kittycafe

That Kindergarten Barn All Over Again

Grab a cuppa, I have a lot of explaining to do.

 

One day when I was all of four years old and in kindergarten it was art time. I loved art time, as you can imagine.

Everyone was making red barns out of construction paper. I remember looking around and watching my classmates draw the barn shape (I think there was a template) and cut it out and then pasted in the details.

I was very confused. I had a very distinct plan for my barn and it definitely wasn't like those barns. Those barns were FLAT. Barns aren't flat, that much I was sure of. I was not making a flat barn. 

Barns had four sides and a big door for horses and a little window at the top. The big door had a wooden x shape on it. I had seen barns (mostly in picture books) I needed four pieces of construction paper, not one.

Now as you can imagine, the limitations of my four year old hands and some flimsy construction paper had difficulty making this transformation. I knew what I wanted the outcome to be but I wasn't sure how exactly to execute it. After much thinking I folded some angles for the roof (with tabs! I knew this from paper dolls) and glued them and started off right. But the construction paper would not stand up and the glue was making it wet and sticky and I was frustrated. And those kid scissors don't cut properly, I knew that even then.

The teacher gently guiding me to another idea (after washing my red hands): a bird.

"How about making a robin?"

Well, robins are not flat either, are they?

And pretty soon I had a sticky gluey ball of blue construction paper, that I had tried to cover in more folded blue paper (with nice little tucks on the sides), that I was trying to stick a beak onto.

It was not a good day for me in kindergarten. Why couldn't everybody SEE that things were not FLAT?

We weren't drawing, drawing is flat, we were MAKING.

Fast forward to, ahem, a lot of years later.

As I may have mentioned, I recently got out the Doll House Project. This was a project that my daughter and I were enjoying together before we moved. The main construction of the house was put together by Mr Kittycafe as I know I am not very good at accurate right angles. (see above) It's good to know what you are good at and what you're not good at.

Our job primarily, was to decorate.

Miss M had had a smaller dollhouse previously that I had picked up at a garage sale. She was very small so I had bought some plastic Playmobil furniture for it.

Here it is decorated for Hallowe'en with a little bit of background on how the whole thing got started.

Later we upgraded to cloth and wooden furniture that I was not that thrilled with but it was a great deal and she loved it (little did I know how attached she was to it)

The photo below shows the original wing chair. It is part of a set with a couch. I didn't have it in the house very long when I found I couldn't stomach the original dusty rose colour so I dyed it in blue and was a little bit happier with it. I couldn't figure out why the dollhouse manufacturers clung to the idea that everything had to be so Victorian.

Fast forward again and I discover that there is a whole world of modern doll houses and furniture and blogs out there. Designers with miniature challenges YES!

I showed the new ideas to my partner in crime; we would modernize!

Who would have thought that my 17 year old fashionista actually preferred the granny style?

But like all good partners we would compromise. We would have an eclectic mix.

The first thing I did was take a wing chair and rip the ruffle off. So satisfying! Then the wings, rip, rip!

I cut the curved back rest straight and re-upolstered it.

 

When Miss M  saw it she decided there was no way I was touching the couch. And that couch was already history to me in my mind. There was no way I was using it.

So, I would make an entirely new couch. How difficult could it be? Not like a red barn, for example...

Remember that stubborn four year old? Still me.

I had it in my head I was going to make a red leather couch.

After pricing the leather, I amended that to vinyl - this was not for real people to sit on it, right? Who would care?

I gathered the vinyl (under $2) an empty mandarin crate ( to use the wood for the frame), some fabric glue, pins, tape, a box cutter, some foam (all free) and got busy. (See first photo)

As I have mentioned before, I like figuring things out.

But,

it became apparent that using the vinyl was going to be challenging at 1/12th scale. It doesn't fold well. It's hard to make corners nice and tidy and most importantly STICK down where you put it.

But remember that red barn? I was not giving up. I was not changing to a flat robin fabric couch. 

