While She Naps

crows and a close

A murder of crows.  There are two more in flight above them.

These bring me to the end of my work for Young Blood.  18 birds made over the last four months. 

This is our dresser this morning.

Wading birds waiting to be affixed to their driftwood bases. Owls and a peacock looking around the room.  Our bedroom is a bit of an aviary.

The cards came back from the printers and they are amazing. 

There are eight different images on 4x6 greeting cards with white envelopes.  I'm so glad I had these printed locally.  It was great to sit and talk with a real person, to go over the design and how I wanted them to look in the end, and the cost was just the same as it would have been had I done it online. The cards will be $3.50 each and will be individually packaged in a clear, sealed bag.  They will be for sale here, in my shop, and through the gallery after the opening on March 7. 

And now it is time to regroup and begin a new collection.  I have another show coming up,this one at Lark & Key, in May.  It is time to think about new colors, new fabrics, perhaps a new design, too. 

up and running again

My sewing machine is fixed and back home where it belongs.  And it works so well now!  Wow. Smooth operating.  I hadn't even realized that it needed to be cleaned and oiled.

Last night Charlie was out late at a meeting and I made this bird.

I have been using the same color palette of yellows and browns and blacks for so many months now. I was inspired to make a little pink Valentine's bird.  I think she'd look lovely in a nursery or little girl's room.

She is up in my shop now.

We are snowed in again today.  We made Rice Krispie treats this morning.  Yum.

mushrooms

Well, good news from the Sew and Vac repair guy.  Seems there is quite a bit of thread and other detritus caught behind the bobbin case and the machine desperately needs to be oiled.  He will take it apart and clean it all out, oil it and put it all back together for me.  I may even have it by Tuesday morning.

In the mean time, I worked on a hand-sewing project - this trio of white mushrooms. 

I put a little wire armature inside each one so I could bend their stems into a pleasing formation. 

All three are attached to each other in a little friendly clump and they stand up all together quite well.  They are in my shop now.  A pleasing project to sew by hand!

Wishing you a fun and restful weekend.

Softies Book - the American edition!

Many of you may remember the two beautiful books put out by Penguin Australia - Softies and More Softies. I was honored to have two patterns published in each of these amazing books, and they really are amazing.  Great photography, adorable patterns by some terrific and inspiring artists and soft toy makers, and just so fun to hold in your hands and flip through.

These books were virtually impossible to get ahold of outside of Australia which was frustrating, but the good news is that the American edition of the first book will be out in stores on February 3rd!  Under the title Softies Only a Mother Could Love you'll be able to pick it up locally.  Hooray! 

various goings on

Let's see.  My big 6 lb. box of stuffing arrived from the Amish, much to my delight.

And right in time to finish up the 16th bird for my show at Young Blood.

Promptly upon finishing this bird my sewing machine began making an odd chugging sound and then stopped working all together.  I took it in this morning to be repaired and I really hope it only takes a week to fix it. 

Being without my machine has made realize how important sewing has become in my life.  Making these soft sculptures has allowed me to maintain an existence other than being a mother. Sewing, or just thinking about sewing, sustains me during the day, in the evening, through stressful days and even through beautiful days. Having shows in various galleries gives me a reason to travel, to leave home by myself.  Even needing materials - more thread, vintage fabrics, found wood - gives me a reason to go out by myself and explore. 

And, of course, sewing was my entrance into this amazing arts community online. Through you I maintain my motivation, my inspiration and my excitement to see what I can make next.  I learn new techniques, figure out how to resolve business and artistic difficulties, and discover new opportunities. 

These are all of the things I'm thinking about today as I look at the corner in our bedroom where I usually sit for at least an hour every day and sew and which is now empty and waiting for the return of my sewing machine. 

new photos

My awesome friend, Lisa Roy Sachs came over yesterday for two hours while our kids were at nursery school and photographed my birds.  Lisa has an incredible, creative and fresh eye and it was so exciting to watch her work.  And the photos are amazing.  Here is a little taste, but there are 344 of them.  I couldn't be more excited!

 

in the studio today

Three white birds flying on the studio ceiling today. 

