Quilt Cards? Card Quilts?

Inspired by a project on Creative Juice, I decided to sew tiny "quilts" out of vintage silk neckties and make greeting cards with them. This project tried my patience as I do not at all enjoy the precision required of any sort of quilting (it's the fitting together of all the tiny pieces that I dislike the most, which is, I realize, the point of quilting). My results are, shall we say, more casual, but I think the cards came out kind of charming. What was really difficult was getting up the gumption to cut up the pretty silk ties. I had no other use for them, but it was still hard. And who knew that the silk fabric in ties gets its body from some weird lining fabric? I couldn't believe how thin and slippery most of the material ended up being (adding another joy to dealing with tiny pieces!). Take a look.


Next on the To Do list -- purse design and execution. I must enjoy sewing more than I think I do, otherwise why would I keep making purses???

What I'm Working On, Or Not

A couple of weeks ago I made a batch of relatively simple earrings that I could sell inexpensively. I thought they would be good to reel people in at the first TGFM and, especially, for Gypsy Caravan on Memorial Day. I don't suppose I can complain that I sold most of them at TGFM and needed to make a new batch. I guess the combination of the cheap price and the organic display (I stood the earring cards up in a mix of raw rice, lentils and wild rice in a pretty basket) helped them sell. Now if only the clay earrings, which are much, much more labor intensive (and thus cost more) will sell! At any rate, I needed to make another bunch of earrings, using up the antique brass findings I got on Etsy. I ended up making even more than that, and here's what I got:


I got some funny little glass beads today that sort of look like raku pottery. Such pretty colors. Here's a close up of one pair out of the beads. For some reason these remind me of a couple of ripe peaches.


Today I also figured out a way to patina my bright gold findings to match the other antiqued ones. My first experiment -- a combo of vinegar, the crushed business ends of some matches and some bleach -- had fairly toxic fumes and worked really well at first. However, after I took the findings out of the concoction, and rinsed and dried them, I noticed that about 20 minutes later they had taken on a green-blue patina. It was pretty and cool, but just not the darkening I had desired. I rinsed them in straight vinegar and they went to a duller gold, which I was happy with. I'll have to keep experimenting to get the darker effect I want.

And just for kicks, how about a photo of Olive trying to squoosh herself into a small space in order to lie on my purse.


Oh, and please come to Gypsy Caravan on Memorial Day and buy lots of stuff!

Tower Grove Farmer's Market

This entry would be a lot more interesting if I had taken photos of some of the wonderously beautiful dogs who visited my booth at the TGFM on Saturday. So many gorgeous dogs you wouldn't believe. Not to mention the myriads of cute babies (a big say hey to the teensy Beck Xavier!). It was a lovely day in Tower Grove Park; the weather was perfect and the grass was shining with dew (much to my booth neighbor Allison's dismay!) and the sun was bright all day long (as my sunburned back can attest). The market wasn't as busy as we would have liked for an opening day, but there was a nice crowd and I got to visit with a lot of friends and nice customers and potential customers. And the dogs. So many dogs! Oh, and a very large Rhode Island Red hen on a string who perched unsteadily on my forearm for a few minutes.

I sold enough stuff that I have to actually work the next two weeks, restocking for Gypsy Caravan. Dang. I wonder if I can figure out a way to use my sewing machine outside?

And now I'm really feeling like I need to have some actual paying employment, though I'm really dreading the search process. I'm waiting for a call about a job I think would be perfect, albeit very low paying, but time keeps on passing. I just applied for a position in a large retail joint which I'm already feeling queasy about. I've gotten used to my time being my own in the last year and it's going to be quite an adjustment to go back to work. Sigh.

Bowling for Thrift

We dashed into the Family Thrift store after dropping off my car at the dealer for an oil change and before hitting the grocery store. I scored some cheap old man pants to convert into bermudas, some shorts for Steve, a book on feminist movie criticism and this oh so lovely Aztec brand Melmac salad bowl. I'm in love with this bowl.

Don't Run Away, My Little Sparrow

The last thing I needed to do this week was spend time making some new project. I was, alas, compelled otherwise. I was inspired by something I saw on That's Clever, but I changed direction a bit. At any rate, it was fun. I really like the end result of painting the fabric with gel medium -- the texture is really cool afterwards. Plus, it creates a smooth, non-porous surface for the decorative painting later. I don't think these are weatherproof, but they could definitely hang inside a patio umbrella or on a porch or covered patio.

Take Me Back, Carry Me Back

Did I report on the second alley attack on Foxy Brown a few weeks ago? This time we were in an alley we go down nearly every day, mostly to visit her dog friend General, a lovely golden retriever with a lightbulb head. We had stopped to say hi to General and were on our way down the block when we noticed that the gate was open to a yard that usually housed a couple of big dogs. In a split second, really before we could even think let alone do anything, two dogs roared out of the gate and immediately jumped on Foxy; one biting her neck and one biting her in the rear. One of them was, I think, a Portuguese water dog and the other one was a medium sized long haired black dog. Anyway, they were snarling and biting and Foxy was screaming and twisting around to get away from them. I was afraid to reach into the fray for fear of getting a bite myself. I was SCREAMING at the top of my lungs, "get away, get off, stop stop STOP" for the sole purpose of alerting the owners to what was going on. A man darted out of the yard and managed to pull his dogs off and apologized profusely. He said his wife had gone out in the alley and had left the gate open. Now why you'd be a moron and leave your gate wide open when you not only have two dogs, but have two dogs who will rapidly ATTACK other dogs is beyond me. The funny thing is, this guy had an English accent and I'm pretty sure he has called both Steve and myself during our radio shows and talked about living in our neighborhood. I was about two seconds away from yelling at him, "Do you know who we ARE?" Luckily, I didn't do that.

