bricolagelife

six days to say goodbye

in the past few months i have mentally composed, edited and rewritten a thousand different versions of these goodbyes. i never did come up with one final concise way to say everything i wanted to convey. i scrapped the idea to close up and simply disappear from this space. hence, the seven days.

so this will be the post expressing my gratitude. a week of farewells would not be complete without my sincere thanks to everyone who showed up here to see or read what i was up to. whether i was showing you something i had made, collected or read, sharing an (occasionally thrifty) idea or enthusing over a tasty dish, i have truly appreciated every page view and each kind comment. those who know me in real life often took the time to phone or email me to say they liked a photo or essay, to let me know they got the humor or the pathos of a particular post. often, the positive encouragement i received helped carry me thru my day. or week. i thank you. what began as a desire for a creative outlet, a craving for communication and conversation grew into a productive habit and opened up a world. in the process i've happily found like-minds, read and viewed the work and ideas you posted online. i made new friends, exchanged art projects and met some amazing people. i hope we will continue to keep in touch.

the ending of this blog does not mean the end of my bricolagelife or that you won't be able to find me in good old cyberspace. tho this will be a blog sabbatical of sorts, i will continue to post daily photos (my visual diary) and converse via comments on my flickr page. my three etsy shops will remain open for business (and convos) and i can be reached privately via email here: bricolagelife(at)gmail(dot)com. thinking ahead, i have reserved a bricolagelife space at blogspot and one at tumblr for future projects.

lastly but not leastly, i want to thank the team at typepad, who have been totally awesome, helpful and generous. i would recommend them to anyone who wants to try this blogging stuff. 

seven days to say goodbye

the time has come. for many weeks i have been considering carefully if and when and how i would say goodbye here. i'm not really good at goodbyes. but there is no avoiding it - on september 13th this form of bricolagelife will end. once the decision was made, i imagined publishing a brief but fond farewell post on the day. and then that seemed too abrupt. so here we are with seven days to say so long... i'm not really sure how that's going to work. let's make it up as we go along. in the bricolage way :)

see what i see :: beach collections 3

every summer the beach we walk and comb offers something a little different. if you are observant and come back to the same place once a year, you may notice this, too. washed up along the cold wet sandy border of our big lake we have found among the stones and pebbles an abundance of birch bark one season, tiny broken shells the next, and oddly, last year, tiparillo tips everywhere we looked. but 2011 happened to be a very good year for face rocks.

and fossils...

tiny frosted jewels of beach glass,
 

and my favorite; alabaster. both smooth and rough. i may attempt to carve some of the larger stones... more research is necessary.

happy weekend everyone!

absent friends 1

absent friends have been very much on my mind for a long time. yesterday i began making a series of images to express these ruminations. this is the first.

 

museum days

i've been keeping up with my 2011 plan to visit a museum at least once a month. yesterday i returned to the chicago cultural center, which is free and has some stunning city views thru its enormous vaulted windows. since the art institute is open late on thursdays we strolled down the avenue and wandered around the galleries there into the evening hours. i'm so glad we did.

here is a bit of what i took in over the past few museum days:

repurposed sculpture by aristotle georgiades

sears at the center collage work by donald fels

wounded in action

and to draw a bright white line with light by uta barth

avant garde in everyday life

altered and adorned

american modern: abbott, evans, bourke-white

and a happy revisiting of project onward current works

have you had a museum day lately? where did you go and what did you see?

 

making stuff :: framed embroidimals!

it has been months since i began the sketching and stitching on this batch of embroidered woodland animals. yesterday i finally tied off the last knot on my one inch portraits, washed, pressed and mounted them on their button bases. after countless hours considering every possible framing option - the solution presented itself as i laid out my supplies on the work table. i love when this happens.

each button is strung on vintage silk ribbon, tied around a square of pig skin suede (both rummage sale finds) and set in a clean black shadow box frame. i think they look great! now you may hang your embroidimals on a wall or set them on a shelf. and if you choose to wear yours as a brooch or pendant, simply open the removable backing and untie the ribbon to release the button from the frame! yay!

wolverine and river otter are pictured above - swamp rabbit and golden mouse will join them soon. i will be listing these in the bricolagelife shop over the next few days - please stop by and have a look.

every treasure tells a story :: vintage bike reflector

once upon a time long, long ago, in a neighborhood we can no longer afford to live in, we rented a charming two bedroom apartment at the very top of a hundred year old brick six flat that was untouched by time. on the ground floor of this old building lived the elderly landlord and his tiny wife. they kept a dusty shop in the front and kept house in the back. the shop was filled from the wood planked floors to the tin ceiling with all manner of penny candy, plastic toys, games, novelties, sunglasses and souvenirs from decades gone by. even the prices, marked in black wax pencil, were untouched by time. everything was in it's original packaging.

we made a habit of wandering into this shop on a regular basis for a visit or to pay the rent. it was like stepping back in time. often we found ourselves staring in wonder at all the goodies on the shelves and inside the old glass display cabinets. no matter how many times we looked there always managed to be something we'd never seen before. embroidered hankies in decorative boxes wrapped with satin ribbon bows. vinyl wallets with cowboys and bucking broncos printed on them. pens and matching printed stationery in sweet gift boxes, wind up tin toys and gravity activated celluloid walking toys. board games of commerce and geography, anklet socks and tootsie pops, key chains and pocket knives. saving up for a treasure now and then became a favorite pastime. and hurrying down the creaky stairway, around the corner and thru the heavy shop door to make a purchase was a thrill. we secretly planned to buy up every last vintage item we loved in the place - and live happily ever after.

