Solid Ideas

Reduce, reuse & recycle your craft area.  Here are some things worth hanging onto.

• If your clothes are past donation status, remove buttons, zippers and any decorative detailing before throwing them out
• Save frozen juice cans so the kids can make pencil holders (dad always needs another for his desk) - try gluing a winter felt scene with seed bead snowflakes...think outside the can
• Organize embroidery thread or small skeins of yarn on an old coffee mug rack
• Consider scrapping your worn clothing - one day your kids may sit under a quilt or blanket and reminisce about their old favorites (cut out those adorable t-shirt icons and iron-ons, too)
• Look over your empty laundry soap boxes/containers and all of those tubs from the kitchen - paint them or paper them and store an infinite amount of notions
• Your favorite paper catalog can be cut up for scrapbooking or a tiny paper project - for free!
• Grab something from the trash or recycle bin, drag it into your workspace, and force yourself to be creative (look what those designers can accomplish with car parts or coffee filters on Project Runway).  You'll feel better knowing you've been environmentally responsible.

I'd love to hear more crafty conservation ideas from you.  

You Give Me Fever

A couple of months ago I took a class on Weaver Fever quilts.  This quilt, designed by Jackie Robinson (seriously), is a twist on bargellos (strip piecing and cutting to make a detailed and often illusional quilt).  I chose to create the "weaver fever threever" requiring a light, medium and dark tone of two colors, with a neutral fill tone.  

I signed up for the class on impulse, but I am unable to impulsively select fabric.  This time I dragged my mother and sister along to my local fabric shop, and we spent around an hour selecting the seven beautiful fabrics.  Now, I am a calm and subdued person and so the bright cover of the book was immediately a turnoff to me (I truly only wanted to try out the technique).  Having just returned from a vacation in LA, I channeled my inspiration from the ocean.  I chose very calm greens and blues, with a fill color of grey.  These colors make me sigh and feel at peace.  I could not imagine snuggling up to watch my latest Netflix documentary under a wild mad, mad, mad, mad quilt.  

Now you color theorists are thinking, "she's going to be doing a lot of cutting and piecing and ironing and she's not going to get a lot of visual 3-d out of her fabrics."  And you'd be right, to an extent.  I showed up for the class and the instructor nearly audibly winced.  My fabrics do have shifts in value, but they are subtle.  This presented a clash among the group, who enjoyed predictable and traditional fabric choices.  I think the quilt I am creating is more modern in its color schema and because quilting is such a traditional technique there is this juxtaposition I truly enjoy.  More to come on the class materials, instruction and--God Willing--my finished piece.

Book Report

Twinkle Sews by Wenlan Chia

I was in my favorite mega bookstore the other night and looked though about 20 craft books before deciding I could not live without this one.  Wenlan Chia, who previously authored knitting books, has successfully created a sewing book and pattern disc.  In true Project Runway spirit (she references the show in her introduction), the clothing borrows from the past and is most remarkable in its superbly executed details.

Anyone looking to advance their sewing technique beyond "Sewing for Dummies" would be intrigued by these projects.  I can't wait to try out one of the six raglan sleeved tops, and the diamond pleating showcased on the Balancing Act shirt will be a new technique for me.  Chia uses exquisite fabrics, and reminds the reader the value in spending a little more for quality.  Silk-and-viscose velvet, stretch tweed (wool, nylon & Lycra blend), and viscose-linen are among my favorites.  

Look for more posts to come as I try my hand at a few new looks.  With sizing from 0 to 16, I can reprint any number of times (I'm thinking homemade Christmas).  Bottom line: I would recommend this book to anyone looking to branch out beyond simple sewing techniques.  

Just Around the Corner

In case you're still trying to find that perfect gift for your special someone.  Christmas will be here before you know it.  

Loom Envy

I recently visited the Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln in Hodgenville, Kentucky.  Lincoln's birthplace is no longer standing, however both his parent's cabins have been moved to the site along with a blacksmithing shop.  The log cabins still house several Lincoln family heirlooms including Thomas Lincoln's wood axe, hewn furniture and this loom (pictured).  

