finger thumb

new project under way

Ok, maybe I do have one New Year's resolution: to keep my studio/sewing table more tidy. Why does this keep happening? Oh, and this was not even the worst point. I did not pull out the camera until I was half way through cleaning up.

Also, is it just me or does this happen to you too? Giant, gross, wadded up smoodge of embroidery floss. Such a pain. I swear I did not do this, and yet somehow, mysteriously I find one of these at the bottom of some box or basket or another at least once a year. And I cannot bring myself to throw it out. Because what if there was some sort of civilization-ending apocalyptic event, and I could no longer buy things because then all I would have left to work with would be the stuff in my house? Then boy would I be glad that I still had this thread snaggle. I could make some good end-times embroidery with this.

Yeah, I'm not even going to re-read over that last paragraph because I don't want to be able to itemize and count all the different kinds of crazy that it contains. Oh, and speaking of apocalyptic events, check out this commercial for the Run For Your Life 5k Zombie Obstacle Race. Yeah, you read that right. So awesome. I don't run, but I'd love to watch someone else run this. Oh, and also, I watched all these related links about it last night before bed and then I totally had zombie nightmares. My subconscious is so freakin' suggestible. Yeah, I'd definitely run if Zombies were chasing me. Most ruthless personal trainers ever.

Wait, how did I get to Zombies? Oh yeah, cleaning my sewing table.  I do love the random little bits I find. 

Awesome scraps that I just can't throw away, but are literally too small to be useful in my scrap box. I've got to get around to making that ticker tape quilt one day. 

Such pretty little textures and colours. I love scraps. 

And now I'm on to a new project. 

ooooh, rainbow scraps. Can't...possibly...throw....away! 

Even my garbage can is pretty! But as you see, I'm not totally hopeless. I can throw some stuff away.

working, working....

ok, I'm back into production mode here. I'll be doing another craft show and selling my bibs and blankets and stuff this weekend in Toronto. Its a show called Movies and Makers, held twice a year (once at Christmas and once in the Spring) at the Fox Theatre (2236 Queen Street East) in The Beaches area. Its a one-day event, this Saturday the 14th of May from 11:00 am to 5:30 pm.

I know, I know, its kind of crazy to be doing a craft show when the New Baby is just a little over 2 months old. But he's still pretty portable at the stage, and I already have a lot of bibs made and left over from the Christmas sales. So really, I'm just supplementing my inventory with some of the best sellers (Mr. T, Chewbacca, Rainbow Brite, you know, all the big hitters) and then we'll just go and have a good time being out in the world and meeting new people and maybe selling a couple of bibs. Good idea right? I hope so. I hope I'm not regretting it on Friday night as I race to get things done. But no! No. I'm going to be calm and rational about this. I will get done what I get done, and that's that. 

And it is nice to be making stuff. Not that I'm ever not making stuff, but you know what I mean. Making stuff to show and sell. In spite of the low-level anxiety, there is something invigorating about a deadline. 

I'm off for a little late-night sewing. I'll be back tomorrow with pictures. 

deadline

I'm so inspired by what is out there on the internet. I especially love going to other artists/designers/quilters sites and seeing their beautiful studio setups. I love seeing the nicely lit workspaces, tidy and attractivel storage solutions, and all that good stuff. For example, Rebekah of don't call me becky, just redid her sewing room, and it looks beautiful. Also, Heather Bailey's studio looks just they way your would think it should. And this studio; the colour alone, not to mention the beautiful organization, leaves me at a loss for words. Its just so inspiring. Especially since currently, this is what it looks like where I make things.

Honestly, I disappoint myself sometimes. I'm a creative person, for pete's sake, and I know how to dress myself, and I like to think I have some sense of style, but THIS is the way I live. Sigh.

Anyhow, I should not be too hard on myself, because there is a reason that my living room/studio/work area looks like it was hit by a fabric bomb. Its because I'm working towards a deadline. A deadline that is looming on the disconcertingly close horizon. 

This holiday season I've finally decided to bite the bullet and get on the Toronto Craft Show/Sale scene. I'm taking it relatively easy on myself and am just doing two shows. The Speakeasy Holiday Sale on the 2nd of December from 7-11 pm, and the Snowday Holiday Market on December 5th from 12 noon to 5pm. Both of them take place at the Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West in Toronto, but at different times (ovbviously) and in different parts of the hotel (upstairs for the Speakeasy Sale, in the Ballroom for the Snowday Holiday Market. 

