Chair thing

Years ago when I began to experiment with stitching shirred cotton, a distressed black, slat-back chair became my "dress form".  I made a wardrobe of slip covers for it and when displayed at craft shows explained that I couldn't sell it because the seat was broken. Brilliant marketing.

‏
I spent last year settling into my sewing studio and exploring the Modern Quilt community in Portland.  After months of productive, but frustrating "Modern" quilt-making (due to my aversion to accurate quarter-inch seams) I returned to my shirred cotton work.  The dress form chair was left behind in our move from Long Island,  so I searched for a replacement, to no avail.

My next idea was to buy a chair from IKEA and slip cover it!  I was happily stitching enormous spirals of color in my new sewing room until I came to the realization I had to actually engineer those spirals into slip covers for the Vilmar chair.  I eliminated the actual chair, thus, eliminating that pesky engineering phase. A 2-D chair didn't need as much space and I could make any chair I wanted, this way! So began the chair series of wall hangings-

In the chair series I incorporated quilted linen as a base for my shirred cotton spirals and a hodgepodge of prints for the backs and binding. I liked making them.  I will be previewing them in my booth at the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts, June 25, 26, 27. You can also see my fringe-y "Fuzzy Haystack" sculpture in the Special Exhibit: On the Fringe: Today's Twist on Fiber Art.

lost my snow-mo-jo

I thought it only appropriate on the eve of the closing ceremony weekend that this picture be one that expresses the Olympic spirit. This pair of tennis shoes has been hanging from the lines since the morning my new dishwasher was delivered and installed, last Fall. (How do they do it and how do we get them down?) I am sort of sorry that the Olympics will be over soon. Though I might have missed the tennis-shoe fling there were plenty of events of daredoing and endurance that I did manage to catch. And I love the setting in Vancouver!

I took the camera out this morning to once again document the snowfall. Everything looks the same as the last storm and the flung shoes were the most interesting items out there. I've lost my snow-mo-jo. But I did manage to shovel the driveway and start making a snowman. The snow was not the snowman making grade, however, and mine looked more like a sinking snow cat instead. The fearless feral cats have been traversing our Louieless (our big dog that passed away a few months ago) yard unimpeded by my featherweight dachshund. These cats have a good 5 - 10 pounds at least on Archie! I'm sure they won't deterred by my snowcat, either.

While not shoveling over this long Long Island winter I've done lots of knitting and lots of sewing. Not much of it has been displayed here. I do most of my knitting show-and-tell on Ravelry---the knitters facebook. The bulk of my knitting ultimately becomes my Fall display for the buttons and pins I make.

Really we all want to see Spring inspiration, right now! A little crocus peeping up under the snow cover, perhaps? Not in my yard, not this week! So I have to make my own.

I've been toying with some wearable chenille pieces for the upcoming local fiber arts show Fluffystuff at the end of March. They look like the load of flannel pajamas got shredded and inextricably tangled. (That's a word, right?) I'm not sure what I will be taking to the show, buttons and pins probably, but with a name like Fluffystuff I'm really tempted to take the pajama jamboree along. Before I wash them they look like this....

After the washer and dryer treatment....


We'll see. I'm happy exploring the possibilities and using up lots of Spring palette flannel until it's really Spring!

pink-y, red-y and such

Oops! Forgot to post the finale of the little rustic stool with the pink bark cover. It languished for a while until I resolved how to finish it. It got a cute little drawstring and that did it, just in time for a Valentine's color theme post!




This time of year the sun is so low on the horizon, it's almost impossible to get good available light indoors here for photography. I'm just not much for setting up lights. So last week I dragged my recently finished, Valentine inspired passionately colored chenille items along on a drive out to Greenport to see my friend Sarah. She graciously allowed me to use her abundant Southern exposure for photos. Cairo, her little fluffy Jack Russell terrier, followed the red log all over the house and posed wherever I set the camera up! He's an excellent model for scale, don't you think? I'm a sucker for dogs that pose---mine always scatter when the camera starts clicking.





Red log and pink stool are in my etsy shop now! Happy Valentine's Day!

just maybe I watched too many Westerns over the holidays

My husband and I have now settled on one channel for our tv viewing out of the hundreds available on our cable system, Turner Classic Movie channel. We are trying to wean ourselves off cable and our news junkie habit and we've managed to eliminate watching almost everything but TCM. When the tv is on, it's on 68.

