Hi there, it's an off day for me...

Well today has just been odd. I feel like I've been doing everything backwards... but I did dye some yarn with walnuts today and that finally went forward. I'm so excited, it's going to soak overnight... I want to see it right now, but I will have to wait. So, instead I have some pictures for you all of other random things.

This is the quilted pot holder that I made from the crafty leftovers pattern. My sewing mechine went on the fritz so I will have to hand stitch the rest.














I did a couple more paintings. Here they are. I have more in my studio that I did last night, but I'm waiting for them to dry.





































And here is some fabric that I bought at the quilting corner in Ames. I'm going to make some more catnip pillows out of the blue mouse fabric and some travel tissue holders out of the other two fabrics. E-mail me if you would like to order one or the other. They are both $5 each. Shipping is free. Just let me know.












Well that is all for now. Have a good night!

I just can't stay away....

But I might have to. I have a super busy day tomorrow! I'm working at the Bookstore in the morning until 130 and then at encore from 2-8 and then the pot luck from 8-? and then posting the crafty leftover pattern! Jeeze! Plus a friend is coming into town and I need to clean my apartment a bit before him and his cousin get here so they don't think I am living in a trash heap... which I'm not, it just might look that way from time to time (especailly when he only gave me a two day notice.... he had mentioned it about a month ago but wasn't sure about the date).

I have some good news and some annoying news too. So annoying news first. I rented out a studio space at the school and every time I go in there I'm cleaning out people's crap... I have collected quite a few pens, x-acto knifes, brushes, and other little things this way.... the studio spaces are partitianed off with tape on the floor so pretty much if I don't mark my teritory everyday my space starts to get sucked into the general "open" studio area where everyone and their mother can paint. And you know, I'm okay with this... as long as they don't get paint on my stuff or steal things or store their crap in my area I really don't mind that my stuff gets scooted around... but! and this is a big but... faculty should know better than to set up a still life on the desk in a studio area... I mean that is what we pay for every semester. Not just a space, but a desk, chair, easel, and a locker.... it's a package. And you know, I haven't been diligent about making my presence known (aka I clean up after myself), but faculty should know better! So me and one of the other guys who rents out a space moved the table into the "open" studio area and moved a new table into my area, which I promptly covered with my own drawings and things and put a sign on. This better not happen again....

On to the better news - I brought in all of my little paintings to class and my professor thought they were really great and that they stand on their own feet as far as art pieces go and he gave me some tips on how to frame/mat them and some advise in general. It was good to get positive feedback from him because I really feel like everything I have done so far has been kind of lacking. I think it was just lacking that spontinaity. I am kind of worried about the little paintings though because that is what I put on my desk to mark it. They are so small... I really hope they don't wander off. (get stolen). That is another reason why I am not posting tomorrow... I want to work on some more of those little guys. I'm going to do some more yellow ones and then move into green...

Well that is all I have for you tonight. Have a good day!

ps - for reading all that you get a prize! An unedited photo of my studio while preping for the art and craft sale. Mr B is under the table too! He says "hi."

Pish Posh and Paint

Well, no images of the crawling plaster body yet, I'm going to snap some in class tomorrow. Instead, just 9 little mixed media paintings that I did tonight. I had a pretty harsh crit today. They didn't like my idea, so I have to re-evaluate what I am doing for it... something similar, but different. I need to make it more potent.... anyway, I decided instead of hem hawing it out tonight and worrying about whether or not it was good enough, I would just do some little paintings instead... well collaged paintings. I made 13 total tonight, 4 are still drying, i will post those Friday. I'm really excited, it's been awhile since I painted and enjoyed myself. I think I'm just going to keep making them until.... well... until I don't want to anymore.

Some details about them: They are all aprox 4"x 6", mixed media (acrylic, fabric, wood glue, string, other stuff laying around), all on illustration board.

The colors are a little off, but pretty close.







