Fitted Cover

My friend K is changing the scheme in her family room. Part of the make-over is a slip-cover for a large ottoman she uses as a coffee table. She found lovely fabric online, and I constructed this basic boxy cover. I aimed to have the diamonds on the fabric march around the four sides. They cooperated. Installed in her home with a tray on top, the ottoman coordinates with new persimmon-colored couches and chairs to be slip-covered in painter's cloth (my next furniture project). Photographed here is K's ottoman next to my own gray couch. I like it! As a bonus, I had to pick up the Legos and books from the family room floor to take the picture. Even without a new-looking ottoman, my house is refreshed.

QR-Code

I've been noticing these secret patterns in magazine ads and on the backs of cereal boxes. I hear they lead you to web sites if you use a smart phone or iPod and take a picture of them. Now, I don't have a smart phone, but I thought I needed a QR-Code anyway. I will frame it and set it out at my Urbana Market at the Square booth this summer. I know people will be curious enough to snap a picture of it and then my parking lot presence will be integrated with my world wide web presence.
Isn't it cute?

In the Paper

Shared Space, an artist and crafter cooperative store in downtown Urbana, was featured in yesterday's News Gazette as a place to buy locally-made gifts. What a kick it is to see my pouches in one of the article's photos! I've pinned the paper to the design board in my sewing room. It's my version of a stuffed trophy fish up on the office wall.

Utah Inspiration

I'm just back from trooping around the wilds of central and southern Utah on a family vacation. Two weeks without sewing or shopping for anything related to crafts forced a closer inspection of everything else. The Sego Canyon cliff paintings are chock-a-block full of ideas for silk screening or fabric piecing. I like the effect of something visually interesting and simple, but not childlike.

New Digs

In an effort to clear out a bedroom for R to have his own room, I have added scrapbooking to my sewing space. The new high table and tall chair are meant to say to short passers-by, "Keep moving! This, too, is Mom's space." I have yet to scrapbook in this new zone, but I have discovered that the table is delightful for beading.

Photos From Arizona

In addition to the many hundreds of photos I took of the kids in Arizona this past October, I also attempted to artfully photograph the desert. The result is three pictures, one of cacti at the Phoenix Botanical Gardens, one of Superstition Mountain and one of bluffs outside Sedona. They finish off the new less-cluttered-with-toys look of the family room and remind us of a great vacation.