The Gladstone for those of you who don't know Toronto, is a quirky, art-centric 'unique' hotel. Go to their site and browse around to get an idea of what I mean. I'm really looking forward to doing the sales there, as I've also shown art there in the past, and I love the space. 

But in the meantime, I'm in crunch mode around here. Which the Little Dude is not exactly loving. Don't get me wrong, he's a dream as far as toddlers go, in terms of being able to play by himself. He'll happily hunker down with his trucks and little people and town set-up on the living room table, and brummmm away... for about 45 minutes. And then he comes over to my at my sewing machine about every three minutes to say "Mommy come play wif me for a couple few minutes?" followed up by "Please, Mommy come ova here and play for a little couple minutes?" followed by "Moooooooooommmmmmeeeeeeeeeey! couple few minutes Pleeeeeeeeeassssseeeee?!?" Sigh. At least he's polite about it. Though at times he's more insistent than others, and commands somewhat sternly. "Mama, turn dat iron off!" or "Mama no do dat sewing now!" Humph. Either way, its really my first experience of feeling that work vs. mom balance thing. I try to find a good ratio of taking breaks to play with him (which is probably good for my poor back too) and sticking to my guns, as in: "I'm sorry Bub, but I have to do some work now."

Also, my new favourite thing? He's started calling me "Mama Mia". But with very clear pronounciation, and like he knows its funny, like this: "Mum-Ma Meeeeeeee-aaaaah". It makes me smile every time. 

Anyhow, maybe tomorrow or the next day I'll show you what I'm working on for these sales more specifically, depending if I can remember to take some good pictures. But either way, if you are in Toronto on the 2nd or the 5th of December, come on by the Gladstone and see me. 

art in the afternoon

This weekend we took a little road trip to see some art. When we lived in Montreal, Hubs was part of an art-ideas studio/lab led by artist Ingrid Bachmann called IEL, which stands for the Institute of Everyday Life. Their work was being shown in an exhibit called FABRICation: Studio Production Textiles for Interiors. It was running at the same time that Fibreworks, the contemporary Canadian fibre art biennial was going on, so there were all sorts of textile/fibre events and things happening in Cambridge, which is a smallish Canadian city, with a really beautiful old downtown area (that you get to after you drive through a really ugly commercial area, its kind of like a reward at the end of a difficult hike). My mother-in-law is visiting us from Vancouver this week, and she is also a fan of all things fabric-y, so we packed up the Little Dude and headed out to Cambridge.

Our first stop was the Cambridge Galleries to see the art. 

These are some big coiled felt stools made by Kathyn Walter of FELT studio. How I love felt. I wish we had one of these big grey stools at home, and so does the Little Dude. 

 
 After having absorbed quite a bit of art, we went outside to burn off some energy. They have a lovely square there, with a war memorial, and a fountain that was built to commemorate the Centennial, I think. 

 
 There was a sort of metal medallion with the Centenial logo on it in the sidewalk that the Little Dude promptly sat on, which gave me this great shot. 

The big dramatic centrepiece of the Fibre Arts weekend was the Knit Bridge, which was an installation done by Sue Sturdy who is this year's Artist in Residence for the Cambridge Centre for the Arts.  
She covered the sides of the Main Street Bridge in downtown Cambridge with knitting. It was pretty impressive, especially when you consider that hundreds of people contributed their knitting to it. 

 The best part of it was watching the Little Dude interact with it. He seemed to love all the colours and textures, and that he was allowed to poke and prod at it (which, after an afternoon of being carefully shepherded around the galleries learning not to touch things was a great relief I'm sure).  

 He literally go into it at one point, tucking his head under a dangly scarf-y  bit. He was pretty pleased with himself for that. 

Then, he noticed all the confetti on the ground. It was probably left over from the opening ceremony.  

 He was very excited about it, especially after Hubs showed him how it worked. Gather it up, throw it in the air, and voila! instant fun.

It pretty much summed up our afternoon: experiencing everyday things that are beautiful or extraordinary when found out of their usual context. Which is a really art-catalogue-y way of saying we had a lot of fun, and slept like logs when we finally got home. 

studio assistant

I've always wanted a studio assistant. And now I have one.

I'm finally getting that quilt top completely assembled. We've nailed down the layout, I spent the weekend sewing the blocks into strips and today I stitched the long strips of blocks together to form the top. I had to lay the whole thing out on the dinning room table to get it pinned together cleanly, and as you can see, I had a little helper. 

