a little bit of summer

Here are a few things we've been working on so far this summer. I hope to go into a bit more detail on some of them in future posts, but with all the play dates and swim lessons and backyard quicksand making, I'm having a hard time settling down to update the blog. The weather's too nice, the days (as long as they are) are too short. We're filling them full.

I hope you're enjoying your summer too!

My booth at the Eugene Mini-Maker Faire in June.

Getting good use out of the studio; the kiddo tells me this is a picture of a queen.

We're going to have so many grapes this year. So many!

Tie dyeing with fabric paint for a special quilt project.

Watching a juggler on the library plaza at the Summer Reading kick-off.

A booth at Black Sheep Gathering where the kind people told me how to fix my spinning wheel.

These b&w dragonflies are all over the place this summer. I love them.

Mashing up the u-pick strawberries from the organic farm to make jam.

Sunset roses.

Sun printing on fabric (it's really easy).

W is for watermelon, if you're eating the alphabet.

Red flowers and pool blue chairs.

Hanging up the ride-on toys on the back of the shed.

A peanut plant.

Yup. We're growing peanuts as a science experiment this summer.

Croquet cart from the thrift store . . .

. . . with some new stain and tightened screws for long life.

Painting the patio bricks with washable tempera paint is fun with kiddos.

Did I mention we also camped out at the beach for a few days, and spent some time at the ballpark, and played mini golf, and have been to the pool like a dozen times (at least)? Yeah. We're totally summering it up over here in the PNW.


Thanks for reading! I'll be back soon with a little post to explain sun printing in six easy steps, because now is the time, people! You crafty folks out there probably already have what you need on hand.

stitched puppets from the lane county historical museum

Tonight, for your consideration, an assortment of puppets from the children's puppet stage at the Lane County Historical Museum. From flappers to hippies, settlers to bar maids, there are probably close to two dozen of these carefully stitched and costumed puppets spread out on a black shelf, out of sight for anyone but those who peek behind the curtain. Waiting to be discovered like starfish in a tide pool.

I'm not sure who pieced the puppets; I didn't notice any markings, but it must have been someone very dedicated.

Patterns for individual dolls (including costumes) are available in the gift shop for under $6.00.


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)

Fabulous!

I like everything about this!



I like the packaging design, I like that it's available in a bunch of colors, I like that you don't have to get messy dye-fingers, I like that there are different formulas for natural and artificial fibers, and I like that I can buy it locally from Oregon Art Supply. Before this, I had to special-order dyes for polyester and nylon.


http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/5590684-AA.shtml
http://www.oregonartsupply.com/

Meet Your Maker: Holiday Show!

The next Meet Your Maker indie craft show will be held Sunday, December 13 from 11 till 5 p.m. at the Fenario Gallery in Eugene! This should be a really great show, and GREAT motivation to get some stuff done. I've been quite lazy at the art lately, but with good reason. Also, my fellow artists and crafters, there are still spots available! If you can find a way to be in town that weekend, sign up soon. Spots are only $30 . . .http://meetyourmaker.net/

Safe as Houses

I love our little house, and our green yard, and the art studio we've been building out back. I love the picket fence we put in the front and the privacy fence we put behind. I love the siding we're hanging over the old ugly ply board, and the new yellow color, and our plans for a red door. I love every little thing I've planted, everything we've built, and our work has transformed this place. Talking about leaving it is heart-breaking.

So I won't entertain those thoughts. For now we're here, safe as houses. And I'm planning on keeping it like that for some time to come.

Instead, I'll show you some cool stuff . . .

These are my next recycled book boards to be turned into ReBound handmade blank books. Some of these covers are over 100 years old, as you can see by the inside stamp on one: "Princeton Theological Seminary -- 1880".







I used to get sad thinking of these old books being taken apart, but it's really very democratic this way. They get scanned, reprinted, and sold to colleges, universities, seminaries, and churches all over the country. And now that I've found a use for some of the covers, I can sleep a little better.

Here are two I just finished. These are going up in the shop post haste. You can see they're not nearly as old as the upcoming batch, but they're still lovely, don't you think?




This first one is a sweet little thing. The binding came still attached at the spine, so I wrapped the case in this lovely vine-and-berries paper and gave a solid stab binding a bit of dressing up with some cross stitches.




And here's the second one. I used the same decorative paper for both of these, but the bindings are very different . . .




This is a coptic binding, something I'm getting better and better at not muffing up. Sometimes the stitches tear the paper, but my hands are becoming more sure of themselves, as you can begin to see. I think coptic bindings are rather elegant, and have the benefit of opening flat. It makes them perfect to use as sketchbooks or guest books.





And here is my last show-and-tell of the day: a skirt I made recently from some vintage fabric I found at the thrift store on half-price day. I think it looks rather 1950s, and I've been sewing enough recently that I was able to make it without using a pattern.




The buttons, which you can almost see here, are more bakelite, caramel colored coat buttons from that auction lot I picked up in Tennessee last spring. I'll edit in a close-up of the buttons later, as they're too lovely to ignore.





That's plenty for tonight. The two finished books I featured will be up on Etsy; but I'm keeping that skirt. ;)

peter pan-sies!

I'm spending a fair amount of my free time lately making stuff for this:

This is an early draft of the poster. Mostly hand done, with alterations and additions made in Illustrator. After a few more additions and subtractions, I'll post the final result here! 

I'm also making a bunch of props, set pieces, and costumes. If you'll be in town during the play dates, please come see! It's an ambitious project for a community theater group (read: no budget), but the cast is well-assembled, and I think the creative energy is well worth the effort.

it's etsy day!

Woohoo! The Etsy community is uniting to make today a huge Etsy visiting day. You can visit my Etsy page at http://www.nightgarden.etsy.com! Stick around and browse other Etsy finds as well!