Hit Home? Wow

Wow. I just watched this video clip by Brene Brown and BAM... hit home?

sheesh. I am totally getting her book.

HERE IS THE LINK. and I embedded it below.

It's about more honesty and less how-to.

Thank you Brene. (and thank you kelly rae for tuning me in to Brene.)

This just hits home on so many levels...

You?

xo

reenie

Hoarder? Frugal? Thrifty? Green?

Call it whatever... but there are some things I just cannot toss into the landfill.

My biggest thing is yarn, fiber, fabric...

I just know I can reuse these items until the point of practical disintegration.

Please do not call the Hoarders show people on me. (Have you seen that show? sheesh. Poor people. It does put things into perspective though.)

Here are some shots of my insanity...

This is my thread jar. It sits next to wherever the sewing machine is. All thread snips and pieces go in there. They look so pretty all tangled up in there!

I will eventually card these into a batt and spin into a yarn.

The jar itself is made from knotting strips of fabric scraps together.

This is the snibble and foozle bin that lives under my studio table.

 All fiber and yarn pieces go into this bin.

My local yarn shop from PA still saves foozles for me to add to this bin. (love you all at UT).

Snibbles are tiny pieces of yarns... Foozles are a but longer, and can be used for more things... Both phrases were used by my great-grandma. 

Contents of this bin will also eventually be upcycled into handspun yarns. 

There are actually two bins full right now, perhaps its time to start carding?

There are many other things I do to reuse my stuff... stay tuned for more posts about my green/hoarder/frugal tendencies. The madness goes on and on...

Cabled Dreams Journal~

Another Journal~

Available (for now) in the Shop (Material Whirled) on the Journal Page!

The cover is quilted with a lover-ly hydrangea-esque floral pattern.

I couched down strands of a coordinating handspun yarn with matchy-matchy threads.

The acid green knit cabled panel, is a gauge swatch for a project I never got started. Which is fine, because it was really meant for this book.

The closure is an old green coat button and a chain of my handspun.

Inside the front cover is a pocket made from some painted canvas, great to hold your pen or cell phone.

Cover measures 7 in. x 9 inches closed.  

Perfect size to slip into your knitting bag~

           
Inside hand bound pages measure 6 1/2 x 9 (largest)... others vary under that.
108 pages (counting front and back)
Pages are a collection of scrapbook cardstock, printed lined papers, copies of a yarn pattern my late memaw had written out by hand (my mom just found this and sent to me).... there are many clear pockets and places for you to slip in notes or pics...

  

12 of the pages are my art collages... created specifically for this book from old craft books, parts of my paintings, ephemera I have hoarded, yarn sample cards, etc. etc. etc.
Also cards made with my new yarn-ball stamp I carved...
Embellishments are sewn, glued and taped in.
I am sure there are other things I am forgetting to list here, so some things will be a surprise! (teehee)

 

Consider this a Jump Start for your art and journaling! 

A collaboration~ between you and me :)

What can you DO with a book like this?
Record your knitting projects....

Journal you thoughts, dreams, plans, prayers and intentions...

Write out your grocery and to-do lists.

Glue or tape in your favorite photos...

I can go on and list things for days... 

I took a kajillion pictures for you to see, there are more on the journal page in the shop. 

 

One-of-a-kind! You will be the envy of your knitting group~ 

Live Love Knit Journal~

Available (for now) in the Shop (Material Whirled) on the Journal Page!

I have been in a bookmaking phase recently. LOVE to make them but cannot possibly ever fill them all. Sort of like my yarns, I love to create them but will never knit them all. So here is my new collaboration with YOU! The cover is quilted with pieces and parts of my favorite fabrics. The words LIVE LOVE KNIT are written/stitched with the machine onto the red velvet panel. The acid green knit cabled panel, is from a UFO (cabled bag) I decided would never exist. Which is great, because it was really meant for this book. The closure is a vintage red button and a chain of my handspun. Inside the front cover is a pink pocket, great to hold your pen or cell phone. Cover measures 7 in. x 9 inches closed. Perfect size to slip into your knitting bag~    Inside hand bound pages measure 6 x 8 1/2 (largest)... others vary under that. 110 pages (counting front and back) Pages are a collection of scrapbook cardstock, printed lined papers, copies of a yarn pattern my late memaw had written out by hand (my mom just found this and sent to me).... there are clear pockets for you to slip in notes or pics... 12 of the pages are my art collages... created specifically for this book from old craft books, parts of my paintings, ephemera I have hoarded, yarn sample cards, etc. etc. etc. Embellishments are sewn, glued and taped in. I am sure there are other things I am forgetting to list here, so some things will be a surprise! (teehee) Consider this a Jump Start for your art and journaling! A collaboration~ What can you DO with a book like this? Record your knitting projects.... Journal you thoughts, dreams, plans, prayers and intentions... Write out your grocery and to-do lists. Glue or tape in your favorite photos... I can go on and list things for days, but you get the idea. I took a kajillion pictures for you to see, there are more on the journal page in the shop. One-of-a-kind! You will be the envy of your knitting group~

Why are you always saying Deedle Deedle Dee?

Deedle is not a state of boredom.
It is that wonderful place my brain goes when I am creating.... happy, blissful, no worries.
Deedle Deedle Dee.

When my studio is a mess and the kids are occupied... music is playing, no phone ringing.
sigh.
Bliss.
Peace.

This is what the studio looks like during...

 Back to it!
xo

40?!

How can I be FORTY?

I feel not a day over 30.

Seriously.

Card from Ann-- Letter's are made of rats~

Card from Eve... a combo MDay/ BDay card~

Off to Ikea to sniff around with my girls and enjoy the start of my new decade!

More later.

Scrounge~

I come from a long line of hoarders and scrounges. Grandparents and parents (cough- mom- cough).
It's something I fight constantly. Keeping too much stuff that I really do not need to have.

But sometimes that scrounging thing? It comes in handy. (Not the hoarding though)
Those 'make do' lessons from my grandparents? They fed my creativity. Now it is the thing, the green reduce reuse recycle mantras.
When I was in art school it was called being frugal or tightwad. Now it is to save the earth.
Whatever you want to call it I say.
Where is this going?
Ann and I were at Goodwill a few weeks ago, picking through the stuff to find some things to use for art.
I came across the 'decor' isle, *shudder*. A graveyard of bad and tacky, and not the good kind of tacky. I am talking about mauve geese tacky.
But in the midst of this 'Home Interior' nightmare? Some really groovy framed canvases.
The plan is to unframe and gesso over the canvases and make into my own, then paint the frames and reassemble.
But first.... let's archive the "before" stage.

First we have Barn Ross.... with textured roof and rocks...

Second is Velvet Trees...

See the great black velvet trim in the frame? lovelovelove...

And last is Eagle Moon. 

The worst of the three.... parts of him will have to remain somehow in my painting. 

He is too bad to kill completely.

Today I finished up the painting that I have been working on the past few months.... the edges are drying so I cannot photograph yet. Soon. I am really satisfied with it, and I thought I would never hit that point, but I did.
Off to vacuum. Before the wool and dust critters get me in my sleep.