There is nothing this Baby loves like a sharp pointy object. He practically runs across the room when he sees my scissors lying at the edge of a table, so I have to be very, very careful of how I leave my work space. And he adores my pincushion. I've adopted the philosophy that with those things that are not deadly dangerous I'm doing my best to allow him to experience them in a limited and supervised way, so that he learns to be careful with them, but not fearful. So under my watchful eye, he may carefully, and in as much as is possible for a nearly-two-year-old with limited fine motor skills, correctly learn to use them. Note that under this rubric, pins are ok, bleach is not. I'm not crazy. 

Anyhow, we got all set up, and he passed me pins when I needed them, and augmented my pinning a bit as well. Though he also did his fair share of removing pins that I'd already put into the fabric. But eventually he did get the message that the pins were not to come out yet. He likes the big quilting pins with the flower heads, and he likes to tell me what colour they are too. He's very funny though, because he has about a 65% accuracy with identifying colours, so he will confidently hand me a pin and declare "red!" when its actually green. When I mention that I think that it is green, he will equally happily agree with me and declare "geen!", taking no offense at the correction. He's easy going that way. 

Anyways, I was happy that I got my quilt pinned together, and he was happy that he got to handle the pins, so it was good times all around. He loves to be doing what I'm doing. And I love to look over and see that curly little head bent happily over my pin cushion, absorbed and happy and learning every minute of the day.    

I hate stuff.

Or rather, I love stuff, but I hate having to deal with all my stuff. Lets just say that stuff and I have a love/hate relationship. 

As you regular readers probably know, I'm in the midst of a move/transitional period in my life. Last summer I moved from Montreal back to Ontario, and now I live in a house, that while spacious and comfortable, is not the end point of my current trajectory. It is a good in-between place, but it is not the final place. This means, that I, or more specifically my stuff is in this constant purgatorial half-in, half-out of boxes state. It. is. so. frustrating. On pretty much a weekly basis I begin a project or a job or something, only to get part way into it and be totally stumped as to the location of an object that I really, really need in order to finish said project. So I am ETERNALLY looking for stuff. And not finding stuff. And being thwarted by my stuff. I spent over a couple of hours (And its not like I'm just swimming in free time, you know?) this morning in my parents garage methodically digging through our deep storage boxes looking for this one particular item. A box full of fabric scraps. Specific fabric scraps. I'd spent the entire previous evening looking for this box in my house, only to conclude that it had not been unpacked and therefore was in the deep storage somewhere. So I dug, and dug and dug. And eventually I found it. In the very last box that was there. I know it is redundant and somewhat logical to say that you always find something in the last place you look. (of course you do. Because you stop looking after you find it. duh) but this time it was literally in the last place that I could look because I had already been through every other existing box labeled STUDIO, and quite a number that were not. 

Aaaaaanyhow. I found it. My precious box of specific scraps. And I would like to say that I spent the rest of the day happily creating the project that sent me off on the specific-scrap-box hunt. But I did not. There was a batch of baby food to be made, and lots of potty/storybook reading time. And there was a lot of cleaning to do. (And I'm not what I'd call a regular cleaner, so when I do happen to do it, I usually takes a bit of doing) And then I spent my precious evening dealing with my stupid STUFF! Trying to organize and tidy so that my life regains some aspect of functionality. Because it has gotten ridiculous around here. 

All of that is to say that I did not get to make anything today. Or take any pictures. Or do anything except move boxes around from one place to another. Which always leaves me feeling cranky. Makes me want to start all over again and be a religious ascetic or at the very least a minimalist. It all makes me think of this very informative little video called the Story of Stuff. (Click on the 'Watch Now' button. Totally worth it) I've got the book out of the library too. Maybe that will help. 

Yep. Minimalist. That's what I'll be. Someday. 

ironing board makeover

Even the most mundane sewing project can be a learning experience. I finally got around to re-covering my ironing board. I know, I know, not the most scintilating project, but it had to  be done. As my parents are now gone, we are little by little getting our things out of storage, and one of the things that I brought home last week was my trusty old ironing board. Its a humble, utilitarian thing, an ironing board. I hardly even think about mine, and yet it is an essential tool that I use all the time as I work, whether its sewing a quilt or making a piece of art. Stuff always has to be ironed. Probably every piece of fabric that I use or manipulate comes in contact with my ironing board. And yet I pay it almost no attention. Its probably about 12 years old, as I would have purchased it around the time I got married. I proabably bought at Zellers or someplace cheap like that. And it shows. 

