cloth.paper.string

cornucopia

Ages ago I happened upon a pair of screenprinted napkins at a thrift shop and knew immediately that they would make excellent bean bags.  Yesterday, when the allure of the scrap bag had worn off, I dropped my sewing project and engaged the little one in the selecting of fruit and the stuffing of little bags. 

In addition playing food and shapes and colors, we've been tossing around the some new word combinations today:  'buckwheat hulls' and 'hands tucked in' (you know, what you do when you're sitting on your mama's lap and she's about to start sewing).  I'm so glad to have saved -- okay, procrastinated -- this little project until I had a bit of help.  Making with adds a whole other dimension to making for.

blown away

As I've been carefully deconstructing a vintage wool bias-cut skirt that will never fit me, I've had Nikki McClure and her x-acto knife on my mind.  I'm continually blown away by her images, as I am by this fantastic printed gabardine which resembles her work so.

After holding on to this skirt for ages and ages, I've finally found a project that is calling its name.  But, more on this later.  I'm afraid if I share too much about my plans I'll jinx myself and won't be able to squeeze enough yardage from the pretty pie-shaped panels.

And, so many thanks for all of the suggestions and kind words about the learning sweater.  I'm going to give fixing it a go.  Will keep you posted.

scandinavian thrift

There's no escaping the Scandinavian influence in this part of the world.  If you listen to Garrison Keillor, you know exactly what I mean.
Yesterday, on my three minute run into the thrift store, I found this huge canvas bag.  When I saw the gnome I knew that the bag would be coming home with me.  The curl-up toe shoes, the coy hands behind the back stance, the red hat with zig-zagged-all-over detail.  It was love.
There was also an embroidered message on the bag: "to gnome is to love me".  I thought it was odd and nonsensical, but didn't let it keep me from shelling out three whole dollars for the bag.  When I got into the car I realized the play on words that was going on across my newly beloved bag.  There's something about plays on words that make me cringe.  Deep down shuddering cringe.  I've been picking away with my seam ripper at the machine embroidered message.  I'm down to "gnome love" and I'll keep going until the little guy is on his own.  He's just too sweet to be muddled with words.
And if the satchel wasn't enough, the fabric bin held two yards of this tulip-ed wonder.  Once I find that perfect pair of wooden clogs, I'll make myself a skirt... to wear to the Prairie Home Companion's annual meatloaf feast and street dance, of course.

So many thanks for all of the comments on the cards!  An etsy shop may well be in my near future...

eyes open?

It makes me crazy when the obvious answer is right before me and I can't see it.  One right around my wrist.  And if that wasn't enough, another right in my bees nest of a bun.  Three inches of elastic cord in the form of a hairband (or baby tail holder, as I used to say).  Exactly what I needed to finish the Bend-the-Rules artsy clutch in one sitting.  But I couldn't see it.  Thanks to Jeanne's MacGyver mind, the now-finished clutch -- with repurposed silk from a dress on the outside and a shirt on the inside -- is on its way to my fancy pants sister.

Speaking of fancy pants, the little lady has been sporting sewn-by-her-mama simple light cotton pants like these for most of the summer.  Now that autumn is nipping our knees I think another batch is in order.  I'm thinking soft cordouroys and cottons with flannel lining.   And, if your eyes are open, you might see that she's found a tiny bit of green beachglass.

recent thrifting finds

Fabric.  Cotton linens that make me want to sew and wear aprons.  Plus a breezy sarong - in the middle - with amazing bird and flower detail. 

Vintage dress for the babe.  Behind the dots is the most subtle pink floral pattern.  Too big for this year, it surely won't mind another turn of the year in the closet.

Nature's Colors.  A nudge toward dying fabric and fiber and yarn that is much more aligned with my sensibilities than my previous dying adventures.

