Selvedge Star

          Well, I'm back after a lovely 4 days on retreat, and as you might have guessed, while I was there I finished the Selvedge Star quilt I've been working on for ... well, seems like FOREVER.  I've hung it on the wall in the upstairs hallway so I see it every time I go upstairs -- please excuse the wacky picture, there's no angle up there where I can get a straight-on look at it.  But it makes me so happy to see it there. One of the aspects of using these selvedges that I like best is that when I look closely at the quilt, I see bits of fabric that I used so long ago. So it's a sewing memory quilt of sorts.

         This really was fun to make, even if it did take me a long time to collect the selvedges, make the selvedge fabric, and then create a design that made me happy. 

         If you are thinking of saving your selvedges to make something fun, I have a few tips for you:

1.  When you cut or tear the selvedge from fabric, keep at least 1/2 inch (and ideally an inch) of the print up to the selvedge. You'll want a bit of color to separate the white selvedge parts, because it's the colored parts that create the stripey effect. You can see what I mean below. If you just tear or cut off the white edge, you won't have room to do anything with it.

2.  If your friends offer to save selvedges for you, by all means say YES!!  And then tell them #1! Oh, and tell them you only want the side that has the writing.  I had friends save the opposite edges for me too -- solid color strips that I couldn't really use.

3.  I found it worked best for me to create "selvedge fabric" on a fabric foundation.  I started with muslin pieces about 14 inches square, and then sewed selvedges to the base fabric, one overlapping the prior raw edge, until the square was filled.  If you know before you start what you are going to do with your selvedges and what size of pieces you will need, you can adjust accordingly.  Me, I jumped in sewing before I had any plan, and the 14 inch squares worked out just fine.

4.  Once you have some selvedge fabric, you can use it just like any other fabric.  You can plan with it as if you have striped fabric. I would not recommend using it for binding or for handquilting on it, because all the layers make for rather thick fabric.

5.  There are a lot of great ideas for using selvedges out there!  You can check out my Pinterest board where I collected selvedge ideas to get you started.

If you do decide to make something with selvedges, do let me know! I'd love to see what you come up with!

Making, making, making!

Hello, friends!  I have been a busy artist over the last few weeks. I got caught up in a book-making frenzy and away I went. Does that happen to you? It's as if something takes me over and my mind is filled with ideas and plans. And my studio/sewing room looks like a tornado hit and flung bits of paper everywhere.

But I was on a mission and a little mess does not deter me. No sir! I was greatly motivated by the fact that I'm about to head off on my regular quilt retreat, and when I went last fall I got quite a few requests for more of my crazy "jumbly journals." So now I have a big box of books to share with my retreat buddies.

I made a bunch of sewing-themed ones, as the retreat is mainly a quilting retreat and we're all hard-core sewists. (It's awkward to write "sewers."  Because, well, SEWER.)   I had a great time making book covers collaged with old sewing patterns.

I didn't do a flip-through video of these but if any are left when I return, I'll put them up on my Etsy shop and add a video. I love gathering sewing-related papers and bits of ephemera.

And I had a specific request for some travel journals, so I made a few of those:

If you want to see inside, you can take a look at this flip-through video of one of the books:  
 

  

And then I decided to make some books featuring the ranch where our retreats are held. I've written about it before -- it's The Bishop's Ranch in Healdsburg, California (about an hour north of San Francisco) and it's a gorgeous, peaceful place. I used photos I've taken there over the years to feature in these books.

In case you want to see inside one of them, here's a video:

  

And then, well, just because I had it started and it's April and summer is just around the corner, I finished up a beach-themed book, too. 

 

  

Something about red, navy and aqua says beach to me, not sure why.  

By the way, someone asked me recently if I made custom books. YES! I do! I'll make journals on a custom theme for a special person or occasion. I can use photos you provide, colors, themed materials, etc. Email me if you are interested! 

At any rate, I've cleaned up the paper mess in my studio, switched over to fabric-mode, and now I'm gathering up quilting supplies for a very fun week ahead. 

I hope your week is filled with lots of making, too!

Hi, all! Well, once again time has flown by and it's been an embarrassingly long time since I've posted here.  It's the usual reasons -- just life in general, work-- being busy but not doing anything that exciting to report. 

But a while ago I decided I needed to do something FUN.  So, I did a bit of quick poking around online, sent an email to a friend in Southern California, and next thing you know I had a trip to Disneyland planned! 

