New Book!

So, only about two or three times in my life have I said to my self "I want/need a book like . . ." and then actually discovered the very book I need some weeks/months later! A while back, I was thinking to myself that I what I really needed was a bunch of quick, easy to sew projects, using only one yard of fabric. And low and behold, I found One Yard Wonders! I had to wait about 6 weeks for it to be released, and then about another week to get my copy from Amazon. But I finally got my paws on it and I love it! Some of the projects are not so thrilling, and a bunch are for kids (not so useful to me right now) but there's quite a few projects I intend on making. It has everything from bags to tops to organizers and even a dress. I highly recommend it to any sewing enthusiast. Storey Publishing is having a Yard-of-the-Month Sweepstakes where you can win a yard of fabric a month for a whole year!

Quote of the Week

" He who possess art and science has religion; he who does not posses them needs religion."
~Goethe

Bench Shot

Here's a current shot of what's on my bench. I think it's kind of funny, because it show's several metalsmith "no no's", glue, beads and string. I'm at this really weird spot. Can I really call myself a metalsmith, if I use little to no metal? Do I call myself a jeweler? Does it really matter what I call myself? Would my time be better spent making work than worrying about labels?
Also, I switched out the pearls on "Black Sands" for black lava beads. They totally make the piece, and I'm so happy I was able to find exactly what I wanted. Thanks Etsy! (I find I buy more supplies than hand made goods off Etsy. Is this a bad thing?)

Process Shot of the Week

Quote of the Week

"The capacity for wonder has been called our most human faculty, for in it are born our art, our science and our religion."

~Ralph Sockman

Love on the Side

I'm really into vintage handkerchiefs right now. I don't really know why. They have nothing to do with the rest of my work. I picked up a few when I went antiquing with Keith LoBue several weeks ago, but I'm still not sure what I'd like to do with them yet. I think there's a bad pic of them a few posts back. Here's some much prettier pics, all found via Flickr.

Monday Gifts

I love when I come in in the morning and find gifts on my bench! This morning I came into two fantastic pieces of lacy fan coral, most likely left by The Ebendorf.

Process Shot of the Week

So, I feel like I've been spending ALL week on preping for my design class! So much grading! Plus, we started on color this week, and I wanted to make examples for my students. It literally sucked up all my time this week. But, I did manage to get White Sands finished.

Bonus Quote of the Week

" I have also come to the conclusion that the square is a human invention, which makes it sympathetic to me. Because you don't see it in nature. As we do not see squares in nature, I thought that it is man-made. But I have corrected myself. Because squares exist in salt crystals, our daily salt. We know this because we can see it in the microscope."

~Josef Albers

Quote of the Week

"What have we been doing all these centuries but trying to call God back to the mountain, or, failing that, raise a peep out of anything that isn't us? What is the difference between a cathedral and a physics lab? We spy on whales and on intersteller radio objects; we starve ourselves and pray til we're blue."

~Anne Dillard