light study

I'm working on a space that is inspired by these photos.

Here is my first sketch model.

indoor photos

I've been taking a lot of outdoor photos the past few days, and they're all very grey and cold. I took some indoor shots to balance out the grey. I'm ready for winter to pass. 

strange buildings

Strange architecture

Which is your favorite? I liked chapel in the rock in Arizona.

ice lanterns

I made a first attempt at ice lanterns made with tupperware and plastic buckets as molds. Here are the first two. Two taller/skinnier ones are freezing in the back yard. I'm just going to keep doing it - making one or two a day - until I have several. They're very charming - and very Minnesotan.

We live by this steam plant. I've always felt visually and sculpturally intrigued by it. It makes me really happy and playful-like. I just love the colors, and how the boxes overlap and connect. I love the twirly silver whateverit'scalled smoke stack thing. I really love the yellow platform by the blue section. It's got a pre-school sensibility. 

Today I finally photographed it.

inspired

Our friend Emma started a new blog about taking photos of scenes that seem painting-like. I'll refrain from explaining it to much and just give you the link: http://accidentalpaintings.blogspot.com/

On the way home we saw a wall with snowmelt that reminded us of her finds. Here's our accidental painting to tell you about hers. Go see for yourself. It's super fun stuff.

terrariums

My project today was to make moss and fern terrariums. 

This is what happens when: 1. you hate winter, 2. your fish dies, 3. fresh flowers are not easily available for your vase, and 4. the semester starts tomorrow and you're relishing your last moments of free time.

bicycle hankies

While my sweetie has been recovering from surgery for the past week and a half, I've been sewing hankies for her and stitching her favorite bicycles into the corners. I started out with a few yards of fabric, some embroidery floss and a needle. This is one final result:

 

I started out by finding images of each bicycle on the internet, then using Photoshop to turn them into black and white drawings:

I then printed each bicycle and backlit the images with fabric on top. After sketching the bicycles onto the fabric, I embroidered. Each bicycle is about three inches wide. I then backed each bicycle with a cloth heart, mostly to hide the loose ends underneath.

The unicycle:

... and its heart (whose stars are actually sparkly and silver):
The tandem:
... and its heart:
The Redline 925:
... and its heart:
The Motobecane (my second favorite): 
... and its heart:
The cruiser (my favorite):

... and its heart:
The classic cycle:
... and its heart:
The Surly Big Dummy:
... and its heart:

It's been a very fine thing to do while it's snowy and cold out.

Cloth hankies save trees! 

I am so, so in love with this little photography blog: http://cafe69.exblog.jp/9406452/

It's in Japanese, and you have to scroll through each page to see one photo. You click on these little symbols at the bottom of each page that are framed by <> in order to navigate the images.

They're all about the little family and the dog. 

fabric portfolio cases

Laurie had a vision for a portfolio case for one of her current archetecture projects. I love to sew and have a ton of patience for figuring out new sewing projects. So, I offered to make these three for her. We're both quite infatuated with them. Unfortunately, we figured out that we needed to have cut out a bigger sized flap to cover the entire top opening, but it's okay as is. It's for looks, not for function, so maybe the judges of the project will think it's intentional. 

new painting

Just started this painting tonight. It's the most cheerful painting I've done. It's also the first I've done in about a year. Winter vacation in California sure was nice.