When my grandmother, the wife of a career naval officer, died I was deeply moved to inherit the dragon vase. Her children said that because they were always on the move, the only constants in their home were a much-loved leather-topped coffee table and the dragon vase, which was purchased in the 1920s when my grandfather was stationed in Japan. Whether they lived in Hawaii, Virginia, California or Louisiana, the dragon vase and the coffee table identified their living quarters as home. The dragon vase has what the Japanese call aichaku. Aichaku is a word made up of two characters: one meaning “love” and the other meaning “to adhere to.” It is my single favorite concept relating to the things that surround us.

Aichaku is the emotional patina that we develop with objects that we use. I once read a quote by a woman waxing poetic about her favorite jeans, “Every bit of fun I’ve had for the last ten years I had with these jeans on.” Those jeans have aichaku. Aichaku suggests that we have a relationship with the things we use that deepens over time.

At our home the nightly home-cooked dinner is a cherished ritual. So when my husband and I married we made each other a placemat out of scraps of fabric and a cloth napkin out of a random fat quarter. We eat dinner most nights off of those placemats and they have developed their own layers of aichaku. When our daughter was three, we suggested that she could choose some scraps and we would help her make a placemat and napkin (using the improvisational piecing technique in the Unfinished Business chapter of the Modern Quilt Workshop.) The quilting is really important on placemats so quilt densely to withstand the frequent washings. Pull them out of the dryer before they are totally dry and place them on a flat surface so they’ll dry flat (and you won’t have to iron them).
Placemats are an excellent project to make with kids and to use up our endless supply of scraps. The indigo placemats shown are made of scraps from the first quilt I ever made in 1987.

The pink/ green and blue placemats were from fabrics selected by our 4-year-old daughter. We did no editing and she takes tremendous pride in having made her own choices about the color.

The multicolored ones Bill and I made for each other right after we married ten years ago. Ten years of washings and look how great they still look! And if you’ve never had the habit of using cloth napkins, give them a try. We’re talking totally fun napkins made out of quilting fabric that can be folded straight out of the dryer and can withstand the messiest of eaters. Curious George napkins can make even the lousiest day a little cheerier. Cheaper than paper napkins over the long run, better for the environment, and long on aichaku.

Chronicle books has donated 5 copies of Julie Jackson’s new book ‘subversive cross stitch‘, 33 designs for your surly side, to be given away. - So the theme for this weeks whiplash is ‘your surly side’, interpret this how you will - have fun.

The competition begins midnight tonight US time, or 7am thursday GMT time or 4pm thurs Aus time, and closes monday same time frames. please see the clock on the whiplash page - when that hits midnight monday the comp will be finished.

To Enter:

1. Read the weekly challenge theme - posted on Thursday
2. Make something over the weekend - using your medium of choice but in the spirit of the theme
3. Take a couple of good photos of your work - one close up photo, and one broader view photo and maybe a photo of it in use. Some hints to take good images - use natural light not flash, put your item near the window in filtered light not in harsh sunlight which create dark patches of shadow. Take a couple of images and make sure it is in focus. - You don’t need to be a good photographer but you do need to use images that show off your item to its best.
4. Post your entry on your own blog - or to flickr, or to your friends site - it must be online somewhere with a stable link.
5. Grab the code for one of the whiplash buttons on the whiplash page (kindly designed by Jan at poppy) and paste into your post with your whiplash entry
6. Are you signed into whipup? if not login or sign up and get a password then login. - You will not be able to upload your link if you are not logged in.
7. Once you are signed up and logged in to whipup - you can upload your link - you must have the permanent link to your post - to get to the permanent link of your post you may need to click on the date or the header or the #, or the permalink button and it should be in this format http://yourwebsitename.com/pagetitle/date/orsomething
8. Where do you upload your link? - go to the whiplash page - see button on sidebar, and look at the sidebar of the whiplash page.



9. You can only enter once per week.
10. Entries will be judges by a panel of judges on three criteria - skill, humour and originality.

Week 1 of whiplash is now closed and judging has begun. I encourage everyone to go through the links and check out everyones entries, they are fantastic and fun. The three top entries will be receiving a copy of the book ‘52 projects’, of course there are many great entries and I would love to feature your favourites. So please leave a comment with your favourite entry and the most popular will be the subject of a special feature post.

