One of Jon’s beautiful photos of my Vintage Hankie Scarf,
Oh, I’m overwhelmed. In a good way. I’ve gotten such a great response to my Vintage Hankie Scarves, so thank you all. The only problem is, I’m out of hankies. I have enough to make four or five more scarves and they’re already sold. So I don’t have any more for sale right now.
I sold this first batch of 6 scarves for $45 each + shipping, but as I’m looking around on-line for more hankies, I’m finding they can be expensive. The first batch of hankies I used were given to me, so I’m a bit spoiled. But I’m continuing to search on-line and will have something else to look for in thrift stores and antique shops.
When I get more hankies, I’ll be making more scarves, and I’ll be sure to let you all know when that happens.
I spent the morning packing and shipping my Vintage Hankie Scarves. I made and sold seven of them in the past two days. I still have one available in my Etsy Shop.
After going to the Post Office and doing some banking, I got to my studio to work on my latest fabric painting. Last week I sewed most of the torso down but when I looked at it today, it wasn’t right. It was too straight and narrow so I took it all out, reworked it and sewed it back down.
I got her breasts sewed on too. I like how they are slightly different shapes and sizes. I don’t know about other women’s breasts, but mine are not exactly alike and I somehow imagine I’m not alone in this.
I also sewed her doily collar on.
I tried many different doilies and even some crocheted collars that I have, but none worked as well as this one. It helps define her shoulders and reminds me of one of those 16th century paintings of women wearing Elizabethan collars. I’m always fascinated by how they’re painted and so often the women wearing them have presence and attitude.
I still have more work to do on her arms, hands, and the lower part of her body. But I think I’ll sew her head on tomorrow. I still have to make some decisions about it, but I don’t like working on her without it.
This is what her torso looked like before I fixed it. Much too straight and narrow.
I quickly sold the Vintage Hankie Scarves I made yesterday, so today I decided to make more.
I don’t have a lot of hankies left, so I looked in a box where I knew I had some from years ago. Most of them are white and lacy, but I found this 1950’s hankie made by a well-known hankie designer, Dressin Depose.
I had forgotten about this hankie, someone sent it to me so long ago. But I did remember laughing and shaking my head at it when I first saw it.
As I looked at it this morning, at some of those absurd Do’s and Don’ts, I saw in it my mother’s behavior towards my father as I was growing up.
And when I got to the one that says “Don’t ever get mad!” with the wife spewing black and red lightening bolts and looking like she’s doing some kind of dance, I got angry.
I realized that I was taught by both my mother and father some of these Do’s and Don’ts and others I learned inadvertently from them and society.
This is all about women suppressing their emotions, or opinions and subjugating themselves to their husbands needs and wants.
I know it was made over 70 years ago and so much has changed for women since then. But it’s also obvious to me how some of these ideas still live on in women.
A few months ago, Jon gave me Rebecca Traister’s book Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger.I keep trying to read it, but every time I do, I start to get angry and put it down. I stop reading it because I don’t want to feel that anger.
It’s a specific anger that lives inside of me. I know it would be healthy for me to understand it better. To be able to put it to good use. I believe it is a just anger.
But honestly, I don’t want to go there.
Because when I do, I usually turn the anger on myself. I wind up admonishing myself for not doing more to help create change for other women, for not being political enough.
The anger paralyzes me instead of inciting me to action.
Maybe I just need to let myself feel the anger. Let it take me down whatever dark and ugly path it wants to go, like some kind of exorcism.
The Constant Pillow. For Sale in my Etsy Shop. $75 + $10 shipping.
As soon as I finished making the felted piece last week, I could see it as a pillow.
I knew I wanted to use fabric that juxtaposed the soft, organic texture of the felt. So I looked to the colors in the scraps of silk I embedded in the felt and found their match in the silky fabric swatches that Uta gave me.
The silk pieces are twice recycled. They come from a silk scarf that a friend gave me. The scarf was made in India from old Sari’s. It was the scarf that inspired me to make my Vintage Hankie Scarves. Threadbare in places and shredding, it’s the perfect material to add to felting. The fibers of the silk easily intertwine with the fibers of the wool roving.
