A Month of Softies: Alice's Wonderland Revisited

The Queen of Hearts
visit the gallery to see the other entries for this month. (it should be up in the next few days. today was the deadline to enter.)

i love all of the characters in alice in wonderland so much that i had a really hard time deciding which to do. i finally got out a copy of the book and randomly opened to a page. i found there the scene where alice meets the queen of hearts, so i decided to make the queen. my queen is greatly amused by something the white rabbit said to her and so she might not order any beheadings today. she is made from wool felt and mostly cotton fabrics and i made up the pattern as i went along. i also made her start to finish this afternoon because i just realized that february was over already! what a blur. sewing her was my reward for spending many hours this morning doing some much neglected housework.
becka on 02.28.05 @ 09:40 PM CST [link]

more art

i put together an ad in the minnesota women's press for the summer camps at the textile center. check it out.
becka on 02.26.05 @ 08:37 AM CST [link]

Illustration Friday: Sorrow

my husband is the youngest of 4 boys and the saddest thing for him was always saying goodbye to his brothers when they would go back to college or home from a visit. this illustration was done entirely on the computer with a combination of photoshop and illustrator. i had a hard time putting a pencil to paper this week because i was not in the mood to draw sorrowful things.

becka on 02.25.05 @ 01:22 PM CST [link]

in memory

i got an email on friday from my dear friend, sheri. her kitty, nerbius passed away. i remember when sheri got nerbius and brought him home to meet her other kitty and how he made a kittenish nuisance of himself at all hours of the night. kids loved to trick-or-treat at her apartment to see the 2 black halloween kitties. there is never anything you can say when somebody loses one that they love, so i sat down and stitched. this is a mini-quilt (about 8" by 10") in memory of my friend nerbius. i mailed it off to sheri yesterday.

you can't see very well in the photograph, but his name is embroidered in the space just under where the cat is sleeping. the outside edge is quilted in heart shapes and swirls and then scattered with little red beads.
becka on 02.23.05 @ 04:14 PM CST [link]

wildlife

on my way out the back door to walk the dog this morning, we startled a group of goldfinches and a squirrel who were hanging out on the backyard feeders. lucy and i followed trails of footprints in the snow down the alley - rabbits, squirrels, people, birds and dogs. we listened to a cardinal and chickadees. when we got to the park it was all snowcovered and sparkly. lucy was busy sniffing, but i looked up to see a little red fox dashing across the park. i thought at first it was somebody's dog chasing a tennis ball, but then i saw the little white tip on his fluffy tail and then i realized. we watched him make his way all the way across the park, until he disappeared up over a little hill.
becka on 02.22.05 @ 04:12 PM CST [link]

at the gallery last night

here's me...
and here's a little slide show of some other pieces at the show.
becka on 02.19.05 @ 10:09 AM CST [link]

Illustration Friday: Flight

this past summer, my hubby and my youngest sister made a bunch of home movies starring an odd assortment of puppets. one was a music video for frank sinatra's "come fly with me". every one of the animals (elephant, dog, kitty, dinosaur, turtle) got construction paper wings and learned how to fly. so this one's for rachel and andy.
becka on 02.18.05 @ 08:03 AM CST [link]

Fairy Godmother

"Fairy Godmother"
this is my piece for the Textile Center's show "A Common Thread". it will be displayed as part of a members exhibit from Feb 18 to March 12. this is the first piece i have had in a gallery show and i am pretty pleased with the way that it turned out. see a close up here. it is a very different style than anything i have been working on lately, which is a result of many experiments with using new materials and techniques.

"fairy godmother" is a rod puppet - she has a stick that controls her body and 2 rods attached to her wrists to move her hands and arms. i started her as an experiment in making different kinds of puppets. most of what i have made are hand puppets that use your hands and fingers to move their mouths, heads or hands. i have also made many tiny finger puppets. although i have used rod puppets on stage, i have never made one from start to finish. my favorite rod puppet was a large crane that i performed with one summer. his beak was manipulated with 2 fingers and the neck was flexible foam so it could move any direction. his feet were attached to rods and his legs were made from rope, so they also flexed and moved easily. it took 2 people to make him walk across the stage but he was beautiful. he was created for a native american folk tales show and made by a group of us working at the theater.
becka on 02.17.05 @ 05:35 PM CST [link]

treasures

i was reading on "Hip to Piece Squares" (see sidebar link), my blog-friend sarah just got some beautiful vintage quilt blocks on ebay in a pattern that i adore. the funny thing is that i have about 30 blocks that could be from the same quilt. thank you to sarah for making me go haul them out of a bag in the basement and put them away properly. these were made by my great grandmother, i think. all handstitched. i have a little note with the details someplace...
becka on 02.15.05 @ 09:49 PM CST [link]

student work

here are some scarves from my dye class last thursday. the second section of class was a small one, but we did a lot of experimenting. it was a lot of fun.
becka on 02.15.05 @ 08:54 AM CST [link]

valentines for my sisters

a couple of presents that i was working on last week... for sister #1, a scarf made from the bamboo yarn i found a couple of weeks back. for sister #2, a fairy bag made from quilted cotton, beads and an iron on applique.
becka on 02.14.05 @ 03:31 PM CST [link]

