Kintsugi 

 

The repair of broken things. 

The Asian art refers to repairing broken pottery with gold. 

However I feel it has applications everywhere. 

"a metaphor for embracing your flaws and imperfections." 

As Leonard Cohen said

“There is a crack in everything.
That's how the light gets in.” 

 My husband can fix just about anything..& does 

With me it's sewing. go figure. 

 I have a stash of insignia cloth from my days as a sail maker. 

This stuff is priceless. Sticky back, peel & apply. 

Used it to repair hubby's rain jacket.

Some of my hand painted fabric was used to cover a 

hole scraped on the neck of this jacket.

 It's like new otherwise. 

Over the years I have & still do turn pants into shorts. With 2 boys growing up it was the solution to growing legs that made pants too short. 

Now it's just turning hubby's grubby pants into gardening shorts.
 

Plus he is always kneeling when doing projects & wears out the knees. 

Old jeans I save for fiber art to the rescue. 

Don't get me started on appliances & furniture...

 

Spools

 

S is for Spools. I have quite a collection. 

  

 

 

 

My plan is to soak the labels off then submerge them in a rust water bath. 

That's how these cloths pins got their weathered look. 

For now they live in this "pod" that hangs in the studio.

I've seen some fun artsy projects with spools.

These card holders might come in handy

I like the idea of adding imagery to them. 

I have a collection of these. Spools of another sort.

I use them to wind yarn.

The spent plastic spools from all the thread I go through 

comes in handy to wind embroidery floss from it's original skein. 

How do you organize your "stuff"? Or don't you?

Use It All Up

As a group artists tend to hang on to stuff because "you never know when..."

Here we are, lots of time to create & we need that stuff now!

We are vindicated in our tendency to save crap. 

Some of the fabric above dates back to my college days in textile design class,

 workshops years ago & scraps from my canvas bin obsession. 

Lots of quilting fabric lines my bins. The larger scraps have been sorted
by color & are being used to make larger pieces I can use up for the interiors. 

We have lots of old wall paint from various room & furniture make overs.

 They work on canvas for the background color!

I love red!

I'm partial to this can of metallic silver.

You should see it in person. 

 

Not sure what we were going to paint this color. 

I think it was a failed idea. 

It works well on fabric.

Old ledger pages become small note books.

 Gotta have paper with me at all times.

Old sweaters that have been felted are being used

 to make pin cushions and amulets.

That leads to using all that Floss I mentioned.

I could go on but you get the idea. 

Are you finding stuff in your home you can use up
while we are hangin' out?

A to Z Challenge in April Might as Well

I was rather serious about not participating this year. 

In fact, we were to be off on a trip to Italy in April. 

Guess what? That is not happening.

As our world changes beneath our feet it feels right to once again be committed

to post daily for a month. Might as Well!

My theme will be focusing on things that inspire my creativity.

 Images, nature, people, projects, books, food, the list goes on.  

These are all things that make us human and give cause for appreciation.

Been painting lots of canvas for more & more vessels. 

Lots of time at the sewing machine. 

What are you doing to stay centered, connected, fed, encouraged? 

I would love to hear from you!

This is what things feel like in my head at the moment. 

Aged to Perfection

This is the first of a few little projects I've been working on over these long grey days. 

More "mini obsessions" to be revealed in the next few posts.

Kicking myself for not getting a "before" picture. It was a Mickey Mouse mint tin. 

After hot gluing the corner pieces it was covered with silver paint left over in the basement from some random project. Glaze mixed with a little black acrylic paint 

was wiped over the entire box for an aged look.

Someone gave these to me & I've wanted to put them to use.

Now it is a needle box with magnetic strips inside.

Great for travel. Got the idea at a stitch workshop. Brilliant idea.

I just wish it would snow so I can go skiing!

All Dolled Up

Ann Wood is a fiber artist I follow. Love her sweet little hand stitched pieces of nature. 

Awhile back I purchased her pattern for the Dastardly Owl. 

Decided it was time to bring him to life. Here he is in progress.

I have a Pinterest board just for owls others have made
& some found in nature for design & color inspiration.

Her instructions for the talons was perfect. Fun to make. 

Lots of layers for the feathers. Fortunately I have a big stash of fabric to chose from. 

I've been making an effort to work on projects that all the supplies are already in my possession.

In this case I had the wire & florists tape for the feet, the fabric, stuffing, & buttons for the eyes.

I think I'll name him Whoratio. What do you think?

Here is my Pinterest Board devoted to dolls. 

Warning, my taste leans toward strange & creepy in some cases. 

There is another doll in the works I'll share another day.

Mr. Finch is Amazing

 

 Meet the Amazing Mr. Finch

I have been an admirer of his for several years. Being a doll lover, modern, elaborate, 

unusual dolls, never a Barbie fan!, I was immediately drawn to his style 

& attention to detail, let alone the subject matter. 

 Anthropologie did a great story introducing us to him & his craft. 

On his website some of my questions were answered. 

Do you make everything yourself or do you have any help?

"Everything is made by me-everything.
I do ALL of the sewing, printing of labels and tea making…the lot. I love to work alone and whilst it is hard sometimes and does limit how much work I can make I wouldn’t have it any other way."

What training do you have?
"I have no formal training in anything to do with textiles or sewing I’ve learnt it all myself."

He's a Brit. I imagine him living in a dark musty old cottage. His Facebook page is fun as well. 

I get the impression he is a loner who gets totally absorbed in a process he loves & has happened to be able to make a perfect place for himself in this wacky world.  

These comments on his site sum it up for me:

"He seems to have imagined quite a fantastic other reality, populated it, foraged it and has

been good enough to share its spoils with us.

‘Birds, insects, flora and fauna — all specimens that he has meticulously curated and

fabricated with an almost Darwinian flair. Part modern day hipster, part Victorian dandy —

Mister Finch has always struck me as an eccentric whose obsession with the natural world

rivals that of his 19th-century counterparts."

Michael Reynolds.

Wallpaper’s US editor

Quilting #AtoZChallenge

I am not a quilter. But an admirer of those who create art quilts.

A local quilting celebrity is Ann Loveless

Grand Rapids, MI has a huge art event every summer. Art Prize. Ann won the big jury prize one year. then the peoples choice award the next. Her quilts for Art Prize were a blend of large scale photography & quilting. She collaborates with her husband, the photographer.  Above is a smaller quilt by Anne using her technique of netting stitched over the tiny fabric pieces 

she uses to create an image.

While visiting younger son in Bend, OR a few years ago I discovered the 

Sisters Annual Quilt Show  was being held.  What a spectacular quilting event. 

The entire town is covered indoors & out with quilts. 

The key note speaker that year happened to be a quilter from Beaver Island in Lake Michigan.  

Gwen Marston. Serendipity. 

The stitching detail here blows me away. 

This was my favorite of the entire show.

The back of the Hippos.

 Close up of the faces.

Another example of a free stitching extravaganza. So impressive. 

Do you admire the expertise of others in their chosen art form?  

Do you want to know how it's done?