While She Naps

timer

I found a book of photographs of song birds for $1 at a church rummage sale a few months ago.  It has provided me with all kinds of inspiration. I cut the images of hatchlings and of eggs that are shown behind the window in nest of thread X from there. And most recently I've been interested in images of birds in flight and birds alighting, like this one.

Which inspired this line drawing

as well as some other drawings.

And then there was the great trip to the Wellesley town dump last week where, among other things, I rescued a totally amazing electric timer. It must be at least fifty years old. The box is covered in rust and needed a lot of scrubbing.  I knew immediately that it was a special object, though, and it got me thinking about birds and timepieces, and maybe compasses. 

I sat down last week to begin to work with it and thought that the first thing I'd need to do was to cut the power cord.  And then I thought maybe I ought to plug the thing in, just to see what happened.  I think I expected it might explode, but no, it just started ticking away, keeping perfect time.  Oh wow!

So here is "Egg Timer" - a mixed media sculpture (fabric, wire, paperclay and vintage timer).

And should you want to, you can plug it in and listen to it tick, tick, tick.

I realized this week that I miss making dolls and non-avian creatures. I know the last time I said I was taking a break from birds I went ahead and made 11 more bird pieces, but I might mean it this time, at least for few minutes.

nest of thread X

I can't tell you the wonder that is the Wellesley town dump.  Really.  There is a "take it or leave it" section there that is like the best Goodwill ever and everything is free.  People continually pull up in these huge SUVs and just unload awesomeness.  I've found danish modern housewares, brand new toys and books, vintage sewing patterns, fabric, wool yarn, doll beds...the list goes on and on.  Yesterday there was a beautiful Heywood Wakefield desk that totally matched the Hey Wake furniture in Roxanne's room, but it just wouldn't fit in my car. Urrrrr... But I did find some treasures which will appear here in the coming weeks. 

The support for this sculpture was from the dump.  Can you guess what it originally was?  Would it help if I told you that it was red, green and white striped originally?  Yes, it was the hands of a Santa Claus wall decoration. But no more. 

And hooray for balsa wood.

We are going away on Saturday night.  For the first time in three years we will be away without children. At a swanky hotel in Boston, no less, and out to dinner in the South End.  Even if it is just from 5 pm - 10 am, it's an exciting getaway for us! I haven't slept past 6:30 am in years (maybe that's why I'm a little loopy?).   

just a quick note...

to let you know that I am planning a shop update tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 10:00 Eastern time.

There will be an assortment of softies including a bird, an owl, a goldfish, a snail, a lizard, some sand dollars and lanky linen guy, among others. If I get some time this evening there will also be a new set of collaged cards.

Hope to see you then!

nest of thread IX

This one came together in my mind all at once and came together in real life totally free of struggle.  I love burlap and wood and black.

We are getting garlic greens as part of our CSA pick-up this afternoon. I've never cooked with garlic greens before.  Pretty exciting. 

nest of thread VIII

 

mixed media on 8" x 10" canvas.
(fabric, thread, wood, wire, acrylic paint, paper and brass tacks)

So guess what?  The nest of thread series is heading to a gallery.  So very nice. The upcoming show 'Things With Wings' runs August 10 through September 8 at Three Graces Gallery in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  I will be showing eight of my bird pieces. The owner of the gallery, Kim Ferreira, saw a little write up about me on decor8 and asked if I'd like to exhibit at her gallery. 

The opening is Friday, August 10, from 5-8 pm in conjunction with the Portsmouth gallery walk.  We are planning to go to the opening and if you live nearby I hope you'll come, too!

Meanwhile, I can feel myself intentionally slowing down even further, spending more and more time on the details of each piece - hand-stitching the nest, wrapping the legs with thread, painting the wing fabric, nailing things to other things.  I could potentially get lost forever.

nest of thread VII

I have had some kind of mysterious virus this week that has left me tired and nauseous and generally worn down.  I am the kind of person that likes to get an enormous amount done in a day and it is frustrating to not be able to keep my eyes open at 1:00 in the afternoon.  I finally seem to be on the mend now. 

We had our first CSA pick-up yesterday at Land's Sake farm in Weston, MA and it was so lovely!  We picked a quart of strawberries and got two heads of lettuce, a 1/2 lb. bag of baby salad greens, a head of chard, and two huge bags of spicy greens for stir frying.  It is like Iron Chef at my house now. Cooking what is locally in season is really satisfying, and tasty, too.

And here is nest of thread VII

which includes a piece of wood I found on the road a few houses down.  Lots of houses in our neighborhood are being torn down and rebuilt this summer. Lots of scraps of wood waiting to be found.

And there is an interview with me up now on the Sew Mama Sew blog.  Thanks, Beth, for asking such interesting questions.  And while you're over there, go fabric shopping!  Here are a few I am coveting.

nest of thread VI

Sewing and making collages are coming together now.  How cool is that?  Very cool, if you ask me. This piece was so calming to work on.

I love red, especially deep red.  My deep red poppy is blooming right now in the garden.  I put it in three years ago and this is the first year it has bloomed. It was worth waiting for.      

nest of thread V

                   mixed media on 8" x 10" canvas
      (wood, thread, acrylic paint, felt, muslin and paper)

I've wanted to put a soft sculpture or soft toy on a canvas for how long now?  I bought three small canvases for this purpose nearly a year ago.  Finally, here is one completed.

The monochromatic aspect of this piece was a struggle!  But I love how it looks like a drawing.  I have long loved this piece by Jess Hutch and I knew I had to try something in all white.

I got to drill some holes with the electric drill to get the perch affixed to the frame. I kind of like hanging out in the garage with the power tools.

*In case you're interested, I went back to the previous post and added the illustration from Sally Goes to the Beach that inspired nest of thread IV.

**Although I miss my old banner (Stella - what a cutie!), now that she is walking (8 steps this morning!) I felt like it was time to freshen things up, with a bird, of course.      

nest of thread IV

This one started with a sketch inspired by a drawing of a bird in Sally Goes to the Beach by Stephen Huneck.  Great illustrations in that book!

Here is the sketch

and this is nest of thread IV

The box originally held chocolates from L. A. Burdick's.  I made three eggs from paperclay and they have such a matte egg-shell like surface. I put a few grouse feather in the nest with them and it looks so soft in there.

The legs of this bird are wrapped with brown floral tape that I painted a mustard color and then drew thin stripes on with a brown artist marker.  This spool of thread was from my Granny Rose's sewing box and it actually is still good thread. I used some of it when sewing the bird. 

And the wings were lots of fun to make.  I fused two pieces of fabric together with double-sided fusible web and then used my leaf-shaped Sizzix paddle punch  to make feathers that I then hand-sewed to a wing-shaped fabric backing. I love time-consuming projects like that. It is hard to find a good time to use the Sizzix punches because they involve a fair amount of hammering and I always have to be quiet when I work because I only work when my kids are sleeping.  Charlie suggested the obvious which was to hammer away in the garage.  I think the Sizzix will get more use now. 

On a totally unrelated note, have you seen this toy?  I very rarely buy any toys because they seem to come into our possession from all over the place without me buying much, but I did buy this one about six months ago and it is fantastic.  And I see they make a beach variety.  My sea-creature loving tot may go nuts for that one.