I could have made it easier on myself and not made individual cushions,

but by now I was stubbornly committed to my original barn design.

So after much glue and now-crooked pins and tape and staples and clamps to hold things until the glue dried, I managed it.

 As soon as I got my fingers unglued, I made some cushions for it.

The living room is now almost complete.

Other bits and bobs of interest:

The knitted ottoman is featured in a lot of decor sites these days.  (I starting knitting this on four toothpicks) You can get a pattern for a real-sized one here.

A few chess pawns make good table legs. The chess pieces on the table in the foreground will be book ends, as soon as I print the books and the poster for the wall.

A few beads make candle holders. Real soy wax in those, with thread wicks. I ripped off the mirror from a mini dresser. The plant is a pottery pot I made and a piece of greenery from my son's old Warhammer scenery. The fireplace was purchased long ago and I was not allowed to touch it. I had actually started a new one in clay for a stone look but the cat jumped on my work table and destroyed it.

The non-working floor lamp is a melon baller tool that I manipulated.

Eventually ( at some point I will have a budget for it?) the whole house will be wired for lighting.

Did you noticed I changed the carpet for this photo? Here's a better view:

I had originally laid down hardwood flooring and had this persian carpet (a real one) that was a sample given to the Mister when he did some carpet advertising years ago.

I'm undecided. I think I like the "seagrass" carpet ( a woven place mat from the dollar store) and will use this carpet for the dining room.

If you got this far, thanks for sticking with the story. It is after all...

 

to be continued....

 

 

One For The Boy

My, my, my it's been one of those weeks.
I tried out a new job, had more than a few life stresses and a deadline, The Lad's 17th birthday, and I was determined to finish this quilt for him.

It was started oh, over a dozen years ago.
It began with an off-hand comment from a friend when our boys were just starting kindergarten. She was an avid sewer and we were discussing the wide difference between "girl" clothes and "boy" clothes. She mentioned that a friend of hers was saving her son's T-shirts and was planning to make a quilt with them.
Now I had never heard of "memory quilts". I had never made a quilt. I had taken a quilting course with my sister years before but that was as far as I got. But this comment had lodged itself in my mind and I started to put some of my boy's outgrown T-shirts in a bag and shoved it to the back of the closet. Eventually the bag was replaced by a larger one, eventually by a large garbage bag.
Every once in a while I would take the bag out and spread the shirts out on the bed, decide I did not have enough to begin and back into the bag they went.
I never actually "saw" these pieces as a quilt or even fully realised it in my mind; I just liked the idea of it.

Then suddenly the boy is not so small, 16 almost 17 in fact and the bag is bursting full.
But when you're 16 almost 17, there are stipulations.
No goofy baby motifs.
Nothing fancy.
No stripes.
Make that no patterned fabric at all.
In fact, just black.
Maybe white.
Dark blue if I was desperate.

I spend many hours just moving the pieces around the floor on my hands and knees trying to make the pieces make some sort of sense.
My felines also spent many happy sessions on the floor running through the pieces and sliding them around the floor. Just when I thought I had finally made it work.
But eventually I made them fit, cursing they were not all the same size but this was just not possible.

A few things I have learned while making this quilt:
Keeping the T-shirts pieces small is easier as the fabric stretches every which way. I did use a fusible facing on the back of each piece but they still moved, making the sewing challenging.

Use what you have. I didn't have designer T shirts to work with. Many were gifts or even hand me downs but I chose the ones that had meaning to him (and me! There were some he was too small to remember wearing), or were a favourite for a while. They're history, popsicle stains and all.

He especially liked the soft flannel backing fabric (off white, of course)

Do not pull out hair when confronted with comments like this one:
The younger sister, upon seeing me struggle to get the pieces to fit together says,
"Jeez Mom, couldn't you have just stuck the pieces onto a piece of black fabric and be done with it?"

