Here is my little egg holder all gussied up to use. Some of you asked for a finished picture. It’s so handy since I don’t have a drawer in my sewing table and I am notorious for saving little bits and pieces. The bright green is a wonderful snippet of ribbon that was tied around our plate of cookies we brought home from the cookie exchange…ymmmm….the little coins are from a scarf I bought at a local Ropa. This was a scarf for a belly dancer I’m sure and it was ringed with over 50 small thin coins stamped with eastern symbols.
Author: JP Dawes Artist
Repurposing a Ceramic Egg Holder
Blossom Cushion by Rashida Coleman-Hale in the Quilting Arts Magazine December Issue and from I Love Patchwork: 25 Irresistible Zakka Projects to Sew.
I loved this and put it at the top of my little things I would love to have.
I found this wonderful little jewel while exploring some of the second hand shops in McAllen Tx. It’s larger than the inspiration item but will lend itself to a nice holder of buttons and beads as well as a pincushion. I’m looking forward to repurposing it soon.
I found this wonderful little jewel while exploring some of the second hand shops in McAllen Tx. It’s larger than the inspiration item but will lend itself to a nice holder of buttons and beads as well as a pincushion. I’m looking forward to repurposing it soon. Fiber Postcards
I was horribly late creating some little fiber art postcards for an online group I belong to. I had all good intentions when I signed up for the groups and even had ideas percolating in the back of my mind on how to do each of them. Well, life does get in the way sometimes and it got me big this time. Even though I formally withdrew from the groups in August, many of the traders still sent me cards. I felt obligated to come up with something and get them in the mail before the end of the month. They are done but won’t get addressed and posted until probably Wednesday but I can at least breath a sigh of relief.
The leaves postcards were a 16 inch square of recycled blue silk that I used for the background of these leaf postcards. The stems and the leaves are also cut from recycled silk scarves. I really like the way these turned out.
The shiny coppery gold ones are okay and were done for an art deco theme. The copper reminded me of the arts and crafts movement as well as the fabric that looks like stained glass from that era.
The funky ones shown last were for an anything goes theme. The background is taupe ultrasuede. The orange square is cut from some silk screened and painted fabric. They have gold metallic paint splotches to jazz them up a bit.
I’m not great at moving things around in blogger yet so I hope you can follow my commentary with the photos.
Sharing The Bounty
My little quilt titled “Sharing the Bounty” came back home today after traveling for the last year with the 2008 Breaking Traditions charitable exhibit. Lynn took very good care of the art quilts while they traveled. My tribute was to the thousands of people who generously give of their time, talents, money and excess garden crops to help feed the hungry people in our country. Let there be no mistake, there are millions of hungry families and individuals right in our own backyard.
The quilt is 12 x 12 inches and is done in rusted fabrics. Mother earth was accented with brown pigma pen. Each of the leaves is sheer silk and has the name of a food stuff written across it. It has tan colored tulle covering it to hold it down for the free motion machine stitching.
Clean work space!
Here is a pix of my little work space, aka, studio . It’s all cleaned up and ready to sleep for the winter. I won’t even show you the boxes and boxes that are going to my little work room in Texas. I think I nearly divided it in half including taking more than one machine. A girls gotta be prepared you know.
My fabrics are behind the curtains to keep them from light fading. I have north light in this 14 ft. wall of windows which is really nice when working on the design wall on the opposite side of the room. The cabinet has all my ‘wet’ supplies such as dyes, paints, brushes, tubs, etc. There really doesn’t seem to be enough space….ever….but then I force myself to edit and purge. I keep two different kinds of fabrics here: art quilt supplies and traditional supplies. I try to do one charity quilt each month for my guild. I’m behind right now but have those packed to finish in Texas.
This is my trusty Singer 401 all put to bed. I love this machine. It will do almost everything a computerized machine can do without ever worrying about the mother board blowing up. [Yes, I had that happen last year while in Texas.] This year I am taking an extra vintage Singer with me to live in Texas. I packed up my 99K and all the attachments. This is a 3/4 size shiny black gorgeous little machine that truly purrs.
I started using vintage machines many years ago out of economic necessity. They are fun to collect but one of the best things is that I can repair them myself. I can adjust them, tear them apart and put them back together. They are sort of like vintage cars that people like to tinker with. Sometimes I have to call Ron to put a screw in or take one out if my arthritic hands aren’t cooperating that day. He’s a jewel for that. I think he’s happy that I don’t ask him to learn all about them. The most he got involved with restoring my treadle was carrying the irons in the house for me.
So here I sit, with no projects on the design wall, nothing sitting next to the machine to stitch, no piles of fabrics being auditioned for something new and let me tell you it is STRRRESSSSSSSFUUULLLLLL. I will just have to focus my mind on virtual art, ponder pieces that are WIP and let my hands rest and recuperate. Moving house every 6 months gives me time to do a lot of soul searching about what is important to me; to be thankful that I have wonderful friends, family , a roof over my head, plenty to eat and my health allows me to continue with art even if it is on a limited basis.
JP Dawes Contemporary Artist 
