Midwinter

1. Untitled, 2. Untitled, 3. Untitled, 4. spring blossoms, 5. from the top, 6. Untitled, 7. so looking forward to spring…, 8. Salvatore Ferragamo, 9. Untitled, 10. yearn, 11. shoreline grotto, 12. Untitled, 13. Untitled, 14. irresistable grace, 15. curve, 16. work table top

I needed some inspiration today, as I am feeling a little bogged down by projects and deadlines and the challenges of life as of late. The colors in my faves lately are so wintery, yet lush somehow. Yellow has been popping up quite often, among all of the gray and cream. I think I may see a bit of yellow in my future work.

I hope your week is treating you well, friends.

Samhill

So, almost all of the schools in the area are closed today. Even Madison public schools, who NEVER close, are closed. But class for me tonight? Still scheduled. What in the samhill is that about?

You know what I just realized? Yesterday I hit 200 posts. I’ve got too many rush projects at the moment to do anything special though, so maybe I’ll postpone my celebration. In the meantime, let’s have a brew and some bokeh.

Cheers!

Super Snuggly, Just In Time

As you all probably know by now I tend to have many, many, many in progress projects going on at any given time, along with other unstarted but oft dreamed about projects that may or may not bring themselves into existence. I think it always demonstrates my desire for something when I have the motivation to start, and actually finish a project for myself, that doesn’t have a deadline determined by an outside party.

Well, I’m happy to say that this was one of those projects.

Sweaters, lovely, softy, snuggly wool sweaters. I had two of these sweaters in my collection of old clothing that I am sure never to wear again but didn’t want to give away, and in two trips to the thrift store we found a pretty nice array of supplementary wool knits. And what an array it was: light blue cableknit lambswool, purple argyle, AWESOME ORANGE, groovy gray with a mint green and blue chevron, and a HUGE gray 100% cashmere jackpot. There’s alot of gray sweaters in this world, did you know?

And by the way, The Husband rocks at thrift store shopping. I may have scored one of these sweaters on my own, but I’m quite certain he found all the rest of them, in probably the same stretch of time. I don’t know why this is, but you give him a set of parameters, and He. Runs. With. It. I tend to get distracted. Shocking, right?

So, the logistics of this blanket? I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I had never sewn with knits before in my life, so I was pretty nervous about it, but it turned out to be not such a big deal as I had feared. I didn’t felt any of the sweaters, although maybe they had been a tiny bit felted in their past lives, I simply don’t know, but there weren’t any unravelling issues. I’m still hoping the whole thing doesn’t spontaneously fall apart, but I feel that way about everything I make.

The blanket is roughly48″x60″, give or take. I cut each sweater square into roughly 13×13″, and pieced together a couple of squares out of arms to get 20 total. I added a strip of cashmere to one short end of the blanket, the bottom cuff of the sweater, because it was Just. So. Soft. that I felt the need for a little extra bit of it. And so that if one of us snuggles up lenthwise beneath this blanket for a nap, that softy cashmere edge can be right up next to that person’s lucky nose. I used a 100% cotton low loft batting and backed the blanket with a vintage white and green floral sheet, which has a bit of polyester in it, but is so soft and smooth.

I basted the layers together with safety pins, and instead of binding the edge like a normal blanket, I finished it by folding the backing over the batting, and turning the sweater top over itself, then sewing the whole sandwich together around the edges. There were a few hairy moments as I did this, when my machine squalled at me and I heard something to the effect of, “Are you freaking kidding me?” as I tried to squeeze 5 layers of varying thickness fabric under the foot. Most of the sweaters were a similar fairly light weight, but the blue cableknit was pretty hefty. And lumpy. So sewing over some of the sweater seams and corners of the edges was a bit tricky. I folded the cashmere edge over so that it was on the backside of the blanket, and handstitched it down like one would normally do for a binding. I’m sure there is probably a better way to go about the whole operation, but I like to rock the boat and make things difficult. Maybe I’ll put a real binding on it someday.

I raided my button stash for some black, gray, orange, blue, and green buttons of various sizes to “tie” the quilt at each square’s corner, and hopefully this will keep the batting in place and prevent much stretching of the sweater pieces. I would like to add a couple more buttons placed randomly because I don’t much like expected regularity, as well as a bit of abstract embroidery to one corner of the blanket, but that will be saved for another day.

This is one of the snuggliest blankets, I’m telling you. The Husband loves it. I came home the other night to find him huddled on the couch, the blanket draped over every inch of him, looking a little bit like a homeless guy. The ginger colored cat likes it a whole lot too, it’s fuzziness prompts him to make biscuits on it before he settles down in our laps. And, all just in time for some crazy cold weather. I was thinking on my way home this evening in the slippery snow how much I was looking forward to wrapping my new sweater blanket around me, and here I sit, snuggly as can be.

I Drive Slower When I’ve Got A Headache

Taken by The Husband

There was ice skating this weekend. I haven’t ice skated since college, so let’s say that’s oh, right about 8 or 9 years. The Husband, however, is a mighty fine skater, which was news to me. He owns a pair of hockey skates, although has never been a hockey player, and he skated circles around me. But as usual, I caught on a bit, and when I finally felt a semblance of comfort on the ice my feet were so sore and cold that we had to leave. That’s how it works.