Not many bloggers possess a loom of this size and substance (where would most of us even put it?!), but weaving is something we can try on a smaller scale.  

I recently purchased a Beka beginner loom for my daughter, and see real potential for scarves, hand towels, washcloths and napkins.  Of course, pot holder looms are fun and classic, too.  I once even weaved a Native American vest out of brown grocery sack strips weaved over and under.    Make your own loom out of a cardboard box or just weave old newspaper or magazine strips and let your recycled imagination run wild!  

A fast fall furniture facelift

The hubbo and I walked & shopped the Plaza this weekend.  We noticed an obvious recurring trend in upper end retail shops:  inexpensive burlap pillows embroidered or appliqued which are sold for rather exorbitant prices.  I am compiling a list of links that may get your creative juices flowing.  

Pull out some scraps of fabric.  Try:

• Ironing on an image- make your own or buy some OTC, my favorites come from Sukie 
• Applying a single word in a graphic font via applique or stencil using fabric paint
• Weaving fabrics for a pillow top
• Embroidering fall leaves or a pretty quote
• Sewing simple sashes around your existing decorative pillows  
  

Pillows to adore:

Jonathan Adler's orange & pink Union Jack

Restoration Hardware: woven & embossed leather

Anthropologie: linen & jute transfer image pillows

Pottery Barn: burlap cafe pillows

Crate & Barrel 2: embroidered la vie pillow

Blissliving: prosperity pillow

Anyway, keep the $98 retailers are asking.  You can make a custom pillow that truly reflects your home's unique style at a fraction of the cost.  If you make some, email me some pics.  We'll post them to the site.

National Letter Writing Week

This old WPA poster indicates the first week of October used to be National Letter Writing Week.  This coming week, enjoy sending copious amounts of mail to your friends and loved ones.  Try snail mail; everyone loves receiving a random and unexpected line.

Writing a love letter?  Make some scented ink:

1. Mix together 1 teaspoon of essential oil with 1 teaspoon of vodka  
2. Slowly add this mixture to a bottle of fountain ink
3. Shake well
4. Write away

Feel like you're not great at writing?  Check out the templates at writing help-central.  Or peruse Emily Post's 1922 article on writing etiquette preserved at Bartleby.  

Kids love receiving a sheet of stickers, coloring book, flat bracelets, foam crafts, or gift cards.  

This week, pop open that address book.  That letter will be appreciated.

Spoonflower

I just found out about the coolest fabric at Spoonflower.  Design it yourself.  I can think of a myriad of possibilities: an heirloom quilt, the kids might design their own school clothes, make handbags, curtains...you name it.  The Spoonflower blog hosts weekly contests that reflect the zeitgeist of modern fabrics. 

Check it out, and if you design your own fabric be sure to let us know.

Color, inspired.

Interpretation of the colors I see around me today.

Recycle for Peanuts

George Washington Carver is noted for inventing uses for the peanut and the sweet potato.  He is one of the nation's most famous inventors, but only received 3 US patents in his lifetime.  This month's issue of Missouri Life reveals he was also a recycler and conservationist long before the trends became chic.  

"No individual," he observed, "has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving something behind."  Carter's life and work are more than ample inspiration for us to go out and look at the world through fresh eyes.  Below is his favorite poem, a little inspiring treat all its own:

EQUIPMENT

Figure it out for yourself, my lad,
You've all that the greatest of men have had,
Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes
And a brain to use if you would be wise.
With this equipment they all began,
So start for the top and say, "I can."

Look them over, the wise and great
They take their food from a common plate,
And similar knives and forks they use,
With similar laces they tie their shoes.
The world considers them brave and smart,
But you've all they had when they made their start.

You can triumph and come to skill,
You can be great if you only will.
You're well equipped for what fight you choose,
You have legs and arms and a brain to use,
And the man who has risen great deeds to do
Began his life with no more than you.

