New Gallery & a Sewing Splurge

I've had a busy few days getting some photos ready for a show at Dahlia's Gallery & Boutique here in Tucson!  But now they are ready and will be out the door tomorrow.  

I've been wanting these two sewing books for a while and finally they are mine!  And fabric, too!

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Opposites

Light...

... and Shadow

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Thought Fragments

I was thrilled to see this little fox while visiting a nature preserve...

And I made this portfolio to hold some of my photographs.  Just a linen envelope with a ribbon closure...

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Nature's Sculpture...

***And thanks to Lorie for another great crochet link!  

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Check it out!

Anyone who likes my barnacle-y crochet MUST check out this awesome piece by one person and this other awesome piece made by a bunch of people.  So creative -  the group piece is so wonderful you won't believe your eyes!  

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Finishing Touch

I crocheted this piece a while ago and just added a backing and hook to it so it can be placed on a horizontal surface or hung on the wall.  I made the backing out of cotton batting and linen fabric - I'm glad to have finally finished it!  

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Baltic Sea

A photo from the Baltic Sea...

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Go With the Flow

I feel like I'm moving in slow motion this week - drifting lazily along like the leaves in the photo.  My thoughts go a million miles a minute and my body just can't keep up!  I'm working on a couple of projects simultaneously...photos to follow.  I'm also waiting for some postcard sets I ordered for my shop.  I wish I could hit a fast forward button!  

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Tagged!

I've been tagged with this Q&A by Laura from Quirkology!  It's all about me...

Me!  On Palatine Hill in Rome

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

10 years ago I would have just graduated from high school!  I was getting ready to start college in the fall and study Art.  Over the summer I was working as a teacher's assistant in a summer drawing class for elementary school kids.    

2)What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

1. Block some granny-squares for a new blanket.

2. Put away all the laundry on my drying rack, making room for more laundry at a later date.

3. Bike down to the grocery store and pick up some fresh goodies for dinner.

4. Select, print, and mat some photographs.

5. Prepare the previously mentioned dinner (wheat berry salad & flatbread with hummus), and then clean up my cooking mess!

3)Snacks I enjoy:

Chopped fruit topped with plain yogurt and honey

Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream!!!

salt & vinegar potato chips

leftover polenta, fried in a skillet and topped with salt & pepper

4)Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Buy lots of art and donate it to musuems, forcing them to name a wing after me. 

Buy out WalMart and shut it down.

Give everyone a copy of Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson.

Donate the rest to no-kill animal shelters across the country.

5)Places I have lived:

Huntington, Indiana (born & raised)

West Lafayette, Indiana (college)

Berlin, Germany (until recently)

Arizona (presently)

6)People I want to know more about:

Lorie from Art+Craft - I love her paintings, creative with gorgeous colors!

          

Bettyninja - Awesome vintage finds, lovely quilts, I always look forward to her posts!

Heather from Baby Anne Quilts - A quilter and fellow art history major!

Erin from Girl with Curlz - A fellow resident of Arizona with an adorable dog!

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Desert Colors

I'm working on a knitting project with yarn inspired by my new desert home.  I love working in basket weave stitch - wonderful texture!  If your not familiar with it, you can find simple instructions here.  

Here is a nest built in a cactus plant in our courtyard - a clever way to keep out predators!

And I keep seeing little lizards everywhere!  So far I haven't been quick enough to get a photo, but it's just another reminder that I'm not in Berlin anymore! 

You may have noticed that I'm participating in the Market Tote Swap - hooray for having my sewing machine back!

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Collection: Wooden Spools

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Just outside my door...

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New city, new show!

We arrived in Tucson yesterday and have been unpacking like crazy!  I'm very excited to get outside and start taking some photographs of this new landscape.  Yesterday, as we were walking through the apartment complex, a lizard ran across the sidewalk and scurried around a cactus! 

I've been setting up a little work space with my sewing machine - finally out of storage! - and laptop.  Here is what I've been working on lately...

These pieces, as well as a few others, are being sent to Fact & Fancy, a gallery and shop in Brooklyn, for a show!  Thanks to Christine and Danielle for including me!

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Roman Arches

I love looking back at my photographs and finding unintentional themes.  Check out this group of Roman arches...

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Knitting with Cotton

I love using cotton yarn and hand-knit washcloths are one of my necessities.  I started making them with a pattern from a book, but I've simplified a lot since then.  I just cast on 30 stitches or so on US 8 needles and work in seed stitch until I have a perfect square.  I've experimented with several different stitch patterns, but seed stitch is perfect because it's simple and gives a nice, nubby texture.  This organic yarn would be perfect!

We made it to the New Mexico/Arizona border today, which means we only have a few hours of driving left tomorrow.  When we get to Tucson we're giving up the dubious luxury of driving - we purchased new bicycles before we left Indiana and we're going to rely on them for all of our day to day transportation!

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Blue & Green

I've been working on this embroidery, tentatively titled "Permeable Membrane",  for a couple of days and I really like it.  The colors are right up my alley and I'm stitching the shapes in a freeform/random way, keeping it spontaneous and fun.  

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Gateway to the West

Today we left Indiana and went straight through to Oklahoma - from freshly tilled fields and silos to pastures and cattle ranches.  I enjoyed passing through St. Louis on our westward journey, just like so many adventurers and wagon trains did in the 1800s.  I can't wait to get to Arizona!

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Botticelli Buttons

I just finished knitting a sleeve for my laptop, and check out these wonderful Birth of Venus buttons!  I bought them at Tender Buttons in Chicago a couple of years ago and just got around to using them.  They come in a set of three, one with the head of Venus, one with the torso, and one with the feet.  