Which might explain why I was compelled to sew up a group of chenille items for my next Sewfaux update, inspired it seems by the many Westerns I've watched. When I'm not interested in the movies' story I look at the movies' set, which would have been the case if a Western is on (this excludes Deadwood, not on TCM anyway). After completing some long unfinished pieces they just happen to look like they belong in the bunkhouse.





Cowhide, barrel cactus, bark....Podner! Just have to imagine some cowhands, your dude ranch guys and gals sitting around the campfire with their bedrolls, or hanging out in the bunkhouse doin' a few rope tricks. Roy and Dale's house. Lonesome Dove. Bonanza.





I've just been totally immersed in sewing for the last few weeks after I tried to find something in the closet where all things chenille go. Layers and piles of unexplained chenille. Someone had to do something about it!

Don't worry I haven't gone totally Western, though it may crop up from time to time. Alongside the dude ranch decor I've also managed to prduce a few items for the following update, in reds and passionate colors expressly for Valentiners. I know you're all relieved.

Shop will be updated by the end of today.

it needs pink bark, right?

All through with the oven drama, for the time being, but keep in mind that Christmas is just a few short weeks away and anything is likely with my tempermental appliances!



So this little 3-legged stool is now the object of my attention. Until a couple of days ago I was going to toss it. I changed my mind about it's potential and here it is being admired by my camera. I love how you can tell it was made by someone's hand, however crudely, to serve a purpose. A milking stool? To put a plant on or one foot. I'll never know what place it held in someone's house or barn or...





It has character. It's paint job has acquired that desirable crackly patina. And probably the maker of this stool would never have imagined it needed a pink bark slip cover, not in a million years. That's where I come in. I know it needs a pink bark slipcover.

The fabric that inspired pink bark, the Joel Dewberry wood grain fabric at the lower left hand corner of the first shot, is taking it's turn in the dryer after being pre-shrunk. It'll make a nice inner lining, though I'm not just sure how I will construct the slipcover yet, it might be visible. Or it might just have to be a secret thing that few will be aware of, like the intimate details of the little 3 legged stool once it too is obscured by shirred pink cotton.



It's now underway and it's definitely going to be a colorful addition to the natural palette of the other bark textile pieces in my etsy store, Sewfaux.

fathers day antimacassar

My father requested that I make him a chenille rug last winter after seeing the multi-colored, stashbuster rug in my etsy shop. He threatened to buy it for the back of his Design within Reach leather couch, a robin's egg blue leather minimalist piece of furniture that doesn't need further enhancement but...I promised to make one especially for him and his couch. Got started on it in late winter, stalled in early spring, realized that Father's day was coming up without verifying it on the calendar, hurriedly finished it two weeks ago and mailed it off prematurely.



I called it an antimacassar! You know those lace doilies that your parents or grandparents might have had on the headrest and arms of an upholstered chair. This is just a big shirred cotton antimacassar!




I'm not taking any chances that my dad might be peaking in at my blog, so I'm posting this on Fathers's day so I won't spoil the surprise! I'm sorry that I can't be there in person to deliver the rug and make french toast. Happy Fathers Day!

fuzzy red skinny pink

in the works

This is the pile of flannel on my table---inspiration to get started on a new group of sewfaux items! I use print backgrounds for the base layers that are invisible from across the room. It's that secret layer that you become aware of upon closer investigation, like when you hug a log pillow! You'll see how much better it is with the print background when you get a chance to hug one.

The two new log pillows I listed at sewfaux use the dark brick red print and the top olive green print (you can catch a glimpse of it in the zipper detail) in that neatly stacked for photography pile .



In the non-log news, there is a new ladybug stool in the works---a collaboration with my friend Deborah, a talented artist, quilt designer and stitcher. She just launched her first etsy store last month, Debadoo! She uses bits of fabrics from the quilts she designs for Bright Hopes , a non-profit quilt group. Their quilts are donated to victims of domestic violence, children in foster care and others. The wall next to Deborah's sewing machine is pinned with the ongoing group of dolls, animals, and pillows that she's constantly assembling with cheery and boisterous prints, ricrac and ribbons. She works with her daughter's drawings to stitch their faces---they're charming, fresh, little labor intensive creations and you need visit Debadoo right away!


