Blast From the Past

An Itty Bitty Kitty brooch, from long, long ago - he usually hangs out on Lisa's beret.
 

 
This Pieces of Dreams, started in 2004, is finally finished to my satisfaction.
It speaks of spring.

In the language of colors, this piece has lovely meaning:
- yellow- a symbol of true friendship and happiness.
- white - a symbol of purity and new beginning.
- lavender - a symbol of enchantment. 
and
- green -  a symbol of new growth and freshness.


I think I'll name it Crocus and Daffodil Dreams,
instead of Lilac and Jonquil Dreams.
Or maybe I'll name it Spring Flower Dreams.
I just don't know.




A little something .....


Something I've been working on.

This is how it always is. It starts out as a sweater, maybe at a yard sale, or the Salvation Army. The sweater comes home with me and joins the piles of other sweaters, crowding me out of my studio. I sort them. I bag them. I sneak them into my husband's office. Anything to be rid of them. Anything, that is, except for what I am supposed to do with them - which is to wash them, over and over, until they become lovely, thick wool felt. And the colors ... the colors are so marvelous. A seemingly infinite variety of reds, or blues, or even whites. I'm amazed by how many different shades of  white there are.

Eventually, hubby grows weary of his office being my attic, and he brings them all back to me. Except now, instead of being in big, lumpy plastic garbage bags, they are all in big Rubbermaid bins. Big, ugly grey bins with orange lids. Why can't hubby be addicted to buying old wooden trunks at the flea market, instead of these hideous things from the hardware store?

I move the ugly bins into the bedroom. Surely they will be such a daily eyesore that I'll get to work and soon I'll have a lovely pile of felted and pressed pieces of wool to play with. And the bins can go back to the basement.

Um, do you know how handy four big bins can be? It's like another table on which to pile STUFF. I don't even see the bins anymore. They're still there, but they're well covered, and I'm used to them.

But I digress. What I'm really thinking about is how the lovely felted wool becomes a little piece of art, or maybe a big piece of art, but definitely something worth looking at. And touching. And feeling.  It always starts with those few scraps. And, when put together, they take on a new life. Then even more energy seems to just happen, when a little vintage button gets popped on top of the small collection of scraps. And, finally, the amazing transformation that happens when all those stitches get piled onto the mix. It's just wonderful.

And to think, a few miserable months ago, I wasn't sure I wanted to keep working with sweater wool at all.  :)

Last Batch of Old Bag's Old Bags

Click on a title if you want to see the whole picture: 1. 1996, 2. 1997 cuff bag, 3. 1998, 4. 1998, 5. 1998 pink cuff bag, 6. 1998 purple with heart, 7. 1998, 8. 1998 teeny brown with penny, 9. 1998 tiny purple with heart, 10. 1999, 11. 1999, 12. 1999 This is pretty much the end of that old batch of bag photos which I came across recently. I hope you've enjoyed these strolls down Memory Lane. :)

Starry, Starry, Starry .....

Starry Squares - 36" x 25" plus hanging tabs and stick
I made this many years ago ... I have been going through old photos - pre-digital camera - and scanning them into my computer. It was purchased by a lovely woman for her daughter ... a precious girl who suffered greatly in her short life. I always have felt so blessed that this piece was chosen to give comfort to someone special.

Forget-Me-Nots

It's spring, thankfully. I'll take this opportunity to share some felted wool Forget-Me-Nots. They are all made from my typical fiber of choice - felted wool made by repeatedly washing, and shrinking, wool sweaters. Stitched with Persian wool thread and adorned with vintage and antique buttons.

Forget-Me-Nots Nine-Patch 2002, 13" x 13" plus framing (frame not shown)

This one is more colorful than the others, even though the background squares are grey. The tweedy ones are from a coat that belonged to my mother. This piece was purchased by someone whose house ended up being featured in a magazine. I was so excited to see if it would show up in one of the photos. Well, it did. If you look real close, and if you know exactly what you're looking for, and if you use a magnifying glass, you will see a part of it, behind a lamp, at the edge of the picture.


Detail



Pinkeep, about 2.5" across

I love making pinkeeps - this one unfolds into two attached wool circles for keeping pins and needles. I just had to "steal" one of the forget-me-not circles to make it into a pinkeep.

Forget-Me-Nots 2004, 20.5" x 23.5" (27" x 29.5" framed).

I worked on this one for years. It went through many changes before I felt satisfied with it. In addition to wool from sweaters, this one also contains some felt that my daughter and I made from fleece (the yellow pieces). Lots of the blues are from an old blanket, given to me by a friend. The blanket had originally been a paper-maker's felt, used in his grandfather's business. When it wore out, it was cut down and made into blankets which were used by the family. I am particularly pleased with the colors in the background squares and the way they change. There is a nice flow to it, which I worked very hard to achieve.