art party with the girls!

Marcy Patterson Grudzien, Christie Minervini and I have been getting together for "art party" for a few years now. Sometimes other friends join in the creativity. Inspired by something I saw a while ago, we made these fabric necklace/collars embellished with flowers and buttons. Each of our designs always turns out different, and distinctively "us".

After a little lunch on the deck, my sweet husband put my darling boy to sleep, while the girls and I headed into the studio. We chose denim for the backing and wool for the front of the crescent moon shaped neckpieces, and added a little interfacing.  One tie seemed too small, so Marcy came up with the idea to use three, and we all hopped on board!

Marcy learned to make these recycled wool and acetate flowers from one of our crafty friends, Jenny Clare, using a wool jacket or pants with a lining. You cut concentric circles, alternating wool and acetate. Using a match or candle, singe the edges of the acetate carefully, they react differently to the flame. Notice how the green one is more cup shaped and lettuce leaf edges, while the black turned brown.

 Layering the circles on the neckpiece and stitching on the button in one fell swoop. We only had four hours for this event!

Ooh, I'm so excited to wear mine! Christie's looks marvelous, I love the colors.
What do you think?

{this moment}

inspired by Amanda Blake Soule at soulemama

a lovely moment from the week to enjoy and savor

April and August recycled pattern collages

While searching for the ultimate summer dress, I found some cool studio artwork here on etsy. It's made with vintage sewing patterns. Some on on canvas and some on wood. The colors are great, and I love the compositions, with parts of shapes on each one. There's a sweet little card you can frame yourself too...

Helen works in the paper industry, so she must see a lot of paper. Sewing patterns do come on the most interesting stock. It's a bit like tissue paper, but sturdy. Ironing it is fun because it gets so smooth. The kraft color has always appealed to me, along with the mechanical quality of the markings. And it's so much better when it's all smooth than when the pattern pieces are all refolded to try to fit into the tiny envelopes!

Reed's Lake Art Festival in Grand Rapids this weekend!

Tommy, Fyn and I are packing our things and preparing for a trip to Grand Rapids. You can find us on Sunday, at Reed's Lake, corner of Lake Drive and Wealthy Street in East Grand Rapids, with all the newest purses and bags.

What's the latest?
It's true, diaper bags. Life changes so much, so fast.

We are looking forward to seeing you at the Reed's Lake Clothesline Art Festival on Saturday!

new artwork for my studio

Look at this groovy shadowbox, made by my good friend, Ann Edens. She is a talented artist, and she made this with goodies from my grandma's sewing box! It's so thoughtful, and I love how it turned out. It will look great in my studio, and I'll treasure the white sunglasses especially - I wore them for my wedding - in memory of Gram's stylish white sunglasses. Any Grandma that can waterski, slalom no less, when she is over 70, has to be cool!