bee creative

first yarn

The color is a little off 'cause the lighting is bad tonight (but actually about right on the top of the yarn), but I just had to show off the very first yarn I spun.  With a little help from a friend, I'm figuring it out... So much fun!  Thanks for the reminder Jude! 

P.S.  I recommend finding someone who knows how rather than videos online.  The videos helped me get the idea, but I wasn't quite putting it together right.  My friend did teach herself with a book.  She's going to lend it to me so that I can take a look.  

the nest deconstructed

Looks like a kind of flower...

art supplies that I'm using up

and trying to do without.  The fabric piece is a scrap, but it is from some yardage that was bought new for a project.  I doubt there was much sustainable in that piece of fabric.   The bottle is bleach (I wonder how many of us have bleach as an art supply and don't use it for cleaning?).  And of course the Sharpie and some transparencies.  

My last couple posts got me to thinking about art supplies.  Over the last couple years I've cut way back on my art supply stash building.  It used to be that I added to my stash on a regular basis.  I've been slowly working my way through that stash and am getting close in some areas to using up what I have.  My plan is to not replace anything that is an unsustainable product.  Pretty much anything can be found as a scrap or used these days.  And if it can't or it isn't sustainable, it's probably time to do without it. 

Regarding scraps, a few scrappy confessions for Juliet:

1.  Knit fabric left over from other projects can be used for undies.  There are some wonderful tutorials out there on the web.  That's all I'm going to say on the matter.  :)  Oh, except this is a project to do with a sewing machine. 

2.  I don't think I've ever shared any pictures of my compost pile.  It's full of scraps but not as good as it should be.  

3.  I just made a quince tea/syrup with the peelings, pips and cores of quince.  It's supposed to be good for sore throats and coughs.  My favorite use of food scraps will always be candied orange peel. 

4.  I have a collection of wood scraps I'm saving for projects.  Hopefully before they turn to compost. 

5.  I've got about three years worth of junk mail saved up that I have to do something with.  Shred it and use it the compost, for paper mache, to make beads....  Got to do something with it soon.  

6.  Thanks to the very interesting comment left on my moldy fabric post, I have a strong desire to start tearing pens apart.  Thanks Nancy!  

From "Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer" by Wendell Berry:

"Don't own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your house catch fire." 

pick a project or two

Today's sunrise.  Not that the sun stayed around for long.  For me, sunrise means time to start working on projects rather than sipping coffee and reading.

Today's project, a bath mat.  I made one a couple years ago that had two and one half inch squares, all lined up in a tidy pattern.  This one is very free form and crooked.  Not perfect, but interesting and functional.  Like a lot of things.  I got the original idea here. 

One adaptation that I made was to sew a collection of strips that fit across the hand towel I was using as a base.  When I thought I had enough strips I sewed the first one down on the hand towel on all sides.  I then placed the second strip right side to right side with the first strip and sewed down the right hand side.  I then flipped the strip over so that the right side was up and then placed the third strip right side to right side with the second strip and sewed down the right side of that section. I continued in this manner working left to right across my towel.  When I got the end of the towel I flipped over the last strip and then sewed along the right edge.  I then bound the edges like a quilt.  Hope that makes sense.  I didn't think to take pictures.  If anyone is interested I'll do a diagram.  I suspect this is like (or is) the Korak method that Eva's been exploring. 

Saturday's project:  an altered umbrella.  What if I cover up the branding on this free umbrella with acrylic paint?  And doodle on it with a sharpie?  Haven't gotten to the doodling.  That could be a long term project.  Right now it's use-able.  That's finished enough.  Especially since it started raining. 

 

what if: altering the fabric

What if I laid a gear on top of a piece of fabric (a damask table cloth I dyed gray-it was stained) and sprayed it with bleach water?

What if I tried it with a print?

I like it. 

three reasons to have bread dough in the fridge

Foccacia type bread with grapes, rosemary and salt.  It is turning into a fall tradition to make this every year.  I'm going to try this with apple slices next time. 

Pizza in about 30 minutes.

 

Fry bread for one topped with oven roasted tomatoes and basil.  I heat up a bit of olive oil in my cast iron pan.  Grab a handful of dough.  Stretch it out into a disc and fry it on both sides until it is golden brown.  It's important to pull the dough out flat enough that it cooks all the way through without burning on the outside.  Might take a little practice.  