The lady bug stool in the works will be fabulous! I promise!

chairdresser's mannequin

I have this rickety, black ladderback chair that became my muse several years ago. My husband doesn't understand my attachment to this chair, so he puts it in the attic periodically. You can't sit in it, the ash woven seat is broken, the poorly painted black layer exposes the previous layers of paint and it doesn't go with anything else (in his mind).

Rickety chair was adorned in red, rose and pink flannel stitched into serpentine, celosia -like patterns and tousled fringe. Otherwise known as the Strawberry Queen seat and back slip covers, I accessorized it with a little black footstool in a coordinated slip cover (which I couldn't locate to photograph). I featured it at one craft show to inspire people to place orders for Strawberry Queen slip covers for their own chairs, but to my surprise and dismay, people wanted to buy it. I couldn't sell IT with the broken seat and it didn't occur to me then to call it art.

It's NFS, it's my piling station, my photo prop and my muse, and it doesn't belong in the attic, and in preparation for the upcoming red holiday..ta dah!

Faux for the holidays!

I've started this post three times, until today I haven't gotten anywhere with it. I read other blogs sporadically and realize that they post every day or almost, which astounds me. I'm happy to know that these creative people make things and write about their process too, all on a daily basis. I aspire to that ability. Maybe it's the writing thing? Maybe I should "picture" each day, maybe that's the solution?

I wasn't when I started writing this post, but I am now....deep into Santa's workshop mode. Trust me, no one needs a sweeping view of every surface filled with something in the process, perhaps just a slice of the overflow...

It just doesn't look like a Martha Stewart environment. Who wouldn't love a dedicated room to wrap presents? Oh, just me? Well, in my parallel universe I have a Martha Stewart room set aside for just that task! Drawers, cubbies, scissors, a variety of adhesives, plenty of tables, nice flooring, good lighting, plenty of ribbon dispensers, shipping dept, regular UPS pick-up. As long as we're talking parallel universe, I'm adding a Martha Stewart kitchen equipped to make all those tasty holiday treats with an assistant who has just returned from the grocery store with the ingredients I forgot...ahhh!

Anyway. Have my knitting and dyeing mojo back! Yesss! Won't my brother and his family in New Mexico be happy (I'm sure they don't read this) when they open their box this year and find that each one has received a knitted ______ in my hand-dyed yarn? I'm knitting with each in mind, but it just occurred to me to put their four items in the box, wrapped and unmarked and let them decide who gets what! We'll be i-chatting on Christmas day and responses will be noted. (Aunt Susan is pretty scarey.)

On top of Santa's workshop activities, I'm slowly rolling out another store on etsy, "sewfaux", just for my chenille textiles---my studio samples, my prototypes! I won't imagine going into production on any one chenille item but there are on-going themes. Finishing and photographing these pieces for this new shop has been great for collecting my thoughts on this years work and clearing the slate for 2009.


Surely there will be plenty of whimsically-minded people out there in this economy needing cotton Buche Noel Logs this holiday! No matter that timing is everything. Gotta have a sense of humor these days or you're in trouble. Hoping to get it all online this week just Faux the holidays!

local talent

Had to put away the knitting needles or at least tuck them under the table to turn on the sewing machine and finish up a group of chenille pillows, log bolsters, rugs and a stool for a local Holiday craft sale. Tucked in a few lavender sachets and delivered them.









Take a break from Black Friday at the big chains this Friday! Come out to the vineyard and farmlands at the East End of Long Island for a charming collection of artisan and craftspeoples creations for the holidays:

The 17th Annual Country Parlor Holiday Sale
The Grange Hall
Sound Ave at Church Lane
Riverhead,NY

Nov 28 Fri- 9-3,
Nov 29 Sat 9-3,
Nov 30 Sun 10-2

Happy Thanksgiving!

bark-quet on the wall

This blogging thing is not happening as frequently as I'm making things so, I'll try to catch up now!

My work table was piled high with chenille-making debris throughout August as I completed a piece to submit for a "call for entry".

It started with a scribble that I kept pinned up at eye level when I was sewing.


To begin yet another log-themed piece I stacked up my collection of natural colored fabrics. As I did more sewing I got more bold and added pinks, oranges, purple and greens to broaden the palette. I would have used more outrageous colors but I didn't have time to make two pieces, one for this world and one for Susan's parallel universe. It came together over the month and I got it photograped and mailed to meet the entry deadline, now we wait to hear it's status. You may see it here, and only here in it's 27" x 36" glory.