Illustration Friday: Year of the Rooster

becka on 02.11.05 @ 02:42 PM CST [link]

only a few more days 'til valentines

becka on 02.10.05 @ 07:59 AM CST [link]

new favorite things....

becka on 02.09.05 @ 06:52 PM CST [link]

crafty valentines

becka on 02.09.05 @ 08:24 AM CST [link]

very nifty downloads

"Tabanenoshi-mon (ribbon bundle pattern)" is an original chiyogami design with a pattern of noshi bundles. In ancient Japan, noshi were strips of dried abalone, a type of ocean shellfish. These strips represented good fortune and long life, and were used to decorate gifts for important occasions such as weddings, sort of like ribbons and bows are used on gifts in the West. Today, bundles of noshi strips are still used to decorate gifts for special occasions, though the noshi strips today are made of paper, not shellfish. There are red, purple, and blue versions available for download.

Canon has about 50 different origami papers that you can download and print out to use for all kids of paper crafts. very fun browsing.
becka on 02.08.05 @ 09:03 AM CST [link]

more card ideas for you

becka on 02.08.05 @ 08:51 AM CST [link]

what a rush!

...a scarf i dyed last summer.
i just got done teaching "dyeing for a valentine". my students learned how to low-immersion dye and each made 2 silk scarves. it was the most fun class i have ever taught. i had 11 students, all grown ups (it was open to all ages). they all did beautiful amazing things with combining colors and experimenting and everybody seemed to have a wonderful time. i am thrilled. at the end, they all pinned their scarves to the wall and we had a show-and-tell gallery time. one lady had brought a camera with her and promised to drop off a copy of the pictures for me.
becka on 02.07.05 @ 09:21 PM CST [link]

ideas and more ideas

becka on 02.07.05 @ 07:50 AM CST [link]

More Valentines ideas

becka on 02.06.05 @ 09:12 AM CST [link]

valentines idea #5

becka on 02.05.05 @ 09:06 AM CST [link]

Illustration Friday: Friendship

the whole picture and a detail. you can see a larger version by clicking here.

this topic was a beast. i had lots of images of "little girls holding hands" come to mind, but that wasn't what i wanted to draw. i think the word friendship has a sort of hallmark card picture associated with it for me. something that just pops into your head uninvited. on one hand it seemed like a really easy word to illustrate but it didn't inspire me. so i sketched (peanut butter & jelly), i brainstormed (beginning knitters, a boy and his dog, grandmas having coffee) and i finally came up with a quiet and more subtle take on friendship.



becka on 02.04.05 @ 08:18 AM CST [link]

valentines idea #4

Pattern
becka on 02.04.05 @ 07:54 AM CST [link]

idea number 3

becka on 02.03.05 @ 09:13 AM CST [link]

i just love a mystery...

today i finished piecing my second mystery block. linda worland at paper panache puts out a paper pieced mystery quilt block several times a year. she gives you the patterns, fabric suggestions and the instructions but no picture. so you don't know what you are working on until you are done. i enjoyed this month's block enormously. i had absolutely no idea what it was until the very end. she is a brilliant designer. her blocks are detailed and often very whimsical. if you check my archives for october, you will see the first mystery block i did. i will tell you that this month's block made me laugh right out loud. i won't spoil it for anyone who would like to try making their own, but if the suspense is killing you, here is my finished block. the ducky to the left is another paper pieced square. it is actual size. paper piecing got me back into being excited about quilting. the hammer block i did for the tsunami quilt (see previous posts) is my first original design.

becka on 02.02.05 @ 08:49 PM CST [link]

More Valentines ideas

becka on 02.02.05 @ 09:32 AM CST [link]

Month of Softies Gallery is up

the "vintage catwalk" gallery is now up at Loobylu.com. there are some really fun stuffed toys on display there. to see my contribution you can scroll down to my entry for jan 26. i am so excited about february's theme: alice's wonderland revisited. so many possibilites!
becka on 02.02.05 @ 12:23 AM CST [link]

a special project

i spent this morning making this little giraffe. friends of ours have to take their 11mo old son in for heart surgery next week to repair a hole in his heart. i wanted him to have a little cuddly something to keep him company as he is recovering. this little giraffe is made from flannel and some bits of ribbon. the pattern, with a few additions, is from Scrap Saver's 101 Great Little Gifts, which i got for christmas. (thanks mely!)

becka on 02.01.05 @ 02:37 PM CST [link]

It's time once again...

with valentine's day just around the corner, it is time once again for an "idea a day". (see october's archives for the halloween costume ideas) this time it is handmade valentines cards - fun and simple suggestions to make your own valentine. i will post a new idea every day up until valentines day. enjoy!
becka on 02.01.05 @ 09:17 AM CST [link]