Showing Off My Talented Friends

I've got some talented friends who are doing fun things, so I wanted to share them here:

Bitter Betty
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Bitter Betty:
Bethany will be at this craft show up in Sacramento on Saturday, May 5th. She's also got a New Vintage Wardrobe thing going on where she and others are sewing from vintage patterns and/or fabric and posting photos at Flickr. Bethany stages elaborate photo shoots to feature her latest fashion creations, including this video that she made with her 11-year-old son.

Work of Bridget Henry
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Multi-artist Studio Sale in Santa Cruz:
I know two of the four gals doing this home show on Sunday, May 6th. Bridget Henry makes wonderful reductive woodblock prints — a very interesting technique, if you've never seen it. I love her imagery, sort of magical mysticism-ish. Felicia Gilman, one of the vendors from that craft fair I co-hosted, sews one-of-a-kind vinyl wallets that are super cool. If you are in town you should definitly check it out.

Octophrost
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Futuregirl:
Alice is now selling her extra cute octopus pattern (a.k.a. Octophrost: Santa of the Sea) online as a PDF. It's only $5, a deal anyway you slice it. Her illustrations are top notch and the octo guys and gals work up really cute. Add your softie to the octopus garden over at Flickr.

My Friend Blaize
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

St. Blaize:
Recently voted Best Independent Docent, Blaize gives super secret staircase tours around Santa Cruz. It's a great way to get some exercise, local history, and Blaize Facts™ at the same time. Keep an eye on the Santa Cruz Free Skool calendar for future tours.

Turnips
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Mariquita Farm:
Andy and Julia are part of a two-family farm co-op that provides weekly boxes of vegetables to subscribers through their CSA. I've had the pleasure of being a subscriber for many years and love it. Their distribution includes Monterey Bay area, Silicon Valley and San Francisco. Andy is a great writer, as well, and keeps a weekly e-newsletter, which is also posted to his blog.

Boys and Toys

Not much crafting going on around here. I've been cleaning my craft area, which took two whole days — sorted a mess of fabric by color and realized that I could sew for two years straight and not need to buy anything new. Help, someone stop me.

And, we're in the middle of birthday season around here, with five birthdays in about five weeks. These photos were taken by my sister at my dad's birthday party. My dad has been trying for years to find the pedal car of his childhood and he finally got one — handy timing for the grandkids. At the same time he bought one to match his current hotrod. He specializes in '32 Ford roadsters with vintage speed equipment. My sister pointed out that my dad is obsessed with the past, which made me realize our interest in vintage isn't that surprising. The apple doesn't fall from the heritage tree, as it were.

Computer Down

My computer is down so I'll have limited access to emails, etc. Ack!

Birthday: The Day in Review

My creation
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

I had an excellent day, especially the no timeouts part. This birthday gets written up as the one where I felt strange because all attention was upon me. Everyone was at my bidding and I didn't have kid responsibility. Other years it must have felt normal, now, not so much.

The Winner is...

Emily from What's That Gonna Be. She makes amazing art quilts and yarn. You should go give her blog a visit.

I'll send you an email soon, Emily.

Thanks again everyone. That was fun. Hopefully I'll have more giveaways soon.

100 Posts 39 Years

39
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

NOTE: I call it "mama brain," my husband called it "pulling a lame-o." Did you notice that I never really told you what I was giving away? My grand idea is make another pincushion with chick and flower pins. Sound good? I hope this works for you all. Because of my mess up I'm going to extend the sign up until midnight tonight, Flickr comments included.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I had a great day.

------------------

Well, it's about time for a give-away, no? Recently I found this embroidered trim that I thought had disappeared under suspicious circumstances. It turned up at the bottom of my floss basket. Whoops! So glad I didn't make any accusations.

Do you remember what I used it on? Yep, that chicken pincushion for the swap with Samantha. It remains one of my most viewed photos at Flickr, as well as one of the most common ways to find me through Google. Sometimes I wonder if "chicken pincushion" has some subversive meaning. Anyone?

So, leave a comment today, before midnight Pacific Standard Time, and tomorrow I will draw a name for one lucky winner. And, thank you everyone for being part of this thing that I love.

Oh, yeah, it's my birthday today. This is what I hope happens: a shower for my grubby self; finishing sewing the Hawaiian tunic to wear (Sounds like a muumuu, huh? One of the benefits of being 39.); shopping for fabric with the Bitter one; letting my four-year-old surprise me; riding the Giant Dipper; eating sushi; having banana cake with whipped cream, getting lots of hugs and kisses from the littles; no time outs.

P.S. Please make sure to leave a way for me to find you. You know Blogger isn't so good about this. I think you need to type the "www" before your blog address for it to work. If you're not sure, leave an email address. Melissa and Kristy, I'm not sure who you are.

Easter: The Day in Review

My creation
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Inspired by Jek's Week in Review, I'm starting with one day, since Easter was such a good photo op with its bubbles, hula hoops, and pink aluminum peep Christmas tree. It's harder than it looks to do these mosaics — Jek does it so well. I think this medium will work well with my kid-on-the-go-go lifestyle these days. Check out the flickr group for Week in Review.

New Vintage Wardrobe: Pink Dogwood Skirt

Day 70
Originally uploaded by becktress.

My favorite model wears a newly-made-by-me skirt from vintage fabric — a birthday present for her. These skirts work up really fast now. I can almost finish one during naptime on a good day. The lovely pink fabric came from the same stash as the red Hawaiian.

I'm reading an old book called Pants for Any Body by this author. It's about altering a commercial pants pattern to fit your body. They suggest using 1/4 inch gingham as a first draft to get your exact mesurements. It's a great book so far. My fear of pants is waning.

Happy Birthday, Sis!

Happy Birthday little sis! We've come a long way. Well, actually, I still live here, but at least you moved. I am glad that you stayed in the same zip code, though. Sweet homemade clothes!

Aloha Aloha: New Shirt From Old

Aloha, my dear vintage shirt, until we meet again. I have worn and loved you till you were holey, faded, and threadbare. Buttons are missing and you are patched with at least five colors of thread. Thank you for being a good gardening and barbecue companion.


An evening date with the seam ripper taught me a lot about you. There was no consistency of seam. There were at least three different widths of seam. I wouldn't call you well made. Who was your maker? You looked homemade, but you had a tag that said, La Rosa San Francisco.


I made a pattern by tracing your pieces onto pattern paper. The grid really helped make straight lines. I wrote notes to myself on the pieces about the random seam widths.


I cut out pieces from vintage red fabric that just happens to be the same brand, VHY Hawaiian. What serendipity! I didn't know about the coincidence until I started looking at your seams. This new old fabric was a gift from Kathy who was cleaning out her 80-something mom's house. Thanks, Kathy!!


Here is your replacement, your clone — that *RED* one in the front. It's not all the way finished, but is taking on more and more of your look with each detail. I will use your remaining buttons intermixed with some that I have. I can already tell that it won't be the same, not so soft and comfy, too bright. Maybe after a couple hundred washings it will feel like you. Aloha old friend.

P.S. Thanks for all the empathy on the last post. We're feeling much better around here. Actually, for someone who leans towards depression, I'm surprised how rarely it makes an appearance now that I'm a mom. I guess I'm too busy. ;)