Digital Art from my Kindle 2017

In 2017 my mom spent several weeks in the hospital before she passed away, and I stayed with her the whole time. To help pass the time, I played around with digital art apps on my Kindle Fire, just learning to use the tools. I tried making some word art,

some line art,

some line art with painting, 

and some collage with painted images and rain effects. Fun stuff, and it took my mind off things!

I looked up one night to see the laundry bag hanging on the back of the door, and, to me, the way the light was hitting the folds made it look like an angel. Or possibly a nun? Anyway, the angel image made me feel some better for the time being.

These have been in my Kindle since May 2017, because I couldn't figure out how to get them transferred to my laptop without sharing them to Facebook, which I didn't want to do. The other day I was trying to figure it out once again, and with some online help, I finally got the pictures transferred. I didn't want to lose these, or the pictures in a different post, because they were the last pictures made of mama, and I needed them. 

Goes to show, no matter how long it takes, if you don't give up, eventually you will achieve your goal!

Bag Attack

I confess. I have a "thing" for boxes and bags of all shapes and sizes. I have so many boxes to organize things in, sitting empty beside what's supposed to be in them. And I have always loved purses and bags, but hadn't bought one of either in a long time.

Well, I apparently had an attack when I started Christmas shopping for everyone else this year!

Having spent quite a bit of time in the past, and time this year, sitting with loved ones in the hospital, and having to carry a heavy tote bag around, I had often thought about one on rollers. I happened upon the one above at a Burkes Outlet store for fourteen dollars. It's actually a heavy fabric flight carry on bag with a pull up handle and rollers, with large outside pockets. The next time I'm sitting with someone, I can pull our stuff around instead of trying to carry it, which wears me out, and it holds a lot without taking up a lot of space in waiting rooms or hospital rooms.

Plus it can double for my weaving yarns, heddles, etc., and/or other crafts!

This little canvas rigger's bag I've seen on artists' sites where they've painted them, gelli printed on them, sewn decorations on, etc. I found it at Harbor Freight for less than fifteen dollars. It's a wonderful little bag full of outside and inside pockets for brushes, art tools, crochet hooks, or whatever comes up. I have plans to paint it, but I have so many plans for art projects, so we'll see. When, and if, I get it painted, I'll show you!

This one I ordered off of Amazon online. It's an oversized leather bag with pockets on the inside and a zippered pocket on the outside of the other side. Hopefully, it will hold my ten inch Kindle, plus all the other stuff I have to keep up with for myself, my hubby, my father-in-law, and, until I get things settled, my mom. I think I will love it, when I get moved in to it!

So, Merry Christmas to me! :D

Advertising Bag from 1960s

Isn't this shopping bag cool?

It has the same design on both sides, but the store name is torn off one side and there's a hole by one of the girls on the other.

I found this plastic shopping bag while going through my mom's outside closet, full of old lace and ribbons. The bag is so rotten that any pressure at all disintegrates it, so I had to handle it very carefully to bring it up to my house.

It is a small bag from a store in a nearby town in the sixties, and maybe seventies, before I was married, called Town and Country. Whatever mama and I brought home in it must have been special, because though we would go in there to browse, it was out of our price range, and we rarely bought anything.

I do love the black and white sixties graphics on the bag, and I want to make a much better photo before it completely falls apart, just for nostalgia reasons. I happened to be a teenager in the sixties, and this brings back good memories! Plus the wonderful old lace and ribbons will be put to use in my fabric journals and crafts! Mama would be pleased. :)

You never know what piece of ephemera you happen upon will trigger a bunch of memories, good and bad.

Denim Tote Bag

This tote bag belonged to my mama. I found it one day when I was in her house looking for something to put papers and stuff in to bring back up to my house to go through to destroy or keep. A painful job, but it had to be done.

She had a drawer full of tote bags from various groups and trips she had participated in over the years, but this is the only one that she had made, and it immediately brought back memories and a smile to my face.

In her late fifties-sixties, she belonged to a clogging group called the Riverbend Cloggers, where she had learned to clog and loved performing with the group at various places. One October they performed at a Halloween event, possibly a nursing home, and they wore costumes.

Mama dressed in patched overalls, straw hat, flannel shirt, sort of like a scarecrow, and she made this bag out of old jeans that she had gotten somewhere. She lined the inside and made the gussets with patchwork fabric. The embellishments were already on the denim. She sewed the denim pieces together, leaving the raw seams on the outside. And, wallah, she had a bag worthy of a scarecrow! :)

Front

Back

I thought it was cute at the time she made it, but I treasure it now that she's gone. It has made several trips back and forth between our houses, as I continue to sort slowly through her things, and I love it more with each trip. 

I have a picture of her in her costume somewhere, and I wanted to include it in this post, but haven't gotten around to finding it yet. I am missing her so much, and most days I feel so overwhelmed right now that I don't get anything accomplished, and there's so much to be done...

But I didn't mean to sound depressing, and time will help, so I will just say treasure the people you love while you still have them, because any day they can be taken away from you, and you can not even begin to imagine how much you will miss them.

Take care and keep making stuff! It feeds your soul!

