Lemon Tree Tales

Book Review: The Friday Night Knitting Club

This past weekend while Steve was racing around the racetrack (in the rain!) I read this great book, The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. Although it says knitting in the title, it's less about that and more about the special type of friendships that women share. Fair warning, it's not all warm and fuzzy. In fact at one point I was crying and hoped that no one around the racetrack noticed. The characters are fully realized and you're left wanting to know more about each of these amazing women. There's also a few male characters that make appearances; but don't worry, they too aren't cardboard cut-outs and have rich histories and stories to tell. I wonder if this would ever be considered as movie material? So if you've seen this in the bookstores and wondered if it was worth the money, my vote is yes. Go read it. Then tell me what you think.

IF: Tales and Legends

I couldn't resist doing this when I saw the latest Illustration Friday theme - Tales and Legends. I can't tell you how many people think that my website is called Lemon Tree Tails. That doesn't make too much sense and all that I can picture in my mind is the lemon tree with some tails hanging out of it. They probably belong to the local tabbies relaxing in between rounds of bird-chasing. The illustration itself was my original banner with a few modifications. All done with photoshop.

Late night studio redo

Do you ever have one of those moments where you just can't do anything else because one thing is driving you to distraction? That happened to me late last night. I decided that I finally couldn't stand my old bulletin boards anymore. At first the yellow was nice, but over time I realized that it was just too glaring and made my studio a bit too loud. After I bought those nice storage boxes a few months ago, I wanted my studio to be more neutral with the pale blue walls as a backdrop and perhaps a few accents of chartreuse green and a wee bit of yellow.

The bulletin boards are cheap ones from Target that I covered with a neutral canvas from inexpensive tab-top curtains. Then I glued a ribbon along the edges to cover any stray thread ends. Voila', more sophisticated bulletin boards. I think that I'll make some fabric covered push-pins to hang things up. And of course I now need to get out my threads and put them up on the new thread racks. This will make it a lot easier to find the correct thread, not to mention that it'll add a nice accent of color. The pictures are fashion illustrations by Ruben Toledo that I tore out of a book years ago and then hung in inexpensive Ikea frames. The black cat clock was an engagement present from my mom. It was hanging on the wall behind the computer, but since I got a bigger monitor I haven't seen much of it. He's much better looking over here. Oh, and that trick that designers tell you about hanging a series of pictures (using kraft paper to plan it out then draw outlines and nail marks) works wonders! It was a lot easier doing it that way. I just used painter's tape to hang up the kraft paper, then I nailed the holes and ripped off the paper. Try it the next time you want to hang multiples. I do hope the neighbors didn't mind the hammering too much since it was 11pm.

I haven't mentioned it before, but I took that folding table that my mom sent to me and covered the top of it with one of those vinyl tablecloths in a faux burlap pattern. It's a great cover because you can wipe off any messes. It's just duct taped underneath. It's closer to counter height by resting on a set of those plastic bed risers that they sell at the linen supply stores. The next step will be to make a skirt for it. I did put a skirt on the back of my Ikea desk that I use as my sewing table. My friend Trena suggested that I take off the wheels so that it'd be at a better sewing height. That seems to make a big difference.

It's amazing what a difference this does to the room. Makes me feel wonderful and happy. Hmm, that could also be because I'm off to the airport to pick up Steve. He's been away on a business trip and I'm glad that he'll be home soon. Oops, very soon, gotta run!

Pictures from troll school

Our usual class space at the American Legion Hall where we also have our monthly doll club meetings. My spot is on the left side at the end. Do you see my little featherweight? This was the first time that I took it to a doll workshop and it worked so well. I'm very happy with it.

Two ladies worked quickly and were able to complete their trolls by the end of the second day. The one on the left is by Rosa ... too sweet. And the one leaning against the piece of driftwood was made by Daisy - who found out about the class the night before! The costume is made from dryer lint and other fibers!