Many, many thanks to Sew, Mama, Sew! for finding and choosing my cottonwood leaf pouch for a Flickr Feature.  I'm tickled.  And to those of you visiting for the first time, welcome! 

basketry

The basket of all baskets was discovered on a recent thrifting adventure.  It was one of those finds that turns the heads of other shoppers, elicits 'oooh, cool' from parking lot passers-by, and makes one feel as if she's happened upon a secret.  Six dollars for a woven beauty that I wasn't sure would fit into the car.  Update:  I just saw a photo of the very same basket over at MS's site.  Check it out for perspective.

You might get a chuckle picturing me emptying the results of two days worth of big-city errands from the back-back (am I the only one that calls the way back of a station wagon this?) so that I could just barely wedge this antique basket inside; filling up the basket with the random contents of the car; all the while a completely peaked out babe howled and twisted and turned at my hip, almost falling out of the sling.  Maybe those passers-by actually felt compelled to comment because I was making a spectacle of myself and clearly looked more than a bit deranged...
I can say it was all worth it.  The basket has found a sunny spot in our home where it is visited many times each day by small hands pulling out and placing inside toys and treasures.  Whatever basket-filling festivities you have planned for this weekend, may you find great joy in the celebrating!

smock & roo

Another smock for the little miss.  But still no smocket -- that is, I've yet to add a pocket to one of these little criss cross tops.  We're suddenly all about 'inside' -- you know, putting blocks back inside the box, paper inside the dishwasher, dominoes inside the heating ducts...  I think I hear a call for pockets.

For now, though, a roo will have to do.  From Who, Said Sue, Said Whoo?, a fantastically fun book from a recent thrifting adventure, this roo hopped onto a onesie with a little help from a freezer paper stencil.  Be warned, there will certainly be more fabric printing in my future.

brownies - found!

I work in a converted school building that houses a handful of non-profits, including a soup kitchen and 'free' store.  The free store is mainly stocked with clothing and household goods but sometimes they receive other interesting donations...  Today a stack of at least two hundred childrens books appeared -- they had been discarded from the libraries of nearby elementary schools.  I snatched a small stack which includes some titles from my childhood, others with wonderful woodcut illustrations, and more that feature characters like an unhappy green bicycle-riding cow named Pistachio and a musical gnu named Elihu. 
Two little books about brownies are by far my favorites.  Fun images of little helpful folks from the woods.  "They were dressed all in brown.  They wore little brown suits, little brown caps and little brown shoes.  Their caps were pointed, their suits had buttons down the front, and their shoes had l______ong pointed toes and looked MUCH too big for them. These queer little folk were SMILING all the time.  First they came creepity-creep, creepity-creep; then they came skippity-hop, skippity-hop, very softly and lightly, right up to the door of the little brown house." - from Brownies - Hush! by Gladys Adshead.

More than anything I'm so pleased that this 'find' has introduced me to books that I might not have stumbled upon otherwise.  Stories that resonate with me that I didn't know I was missing until I found them.  I feel this way about the crafty blogging community, too -- when I discovered SouleMama as I searched for Munki Munki fabric over a year ago it was as if I had happened upon an entire world that I was sorely missing without even realizing it. 

buttoned up

Stripey pants with the finished cardigan.  The buttons are etched with simple little butterflies, and have a bit of the faux bois thing going on. 

I'm quite pleased with the results.  Both have a little room for growing into, so I'm certain we'll be seeing a lot of this ensemble in the coming months.  That said, I fear that the sweater will be a bit too high-maintenance for me, and will end up like this.  From now on I think I'll stick to superwash for the Little Miss.

motivated by stripes

Yesterday at Goodwill I happened upon the perfect stripes in the form of a very strange lace up shirt.  The stripes are the exact colors of a cardigan that I've been working on for the little miss - a simple neck-down raglan out of a pink-red-brown Cascade 220.  With a little help from Kath's kid's pants tutorial, I whipped out some stretchy stripey pants and now can't wait to finish off the edge of the cardigan.  Yes I just said that -- I never ever am excited about the finishing involved in a knitting project.  The completion, yes; but never the finishing.  Funny how a lace-up shirt can change one's perspective...