Oh, how I love Disneyland. It started, I'm sure, when I was a small child and we went there on vacation a few times.  And since then, it has symbolized for me the place where things feel fun and happy and like life can be magical again.  I'd not been for about 12 years, so it was high time I went.

I was especially excited for two reasons. Number one was that I'd get to spend time with a good college friend, Moe.  We were neighbors in our college dorm and we've been good friends ever since, although we only see each other in person every few years.  She lives near Disneyland and loves Disneyland as much, if not more, than I do. She's worked there over the years in various jobs so she knows all of the short-cuts and insider things, too.

So it was totally fun to spend time with her.  Even the time spent in long lines for rides flew by because we just yakked the whole time. We had a lot of catching up to do!

 

The other part of being there that was so fun was that Disneyland is celebrating its 60th anniversary, and it was all decked out for the occasion.  There were blue bunting and sparkly diamond decorations everywhere. I loved seeing how they'd dressed up everything for the event.

So, I had a great time.  We rode on a bunch of rides, including some new (to me, anyway) ones at California Adventure that were really fun.  The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  The Radiator Springs Racing Cars.  And there were so many old favorites, some revamped a bit.  Star Tours. "Hyperspace" Mountain. Big Thunder Railroad. Indiana Jones.  I even got into It's a Small World again, which had been closed the last two times I'd been there.  I still remember the delighted amazement I felt as a small child, riding through that ride with so many delightful details and dolls and decorations to look at.  

We ate delicious food -- okay, not the healthiest -- but still, perfect for a few days where I was constantly walking everything off. (20,000 steps each day!)  The Mickey waffle was a must-order for the first morning in the park.  And it wasn't just cute, it really was the fluffiest, crispiest, most delicious waffle I've had in ages.

 

And yes, there was another Mickey-shaped treat on another afternoon, the beignets from a cafe in the New Orleans area. I had a lovely break sipping iced tea, enjoying the beignets, and watching people.  And then brushing powdered sugar off of my clothes for a while! 

In case you're wondering, not all of the food was shaped like mouse ears, and not everything I ate was fried and indulgent. I had a fabulous salad one afternoon, another delicious and relatively healthy dinner of roasted chicken and roasted veggies another night.  But really, who goes to a theme park for the healthy food?!  And on 2 of the 3 days in the park, I stood in line for the famous Dole Whip -- a soft-serve ice cream made with fresh pineapple juice that was fabulous and fresh and perfect for the hot afternoons.   

I did a fair amount of sketching. It was fun to sit and listen and look and sketch, and just soak up the feeling of just being in Disneyland.

 

And I took a lot of photos, thinking that maybe I'll sketch from them when I need a little mental visit to Disneyland.

 

So it was a very fun couple of days.  The very best part, though, was just having pure fun with a dear friend.  There's nothing like it.  I'm already dreaming of my next Moe-and-Disneyland trip!

 

Cat Lady Activities

Every once in a while, a fabric collection appears on my radar and I fall in love with it.  Yes, it's true -- although I have plenty of fabric in my stash, I do keep an eye out for enticing new pieces!  This "Cat Lady" collection from Cotton & Steel just charmed me. And what could I do? It arrived at my door a few days ago.

After a frustrating morning of too much stuff at the computer and not enough progress, I decided on the perfect antidote: cutting this up for a fun new project.  What will it be, you ask?  Stay tuned! 

Filling Sketchbooks

I had a rather amazing discovery this morning.  I went to my office closet to find a new sketchbook, and I kept pulling out ones that were full.

That made me pull out all of the sketchbooks on the shelf, to see which were empty and which were full.  I found 9 full sketch books, and several others that were partially filled as well.

I had no idea that I'd filled so many sketchbooks.In fact, I was downright astonished.

Just this morning, I was watching a video from Michael Nobbs, an artist who has a delightful blog called Sustainably Creative and a wonderful daily podcast called One Thing Today. In the video, he was talking about how by doing one tiny thing each day, taking one little step forward, one can accomplish big things.