A close up of my troll body parts just waiting to be pinned in place. I was having a bit of trouble with the glue on the eyelids, thus the faint resemblance to Pinhead. Look closely at the little face and that nose. It's all needle-sculpted using a strong fishing line as the thread which is fairly invisible on this doe suede fabric.

One of Ute Vasina's demonstrator trolls. His arms are pinned into place. Isn't it amazing how expressive it already looks with just a head tilt and jaunty arm/hand movement? That's one of the things that I liked best about the Mini Whisper class. That plus making the cute face. So if you ever have an opportunity to take a troll class from Ute, please do. You'll learn a lot and have fun at the same time.

Ute Vasina's Mini Whisper Class

Twelve ladies from three doll clubs, one brand new doll-maker, one out-of-town doll designer/instructor, thirteen little trolls (most still naked) and a lot of fun! More pictures to come.

Box of goodies

I forgot to take a picture of the box of goodies that I sent to Joanna of Applique Today for being the winner of the Create in '08 contest. It didn't seem like that many things when I was stuffing them in the box. But if you take a look over at her very delightful blog you'll see the pictures that her 7 year old daughter took. Can you say budding photographer?  :-) Contests are fun, so I'm sure that I'll have another one soon. Now it's time to get back to the quilt.

Four Seasons Quilt Swap - Fabrics

Here's the fabric selection for the main winter scene. My swap partner isn't fond of colors such as brown so I chose this print that will subdue that hue. The bottom left fabric is a "hand-dyed" print from Hoffman Fabrics that'll be used as the backing. I'm not sure yet if it'll make an appearance at all on the front.

To offset the softer colors of the main scene, I've selected more purples and indigos for the flying geese. The four fabrics to the left are scraps of silk from a tie factory that I bought from a vendor at the Creative Sew Festival. They're not cotton, but since they're a natural fabric I'm still going to use them. I think they'll bring the right amount of twinkle to the quilt. Now I just have to draw the full-scale cartoon and get to it.

Four Seasons Quilt Swap - Sketch

Sometime in late November I signed up for the Winter version of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap. Flickr group is here. I've been toying with sketches trying to figure out something that would be interesting. Inspiration came when I noticed the leaflet from an Amazon shipping box. What a perfect tree! I did several quick sketches and finally decided on this fairly simple winter scene. I couldn't resist adding flying geese to the side. They're not too hard to make and are such a graphic element. The snowflakes won't be made of fabric, but will be some sort of embellishment - embroidery, rhinestones, buttons, or a mix of all. I'm not sure about the moon - it'll be something that I work on last. It may or may not make the final cut.

The colors for the main scene will be shades of white and blues with a hint of green and some brown. I need to find the perfect colors for the geese. I'd like them to be colorful but subdued shades more appropriate to the winter sky. Perhaps in a subtle gradation from lights to darks against a background of pure white to the deepest midnight navy? These need to be received by the swap partners by January 31st so there's a bit of time to complete it.

The first winner of 2008 is ...

Just in case you can't read my handwriting, it's Joanna from Applique Today. I've truly enjoyed reading everyone's new habit goals for 2008. It's been inspirational. Let's keep up the good work! Joanna, I just need your snail mail to send your box of goodies out.

New Year's Contest Extended

Wow, I've been amazed by all the different habits and goals for 2008 that everyone has been sharing. It's certainly been motivational to keep going with mine. So far I'm been fairly on target. I've posted two illustrations and am still working on a painted one for the shop. Today I'm cleaning my studio and I did walk outside for 30 minutes on Wednesday. No excuses, but it's been raining yesterday and today's a really bad storm so I think that's all that I'll do for this week. Not perfect but not bad I'd say. (The trick is not to beat yourself up but to keep going on and get better all the time.)

Since it's raining really hard (the wind has been knocking down lots of branches) I'm not going outside unless I have to. So no post office run tomorrow. That means that the contest for the box of goodies has been extended until Monday midnight at PST. Post a comment with your new habit goals for 2008 (or tell us if you have them posted on your site) and your name will go in the drawing. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get back to work.  :-)

Remember - CREATE in '08!!