I would like to thank everyone who entered, for putting up with my terrible instructions and the beta version of the upload link tool plugin which is still undergoing testing, notifying us of the problems helps us to get it right (hopefully eventually).

I also want to thank Rob for website testing and fixing and trouble shooting, Jon for writing the plugin and hopefully continuing to add features and Jan for designing the whiplash buttons. The authors and judges for putting up with me and for posting great stories and helping out. The readers for being so supportive and reading whipup daily, and our sisters and brothers craft website portals for spreading the word, being enthusiastic and generally posting wee stories about whipup now and again. Also the authors, publishers and sponsors of the whiplash competition - thank you for your generosity and support. (if anyone would like to donate for round 2 whiplash please get in touch via email).

Check out the fairly new podcast from Grace at design*sponge. Grace’s blog is an excellent resource for daily design eyecandy (try saying that fast!) and now she’s interviewing some great creators. First up was Lotta (if I have to put her last name, you’re in trouble, where you been? under a mushroom ;) ) and now there’s Amy Ruppel. Sound quality for Lotta’s interview is not quite there, the Amy interview is improved. Saying that Grace is an engaging interviewer and it’s worth hanging in there to see who else she’ll interview in the future.

Do you paint them on?
…or other variations of these questions are the most common ones I get.

The answer is they’re ceramic decals that are either screen printed or digitally printed, not on any old printer but with special colours in special printers. For the very decorated beakers above, I’ve used open stock transfers, cut up in hundereds of little pieces and then applied onto the ceramics - piece by piece and then they’re fired.

Ceramic decals have been used by the ceramics industry for several decades and in the last ten years or so, they’ve become more widely used by studio potters. One of the first potters I came across who used ceramic decals in her work was Agneta Spångberg (below). You can find her work through Swedish ceramics and glass cooperative Blås & Knåda.

Open stock ceramic decals can be bought through for instance Terra-Nova decals in the US. But if you want to use your own originals there are also small companies that does this, I know of for instance Pamela Moreton in the UK and I have a very good printer in Sweden that does mine. A good site for finding and sharing ceramic related information like this is clayart - check it out for decal suppliers for instance.

Without going into too much detail, here’s the process of screen printing:
To make a screen print, one needs an original image. The quality of your original will reflect on your print. The image is transferred over to light sensitive film and applied on to the mesh of a screen.

Engobe colours mixed with a (preferably) water based medium are pressed through the screen and onto a print paper. When the print is dry, a cover coat is printed on top of it.

After the cover coat has dried, the print is dipped in water and soon the cover coat will lift the print off the paper and it can be applied to the ceramic surface. The goods are fired up to around 800 degrees C.

I mentioned above that decals can also be digitally printed. The advantages of digital printing compared to screen print are the possibility to produce short production runs cost effectively as well as the print quality and resolution of for instance a photograph. I’ve had some digitally printed decals made by Digital Ceramics in the UK.

Whether you use screen printed or digitally printed decals, you need to do some tests to see how the prints work with the goods you are applying them to – ask for samples and try them out before ordering.

One can have lots of fun with ceramic decals, they can be cut up and applied where your hands or tools can reach. Why not spruce up your old china with some modern print? Improved crockery by Esther Derkx:

Screen printing is really only skimming the surface of what can be done with ceramics and print and I’m sure I’ll come back to the subject in future posts. If you want to read more at once, here’s the book for you: Ceramics and Print by British ceramicist Paul Scott.

I’ll be back in two weeks with some tips on Potter’s fairs to visit in the summer!

So many of you have signed up to whipup I am waiting to see more entries. As it is Easter I have extended this first comp just one more day, to give those of you who intend to upload your link a chance to do so.