There is one problem that I thought I would finally be done with.
The big garbage bag.
I've still got it and it's still pretty full. There is a lot of off-cut T-shirt left that I would feel guilty putting into the landfill.
So I think the next frontier is a large rag rug.
Now I have never made a rag rug and don't have any idea what I want it to look like but I have this vague idea ...
But for now, it gets shoved into the back of the closet.

To all Canadian readers have a great Thanksgiving weekend!
And happy birthday, my boy!

Second Things Next

I had to make one.
As I mentioned previously, one hot day this summer I pulled out the clothes line (it's retractable) to hang out some wash and couldn't find the clothes pegs. I looked and looked. They were stored in a plastic container in the corner of the kitchen window so I hid them during the house showings. Apparently too well.
I bought more and then the clothes peg bag was a given. I had to purchase fabric to make this. You'd think this would be easier than just recycling scraps with regards to colour and pattern choice - but no. I didn't make an obvious match. I hate things too matchy matchy. I didn't use a pattern so don't ask me.

Current thrift store finds. Somedays you just hit pay dirt.
Notice the Bazaar Novelty pattern booklet? Should be called Bizarre Novelties!
But let's check inside. (click for bigger)

Who could resist the dog sweaters and tea cozy collection? And the sock slippers!
We won't speak of the toilet roll covers and the poodle bottle covers. But I do remember when they were in "fashion"
I swear.
And now may I direct your attention to the vintage Kroy sock yarn (3 balls for $1.49) I'll wait while you bow your heads for a moment of respect.
And let's look in the Little Book of Sweaters.

There are some solid classics in there. I'm taken with the Grape Seed jacket and the fitted Simple Cardigan. The Barbie-like mannequin models are unnerving, I admit. I was feeling my inner kitsch today. I won't show the more freakish patterns. I may need them for arsenal at a later date.
Two two gardening books and Enid Blyton I found at a Book Barn Sale, yes in someone's barn (yes I love country living visiting) I didn't have my reading glasses with me or I would have bought much more. The bookseller thought I was too young to know the Enid Blyton series.
Made my day.
La lala.

Smelly Tea Party

Before I hit the delete button on the spam, I do a quick once over in case I missed a real email. You can't help noticing the crazy gobbelygook of the robot generated junk mail. I've been copying a few down for my own amusement and this week, "Smelly Tea Party" came up.

I couldn't resist this, partly because Littlest, who's on a baking kick, made Nigella Lawson's Cheesy Feet biscuits. So I got out some of the pieces from her little girl tea set that I made when she was about 5 years old and we made a proper party of it. It's hard to fit much tea in those cups but the constant refilling is all part of the tradition.

I've also made some child's mugs like these, with a surprise figure at the bottom, although Littlest complained that the best ones, like everything else, are in storage.
I had hoped to finish some of the tea cup paintings I am working on to go with but I seem to have misplaced my 36 hour day somewhere.
What's the best junk mail header you've ever received?

Meet The Boulangers

I can't quite remember how this Snow Family got it's name but they were stitched into being about 10 years ago.
They are made from painted canvas stuffed with er...stuffing and weighted down in their bottoms with popcorn (unpopped, of course). Their lacquered real twig arms have been "loved" to nearly amputee status by both children and cats. I really must do something about that. They have their place in our Christmas tradition and their own little nook to sit in, beside the advent calendar ( keeping an eye on any chocolate pilfering from the little calendar pockets.) They have to sit in the same place every year... you know how it goes with kids.
So crafters, if you're up for it, make your own Snow Family and be sure to come back and show me.
Or, sit back with a nice rum and eggnog and contemplate the project for after Christmas, when the kids are still on holiday and you are well... you know.

Show and Tell a T- Shirt

First off, and I think I've told this before - I don't wear T-shirts. They do nothing for me. I have one white T that I wear as an accessory, for a little contrast under a v-neck or peeking out of a cardigan.
I do have this collection however.

