ephemera

in which our plucky heroine takes a closer looksee around the yard...

The big euphorbia in the front yard is about to go to seed. The huge chartreuse blossom clusters every year are really spectacular, but the way it reseeds everywhere had me thinking of pruning them off now that this year's seeds are ripening, which will allow the plant to divert energy from seed production to vegetation. To my surprise, the plant seems to be chock full of ladybugs...

... and a closer look lets me see just why they are there...doing the ladybug thing and hunting down aphids! The tiny mighty hunter has captured some sweet tasty green prey:

.
:::

These interesting mushrooms turned up in one of the fig tree pots this morning, and by this evening their caps had entirely disappeared. I suspect that the odd weather cycle of peculiarly warm weather, then rain,  then back to pleasant cool dampness has encouraged fungi to colonize the mulch.

:::

Hmmm April is looking like a month of accomplishment, but that "things gone" column needs to start catching up with the rest of the pack... and not much month left to do so!

April SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	mobieus apron	strawberries planted	bin of twigs
2	sewing tools necklace	taxes done	bin of twigs
3	sewing tools shadowbox	front yard mowed	bin of twigs
4	heart in hand necklace	backyard mowed	weedblock fabric
5	manyhands shadowbox	side yard mowed	-
6	mouse family yoke	new garden bed	-
7	medieval paint	feral roses tied up	-
8	three tops for Joan	salad table thinned	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-
15	-	-	-

Slow Sewing SWAP 2015

...in which our plucky heroine is making incremental progress on my planning and sewing, partially because of sewing for others instead, partially as effort is applied to shift the interior emotions, and partially as I sketch out ideas and concepts that may work around and with my fitting issues.

Nonetheless, today I opened my mailbox to find a delightful gift from my online friend Ruthie, who lives way round the curve of the planet from me, in Great Britain! She offered me some of her unused sewing patterns, and I picked Simplicity 8707 because it had some details that looked fun (hello flounced collar), and is both different from anything in my current wee pattern stash, and congruent with styles I enjoy wearing. There is a special family shindig coming up on the calendar in 2016, and a new pretty "dress up" dress would be a treat to have and wear...

In addition, Ruthie tucked into the packet a length of beautiful white Cluny style lace trim. This style of lace is one that was also popular as a dress trim when I was a young woman, and so doubly a treat!! I am thinking it might make a beautiful hemline insertion on a white linen petticoat, but have plenty of time to cogitate and figure out a delightfully appropriate garment that will show it off.

This gift has inspired me to combine my SWAP plans with the assorted sewing stash gifts that have come my way over the years, as a way of honoring the generosity and kindheartedness that connects me to the wide bright world of friendships. This is a theme I can really get excited about, stay tuned for further developments...

snippety Sunday evening...

in which our plucky heroine has a productive weekend, with various forms of learning and changes...

These are my results from the "Make Your Own Paints" workshop this Saturday afternoon, taught by the illustrious Eulalia. I look forward to experimenting with these, and using the ideas discussed in the "Scribal Design" workshop that Marya taught that morning... Actual size of shells is around an inch across, the mussel shell is about two inches. The transparent object at the top is a ground glass stopper for a cruet, the flat end of which is used as a sort of miniature muller, to combine the pigment, gum arabic, and water when preparing the paint

:::

tried something new this week and set up the Levenger editors desk on the dining table. I might have to leave it there, it sure makes it a lot easier to draw...

:::

There was a good sized bowl full of salad for this week! So excited!! The seeds were planted on the 18th of March, sprouts appeared March 24th and April 23rd was the first real harvest.

The salad table is bursting with tender green growth, so much so that they are in need of being thinned out... there is little room for these plants to continue growing... so:

The first of four trays has now had some of the smaller plants thinned, leaving room for the ones that remain to continue growing, and the next three trays will soon be treated the same way. My hope is that the remaining plants will grow large enough for me to harvest individual leaves as an ongoing crop, for the next few months.

:::

Finished embroidering the mouse family, which will decorate the yoke of a new undergown for Mindy, my friend and the Blue Cedar House matriarch...