So it seemed like a cosmic affirmation that I made this discovery this morning.  Since February 1, I've been taking an online drawing class from Roz Stendahl (more about that in another post) that requires me to draw for at least 30 minutes each day.  One of the goals is to create the daily drawing habit.  I've participated in daily drawing challenges periodically - - Every Day in May is a fun one, for example.  But I've not made myself draw every day.  My creative practice is about trying to do something creative every day, but I give myself the leeway to venture off into other creative pursuits, too.  So I make books, and I make quilts, and I knit. Sometimes I dye fabric or play with other media to experiment. It's all part of the creative practice that has been an important part of my life.

But drawing still feels like a "new" thing to me.  So it was with genuine surprise that I saw the pile of full sketchbooks.  The first drawing in the earliest is dated October 9, 2011.  It's been a little over four years.  And I can really see that I've come a long way.

My current class is on drawing live subjects in public.  I've been intimidated about drawing live creatures (including people) because, well, they insist on moving.  It's no accident that virtually all of my sketches are of objects or buildings or scenes mysteriously devoid of living things!

But this class, and working on it daily, are pushing me and showing me that I can actually do this and get better. Yesterday, I was at a friend's property to sketch some of her many animals.  I had a grand old time sitting and watching and sketching the bunnies.  Even while they're sitting still, their noses are twitching constantly.  I never realized.

After I'd warmed up a bit, I got braver and went to watch the teeny button quails for a bit.  Talk about constant movement!  I found that if I practiced the skills I've been learning in this course -- watching, paying attention to which positions the animal returns to over and over, looking closely at shapes and angles and features, I could get a decent sketch even while the thing kept darting about.

 

I'm very encouraged, I must say.  And I think I'd better stock up on a few more blank sketchbooks.  

Selvedge Star

Hi, friends!  And happy February to you!

What's this, you ask?  A new quilt?  Yes!  Some years ago (I don't even want to try to count), I started saving selvedges.  When I'd buy fabric, or I'd pull fabric out of my stash to use in something, I'd tear off the white printed selvedge and toss it into a tote bag that hung on the back of the door to my studio.  Before I knew it, I had a very full bag.

And one day, in the mood to sew something mindless and soothing, I pulled out some muslin, cut it into 14-inch squares, and started sewing down the selvedges to create selvedge fabric.  I didn't know why, but it just seemed like something I could work into a project.  I found that sewing selvedges down, one after another, was remarkably fun. 

I'd bring my selvedge bag along on sewing get-togethers and retreats, and spend some time sewing more selvedge fabric.  Over the course of maybe 18 months, I'd sew selvedge fabric in odd moments.  I was accumulating a satisfying stack of selvedge squares.

And what to do?  I started without a plan, and made the basic Sawtooth Star you see in the center.  I was delighted.  And for a while I figured I'd make a bunch of those and have a star quilt.  I poked around to get selvedge quilt ideas.  I started a Pinterest Board of selvedge ideas.  But somewhere along the way, I decided that doing different things would be more fun, which led to a bunch of sketching and even setting up some medallion layouts with Electric Quilt.  So I had a plan.  And a stack of selvedge fabric.  And a whole lot of red scraps.

You see what resulted, finally.  This past week, I was off at a quilt retreat, and putting this all together was my #1 project.  It was the first time I'd laid out everything on a design wall, so it was exciting to see it go from a design on paper to the real design in fabric.  I so enjoyed putting it together.  It makes me happy -- all that red! All those words and selvedges to look at!

As luck would have it, the challenge theme for the next retreat is Words/Text/Fonts. I think I'm all set!  Now to get it sandwiched and quilted... and to decide what to do about the remaining selvedges I have in that tote bag...

Longtime Friends

Hi, friends!  Happy new year to you!  It turns out that 2015 wasn't the most prolific blogging year for me, but perhaps I'll have a bit more to say in 2016.  I hope your new year is off to a good start.

 My year has started off just beautifully, with some lovely special events and, most recently, a visit from a longtime friend.  You probably know my fellow Twelve by Twelve quilt artist Terry Grant, yes?  Her blog And Sew it Goes is always inspiring and a pleasant look at life in Portland, Oregon.  We realized that we're probably known each other for over 10 years now, but we've spent just a little time together in person.  So we started talking about Terry popping down for a visit, and this past week she was here for a few days.

We discovered, as we had on our last visits together, that we can talk and talk without running out of things to say.  We seem to have an endless supply of stories to share and interests in common.  We covered art, quilts, family, parenting, marriage, moving to new cities, knitting, past careers, favorite books, favorite tv shows, cats, horses, strange foods we've eaten... you name it. (Terry won the "strange foods" story.  I've never eaten guinea pig, but she has.  Ask her to tell you about it.) And frankly we could have gone on and on.