In other news my friend Jill, the most neat-o lady ever, called me up and she is going to be showing some of her photography Dec 2 in Davenport.... anyone around that area should totally come out for it. I'm going to be there. E-mail me for details. Also she said that I might be able to get in... so I might have a show too... which would be so nice. DeKalb is kind of a cess pool as far as show going is concerned. Okay, so not to rant too much... but there are only about 4 gallery spots in DeKalb worth showing at... and every grad student and BFA candidate is trying to get a spot in one of those four spots and everyone from faculty to BFA candidates send out huge guilt trips if someone tries to get a show who doesn't need it. So after being here for over a year I have been too much of a wuss to thumb my nose and say screw you to the art community here.... what kind of show would that be even if I did, without some kind of showing up of the art community, it wouldn't be much of show now would it.... anyway... that's my rant.

I figure that I will try to get some shows around my old town and then next summer when I move to the Chicago area I will show at some galleries there. I'm really wanting to work up a bit of a reputation before I head up there. So that way the curators won't laugh when I submit proposals... it's really competitive. Anyway, it's 11pm and my bedtime. Have a good night.... oh yeah, one last thing... A new Crafty Leftovers Pattern will be going up on Friday... Late.... look for it Saturday.

Where did Monday Go?

Oh my, I totally missed out on Monday posting. I did have some great times this weekend, it was so great to see Jason and the little lady Molly cat.... I miss them both already, sigh... Anyway, I already mention and posted the light box try out..... but I didn't post about casting my whole body for my sculpture project now did I! I'm pretty excited about it. It looks really super nice. It took 4 people an hour to coat me in plaster (they were actually covering the sheet that was over me, I needed a hollow human form draped in fabric, so a sheet covered in plaster while I'm under it was the answer). Anyway, it took another hour for it to dry! It was tough, 2 hours in a really uncomfortable crawling position... but it was so worth it. It looks great... it's charged with motion. In fact so much so that while it was drying (after I was out) everyone thought it was shifting to the side, but really it was just that way. It's one of those great dynamics that most artists try to capture and I was able to... well me and a crew of 4. I was so worried it wasn't going to work out and it did! But I still need to add a head (suffocation reasons prevented me from casting my head while under a sheet... no way to breath, that is bad)... and I need to smooth it out and do all of that other ocd stuff that I do with my sculpture. I also need to make the quilt top...
I figured out the numbers for it at work the other day... I will give you the run down:
Large Squares 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" - 169
Rectangles 12 1/2" x 2 1/2" - 1095
Small Squares 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" - 1764

I started with the small squares and have close to 400.... only 2628 to go! And with all of that excitement I am off to bed. Good night everyone... I will try to get some pictures of the cast for tomorrow's post.

Today is a day.

Well it is and there is no lying there. I do have some stuff to show you/tell you about, which is kind of exciting for me. Unfortunately not as much as I had hoped, my camera is out in the car, and well, it's realllly cold, so maybe tomorrow more pictures for everyone.

First off the art and craft sale was a smashing success and we are thinking that we will have another one next semester. Over $1000 worth of art and craft was sold in two days... and because we (Ars Nova) wasn't taking a cut of that, it all went to the art students who participate, which makes me feel really good about the whole thing. I personally sold 7 wallets total, I had to make some more and bring them in for the second day, which made me happy. Anyway, so I do have 6 left over, but they aren't that nice, hence they did not sell... so I think I'm just going to pitch them (I was having issues sewing them so the stitching is reallllly messy, I am not so proud of that). Here is the one that I kept for myself.

Jason built a light box for product shots and this is our first round of experimenting with it.

Now that I finally have the hang of sewing with vinyl I will be making more of these, but I will be using my own photography instead of from a magazine. I don't want to get hit up for copyright infringement.

Anyway, this is one of the things that I bought from one of the other vendors there, it's the little bag I wanted, it didn't sell by the beginning of the second day so it's mine now!
I also bought the little white dish with a red bug on it, that I also told myself, if this doesn't sell I will buy it... so it's mine too.

In other randomness, I have decided not to resubscribe to ArtNews... and am thinking about subscribing to Cabinet instead.
Well, that's all I've got right now, it looks like we might be heading out soon and dinner is needed before then. Have a good weekend!