Saddlebag Blues (weaving) and Mixed Media

I've been experimenting and learning to weave a lot of different things. This is one of the pieces that I've actually made into something so far. I saw a pattern in a book, but since I don't fully understand how to read drafts yet, I sort of made up my own by weaving a medium scarf, using Peaches and Creme variegated cotton yarn with purple wool stripes in the weft.

I used plain stitch, because that's all I knew how to do at the time. Here it is on the loom...

The scarf is finished and has been taken off the loom and the tassels tied off...

Fiddling around with it to see how deep to make the end pockets and if I want a pin cushion in the middle...

 End pockets sewed and it's done! Decided not to make a pin cushion in the middle...

 My loom sits on a TV tray table, and the saddlebags hang over the center brace underneath. They hold my clamps, long hooks, shuttles, scissors, etc. within handy reach, plus the middle part holds my plastic needles in place for me. It will also lay flat across the table under my loom with the pockets hanging off the sides. I love it!

This is on my work table right now. The middle stages of another memory portrait inspired by Heather Murray's Memory Project workshop at The Trodden Path. I have used old photos for all but the stuffed horse at the bottom, and it is a miniaturized version of one of my quirky doodles, and it's on a gallery wrap canvas. This is my second project from this class. (The Trodden Path button is on my sidebar and it's free to join-lots of awesome classes and teachers there!)

I've also just taken some woven samples off the loom and am about to re-warp my loom, and I'm also planning to make my own cardboard loom to weave a rag rug from old sheets. I found an awesome tutorial online! 

Shared on Creative Every Day, a blog where creative people come to share their passion and their creativity. (See my sidebar)

I'm so thankful that I have enough interests to keep me from getting bored...ever! Even if I didn't have all these other fun things to do, I'd still be reading and writing all the time! :)

Happy Sox, a New Purse, and a Bag of Fun

Shopping with mama and hubby. I splurged on some feel good stuff! :)

Strapless Woven Bag (weaving)

 

 

This is a bag (lacking the strap) I made from the very first piece I wove (first pic) when I had no idea at all of what I was doing, other than making a piece of fabric from yarns that I had on hand.

I used a cotton yarn (Peaches & Crème) for the warp and a thicker acrylic yarn for the weft. I don't know if this was such a good idea or not, but the main problem I had when I took it off the loom was that I didn't keep the heddle really straight when I beat the weft into place, and the selvages were not straight, so the overall shape of the fabric was kind of crooked.

I had problems when I sewed it up with one side being longer than the other and kind of curvy, but I managed to get the bag fairly straight. I cut the fringe short and left it on for embellishment. Both sides are alike, and I will probably add a lining too, when I decide what kind of strap I want to add.

I think it will be handy for craft supplies or something. Good experience! I'm learning! :)

First Project Sewn From My Own Hand Woven Fabric

I'm still learning and practicing weaving on my small Cricket loom, and having fun doing it. Remember this woven piece that I shared a few days ago? It was my third weaving off the Cricket.

 

I'm not real fond of the color. It's a little too much for me, so I decided to use it as my learning piece to sew with...



 

 

and a tote bag is what I decided to make with it. First tote bag, and I researched some on the web, then went my own way, as far as a pattern and directions. I folded the fabric up from the end enough to leave room for a flap, so the bag wouldn't be too deep and because at the time I wasn't sure how to cut up the fabric and keep it from raveling on me.

 

I was a little lazy, and I am not a great seamstress, so I layed the lining on fabric and sewed the side seams all at the same time, plus I sewed across the corners to give it a little depth. This left raw seams down the sides on the inside, which is not too attractive, but it works. I should also mention that before I did anything else I zigzag stitched around all the edges on the machine to help keep it from raveling.

I have all kinds of fabric pieces, but none of them were big enough for a lining, and since I'm just learning and practicing, I found an old bed sheet and cut a lining out of it. I wouldn't have chosen this pattern for this project, but it also works. I folded the edges over the lining and machine stitched them down for the flap.

 

This is the back. I made the shoulder strap by making a thick length of each color yarn (Peaches and Crème solid yellow and yellow/pink/orange variegated), twisting each separately, then twisting them together, and tying a knot, leaving a tassel. I machine stitched an end to each side, making the strap, added a large pink button on the flap for decoration, and called it done! I am now wondering about the large pink button though. :/

 

Finished size is 10" wide, 12" high, 2" front to back, with a 36" strap

 

I learned on this one what not to do on the next one! However, this one is very usable. :)

 

The time I'm spending on my weaving practice is not to say that I'm neglecting my art and other projects. I've been doing some quirky doodle sketches along, and I've just finished the 3rd book in the Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson, which I enjoyed immensely, plus a book written by an old classmate of mine, October Snow and Other Stories by Caldwell Davis.

 

Next on my reading list is Rod Stewart's autobiography. I can tell by sampling it that it's going to be good. I love his sense of humor.  I've been listening to his new CD too and it's awesome! Can you tell I'm a fan? :)

 

Life is also constantly happening in all sorts of unexpected ways, keeping me busy. I can not say that the house work is not neglected. Stuff and dust bunnies have all but run us out since hubby retired. :o

 

It's all good though, and I hope, in some way, I made you smile! :)