science verse

i have been cleaning today so i don't have much crafty stuff to speak of, but i do have to mention my book of the week. "science verse" by jon sciezska and lane smith. i bought it for andy. sciezska & smith are responsible for "the true story of the three little pigs" & "the stinky cheese man" among other clever and funny books. just a little excerpt for you...

"Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the combustion reaction of O2 + heat + fuel to form CO2 + light + heat + exhaust."

find a copy and read it.
becka on 09.27.04 @ 06:14 PM CST [link]

christmas sneak peak

hair candy! i am getting ready for some holiday art shows and i made these tonight on a whim. barrettes and pony tail holders...

becka on 09.22.04 @ 09:51 PM CST [link]

hooray for camera batteries

pictures of my finished garments. i didn't really study the pattern for the jacket before i bought the fabric, but i decided that i wanted the facings to be something fun, so i got this great paisley print, thinking it would just peek out a little bit. it ends up that the facing pieces all wrap around the outside, so i have a lovely paisley band around the hood and down the front. not exactly what i had in mind but i think it looks great. you can't see details too well, but there is also a yoke with pin-tucks on the front and a set in piece in the back making a v-shaped belt. it's just a great pattern and i love corduroy. i think next time i would make the skirt a couple of sizes smaller. the pattern says "sits 1 in below waist" but i think they were a little generous on that.
becka on 09.22.04 @ 09:46 PM CST [link]

New and Vintage Patterns

lots of sewing this weekend. i made a skirt from a current simplicity pattern (left) and a jacket from a 1977 simplicity pattern that i got at the textile center garage sale back in april. i grabbed some of these "vintage" patterns in my size and i thought it would be fun to make one of them. my skirt is in two kids of denim and the jacket is dark olive green corduroy. i will post pictures as soon as the camera batteries charge two set of batteries and all dead.
becka on 09.21.04 @ 05:40 PM CST [link]

Repackaging

......before and after.......
i don't know a lot about marketing, but i know that i have never been happy with the look of my craft kits. they look a little too homemade and they don't sell as well as i would like them to. i am getting ready to enter them in the textile center's holiday show and i was trying to snazz them up a bit. a great brainstorm by our gift shop manager got me thinking about boxes. they are now in 4 1/2 by 5 3/4 in clear plastic boxes. much easier to display and much cooler looking.
another great brainstorming session got me repackaging some capes, too. i made a whole bunch of capes for some shows last year. they sold great at one show (where the kids were running around outside playing in them) and not at all at several other shows. i took them to the tcm last weekend for our open house to advertise for a beginning sewing class i am teaching (sewing halloween capes). we are going to try putting them in the gift shop as an "instant costume kit". you get the cape and a craft kit to make your own crown/mask/flower garland to wear with it.

becka on 09.15.04 @ 12:43 PM CST [link]

Young Adult books to read aloud...

my mom and i were talking last night about great books to read aloud to kids. she reads many books to her classes throughout the year and she was looking for suggestions of some new and different books. so i went and fished a few off of my bookshelves...

	Stowaway by Karen Hesse A journal of an 11 yr old boy who stows-away on the H.M.S. Endeavor with Captain James Cook. They are at sea for 3 years on a secret mission to discover a new continent. The story is fictions, but based on a real boy who stowed-away on that ship.
	The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley A story told from the perspective of the characters in a fairy tale book. The book's characters have to act out their scenes for the Reader every time the book is opened. Sylvie, a 12 yr old princess, has been doing her lines for 80 years and is starting to get a little bored....
	Time Stops for No Mouse by Michael Hoeye Hermux Tantamoq is a mouse watchmaker who lives a quiet life with his pet ladybug, Terfle, until he meets Linka Perflinger, professional aviatrix and adventuress. Adventure ensues...
	The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop A classic. A boy is given a model castle whose medieval characters start doing some strange and unusual things.

becka on 09.14.04 @ 11:34 AM CST [link]

the sewing frenzy has started...

14 puppets down and (insert insane number here) to go. i am going to try and devote mondays and wednesdays to getting ready for holiday art shows. i think i have the puppet assembly time down to 20 minutes per puppet. wow! (i just figured that out).
becka on 09.13.04 @ 04:15 PM CST [link]

finally a trivial pursuit for me!

i always say that if trivial pursuit only had categories like "lost textile arts" or "kiddie lit", i would be unstoppable. they've finally done it! it's trivial pursuit book lovers edition.




AND it has a childrens' lit category! but, if i get a copy, will anyone play with me?
becka on 09.10.04 @ 04:40 PM CST [link]

fun classes and a new website...

i am signed up to take 2 classes this fall and i can't wait! First is Explorations in Card Weaving. this one is being taught by one of our Textile Mobile teachers through the Weavers Guild of MN. there are a couple of other classes i would like to take (like beginning Inkle weaving) but i am teaching another class at the same time that is going on. Next is Sensational Shibori. shibori is a Japanese dying technique. for anyone who is interested in the classes being offered this fall at the TCM, there is an open house/demo day this saturday from 12-4. i also had a great chat with the manager of the tcm shop about packaging the stuff that i sell at shows. he told me about clearbags.com which sells all kinds of packaging materials (bags, boxes, envelopes...) so i am now re-inventing my kids craft kits. everyone says these are a great idea, but they haven't sold as well as i would like.

becka on 09.09.04 @ 02:36 PM CST [link]

what a weekend...

you'll have to read Danielle's account of our weekend adventures. meanwhile, here are a few blocks i have finished on the elephant quilt....


becka on 09.08.04 @ 05:45 PM CST [link]

just a little editing

just doing a little site editing today, so things are moving around a bit.
becka on 09.05.04 @ 11:41 AM CST [link]

Need some readers

i just finished typing up a handout for a class that i am teaching in october. it is a beginner sewing class called "Caped Crusaders" and we are going to make halloween costume capes. the students get to choose their own fabrics and i would like them to do that before they come to class. so, i am going to mail this handout to them several weeks before class. i would greatly appreciate feedback that any of you might have, especially from you "non-sewers" out there who maybe don't buy fabric all the time.
becka on 09.03.04 @ 12:48 PM CST [link]

Odd requests and odd fabrics

i picked out a palette of fabrics for another quilt today. after i finished the one for beth, i decided that i needed one for myself. besides, a friend of mine is talking about doing an exhibition show next fall with work by teaching artists that she knows. i never keep any of the work i do. i almost always give things away as gifts and so i would have a hard time finding things to show.

so here is my collection. the teal with polka-dots is going to be borders between all the blocks and the blocks will be made from 4 prints each of the other colors. i decided to make this the "elephant" quilt. i am doing all elephant blocks, like the one i posted several days ago. i have put a couple together already but those pictures will wait for another post

while she was cutting my fabric, the nice lady at the cutting counter remarked that i had an "odd collection" of colors. not exactly what one wants to hear after spending an hour choosing just the right stuff. it is very difficult to choose 20+ fabrics that all go together somehow. most of my fabrics are tone-on-tone prints - where the pattern is in a darker or lighter shade of the background. the only multi-colored print is the polka-dots. i think there is as much art/design involved in color and fabric choices in a quilt as there is in actually sewing the thing.

anyhow, while the cutting counter lady was cutting she got a phone call asking if they carried "emerald green fake fur". ??? odd. then she said that last week, they got an even weirder request. a lady came in looking for belt loops. she was shocked to hear that fabric stores don't usually carry them.
becka on 09.01.04 @ 08:11 PM CST [link]