The pattern for this project is in Amy Singer's book Knit Wit and incorporates several stitch patterns in a sampler, which keeps it from getting boring half way through.  

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Sketches

Well, we made it to Indiana!  It was a lot of fun driving the first leg of our road trip from NYC to our hometown in Indiana - I love seeing towns with names like Snow Shoe and signs beckoning me to stop at the Twilight Diner or Mom's Dutch Kitchen.  Watching the scenery change from the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania to the flat farmland of Indiana is quite a treat, too!  Our final destination is Tucson, Arizona, so the scenery still has a lot of changing to do before we're finished.  

 I've been doing a lot more sketching than usual, working out some ideas for future projects.  I especially like the "Pure of Heart" sketch in the middle - I was inspired by a passage in The Scarlet Letter that describes an ugly plant growing out of the grave of a person with an evil or disturbed heart.  I just flipped the idea around to accommodate my favorite flower, lily of the valley.  

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Road Trip!

Neptune Fountain, Berlin, Alexanderplatz

Tomorrow is going to be a very exciting/horrifying/scary/still exciting day!  My husband and I are making a BIG move (once again) from Berlin to Arizona... yikes!  With one piece of checked luggage each.  And two cats.  We're flying into New York and driving the rest of the way, making a quick stop in Indiana to pick up some stuff we have in storage.  It's going to be incredible, getting reacquainted with the country after two years away - as we spend a week driving across it.  

I'll have my camera and a bunch of knitting to keep me busy and, thanks to the miracle of wireless internet, I should be able to post some progress and travel stories along the way! Once we arrive, I'll be grand re-opening my Etsy shop with new items, a new focus, and much lower U.S. shipping prices!  

In the mean time, here is a new knitting pattern, just finished yesterday...

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Free Knitting Pattern: Baby Shower Booties

These booties are perfect for a new baby and make a perfect baby shower gift!  You can easily make a colorful striped pair using self-striping sock yarn (this is a great project for using up yarn leftover from your last pair of socks) or go with a simple, sweet, solid color.  

The booties are knit entirely in seed stitch to give them a nice, nubby texture. 

Materials

size 2.5 mm straight knitting needles

sock yarn

yarn needle

3.25 mm crochet hook (optional)

Seed Stitch Pattern

Row 1: Knit 1, Purl 1, repeat to end

Row 2: Purl 1, Knit 1, repeat to end

Repeat rows 1 and 2

1. Cast on 58 stitches, leaving a long tail to sew the heel seam when the project is finished.  Work in seed stitch for 2 inches / 5 cm.  

2. Bind off 16 stitches at the beginning of the next 2 rows.  26 stitches remain.  Continue in seed stitch for 1.5 inches / 3.8 cm.

3. Next row: Decrease one stitch at the beginning and end of the row.  24 stitches remain.  

4. Work one row even, maintaining the seed stitch pattern.

5. Next row: Knit 2 together, Purl 2 together, repeat to end of row.

6: Next row: Purl 2 together, Knit 2 together, repeat to end of row.  6 stitches remain.

7. Cut the yarn, leaving a long tail to sew up the foot seam.  Draw the yarn through the remaining 6 stitches and pull tightly to secure.  

8. Fold the "T" shape in half to form the bootie.  Sew up the front and back seams with the yarn needle or crochet them closed, the choice is yours.

9. Weave in the loose ends.  

Repeat for the second bootie.

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Chinoiserie

This awesomely gilded building is the Chinesische Haus at Park Sanssouci.  It was built in the mid-to-late 1700s and was used for drinking tea!  The inside is painted with more Chinoiserie designs and still holds a collection of porcelain tea sets from the period.  I love the undulating architecture and the figure with an umbrella on the very top of the roof!

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Fresh

Fresh off the spindle...

I just finished these last night!  As I've mentioned once before, I have a hand spindle (purchased here) that I use occasionally.  It's a lot of fun and makes me feel a little bit like a pioneer woman, which I love.  I never really read the instructions - I wouldn't remember them now, anyway - I just go with the flow and have fun.  I usually end up using the yarn for felting because it felts like a dream and my unprofessional spinning technique doesn't matter so much!

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Pin Keepers

I made some new pin cushions this week,  reusing some interesting containers from Tian Fu, the Asian grocery down the street.  I like going there to find something new to try and/or check out the cool packaging.  I'm always sure to find something intriguing - Chinese Herbal Jelly? Why not?  

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Juxtaposition

I love this sculpture from the courtyard of the Palais-Royal in Paris.  I'm a big fan of contrasting modern styles and materials with old architecture...

***The envelopes from the last post are sturdy if you make them from the cover of a magazine or even calendar pages.  Regular magazine pages probably aren't mailable, but are great for putting a handmade card on a gift, organizing notes, etc.  I'm glad you liked the idea!

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Recycled Envelopes

Everything old is new again...

I've been making a bunch of envelopes from magazine pages - super easy and useful, too.  If you'd like to make some there is a good template here.  

***I'm also writing out a new knitting pattern to be posted soon!

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May Day

Some of my embroideries are on Whip Up today!

It's been really nice weather for the May Day holiday and we went to Park SanSouci in Potsdam yesterday.  The park is wonderful because it has 3 palaces and 7 other buildings on its grounds - you can walk around all day and then have Flammkuchen in the center of town for a snack.  

This is the Friendship Pavilion, it was built by Friedrich the Great in honor of his sister.  

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24 hours...

Here are the photos from my One Day Documentary!  I created a Flickr set for them, too.  I just carried my camera around for the entire day and documented the big and small things that make up my day-to-day life.  It was a lot of fun - my favorites are the two photographs from the Le Notre pastry counter in KaDeWe.  Let me know which ones you like, too!

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