bee creative

the inside story

The inside of one of my favorite bowls.  I love that the bottom is so thin, the light comes through.  There is a lot to be said for transparency.... 

Inside was my direction of the month (direction being my word for the year).  This is a word I could explore for a year all by itself.  I suspect all my directions are going to be that way. 

There is one more place  to look inside of before I move on to my next direction, inside my wardrobe.  I'm rather glad that I waited because there are some very good points made about this topic here (Mendofleur). 

One of the debates that I've had with myself as I've worked on making my life more sustainable is whether it is better to make my own clothes from sustainable fabrics or whether it is better to buy second hand clothing.  Buying clothes or making clothes made of materials such as organic cotton helps encourage that market to grow.  Buying second hand helps keep things from becoming waste.  I've settled on a mixture of both.   

This weekend I continued to work on my pieced cord jacket.  It still looks pretty rough (the edges need to be finished, binding made, the sides sewn together, some embellishment here and there), but I really like the way it is turning out.  I did need to find one more piece of corduroy in my stash.  It ended up being a shirt that I bought several years ago.  That means that I've used one skirt, two pairs of pants and part of a shirt for this jacket.  The skirt and one pair of pants were bought new.  The other two items were bought second hand.  The flannel on the inside is some of the last yardage I bought just to have.  At this point my goal is to collect used fabrics (reclaimed clothing, family textiles, pieces passed on from friends because they think I may be able to use it) or purchase sustainable fabrics.  It seems like a good direction to go.  

I've debated throughout the month how much to tie each post to the direction that I'm exploring.  I still haven't really decided how obvious I want to be about direction with each post, but I have decided that I want to be more clear about my goals for sustainability. 

Just where is the intersection of creativity and sustainability?  For this project, it's being thoughtful about materials used. 

a sort of moon

One of my favorite movie scenes is from Moonstruck.  It's when the old man walks the dogs under the moon and says something like, "Howl, howl at la bella luna.."  At least that's the way I always remember the scene.  No chance of seeing the full moon this month so here's my version of the moon:

I'm sort of thinking of it as a moon to unravel.

A small project I worked on today.  The roving was a gift from someone special.  Thank you! 

where conversations start

When one idea, fabric, ingredient, photo or just about anything, meets another, a conversation starts.   A story begins. 

This photo:

Plus this photo (a bottle covered in frost):

layered together are more interesting to me, have more of a story to tell than they do alone...

I've been meaning to post this for awhile.  Jude's post (at Spirit Cloth) reminded me of photos through screens so I thought I'd get this up today. 

it could always be a dog bed

I finished piecing the front sections of the jacket this weekend.  I ended up using pockets too. There is probably just fabric for this project.  Next weekend I'll piece the back and see whether digging around in the stash will be necessary.  I'm feeling pretty good about where this is going, but as a worst case scenario it could end up as a dog or cat bed.

 

Both Briar and Hazel the cat decided to lay on top of it when I put the front pieces down on the floor to decide whether I liked where it was going.  Hmm...time to touch up the red paint on the floor. 

planting a seed

I've been playing with photos again...just a bit of layering.  I'm also finishing up my seed orders for the year.  I'm going to grow all my usual favorites (tomatoes, peas, beans, swiss chard, lemon cucumbers are just a few), but I'm also going to try a few new things:  melons, peppers, safflower for dye (also a saffron substitute in cooking) and flax. 

That's a bit of flax that I spun.  I'm sure it will take some practice, but the idea of growing flax to spin seems so appealing.  

I'm also going to be experimenting to see if the tomato, bean and squash seeds saved from last year will grow.  I'm pretty sure the beans will and that the squash seeds won't (they don't look right).  There is a good chance the tomatoes will grow.  And I'll save more seeds from what is grown this year for next year.

Does any of this sound tempting?  I hope I've planted a seed in someone's imagination and that they will be inspired to grown something new.  It's one of my goals.  I need to find three people and inspire them to grow something from seed.  It's the Growing Challenge...

the corduroy project

A touch of spring.  The first primroses have shown up at my local grocery store.  I keep telling myself that this will be the year I don't buy any.  Well, maybe next year.... 

 

The corduroy project has started.  I've decided on a jacket.  The pattern is one that I've made several times, making it easy to tweak. 

The sleeves were cut from a skirt.  The front and back will be pieced.  I want the sleeves to tie together with the body of the jacket so I'm planning on doing some embellishing.  Just playing a bit now.  And sewing squares: 

The colors remind me of tree branches. 

woolly

Something else I've been playing with....  No such thing as too many projects! 

The gray square was knit with white wool and then tossed into the pomegranate iron dye bath.  I'll use it for part of wool quilt #2.  At this point I think this blanket will be built of mostly hand dyed knits.  The bottom fabric is some of a reclaimed blanket dyed in onion skin.  I folded and tied it to make stripes.  It's going to be a pillow. For some reason when I look at it I think of cathedrals. 

wool quilt #1, still in progress

Wool quilt #1 I have not forgotten you.  I just misplaced the wool I was using for the backing.  But I've found it again and will move forward once more. 

It's big enough to keep my lap warm as I work on sewing together square to square.  I'm starting to think of this one as "Many moons ago". 

sunrise socks

I received a slightly strange look from the woman at the yarn store when I said that I was making socks in combination of pink and orange.  After sharing this at work, coworkers showed me four different items of clothing in this combo.  Guess it's popular with the 3-4 year old crowd.  As for me, I have roses and lilies in this color combination.  It reminds me of sherbet and Cara Cara oranges.  Of pink grapefruit.  And of course, sunrise. 

taking things apart

Found in the garden today.  These are the husks of tomatillios that have turned into skeletons.  The seeds are still inside some of them.  I have to confess that I left a few at the end of the season in the garden, hoping they would do this. 

 

Earlier in the morning the sun was out and I took the opportunity to prune my large apple tree.  Lots more to go.  Everything that is growing upright (the whips) should go. 

And I started a few new projects.  One was to cut up two pairs of pants and a skirt into pieces.  My plan is to make a jacket or a vest.  I'm trying to decide if I like the brown and purple together so didn't get much further than deconstructing.