Acutely Gilded Circumflex

Seems the whole week has gone by in a frenzy of cutting up plastic bags. A week ago I found a site that showed me how to make garbage bags out of garbage bags- oops, make that High End Art Objects out of Readily Available Recyclable Materials...and of I went. My house resembles a third world cottage industry training camp right now, and I have turned into a petty thief stealing the protective covers off the home delivery newspapers in the lobby. Every morning I stealthily grab my materials and skulk back up to my studio on little cat feet. There I rotary cut the bounty into 1" strips crosswise, then loop them onto each other so I end up with a ball of strip cut plastic loops. Then I use my crochet hook- the cheap metal and plastic one because the nice ones are now broken from the efforts- and crochet these loops into a shape. So far I am on my third one, but stuck until tomorrows supply of clear bags arrives on the New York Times.

It seems that umbilical cords are on my mind here with the wee glob attached to the larger bowl!
This one is now finished with a wider row of the darkest blue ikat-ish design. I have no idea what it will be, unless Molly condescends to wear it on her head ala Jackie-O. And that ain't gonna happen no matter how cute- she has made it clear.



Yesterday we paid an impromptu visit to our oldest friends on the Cape, just a quick ride down to sit near some grass and trees. (That last picture was the Sagamore Bridge- I do love my bridges and the day was beautiful.) We called in the morning and told them we were coming, and Cristy went out and bought us Wellfleet oysters and swordfish steak for kabobs so we had a pretty special day. We were sort of thinking we could grab a pizza somewhere but they spoiled us. I pulled out my crochet bags and about three miles of plastic ready to work on, and they all said how ecological it was to do- oops- guess I didn't think of that I was too busy having fun, plus it means I need to hunt and gather LOTS of plastic bags and eventually throw them all out knotted into these vessels! I'd be better off amusing myself in different ways, eh?

So- anybody know where I can get my rotary cutter detailed? I also was shopping one day and found a sweater I really loved for $685. (a bot out of the budget.) It was a pullover tunic, sleeveless, and made out of cut lengths of fabric that had been knitted. So naturally, me being the Queen of the Crap Keeping, I remembered the huge box of cuttings that Micky Lawler sent me a few years ago, and pulled them out.



And rolled them up end to end. I don't think I have enough to make a similar sweater yet, but I also have about 30# more of cuttings that haven't been stripped. I will start with a gauge swatch this time because all the extra cutting will aggravate my poor old wrist in no time, and of course I cannot possible do one thing EXTRA, can I? More to follow on this one.

Also, because there is some impending excitement surrounding Maybe-Baby, I pulled out a quilt top I had started years ago for a different baby, but decided that I didn't know that baby well enough to give him all my vintage fabrics, cheap hussy that I am. So it has been becoming even more vintage and is now ready to see the light of day. The basic piece was a child hiding behind a huge ball, a whole cloth spread for a crib. So I found some Japanese fabric with balls and appliqued them on, did some reverse applique in the largest ball segments, and added my very first attempt at photo transfer. It was done on that awful tee shirt paper so it was plastick-y and awful to touch and this is afterall a BABY quilt, so I cut it out completely and found a piece or redwork that almost covers the hole. The premise of this quilt was originally stuff that starts with 'B', (boy, bluebirds, babies, balls, Bowzer...) but I changed it.



As is evident, I am looking for a border and trying out different old tablecloths. I think I am going with a pieced border of striped tea towels instead of the yellow, but first I have to finish this applique.

OK, FINALLY! Here are some links to laugh by! And while you go through them I will be over on Google digging up more links to Urban Explorations, a fascinating idea of plowing through abandoned buildings, boats, and underground tunnels. I will absolutely stay above ground but some of the photographs are amazing of all this rusty and broken stuff that was so important at a not too distant point. It really rang a bell with me as to my dumpster collages I was working on all winter and will be a natural progression. And it doesn't involve spray paint because we all know I am too old for defacing property.

Another enigmatic fortune from a cookie. Why do I read these? Oh, never mind, I know. It's because I eat so much Chinese food.

Need help keeping the methane levels down in the barn? Here's how to protect your favorite horsie, or it comes in smaller sizes too for goats, dogs, what have you.


Alphabet of Horror, another in the on-going series of weird alphabets I stumble upon.

Trash the Dress, the latest idea of what to do with that wedding dress that will cost $500 to preserve in perpetuity!



Creepy Baby Art