Welcome to my blog! This is a sketch book of things I'm drawing, photographing, writing, or just thinking about when I'm not busy designing fabric.
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www.inthebeginningfabrics.com
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About a week ago, I drew this pigeon. Then I spent a couple of days trying to think of something to say about him. He’s walking. Where’s he going? I pondered, but didn’t come up with anything.
Then, last weekend, I was fixing breakfast and listening to NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday. Liane Hansen interviewed Elizabeth Kelly about her debut novel “Apologize, Apologize!” The book’s cast of characters includes a pigeon who walks home. Elizabeth Kelly said, “I wanted to do something to elevate the modest pigeon.”
That’s it! I thought. Then Kelly joked about this being a redemptive pigeon and I thought: even better!
I had this idea while on a walk with Tom last summer. There’s this superhero, Ice Grrl. She’s saving the arctic one iceberg at a time. She can freeze anything just by breathing on it.
In the real world, Ice Grrl is Penny. Tom came up with Penny’s career. She’s a barista, specializing in iced drinks. No one makes a frappuccino like her. Her hot drinks are fine, but nothing special.
Penny is a lousy cook, so her contribution to potlucks is always a bag of ice. Which she can make in seconds.
When she was a child just discovering her powers, she froze a man in his humvee. She blamed him for global warming and, in a moment of rage, froze not only him, but his entire vehicle.
Tom and I disagree about what happens next.
I think that Penny’s mom orders her to thaw the man. “You must use your powers for good, not evil,” she scolds.
Tom says no. The man dies. Providing the classic superhero backstory of a tragic childhood.
Anyway, that’s more or less her story. Her frequent absences from her job are excused because of the already mentioned extraordinary fraps. No one knows her true identity. No one knows about her trips to the arctic where she is not only saving the icebergs, but also the Flower Power Polar Bears, who are even closer to extinction than the regular polar bears. (She saves the regular polar bears, too.)
So. That concludes our superhero comic book scenario. Not to worry though. The bank of sort-of-sketchy ideas is far from empty.
What I need is a totally rocking GOOD idea.
Someone pointed out to me that the top of my head is missing in the illustration in the sidebar. I just wanted to say that Blogger has not lopped off the top of my head. Didn’t Jessica Rabbit (in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”) say something like, “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.” ?
So, I’m not without a top to my head. I’m just drawn that way. By me. That has to mean something deep, psychologically speaking. OR. It possibly means that I can’t draw hair. Hmmm. One or the other. Here’s a hat though.
I actually wouldn’t wear that hat.
That’s Toby sitting on some early versions of Lily Pond designs. As I’m busily working on my next fabric collection, it’s good to remind myself that none of my previous three collections emerged fully realized. It’s a process of working and reworking.
So, right now, there is the elusive something missing from the slew of designs spread out on my floor. Maybe it’s pine cones. Toby keeps batting one across the floor until it lands in the midst of all my pages of ideas.
He gives me a look like: can I be any clearer? Then, his work done, he goes to see what Tom is doing. Probably needs some help playing the keyboard.
The Magic 8-Ball says: It is certain.
My Hello Kitty calendar says: first day of spring.
These official statements from two highly-regarded experts are being challenged by other experts who are saying things like: “It is rainy.” “It is cold.” And, “Where is the sun?”
It is up to each of us to decide for ourselves. Who are we going to believe?
Toby isn’t really the Saddest Cat in the World as I claimed in my first post. He’s actually about the most happy-go-lucky cat I’ve ever known. When he makes his sorrowful face, he is “Acting!” He’s a Master Thespian like Jon Lovitz on Saturday Night Live.
Toby is the source of endless amusement in this household. When we recently (finally) got a high-speed internet connection, the world of YouTube opened up to Toby. He watches YouTube with the attention he usually reserves for small prey. When there is a Rat Attack on a cat, Toby charges the monitor. When Talking Dogs talk, Toby watches and listens, enthralled. You can practically see the wheels turning in Toby’s brain as he paws the Sleep-Running Dog, as if he’s trying to wake the dog up before it runs into the wall.
So that’s the real happy-camper Toby.
Then there’s Simon. He always laughs at my jokes.
My latest obsession is yo-yos. I went to the Sewing and Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, Washington in late February and, although I’ve seen yo-yos around for years, I never “got it.” Cute, sure. But necessary? Not really. That was then. I left the Expo with Clover’s Small Flower Shaped Yo-Yo Maker, thinking that it was pretty cool, but definitely all I’d ever need in the yo-yo department.
Since then, I’ve added Clover’s Small, Large, and Extra Large Circle Yo-Yo Makers to my collection, and the owner of my local quilt shop, which was out of stock on the heart-shaped yo-yo makers, has ordered me one of each size (small and large). I can’t believe that this is me.
How to make sense of this? For one thing, Clover makes the niftiest gadgets. The yo-yo makers are fun to use and, what gets me is, I realize that the yo-yo makers are not even necessary in making circular yo-yos. People have been sewing up yo-yos for decades without the Clover yo-yo maker. And we are living in frugal times, after all. But the gadget is fun! Fun! It feels good in your hands. You put the needle in and out of precisely spaced little holes, just like those cards printed with animal designs and such that kids used to stitch with yarn. (Remember those?)
Also, I’m kind of enamored with small things, and I like that I can pack all my yo-yo makers, along with scraps of cloth, scissors, thread, pincushion, and needles into a plastic pencil box, and I can take it with me anywhere.
And finally, handwork feels good. I spend hours everyday on the computer. Some days I’m kind of stunned at the number of hours. Hand-sewing gives my eyes a break from the computer screen, which is definitely welcome. But more importantly, hand-sewing occupies my hands while giving my brain some meditative space to stumble around in. And in the end…yo-yos. It’s just a win-win-win kind of deal.
…is hard. Once something is in motion, then it has momentum, which can carry you along for a good long while. Who knows how long? But first there’s getting started. The easiest place to start is with Toby.
Toby is the Saddest Cat in the World.