I have been eagerly checking out everyones entries, I love everyones different interpretation of the theme ‘everyday creativity’ - so get cracking on that whiplash.

to enter your link your need to go to the whiplash competion page - see sidebar or click on the button you see right here - on the sidebar of the whipup page you see where it says upload link - click on that and a popup box will appear where you upload your link

Pysanky folk art from the Ukraine; decoration of eggs using beeswax and dyes. Hot beeswax is applied to the egg using a kistka (a tool draw hot wax onto the egg, some are simply a stick with wire). The design begins by drawing on a plain white egg with hot beeswax, then the egg is dipped into yellow dye and then dried. The kistka is used to draw the designs to remain yellow and then the egg is dipped into the next dye bath. The process continues, alternating waxing designs and using dyes that progressively get darker. Once the black dye is dry, hold the egg over the side of a candle flame and gently continue to wipe off the melted wax revealing the beautifully designed multicolored egg. The final process is to seal the egg with a coating of shellac or varnish. [from here] [image from myquiltblog]

pysanky making here - the kristka tool in action
how to make ukranian easter eggs (pysanky) [via make]
more pysanky designs at paper craft

kids easter egg crafts
kids domain has lots of kids easter craft projects such as painted easter eggs
Making friends also lots of kids crafts - such as paper baskets and egg decoration about.com has heaps as well - the best fun is decoration easter eggs and making paper egg baskets family fun easter craft ideas
my craft book has some good craft ideas
craft bits coloured easter eggs
two straight lines sent in a link on their easter craft project

What crafts did you do for easter?

There are a few things which have been constants in my life, and which I feel define my childhood and adulthood. One of those is the presence of Liberty Print fabrics. As a child I had a room full of cushions and doll clothes as well as my own clothes which were made from various Tana Lawn floral and paisley patterns. My dolls house had Liberty print curtains and wee little bedspreads of fine cottons covered in miniscule floral patterning.

As an adult I have loved shopping at Liberty – the constant changing displays and the desire to forge ahead and showcase up and coming designers, as well as more established ones, always with a slightly less mass market direction than some of the other department stores. Something about the big imposing history stained wood décor inside makes the contrast between old and new that more defined.

Liberty’s fabric department has long held my attention. The floor which is devoted to their in-house fabrics always draws me in, and everytime I am in London now I spend up big on the new collections. There’s something about the intense use of saturated colour which really interests me. They have such a deep relationship with colours which go together so well, that each piece of fabric has a definite life to it. There are few other fabrics which achieve such richness and quality to their designs. What always intrigues me is that the fabrics translate so well into any number of different uses.

The resurgence of ‘handmade’ has really given Liberty fabric a perfect new contemporary market, particularly in children’s clothes. Walk into any designer children’s boutique in London – and I’m thinking particularly of Elias and Grace in Primrose Hill and Caramel in Sloane Square, and Liberty print fabrics are being translated into beautiful smock tops, pants and skirts to coordinate with fine Italian wool jumpers and cashmere socks (yeah I buy a lot of that too when I’m overseas). It seems to once again be defining a generation of children.

The same inspirations can be found amongst craft bloggers currently. Through Stitchounette, there are beautiful children’s clothes being made using Liberty print as trim and as main feature pieces. The smock tops of Rouge Nahsam are divine and she has a whole blog devoted to them. Turn to any Japanese book of Zakka handmade items and there is sure to be a fair smattering of Liberty print in them. The ultra fine cotton works well against linen and knit textures. This is another appeal of the fabrics for me – by themselves they can be delicate, soft, caressing, but against a rough 8ply wool, they can be strong determined prints.

This can be highlighted again in the new furniture collection Liberty is producing in conjunction with Squint, covering striking modern chairs in a patchwork of frayed and rough liberty print fabrics. I think these really typify what Liberty is about - strong, bold, contemporary, and constantly evolving.

So, where were we. About that 50%. . .

As I mentioned in my last post about selling wholesale to retail stores, the traditional 50% wholesale discount can feel very steep for us handmade types. Galleries, boutiques that regularly work with independent artists and designers, and on-line handmade marketplaces have a much more flexible attitude toward handmade products. They are typically willing to to lower the discount they expect you to give (40% of the retail price to the shop, 60% to you, or even 30/70). But it’s fairly uncommon that a traditional retail store will accomodate this. If they love you, and they are willing to either make less of a profit or gamble on doubling the lowest price you’re willing to let the thing go for, even though the thing will wind up being more than your customers would pay if they bought from you directly (on your web site, say), you might work it out. But if you grow to the point where you have reps working for you, I doubt they will have time to negotiate this for you. There are lots of products out there, and stores have limited space and limited resources; they are obligated to make a minimum return on their investment and risk. They are trying as hard as they can to stay in business themselves.