One last tall wading bird to make, and then all 16 pieces will be complete.  I have at long last located on eBay some great driftwood bases for the tall birds.  I think they're going to look awesome mounted on these really rough, weathered wood panels. 

The plan is to make as many crows and flying white birds as possible between now and the end of February.  I think other stuff will emerge, too. Hopefully some fabric eggs, maybe a nest or two.  Figuring out how to install this show is both really exciting to me and totally intimidating. I feel like my strength is in making the pieces and not necessarily figuring out how to display them best.  I am just hoping I can think about it and play with everything a bunch before I go to Atlanta and have only one day to get it all figured out.

My friend, Lisa, is coming over on Thursday to photograph the birds. I'm so excited. Having a professional photographer take pictures of your work is a great idea.  I am always amazed at how other people see the birds and compose photos with them in ways I would never have come up with.  Once I have these new photos I am going to get the greeting cards printed.   

birdhouse

I finally got around to calling the Amish  yesterday to get more wool stuffing.  While I'm waiting for the boxes to arrive (6 lbs. this time!), I thought I'd work on something that didn't need to be stuffed.

I'm nearly done now with birds for the show, although I would like to make more crows if I have time. I'm thinking about all the other stuff that could hang or accompany the birds in their environment in the gallery.  I thought a fabric birdhouse would be cool. 

I constructed this from the same super stiff pellon interfacing that I used in the flying birds' wings.  That stuff is so cool, it's like cardboard. The only problem is the interfacing I have is white (maybe it comes in black?).  So I painted all the edges once I cut the pieces so that they wouldn't stand out.    

The roof is shingled using the same techniques as the birds' feathers. For the perch I wrapped a small branch in floral tape and then a torn fabric strip.  I am hoping to hang this near the flock of crows.

owl and some steak

The last in the series of three owls for my March show is completed.

And I bought plane tickets yesterday!  And reserved a hotel room - for one!  I am officially going to Atlanta to install this show at Young Blood.  I will fly down on Thursday night, March 5, set it all up Friday, hang out Saturday and attend the opening Saturday night, and then fly back on Sunday.  Can you tell I'm excited?  This will be the longest time I've spent alone in five years.  Wow. 

Okay, now on to what we had for dinner last night.  Southwestern marinated steak tips.  This is a recipe that originally ran in Cook's Illustrated in May of 2003.  I have made it dozens and dozens of times and it is always so excellent and leftovers make great steak sandwiches for lunch the next day.  Steak tips are a rather inexpensive cut of meat.  The marinade comes together really fast (I made it at 7:45 am yesterday morning - I almost always prep dinner before 8:30 am so that I can use all of my free time to sew) and the ingredients are things I already have in the pantry. 

I like to cook these on the grill pan in the winter months, although they are great grilled outdoors, too. 

The trick with the grill pan is letting it heat up until it is really really hot before you put the meat on.  Then you get those nice grill marks and the coating of the meat caramelizes a bit. I served this with some garlic string beans and rice pilaf.  Very good weeknight dinner.

Southwestern Steak Tips
from Cook's Illustrated Magazine, May 2003

For the marinade:

1/3 c soy sauce
1/3 c vegetable oil
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 Tbl. dark brown sugar
1 Tbl. tomato paste
1 Tbl. chili powder
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. 

Add 2 lbs. sirloin steak tips and marinate for a few hours or longer.

Heat grill pan until very hot (at least 2 min.) and put meat on pan in a single layer.  Cook over medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes.  Flip and cook again 4-5 min. or until meat is done to your liking. 

three roosters

Today I finished the third and last rooster for my March show.  Here they are all together. 

That's 12 birds done and at least 4 to go.  The whole crew together is starting to look very matching, rather like a cohesive set of something.  Because I chose all of the fabrics for the whole show before I began sewing the first bird, they all go together in a way that I think really makes the eye focus on form.  Soon I will take a photo of everyone all together.

I have big plans to pull together five really good photos to make photo greeting cards that will be for sale at the show. It's going to happen this time and I'm very excited.  I'm hoping to sell them in my Etsy shop, too.

I'm so glad you liked the challah recipe.  I even got an email from King Arthur Flour thanking me for posting it! How cool.  I will try to keep my camera in the kitchen more often.