These are some of the Lad's T-shirts that I have been saving for a T-shirt quilt since he was in kindergarten. How exactly this is to become a quilt was just a sketchy idea at first but is becoming clearer and clearer to me.
Yesterday when I pulled these out from their box under the bed I got to thinking about the leftover scraps of material from these shirts. That's a lot of rags. More than I would ever need. "Rags" got me thinking about rag rugs and I took the scissors to a few of the backs and cut long strips. (This is more work than you think)
I found this site, which made me think of my Grandma and her rag rugs. She made these huge ones for our cottage, the one my Dad and my Grandfather built themselves. You see, I come by this handmade affliction legitimately.
This is her giant crochet hook you see in the photo.
I think I'm more inclined to knit my rags, though. I don't like the idea of sewing braids or strips together at the end.
So now it appears I have a quilt AND a rug to make.
Did I really need another project?

Show and Tell brought to you by Blackbird.

Week Interrupted

In which I present gratuitous Art in lieu of any interesting content:
Did I ever tell you I paint portraits?
This is Moe and Jack, two dog portraits I did last year. As must as I love to do human portraits, I love animals just as much - they just don't "sit" as long.

Other tidbits:
The insurance company sent out a cleaning crew for the basement , packing the goods up ( thank you thank you thank you), removing the carpet and wet drywall and disinfecting. I have spent the week waiting for people to show up at my house and waiting for phone calls, which takes ALL day of course.

I think my snb has disowned me for the amount of no-shows lately.

I have started some new knitting, although I had to quickly bag this last night when I saw a MOTH in the living room ( an escapee from the basement detris, no doubt) Another cardigan, or cardiganized version of Patons Urban Aran ( in the same book as the Must Have)
This was meant to be an avoidance of the intarsia one a quick pick-up project using up chunky wool before the spring sweater really sticks but of course the pattern had a glitch in it, what I call Gauge vs. Schematic Measurement Battle...but I've worked it out. I had to start over (3 times)so progress makes for sad viewing at this point.

I had no Show and Tell Thursday this week because I ate all the chocolate in the house before photographing it. For clarification though, I think www.dagobachocolate.com/ ( any flavour in dark, and the Milk Chai) wins as my favourite but I am notoriously unfaithful when it comes to chocolate.

So let's call it a week. Whew!

One Thing Leads To Another

A long, long time ago in art college we had a printmaking assignment of 10 lino images. The first image was to be printed pure black and in the next 9, a picture was to immerge, but each print had to stand on it's own as a complete image and not a work in progress. The first pic ( above) is the tenth image.
Sometime in the next few years I used this image to make a fabric picture. I set a limitation that I only use fabric that was on hand at home. I was a little disappointed in the variety but carried on.( second pic) Lately I have seen many quilted art projetcs on the internet . It's tempting but I promised myself to finish projects not start new ones. Yup... of course, those 5 or 6 quilting books I ordered from the library this week are purely for research purposes only. Really.
Fast forward a few more years and I made the painted version in full colour. These are not scanned images you are seeing and I still haven't got the flash to stop flashing but I think you get the idea. I have been carrying "my ladies" as I call them in my head so long that I keep coming up with new situations for them. I have made a series but I'm not sure what to do with them yet. I think I may have shown you this one a while back.
It's interesting how some ideas take hold and some are quickly forgotten. These ladies are over twenty years old and...okay, that made me feel old...moving right along....
I have knitted the back and one front on the Vintage Jacket. I thought after the Zigzag pattern disaster I would be home free on this very simple jacket but no. I site this excerpt as exhibit A ( even though it is the third boo boo I've found so far:
Cast on 52 sts and work 14 rows in K1P1 rib. Blah blah decribing pattern here..... Continue in patt, inc ( we assume 1 st) beg of 13th and every foll 16th row to 49sts
Isn't that a cute increasing trick? I hope I finish this soon because it is the last day of summer and the jacket is cotton. It looks like summer is going out as it came in - hot, 28'C. I have loved the weather this month, a perfect 25'C, no humidity during the day and cooler at night. September is a gift.