This is one mangy old ironing board. One doesn't expect much from an ironing board. When you buy one, your choices of fabric are usually a) gross or b) tacky, and in my case I chose the lesser of two evils (I believe the other option featured cows and geese) but as time has gone by, the fabric has deteriorated considerably.

And half a year in my dad's garage/barn did not do it any favours, especially since that garage also housed the working table saw and there was a ridiculous amount of sawdust on everything. So this dirty, stinky ironing board cover had pretty much had it. I certainly was not going to use it to press the lovely blue and white quilt squares that I am laboring over these days.  

Anyhow, last night I finally decided that I had to be done. I went online and found a few tutorials (here and here and here) read them over, and just sort of did it. I didn't follow any of them exactly, but it worked out anyways. Its not exactly a precision project, which was nice for a change from the patchwork that I'm doing lately. Also, I didn't want to use up a big piece of quilt batting, so I just used two layers of cotton flannel as padding instead. It worked fine, and suits me well because I don't like a puffy ironing surface. For the cover itself I used some fabric that I got at Ikea awhile ago, because despite the fact that I liked it enough to buy it, I just could not figure out what to use it for. Too busy for a tote, couldn't quite see it as cushions, too heavy weight for clothes or quilts. Turns out it was waiting to be an ironing board cover. 

 So basically with this project I learned not to put things off that seem complicated (because they usually aren't) and not to fuss too much with simple functional things (did no measuring, just eyeballed it). But interestingly, I also learned that an ironing board is a really difficult object to photograph. Its big, and awkward, takes up a lot of space, makes for complicated angles and since you have to get back from it, always shows all the mess in the background. Anyhow, I had learned from the sewing not to fuss too much, so I can't say these are 'great' pictures of my ironing board. But they are functional. As is my newly recovered, non-eyesore inducing ironing board. Now back to quilting. 

because I need to

Do you ever feel compelled to make something? I've only self-identified as an artist since my early 20's, but I've been a 'maker' since I was able to hold scissors. A few of you have commented on my productivity, and the ease with which things seem to appear, all put together, after I have said that I'm going to make them. I don't mean to shatter your illusions, but I think its only fair to say that it is not always as easy as it looks. I've thought often about why I make things, and there are more reasons than I can fit in one blog entry, but I think that it is not only that I enjoy making, but that I also feel compelled to make things. Its been a week or so since I've had a project, and I tell you, I start to get itchy when I'm without something to do. It doesn't bother me so much during the day. Heaven knows, I have enough to keep me busy (one word - toddler) But in the evenings, I am fretful and unpleasant to be around if I'm not able to make something. Don't get me wrong, I like to watch TV as much as the next person, but TV is even better if I have something in my hands, slowly taking shape. 

Tangent: Speaking of TV, I have my two new favourites. One, in very good taste, and the other as low as my brow will go. First of all, Sunday nights on PBS there is a new season of Masterpiece Theater. I'm currently watching 'Return to Cranford' which is a delightful period piece about the busy ladies who sort of run a small town and the intrigues of whether or not they will allow the railroad to come through their sleepy little burgh. It stars Dame Judy Dench, and as far as I'm concerned, that woman can do no wrong, and will play my mom in the movie of my lifem, should it ever got to film. (You can watch full episodes of 'Return to Cranford' it online right now, for a limited time, so even if you missed the first installment this past Sunday, you can still catch up) The second things, is a reality show called 'Tough Love' which is about a young so-called match-maker guy, who is running a bootcamp for delusional young ladies who want to meet Mr. Right, but are going about it all wrong. It is trashy, and sexist and of dubious value to its participants, but I could not. stop. watching it. It was the season premier that I saw tonight, and I'm pretty sure I'll tune in again next week too. You can also watch episodes online. I'm watching season 1 in reruns, which are all up on the site that I linked to. But I should add that its total crap and will rot your brain, so be warned. 

Aaaaaanyways, whether I'm watching good TV or bad TV, I cannot go more than a week without making things. And we are in this sort of in-between place right now, as far as our living situation goes. We are very happy to be living with my parents at the moment, while we locate jobs and homes. However, it is a strange limbo to be in, when it comes to living one's life the way that one is used to. For instance, this used to be my studio:
It's messy, and full of stuff, but see that big shelf unit in the background? That was where all my fabric lived. And it was sort of roughly organized by colour. But most importantly, I could see it all. It was great. 

