mmm.... coffee.....

an influx of thousands of kittens

this was my half of the table at the Alumni Sale saturday morning - we were steadily mobbed for the rest of the day.  sales were slow for me at first, but picked up later & amongst other things, i sold the slug messenger bag!  the weather was gorgeous, i had fries from the Idaho potato man & my thermos of coffee to get me through the day.  we had a surprise visit from alison of wonderlandQ which was awesome.  bob & ginny of OrangeBags came by with their new little baby, so did my former boss Michelle & i got to see anna of annabuilt who is totally pregnant.  am i finally at that age?  babies everywhere!

since the sale on saturday i have done nothing!  absolutely nothing!  okay, not entirely true: teresa & i went to our friend josie's house for a little bbq saturday night, but i didn't last long.  sunday morning we went to breakfast & were joined by stacy & allison.  afterwards we checked out a sewing machine/fabric yard sale extravaganza jenine had spread the word about & then there was a trip to savers.  i added to my button collection, stacy almost bought some cool shoes & teresa convinced me to buy a little round, turquoise suitcase.

your head is bent out of shape, but your feet are on the ground

to entice you to stop by the Risd Alumni Sale this saturday, here are the messenger bags i have made so far.  they are all fully-lined with an inner pocket, adjustable strap & heavy-duty velcro enclosure:

i am completely in love with the one i made myself & take it with me everywhere i go.  i put the pocket on the inside front so it's quick & easy to find my keys & cell phone.  the strap is strong webbing so it won't stretch out & stays put at the length you choose.  i added more velcro so the bag will stay closed even when over-stuffed.  this saturday i'll also be bringing a pile of ipod sleeves & tons of wrist cuffs in the favorite styles & a couple new ones, too!  here is a sneak peek a some of them:

i might have a few clutch purses with me - depends on how fast i can sew this week...  the weather is supposed to be really nice this weekend so come on by & check out my new haircut!  Benefit Street, 10am-4pm (rain or shine.)

i went out into the night, i went out to find some light

i have a wonderful therapist: he understands that the things i sew are extensions of myself, they are a form of expression.  i can show up to a session with a quilt or something like this & not only does he get it, but we can sit & talk about it in the context of everything else in my life.  and, since he has his own private practice, he's very good at giving me business advice!

definitely inspired by the Capreolus Polycoros from Ulyssis Aldrovandi's Monstrorum Historia, this creature is about 14" tall with button eyes surrounded by felt, the body is some weird ultrasuede upholstery fabric & the horns & antlers are sculpey/fimo clay.  i made a little button shank out of jewelry wire so they're sewn into place & then glued down.  unfortunately i broke the antlers shortly after this photo was taken but i'll make a new set tonight.  i guess i didn't have to tell you that part, you'd never know, but hey, it's part of the process!

thirty years from now someone will spill juice

what am i doing?  i'm making creepy, but cute things...  i stayed home from work today because i hurt my leg helping neighbor susan move from a 1/2 basement apt to the 2nd floor.  it's just a pulled muscle, but it's cold & rainy outside, it would have taken me forever to hobble to work!  creature making is probably not what i should be doing, but i'm really excited about the strange creatures i've making.

a funny thing happened earlier: i was looking for my spool of pink thread, you know, the one i've been using all day?  it suddenly disappeared & i searched everywhere for it.  is in on my table? maybe it's under a piece of fabric or rolled off to the side.  oh, maybe it rolled onto the floor or into the trash!  can you find it? it's here somewhere...

i have a note

i was having thread problems: tension & breakage with the ol' cotton covered polyester especially when sewing on vinyl.  i noticed a difference when using some old thread my mother gave me, it was stronger & more tightly twisted than the cotton/poly i've bought.  teresa suggested i try 100% cotton thread, i scrutinized the guterman spool & noticed that it, too, was more tightly twisted...  well, several weeks later & i've switched!  okay, i might use up some of the other spools when not sewing on vinyl, but the gutterman 100% cotton is stronger, smother & less linty.

enough technical talk, look - monsters!  the furry monster on the left is intended for a friend of mine.  (i swear i will mail it to you someday, ryan!)  and the other one i made yesterday.  ryan's monster has teeth & toes made out of felt from those Anthropologie snowflakes.  the new one on the right is somewhat inspired by the 17th century illustrations of sea-life, hence the shark-head, unicorn horn & fins...

