Still Sewing...

I went home for a lovely Easter weekend in Kittanning and it felt good to see family, get away and just relax.    I stopped at the Goodwill on the way home and found some amazing vintage pillow cases that I already have a project idea for.    Within the last couple of weekends I have created some more little gifts and goodies.  The bibs and booties I have yet to perfect, but the spork holder is just about ready to go...

Nesting...

In February I had this overwhelming feeling to start canning, cooking, cleaning, baking, sewing...you name it.  Then sure enough, come Valentine's Day I found out I was about 6 weeks pregnant.  We are thrilled!!  So I took advantage of the nesting feeling and started crafting and sewing again and making little things for friends and friend's babies.  One project that I really wanted to try was this Fleur Playmat from one of my favorite designers, One Girl Designwrks .  I ordered the pattern from her through Etsy and some amazing fabric from Denver Fabric and I was ready to get sewing.  I decided to make the first playmat for Miss Julia Grace, my best girlfriend's little one that is about 6 months now.   This project was a lot of work but so much fun to do and I can't wait to start another one.  I was so pleased with the way it turned out.  Now, onto my next craft...watch this space...

Moly_x_56

I was so pleased when I was asked to join the international Moleskine Exchange group moly_x_56.   This is an adventure from artists around the world filling their Japanese Moleskines and exchanging them.    The group also has all of their sketches on Flickr where you can see all of the wonderful sketchbook pages from around the world.  In our first round we are creating images that reflect Monsters and Spirit Guides.  It has been great fun and I am looking forward to seeing the next Moleskine in my mailbox.  

Photos AND Drawings

On a recent trip I brought along the old Canon and the sketchbook.  I did this quick sketch of my brother relaxing in our hotel room in Spain.  On this particular day we had been stuck in Barcelona for two days since all trains were sold out heading north to France.  We were behind schedule but we made the best of it and relaxed, ate chorizo and drank some good wine...there could be worse places to be "stuck".

Sorghum

I came across this sorghum at Whole Foods on Wednesday evening as I was rushing through the aisles trying to get some last minute thanksgiving ingredients.  It is such an interesting flower (grain) and when it was paired with the green eucalyptus it made for a beautiful centerpiece on the thanksgiving table.

100 Flowers

I have been rediscovering a lot of the books I had acquired while I was researching for my thesis Botanical Illustration:  The Challenge of Combining Science and Art.  One particular book I love from my collection is the book 100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names by Diana Wells and Ippy Patterson.  The book is wonderful for discovering the origins of a certain flower and for visual reference as well.  I have started a sketchbook of flowers and in this I use a lot of the information I read about in 100 Flowers.  

I am thankful..

At this time of year I always like to take a minute and make a list for myself of all the things I am so thankful for.  A roof over my head, food on my table and all of the wonderful people that make up my group of friends and family.  As I was going through my old sketchbooks I had worked on while I was in graduate school I came upon a group of sketches I had done from a day I spent in Philadelphia in the fall of 2006.  One particular drawing that always stood out for me from the series was this quick one I did of a woman and her son standing on the street.  I don't know anything about this pair.  All I could tell from quickly looking at them and sketching them was that they were so thankful to have each other.  I love how a drawing can speak to you in that way and while it may read different to someone else, it always reminds me to be thankful.