Musings on....upcycling

Last month I went to another sweater upcycling party.  Last time I made a hat...this time I made pin cushions!  These little guys are pretty cute!  I'd like to make a whole flock...I just don't want to get bored making them.  I love all the projects I do, I just wish I could just focus on one!  I have half finished sewing projects, paintings, guitar lessons(yea..that lasted long) and these little birds!  I did finish that quilt, though!

Horse Feathers "Curs in the Weeds"

Musing on....Horse Feathers

On Tuesday night I walked into town to see Horse Feathers.  This band is from Portland, but through the PDXchange Program, they came to Bend!  Beautiful concert.  Haunting sounds.  I really enjoyed it!

Musings on...making a quilt

We have so many t shirts lying around.  The girls have either grown out of them, or they just don't wear them anymore.  They hold such sentimental value, but also take up a lot of space in the closets.  The shirts represent different places we have lived, activities we have been involved in, and gifts from family members. I just could not throw them out.  I did some research and decided to make a quilt from all the shirts.  A bit daunting, as I have never made a quilt before.  That's my sister's area of expertise!  I taught myself as I went along and checked many sites on the internet!.  There are plenty of sites out there that can tell you how to do this.

The quilt was good practice for me.  I know how important it is to have nice even measurements!  I found that some of the squares were really quite off!  To the expert eye, my quilt is pretty amateur.  Lots of mistakes!  I did have fun making it.  I guess that's all that matters!  If it's not fun...why do it?

The girls love it!  It's warm and toasty, and they have decided to make some crazy Twister game with it!

I had fabric left over to make a yoga mat bag!  That one was super easy!  I got the design from  Pink of Perfection.  Now I need to make something to go over the mat, because I am slipping like crazy!

Musings on...Neckbeards

Neckbeards you ask?  Perhaps you are well acquainted with this style, but I have never heard of them before. 

Tuesday and Wednesday I spent my days in the 8th grade Social Studies/Language Arts classes.  I was asked to help assist the students in drawing portraits for their Civil War wax museum.  Everything was going great, until one girl asked about her portrait of Horace Greeley.  "What is that under his neck?",   She asked?  I looked at the picture and we both tried to figure out what the hair was doing.  Was it really long sideburns?  Was it chest hair coming out over his collar?  I could not believe that a politician would find chest hair spilling out over his collar doing anything for his public image!  Was it really long sideburns?  She checked the internet, called me over, and behold....a neck beard!  What a bizarre addition to your face.  Perhaps we will see some of this curious facial hair when the World Beard & Mustache Championships come to Bend!

Musings on....a childhood poem

Oh my...this is tough!  I had grand intentions of writing something every week!  All sorts of things running through my head, and at this point....I think they might be gone!  Let's see if I can remember anything!

I'm excited about JPG Bresson challenge.  I'm absolutely loving that site!  The photos are so wonderful and so inspiring!  I'm thinking in black and white.  I took this photo, and in some ways it reminded me of that National Geographic cover from years back.  Not the same intensity...but something.

I was going to talk about all of the great music that's come out!  I'm loving Broken Bells and Horse Feathers, I'm also enjoying some new Joan Armatrading, Rickie Lee Jones, Natalie Merchant, Bon Iver, and Peter Gabriel.  I think their may be more, but I'm always finding music to enjoy!

One of the  Natalie Merchant songs got me thinking.  She has taken poems and set them to music.  One poem was my absolute favorite as a little girl.  It set me looking for my dog eared, well loved Golden Treasury of Poems.  What's neat is that the girls are listening to the song and following along with the book.  What's even better, is that they are actually going through the book and reading other poems!  It helps when they are accompanied by the wonderful illustrations of Joan Walsh Anglund.