The finished product

I am taking part in my first craft swap with the oh so talented group over at Crafty Daisies. It’s a tea towel swap. You are supposed to decorate a tea towel in the craft style of your choosing and then send it to the person you’ve been assigned to. Now, the talent behind Crafty Daisies lies in the sew-knit-crochet-fabric craft arena that I hardly frequent so I was a little intimidated going in. After much discussion and rumination on exactly what a tea towel is, I picked up a lovely tan number at Target. I had wanted to screen print the towel itself but terry cloth doesn’t work so well for that. I’ve found Print Gocco screen printing works best on the smoothest fabric possible. I had picked up some flour sack towels but decided against them thinking they probably weren’t actually tea towels. I had been given a bunch of fabric samples books by my good friend, Sarah, so I screen printed a few pieces from one of the books and sewed them together with some plain pieces to the edge of the towel.  

I think it turned out great. I’m still learning the ropes when it comes to sewing so I hope it holds up to actual use. The fabrics were all cotton so it’s definitely washable but I didn’t have any fusible web to iron it onto the towel so it’s just stitched on with a single zig-zag stitch. Which, I have to say, I’m quite proud of myself for figuring out where that was on the sewing machine! 

Artistic Endeavors Week

I finally have a chance to post about my week off. There was much catching up to do after being away from work for 10 days! 

Day 1: I jumped right in by going to Gastonia, NC on Saturday for a shopping outing.  A good friend of mine used to live there and has raved about Mary Jo’s Cloth Store since I’ve known her.  There was aisle upon aisle of fabric, 40,000 sq ft of fabric, I’m told. I had specific ideas in mind and it was still overwhelming! I was able to get all the fabric I needed for half the price of what I expected to spend.  

Next stop was Hobby Lobby. For someone who had no idea what she was in for, this was also overwhelming and by overwhelmed, I mean I was overwhelmed with delight. I was able to pick up several tools I have needed that I was only able to get online (as in, Michael’s doesn’t carry it and that’s all we’ve got in Lynchburg!) and at great prices too. Here’s Kim & Leslee browsing some of the home decor items Hobby Lobby offers.

Day 2: Sunday was spent using my new tools purchased at Hobby Lobby. One of things I picked up was a new soldering iron. This soldering iron is meant for stained glass (which is basically what I do on the glass charms I make) and oh my goodness,  the difference it makes! My solder lines are so smooth and shiny and pretty. I spent most of the day soldering up all the charms I’ve made that never got finished because I was fed up with my old soldering iron and then I slept for a very long time.

Day 3: Collage. Solder. Nap. Collage. Solder. Nap. Nap some more. (Napping allows time for glue to dry).

Day 4: Realizing that Day 3 did not include any consumption of food because there wasn’t much to eat, I went grocery shopping. I also worked on some collages for a series of charms I’ve been thinking about for a while now. Then I napped (more glue to dry!).

Day 5: Finished soldering and polishing the series of charms. I’m delighted with how they turned out. They are presents so I went all out and used an actual photograph in the collage. Usually I use copies but these are special. I can’t share pictures yet because the recipients have not been gifted yet!

Day 6: I went to Bloom, a craft ministry at my church, in the morning and worked on some more collages for charms. Afterwards, I got to hang out with Amy and we checked out Estate Specialists and The Art Box, both in Downtown Lynchburg. We had a great time and I believe afterwards I napped. 

Day 7: I have been invited to be guest contributer on Crafty Daisies while one of their regulars is out of town. I thought I would do a tutorial on papermaking so I spent the morning doing a test run of techniques. I met my friend Maria for lunch. She said I looked well rested. I can’t imagine why. I spent the rest of the day finishing up the papers I started.

Day 8: Worked on a collage for The Late Virginia Summer’s  show on June 10th. It’s at the Starlight Cafe in Downtown Lynchburg. You should come. It’s free. The evening was spent at the Wood’s for a cook out. Great fun and food was had by all.

Day 9: Ms. Hartt graced us with another visit. We spent the afternoon shopping in Charlottesville.

Day 10: Day was spent recovering from the effects of Explosive Creativity and constructing cd sleeves from Tyvek envelopes for The Late Virginia Summer’s  box set. I broke out the sewing machine for this. In the process of moving, the manual for my sewing machine has gone missing. The first thing I always forget is how the thread it. To help, I took a picture of it (and who knows, this could be wrong too but it does work!)

And so ends Artistic Endeavors Week. All in all, I’d say it was time well spent.

Milo in 2008

I took this picture of Milo. It makes me think of a campaign poster. He seems to be looking with hope to the future but really I think it’s the clouds. With 2008 being a presidential election year, he’s considering joining the race. (He may just end up being the best candidate and will likely win my write-in vote!). Before he can throw his hat in the ring though he needs a suitable slogan. Using the good old Advertising Slogan generator over at http://thesurrealist.co.uk/ I came up with the following:
“So easy, no wonder Milo is #1″
“All the Milo that’s fit to print”
“Come to life. Come to Milo.”
“Crunch all you want. We’ll take Milo.”

I’m not 100% in love with your tone any of them so please comment with your suggestions…

Explosive Creativity

Explosive Creativity happens when I start working on a project and all of my things are spread out all over my workspace, which happens to also be my kitchen. It also happens when I take things out of my workplace and they don’t make back into place. The most recent Explosion happened about 2 months ago. Yes, nearly 60 days were spent stepping over and around my things in the kitchen. Nearly 2 months were spent balancing things precariously on top of stacks of other things. I would move things out to the living room, the nearest place with space to work. Nathan would then move them into neat little piles surrounding the couch. Occasionally, I had to clear a path for Milo so he could reach his food dish which is tucked away in the corner between my storage units. This past weekend I finally resolved make sense of it all. I purchased some bins that could serve both as storage and carrying cases so things could travel about the country side with me. I organized. I tidied. I put things away. I even swept the floor. Then, I took a picture of it and I want to share that picture with you, Magical Internet World.

Looking on the bright side

We recently moved. It was unexpected and crazy and I’m still reeling from the experience. I would say that the only thing better than moving is putting my eye out with a hot fire poker except for the fact that it does afford me the chance to redecorate. This I enjoy. Our last home had every room a different color. This time, since we need to return the walls to their original color upon leaving, I’ve opted against painting. Since I already deplore moving, I do not want to have to worry about painting as well when we depart for the next homestead. Besides, I discovered Blik Wall Graphics a while ago and needed a good excuse to buy some. They were a breeze to hang and even came with a little tool to assist with the smoothing out onto the wall. Pictured is Fly in the living room.