Further on Down the Road

Yes that will be me driving once again to Palm Desert and down I10 to Phoenix for Art Unraveled.  I leave Tuesday morning to drive south and spend the night then finish the drive on Wednesday.  Looking forward to meeting up with friends and teaching and vending.

The garment in the photos is a sample of what can be created in my "Workshop Runway" class.  I believe there are a couple of openings left.  Check out the info here,

There's also an opportunity to take this reconstructed garment class at Art Is You Petaluma in September. Take old, unloved shirts and make them into a fun and arty new one!  After the basic shirt is made there are so many possibilities to embellish it and make it your own creation!  I hope to see some of you in my class.

Here's a message from the promoters of Art Unraveled about vendor day.

Won't you join us? A day of shopping fun awaits you in only a week! Yes, that's right the 11th annual vendor day at Art Unraveled is going to be here before we know it. We'll be at the Embassy Suites again on Saturday, August 3rd from 10 am to 4 pm. Artists & Vendors are coming from around the U.S. to tempt you with their hand-made art, jewelry, dolls, books, journals, paintings - and also vintage jewelry, fabric, doo-dads, trinkets and so much more. Check the list of vendors to see if your favorites will be with us.  We're excited that there are quite a few new vendors with us this year - you're sure to find something that sings to you! Tatum's Restaurant in the Embassy Suites will be open for lunch serving their full lunch menu and Oscar's coffee bar will be in the lounge serving your favorite coffee drinks to keep up your energy level cause it is going to be that kind of day - shop til' you drop! Tickets will be available at the door. Plan to arrive early and stay til' 4 for the grand prize drawing valued at $500 retail. We'll have drawings throughout the day at approximately 20 minute intervals. Print this email and bring it along to the event, we'll give you $1 off the price of the $7 entry fee. Forward it on to your friends - they're welcome to the discount too! Hope to see you there! Linda and Chuck www.artunraveled.com info@artunraveled.com P.S. There's still time to register for a workshop. We'll be accepting walk-in registrations at the hotel beginning on the evening of July 29th  following Meet the Artists and every day during the event. Come join us for learning, fun and camaraderie won't you? The Embassy Suites is located at 4415 E Paradise Village Parkway S in Phoenix. Take Cactus Rd.  to Paradise Village Parkway and turn South - near the Paradise Valley Mall. If you'd like a list of vendors email me and I'll pass that on to you.  lasfibers@yahoo.com  Of course I'll be there!

I'm off to the studio to start making piles of what I need to load my car with tomorrow.

Have a great day everyone!

Less than 3 Weeks and a million things to do

While in Wisconsin the mosquitoes were fierce and ticks were out but I found some great insect repellent by 3M, UltraThon 12 hour.  The main ingredient is DEET, is that good for us?  Downside was it made me a little sticky but hey no bugs.  Fireworks at Jump River were fantastic and seeing family friends is priceless.  We scattered my mother-in-law Rose's (fondly know as Rosita) on various parts of the farm.  In the field of shasta daisies, down by Skinner Creek, and a little behind the bee house where her father had the bees hives while she was growing up.

(thank you Jeff for the photo)

After getting home I found myself back in the studio finishing up a special project I mentioned in my previous post.  It was a commission piece, not wearable, so it stretched my creativity.  As soon as I mail it out and am sure the friend has received I'll be back to post images and a bit more about it.

Now I am frantic to make a few more things to sell on vendor day at Art Unraveled, finish up my class prep, ponder and work on samples for upcoming show applications, and fitting in appointments and daily life in between.

Here's a little needle and supply case I made as a possible class I'll give in the future.  It's nuno felted and sewn with manmade felt pages, pockets for button, needles, or small bead case, and embellished.

I gotta run now, peace out.

Traveling to Wisconsin

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mdscott

I, my husband, and the two sons will be up early tomorrow to get to the airport to travel to Wisconsin to attend a family reunion.  We are taking my mother-in-law's ashes to scatter on the farm she grew up on.

I won't be taking my computer and doubt there will be cell phone reception so it's very possible I will be without internet connection for 6 days.  Remember when we didn't have this technology?  Have we become addicted to it?  Every morning I check my email, my facebook page, go to my favorite sites and then a few more visits during the day.  My computer is always on.

Now I will be in mid northern Wisconsin where the weather has been in the 70's with a little rain.  Sounds good except I know the farm is on a creek and always has bugs.  The mosquitos are the worst and I am not relishing that part of the trip.

No internet, enough mosquitos to carry me off, sleeping in the bat room, hhmmm sounds like a bad trip only I know how beautiful the farm is, how fun to see all the friends and relative, sit around a camp fire at night, take walks down to the creek, and how great to reminisce about old times.  In the end it's all worth it.

On the flip side I have been very busy with a project I am so excited about, a commission by a friend.  When I return I'll be putting the finishing touches on it and then posting here.  I'll also be getting ready for Art Unraveled!  My fabulous "workshop runway" class and vending.