:::

Very annoyed, my iron seems to be coming apart: there is a rattling noise, I can see bits of loose bakelite in between the handle and the iron body, and the handle is very loose. I suspect that pixies dropped it, as I have not done anything so egregious. Since I use it for all my sewing commisions, I need to get a different appliance that is not broken... so...During one of my daily walks, stopped at Goodwill and found a used iron for $5 in their home goods. At those prices I can replace a lot of irons before even coming near the price of a new basic iron. Plus I picked up three new notebooks for my daily writing and some graph paper I needed for design work.

:::

April SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	mobieus apron	strawberries planted	bin of twigs
2	sewing tools necklace	front yard mowed	bin of twigs
3	sewing tools shadowbox	backyard mowed	bin of twigs
4	heart in hand necklace	side yard mowed	weedblock fabric
5	manyhands shadowbox	new garden bed	-
6	mouse family yoke	feral roses tied up	-
7	medieval paint	salad table thinned	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-
15	-	-	-

Tiny epic milestone unlocked

in which our plucky heroine took a trip to Azure Fine Art Gallery where my most current artwork is on display....

The logo for the arts walk in Corvallis... If it were easier* to get there, I'd really enjoy it as a monthly treat; my friends Stacy and Barret Spangler (who live in Eugene) rarely miss a month!

Azure Fine Art Gallery, streetside view... The gallery entrance is inside a delightful arcade that is just to the right of their window

Deb rearranges the gallery space each month to suit the artworks that are on display. This month when you walk in, the room looked very homelike, albeit a home that is filled with resonant artwork.

.
The north wall of the gallery space... and the south wall.

Here is my work, on display inside "the birdcage". Deb added the river pebbles to the display, which really helps to both ground the pieces and to lead your eye inside. I have two shadowbox pieces in the show, plus my button crown. I have written about the first piece here, and about the second piece here, and there are more ideas for new work gradually percolating up to the surface of my awareness, so these will not be a pair of solitary siblings. It has long been a desire of mine to make artwork that is both a decorative home object and wearable art, that combine and separate and come back together, thereby blurring the boundary between life and lifestyle.

Towards the end of the evening, this group of fiddlers arrived in the atrium of the arcade, and began jamming together... most delightful to hear the live music, even though it signaled the end of the Art Walk!

It was a great kindness that my Eugene friends then took me back south with them, for conversation and convivial company, as well as a guest bed and a pleasant morning walkabout their neighborhood (and a much easier trip back home the next morning) It is very difficult to get to Corvallis without a personal vehicle, while Eugene is plentifully served by a plethora of options.

*
Travel there and back to Corvallis on the bus... the Greyhound heading south was much less timely and comfortable than the Bolt bus heading back north, I am not sure why, since they are owned by the same company. Greyhound left almost half an hour late, Bolt right on time, plus the Bolt driver was impressively cheerful.

a nice new bed and other delights

in which our plucky heroine works with friends...

...Mr Robertson and Heather are mighty... you should see how much better my yard looks!

The agenda for today was yardwork, since the weather is unseasonably warm and dry, which causes the grass to grow like crazy. While I am gradually covering the backyard with mulch, in preparation for eventual garden beds (and because I loathe mowing) the front yard, and about half the backyard are still open grazing. Part of the backyard will hopefully soon be home to three young hens, so some grassy areas will be all to the good, but long grass scares chooks, it might be hiding tigers...

...the back yard after weed whacking, Mr Robertson did yeoman service and spent several hours returning the jungle to a more easy to traverse landscape... the old henhouse is visible near the fence.

I tackled part most of the front yard with the new-to-me non-electric reel mower. A little help from Mr Robertson and the weed whacker took care of the edges and the really tall grass patches. It was necessary to not only move the brush pile, (now on the driveway next to the yard waste bin, and the compost bin instead of the middle of the lawn, which Heather was very willing to help with. I was impressed with how well the mower worked on my flimsy lawn, once we raked up all the twigs, plus, exercise instead of higher electric bill. Haven't tried the back yard yet, it is always a lot more dense because of years of free range hens in the past.

This will, in time, become a garden bed for asparagus and possibly one or two mini fruit trees. The entire side yard bed has been full of weed block and grass, now half is full of potential.