The iridescent edging of the pillow is from an old skirt.
I’m calling this pillow The Constant Pillow.
When I first posted a picture of the felted piece I made so many people commented that the symbol in the center looked like Pi. (I didn’t intend for it to look like anything in particular, it was just a design) I’m not one for Mathematics, even the basics. It’s a language I don’t understand. But when I looked on Wikipedia for the definition of Pi, the first thing that came up, that I could understand, was that Pi is a constant.
I still don’t know what that means mathematically, but I like the idea of The Constant Pillow. Something you can depend on. Something that is always there. A comfort in its consistency.
The Constant Pillow is 22′ x22″ from edge to edge. It’s $75 + $10 shipping.
I’m selling it in my Etsy Shop. You can get there by clicking here, or by clicking on the Etsy icon on the top of my blog.
I wanted to make a toast, clink our water glasses over lunch at the Round House Cafe. I wanted to thank Kim for sewing my potholders for the past three years. For being my first employee and helping me learn how to work with someone, for all the good work she did for me.
But we got talking and I forgot all about the toast, the reason we were having lunch. Which is that Kim won’t be working with me anymore. She’s moving on and will be using her creative time to do her own work.
I sold Kim’s felted wallets and handbags each with its own vintage button at the Bedlam Farm Open Houses. And I plan on selling them again in this June’s Open House. So Kim will still be around, but in a different way.
The first time I met Kim she told me she never made her own designs and wasn’t interested in doing that. She always followed a pattern or copied what someone else did. At the time, I knew she was perfect for what I needed. Someone who just wanted to make some extra money sewing. Which is how Kim has made a living most of her life. (She started sewing in an underwear factory when she was a teenage).
Yesterday Kim told me she realized that she can draw. It’s just a matter of looking and focusing she said. She always thought it was cheating to use a photograph as a reference, that her drawings had to come right from her head. I could make a collection of all the excuses I’d heard that stop people from doing the work they really want to. One of mine was that I thought my work had to be original. That kept me from working for years.
So no more factory work for Kim. The artist inside her is emerging and from now on Kim will spend her time creating. Although I’ll miss her sewing my potholders and Vintage Hankie Scarves, I couldn’t be happier for Kim. This, after all, is part of my work, part of my place in this world. To encourage creativity. I don’t think I so much actively encouraged Kim as just did what I do, which allowed her to see the possibilities.
I’ll keep you updated on Kim’s work and as for me, I can’t wait to see what she does next.
One of Kim’s hand embroidered, original designs, with vintage buttons, on her felted handbag.
My School House Studio has once again been transformed into my School House Gallery. First on the tour is a wall of my work. A couple of Linen Napkin Notebook pieces and some Saving Simon Potholders along with a variety of patchwork potholders….
Carol Way Wood is coming by early tomorrow morning to drop off the rest of her work. Right now I have six of her small original watercolor’s hanging (above are two of the six)…
On the back wall are Jon’s photos. Some of Simon and one of the meadow flowers. This time I’m selling Jon’s new book Saving Simon along with George Forss’s new book, The Way We Were. I also have Mary Kellogg’s books, but Mary won’t be here to read, she’s recovering from Lyme Disease. She did promise to be back in June and with a new book of poetry….
Next to the books are Kathleen’s Nohe’s Wrapped Stones. They definitely bring good energy to the gallery….
Then we come to Jane McMillen’s wonderful soft sculpture pincushions. (well you already know how I feel about these)…..
On a table in the middle of it all are Kim McMillan’s felted purses. Last year Kim was in the gallery during the Open House sewing my scarves. This year she has her own work in the show. This is what the Open House is all about…..
A window full of my Vintage Hankie Scarves….
And an unexpected addition to it all. While Jon was sheep herding with some of the people from his facebook Creative Group, they heard a meowing coming from the bushes. Out came this pretty white kitty with a racoon striped tail. A white cat wouldn’t do to well on the farm, easy prey for coyotes, hawks and owls. So we already found a good home for her. Good omen for the weekend, I’d say.
