The Silence Will Fall #5: Sewing Books in Japanese=)

Day 191

Awesome find of the weekend!  What will you create today?

Sewing in the home of the dumbest cat in the world

Day 156

It has been a rough week--a friend of our family passed on from this world suddenly. The juxtaposition of tragedy and love has been a mental balancing act leaving me exhausted and wrung out. While I have been trying to give my love and be supportive I want to just cocoon in my house and create things as my therapy but it is not to be until tonight after the memorial service. Here is what I did get done though:

An 'I heart New York' pillow for G2 from a thrifted shirt.

I got the free flow stitching done on our Sun Rising from the Rubble projects.

Darker bedroom curtains for my daytime sleeping hours from a poly satiny vintage fabric.

I ate my artichokes and then bought more for this weekend! I am in dire need of more garlic ;) there is never such a thing as too much fresh garlic

and the dumbest cat in the world watched the frogs, fell asleep, fell off, got back up and watched them again...seriously this cat is so lacking mental power she not only failed the 'put a blanket over her head' test in which she just sat there for nearly an hour trying to figure out why the world went dark but when we (gently) pushed her over sideways under the blanket she laid there imitating road kill SIGH

Hug your loved ones today! What will you create?

It may have choked Artie but it ain't gonna choke Stymie....

Day 155

Am I dating myself with that quote? I was telling my girls the other day that we used to watch TV in *GASP* Black and White and there was only a couple of channels-they didn't really say anything just gave me a look trying to figure out if I was telling them a fib or not. I find it funny to see the looks on their faces when I explain old technology to them like how we didn't have cell phones, tapes that you had to turn over, walkmans and boom boxes-they are not impressed. When I said I was on a swim team as a kid the oldest says " oh you mean you swam with Plesiosaurs?" as she rolls around guffawing on the floor with her sister. Oh I couldn't wait for them to start talking when they were babies could I now? Puberty is F-U-N!

Our cherry blossoms are coming along--stitching some pretty sparkly beads in the center and then they will be attached to the brown part.

Here is why I put the quote in the title ARTICHOKES seriously my favorite food on the planet~especially the way I make them using my Dad's recipe~garlic, olive oil, parsley, oregano, lemon uuummmm drool oh I have to stop cause I work all night and I can't cook them till tomorrow.....they are heavenly and I am so happy they are back in season....this is what I will be eating for lunches ALL weekend!!

My little G2 and I stopped at the thrift store this week but not a whole lotta new discoveries except for these additions to her I love 80s fashion favorite fashion accessories-makes me want to sing.... be bop be bop a loo lop girls just wanna have fun.....

I must say I HATE nay DESPISE the mindless brain rotting shows on the Disney and Nick channels but G2 watches some of them after she earns the time and the one show called 'Shake it Up' the girls have all the cutesy outfits but they often talk about how they shop at the thrift stores for their wardrobes so at least that is helping reinforce my shop at thrift stores for clothes that are unique discussions!

G2 LOVES the 80s-paint splashed and layered looks or finding any current brand name clothes for under a $1

G1 is all about the Mad Men type vintage look or the loud 70s fashion and I mean LOUD-clothes with a crazy vibe, clothes that are the red, white and blue designs, she is so there....SIGH but it looks good on her

So to G2 finding these chunky bracelets for a dime a piece and hearing them clink around on her arms is like me finding a piece of Liberty fabric for the same price lol lol...I love thrifting!

More on the projects in process later......what will you create today?

Sun Rising from the Rubble Collaborative Project III

Day 153

Made some progress on my two fabric collages the day before yesterday BUT then I had to work another graveyard shift and all thoughts went out the window until I caught up on sleep....

....this is the one with the darker background behind the collaged bit....I spent a lot of time shredding fabrics and then basically let the pile of bits fall where they may and stuck each one down with a teeny bit of glue to hold them in place....

