitch to create my pockets.  

I bought this really cool stamp set at the Farmer's Daughter Antiques (5th and National) about a year ago.  It was perfect for this project. 

Again, I wasn't really worried about anything being perfect.  That's part of the charm of this project. 

I deliberately left space at the bottom so I could put some little Christmas trees in.  All done!  Except for the candy.

One piece in each little pocket.  Easy Peasy.  They can be used year after year and all I have to buy is a couple bags of candy. 

Total Time: 1.5 hours.

Warped Milwaukee Gallery Opening.......Tonight 6pm

Weaving is a dying art.  In America.  It's not hard to understand why really.  When you think about it.  It's expensive, time consuming, and just plain difficult.  There is no immediate gratification in weaving.  There IS gratification, but it comes...........eventually.  Plus, there's a lot of math involved.  People don't like doing math.  With this trend in mind, my friend Susan and I  diligently try to come up with new ways to promote our Weaving Center.  And thus, Warped Milwaukee was born.  With the help of the Jazz Gallery, last year ABK Weaving Center hosted it's first Fiber Arts show.  I won't lie, it was tough going.  By the time of the application deadline I believe we only had 5 entries.  I spent a couple weeks just contacting artists and jumping through hoops to get them to show their work.  Who would have thought it would be so difficult to get people to display their art?  All that hard work paid off though.  200+ people on opening night.  It was a success!  So here we are doing it all over again.  This year we managed to more than double our applicants (I actually had people contacting me this time!) and only had to spend 1 week (not 2) in pursuit of more artists.  The point is:  The show is growing!  Word is spreading!  And this years show is even better than last years.  I anticipate next years show to be better yet.   If you come to our opening tonight, you might see a little bit of this: