my first collages

I was going through photos tonight on picasa and found a treasure trove of my old collages from my first collage class at the Art Institute of Chicago, back when I had no idea how important collage would become in my life. I believe this lotus one above was my first collage.

I was in a program there where I was headed toward a certificate in Painting and I stumbled into this collage class and also a wonderful class on "the Artists' Sketchbook" by this fabulous teacher that just transformed my way of thinking artistically. I never did finish the program, but I do remember talking to my advisors and having them say to me in true, generous, art school form: "You're just painting with thread and paper now... you've found your medium" I'm so happy for the few years I was able to take classes at the Art Institute. What a wonderful experience that was.

This one is a pretty accurate skyline collage of Chicago, made all with fabric scraps.
I spent so much time on it. I donated it to a charity auction (I can't even remember what it benefitted!) and it sold. Sometimes I wish it hadn't sold and I'd been able to keep it!

This one was really big.
It was very soon after our wedding and I was playing with sewing on paper
and also working with acrylic transfers. I had a lot of fun doing this one.

I made this one over a weekend in Arizona, on hiatus from a very long cold Chicago winter.
The desert had never seemed so beautiful to me before.
I spent the whole (rainy) weekend in the house with good friends -
we called it "The Summit"... and stitched this little memoir.

This was an attempt to unite my collages with my growing bead collection as I was starting my jewelry company. I was a part of a funny group of much older people (and me) that called themselves the "Midwest Collage Society". We met monthly and collaged and shared together. We also would trade all the time and I got the coolest collection of burlap coffee sacks in those trades. I think I still have one somewhere... somewhere.

This one was a weird idea I had to use the tiniest scraps of fabrics from some tossed out samples from work (I worked in the Interior Design business). But when I was getting to see how they all looked stitched together, I thought it looked really lousy. So instead of tossing it, I just embroidered my failure as a joke across the project.

Tifanie's dream

My friend was describing an image she had in her head the other day. Today has been a horribly sick (sinus infection) day around here. I've got an awful headache and no one to help with two sick and cranky kids. So when the design director asked if there was anything we could do artistically, I was almost too tired to oblige. Then I remembered Tif's imagery and thought, "well, maybe something beautiful could come out of today"
Here's to dreams of a city skyline and a sunset full of colorful dreams.... Which is a lot more fun to focus on than today's events.

Summer Joy (courtesy of Designing Moms)

Do you read "Designing Moms"?  You should... my kids did a cameo there today for a "Friday Fotos" post.

Fancy day

What a day! We borrowed J's parents' convertible and went to a wedding in Malibu in the morning. We got to visit our wedding site where we got married 9 years ago... Then up mulholland drive to the wedding site, and then we took PCH down to go home to change clothes for the Emmys. As we drove up to the Nokia Theatre in dowtown and looked at all the limos, j said "I'd rather get a bounce house than ride in that for an hour" (still, we are glad to not be driving the minivan today. Thanks, D&N!)

Sept 11

I wanted to post something about Sept 11 yesterday, but simply didn't have the words. Sept 11, 2001 was such a dark and scary day for all of us. J and I were living in Chicago, both working downtown ... He was on the el train on the way downtown when the towers fell. I remember
calling him, begging him to go home. My dad was in NYC on a business trip and ended up waiting in a triage unit as a volunteer waiting for survivors that never came. He was pushed to safety by a firefighter as building 7 fell. That was a day most of us will never forget.
I say prayers for the thousands of families affected by the loss of a precious one that day.
Today, driving down PCH in Malibu, I was given an image as we passed my Alma mater - Pepperdine University... It appears there is a flag for each person who lost their life that day. A beautiful, sobering, precious image.

Vanity.... Oh vanity

We are headed to the Emmys tomorrow for J's show ("Fringe"). My week, along with all the stress of the first week of school, ballet and tumbling - along with prep for MOPS kicking off next week, has been peppered with me trying to find a dress and all the garnishes for going to the Emmys. (no small task when you have all of 2 kidless hours for shopping) My main goal has been to find something that makes me look like I didn't have 2 babies. I was excited to find this dress... It made me feel skinny and pre-baby. Things were looking good... Maybe I'd look okay on the red carpet... Until today.

I picked up Mimi from school today and asked her about her various activities... Recess, classtime, new friends... It was fine, until...

Mimi: "Michael said, 'you have a fat stomach'"
Mom: "to you? Oh, honey, he probably said that after you ate and you had a lot of food in your tummy"
Mimi: "no Mom, he said YOU have a fat tummy. Like you are gonna have a baby."

Oh. Great. Thanks, Michael. I really needed that.

Two new friends...

I've been toying with getting a new sewing machine for about a year or so... But I didn't just want to dump mine first. I have had a lower end Pfaff (think of a cheap Mercedes Benz)... It's expensive to tune up, very German and particular, no nonsense, and really strong. But it's plastic. And there are parts of it that frustrate me. Honestly, it's a great machine. I bought it in hopes it would make up for poor sewing skills when I first started. It did.
Now I want more features, metal parts, no need for a name brand - as long as it's well reviewed.... And cheaper maintanance that I don't have to drive an hour to get to. Oh, and I don't have a lot of cash to throw down right now. (or I'd have taken your advice, annakatherine!)
Introduce "jenbp" from craigslist... Who was trying to sell a brand new top of the line Kenmore for half price. ;) my Pfaff is still in the room behind me, we shall decide what to do still... But for now, I'm liking the feel of this one. (there were tons of great experienced reviews online for this one...)

Oh, and the Kenmore's first project? A tote bag for me. Can you believe that after all these totes I have made, none have been for me? Cute, huh?

The Design Director goes to Kindergarten

Here she is! First day of school, in her school shirt and new spinny
skirt...

Mimi and mama

Tomorrow Mimi starts kindergarten. Which means today is the last day of random spontaneity for us. (sniff*sniff) here we are in our skirts for a day on the town. (mine is a custom Libby Dibby with one side from "undercover" and one from "espresso bean")

Simple things

Last night's project was not creative, but I will be bearing happiness from it fr a long time. Our 1922 bungalow does not have a basement or a garage (though we do have a cluttered half-guesthouse filled with Libby Dibby skirts), so the laundry room has been the catchall for everything. It's been an embarressing, dangerous room. Our kids are not big "explorers", so it wasn't hugely motivating to get everything locked up. However, our home study requires that we lock up everything (including laundry detergent), so it's been a weird thing to try and wrap our heads around. A few weeks ago, J was driving through our urban neighborhood and saw some high school lockers for sale by the side of the road. The people sold and delivered them to our place for $40, we painted them bright red (of course) - and now all of our chemicals, tools and random junk is safely under lock and key and my laundry room is no longer an embarressment!
We are also thinking of getting a stackable washer/dryer (please, please!) to maximize more space, though i'm thinking red may be a little too much to ask for.