Ars Nova Art and Craft Sale!

Alright! So the Art and Craft Sale went off without a hitch today. We had at least 20 vendors and I even put out some of my vinyl wallets so I guess I was a vendor too! I actually sold about 1/2 of my wallets in the first two hours (I only made 12 so it's not that many), but I'm not sure how many sold in the rest of the day so I'm going to whip up a few more tonight and put them out in the morning. There were so many neat things, I've set aside all of my misc money for the past week and this week so I can buy some stuff. I have my eye on a little ceramic dish with a bug on it and a circular quilted zipper pouch.... There is fun fabric on the outside and then a recycled cabled sweater on the inside, it's so neat (nice job heidi). I took some pictures of the crazy wallet making that was going on last night, but I am going to have to wait to post them until Saturday. I'm not going to be posting on Friday, so Saturday it will be instead. (I have to work for 10 hours and then drive to Ames... Yeah to Ames! I get to see Jason, so exciting!). Anyway, I have to give a presentation in my art history class tomorrow so I better get on it!

Have a good week! Craft it up!

specifially at one site

So I turned in my portfolio for my mid term fiber arts project today. I'm not going to try to explain its meaning or anything like that, it would be longwinded and partly bs... I will just show you the pictures instead.

And here are some pictures of me working on it, taken by my mom who was really great and helped me put up and document the who piece.


(It was really windy)

Anyway, I need to send out the quilt block swap partner info right now, so I better push off. Don't forget to check out the new pattern on crafty leftovers, it's a travel sized tissue holder. I know I'm getting the sniffles all over the place!

Have a good week!

Hi there!

So I've been a little absent lately, but I do have good reasons, which I'm not going to disclose here because this is public and they are private. The good news is that I'm back and I have some pictures and I'm going to do a little show and tell.

Here is my wall of drawings that I've been working on from time to time. There aren't as many as I would like, but the diversion in my life has made it so. Hopefully I will get more up there soon.

I started working on the bathmat again, it's almost finished, but I ran out of yarn on one of the balls (I'm working off three strands at once), so I'm going to have to rewind the large ball into 3 smaller ones. I hope I have enough. I recycled a sweater to get it, so there is no more yarn to find. Only 10 more rows to go too! Keep your fingers crossed.
I also started work back up on the Go Everywhere with Everything sweater for stitch and bitch, that I started about, well, it was the first sweater I started about a year and a half ago, so I decided that it's about time that I get it finished.
And while picking up some supplies at JoAnn's I decided to pick out a little $2 prize for myself.
And I was making it into things when Mr B came along:
And I ended up making what I was making to small and decided to use fabric that I had more of into this:
Which you can get a pattern for over at Crafty Leftovers, I just posted the new pattern today, you should go check it out.


And horror so horror! I broke my favorite knitting needles today. It was the sparrow milk protein ones... I loved those and they don't sell them anymore. I think it was being in the warm and then really cold and then warm again that made them brittle. I really don't want to buy a new pair of needles right now, I'm really trying to save money, but at the same time I'm trying to get the wavy line sweater finished by Christmas time.

Oh and this week I'm going to be in the Art and Craft Sale that Ars Nova is hosting in the Glass Gallery at NIU. It should be fun. I'm going to make a bunch of these:


I'm actually going to be making wallets that are tri-folds, double folds (like the one above), and check book holders. I'm going to be putting any that are left over up for sale in my etsy shop.... I will keep you posted.

Anyway, I'm taking off for the night, I will see all you kiddos again on Monday! Wish me luck on getting all those wallets/checkbook holders made!

down and up again

So sorry no posts for a bit here, I've been trying, but I don't know if it is just me or blogger, but everytime I have gotten an error, and now I'm not sure what really has been posted and what hasn't, so I'm starting fresh. I will start regular (blogger providing) posting on Wednesday evening. I have a paper due Tuesday so no distractions tomorrow.

There will be a new pattern over at crafty leftovers this Friday!

Have a good week!

Ugh!