By contrast, this is my studio now:
Sigh. I am very glad to have a room (my mom's guest bedroom for that matter) in which I am able to spread out my stuff, and get down to it, without causing a major eyesore in the middle of a more public living area. However, the biggest problem is that I can't see my fabric. I mostly have it in boxes in the closet of this room, and also in some boxes along the side of the room under the windows. And every now and then, we actually have a guest in the guest bedroom, and I clean all the fabric away into boxes, and then completely forget what has been put where. So tonight, when I was practically vibrating with the need to make something, I could not, for the life of me, find the fabric I had in mind. I cannot tell you how frustrating that is. I breathed deeply, and tried to be calm and methodical in my search, though I am sad to tell you that I mostly tore boxes open and rifled through them in a haphazard way, exclaiming under my breath in a most unladylike manner. I thought my head might blow off. But finally, I found what I had been looking for. That's the benefit of working in a somewhat smaller space than I used to, there is only so much ground to cover, before you've covered it all. And then, I was able to turn on a little relaxing TV, get out my rotary cutter and some fabric, and happily make away.

I'm very pleased with these colours. Its going to be a light, strip-quilted sleep sack for the Baby. I'll keep you updated on how it works out.  

someday....

I have a couple of friends who are film makers, and I'm always saying to them that I could never make art the way they do, because when you make a film, it takes years and years to go from concept to finished work, and I simply cannot delay gratification like that. And then I realize sometimes, how long my projects take, and I should probably reconsider that statement. This is a picture of a quilt that I have not finished yet. I haven't even started piecing it yet. And it has been in the works for, hmm, I'd say nearly TEN YEARS! I was looking though old photos and realized that I started cutting this out before I moved to Montreal. Now, I lived in Montreal for 8 years, and I had it cut out well before that. When I was in Montreal, I took all the pieces out of their box, and laid them out (note that this was back in the glorious studio days, when I had a huge workspace that allowed me to do things like lay out an entire quilt so I could mull over how it looked for a couple of days) and thought about sewing it together, but then some sort of show, or deadline or pregnancy loomed up and got in the way of completion.  And its funny, because when I originally cut it out, I imagined it would be some sort of crazy checkerboard pattern, which now feels totally wrong. I'm much more into this zig zaggy deal now. Anyhow, its back in its box again, but I'm wondering if this will finally be the winter that I crack it out and get this baby done. The nights are getting cold and it would sure be nice to have a wool quilt. Did I mention that this is all recycled felted wool sweaters. Yeah, I've got a bit of a second-hand sweater problem.

So does anyone else have this kind of UFO (unfinished object) lying around. Any completely cut-out quilts just waiting to be sewn together? What's your worst delayed completion project? Do tell. 

i miss montreal

Up until about 3 months ago, I lived in Montreal. Sigh. Boy do I miss it. So today I wanted to take a little time to sing Montreal's praises - or at least to tell you what I miss about it. I mean, if you want the top 10 sight seeing destinations, there are many guidebooks to tell you that. What I miss is things like this.

Bilingual graffiti, people! That's what I'm talkin' bout! This was a monitor that someone was throwing away, and just to be helpful, they sharpied a little info on top of it. In BOTH of Canada's official languages.

My studio building. Its not the most beautiful piece of architecture in Montreal, but it was beautiful to me. I can't tell you how much I miss having a proper studio - a place away (but not far away) from your house, where you go to make art, and make a mess, that never has to be cleaned up.

Ah, and here it is. The space. The light. The lovlieness. The unrealistic tidiness for a photo...(photo by Kate Fellerath of http://www.fellerath.com/ )

...because this is what it usually looked like. And often worse

And I miss our little apartment. I mean, I don't miss the littleness, it was a shoebox compared to where we are now, but it was cozy and it was ours, and it was so full of good times.

And so many of those good times involved little dogs. I'd never been a 'dog person' before I lived in Montreal, but during my time there I had the chance to become good friends with a number of lovely dog owners, and got to spend time with the sweet little dogs that were part of their lives and became a part of mine. I miss them much, both the dogs and the owners. 

Because really, its the people (and creatures) in a place that make that place a place that you love. And I loved Montreal, and all of you who were there with me.