Heather pulled all the sod, removed all of the weed block plastic, and then we layered cardboard, wood chip mulch, and then the sod, upside down... over time, and with more compost layered, it will hopefully become a good growing spot. this is the part of my yard that faces south and gets good sunlight

:::

April SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	mobieus apron	strawberries planted	bin of twigs
2	sewing tools necklace	front yard mowed	bin of twigs
3	sewing tools shadowbox	backyard mowed	bin of twigs
4	heart in hand necklace	side yard mowed	weedblock fabric
5	manyhands shadowbox	new garden bed	-
6	-	feral roses tied up	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-
15	-	-	-

shadowboxen

in which our plucky heroine takes baby steps to explore the land that lies between nightwalking and whimsey...

Sunday was a trip to Azure Fine Art Gallery, to set up my small portion of the upcoming show, prior to the opening, which coincides with the monthly arts walk in downtown Corvallis. My work is in The Birdcage*, a gallery within the gallery as it were...

This whole "having artwork in a gallery" thing is all new to me; I am rather making it up as I go along. My original intention was to have more pieces completed, however, having just the two shadowboxes really allows the work to stand out in an uncrowded and minimalistic setting. I like that better...

The backdrop here is a vintage silken velvet housecoat that I acquired at a barn sale in upstate New York more than forty years ago, the black velvet riffs on both the idea of garments and on the tradition of displaying precious jewelery on a black velvet background. I included my button crown as a display prop, as an echo to the theme of handwork/whimsey...

The second shadowbox... quite different than the first one, yet obviously part of the same genre. The outer edges of the frame are all decorated with sewing pattern tissue paper, as are some of the tiny hands. Sewing patterns are another sort of map, of a different land hard to navigate without assistance.

The pendant combines sterling silver, copper, and brass in a married-metal fabricated artifact.

This quote is another longtime touchstone of mine, a reminder that nothing loved is ever lost while memory lives...

The vintage glass beads compliment the art, and the pendant necklace is held in place with small wooden constructs painted with fingerprint glyphs

:::

April SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	mobieus apron	strawberries planted	bin of twigs
2	sewing tools necklace	-	bin of twigs
3	sewing tools shadowbox	-	-
4	heart in hand necklace	-	-
5	manyhands shadowbox	-	-
6	-	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-
15	-	-	-

* from the gallery page:
Bird Cage Series -
Housed within the gallery is a large bird cage for small works, jewelry or single vision ideas that accentuates the idea of “kept treasures”

my little salad greens

...in which our plucky heroine practices delayed gratification...


The wee greens in the salad table with more than two little leaves are visibly differentiating, . It is time to thin them so that the individual plants can grow larger. I am excited to actually eat some homegrown "my little salad", and have promised it to myself as a reward for finishing up my tax paperwork!

et cetera

in which our plucky heroine woke up with some ideas floating around...

I love the planning aspect of SWAP or 6PAC, truly this is yet another example of my designer brain at play. Most of the ideas are for garments that use my stashed fabrics, suit my everyday life and would make me happy to wear. Unfortunately, my actual follow-through of sewing said wearables has been rather more like nonexistent, in part because of how much else I have going on in my everyday life. Hello art projects, and working life, I am looking at you right now!

I am thinking of setting up my own "Slow-Sewing SWAP" where instead of a four month timeline, I give myself a twelve month timeline. I can could probably manage a garment a month, and if inspired to do more, all to the good! Adding twelve new pieces to the barren landscape of my closet will help a lot. The only "rule" I will give myself is to make garments that will replace the ones in my current wardrobe that get worn until they wear out, because those are the ones that are the most "active"... 

:::

Continuing to make steady slow progress on the pieces for the art show later this month. Masonite "hands", found while rummaging about, are now layered with pattern tissue paper, and will become components in the next collaged shadowbox.  Paint and sand and glue...paper and wood... not usually part of my metalwork and enameling scenario, but is rather fun, in between being terrified. Very strange the way old echos of the judgemental past still reverberate. Am trying to remember the delighted young child I once was, who loved making things, and let her out to play...

:::

For some reason, this post from Myth & Moor feels quite germane to my current state of mind...