Okay, so I was planning on a longer post but I have had a bit of a crisis: I went to officailly drop my french class and they won't let me! It turns out that I missed the withdraw deadline by less than 48 hours! So now I am in French again and have to finish my homework tonight for class tomorrow morning! plus study for my art history exam! I am appealing my case to the dean on Thursday, but until I find out for sure I need to do my homework! So ugh! I was looking forward to less stress and instead I find myself full of it! I am not going to be able to post on Wednesday because of cramming, but will on Friday. Sorry! Have a good week, I sure hope mine gets better.

editted in: So I have stopped freaking out and realized that I wouldn't normally start working on my french homework until today anyway, so really not so bad. Also, I think I'm just going to stick it out. This semester has flown by so I'm sure the rest of it will as well..... and something that made me emencely happy. I checked in on a craftster post I did awhile ago on crafty leftovers and check this out... someone made my pattern! and it was their first sewing pattern! And they still understood how to make it! How exciting/encouraging! Okay, so back to homework... I just didn't want everyone thinking that my life was all doom and gloom today. I guess, this not being able to withdraw from french class must have happened for a reason. Have a good week!

Ups and Downs

Okay, so I realize that readership often depends on regular posting and well, i blew it with crafty leftovers.... I was late posting patterns and had a heck of a month trying to pull it back together... and because of it everyone that was reading, well, isn't. And it's kind of sad, I was feeling sorry for myself and I posted my pattern today thinking "is anyone really going to even see this or care" or "has anyone even looked at the site today" so I clicked on the site meter icon on the bottom of Crafty Leftovers and lo' and behold I saw that someone had found my site through another site.... so I was curious and wanted to see if it was random or if I was mentioned somewhere.... I was on someone's frequent blog/site list! I was right under Wee Wonderfuls and Hello My Name is Heather! I read those all the time, so to be included in the same list, well, even if I am at the bottom, makes me pretty happy. So thank you person out there who added me to your list. It made my day!

I don't really have much to report. I haven't really made much since Wednesday and don't really have any projects planned for the weekend because I will be spending time with my family for my Dad's birthday. (I get to see Jason too, horray! I haven't seen him in 3 weeks). I am working at the Yarn Exchange tomorrow, which is always nice, I hope I can remember all the passwords for everything I need to remember them for.... fingers crossed.

I did finally get my book back, which is great, just seeing all of the wonderful projects makes me inspired. Plus I always get nervous loaning out my books, it seems I rarely get them back.

Well, it is way passed my bedtime, so I am going to go to sleep now.

I feel a rant coming on....

...But I swear I will try to suppress it until after the progress photos. So here they are:

I've been trying to pick up and finish old projects, so dug into my bag and found one sock + one cuff of a sock. So I finished up the heel flap and have been working to finish my first pair of properly fitting socks!


Here is some more of the same yarn that I will combine with the same Cotton Fine - Rue yarn. I hope they turn out as well as the first pair!
Then I also picked up and looked at my wavy line sweater, figured out where the heck I was, and then realized that I would like to get a second opinion on what to do with the shoulder seams. I think I should just put it on some extra yarn and then do a three needle bind off when I get the front finished.


I also started on the heel flap of my xxl trekking socks.



And because I did all of this work on my existing WIP's, I didn't feel so guilty taking my sweater with me on the Chicago trip, I got a whole lot done. I almost have the back finished!

I also finished two quilt blocks today for the swap. Unfortunately, I was not supposed to be participating, but it came to my attention that one of our members, was well, a delinquent... And two different people sent their blocks to her, but she never sent them her's.... So I am making 4 blocks this month and sending them out to the people who had their blocks stolen. Now, I realize that stolen is a harsh word, but when you sign up for a swap, and then take someone's handmade goods without returning the favor, that is stealing. So these are the blocks I whipped up, I took a whole lot of photos and am going to be making a tutorial for the swap out of them. I'm going to start out with the basics and move into more complex techniques.

