etc.

Hip hip for secret pals who rock my socks! Here’s what was on my doorstep last night when I got home:

A package of lovely buttons, 5 fat quarters worth of fabric in prints that delight and confound, and a Japanese toy pattern book. Yes, that’s right, a pattern book that is pretty well exactly like the one I fawned all over a couple of weeks ago. O, the glee! Thank you, secret pal!

And because I simply can’t get enough of them, have a peek at some of the irresistible little critters in this book:

The spring issue of Spun is up, go have a look. In addition to some good articles and nifty patterns, there is also a little book review by me! Enjoy.

Today’s inspiration grid brings together colours, shapes, and designs that resonate with me. A lot of the images are of things in my surroundings that I looked twice at this past week. L-R, from top-left:

• blue squares on a shopping bag
• “Hiruzen”, Alexander Henry fabric (4 yards scored off eBay for so cheap it would make you blush!)
• scattered buttons — there’s something about the shape and design of a button that has always appealed to me.
• colander — some sort of marvel of modern design, plus it helps that this one has a reflective surface (I really don’t want to know what it says about me that I am helplessly drawn to reflective surfaces).
• collage — cover of a journal I made two years ago.
• branches — I caught myself staring at these branches outside our kitchen window three evenings in a row last week. This picture was taken around 8pm. I really liked how the sunset bounced off the horizon, illuminating the evening sky.
• croton plant leaf
• rice

Yesterday, while trying to come up with a design for a recycled monster, I came up, instead, with a design for an odd little owl:

The one on the right is the prototype, made of synthetic felt, with a cotton tummy patch and embroidered face detail, and the one on the left is cotton corduroy (used to be a placemat), with felt tummy and face patches, and a combination of felt and embroidered face detail. Here’s another picture of Benny, the corduroy owl (I feel a little guilty, now, for not having named mr. prototype owl):

I think I like him. I’m not 100% satisfied with the face detail so I’ll probably churn out a few more before I come up with a felt/embroidery combination I’m happy with. More odd little owls to come, to be sure.

Also to come, a postcard swap organized by Myra. Run, don’t walk; you have three days to get in on this mail art action.

When I read that this week’s Illustration Friday theme is “travel”, dragonflies sprang to mind. I doodled dragonflies all week and this one turned out to be my favourite. I couldn’t quite get that bluey/green iridescence that is typical of dragonflies’ wings, but I must admit that I didn’t try terribly hard. I was mostly just going for a happy little dragonfly with bags in his hands, and that’s what I’ve ended up with. What can I say, I’ve learned to set my sights low.

I realized, this week, why the concept of IF appeals to me on such a fundamental level: it gives me a whole new topic to focus my doodles around each week (and I doodle constantly) rather than reworking the same abstractions I have been scribbling, lo these many years! My illustration horizons have expanded.

For anyone in the area, there are a few fiber/fabric related events on the horizon to tempt your will and get your creative juices flowing. Here’s the list, in chronological order:

• April 16: 8th Annual Knitter’s Frolic
• April 22-24: Creative Sewing & Needlework Festival Spring Show
• June 1 (opening): Fassett! Patchwork Quilts by Kaffe Fassett

I plan to attend them all, so see you there!

Inspired by Keri’s Image Quilt, which collects images and textures she responds to, I pulled together what I’ve been calling an inspiration grid. To-day’s inspiration grid is devoted to fabric:

These are all bits of fabric I have collected over the past few weeks (mostly fat quarters), you will probably recognize a few from recent projects. Last night, in an attempt to organize the lot of it, I laid it all out on my work table and it struck me how well the diverse colours and patterns worked together, and how much I enjoyed looking at each of them play off one another. So, I took out my camera, shot some pictures, photoshopped the images together, and the inspiration grid was born. I think I might try for a new inspiration grid every week (probably not just fabric) to keep the senses stimulated and the creativity flowing.

And, in case you’re looking for some stimulation and inspiration yourself to-day, go have a look at the recently-mounted March Month of Softies gallery. It’s always fun to watch how a single theme is interpreted by different creative minds and processes!

Starred out of a possible five:

• Control Room ****
• The Forgotten ***
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) ***
• Narc ****
• Ocean’s Twelve ***
• Shark Tale ****
• Super Size Me ****

I realized to-day that every year, I select for myself (mostly sub-consciously) a sountrack for spring. Not a soundtrack for summer, but one for spring. Something about climbing out of a winter slumber makes me prick up my ears and start paying attention to the sounds on the airwaves. In keeping with this tradition, I decided that the Soundtrack of Spring 2005 is Hopes and Fears by Keane, followed closely by Hot Fuss by The Killers (more realized than decided; both albums just sort of weaseled their way into my sub-conscious and lodged there). The Keane album is soulful and completely brilliant, and Hot Fuss is just the perfect record to wake up to on a sunny, spring morning.

Here are the soundtracks of springs past, as memory serves (which is spotty and not very far back, wish it served better):

• 2004: Good News for People who Like Bad News, Modest Mouse; Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? Metric
• 2003: Avalanche, Matthew Good
• 2001: Odyssey Number Five, Powderfinger; Spiritual Machines, Our Lady Peace
• 2000: Play, Moby; Underdogs, Matthew Good Band
• 1998: Fountains of Wayne, Fountains of Wayne; The Color and the Shape, Foo Fighters
• 1997: Automatic for the People, REM (as you can tell, the release year is irrelevant)
• 1996: The Bends, Radiohead; Viva! La Woman, Cibo Matto; Different Class, Pulp

Quilting has always been the textile art with the absolute least appeal to me. Most quilts are usually far too country-kitsch for me (with apologies to traditional quilters) and that, coupled with the hitherto lack of interest in sewing, pretty much guaranteed that I would never try my hand at quilting. Ever. Thankyouverymuch. (Go over to Kim’s site and read what she has to say about quilting. She’s right on).

But then, the interweb happened. And wonderfully talented quilters began posting pictures of their work on their websites, and damn, their creations have awed and inspired me and opened my eyes to the fact that maybe you can create simple, punchy quilts that are interesting to look at and appeal to a less-traditional aesthetic. Here are some of these quilters:

• Carol Taylor
• Amy Karol
• M. Joan Lintault
• Judith Martin
• Margaret M. Roberts
• Lynne Heller
• Rose Rushbrooke
• Quilts of Gee’s Bend
• Lori Mason
• Kerstin Svendsen
• Denyse Schmidt

Yesterday, high on all this inspiration and quilty goodness, I quilted myself a little tea cosy that I am, in fact, quite proud of:

A tip of the hat to Kerstin whose creative cozies inspired the shape of this one. I’m really pleased with the way it turned out, there is only one place where the fabric puckered a bit, but I can live with it. The hand-embroidery part was more fun to do than I thought it would be, and I think it adds some interest to the piece, although if I were doing it again I’d probably use a lighter brown embroidery thread for the swirly bit (I was going for that lovely blue-brown combination that usually works so well).

All told, it took me 7 hours to complete, a substantial time investment but a thoroughly enjoyable one that gave me new-found respect for the work that quilters do. The very best part of the process was designing the pattern and being faced with the overwhelming (in the best possible way) prospect of fabric choice, combination, and layout. Such a wonderfully creative process, guess who’s going to be quilting again?