I may have to start my own exhibition in order to find the perfect category for my hybrid work...

1 out of 500 Chairs, page 83

I got a nice surprise in the mail on Friday. My copy of the recently published 500 Chairs arrived and inside on Page 83 is a chair that I submitted to Lark Publications on their call for entries last spring. I'm very happy to have my work included.

I suspected going in that wood and metal and hard surfaced entries would be the norm, I gave it a shot anyway. I'm also relieved that my photography of the chair is passable. Ppphew! So here's a similar angle of the chair, if not the same shot that's in the book and a view of the back and an detail shot.




I'm a penny rug fan and wanted to relate to them with my chenille stitching. So this is one example of the penny rug effect on my work.

Washing instructions

Where did April go? Not that I haven’t been making anything…I have lots of projects going but nothing completed. Sewing chenille pieces, designing knitted pieces unsuccessfully, putting together lavender sachet kits for my etsy shop, setting up a wool dyeing studio in my crowded garage…and well, life.

This morning as I was on my way to the washer with a stack of chenille pieces (logs to be exact), I was thinking about how much I like them before they're washed. So I set up the camera and took some shots. Once they're washed and dried all you want to do is snuggle with them.





I also really like the backs...if I intended to draw with thread it would look like this.

Anyway, I'm having a very capable seamstress install a zipper in a guinea pig log to see how feasible it is. My dream come true---that all future logs will have that option and some overlock too. Oh, the little things!

Zipper = headache = no logs

I've been avoiding making logs lately, because I have yet to solve the zipper issue that I think exists. I've had lots of interest in the log bolster, but I have been procastinating going into production, even if it's only a small edition until I resolve the no zipper/yes zipper issue. Once the fabric is constructed it's not easy to seam accurately due to the thickness of the fabric, so thinking about installing a zipper just becomes a headache. Zipper = headache = no logs.

Instead I chase the marauding guinea hens out of my yard and into the neighbors with a camera which stops my dogs from barking. A win win situation all around.

log cabin or cabin fever?

I'm accustomed to sending pictures from my window to my family on the opposite coast to confirm or deny our weather as reported on the national news. So here's the grey and drippy weather report from the windows overlooking the Peconic River.




That monochromatic stuff going on outside inspired me to work on this multi-colored chenille piece. Based on the traditional quilt block, Log Cabin, I thought it would be a witty topping for a handmade twig stool, get it? Log Cabin---twig stool! Humor aside, it's another multi-color, technicolor, no colorway approach so I can use up all my commercially dyed flannel. What remains are the centers of the log cabin block, a red square to symbolize a chimney, at least that's what I remember about it. Spiraling strip or back and forth strip? I'll throw it in the washer and see how the red centers look and then finish it up on this grey, drippy day!

Log Jam

Some might be aware that one of my other obsessions is logs and/or twigs. A few years back I purchased a number of ebay footstools and one of my favorite finds was a stool made from a log. I envisioned it with a chenille bark cushion, taffeta ribbons...



More log items followed... bolsters, more stool covers. Who doesn't love their logs soft and huggable?



So when I was contemplating an entry for Lark Book's 500 Tables last month, I turned to logs for inspiration, naturally. I started two tables about 2 weeks before the submission was due (good planning). I was felled by the flu for about a week, I rallyed and completed one of the tables for the photo and got the entry in the mail. Pphew! (Table #2 is in a dormant state, as yet unfinished.)

This is how Table #1 log table happened! I laminated layers of 2 inch think dense foam for the logs and then I whacked away at them with one of my favorite tools, the electric carving knife. I stitched together the bark fabric by layering flannel fabric, stitching on the bias, slashing through all layers, then stitching the stacked bias strips onto a backing, then finally washing and drying it. I wrapped the bark fabric around the whacked foam logs and hand stitch them closed or secured them with velcro. (The pictures below are the ones I take along the way just to record the process for myself and to get a different view of the piece through the camera lens).





Table #1 was tentatively put together the night before I had to photograph it. The next morning I couldn't balance it when I tried to position it in front of the seamless paper. A few hours later, sanity restored, I solved the problem by flipping the base log upside down!



We'll see how Lark responds to this soft log table.