Stitching, Chopping, Baking.

Today was a day to finish up a project and an attempt to make something new.

I finished hand hemming the set of Peace flags and back stitched my initials and date.

This set of flags is for Mary Jane Dodd who initiated the Flags for Peace Project this past September. We are doing an artists' trade, something I'm very excited about.

The attempt at something new came in the form of gingersnaps! To be more specific, Miette gingersnaps. You see, these cookies are a favorite of mine. They are made by a small company out in San Francisco. My husband and I first happened upon them in October of 2009. It was love at first bite (and second and third). When we visited San Francisco again this past October, the first stop was the Miette shop at The Ferry Building.

I received a wonderful series of Hanukkah gifts from my husband this year. All the ingredients to make Miette gingersnaps along with the Miette cookbook. So today, we made our first attempt with a half batch.

My husband was a very good grater and chopper.

I did the measuring and mixing. We rolled out the cooled dough between sheets of wax paper and made a couple of attempts to cut the cookies. In the end, we had to let the rolled out dough sit for several hours in the refrigerator.

Finally we managed to get enough decent looking cookies into the oven. Even so, they were not too pretty!

Here is what the actual Miette cookies look like.

Ah well...it is a first attempt. The cookies did have that gingersnap bite...but I think I might add a hair more sugar next time.

Web Wisdom

Under the magnifying glass for a bit of stitching (aka DOing).

A bit Web Wisdom today...

Recently, I signed up for Lesley Riley's 52 Pickup. I have a button for it in the right hand column. It's 52 weeks of weekly emails from Lesley with words of wisdom, jump starts for creativity and multi-media. For those of you who don't know Lesley, she's been my art coach and mentor over the last couple of years. Her business is called, Artist Success and she's been a tremendous help to me. She motivated me to create my home studio, to start my newsletter and most recently to write and submit a proposal for a book.

Today, I received my first week of 52 Pickup. The theme was less thinking, more doing. I laughed because, of course, in the two years I've worked with her, this has been MY issue! There have been many times that I've thought and thought as a form of procrastination...instead of getting into the studio and doing and doing and learning through the doing. She also passed along a terrific quote from Martha Graham which is now hanging in my studio:

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares to other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open--Martha Graham.

Think about it...

After reading this I headed down to the studio for a bit of DOing!

New Year: Peace Flags

An assortment of Peace Flags in process.

 It seems that I spent the week after Christmas in a bit of studio avoidance...cleaning bathrooms, sorting through old jewelry, washing clothes... But yesterday, I was determined!

I've been wanting to finish up a set of Peace Flags, based on the ones I made this past fall. They are for an artists' trade. You can read more about the original flags here.

The backgrounds are hand painted and the hamsa hand design and Peace are printed using carved blocks.

I then went back in to paint a few details, including the whites of the eyes.

I made a number of extra flags...just in case!

Now I just have to finish stitching them up and they will be on their way...

Day 31: 2012 in Review

Salt and glue resist

 A review of 2012:
Starting with the presentation of my Conant grant project, Kitchen Resists: Using Common Household Materials as Resists on Fabric. In the end, 64 resist recipes and up to 16 application techniques per recipe! This led to several workshops and presentations throughout the year.

Fabric created by printing with recycled foam containers.

A re-focus on this blog and the birth of my free monthly online newsletter, Julie B Booth Surface Design News. The Newsletter focuses on the kitchen as a resource for surface design on fabric techniques.

Textures from the kitchen.

A year of Searching for Roy G Biv and the creation of monthly Challenge fabrics.

Sampling of some Roy G Biv Challenge fabrics.

Working on a series of weed fabrics for my group F.I.N.E.

Prints and rubbings with weeds.

Crazy about hamsas! Creating them for family members and friends.

Poppy's hamsa

Jean's hamsa

The death of my dear friend, Martha. I am missing her.

Being able to honor Martha's memory using a hamsa I designed for her to create peace flags as part of the Flags for Peace Project.

Peace flags honoring Martha.

Travels to Maine, Virginia Beach and San Francisco.

Queen Anne's Lace in Kittery Point, Maine.

Driftwood, Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Looking forward to 2013 and all the creative possibilities it holds!

Monoprint with uncooked wheat flour paste resist.

Hope we can all strive for more Peace this next year.

Day 30: Browsing for Ideas

 I've been a homebody this weekend. It's been chilly with a brisk wind and some snow. I've been happy to stay inside puttering around.

I've been thinking about future projects and sketching a bit.

Today, I pulled out a selection of quilt books.

I like the contrasting white tied threads.

A flower garden or people joining together?

This grid idea might work well with some of my printed weed fabrics.

Exes turned on their tips could become stars.

  I like to browse through these books to get inspired by the color and design...to see how others tell their stories with cloth and stitch.

I love the suns/stars and the little house in the middle. This might be a good jumping off point.

Day 29: Making Some Artistic Plans for 2013

My mind was racing in the middle of last night's sleep. Ideas were popping. Mostly, I was thinking about A Letter A Week 2013.

I found out about A Letter A Week last year. Click here for a link to last year's blog. The project started in 2010 and was meant to be a way to have fun experimenting and to keep the participants working on a small project each week of the year.

The goal is to create two complete alphabets by the end of the year. Each letter must be presented in a 7 cm x 7 cm format. There is always a theme for one of the alphabets and the other is up to the participant. This year's theme alphabet is about Peace. Fiona Dempster, who is a fabulous book and calligraphy artist, is the organizer and originator of the project.

I've had lots of ideas flowing. I've gone through a number of ideas for the Peace alphabet in my mind. In fact, I was trying to locate a small dove pin that I had growing up and found myself side-tracked going through my jewelry box (and no luck yet in finding the pin). I would like that alphabet to somehow memorialize the 26 shooting victims in Connecticut.

The other alphabet is a lot clearer in my mind and may end up being the first alphabet I tackle. After experimenting with cardboard this month in my Newsletter, I've decided to make an alphabet of cardboard print blocks. I'm excited about this concept as not only will I have the printed alphabet, but I think the print blocks could be put together to form an additional alphabet. On the Ikatbag blog, LiEr links to a blog with amazing signs and logos using cardboard by cardboard artist, Mark Langan...a great source of inspiration!

Day 28: Wonderful Cardboard

It is Day 28 of this Advent blogging adventure...it is also 10:30 PM after a long day of working at the bead shop.

Needless to say, I am a bit tired. I have realized that trying to post a blog entry each and every day of a month can be exhausting!

Those of you who subscribe to my Newsletter know that this month I had a bit of a play date with cardboard. I barely scratched the surface (so to speak). I know I have many more hours of cardboard play within me.

As I was wasting a bit of time on Pinterest, the other day, I came across a How To tutorial on cardboard. This led me to a wonderful blog called Ikatbag. I've put it over on my Inspiring Blogs list. For those of you who have young children or grandchildren, I suggest you stop over and take a look. Lots of interesting tutorials and cute handmade toys. But what she does with cardboard is just simply a lot of fun. Even though, my focus is using cardboard for creating print blocks, I am so taken with the idea of making structures (and toys)...I might have to give a few of her ideas a try!