jerseymurmurs

"Like any artist without an art form, she became dangerous." (Toni Morrison)

This week's Spoonflower design challenge was tacos. I used the colored pencil brush in the Procreate app to draw a taco and added some text: BUILD TACOS NOT WALLS!

This design is adapted from a sketchbook image from the Rjiksmuseum Rijksstudio. I added graphic elements (dots and lines). The image above shows the design as a mod dress (available from Sprout Patterns), sheets, tablecloth, pillow, and wallpaper (all available from Roostery). Fabric with this design can be found at Spoonflower.

My magenta-pink "Girls Just Want to have Fundamental Human Rights" scarf is now available as Fight Like a Girl fabric in my Jerseymurmurs Spoonflower store.

Make it into a dress to wear to marches (Fight Like a Girl Inari Tee dress with bow-tie sleeve detail front and side view mock-ups and fabric swatches shown below) or perhaps a tablecloth (Fight Like a Girl tablecloth; see below) to inspire when you write letters or call your congressperson.

This is a Forest for the Trees fabric consisting of three trees that I drew using the "colored pencils" in Procreate -- I am still being influenced by Gunta Stolzl's graphic Bauhaus designs. There are images online of Gunta's drawings on graph paper and I used a graph paper "background" while sketching.  It would make a great upholstery fabric. Here it is made up as a pillow (available here from Roostery):

And here it is as a customized cut-and-sew Flutter Tunic dress (pattern by Papercut Patterns; project available here from Sprout Patterns):

A snapshot of some of my designs available as cocktail napkins from Roostery which produces unique custom-made home decor items using my fabric designs.

How cool is this wallpaper? ŽIVILI! is the Croatian word for "to life". It would make a great accent wall in any room in your house where you celebrate! Isn't this toast really like a little prayer? To health. To each other. To this moment when we are gathered together. Lift your glass -- ŽIVILI! To life!

Order this custom wallpaper at Roostery.

For fabric with this design, visit Spoonflower Zivili.

Or get a set of Živili cocktail napkins at Roostery:

XENIA is the ancient Greek word for the concept of hospitality and generosity and courtesy shown to those who are far from home. My nephew’s girlfriend spent a year in Kazakhstan and they brought me back a pair of earrings that inspired my “Xenia” fabric design.

Here is the finished repeat design:

And the repeat at Spoonflower:

This fabric design was inspired by the weaving patterns of Bauhaus Art School teacher Gunta Stölzl. Lots of color and texture. I used the colored pencil tool in the Procreate app.

Purchase yardage of this Gunta-inspired fabric at Spoonflower.

Use the fabric to make a Bauhaus fun dress (the Alder Shirtdress pattern by Grainline Studio; available here as custom cut-and-sew fabric from Sprout Patterns):

Or purchase the design on home goods at Roostery.

What a kick! My pussy-hat-magenta-pink "Girls Just Want to have Fundamental Human Rights" chiffon scarf is in the just-released CMYK issue of Uppercase magazine! The issue is full of the work of many talented people and pulls together so many of my favorite things (the Folly Cove Designers, Josef Albers-inspired weavings, offset lithography, typography, and fabric just to name a few). There's even a story about an innovative new ink derived from car exhaust, that turns pollutants into artistic possibilities (Graviky).

Each page and that eye-catching drawdown cover by Baltimore Print Studios is a delight that leaves me feeling "hi-res"!

My father made this wooden sewing caddy while in school and gave it to his mother. It hold spools of thread, scissors, and above the wings -- along the body -- is a place for pins. It was well-used by my grandmother who excelled in the Peaceful Arts and now I am using it as well.

The CMYK gang is waiting for the CMYK issue of Uppercase Magazine that features my Girls Just Want to Have Fundamental Human Rights scarf to arrive ...

I went to a Mick Moloney concert last year ... in between songs he talked about where the music lives ... in the space between the earth and sky ...

These two engravings by Jan Luyken from the Rijksmuseum's Rijksstudio have such lovely details. I call the man Sky Above and the woman Earth Below. His eyes are raised; his arms and hands as if blessing the sky. Her eyes are downcast; her arms and hands as if blessing the ground.

