bee creative

a caboose!

Two cabooses, not just one, but two!  Seemed appropriate for the last day of 2009.  Happy New Year to everyone! 

want intersects with need

One road is want; the other is need.  One road is practical; the other is my desire for whimsy.  The intersection is reality.

I love this pattern I found for knit slippers and bought some yarn.  But I have tons of fabric scraps and a pattern for slippers (Favorite Things) that looked pretty easy (this was my first try, I did make some changes to the directions).  Fabric slippers in one hour (yep that's all it took) or knitted in many hours?  I went with fabric.  Someday I'm going to make those knit slippers, but for now I'm probably going to make a couple more pairs of fabric slippers and add some fun details like bells, felted dots, or felt flowers.  And the yarn will be used for socks.  

A few pictures of today's walk. 

It was nice to come home to cozy warm slippers. 

P.S.  I never bother to match plaids.  More fun that way!

intersection defined

Thought it might be a good idea to remind myself of a few definitions

Definition of "intersection:"  "A place where things, as streets, intersect."  Websters, 1984 edition.    

Definition of "intersect:"  ""To cut through or across.... To overlap (this made me smile) or cut across each other."  Websters, 1984 edition. 

A needle creates an intersection each time it pierces fabric. 

I decided to add a bit of onion skin dyed velvet to the top of my blanket.  I'm starting to think of this one as the circus quilt (rather than wool quilt #3), full of juggling balls.  The needle felted wool continues to work it's way out of the wool blanket in places.  Reminds me a bit of flames.  

P.S.  And maybe this quilt is "Bouncing round the Room." 

word of the year

I really like the idea of choosing a word to explore for a year.  Last year I didn't do a very good job exploring my word, intersection.  It was vaguely there, in my mind, but not very well explored.  It made me think about keeping the word for another year.

I'm not going to though.  My choice for 2010 is the word direction.  The 1984 edition of Webster's Dictionary lists nine different definitions.  I'm most interested in the part that describes a "course of movement." 

Interestingly enough, another part of the definition will shape my approach.  Direction can also be "guidance, supervision, or management of an action or operation."  I'm giving myself some of that for my exploration.

I chose 11 words that might be directions a person could go and a word that describes a place to start.  Each month I'm going to explore one of those directions.  Even more, I want to apply that direction to what I'm doing, how I'm being creative.  My directions for the moment (they may change some): up, down, across, inside, outside, forward, backward, North, South, East, and West.  Of course, the place to start is an intersection; a place where we have to choose direction.  I'll start on that right now since it's my word for 2009. 

unwrapped

Crocheted basket filled with cooking treats for friend.  I used some of my hand spun yarn on the edge.

 

Basket for my mom.  I dyed the wool with onion skins. 

The finished pillow.  It's quiet, but just right for the person it was given to. 

A kit for my dad.  He's going to be building boats. Me too!   

I made a pledge this year to "buy nothing new" for presents this year.  I didn't quite make it.  I bought the African violet for my mother's basket and a few materials for the boat building project (glue, tape and a few sewing needles).  As always with these things it's easier if I plan ahead and am more organized.

Merry Christmas everyone! 

the intersection of secret/not so secret

I've been stitching in curves to mimic eddies of water or contour lines on a map.  I've left a little spot where I'll slip a fragment of silk organza that I've printed a heartbeat chart on to.  It will fit right under the "x."  I'm not sure how long the "x" will last, but my brother will always know it was there.  The heartbeat he will never know about unless one of his dogs chews up the pillow.  It's a secret. Another layer.

This part isn't secret.  I like the layering Jude is doing at Spirit Cloth.  Layering photos, ideas, words,fabric, whatever... adds depth and more meaning I think.  It creates an intersection where a more interesting conversation can happen.  

Intersection was an idea/word I wanted to explore this year.  It seems funny to me that I'm doing a better job looking at intersections (through layering) at the end of the year than I've done all year.  Next year I think I can do better.  I want to explore the idea/word "direction." 

One of Jude's recent posts reminded me of another blog I've loved for quite awhile.  If you haven't been to travel and sing, go see.  It is pure enchantment. 

P.s. Dad I want one of these for Christmas.  I think it would make a great chicken coop! 

finding treasure

My brothers are both wanderers.  One more than the other.  This is the beginning of a pillow for the one that doesn't live out of his car or suitcase most of the time. 

I transferred "X marks the spot" from a printout onto a piece of fabric that I dyed with hazelnut leaves.  I used the directions published in the Winter 2010 Art Quilting Studio, with one slight adjustment.  It's possible I wasn't being patient enough, but the ink wasn't transferring to the fabric so I brushed a bit of soft gel medium onto the paper and then tried transferring the ink to the fabric again.  Worked like a charm.  When I've tried transferring images printed with an ink jet printer to fabric using medium, I haven't been very happy with the results.  This is exactly what I wanted! 

I'm going to start stitching tonight.  I'll share the finished pillow later.

While I'm stitching I'll be thinking about what the "treasures" in our lives are.  About journeys, direction, destinations, about living in the moment.  Lots of thinking.... 

dark and light

"i do not worry if longer nights grow longest; i am not sorry when silence becomes singing..."  e.e. cummings

Another layered photo.  The before pictures are here.  Happy Solstice...

near and far

Making cards for the grandmothers.  It's addictive.... 

layers of another kind: felted basket

This is a little project for a friend.  I crocheted a basket that would fit around a tin can, used some of my hand spun yarn to edge the top, felted the basket (don't put projects in the dryer for additional felting unless you want to pick lint off the project!), and then needle felted some dots.  She could use it for a vase, a pencil holder, something along that line.