This bread dough recipe is from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes by Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg.  It's the olive oil dough.  I originally checked the book out from the library and liked it so much that I bought a copy.
 

what life without a car teaches you

From "Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer" by Wendell Berry:  "Don't pray for the rain to stop.  Pray for good luck fishing when the river floods."

This is the water coming out of my downspout on Saturday morning.  The morning I was planning on taking the bus to our local weaver's guild sale to buy wool for felting and spinning.  I had worked out two ways to get to where I wanted to go.  One route would take two hours to get there and back.  The other would cut that time in half but would involve walking part of the way.  I thought hard about how badly I wanted that wool and decided to stay home.  A good choice since we ended up with over two inches of rain and had a thunder storm that lasted 1 1/2 hours.

Not having a car makes me really consider how badly I want something.  It makes me prioritize.  It certainly makes me organize my time.  I like to think that this is a benefit of not having a car.  In this case, the money would be better spent on a spinning class.  

This is the maple on my back porch on Sunday morning:

Not a drop of rain all day. 

pick a project: my green heart

A green heart, a growing heart.  I've decided that every week I need to pick one project to finish. I've started with a pillow that I had begun to put together in February.  

One finished pillow that is oh so soft and squishy.  Here's a closer look at some of the details:

On the back of the muslin with the hearts drawn on it is a secret.  I was just going to sew it between the layers and have it be completely hidden, but I liked the little bit of white on the edge so I thought what if I cut a slit and then pulled the fabric aside so that the white showed?  Liked it so much I did a few of these.  They remind me of bark splitting. 

I used two layers of green wool when I started this.  I decided to stitch the top layer (a wool jersey) to the thicker wool that I had used as a base and to leave that outside the seam line at the top of the pillow.  I like that it forms a ridge that is reminiscent of scar tissue.  

 

I made my own pillow form from scraps and used an old sweater for the back.  The only new material used was thread. 

A green heart, a growing heart. 

mending and making do

I made this comforter last year from scraps of fabric stuffed with a reclaimed down comforter.  The first time round I hand stitched the squares together.  Some of the seams weren't quite strong enough and it's needed a little mending recently.  The comforter just keeps getting stronger and more lovely.  It keeps me warm. 

Some of this is from my garden, some from the farmer's market.  In the upper left hand corner are the grapes from my garden that I dried.  There is a locally produced beer hiding there on the edge too.  The pottery was made by local potters and bought directly from them.  The oil cloth underneath is something I've had for quite awhile.  It's not something I would purchase now, at least not new.  A nice variety for making do with what is local I think. 

These socks weren't made to be a pair but rather are the surviving member of two pairs of socks that I made.  They work quite well together.  A pretty fun way to make do.

I meant to participate in blog action day but couldn't quite settle on what I wanted to say about climate change.  What I know for sure is that I do believe that humans are damaging the planet Earth and that mending and making do is worth pursuing for a variety of reasons. 

briar roses, borders and bindings

"Soon a brier hedge began to grow all around the castle, and it grew higher each year.  Eventually, it surrounded and covered the entire castle, so that it was no longer visible....  The princess became known by the name Beautiful Sleeping Brier Rose."  Brier Rose by Brothers Grimm translated by Jack Zipes 

This is one of my briar (I like this spelling better) roses.  The other is four footed.  They both run along the fence.  The dog is much more friendly than the rose.  Briar Rose (rosa rubiginosa) is very similar to the dog rose (rosa canina) funnily enough. 

 

A very small piece of a hop vine.  Hops are generally very aggressive in the garden.  It's a little past it's prime, but I could have harvested the hop cones to fill dream pillows. 

As I've been stitching binding along my wool blanket I've been thinking about borderlines, walls, boundary lines, hedges, fences, the line drawn in the sand, moats and drawbridges, explorers that sailed off to sea thinking the world was flat.    Some boundaries are created to keep us safe, some to limit growth, some to claim ownership.  Diversity thrives in borders.  So does conflict.  

When I look closely at the woven blanket every stitch looks like an intersection.  Like fingers interlinking.  Thinking about mending and seams that hold things together and sweet dreams.