So — if you intend to sell your knitted baby bibs to many stores, and also sell them off of your own web site, and also at craft shows, you should know that the retail price at all of these venues should be the same. I know you will tell me that this isn’t fair/true/necessary, but I will say that, in my experience, it is, if only because it will make your life exponentially easier if you start out pricing your products in this way. If you have different prices for different people or different places, or you try to sell your bibs on-line at a price that undercuts the retail price your stores are selling them at, you will run into problems. I urge you to be realistic about your pricing, but to also value everything that you’ve brought to your product, and set a wholesale price that you are very comfortable living with. If you feel that it’s not possible to do so, you may want to pursue relationships with more flexible venues, or stick to selling retail direct to your own customers.

When I first started selling my products wholesale, several years ago, I was really shocked that stores got half of the retail price of something I had made, but now of course I understand it. Retailers have commercial rent, advertising, shipping, fancy packaging, credit card fees, employee wages, commercial utilities, special events, insurance, inventory, all sorts of overhead. They are also talking about you and your products to people every day, and occasionally getting editorial coverage for the lines they carry, which benefits both of you. Good stores earn their 50%, and the reward for both of you is their re-order, meaning they’re making their profit and you’re selling more stuff.

I will say that the reality of today’s retail market is that there hasn’t really been a paradigm shift in the traditional wholesale relationship that accommodates the handmade-product manufacturer very well, but it’s better than it was even five years ago. Nevertheless, you, as a manufacturer, are competing with companies that mass-produce their goods at very low prices. The retailer is always going to try to get your prices as low as possible because that is what their customers demand; customers who are choosing not to be at Wal-Mart in the first place are already fewer and far-er between than we’d like. Unless you are able to target very high-end markets who can ask very high-end prices, you will be pressed to find a way to meet the demands of the general public, who are, for the most part, buying happy meals that are cheaper than they were ten years ago. In a slow-ish economy, everything’s a tough sell if it’s not on super-sale. What people do and what they wish they did when they shop can be very different things; I think that, theoretically, people would love to support us indie designers. In reality, Urban Outfitters knocks off the deconstructed-seam-allowance look much more cheaply than we can, and it serves many people who appreciate the handmade aesthetic but can’t afford the real thing.

Nevertheless, we know that handmade work is something to be valued, and the more we can get our customers to recognize and appreciate all that’s gone into getting something into their hands, the more they will appreciate and be willing to purchase what we’re offering. It’s very important not to underprice your own work. Where there’s a will, there is always a way.

More on how to approach a store next time.

it seems a few people are having problems uploading their link. This is an internet explorer problem - the popup window isn’t displaying properly in IE. We are working on this, we do try to test everything in IE first but this one just slipped through. I would urge you to switch over to Firefox, not only is it better but also more secure. If it is not fixed by tomorrow you can email me your link and I will put it in. In the meantime though try downoading firefox (either at firefox.com or through the firefox button on this site).

Another query was with the button. It really is not complicated I promise. So simple - just cut and paste the code that appears underneath the button you want and paste it into your post - there is no html coding required.

Any more probs please comment or email -

Update- The IE problem has been fixed, so you can now upload your whiplash links with Internet Explorer, but hey, get firefox, it really is so much better. –whipup tech support

I recently explored the website Quilt Horizon by artist Dave Daniels. He’s an amazing example of one person having So. Much. Talent. Here is how he describes his approach to quilting:

For many, many years I have worked on lots of crafts. There are endless pleasures from being able to work with my hands. Be it designing and building furniture, planning a garden, or decorating an interior, there is very little more satisfying than to sit down and make a quilt. What a pleasure it is to express myself in ways that are beyond words.

I like being a craftsman, and enjoy learning crafts. There is an ancestry to them. A tradition. A sense of community. Who was the first person to gather their scraps and make a quilt? What was in the mind of the first person to gather some herbs and make tea? These are the topics I wonder about. These are the things in life that are meant to be shared and carried onward.

When asked about his mission?

I would like to be able to inspire others, as I myself have been inspired. To encourage people to try something new. It is only through learning that we can continue to grow. I am putting myself out there in the hopes of helping and being helped by others.