....this is what I found for the backing...it felt right the minute we saw it....it is almost like a rough, open weave cotton linen look that I imagine would have been found in Japan at one time....I was curious to find it in quilting cotton section at my local fabric store and the ladies had never seen it before so was it meant for me? .....

...here is the second one with a lighter background under the collaged bits...I left on whatever rough or loose threads wanted to hang around....these are on my list of things to get partially finished today.....

I can't wait to start shamelessly boring you with lots of flower pictures from my yard....things are starting to bloom here in Albuquerque all the trees downtown have their white and pink flowers adding to the landscape-I hope to get some pics next week~ right now all my rose bushes look to have survived the harsh cold we had here and I am eagerly anticipating my jimson weed to start shooting up because I love these HUGE flowers

What will you create today?

Sun Rising from the Rubble Collaborative Project II

Day 149

This post was supposed to go in yesterday morning but I had a REALLY crazy busy night at work and when I got home I was alternately tired and overtired from the graveyard shift so didn't get on here....anyway...

.....have done more since yesterday and this morning but here is the process as its going...starting to cut pieces of fabric and stay as organic as possible....taking more pictures of mine today so will post that later...I am LOVING how the sun is turning out and the stitching of the house and Mt Fuji

and these from Studio Miche have since been redone but hey its all part of the process of creating so I thought you might like to see....here she waxed it....

dyeing....

drying

drying....

She was not happy with these so went back in and did an 8hour marathon last night apparently recreating what she had in her head....while this leaves me rolling my eyes because I have done this too and she is such an artist lol... the art that we create is a part of our souls and to have something come out that is not how you pictured it or how you want it to exist in the world means that it is worth working to change it and I can't wait to see the new pictures and of course the final result...

I will leave you with this picture of a buddha statue that survived the tsunami....I am so in awe of the Japanese culture right now and how they pull together. I realize there are many things good and bad that are associated with their culture (as there are in ours) but their struggles can teach us so many things about ourselves and our humanity that we can learn through this disaster.

As a people we can learn a lot from the teachings of Buddha~be at peace in your soul.

What will you create today?

Sun Rising from the Rubble Collaborative Project

Day 148

This past week has just been full of images from Japan following their multiple disasters and while I have been drawn to donate to other recent tragedies this one got me sketching and creating....I showed the sketch to my arty Studio Miche buddy to see what she thought and it got her thinking too sooooo we planned to meet up today and work...and I wanted to start you watching the process cause honestly it is pretty cool to see something from idea to final product...

....original very rough idea sketch....

my sketching of the design on white muslin...

2nd sketch...

fleshing out a lone house and Mt Fuji ideas....I know its pencil on white and you can barely see it but trust me it's there.....my creation will be from fabric scraps of raw edge applique and sewn down

M pulls out her batiking paints-oh I just love watching her work-its so soothing to hear her talk about depth and tying this with that and the colors she puts in their places...

so she painted this and then she will do some wax resist and dyeing over the top...

can you see the rice paper walls in this?

We watched some videos and talked about the tragedy and clicked through lots of pictures of rubble to get the perspectives we wanted on our pieces. Doesn't this one just really look like the rubble floating in the water? I think so.... but the rising sun represents how the country will prevail and come back stronger than they were before.

When we are finished with these we will be auctioning them off and the proceeds to go to this tragedy<--in the process of researching who, what, when and how so we can make sure it goes to the right organization or one we both like.

OK off to stay up way late cause I work all tomorrow night so I try to stay up late the night before....lots of scraps to cut up and collage hmmmm wonder if my DVR taped the Glee episode last night? or if there is a Law & Order or NCIS marathon on those are some of my top 10 sewing days lol lol

and lest you think our little darlings were having their Spring Break ruined because their moms were working think again....they spent all those hours coming down to snack on salads, homemade applesauce, baked sliced sweet potatoes, fresh italian bread, playing video games, watching movies and generally having a good time in the new tweenie hangout--SEE having fun lol aren't they gorgeous lol lol

What are you creating today?