Anyway, a few weeks later and I have post-traumatic stress disorder about walking down alleys. Steve took Foxy down that alley a couple days later and she totally shied away from that yard and didn't act normally until they were almost to the end of the block. Today we walked down our own alley and I was jumpy and nervous the whole time. Sadly, I think I'm done with alleys. I wonder if those dogs would attack a person alone? Do I want to find out on dogless walks? I don't know. I'm just sad that something that we took such pleasure in has been spoiled by a couple of assholes who can't contain or control their dogs.

Oh, speaking of that! Yesterday I was sitting on the couch when I heard a loud exclamation very nearby. It scared the cat away so I got up to look outside and see what was going on. Our across the street neighbor was walking down our front stairs holding his little (somewhere between 12-15 pounds, I'd say) dog by the collar. The dog was growling and twisting and snapping viciously at the guy! I assume the dog had run out of his yard and come over to our porch for some reason. Anyway, the neighbor stopped in the street to make the dog sit while he bent over and started to lecture the dog (ha!); the little thing LEAPT up into the guy's face, snarling and snapping at him! This dog is obviously totally out of control! The guy got the dog settled down then walked over into his own yard and sat down with the dog and lectured him further. I swear, there was finger pointing and what appeared to be an attempt at reason. Dude, you're talking to a hyperactive, toy breed dog! Good luck with that.

My thrifting goal this weekend was to find as many gold necklace chains (and silver, but those are easier) as possible for my clay pendants. My selling season starts next week and I need lots of chains as I've been concentrating on pendants lately. With that in mind, I headed over to Millstadt, IL Saturday morning to the "village-wide" yard sales. As I'm not in the market for children's clothing, these sales didn't help me much, though I did find a couple things (see the revolving cannister set in the photo below) and I got to wander around a very, very pretty town. There are many fine gardeners in Millstadt and I probably spent more time admiring the zillion varieties of iris than going through anyone's for sale items. Note to self: go back to Millstadt in a couple weeks when lots more of the warmer weather flowers are blooming. I can only imagine how pretty it will be. One high point was the two gigantic azalea bushes spilling over a tall wooden fence from a compact back yard -- one was vibrant yellow and the other bright orange. Such a nice change from all the pinks one usually sees around here. Alas, I did not find a single chain.

Late last evening I got wind of the Lindbergh High School annual flea market happening today. I wasn't sure if this was the big one (and admittedly, I didn't know just how big the big one is), but it turned out that it was. We got to LHS around 9:15 a.m. and the parking lot was full. We were lucky to stumble upon a recently empty spot. Early on I spotted the coffee pot below. The pleasant lady came over as I sat it back down saying "Hey, don't put that down.! One dollar!" As it was in pristine (and seemingly unused) condition, this was an offer I could never refuse (and I've been in the market for a vintage percolator -- if it works so well for the tiny cafecito maker, how could I go wrong for regular coffee?). Once I got it home I saw that the innards were still wrapped in plastic and the original insert was still inside. The handle is bakelite! One dollar! Gold and turquoise pine cone design! One dollar!


Further examination of her table revealed the adorable measuring cup/chopper combination. The turquoise and black metal lid was too much to resist. And again, one dollar!


A pretty good start, indeed. After fortification from a coconut donut and a trip to the ladies room, I acquired the crocheted frog puppet/potholder (it was a dime, so...). Even though we weren't even a quarter through, I was feeling a little discouraged about finding any quantity of chains. I'm not looking for junk -- just usuable vintage chains with often junky stuff hanging from them. Soon enough, though, I was pawing through a shoebox of miscellaneous jewelry and realized there were many little packets of new 14K gold plated chains. I asked how much and the lady quoted an unbelievable price. Needless to say, a dozen of them were soon in my possession. Almost immediately after walking away, though, I regretted not getting more and swore to return to her booth before we left. I did and got eight more! Then she told me that she had gotten them from a company she worked for and that she had many more and would probably just give them to me! I gave her my card so I will keep my fingers crossed! Huzzah! No more stressing over chains! The rest of the market was somewhat uneventful. Steve got a baseball book, an old comic (not d but it's a Murder, Inc. from about 1950), an Argosy men's magazine and a McCall's from the 40s with an adorable kitten on the cover. Oh and a Coronet magazine from the 50s.

Summertime...

It may only be May 1 on the calendar, but it is officially summer in St. Louis as far as I'm concerned. It was 93 degrees yesterday and I have at least two mosquito bites. Today, not so hot but the humidity is through the roof.

I finished the Jonathan Lethem book, but I'm still thinking about it and will write on it later. Suffice it to say I loved it.

In other news this week, come to the Royale on Friday evening! Keep your fingers crossed that it will not be raining so we can DJ outside!