I Heart This Week

What a week!  A busy work week, carting kids to their various activities, catching up on laundry, and trying to find time to create but still get some sleep...well, I didn't bring my "A Game" to my photography for this post.  I think you'll get the picture though (PUN!)...

It's not the winter storm that people make it out to be here in SC, but seeing this and knowing I can just cozy up indoors for the night makes me happy...

I've neglected my Gratitude Journal but this week realized the need to jot down a few things to maintain perspective...

My 9 year old son's stories...I look forward to new stories written by him about as much as one looks forward to the next Great American Novel...

Finding toys in strange arrangements around the house.  Is this guy doing a victory dance?  Directing traffic?  Or saving the Universe?  Maybe he's testing a new deodorant (that appears to be failing miserably)...

(Relatively) New Art Work...I bought this around Christmas, hung it up a few weeks ago, but felt appreciative of it today so thought I'd share.  I purchased this print from a very talented artist at The Black Apple shop on Etsy.  I love this little one...

My lovely Aunt lent me her sewing machine for a bit so I can try it out and see if I really do want to buy one.  It is one of my goals this year.  Last Sunday, my Mom and Aunt gave me a tutorial on how to set it up and use it.  I'm hoping to steal some time this weekend and play some more...

Finally...after a busy, but productive, week...

Happy Weekending!!

Vitality

Happy New Year!  Welcome, 2013. 

I rang in the new year last night with loved ones and friends.  It was filled with talking, laughing, silly children, spirits, good food, and fun.  I am thankful that I was able to celebrate with a wonderful group of people.

I am sitting here on this first morning of 2013 and my heart is full of mixed emotions.  Hopeful and excited for new challenges and experiences in 2013 and a little sad to say goodbye to 2012 which was a growing year for me.  I feel full of ideas which can be a little overwhelming and exciting at the same time.

There is a trend in blogs right now to pick one word as your focus for the new year.  I'm jumping on the bandwagon because I like this idea so much better than resolutions.  In the past, my resolutions tended to be self-effacing -- lose weight, get in shape, look better, be better, etc.  I don't know if it is my age (35) or just frustration with our society shaping my view of not being good enough but I really don't want that to be my focus this year.  So, I'm going with a word for the year because I see it as potential.  Today the word may inspire certain goals within me but I'm interested to see how those goals change as the year changes; as I change.

The word I've chosen is Vitality.  Webster's had a couple of definitions for Vitality that I liked:
1 - The peculiarity distinguishing the living from the nonliving
2 - Capacity to live and develop; also : physical or mental vigor especially when highly developed
power of enduring; lively and animated character

I want new experiences.  I want to be more active.  I want to be healthy and strong.  I want to grow my blog and inspire people.  I want to create every day.  I want to be peculiar and alive!

In addition, my creative goals this year:
1 - Learn to knit
2 - Buy a sewing machine and learn to use it
3 - Stretch myself in crochet and learn a new technique
4 - Finish my seemingly never ending crocheted blanket (more to come on that)
5 - Grow some of the food I eat this year

Do you have any goals or words that will inspire you in 2013?

Written

A couple of months ago, I read the book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller.  At its core, it is about the story we are each currently living and the story we actually want to live.  I found it to be so inspirational and read it very quickly.  As I read, I would jot down quotes that impacted me.  There was one that stood out to me the most and I found myself reading it over and over. 

I decided I wanted to remember that quote and be inspired by it every day.  I knew I wanted to frame it but didn't want to just print it, paint it, write it, etc.  I loved the idea of some kind of fiber version of it on my wall so I tried my hand at embroidery.  Now, I have been playing with embroidery for just a few months and make up the stitches on my own.  Below is my version of this quote:

"I feel written, my skin feels written, and my desires feel written."



I started out by writing the quote in my own handwriting (no frills) on muslin and stretching onto an embroidery hoop.



Then I stitched the words in black thread and used some white thread to highlight a bit.



I embellished around the words in a circle.  Then I cut out the circle and stitched onto a piece of cream colored felt.



I kept with the circles around and around.  I wanted to add color but wanted the words to stand out on their own so avoided going overboard.



Ta-da!  The finished piece framed on my wall above one of my other photos.  Simple, imperfect but the words stand out. 

What books and quotes inspire you?

Folky Fiber Book

My mom is a quilter.  A few months ago, she came to visit and we had lunch and visited a local fabric shop.  I've always been drawn to colorful and patterned paper, beads, markers, felt, yarn, and anything else that is colorful.  Only recently have I caught the colorful fabric bug as well.  The problem is that I don't really sew and I don't quilt.  I don't have a clue how to use a sewing machine.  Regardless, I've gradually started incorporating fabric into different projects. 

This particular fabric shop was like a candy store - colors, patterns, textures - it was intoxicating.  My mom insisted on buying me some fabric (and who am I to refuse).  I brought it home and then it sat here for a bit because I wasn't sure what to do with it.  I tend to do that sometimes.  I am mostly self taught in many different arts and crafts.  I am always wanting to learn something else.  I am often envious of people who have just one passion and excel at that one thing.  Lately though, I started thinking about the different mediums and things I know how to do.  What if I started to find ways to pull it all together?  Photography, writing, crochet, embroidery, chainmaille, jewelry, recycled materials, etc.  That is what set the idea of this blog in motion.  Maybe my passion is to combine art forms into one that suits me.

As that idea came together, I started this project as a gift for my mom.  She was my inspiration.  I wanted it to be colorful, full of texture, use mediums that I know she likes, and full of positive words.



I started by crocheting the front and back cover for the book.

I then worked on each page of the book.  I'm new to embroidery and I kind of make it up as I go along.  I worked a word into each page, embroidered on fabric, and then sewed the pages onto 4x4 pieces of felt or crocheted 4x4 granny squares.

The pages started to stack up as I went.  I worked on this over the course of a couple of months.  I wasn't always consistent with how often I worked but I tend to work that way.  I would prefer to finish a project I love as it comes to me, rather than force myself to finish sooner and then not be crazy about it.

Music always helps the process flow.  I was digging Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros quite a bit during this project. 

More pages...one is a textured felt background and the other is a granny square of the same size in white acrylic yarn.

Putting it all together was the tricky part for me.  I started out by binding the pages to a sturdy piece of felt.  I figured this would be a good way to bind the pages and make sure they are secured and can still be turned easily.

Once they were bound to the brown felt, I crocheted the spine and sewed the felt with the pages to the spine.

The bound pages from the inside of the book.

The spine attached to my cover.  It must be my folk roots but I love a rustic feel to my projects.  I left the edges of the fabric on my pages frayed and I crocheted the edges of the spine to have a frayed look too.

The front cover and the finished product.

My mom loved it and I was really pleased to see my idea come to fruition.  I'm excited to try some other ideas for mixed media fiber books.  I'm thinking about incorporating some different chainmaille techniques for a more industrial look and maybe trying to incorporate fiber and paper collage art.

First blog post complete!  I have more projects, ideas, and snippets of things I'm working on in store.  Please feel free to share my blog with others.  Thanks for reading!