Hope everyone is having a spectacular summer!

SoCal, Oregon, and home again

I've been quite busy since my last post!  I traveled down to Orange County to attend Create where I took two classes.  Ruth Rae's class was my first one where we got to create our own little poetry dress.

In all my years of sewing I had not free motion stitched before.  I was so happy to learn this technique and found it much easier than I suspected.  Thank you Ruth for sharing this!

My writing on the front was the title of this very cool song by Theresa Andersson I love, especially the YouTube version of her looping everything and recording in what looks like her kitchen!

My second class was Kristen's Robinson's Secret Journal class.  While I still need to add my journaling notes here are a few pics of my book shown with my little dress.

The day I got home from SoCal, a Sunday, I had an old friend from Austin visiting so we took off on Monday to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and spent the day together meeting up with hubby for dinner.

I had Tuesday to unpack and then repack to leave early Wed. morning to fly to Medford, Oregon to visit my sister and brother-in-law.  My husband has gotten his pilot's license and bought a little Cesna that we took the journey in.  An 8 hour car trip became less than 3 hours by air!

This area was beautiful.  I swear everyone has roses blooming and anything else imaginable, it all grows there!

While visiting my sister, Jan, created a garment ala my class I'll be teaching at Art Unraveled.  Because I have a few slightly different version of taking unloved shirts and upcycling them Jan thought it would make sense to name each style so this one is "His Becomes Her". I have a few slots left for the class in Phoenix so if you're interested that a look and hope to see you there!

This is her version which turned out so fabulous!  She named it "Sip of Summer".  If you follow my blog you'll remember that I try to name my garments and always have Jan's help as she's a better namer than I am!

Contest Winner and Vending at Create in Orange County

Here is the list of the names entered for the name the shirt contest.  Some people were unable to leave a message via this blog so they emailed me personally and some left comments at Facebook.

Pierced Pleasures

Summine in the Piazza

Breezy tunic

Lacy romance

Buttoned Up Romantic

Lisette

Marcheline

Beau Blanc

Lacey Dreams

Theodora

Zelda

Flayaway Lace top

Dream Clud

Abigail

Romance Me

Snow White says (to Red Rose) We will not leave each other

Camille

Great Day for a White Wedding/Great Day to Start Again

Summer Breeze

Seraphina

It was hard to decide but the winner is Lexi for Beau Blanc!

1.    beau [a] (beautiful) delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration.

2.   beau [a] (lovely) appealing to the emotions as well as the eye.

Of course blanc means white.  

I also really liked Seraphina because of the meaning.   The woman who entered the name said she looked up the meaning, “Turns out that it is the name of a 13^th Century Italian saint who made clothes for the poor.”  So while I did not choose this for this particular garment I will definitely use it in the future and will also be sending her a little something in the mail.

I need to go finish hand stitching the lace collar onto this shirt to take with me to Create in Orange County.  I’ll be vending on Friday evening, it’s free to enter and there will be lots of artists selling and worth attending if you are in the area!  Check here to see a list of all the vendors.   

Flamingo Stroll

Garments and Devore Velvet Scarves

Free Lace wayward threads Message Scarves

Natural Dye Print Scarves

Reconstructed Shirt Progression & Contest Give Away!

Ricë Freeman-Zachery and I have traded garments with each other through the U.S. mail for some time now.  We both haunt thrift stores and when we see something we think the other might like we snatch it up and off it goes.  I have to admit this shirt was sent to me over a year ago and I finally chose it to work on.  I somehow lost the photo of the shirt before I cut it but I think you'll get the idea of what it  looked like from the first picture.

Here we go on the reconstruction progression:

Sleeves and collar were cut and removed.  I shortened the sleeve and then cut it open along the seam.

The sides of the shirt were slit open and the sleeve part was inserted.

This was my first design attempt for the back.  I took the cuff ends I cut from the sleeves and pinned them onto the sleeves insert part. I thought this was a good idea for using more of the actual shirt parts.  

However I didn't really like this and came up with another idea.  The shirt top really needed more of a skirt for balance and the cuteness factor so I took a tiered flounce skirt and cut the bottom tiers off to add to the shirt.  

Here is the skirt pinned onto the shirt looking at the inside.

 The collar was cut away and I decided to make it vee necked.

I originally thought I would add this crochet lace to the arm opening but decided against it.

And added this instead along with the vintage lace collar piece.

Finished front and back

For those who made it here to the end I have a question for you.  After I finish a garment I like to give them a name.  I usually send my sister Jan an email with pics and she comes up with most of the names for my garments but I'd like to know what you would name this garment?  For those who leave an answer I'll choose which name I like best and the winner will receive a surprise package with some of my hand dyed silk ribbon and other fabric pieces.  Be sure to leave your email so I know how to contact you!

Remember there are still a few openings for my reconstructed garment classes at Art Unraveled and Art Is Petaluma.  See my events page or side bar for links and info.