If you have a talent or know a craft, share it with someone. Show a child what you have learned. Let them carry along these skills and your memory. I have lost many people in my lifetime. What I have found that brings them back to me is what I have learned from them. I can be making a particular recipe, and I remember the person that showed me how to do it. Every time, and they are right there showing me again. It sticks to my soul in ways that I never would have thought about when I was younger. The skills I have were inspired along my way through life, and I am grateful for having them. Please, share what you know, and learn what you want.

Find out more about Dave and see examples of his work by checking out Quilt Horizon and/or visiting his blog at Dave’s Cabin Cove where you’ll see his dyeing, knitting and of course Lulu Kitty!

viva idea - the very first entrant to the whiplash competition - go and check out her entry, she has done everything perfectly.

She joined whipup so she was able to post her link, she put the badge into her post and took some good clear images of her work including a close up. Thank you for being the very first entrant - good luck with the comp.

And to those who have yet to post your link - check out the instructions again.…

Among quilters in North America, the semi-annual International Quilt Festival is a Mecca of sorts. There are several quilt shows on display sponsored by sewing industry giants, technical classes offered by teachers and a whole slew of vendors with seemingly endless trays of fat quarters and short-cut gizmos. We went last weekend because the spring show is half an hour from our house and there’s a part of us that thinks that this is the year, unlike previous years, we’re going to find something or someone interesting. At least this year there would be the added appeal of seeing our student Mary Beth Clark’s prize-winning entry about the loss of her mother at age eight in the “I Remember Mama” competition on display.

Some of the quilts, like Mary Beth’s, are unforgettable, but there are a whole lot that are excellent technically but uninspiring in terms of design. For reasons I don’t understand the show organizers will not allow images of the quilts featured to be published anywhere else so I cannot include the memorable ones here.

The show always makes us feel a bit lonely, wondering whether or not there will ever be a critical mass of really interesting quilters at one of these shows. There are some contemporary quilts on display but few vendors carrying fabrics or books we would buy. Mostly there were a whole lot of versions of 19th century patterns and predictable novelty fabrics one might expect to find used in pediatric nurses’ uniforms. Need any tea-stained lace? How about a CD you can stick in your sewing machine so it can automatically embroider a Disney character onto your quilt? Lonely, very, very lonely. And yet we always wonder if we should set up a booth there to offer a different voice? As artisans and business owners it seems like a bad gamble or is it an opportunity?

Marcia Derse of Text Tile fabric and design decided to take the plunge. She had an exquisite little booth, elegantly designed and filled with her hand-dyed fabrics. She’s using the show as an opportunity to learn and we admire her bravery. Surrounded by other hand-dyers with neon colored, rainbow dyes or the “Look! I used every color I could find all at the same time” aesthetic, Marcia’s fabrics were a breath of fresh air. Amid a lot of screaming fabrics, hers whispered poetry. She doesn’t have a website yet but you can email her at derse5@buckeye-express.com if you are interested in purchasing any of her fabric.

In the community of our students, several great quilting blogs out there and whipup and amid the thousands of visitors to our website every month we feel as though there is an incredibly exciting new generation of quilters on the horizon, but when we attend these shows, it’s hard not to wonder whether or not it’s all a mirage. At some point I wish we could all just get together in one place just so I know it’s for real.

via caterina fake’s blog, i just saw the slanket- a blanket with roomy sleeves. i know it’s getting warmer for some of us, but for others they are heading into the cooler seasons.

it reminded me of the warm hands cushion and the rug slippers by the wildly imaginative Belfast-based artists/designers from Electric Wig. oh all their work is lovely. also check out the crochet collection 2003 (furniture that incorporates crocheted elements and peg board tops) ; and the embroidered table (like a bedside table with holes you can bring a string through) from 2004.

the work by Electric Wig is thoughtful. from environmental concerns (like the small shelf under a light switch to stop the excuse that you could not shut the lights off because ‘your hands were full’) to design for accessibilty (special socks for a carer whose knees were often sore).

Jeffrey Yamaguchi has donated 3 copies of his book ‘52 Projects‘, ‘random acts of everyday creativity’, to be given away.

