Melanie Testa's Blog, page 20

Making it personal

Because I love hand sewing, I fired up a project prior to leaving for Spain. I packed my bags with paints, my journal, this project, clothing and a camera. Unlike any previous trip, I hardly took my journal out.

Instead, it was a race to the next coffee shop, a need to photograph inspiration at every turn and lovey moments of reprieve with a needle and thread.

I love the sound of the needle piercing the cloth. It is a tiny violence, a quiet sigh, the security of fiber attached to fiber.

And when the piece is complete, the texture of the sewn cloth is amazing. I fell so deeply in love with this project, I threatened to continue on with it, even after I knew it was complete.

I didn't expect this project or this idea to take on any extra meaning or force, perhaps being taken out of my comfort zone, country, listening to Spanish, looking at all things foreign gave this bag significance beyond measure. This left like a story in the sewing, exciting and liberating too.

I am reconfiguring my hand dyed thread class to have this project as the end result. I will need a pattern tester. Any takers?

In Love with the Ball and Chain

The title of this post is apropos to none of its content. Rather I think it would be a great name for a band and it seems band names are getting longer.

My Journal Study Group has created a tradition where we make tags for one another. These can be based on anything, a fleeting inspiration, a class taken, a technique tried out as a group. Because we have a mutual addiction to fun foam, I created a tag based on Barcelona inspiration using one of my newly made fun foam stamps. I tried to make...

Expecting Wonder

Today I went to a local quilt guild meeting and was waiting for some gals to gather and grab a bite (I am truly a spoiled New Yorker!). I stood outside warming up (air conditioning) and looked down at the corner between the church and the pavement. There were many red paint drops and a few grey. I almost took a photo when I stopped myself, wondering what I saw in the little tableau.

Yesterday I went to the Book Arts Center and distracted my friend Shanna from printing up a storm. Perhaps she ...

How We Remain Inspired.

This week, I went to see Emily Wells in concert. As I sat in the audience and watched her, really looked at the stuff she was doing, I was amazed. She is so young and so 'in it'. I am really happy to hear she will have a new album out soon.

Then I listened to this podcast again, where Robert Krulwich and Malcolm Gladwell talk about 'The Secrets os Success'. What I got from it was that successful people remain committed in almost a romantic way to their focus, and they do the 10,000 hours of...

Toot, Tute, Tutorial time!

A few months ago Iris from Mistyfuse asked me to create a project for an ad to be launched in the 2010/2011 Quilting Arts Gifts magazine. I was happy to do so.

And well, I also have an article in Quilting Arts Gifts called Wee Memories! So not only do you get a freebie tutorial here on my blog, I do hope you will go purchase your copy of the mag today! Here is a Wee Memory teaser!

And here is the Pinbook, Tutorial. Pinbook.pdf

Those Darned Geese Again.

I taught a class at The Ink Pad, in the city today. We covered stamp and stenciling making while creating papers to be used in scrap booking, mail art and collage.

In keeping with my new found obsession of (vacation inspired) street art, I kept focused on the goose image. The paper shown above is particularly fun because it tells the story of the man and boy (the hand image), with the Goose (the stenciled image of the bird), visually at least.

This paper shows the goose, stamped this time...

Jet Lagged Creativity

We are back, re-entering slowly and with love and care, tea, naps, and a lil making.

Barcelona, Spain, I suppose, though I can't say I have been to anything other than Barcelona and Bilbao, seems to have a rich tradition of street art. I fell in love. For as many museums and cultural institutions we visited, I had my eyes peeled for interesting scrawls, stencils, stickers and murals.

And the thing I like best about all these scribbles, scrawls and daubs was the layered, random effect they had ...

Sorta Wordless in Spain Pt. 5

Oh! The sea glass! Some is for you Mom!

Tomorrow we return home, bittersweet and filled with good times. I will hug and pet a certain white and black wonder and we will settle back in. This time with My Man has been so much fun, I am a lucky woman.

Semi-Wordless in Spain Pt. 4

Casa Mila

Bar Mut

Wordless in Spain Pt. 3