There were also lemon poppy seed almond scones, with black currant jam. And chili that was nuclear-spicy. And 4 year old beer that turned out to be much stronger than I’d anticipated. And illustrations of coffee related things. And movies, the luxury of 3 whole movies.

The Husband spent a couple of hours beneath the kitchen sink replacing the faucet, which before this event had a slight problem determining which was hot and which was cold. We would have it turned all the way to hot when it would finally catch on that, Hey! We want hot water! Bingo, you got it! And then it would be lava hot, and would burn our dishwashing hands and we would yell and swear and turn it down bit by bit until it would be the right temperature, finally.

Of course, when he got ready to hook up the water supply, we realized that we had apparently left the new supply hoses in the shopping cart at Home Depot, since we forgot they were there in our attempt to be all earth friendly and not use a new bag.

Whew, what a weekend.

Meditate.4

Week 4 . Meditate Project

A little winter white to round out the week of white. See it larger here. I hope you have a serene weekend!

Shades Of Grey

I could have used an extra day off on Monday, along with all those state and federal employees, but I managed to get an awful lot accomplished regardless, which is nothing short of a miracle for me given my recent state of affairs. And by “affairs,” I mean procrastination and general lackadaisical lounging.

I have been stuck on a project for a few weeks now, at an impass, totally unable to move forward and take it to a place that I could feel happy with it. It is a purely personal, for fun, project, but it is part of a collaborative book and and its deadline is this Friday. Still, last weekend could not afford me its finish, and I was starting to feel quite awful about not meeting the deadline. You see, I am a punctual person by nature, and I consider myself true to my word, and I hate. I mean HATE. To miss a deadline. I also hate to send out work that I am not satisfied with, which is what I was starting to think I was going to end up doing.

Monday night I sat down and I finished that baby. And I am really pleased with it. I finished printing and trimming the lot of pages today, and they should be in the mail this week still, only a few days late to the recipient.

And so, I reveal, my spread for Howiezine 11 – Alphabet. I took a “Cast of Characters” approach to this theme, building a Playbill for a fictional play held at a fictional place, the Alphabet Theater, called “Letters From Sam.” For my cast of characters, refrigerator letters, although “G” is different for a little typography joke that I hope at least someone thinks is funny. Have a gander here to see the layout larger, here especially if you want to read the copy and give a go at finding the joke.

Winter white was all around me today. These towels have been stacked in this spot since last weekend, when my mother gifted them to us for Christmas, and I haven’t gotten around to washing them yet.

I’ll see you here tomorrow for a little winter white inspired meditation!

Daydreaming

of cool spring mornings, beneath a blanket on the porch with a macchiato and a book

of the smell of the earth, and crocus bulbs pushing their way through it

of saying farewell to the treadmill for another year and jogging through the arboretum

of shedding the thick skin of winter and feeling the warm sun on my face

It’s cold here in the Midwest, really cold, so cold that my car’s electric locks don’t work and the heat is stripped from my body in seconds, and frankly, it’s getting a little old. As much as I love being in my home and appreciate getting things accomplished, I miss going for walks, I miss the world.

I know this bitter cold snap is fleeting, but for now, I daydream.

If you haven’t yet perused through the list of Shari’s Winter White participants, I really suggest that you do so. You know, if you have a few spare minutes. I know how few those are, sometimes. And if you have found yourself here from that list, welcome!

Winter’s White

For Shari’s winter whites week

Post ADDY Judging

Oh. My. Goodness.

I really only have two words to describe my experience volunteering at ADDY judging on Saturday:

Grueling. Invaluable.

I spent 11 hours working harder than I have worked in a long time. On my feet the entire day. Constantly moving pieces around, laying pieces out for the judges, picking pieces up that had been judged, organizing, cataloging, matching, dividing, rematching, more organizing. I found out whether I won anything, but I am sworn to secrecy, so I can’t tell you until after the awards show next month. I saw almost all of the work that was submitted in the print categories, both from students and professionals, and it was so interesting to see everything, rather than only those pieces that won awards. I got to listen in to the judges discuss the pieces in one of the best of category awards, which was fascinating. I wish I could have sat in on more of those, but by 11 hours in, at 7 pm, my feet and back were tapping my on the shoulder, my head was pounding, and my eyes and brain were no longer able to focus. I had to leave so that I was able to make it home without crashing my car. They were still in the middle of judging the interactive category, and I’m quite certain they were there until at least 10 pm.

It was exciting, inspiring, made it me want to be a better designer, and I am so glad that I did it.

Bookending the marathon of design judging, was some really nice family time. My aunt and mom came to visit on Friday night, and then they went on their way on Saturday morning as I left the house, but my mom came back and was waiting for me on Saturday evening as I returned, weary and haggard, frozen to the bone. The Husband had whipped up some dinner and we unwound with some wine and an old favorite movie, and it was such a perfect end to the long, cold, exhausting day.

Meditate.3

Week 3 . Meditate Project