Welcome to the First Bedlam Farm Open House Gallery. As you scroll through you’ll see what’s still available from the Open House in June. Everything is for sale so if you’re interested in anything you see just email me here or at [email protected]. I take checks or can email you a paypal invoice. Enjoy looking around and thanks for coming.
Freedom Potholders $15 each (only 4 left)
I have a bunch of Freedom Potholders for sale. They are inspired by my recent trip to Gees Bend Alabama and the time I spent with quilter MaryAnn Pettway. At Gee’s Bend I learned a new way of making quilts and potholders and you can see it here in my Freedom Potholders.
My Freedom Potholders are $15 each + $5 shipping for 1-2 or $10 shipping for 3 or more.
Black Hankie Scarf $45 SOLD
I have two Vintage Hankie Scarves for sale. They are $45 + $7 shipping each. One is in the original style and the other is the Waterfall style.
Waterfall Scarf $45“Flo on the Rocker” $150. SOLD
I have four of Jon’s signed photos for sale. They are all 11×14 images with an archival mat to fit into a 16×20″ frame. The photo’s were printed specially by photographer George Forss on digital paper. They are $150 each + $10 shipping.
“Timeless Fanny” $150“Red at Work” $150 SOLD“Farm in Jackson NY” $150
I have four Vintage Hankie Potholders for sale. They are made from torn and worn Vintage Hankies and are $20 + $5 shipping each.
Vintage Hankie Potholders $20 each (3 left)
And two potholders made from an old pillow sham given to me by a friend. They are $15 each + $5 shipping for one or both.
Pillow Sham Potholders
I also have my wall hanging “Blinded by Belief” for sale. This piece is about how we hold onto our beliefs even if they no longer serve us. How we can often not see the truth in front of us because of what we’ve been taught by our families, our peers and society or just by what we have come to believe ourselves and can’t seem to let go even if they are damaging or no longer relevant to us or others. Blinded By Belief $150 + $10 shipping.
Blinded by Belief
Well, that’s the end of the Gallery tour. Don’t forget, if you see something you like you can email me at [email protected]. Thanks for coming and hope you’ve enjoyed your visit.
Kickstarter Potholders. All packed up and ready for the post office. These are going to all the people who sponsored my Kickstarter Project Reclaiming Vintage Hankies, for $50. They get one of my Vintage Hankie Potholders. Now I’m starting to pack up the Vintage Hankie Scarves. They go to people who pledged $100. I’m still waiting to get my notecards back from the Printers. Everyone who pledged $25 will get a pack of those. And everyone who send a pledge up to $25 gets a signed note card.
I love sending these out. I think of all the excitement around the Kickstarter Project and all the support I got (in money, hankies and good wishes). I’m even getting used to the free motion sewing on my new machine. Getting the hang of the foot petal and the different speeds.
25 potholers, 17 scarves and oodles of notecards, Wendy at the Post Office will be happy to see me.
Kim wearing her new scarf with the lime green “M”.
Last week I gave Kim a batch of scarves to sew. It was the first sewing she’s done for me since her shoulder surgery in January. It’s good to have Kim back. I have lots to do between fulfilling my Kickstarter pledges and getting ready for the Open House in June.
I realized after taking one of the Vintage Hankie Scarves for myself that Kim didn’t have a scarf. So I told her the next time she came across one that she liked she should take it for herself. It didn’t take long. In the last batch of scarves I made one a little different from the others. The hankies were all white with embroidery on the corners and they were all really big, much bigger that any of the other hankies I have. I only had a few that size and instead of sewing them straight edge to straight edge I put them all on diagonals, so they were diamond-shaped and asked Kim to sew a line down the middle of them. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but Kim brought the scarf to the Round House Cafe today where we were having lunch together. Kim thought the scarf didn’t hang quite right, it was too floppy, not enough surface area. I agreed that it would need a few more lines of stitching to hold it all together a bit more, giving it more body.
I don’t know if this design will work with the smaller hankies that I have. I’ll have to try it out. So Kim’s new scarf may be a one of a kind design. But this isn’t what made Kim have to have this particular scarf. It was the lime green “M” that lit her up. Lime green is Kim’s color and the “M” is for McMillan, Kim’s last name.
