In the meantime, Let's Eat!

Waiting game...
     The wedding dress is on hold now until the young bride-to-be can travel here for her fitting, and fabric shopping.  I continue work on the Art Pouches, and more finished ones will appear soon, but in the meantime, we must eat. 

     Thanks to abundant rain and cool weather this winter, I had a nice volunteer crop of romaine lettuce in my little organic garden. There are also a few fat carrots, and nasturtiums of every color are trying to take over the world!  I had to put the nasturtiums in their place, so I went out there and did a little harvesting and made a beautiful salad for my family last night. 
     Thank you, Mother Nature.  It was delicious!

Phase 2 complete

Now we wait...
     The pre-dress is sewn. The future bride has been notified. Now I wait for the date when she can visit for the fitting. ( Did I mention she lives in Washington State, and I live in CA?)  We do not back down from a challenge, us women folk.  We find a way to make it work, if it's important to us.
     So, while the wedding dress is on the back burner, move on to taxes (Yes, I know it's late!).  Did I tell you how much I dread taxes?  Well, like I said, we do not back down from a challenge; and it's important to me to Not be bugged by the IRS, so better get to it.
     Poetically yours,   Pamela

Wedding Dress, Still in Phase 1...

So, or should I say "sew", because that is what I have to do.  The pieces have all been cut out for the fitting dress, and now I am in the process of sewing it all together. I'm using a long stitch with a contrasting thread so my poor, nearsighted eyes can see it easily during this phase.

    This is going to be a lovely, delicate, flowing design... and I just found out the future blushing bride skated in her first women's roller derby! Oh the paradoxes (paradoxi?) of life. At least she was wearing pretty black lace tights along with her knee pads and helmet.

     Poetically yours, Pamela

Pouch #2!

On a roll now!  Finished this little nature scene pouch with a bit of applique, embroidery, and the perfect little flower and leaf beads for the strap. I utilized t-shirt fabric for the braided strap, the good corner of a decorative bed sheet for the image, and an upcycled zipper. It was a nice effect to go outside the "frame" of the image and overlap with the appliqued flowers and cattails. Now that I have worked through the challenges of the basic structure of the pouch design, the whole process has become much easier, and more fun!
    The next design will have a different look... stay tuned.   And for goodness sake, in the spirit of not throwing the "baby out with the bath water", do NOT throw the zipper out with the worn out pants! Get out your scissors and save that perfectly good piece of modern apparel technology for some new and wonderful use!
     Poetically yours, Pamela

Wedding Dress - The first phase...

Gathering the Materials

Here's the picture of the Dream Dress, a pattern with the correct "bones", and my notes.

First step: layout and cut the pattern out of some spare fabric to make the fitting dress. I'm using an old sheet for this.

What can you use an old sheet for?

Poetically yours, Pamela

Art Pouches - Here is the first.

Hi Friends, I have been making a batch of Art Pouches: Cute little decorative pouches to carry the essentials. They're one of a kind, and each has a different theme. This is the first one finished of this batch. I am using about 90% upcycled materials, which is very exciting to me. I am finally using some items from my extensive stash of found and salvaged goodies. That feels great! There will be more to come.

Also coming up, I will be making a Wedding Dress soon, and will post all the steps along the way to the happy completion of this lovely medieval style dress. So... if you've ever wondered what goes into creating/sewing a cusomized garment, stay tuned.

Until next time... take a look at that special piece of fabric you're saving and just think, What Can It Become?

Poetically yours, Pamela

Ceramic Bowl Success

Hooray, success! The bowl turned out well, and I love the creamsicle/sorbet look of the colors. This project was a lot of fun and I am so happy that the idea worked. Since my last post - which I realize was ages ago - I did another very adorable ceramic project which I will write about next time. Talk to you then.