I added painted clouds from another Rijksstudio artist to make two panels that are each 27" wide and 36" tall. I printed them on Spoonflower Eco Canvas and turned the edges twice and sewed them with a zigzag stitch. A tension rod and cafe clips -- along with a sheer curtain behind -- make them the perfect thing to wake up to.

You can get your own panel here or visit the Jerseymurmurs Spoonflower shop.

Inspired by undergarments and artwork from the Rijksmuseum Rijksstudio, I designed two simple, modern slips that can be cut and sewn from a yard of fabric. They represent being at home (a wallpaper fragment and a still life) and adventure out in the world (maps and fabric samples that resemble flags).

Taking advantage of modern printing technologies and advances in textiles, the artwork is printed on a 100% polyester piqué knit fabric with a moisture-wicking, soil-release finish (56”/142 cm wide). The design is laid out with cutting lines to produce two slips from one yard of fabric — each with a pocket (to conceal money, important notes, secrets . . . ). To assemble the slips: cut the fabric on the pre-printed lines; sew the front & back sides together, sew the pocket on (side, front, back — you decide); measure your waist and cut a piece of waistband elastic slightly larger; pin the elastic to the top, stretching when needed; sew using a zigzag stitch. Fabulous enough to be worn as an outer-garment, too, if you have the desire to reveal.

Girls Just Want to have Fundamental Human Rights. Fight Like a Girl.

I designed this flowy pink scarf as a remembrance and reminder of the historic "pussy hat" women's marches that took place around the world on January 21st 2017. And for all girls everywhere.

The perfect size to tie jauntily around your neck. When the spirit moves you, untie it and wave it as a banner. An anthem.

Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano defines "idiot memory" as the kind of remembrances that keep us attached to our old self-images, and trapped by them. "Lively memory," on the other hand, is a feisty approach to our old stories. It impels us to graduate from who we used to be. "We are the sum of our efforts to change who we are," writes Galeano. "Identity is no museum piece sitting stock-still in a display case." [Rob Brezsny]

Like our Mountain House song says: "Tell us a story, you've heard it before / change it a little, the end or the middle" . . .

"Lively" upended photo from Asbury Park, NJ, Jan 2018

This lovely chiffon scarf was inspired by two pieces of embroidery; the blue stitched by Aagje Tiket; the linen piece from the Industrial School for Girls in Rotterdam.

This chiffon scarf was inspired by a cable sample that I knit in Fisherman's Wool.

The design for this chiffon scarf started out as a sketchbook prompt for "roses" and was inspired by a bit of Mary Oliver poetry:

"Wild roses," I said to them one morning. "Do you have the answers? And if you do, would you tell me?"

The roses laughed softly. "Forgive us," they said. "But as you can see, we are just now entirely busy being roses."

[an excerpt from "ROSES" by Mary Oliver, Felicity]

The singer and poet Leonard Cohen said his first concern when he awoke in the morning was to "discover if I am in a state of grace." He defined grace as "the balance with which you ride the chaos around you."

The GRACE scroll. For prayerful meditation. For help in getting to that place of balance.

31 graces to help you get started. May the grace of PATIENCE be with me. May the grace of WONDER be with me. May the grace of BEAUTY be with me...

New Jersey! We're one of a kind and now we have our own calendar!

Celebrate the beauty and bounty of the “Garden State” with the 2018 New Jersey Full Moon Calendar that features Jersey Blue Skies and a Marigold Moon.

This unique "tea towel" calendar combines the traditional Native American Indian “Full Moon” names (e.g., the Snow Moon, the Hunger Moon) with the unique attributes of New Jersey — and shows all the phases (new, waxing, full, waning) of the moon for each month. January's full moon is the “Liberty & Prosperity Moon” (the state slogan). June’s full moon is the “Down the Shore Moon” (‘cause that’s where we like to go when the weather turns warm). September is the “Honey Bee Moon” (the state insect). You get the idea (for a list of all the moons "continue reading"; included with your purchase).

A Rumi quote at the bottom says: "There is a moon inside every human being. Learn to be companions with it."

#amonthofpayingattention #augustbreak2017

#amonthofpayingattention #augustbreak2017

#amonthofpayingattention #augustbreak2017

#amonthofpayingattention #augustbreak2017

#amonthofpayingattention #augustbreak2017