You are the handicap you must face,
You are the one who must choose your place,
You must say where you want to go,
How much you will study the truth to know.
God has equipped you for life, but He
Lets you decide what you want to be.

Courage must come from the soul within,
The man must furnish the will to win.
So figure it out for yourself, my lad.
You were born with all that the great have had,
With your equipment they all began,
Get hold of yourself and say: "I can."

--Edgar A. Guest

  

Quote of the Day

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,

we must carry it with us or we find it not.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Meet me at the Fair

I have watched Meet Me In St. Louis many times.  State Fair, too.  Is it just me, or did fairs seem to be about finding a husband, out-baking the neighbors, and growing a pig so fat and pink and clean the judges all impulsively threw blue ribbons at your hardworking little boy?  I've never actually been to a fair like that.

I do remember growing up and attending country craft fairs.  Windsocks, painted geese and peculiar little trinkets as far as the eye could see.  And all crammed underneath miles of tents (greenhouse effect in action).  Country craft fairs can still be found here and there, but they seem to be more about deep fried food and free chiropractic assessments.

Interest in a new breed of fair is emerging among urban professionals.  The art fair.  I've been to two this year:  The Montrose Arts & Crafts Fair in outer Los Angeles, California and, most recently, the Saint Louis Art Fair in Clayton, Missouri.  Grab a cocktail and walk down rows of affordable art tastefully displayed.  Hungry?  Step into a locally renowned delicatessen or boulangerie.  

Read carefully, for I am about to reveal the secret of the art fair.  Don't buy any art.  My husband noticed a cigar shop on a corner where I picked up empty wooden cigar boxes for $2.00 a piece.  The real find was not scoring another artist's handiwork.  It was picking up supplies for my next-as-yet-undeveloped creations.  

Next time you're feeling uninspired, head to the new and improved fair.

What's in the Name

Refining is an establishment whereby something is purified or perfected.  The Oxford English Dictionary contends a refinery makes things "more fine, elegant or polished".  It also includes the process of "making distinctions in thought or language."

The Refinery is here to:

• Slough off the ragged edges of the past; clean up concepts to meet modern needs and aesthetics
• Recycle gently used objects into creative projects
• Challenge thinking about cheap mega-store purchases and encourage time consuming but honest practices individuals can be proud of
• Encourage thought in the seemingly mundane day-to-day living
• Be intentional
• Explore the benefits of discipline
• Provide information to C.Y.A. in case all hell breaks loose (you never know)
  

Life is an adventure not to be controlled by exterior circumstances, forces, or marketers.  Grab onto it and push life into a full blown experience.  The Refinery is here for its elegant mission: helping each reader and contributor identify the simple daily changes that make her/him a freer, truer, purer individual.  That's distinction of character.  That's what's in the name.

Welcome to The Refinery

Last Saturday I sat in an oversized but uncomfortable recliner in my 90-year-old grandmother's living room.  I like to poke around inside her head to hear unfathomable stories of the Dust Bowl, Great Depression, World War II...whatever valuable bit of history she's willing and able to recollect. 

Several afternoons passed like this between us, after which I've made a mad rush home to journal about an age gone by.  Gram is a vibrant window to the past.  She is a resource of lessons learned for the future.  Last Saturday she provided me with a question of her own.  "Do you think," she wondered aloud, "this generation could make it today the way we used to?"  

That night I peered over my mug of specialty store tea and gazed at the question now scribbled out in my journal.  People, it seems, used to be resourceful and have a hunger for self-education.  Are we, I pondered, so different?  Has romanticism separated today's culture from its foundations to the point the ages seem distant and impossible to recreate?

Their lives were hard.  Our lives possess their own challenges.  Their fears felt tangible.  Our fears feel tangible.  They loved.  We love.  Just as generations before us, we long to make an imprint on the world; we want to glean from its resources responsibly and make a difference to someone.

To answer Gram's question: yes, we could make it.  But we would probably make it a little different.  The Refinery is a post-modern blog about taking familiar concepts and processes from the past and translating them into significant concepts for today.  

Welcome, then, to The Refinery.