Project Life: 13 wk 29

With life so busy for me lately, sadly the SEWN projects had to be put on hold for a while which made me sad. But, godwilling, things are getting back to normal and I'm catching up on the documents of previous weeks. It's harder to do when they aren't as fresh in your mind but I still manage to keep my photos sorted by date and my calendar and Day One fill in the blanks.

But you know what??? That week 30 layout is actually Week 29, or is it....

SEWN - Barefoot Style

Yes, that first SEWN book is done, done always being a relative term when any kind of art is involved. But yesterday I rescued my sewing machine from the sewing machine hospital and set to work a-sewing. btw, they did a wonderful job of cleaning out the solidified oil gunk and getting my machine back to health. Aren't we blessed to still have a functioning sewing machine store?

Once I jogged my ol' brain into recalling how to actually thread the machine and get down to business, it was a lot of whirring and humming. My stitches look like a maniac was doing them and I did have a hard time controlling the foot pedal as it wanted to run away on our hardwood floors. Finally, it became barefoot sewing which is fine in the summer. No more escaping foot pedals!

This is how their stitching looked... (The paper towel and newspaper under the machine is just in case the new oil leaked at all. It didn't though.)

 I had no illusions as to my skill but I plugged along, sewing all those various shapes.

Eh voila!  She is sewn!

Next came the binding of the signatures for the inside. Oh that was another challenge! Mary Ann Moss refers to guerrilla sewing. I aspire to that peak! Mine got done but with a lot of 'use what you got' style.   More to come later.

Wordy Wednesday: July 10, 2013

In my SEWN class, our first lesson playdate involved making patterns. Just play, says Mary Ann, and she's right...there are no rules for play. But I have to trick my mind to get to that place. It's not by accident that my last job involved legislation not loops of knitting or crochet.

 

 

Made on my iPad

When I went back to college to finish my B.A. I had to take a basic art class. One of the things we were to do was make a full BIG page of doodles. Our teacher said, just do your ordinary doodles. Gulp. I finally said, I don't doodle. I've never doodled. Even when in grade or high school, I only made lists of words. I'd layout the alphabet and think of a category and make a list.  I never doodled.

She said....Oh ...we do have a problem here.  She looked as worried as I felt

I ended up making a paper with what I would now call zentangles, and got an A in the course. I still don't doodle. AT All.

Can Spray Paint Be Far Behind???

Well, I'm having my summer fun just painting away with as little thought as I can manage. I wish I had table sized papers but I do want to use the things I have and not buy what I really don't need. I know I have some rolls of white paper so once I clear off more of the table (this means just shifting the stuff around or 'moving dust' as my dh calls it), I can put some BIG pieces of paper out and see what happens.

Right now I am really enjoying playing with my acrylics. Some of my SEWN classmates/teacher refer to these craft paints as  Under $2 paints. I believe almost all of mine were 4 for a $1 or at least 3 for a $1.  Give me a sale like that and I can go wild with a fiver!

I do want to try out my spray paints. That will take some brain time to remember what colors I can layer without getting a page of mud. Perhaps a bit of restraint will fit in to this bit of foolery. Anyhow, there was a new batch of papers. Crayons were fun but the colors were rather subdued. Still fun to do.

Then came the acrylics again. Here's the whole kit and caboodle.

And here they are individually. Let me tell you those fully painted pages are pretty solid. Some of them are plain untextured card stock, stuff that I got by the ream.The squares are just old office bond with the letterhead cut off.  When someone's no longer in office which happened  'a few times' at one of my jobs in politics, the letterhead etc is trash for the shredder. I scrounged it first! Not to write on but for this kind of thing.

There you have it. I'd never fool anyone that I went to MICA but I paid my money for summer camp, and I'm having a blast. In this camp, I can drink all the iced tea I want, sleep in a comfy bed with air/conditioning and this camp is mosquito free too! Doesn't that sound like Adult Camp???

Guess Where I'm Going!

I'm going to Venice with Mary Ann Moss! Yes, she's the one over at Dispatch From LA. SHE's going to Venice and taking some of her friends along. Well, kinda, sorta....

Mary Ann is a wonderful travel spirit and she has a new class called Ticket to Venice. I just bought my ticket so that's why there is that little image over there -----> See that image of the Venice Campanile? Yes, there!

This is how Venice looked back in December 2008 when we were there. The skies were dark, it rained like hell some days, but it was still magic. I think Venice would be magic, unless perhaps you go in July or August when Venice truly is in danger of sinking from the influx of tourists. I'm seriously looking forward to this trip to Venice especially as I'll be home and dry as I travel with Mary Ann! 

Come join us!

Murmuration...how cool is this!

That whimsical genius in LA, MaryAnn Moss, had this on her blog yesterday. I was a scrapping fool, lost in the digital world, so I didn't catch it til today. WOW! I think I would have fallen out of the boat!

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Mary Ann Moss films Paris

Wouldn't you rather be exploring Paris right now???? Thank you Mary Ann for sharing your day with us.

Shameless Lift

CHARLIE BROWN: Sometimes I lie awake at night and ask myself,
"Where have I gone wrong?"

Then a voice says to me,
"This is going to take more than one night."

Mary Ann had this quote on her inspiration corner today. Check that post and tell me you wouldn't want to hang out with her and her sister!