Patchwork Underground

Before I send this vintage doll kit away to my dear waldorf-obsessed friend, Lara, I thought I would take some pictures.

’scuse my flash…

I think Lara’s gonna love it. Safe travels, Rupfenpuppen.

Many of you know that I live in a housebus that my girlfriend, Julia, and I built from scratch. (That’s a whole ‘nother blog…) At 7.5′ by 30′ it’s a small space. I had my sewing space set up in there (of course) and that’s where I made all of the stuff I currently have for sale in my Etsy shop. However, right now the bus is parked at my mom’s house in Santa Rosa. I’ve been taking advantage of her guest room and using the opportunity to get really messy with my sewing……

What’s going on in there?? Well, I’ve been working on a skirt for Stitch Magazine but I can’t really tell you any more details than that. (Sorry guys!) Ok, ok, I can tell you that these materials are involved:

Secret Skirt Materials - light purple linen, pretty new calico print, thread. Like it so far? Me too.

My new Husqvarna was involved, too, of course.

Isn’t she pretty? I’m still so glad I didn’t go for those new-fangled computerized machines. I bought her last fall after crying over my broke-a$$ Riccar too many times. She may be made in China but she’s Swedish *designed* gosh-darn-it!

Oh yes, I digress. Why are we still in Santa Rosa?

Well, here’s why: I’ve been having a weird feeling in my throat (like a mouthful of mashed potatoes got stuck half-way down) since before Christmas and I thought it was time to get it checked out. Rather than go on to Santa Cruz, I decided to stay in one place to figure out what was going on. I thought it would take a week.

About a month (and 7 or 8 doctor’s appointments, 6 tests and $600+ dollars) later, we *finally* know what my problem is! No, it’s not heart burn, its not cancer, it’s not hyperthyroidism, it’s…….globus hystericus. The doc says it’ll go away by itself if I just chill the heck out and give it time. LOL. Thank God!

While I was waiting for the results of all these bizarre tests and awkward appointments, I rediscovered crochet as the fidgity, comforting little self-care activity that it is. (What can I say? Not knowing what the heck is going on with your neck/throat is kinda freaky!) We’ve been renting the Tudors
and watching it for hours every night. The results? 1.5 scarves and 1 hat:

Woot. Scarf. This yarn has been in my stash for ages. Too ugly to use, too DIY to throw away…Both the pepto-bismal yarn and the dark browny-grey yarn were recycled from thrift store sweaters that I unknitted. Heck, I even dyed the pepto-bismal cotton yarn that lovely pepto-bismal color all by myself using the power of kool-aid. I think it looks…ok.

Another shot of my pepto bismal scarf in action. It’s all just straight double crochet.

Crocheted hat. I was going for a cloche look. I’m not sure I really nailed it. I like the bobbly on the side, though. I used a vintage button and a bunch of rescued braided satin frog closures. (Editor’s note: I had to crop this because I looked too stupid for words in this pic….better to leave it to your imagination.)

Scarf .5? Well, it’s still in the works. It’s knitted, not crocheted and that takes me a good bit longer to do. I’m a slow knitter.

My favorite thing about visiting Santa Rosa is the thrifting. There’s tons of thrift shops here - even the old-school “bins” type where you get to dig around in massive piles of unsorted, unwashed clothes. Ahh…heaven. So meditative.

This week, I scored two amazing vintage macrame magazines. Macrame is one of those dying art forms that our moms barely remember doing through the haze of the 70’s. Did you know you could macrame a table or a chair? Me neither. Check it out….

I think of two women when I think of macrame:

First, my good friend, Lara, who is not only cool enough to have found a macrame owl necklace but also wear it regularly.

Second, my grandma. She had a huge macrame hanging pot-holder thing. It holds a big raku urn/pot that she made (she was a full-time potter). It hangs big, dark and low to the ground and the macrame part is all kinds of chunky jute. Even though she’s gone now, her giant macrame thing is still hanging there in her Eikler’s atrium, visible from all angles because like a lot of Eiklers, the atrium was in the center of the house and the glass walls go right through to the family room…that’s a seriously classy piece of macrame, grandma!

I’ve macramed a sampler or two in my day but never something giant. Maybe it’s time for a macrame come-back? And no….I don’t mean macramed iPods cozies.

My latest craft addiction: linocuts (a.k.a woodcuts or block printing). It’s a super-easy way to basically make your own huge, arty stamp. Once you’ve carved your “block,” you can reproduce the image again and again fairly quickly….

Unfortunately, what we’re talking about here does involve carving tools. These can be spendy but I found my set at a thrift store and they work great. The rest of the supplies you’ll need can be picked up at your local crafts store - you’ll need a block of linoleum and some printing ink (I used Speedball’s black). Beacause I was planning on making a lot of prints, I invested in this glorified rolling pin called a brayer. You use it to apply ink to the stamp - er, block. Prints are made by placing a piece of paper on top of the inked stamp and then rubbing the paper with the back of a spoon. Hours of enjoyment.

Here’s some new purdy pictures I took of our latest block print/woodcut mini-journals and cards….

I want to post them on my Etsy shop but there are so many different color combinations (we made a BUNCH….seriously) that I’m overwhelmed by cataloging it all for folks’ shopping pleasure….in the meantime, you can see more pics from my photoshoot here.