years passed. we got married, our son was born, and we continued to add to our little hoard. we did a good deal of our christmas shopping in the little shop downstairs, wrapping the presents in the colorful pristine papers that were older than we were. even the tinsel for our tree (and most of our ornaments) came from those shelves. our boy got his first teether and his first fringed cowboy vest there. every month when we paid the rent the old landlord came out from behind the counter and gave him a free pretzel stick. his tiny wife admired our robust child and pinched his cheeks. the brass bell on the door clanged as we went in and out. all was well.

then one day everything changed. we came thru the door, our eyes searching for our next great find, and i think a gasp came out of my mouth. a picker had discovered our sleepy little shop and in one brief morning he'd bought almost everything of a certain age he could find from the stock. then he loaded it into his truck and drove away. sad gaping empty spaces pocked the room. we stood like two deflated balloons, whining our sorrow. the boy and the landlord were unaffected by our loss. they were already busy with their latest pretzel transaction.

in time we all moved on. the boy is grown tall. the dusty shop is now a fancy restaurant. the landlord and his wife are gone. the narrow streets are lined with finer cars and bigger homes. the freight train no longer makes its sugar delivery to the candy factory down the block. but happily, a few of the small things we acquired there are still with us. a ceramic juice pitcher shaped and glazed like a ripe orange, a pair of cufflinks, a deck of old maid playing cards, a glass paperweight, a doll dressed in a bride's gown and all of those christmas tree ornaments. in the original packaging.

now i have my own little shops. and this bike reflector, brought home from our landlord's long ago is sitting on the shelf in my daisy chain vintage shop. someone will see it, feel the same thrill we did and take it home. maybe they will hang it on their wall or mount it on their bike. or give it as a gift to someone they like to smooch. whenever they see it they will smile. and live happily ever after.

the end.

big flavors: buckwheat salad with everything

in my quest to widen our circle of grains i recently added pearl barley, quinoa and buckwheat to the pantry shelf. i woke up today running down a mental list of everything in the fridge and pantry. and of course i decided it was all going to go well together. this is the buckwheat salad that came of it:

boil two cups of salted water and stir in one cup of roasted buckwheat. turn flame down to a simmer and pop the lid on. cook for 15 minutes.

meanwhile, in a big bowl combine:

1 can tuna, drained

1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed + drained

a handful of chopped tomatoes (mine are grape tomatoes)

a handful of chopped red pepper

handful of chopped olives (your favorite kind)

2 stalks of diced celery

1/2 onion, diced

zest + juice of a lemon

splash or two of rice vinegar

salt  + pepper to taste

several good gluggs of olive oil, enough to lightly coat everything

stir well and add warm buckwheat. stir again and add more olive oil, salt + pepper. taste. re-season.

add pesto.  mine is one bunch of basil + roasted sunflower seed meats + olive oil whizzed in a food processor. use any herbs and nuts you like. add garlic if you like. stir into the buckwheat mixture. eat warm or chill to eat later. mine is sitting on a few arugula leaves because once i start adding stuff i can't stop thinking maybe this will taste good with it, too! i get like that sometimes.

buckwheat is a big flavor so it holds up well to all these additional flavors. and if you've got different veggies in the fridge or beans in the pantry, add them instead. be adventurous. substitutions welcome here.

 

 

 

yesterday, today & the weekend

now that i have added a monday thru friday day job back into my world, the weekends have taken on a new quality. time is no longer mine for the making. the urgency to cram every spare minute with the art projects, shop keeping, cooking, cleaning, long walks, meditations and puttering around at home that used to fill all my days equally now defines 48 short hours. feeling the need to be suitably efficient and happily productive - today i am starting the brief respite by making lists...

> shoot photos for the shops while the sun shines

> edit photos when the sun goes down

> take walks when the rain stops

> begin to cut and sew sheer cotton scarves

> hem trousers

> reorganize may/june budget 

> stretch and breathe

> finish embroideries while watching this

> buy and cook food

ah, i feel more calm already.

yesterday was friday the 13th, aka my lucky day. when i woke up i decided to finish cutting my hair before work. as the final snip was cut i somehow bumped the very old, very heavy full length mirror i had dragged into the bathroom (for a back of the head view) and yes - it came smashing down on the sink and cracked. in three places. leaving a fine sprinkling of slivered glass everywhere. as i managed to clean up the mess, shower and get to work on time - i had to conclude it still is my lucky day after all.

apparently, as i suspected, everything will be ok. everything is going to be ok. or, everything is ok.

what's on your weekend list? hope you have a happy one :) 

 

making stuff :: summer scarf preview #1

a bundle of fabrics arrived in the mail last week - my new designs in featherweight sheer cotton voile! and yesterday i spent my whole last day off in the studio shooting for my shops. the light has finally returned to my favorite spot and i got a ton of shots that made me happy. i am loving the look and feel of these fabrics and anticipating some stitching days in my future... these will soon be summer scarves for sale in my bricolagelife shop.

this print is called dancer and was created from a layer print i made from a cut paper collage and an ink drawing of mine with one of my son's first paintings.

more previews coming soon - can't wait to get started!