We took a day to go see Berkeley, which Terry had never seen, which of course required a visit to New Pieces and Stone Mountain and Daughter, both fantastic quilt shops.  We cruised the boutique shops on 4th Street in Berkeley with an especially fun visit to the Crate and Barrel outlet to look at the bargain Marimekko fabrics there.  We drove around the UC campus a bit (which isn't really drivable, but Terry did get to see some of the main buildings and the tower) and ended up at a favorite dining spot, Skates on the Bay at the Berkeley marina.  We dined on wonderful seafood louie salads while gazing across the bay at the San Francisco skyline and had a wonderful time. 

The next day was very rainy, so we had a quiet and mostly indoor day.  We lingered over morning coffee and talked, talked, talked.  Terry mentioned that she'd been wanting to learn how to make books, so we decided to have a spontaneous book-making lesson and started on coptic stitched books. Here's Terry learning how to tear watercolor paper for pages to get a pleasing deckled edge.

You can see Terry's blog about making books, as well as a picture of our finished books, here.  Terry was also quite kind about braving the rain and mud to take Miss C to her riding lesson (yes, horseback riding continues despite rain), and then we had a cozy dinner back at home of mexican tomato soup and a southwestern-style salad.

Saturday was our day to explore Healdsburg, and we were glad that the sky was gray but dry for our strolling about. We popped into my favorite local quilt shop, Fabrications, where Terry found some of the shirting fabric she loves to use in her quilts. We'd planned to eat at Rustic, the restaurant at the Francis Ford Coppola winery which is always fun to visit, but after touring the shop and the fun movie memorabilia on display, we determined that the restaurant was too noisy and crowded and we retreated to a local mexican restaurant for a far more relaxed experience.  And then it was back to Portland for Terry, and back home to real life for me.

It's kind of amazing, this internet world.  We can make friends and develop deep friendships even when we can't spend a lot of in-person time together.  You can get a good sense, for the most part, of someone's personality from online interactions, don't you think?  It was such a nice experience to spend that time with Terry.

Merry Christmas!

From my house to yours... may your Christmas be merry and bright! 

And the winner is....

Commenter #9:  Dana!

You've won Richard Sheppard's gorgeous book!

Email me with your address, Dana, and it'll get sent right out to you!

You'll love it!

(Thanks again, Richard, for allowing me to share your beautiful work!)

Book Give-away!

I first met Richard Sheppard when I ventured out to my first urban sketchers' meet-up experience a few years ago. Richard is a local artist and urban sketcher whose work I'd seen in my local newspaper, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and in Danny Gregory's book "An Illustrated Journey."  Richard's talent and his unique way with color captivated me right away, and I've enjoyed getting to know him and his art as we've continued to sketch together with the North Bay Urban Sketchers.

I'm happy to announce that Richard has just produced a beautiful book called "Impressions of Wine Country," and he's given me a signed copy to give away to a reader here!  So, leave a comment below between now and midnight on Sunday, December 20 if you want a chance to win it .  On Dec. 21 I'll use a random number generator to pick the winner and the book will be on its way to you in time for you to enjoy it somewhere around Christmas.  (No promises that you'll get it in time for Dec. 25.  Just sayin'.)

The book isn't just a wonderful collection of Richard's sketches.  (Which it is, of course.  Just studying the way he uses color makes this book worthwhile.)  But also, it's a great season-by-season tour through the wine country of Sonoma County.  There are bits about the history of California wine-making, information about grape growing and varietals, stories from various local vineyards.  So it's a book to read and savor -- with a glass of wine, perhaps.

 For us sketchers, there's even a bit of information about Richard's tools, paint choices and palette, and how to make a sketchbook like his.

It's a gorgeous book, whether you're an artist, wine lover, or California traveler.  And if you don't win this copy, you can order the book from Amazon.com.

You can also see more of Richard's gorgeous work at his website, The Artist on the Road.

Just like potato chips...

This book-making thing is like eating potato chips.  I make one... (you can see the inside here)

 and I immediately want to make another.  (Inside views here.)

And along the way, I've collected so much fun paper and goodies to put in them that I realize that I have supplies to make more, so I do another.  (Inside views here.)

but that barely makes a dent in the Bin of Wonderful Paper Goodness, so I make yet another. (Inside views here.)