And then here is my sculpture project for my beginning sculpture class. The whole point was to cast something. So I cast a spool of thread.............. 42 times. I have now been labeled obsessive compulsive by my classmates because I wound them with thread as well. Whatever, it wasn't too hard at all. I definitely know how to make a plaster cast! It looks a lot better in real life, there is more anger and frustration conveyed, the thread is more tangled too. I'm not sure what to call it, I'm not sure if I need to call it anything.
Okay so, the quilt block swap thing was the rant I felt coming on, and I think I was pretty to the point about it, not too long of a rant.

Now Chicago... Unfortunately I don't have any pictures because, well, I didn't take my camera. I figured that our dear president wouldn't tolerate stragglers, and boy was I right. She is a power walker that happens to be about a foot taller than me so I, and everyone else, was struggling to keep up. The cool things that happened were ... I think I hear the ups man! I've been waiting for my book to come all day!.... Okay, no ups... The Chicago Cultural Center, that was one of the really amazing things. There were quite a few different exhibits, but the really the exhibit on Ukraine early 20th century painting and the other on women's role around the world, portrayed in easily over 100 pieces, were the best. Breath-taking. Go check it out if you are in the area, it's free too! The MCA was pretty great, I'm not even going to try to explain the main exhibit or the performance, they were so... Well... Interesting/well done. I would like to go see the exhibit again, it was so much, too much to take in at once.

No one died/got lost/hit by a car, so that combined with a whole lot of art was the first Ars Nova successful trip that I have organized! Hot dog!

Well, I need to get some stuff done, and I've given up on UPS for today so I'm going to run my books to the library and do homework.

Oh yeah, does anyone know a good area to live in Chicago?

Have a good day!

edited in: Okay, so I know, maybe I'm being a little overly anxious, but seriously, my package has still not come, and to rub it in my face, someone just got a packaged delivered to them downstairs... but then again, you can't really see the apartment numbers, so that might be my package down there, but i'm not going to go look, no i won't snoop around checking the apartment # on packages left at other people's doors.... jeeze... i just want my fricking soup cookbook, it was my last impulse buy before I swore it off! I just wanted to make some soup!

Monday time!

Well don't you just love those days where you have that "what am i doing in my life and why?" question running through your head all day? It's good I realize, but what an inconvenient time to have a day where there was no avoiding self evaluation.... and evaluate I did.... Nothing too crazy, just making actual decisions on things that have been in my mind for awhile now. To sum up the whole thing: I am an artist and I just need to stop denying it/making "rational" career back-up plans.

So I have decided to embrace it, which is exciting. So how am I embracing it? I'm only going to get a minor in art history instead of a duel degree... plus I am only going to take 3 years of french instead of getting a minor. By doing this I will finish my undergrad in a year instead of two... and the last year I will only need to take 3 classes over the course of two semesters. Which means that I can concentrate on getting my portfolio ready to apply to grad school. And this means that I will be able to finally make the final push to an MFA in Art Theory and Practice... which is, after all what I really want in my life. I'm looking into the program at Northwestern University.... but they only have 12 students in the program at a time and I'm hoping that I can cut it. I know I can, but I don't know if they will know I can.

Also, depending on Jason and other things like jobs and what not, I may move closer to the Chicago area next summer, which I feel is also a move in the right direction, it depends also on where Jason is able to find a job. But still, out of DeKalb is good I think.

Why was yesterday and today an inconvenient time for this? Because I have an essay due tomorrow in my Advanced French Grammer and Composition class.... so it goes. Life does these things.

Anyway, with all this self-evaluation, I wasn't able to take pictures of my work, so progress photos will have to wait until Wednesday.

I will also let you all in on how the Chicago trip went as well.

Have a good day tomorrow!

ps - thank you so much for the super nice, making my day comment and emails that I received over the weekend, they really made me feel better about working towards being a full time artist and an in general crafty person! Thank you!

Trip Ahoy!

Well tomorrow is the big Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago trip (MCA trip). I'm pretty excited/apprehensive/nervous/excited... Did I mention excited! It's the first trip I've organized for Ars Nova and I'm really hoping it goes off without a hitch... Hopefully. There are some certain people who are being a thorn in my side, but I'm going to just put that aside, bring my knitting, a sandwich, and just enjoy my time in the Windy City. We are going to end the day with a theatrical performance called Super Vision at the MCA, which is so exciting! My friend from Oak Park (Deanna) is going to meet us up there and it's always good to see her. So keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well.