When I received the book in the mail I was so excited, having seen it around and read several reviews and having been an avid reader of 52projects the blog. Such a good resource for getting the creative juices flowing. I also went and downloaded a couple of podcast interviews with Jeffrey to help me get a better idea of the person behind the book. Having emailed Jeffrey a few times and always receiving such enthusiastic and positive responses I sort of knew what a great guy he must be. I encourage you to listen to the pod cast interviews as he has such a great voice and creative spirit, and it was interesting too hearing about his previous projects and how the book all came about. {craftypod and craftsanity}

52 projects the book is neat and smooth and handy for travel, easy to read and beautiful to hold and look at. Opening it for the first time was exciting, I wasn’t quite sure where to begin, I began by flicking through in a hurry to absorb everything. Once I had that out of my system I slowed down and began from the beginning. Before Jeff gets to the projects he starts off with some short essays on creativity, what making projects does for him and what others can get out of it too. He says that projects tap into “how you see the world and what you’re feeling on the inside” and “making projects stretches the imagination and generates new sources of energy”. I like this philosphy and felt a kindred-ness with this book from this point on.

Most of the projects are either writing or photo/art based, and tend to be quick projects that give a sense of instant satisfaction. They are centred around ways to instigate your creativity, jumping off points to bigger and longer projects, or simply fun projects to get back in touch with your inner child. Amongst the many good ideas Jeff has snuck in a couple of eclectic ones, like no. 28 - collecting broken umbrellas in the rain and burying them, documenting the whole event, and no. 43 where he suggests making a huge cake with an obscure message on top and leaving it in the kitchen at work to be mysteriously found. Another thing about this book which I enjoyed is Jeff’s quirky, slightly irreverent, views on the establishment, such as his suggestion to take a sickie and simply use the day for yourself. But don’t get me wrong, there are lots of serious projects here too, such as no. 6 writing a letter to your loved ones for the day your life is at its end.

All in all I think this book has some great ideas, good writing instigations to get rid of writers block or to encourage those who don’t think they have any talent to just give it a go. Also some fun weekend projects, group projects, party projects, projects for friends and projects for yourself. These are not home handyman projects or gardening projects or craft projects, this is not a ‘how to’ or ‘diy’ book, instead it is a thoughtful ideas book, get off the couch, turn off the TV and think about life book.

Sponsored by … check out these fantastic supporters of whip up.

First of all I want to thank everyone for all of the fabulous suggestions posted in the comments last week. One recurring theme in the e-mails and comments I’ve recieved about recycled clothing is “I want to make my old clothes into new clothes, but I don’t know how to get started.” That’s where this post comes in. Here, we take old man pants and transform them into a li’l pleated skirt, embelished with one of these lovely fabric flowers from Wise Craft. Of course, there are many MANY more ways to remake your old duds, and for many more ideas, check out the links at the end of this post!

1. Seam rip hem stitches and cut off any part of the cuff that may be worn out. 2. Turn pants inside out and seam rip the inseam, from ankle to crotch to ankle. 3. Put pants on inside-out and mark on the side of the thigh where you’d like the skirt to end (before the pleats). Also, mark at the back of the skirt, at the widest part of your bottom (each marked here with a red “x”). Now, draw a line one inch below the mark on the side of the thigh, perpendicular to an intact side seam. 4. In this picture I’ve added that red dotted line to show how you can follow the natural line from the zipper down to the bottom of your skirt. Baste this, as well as a similar line you’ve drawn from the point you’ve marked as the widest part of your bottom down to the edge of the skirt. I say *baste* because this is the part where a tiny bit of fitting comes in. My seam below the zipper worked fine, but I had to adjust the one at the back a bit, as you can see here:

Now, once you’ve got the seams right, stitch along your baste lines. And then, seam finish around the bottom edge of your skirt (I used a zig-zag stitch), and set this part aside.

Next:

Pleats:

5. cut two long rectangles of fabric out of each pant leg you’ve cut off (mine were 8″ x 24.5″). Sew these together, end to end, until you have a really long strip. Now fold this strip lengthways (right sides together) and stitch together to make one long tube. 6. First turn the tube right side out, then press the tube flat, then press in pleats. I made my pleats random and just kept and eye on how long my tube was once folded as I knew the hem of my skirt was about 42″ around. 7. to finish the edges of the tube, I folded each end inside about a half inch and hand stitched closed. Now, pin the pleated fabric onto the skirt overlapping about one inch. 8. I had left my pleated piece a little shorter than my skirt hem on purpouse to have a little gap/side slit, and this of course is where I attached my fabric flower, which I made with some of the leg scraps. Once I’d finished my skirt I decided I didn’t like how the front pockets kind of “pooched out” at the sides, so I went ahead and sewed them shut with just a single line of stitching along the pocket edge.