And as long as I'm cutting and punching and stacking, I might as well do another. (Inside views here.)

And then I discover yet another pack of delightfully charming Christmas paper, and I might as well use it now rather than wait another year.  (Inside views here).

 And next thing I know, I've got a satisfying stack of Christmas journals and every one is different.  They make me very happy. 

But really, I'm not going to use them all.  So all but the first inspiration book are up on my Etsy shop.  And it makes me happy to see them lined up there, too. 

Strangely, I still wanting to make more, and I haven't yet exhausted the stash of Christmas paper.

At least these are salt and calorie free. 

An Attack of the Fa La La's

So, this past weekend I'd planned to do a lot of sewing.  I'd cleared off the sewing table (how is it that random stuff accumulates there?!), I had a project in mind to finish, and I was ready to go.  But then I had a sudden attack of Christmas. Maybe it was the result of singing Christmas songs every week in preparation for our upcoming chorus concerts.  Maybe it was that I'd flipped on the TV and found myself in the middle of a sappy yet endearing holiday movie on the Hallmark Channel.

It started innocently enough.  I had the thought to play for a moment with a cool snowflake-making stamp I'd bought on sale recently.

And then I started pulling out and cutting paper.

Yes, it's stacked up on my sewing machine bed.  Don't those Christmas patterns look beautiful with my festive red Bernina?  And then there was more...

and more... 

I went into a happy and busy flurry of  cutting, trimming, punching, die cutting, pattern-mixing, stacking, and decorating.

And next thing you know, I had not just one Christmas book, but a whole bunch more just waiting to be bound together with my handy dandy ring binding machine. When I'm in a craft-flurry, I don't do things halfway.  I mean, why make one book when you could make six or seven or twelve?

 What will I do with them, you ask? When I get them all loaded up with goodies (tags and journaling cards and such) I'll list them on my Etsy shop.  In the next day or two or three.

There are a lot of fun things you can do with a Christmas book.  Have you heard of December Daily? Some years ago, creative blogger and designer Ali Edwards announced a project to record the fun of holiday preparations, day by day, through the month of December.  It's a way of creating a mini-scrapbook dedicated to family and festive preparations and holiday celebrations, all in one pretty book.  As I was making these books, I was thinking they'd be perfect for that sort of thing.

 Personally, I've never managed to journal each day as it goes by... Instead, I tend to work in batches, doing a few days at a time after the fact, when I have the bits and bobs in hand and ideas about what I want to record.  But even doing it in my own sporadic fashion, I love wrapping up December with a book filled with notes and photos and images to remind me of the fun of the season. 

Even if you're not into that sort of scrapbooking, you could just fill them with your own holiday treasures, in your own style.  Favorite recipes.  Memories of Christmases past.  Photos.  Receipts.  Shopping and task lists.  The menu for Christmas dinner.

hmm, maybe a book like this would make a good Christmas gift for someone to use next Christmas.

If you want one and can't wait until they're up on my Etsy shop, email me! I can get one right out to you so you'll be ready to go with it by December 1! 

Meanwhile, I have to go try to find the table in my sewing -- ahem, I mean bookmaking -- room now!

A Little of This, a Little of That

Well, goodness!  It looks like once again, time has gotten away from me and it's been ages since I've posted.  And what have I been up to, you ask?

Well, let's see.  A little knitting. (I'm having a grand old time making Lizard Ridge blocks for a very colorful afghan.)

A little sewing of selvedges for a selvedge-and-red-scraps quilt.  I'm obsessed with selvedges, in fact.

A little sketching.

A little book making.  This book, on a reading theme, will be making its way to my Etsy shop soon.

I thought that this might be the extent of my Halloween decorating.

It's hard to get into a proper autumn mood when it's still 95 and relentlessly sunny outside.   But yesterday I had a burst of fall spirit (maybe it was the orange toes) and got out a few items.  (Did you see Babes in Toyland as a kid?  I have my very own "Forest of No Return" tree.)

  A crow came to land on the top of my vintage birdcage.

 

And I now have an owl under glass on my mantel.  Don't worry, there's a hidden oxygen line into the dome so he can breathe.  That gourd can just hold its breath.

And then I had to put a few sparkly pumpkins on the dining room table.  Just because.

So that's what I've been doing.  And you? I hope you are awash in crisp cool days and beautiful fall leaves.