In other news, I've been so tired that I haven't been able to work on my own paintings lately at all, so I'm hoping, by posting this underpainting, it will get me to take some next steps and show you some actual progress.
I found the picture I took of the fabric that my friend Deb sent to me a bit ago (thank you again by the way).
I also started knitting again, I haven't for about a week (gasp)! So I'm working on the heel gusset on my second sock (I'm finally getting over the second sock syndrome), put another inch on my sweater (only two more inches to go til the shoulder shaping), and pulled out the wavy line sweater and I'm going to start the front. So lots of knitting progress, I will post some photos of that and Chicago on Monday.

Have a good weekend!

Walnuts!

Here is more of me loving this time of the year. I rode by the "secret garden" (this woman sets stuff out from her garden on a picnic table and you just leave money in the coffee can). I love it by the way, I get all of my fresh tomatoes, asparagus, zucchini, green peppers, and now gords from her. Only 10 to 25 cents each. I was so excited. Can I really eat these though? Or are they strickly ordimental... I have no idea, if anyone does, let me in on it. Also, with more dyeing escapades close at hand I decided that I'm going to make photo references for all of my dye stuff collecting. Like an identifier source book. I did make swatch cards for what I dyed the other day and wrote my process down in case I want to get similar colors again. I'm going to make a source card for the onions too. I will write on it where I can get it, what colors I have gotten with what fabric/yarn and mordants. With stuff collected out in the wild (only stuff that is all over the place) I will make identifier cards with photo references, where I have found it, what colors with what fabric and mordants. I figure it will be a good reference for my area because every area is different after all. And lord knows I'm not going to remember where I got half the stuff. Anyway, these are the pictures that are going into the book.




I also just bought some iron, tin, and copper mordants from The Woolery and am hoping to receive them later this week and will try them out over the weekend. My professor said that I could use the school's facilities as long as this other girl Michelle (which just happens to be my middle name) is there. It's understandable because this is my first fiber arts class and she doesn't know how much I've been doing for this. Plus Michelle is using walnuts to dye paper right now and she was wondering how an iron mordant would effect the color/fastness of the dye. I also picked up some yarn from Stick Chick Designs, she sells really nice undyed yarn really cheap, she seems really nice in general too and wants to see pictures when I'm done. You should check out her etsy shop.

Anyway, I'm going to go collect some dye stuff, go to an Ars Nova meeting, go to class, and then come home and finish my sculpture and french homework, so I better shove off.

Have a good rest of the week and craft it up!

Dye ahoy!

Alright, so exciting stuff is going to happen. I just order some mordants for plant dyeing and am going to try it out later this week (if it comes in time to work with it). I will be using Walnut hulls and dyeing some more organic fabric and yarn. This time though I'm going to try some wax relief too.

Here are shot I took the other day with Jason. It was a lot of fun.

Well okay, I lied, only the second picture was taken when I was shooting with Jason, the other images are from my site that I am going to be doing an instillation piece at, or for you art people out there it will actually be a site specific instillation dealing with secluded/private space and it's impact on the seeds of ideas.... yep.

The rest of this past weekend was mainly spent doing research for my south east Asian art history paper, which was actually really enjoyable, but no pictures of that. I also hung 75 Ars Nova Art and Craft fair call for vendors flyers with my friend, which took a good hour or so. Tonight I have been winding red thread around plaster casts of spools of thread. It's for a sculpture project I'm working on. I was hoping to get it done tonight, but I was only able to get 14 wound out of the 45+ that I have to do... yikes and this is due on Thursday? I'm definitely feeling a time crunch.

Did I mention I love fall by the way. I like sitting here with my laptop, cup of tea, and a sweater around me. Love it!

It is supposed to snow on Thursday though and I'm really not so fond of that.

Have a good week!