And that’s pretty much it! This is the first how-to type post I’ve written for whip up, so please let me know if things don’t make sense.

Want to see more ways to re-do a wardrobe?

From not martha, a full length jean skirt
Gorgeous things from Revamp Designs
More skirts and some great looking “t-shirt sugery” at Oh My Stars Craft
And if you’ve ever wondered how to turn a bedsheet into a Jellyfish dress, check out this post at Pearl of Civiliation

Secret Diary 18: “Up to speed” (C) 2005 by Angela Moll, 46″h x 56″w

Textiles and fiber have a weird way of soaking up memories. When I sit down to knit or quilt, I am flooded with the details of the times I have worked on the piece before — the movie or music that was playing in the background, the weather, my state of mind, the feeling of my dog nestled up against me. This doesn’t happen nearly as powerfully with other daily routines and objects, like cooking or turning on a lamp or what have you. And of course a finished object is infused with the texture of the times and mental space in which in was created, which you revisit every time you wear or use your creation.

Quilt artist Angela Moll (who I learned about thorough Hillary of Wee Wonderfuls) explores this phenomenon overtly in her Secret Diary series. She screenprints text from her real journals onto fabric and cuts them up, rendering her words all but illegible. The pieces are mixed up and reassembled improvisationally, just like memories preserve the texture but not the structure and sequence of real time. I not only love the statement she’s making, I love the Gee’s-Bendy construction and colorplay as well.

Fun fact: like our most recent Quilt Artist of the Week (and Denyse Schmidt, come to think of it) Ms. Moll is a young quilter with a background in computers and design. It’s interesting to see these sensibilities informing what I feel brave enough to deem a whole new era in quilts.

Yeah Spring! Along with the daffodils, new issues of online knitting magazines are popping up all over the place. This week the latest issue of Knitty hit the net and it’s filled with 17 fresh new patterns to brighten up your knitting basket.

Embroidery is hot and the cover sweater (pictured here) incorporates it nicely. There’s also a great guy sweater, something that’s always difficult to find in my opinion, and who doesn’t like a good knit sea creature?

But don’t forget the features! There is a wonderful article on seaming and another on repairing knitwear. There’s even one on dyeing in your dishwasher!

In other news, there’s a new online knitting & crochet magazine I wanted to tell you about — For the Love of Yarn. They just put out their premiere issue and it includes four patterns — check out the cute little amigurumi snail.

Here are some images of the new Amy Butler line, Belle. The word is that is will be available mid-June and it’s her first collection with Rowan, after leaving Freespirit this fall. Rowan is the home of Kaffe Fasset’s line of fabrics as well.

There is a bit more Amy Butler info over here at Quilter’s Buzz regarding the collection, where Amy has been a guest blogger for a bit. It looks like a nice group of fabrics, floral patterns with some coordinating stripes, inspired by “garden sanctuaries” and I can see some classic Chinese influence in there too.

She also has a new book, In Stitches, published by Chronicle Books coming out this fall, and a new stationary line, wow! Busy busy gal!

Usually, I am not drawn to children’s crafts, simply because I don’t have kids and I don’t spend that much time thinking about it. But there’s something about puppets that are so appealing to me, even just to think about making. Perhaps it’s my own childhood muppets nostalgia. Regardless, here are some fun puppet resources in case you are inclined to put on a puppet show for any kids in your life, or heck, just for yourself:

Puppet 101, in which a professional puppet maker (btw is that not an awesome job!) documents step-by-step how he makes puppets (via drawn)

Along the same lines is projectpuppet.com which publishes simple patterns to make professional looking puppets.

Download and construct your own paper puppet bunny rabbit theatre (via meggiecat)

Amazing ideas for a home puppet theater and a traveling finger puppet theater from amy at angry chicken.

Knitted fingerpuppet patterns at knitty and more here or try crochet fairytale finger puppets at crochet me