Talking Squid

There is no better way to reduce your carbon footprint than by purchasing both recycled and handmade! One of my favorite Local Artists and Etsy shop owners is Taryn Boyd aka Talking Squid.

Talking Squid is about to launch her new Home Decor Line, just in time to freshen up your digs for fall.

I’m loving this 100% Recycled Tshirt Sphere pillow; it’ll perfect for snuggling on the upcoming brisk autumn evenings.

This soft and luxurious, 100% recycled Cafe Au Lait and White Rug is handmade from discarded t-shirts. It is crafted with hand cut t-shirt strips sewn on a durable cotton jersey t-shirt base. The perfect way to warm up those chilly floors this fall!

Talking Squid says:

“I believe recycled products don’t have to look “recycled.” Detail, functionality, and usefulness are important. Creating fresh, urban & modern designs from 100% recycled t-shirts is my main focus.”

Please check out her Etsy Shop for a sundry of handmade/recycled goods. Oh and you can find Talking Squid in person if you happen to be in Chicago this weekend as she’ll be at the RENEGADE CHICAGO craft show. September 12th and 13th.

Smorgasbord Saturday (in bits of red)

This Saturday I:

Spent a few minutes repairing my childhood Raggedy Ann doll for Felix to play with.

While fixing up her little foot, I realized that I couldn’t remember much about Raggedy Ann.

This is what I found on Wikipedia:

[Johnny] Gruelle created Raggedy Ann for his daughter, Marcella, when she brought him an old hand-made rag doll and he drew a face on it. From his bookshelf, he pulled a book of poems by James Whitcomb Riley, and combined the names of two poems, “The Raggedy Man” and “Little Orphan Annie.” He said, “Why don’t we call her Raggedy Ann?”

Marcella died at age 13 after being vaccinated at school for smallpox without her parents’ consent. Authorities blamed a heart defect, but her parents blamed the vaccination. Gruelle became an opponent of vaccination, and the Raggedy Ann doll was used as a symbol by the anti-vaccination movement.

I so love that she was named after two poems combined and had no idea that she was the symbol of the Anti-Vaccination Movement.

Wrote Jude a letter.

and inspired by SouleMama’s recent bit of yellow, I attempted making my first tote using this Sew Mama Sew! tutorial.

My stitching isn’t as straight as I’d like it to be, and I feel like the bag needs a little something more on the pocket, but altogether I am pleased with my first tote!

Quilt Tops, in progress

I spent some time on Saturday crafting 2 quilt tops. I had some fabric planned for the backs, but once I saw them together I decided they just didn’t work. A trip to the fabric store is in order. In the meantime, here are some in-progress shots of the tops.

I love those swatches and coffee too.

Ready to be sewn together. I am liking this neutral one, like a jar of lentils. I still can’t decide what color would be good for the backing.

I like the long pieces and richer colors used for this one. Another hard backing decision awaits me.

These are both put together using the obsolete fabric swatch books (Thanks, Sandhya!) I used to make the party flags for Felix’ 1st Birthday Party.

Look for updates on these in a few days…

Tapetastic

Have I ever mentioned how much I love tape? Here is a peek at a small part of my collection. I snapped these while working on some new artmail.

Perfect Party Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend for Felix’ 1st Birthday Party! The weather was perfect, the company was outstanding and love was definitely surrounding us. Thank you so much to everyone who came out to celebrate and all those who sent well wishes our way.

Making an announcement with Papa.

Papa made this puppet theater. We had a few marionettes out for kids to put on their own puppet shows.

Papa also put together this awesome toss game. There were only a few who mastered all levels.

We had the bean bag toss and Papa’s Tic Tac Toe game too.

My sister baked the cakes from scratch, of course! (They were absolutely delicious by the way, and yes, she takes special orders.)

Singing Happy Birthday:

The main event: smashing the cake!

The aftermath:

Kissing a handmade sock frog from Anne, who also made the stellar mix playing during the party.

(We’ve been preparing for a while. click to see more about the invite, party flags, bean bag toss and party hats.)

Party Prep III- party hats and bean bag toss

The Birthday fun continues.

Tomorrow is the party day! We still have tons to do to prepare. Some cooking, cleaning and of course setting everything up outside. Remember when I mentioned being knee deep in fabric last week? I’ve been working day and night on these two projects for Felix 1st Birthday Party.

For the party hats, I wanted something fabric that we could re-use. I came across this tutorial which gave me a great start. In fact I followed most of it. I decided not to use glue, I don’t have pinking shears (they’re on my list though!) and I added an elastic strap to the hat so that it would stay on people’s heads better.

They’re made of 4 circles each.

These were not finished when I photographed them. (and to be honest, I’ll be staying up late to finish a few tonight. eeek.)

I had so much fun with the fabric combinations!

Happy hat model.

My second big project was to make a bean bag toss. Now, I know a lot of people are creeped out by clowns, so sorry if this bothers anyone. But we have a bit of a carnival theme going here, and I just couldn’t resist.

I started with a big moving box and two bags of pearl barley.

sketching it out.

We put the barley in plastic bags first, just to make them a little safer if they do rip open.

Ta-daaaaa. Finished product:

I’m sure I’ll have an update Monday with shots of this stuff in action. Have a great weekend, we sure will!

Quick Quilt (and other etsy updates)

I’ve broadened my horizons. My Etsy shop now has tees with paintings of fish, bugs and a running hare! Also newly added to the shop are two onesies with appliques, and a few more bird T shirts.

With some pieces left over from the party flags, I patched together a quick lap sized quilt (29 x 33″). It’s been years since I’ve worked on a quilt and I have to say it was much fun! The layout was completely random. I have some more quilting ideas in the works, so stay tuned. Here are a few pics of the Quilt, which can also be purchased in my Etsy Shop: Turnip Attire. (baby not included.)

Oh, and if you mention redrecliner, I’ll take 10 % off your purchase.

fabric fun

We’ve been knee deep in a project involving lots of fabric. Felix loves playing with the pieces I have out; especially rolling in piles of it.

Party Prep Part II- flags

Felix’ 1st Birthday and party are inching closer. My latest project has been sewing feet upon feet of party flags: fun and colorful decorations made of cloth so we can continue to use them for years to come, or pass them on to someone else who can enjoy them. Bottom line: they’re meant to be used over and again.

These beautiful fabrics are cut out of obsolete upholstery fabric sample books. (Thanks, Sandhya!)

I’ve added in some fun prints from my scrap bin and tried to evenly disperse the colors. I’m always amazed at how much I like seeing stacks of fabric.

Sewing the flags into the strip of black fabric.

A glimpse at them hanging.

Approval:

Pending projects

My Etsy shop has been empty for ages (o.k. about a year). I have some stuff in the works to both fill my shop and try to get on consignment in a few local boutiques. Here is a sneak peak at what I have been working on.

I also have gotten back into sending mailart out. Here are a few postcards going into the box today…

For this set (and the last few) I have been using old photos and contact sheets from Photo I class in college. It is crazy to think that these were taken 9 years ago already! It’s been fun going through such old work. I have stacks and stacks of photos. Too much to keep! This is my solution to keep them alive, spread them out and have fun turning them into something new.