Angel Baby

We have a new baby in the house! Pony Girl got her very own kitten and named her Angel. I forgot how much work the little ones are, thank goodness she's so cute. She's still getting used to her new home and family, a little shy and she likes to hide. So now we are a 2 cat household. Angel and The Buddha Cat... it sounds like a 70s detective show or a Cat Stevens album. 

Welcome to the family Angel!

Addendum

As a supplemental to April's Stitched Journal Project I wanted to feature a couple of pieces that you may not have seen. Not all the participants have blogs to link to, but have uploaded pictures of their work to the Flickr photo group HERE.

I have asked permission to show the following photos on my blog. These were submitted by Anca, an artist who lives in Romania. Her work is beautiful and I wanted to make sure you all had a chance to see it.

Here is her piece for April

Wonderful stitching and layering!

As well as her piece for March

I love the combination of machine and hand stitching!

Thank you Anca for sharing these beautiful pieces, I can't wait to see what you come up with for next month!

So you see, even if you don't have a blog, you can participate through the Stitched Journal Project Flickr Group and I'll make sure to share your photos here!

Happy Monday!

Stitched Journal Project - April

The Stitched Journal Project is: Makers from around the world creating one "page" or piece of work per month and sharing. It is a project to get the ideas flowing, to process the days in a creative way, to try new techniques and to push past fears that keep us from making something.  It isn't about perfection, or getting it "just right," it is about process and perspective.

Machine stitching with dupioni silk scraps on cotton

Stitched Journal Project confession: This piece is from March. I did not finish a piece for April. This was an alternate to the piece that I made and showed last month. When I was working on it, it didn't feel representative of the month, even though I really liked the end result. It seems more appropriate for this month, though I do not consider it a true part of the whole project, and not really my April piece.

April has been a bit busy, chaotic and dizzy like this piece, it has also been bright, colorful and surprising just like this piece. 

I do intend to create another piece for April, once I get over a pesky stomach bug that has laid me out this week. This piece has since been framed and will wing it's way to an old friend in Canada for an Art Swap we arranged (yay for art swaps!).

Below you will find links to the wonderful makers and their Stitched Journal Project pieces for April. Please keep your eyes on this spot in the next couple of days as more add their links. Be sure to visit them and leave comments!

If you think you would like to join in as well, it's not too late!  We will be sharing our pieces the last Friday of every month at least until the end of the year. We'd love to have you.

All of you wonderful Stitched Journal Project participants please link up below! Remember to add your photos to The Stitched Journal Flickr Group! and be sure to share with Facebook, Twitter, etc!

Sharing is caring

Today I would like to share some link love with you. There has been some groovy business going on out there in the interwebs.

First up we have an awesome 3 part sew-along skirt  series from Lazy Daisy Jones.

I love this because she is thorough, easy to understand, has great photos, and really takes the scary out of sewing darts and zips! If you have been wanting to tackle these things whilst making yourself a stunning skirt, go check it out!

Next, though you may not have time to whip one of these up before Easter, I think that any time of year is a great time for a bunny backpack, am I right?  

Nancy Langdon from studio TANTRUM has created this crazy cool hip hopper DIY backpack pattern and it's free!!! Which is amazing, but I'd like you to consider her request for a $3 donation to benefit  Ocean Defenders Alliance. Pay it forward folks! You can find the details HERE!

Lastly my dear friend Jane from Flaming Nora has created a fab tutorial for printing images onto fabric using an inkjet computer printer.

Which is perfect timing for those of us participating in the Stitched Journal Project as April is due next Friday!

I hope you have enjoyed these fantastic links, if so please leave a comment on the posts and tell 'em Lola sent you!

Have a wonderful weekend all!

A gathering of sorts - accidental collections

Yes, there are still unpacked boxes at the new house. I wonder when I will stop calling it the new house, when will it stop feeling so new? I do not know. So, every now and then I unpack a box or two and try to find a place to put the stuff. How did we get so much stuff?

As I unpack, I find gatherings of like things that bloom into accidental collections. Things I never set out to collect, things inherited from grandparents, parents, friends...

I never intended to collect Ye Olde Kitchen stuff and yet, the box labeled "Papa" never opened or gone through since it arrived nearly two years ago now from California, held (among other things) a gathering of just that.

My grandmother collected these things. I like them, but then, you all know by now that I like old stuff. I like to think about the lives of old things, the people who touched and used them and the stories of dinners, jars of canned goods, the food that was made. 

I also like the look of them hanging on my kitchen wall. Just a little gathering, an accidental collection...

Now, I'm off to arrange my accidental collection of decorative tins! 

Do you have any accidental collections?

A little Stitchy

Now I know I said I was was getting back together with my sewing machine on Monday, however there was the strange incident in the day all to do with a cast iron skillet that had gone missing. It was such an epic mystery and drove me absolutely bonkers. Off my rocker I was - with the searching high, low and everywhere in between... and I do mean everywhere! Each time I told myself that was enough of this nonsense, time to get to work... I would search the cupboards for the third or fourth time to no avail. Finally, I had to make dinner for the family and had to give up the search. The cast iron skillet (the one that took years to season to perfection and cooks like a dream) was never found, and no stitching was done that day.

Yesterday I allowed myself no such distractions. I always find that a good way to get back into the stitchy swing of things is to sew up a tried and true simple dress for my girl. This time it was an old go to pattern, McCall's 4547, which is sadly now out of print. I have traced this pattern many times, from size 3-4 up to 10-12. it is so easy to sew, except for the fiddly fit of the sleeves. I keep meaning to modify them, but I never have. It is a favorite for the comfort factor. This time I made it up in a black and pink batik. It currently adorns my girl at school today, so I'm guessing it's a hit.

Since the dress took less than 2 hours from cut out to hemming, I had some time to start drafting a pattern for a bamboo handle bag. I made up a test version in an ugly green fabric I have lying about for just this sort of thing. I found it adequate, but really lacking in interest of design. I just wasn't inspired enough to make it up in pretty fabric. I did make some additional sketches and think I am on the right road now. Back to the drafting table!

Lastly, I started a small organizing project of my trims and lacy bits. To be honest I did not get very far with it. It was too much fun to look through them and imagine what to make with them!  Ah well. 

It was time well spent on the whole and I think that my machine and I are back on friendly terms and ready to stitch up a storm.

Are you working on any projects right now, I'd love to hear!

P.S.  I meant to thank everyone for your kind comments on this post! You made me feel so much better with your sweet words and I do believe you helped me to mend. Thank you!

Hello Monday - Bloomin'

Good morning and good Monday to you all! Today I don't have much to say. I do have lots of photos of things that are popping up in the garden. While you take a look at my little piece of Spring, I will be planning my day, nay my week, of getting reacquainted with my sewing machine. It seems as though it has been ever so long.

Oh I do love flowers!

I am also quite thrilled to see that the food is growing!

Now, I'm off to look for my sewing mojo, I know I left it around here somewhere!

Happy Monday!