:::

April SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	mobieus apron	strawberries planted	bin of twigs
2	sewing tools necklace	-	bin of twigs
3	sewing tools shadowbox	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	-	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-
15	-	-	-

Tuesday tidbits

in which our plucky heroine makes incremental progress...


The sewing tools shadowbox artwork is almost completed. The necklace beading continues the theme of measurement. The completed pendant: a carved bone ruler hung with assorted tools, notions, and trinkets, floating in the sky above the sewing landscape

The composition has the sort of dynamic balance that pleases my eye. Art is what you make when there is something that needs to exist, and you make it even though you don't know how, so you keep figuring it out and and making it up as you go along...

I don't remember where I first found this quote, but it has stuck with me for years, because it is true...


A detail of the pendant, with vintage charms and buttons, and a handpainted limoges enamel dress form...

... and the whole pendant

The small vintage enamel clockface stands in for the full moon...

:::

just found this song again, after missing it for a long time
:::

Recently found in the fabric stash: a grey rayon popover dress partially cut out... when measured out against the current dresses there are some pieces missing; fortunately there is a little bit of different grey rayon that can be added to it, and together they can become a dress for wearing this summer. Also found a denim pinafore dress with a missing back. Could be not terribly difficult to bind the raw edges and add some mobieus straps, for a nice sturdy workshop apron. These two will become the next "morning sewing" projects.

ready get set

in which our plucky heroine hopes she has not bit off more than she can chew...

assembling the triptych of shadowbox artwork and frames is rather like building a huge setting for the already completed wearable pieces, and it is far more time-consuming and complicated than I ever imagined.

It is going to be a very busy week here at the cottage and somewhere in there I also need to do all the taxes...

Saturday snippets

in which our plucky heroine has a busy day...

... with much progress on the shadowboxes, a bike ride to the grocery store, some house chores, and another session in the front yard filling up the yard waste bin with twiggish brush from the Huge Mound O' Brush™

. .

photos from two weeks ago, when Mr Dawson very kindly used his chainsaw on a stick, and other pruning tools, to make sure that the close ornamental plum tree didn't break my house, or my neighbors house, in the high winds that were due to arrive later that week... It did, however leave said Huge Mound O' Brush™ in the middle of the front yard

Have decided that what makes sense is to gradually send away all the tiny stuff, and save all that I cannot clip with the Felco pruner to be cut into rocket stove fuel. It will be impossible for me to use the push mower in the front yard without removing all the twigs and brush, as I found out...  but now the sun is setting, and it is time for dinner. Then more art-making after dinner and tomorrow.

There are several workstations set up here at Acorn Cottage this weekend, to ensure that all the pieces of the shadowbox artworks are completed and ready in time. I am building things painting and gluing things, stringing beads, and there will be some extra metalwork happening here as well. I am afraid that the taxes have gone on the back burner for the weekend...

Much to my surprise, while I was out in the yard this afternoon, my friend Dawn drove up with this delightful present for me...  Just over four yards of indigo and white true Japanese printed cotton fabric (14" wide)...

:::

April SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	mobieus apron	strawberries planted	bin of twigs
2	-	-	bin of twigs
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	-	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-
15	-	-	-

Friday fragments

Dogwoods in the neighborhood are in bloom right now, and it is difficult to choose which are the most beautiful, the pink or the red... though my mind casts back through the years and remembers trail riding in the Blue Hills, and the bright greeny-white native dogwood blossoms in the forest... it was a different world, and a lifetime away from here...

 

:::

While the apron is far from perfect, it is definitely a wearable "muslin" and tidy, with all the edges neatly bound in lightweight denim. I am going to add some pockets, and call it done. (I have some ideas for the second go round "Apron XP2", using a different and even sillier piece of bark cloth, to get a design that fits a little better, less long in the torso, and longer and more shaping in the skirt) I am hoping that the "simple" apron project, which turned out to be not so simple but is beginning to intrigue me, may be the return of the missing mojo...