and the words float out like holograms

it's a lazy sunday in the coffee-drinker household (i also had a wee plate of scrambled eggs with that coffee.)  that cute tree pattern is on my favorite flannel sheets, they are from target & i also have wrapping paper in the same pattern.  i think the flannel pjs are from target, too...  oh, and so is the sock!  it says "Naughty or Nice?" at the top.  yes, i do like that Target, they understand my need for things to be both affordable & well designed. 

it has been a year since i made my first messenger bag - i have used it every day & taken it everywhere.  it has been through the heat of summer & the cold of winter.  it's travelled from rhode island to maine, to nyc, south carolina & miami.  it gets tossed on floors, in cars, has been x-rayed in airport security checkpoints & crammed under seats.  i have worn it through rainstorms & spilled my lunch inside.  i can officially declare it a success!  not that i don't have faith in my craftsmanship, but i always test-drive my merchandise before selling it.  i have to know that they will last & are comfortable before i send them off into the world.  the immediate modification i made to my first bag was to switch the strap from vinyl to webbing, i also added a little more velcro on these new ones so they're easier to close when packed full.  i probably won't make very many of them, but here is a little sneak peek of what's in the works:

on tape, on tape and cassette, you'll hear me live and direct

sorry i left you for so long with that majorly dorky post!  i have been sewing & sewing & cutting & sewing.  (there was also a little hiking in there, too)  i'm trying to switch gears & get some vinyl work done this week since i finally realized that it's due at Craftland in, uh, a few days?  crap.  i'm also trying to make more quilts for the Foundry - i decided the other day to make a few of these teeny tiny ones inspired by 202 Little Log Cabin Blocks by linda causee.  that book taught me the paper/foundation piecing methods & after tracing hers i figured out how to draw my own.  i'm making a few that piece together into stars which is about as close to holiday appropriate as i'm going to get.

i have a lot of photos i haven't posted, but they're all from work & predominantly of moldy books.  did i mention that i discovered i can take photos through the microscope with my digital camera?  i might have to post some of those later...

um, yeah, did you get the memo about the TPS reports?

i don't think i can start a post with black & white photos!  it's just not right.  so, there, enjoy those incredible close-ups of a tiny quilt first.  and now, feast you eyes upon these:

your monitor does not decieve you: i have finally purchased a real computer!  i am no longer tethered to the hand-me-down craptop.  i'm thinking that bad memory needs to meet an Office Space end...  so, yes, my bank account is empty, but i think it will be worth it.  now if only i could find the disc with my digital camera's software i'd be all set...  and a few other programs...  oh my, i can't wait to get home & turn it back on!

eat you alive, or i'll just hug you to death

(i knew there was a reason why i had to order all that gorgeous felt, teresa!)  i got up really early sunday morning (thank you, daylight savings) and cleaned up from the previous day's baking, made a cup of strong coffee & stood in the sun playing with my fabrics.  i sewed these three little quilts all in one day.  i started to worry, though: are all they too similar?  will people be bored when they see a booth of them?  i hung them up together in my studio & am trying to decide if they are different enough.  i mean, i think they're all different, but i've spent time with each individual one & know my fabrics intimately...  i think it gets back to spending more time on the embellishment of them, like the miniature felt leaves on the first one.  i started sashiko-embroidering the purple one last night.  there needs to be a little more ruminating on their personality.

some exciting news: they finally opened an apple store in providence!  i might have to run down there between work & craft-night today...  i know you've heard me say it before, but: no more craptop because new computer, here i come!

down and down we go, how low one would not need to know

this quilt is 6" square & made out of teeny tiny scraps.
i haven't been able to decide which way it should hang:

i hope to have quite a few mini quilts for the foundry sale in december, but i haven't decided if i'm going to put any of my vinyl stuff there.  i wasn't planning on it until i met gail ahlers at the alumni sale & she asked if i'd considered doing the foundry sale & i told her i just got in for the first time this year.  the thing is i only had my vinyl work with me so she thought my cuffs & purses were a good fit...  in the end it will probably be based on what i'm able to make because i also have Craftland to stock!

last night i made another little one, about 9" square, it's all dark & muddy greens.  i haven't decided what else it needs, it needs something, embroidery perhaps... i'm still waiting for it to tell me.