Of course, this is not yet renewing my very worn wardrobe. I have about six TNT patterns, and none of them fit me at all any more. I just need to put on my big girl panties and deal with it, but it isn't easy. Having a basic fitting sloper, bodice and sleeve, might be a definite help, but I would still have to re-create my set of TNT basic patterns. My sewing friends are mostly all online instead of local, or are doing sewing professionally, and I am no more likely to ask them to work for me for free than I am to ask my surgeon friend to treat me in hospital for free... I will admit to a bit of envy of those who have either husbands or local sewing pals to help with fitting; and am considering promising myself a long wished for dress form when I reach a long desired weight loss goal.

:::

April SMART goals

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	strawberries planted	bin of twigs
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	-	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	-	-
9	-	-	-
10	-	-	-
11	-	-	-
12	-	-	-
13	-	-	-
14	-	-	-
15	-	-	-

analysis instead of paralysis

Yesterday on Stitchers Guild, rivergum had a brilliant comment about fitting and design:

One thing I found with fitting, or rather getting the right proportions for my short and stout self, because I don't wear fitted clothes, is to look very carefully at the picture and analyse exactly where everything is.

Where is the hem on the model in relation to her knees, how much wider than her body is the garment, where is the arm scye/sleeve hem on her (in relation to her elbow/shoulder), how wide is the neck etc etc.  This is estimates of course, and I often use the width, length of her hands, lower arms etc to estimate, something like 'the neck edge of the garment is half the width of her hand away from her neck'. Not terribly accurate but much better than nothing. If i like the inspiration picture i could do worse than replicate the proportions on my own body. Doesn't always work when translating from long and thin to short and less thin, but it's a good starting point.

Somehow this idea never occurred to me before, and it is a fantastic way to learn to look at various garments. This technique could possibly be combined with the croquis, to try out a style concept before even making a muslin. I am going to analyse a few of the various criss-cross aprons I have uncovered with this concept in mind...

First off, almost all of these aprons are shown on slender women with small busts. This tells me that the design will look quite different on a voluptuous figure. The free pattern that I found and used, is shown on a woman with shoulders as wide as her hips, and noticeably long in proportion to her width. The apron sides are open to hip level, and the apron itself is about knee length. This vintage pattern diagram is for a criss-cross back that is made by extending the edge binding, which is an interesting variation. This image of an apron from 1922 shows an apron back that covers all the back, the sides are only open to the waist, but the entire apron is very narrowly cut, as is the gown underneath. The Marin shop "Rough Linen" shows, amid all their other svelte and artistic customers, one woman who is a size 22... Given all this observation, it isn't surprising that the apron pattern style is a bit challenging, though not impossible, to transmogrify into something that will fit me well...

Also, and somewhat amusingly, I found this video where a six year old demonstrates how to put on the pinafore/apron

out at the end of the bell curve...

...in which our plucky heroine bravely returns to personal sewing...

With the intention to defibrillate my sewing mojo I decided to make an apron, because it shouldn't need much fitting, right? Hah! the original pattern was sized and shaped for a cylindrical bean pole.

The lefthand photo is the apron sewn with just two modifications: I added in an extra side panel between the front and the back, because I am larger in diameter than the standard pattern sizes, and I cut off some of the extra length of the shoulder straps, because before I did that the whole thing was about eight inches lower, and the "skirt" portion of the apron hung closer to my knees, leaving more of my torso uncovered.

The place where I am proportionately short is between my chest and my waist. It might have been better for me to shorten the pattern there instead of at the shoulder straps. I may try that next time, and also try making it just a little longer overall. I strongly suggest making a sample in scrap fabric before committing special fabric... for those who are closer to the middle of the bell curve (less stout, and taller), it may fit just fine as drafted

Next step is to reshape the sides to avoid the appearance of "clown pockets"; the righthand photo shows how it looks with an angled seam pinned into the sides That done, I can then add actual pockets and bind the edges. This is actually a clever apron, with a criss-cross mobius-style back, that should stay put without need for waist ties, and that topological quirk will allow the raw edges to be bound all in one go, (says the girl who loves finishing edges with homemade bias binding)

This apron is similar in some ways to house aprons from the early 20thC; I am REALLY liking that it doesn't tie at the waistline. I am going to customise the pocketing rather than use the pattern pockets, I want big useful storage patch style pockets on the skirt, and at least two bib pockets, (small inside larger) because a pedometer pocket is a necessity... Another apron in denim or canvas would make an excellent workroom apron for shop and garden...