A Little Friend

Look past the blurry scarf, into the leaves to see who stopped to see me as I was taking pictures today. It is one of the hummingbirds that come visit my flowers several times a day. I have been wanting to catch them for awhile. I was afraid to move the camera closer because I figured it would scare the bird away. If you click on the picture you can see him or her (I don't know) better.

Centered Pottery

My daughter pointed out the website Centered Pottery to me the other day. I was simply blown away by the things I saw there. The reason she told me about it is because the artist is the younger brother of someone she went to high school with.












According to his website Danny is living the dream of many artists. By that I mean the ability to make a living from something you are passionate about. Not only does he make a living he shares his passion with others by teaching classes.






From his site Centered Pottery in his own words-

Few of us get to pursue our truest and deepest passion as an everyday career, and even fewer of us know what that passion is early in life. Danny Dastrup is among one these lucky few, who knew a life of clay was for him at the tender age of seventeen. It was love at first touch in a high school ceramics class. Danny had a bond with clay that was unexplainable even to himself. However, realizing how powerful this bond was, and the importance clay would have on his life, Danny knew he had to find an instructor who shared the same bond and passion with clay. This crucial bond was missing in his high school classroom and he would soon seek outside influences that would change his life.
In 1996 Danny began an apprenticeship at the Red Kiln Studios in his home town of Salt Lake City with two successful clay artists, Aaron Ashcroft and Richard Barker. The two of them, along with Ken Marvel, taught Danny skills, techniques and philosophies that would later merge with his own gifts and talents, to allow him to pursue clay as a full time venture. Photos of these early teachers still hang above Danny’s potter’s wheel. While Danny has a style of his own, and has developed many of his own techniques, the influences of these masters still breathe life into the clay that spins on Danny’s potter’s wheel.
Now, a decade later, Danny has exhibited and continues to exhibit around the country and has work in private collections in Japan, Russia, Spain, Jamaica, New Zealand and South Africa.
Most recently Danny was a recipient of the Career Grant from the Marin Arts Council. This grant has allowed Danny to reach an even broader audience with his work, making Danny’s goal of bringing art into people’s everyday experiences even easier.
Danny currently teaches adult classes at "The Potters' Studio" in Berkeley, CA.

I almost wish he was closer. I'd be tempted to take a class. Even more tempting is the thought of maybe collecting some of his work. I need a new hobby right? What about you?

Staying Crafty

I saw this idea somewhere online. I think on a blog. These bowls are made from catalogs. Each page is folded into strips and they are coiled to make the bowls. If you posted it feel free to leave a link in the comments here because I am having trouble finding the post again.

Kaycee had fun with this and made two bowls, one small and one large. I think we will give them a coat of sealer so they are more protected and longer lasting. Pretty neat project out of something that would have gone in the trash.

The bowls have a close up shot in this post.

Always Slow

I am usually a bit behind the curve in keeping up with books and movies. It has been out for awhile and last night I started reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
One sentence stood out to me in the author's notes and I want to share it with you.

If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination in the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams.

Let me tell you that I am definitely not a fan of crude reality! I want to believe as I stitch my way through another project of one kind or another that I can do a small bit to make this world cozier.

What about you? Feel free to respond to Yann Martel's statement in the comments. I would love to hear from you.

Prairie Roots

Each week the Etsy Bloggers Street Team does a blog carnival. A street team on Etsy is a group of members that share something in common and use team efforts to support and promote team members and their shops. There are teams for geographical locations, types of art or crafts or different social connections. As you can tell from the name you have found your way to the blog of an Etsy Blogger member. At more than 300 strong our goal is to create buzz and promote our shops, each other and Etsy.

A weekly blog carnival is one of our events. A blog carnival is a group of blog posts gathered together with links in one place and works kind of like a table of contents for the week.

The theme this week is “Cultural Leanings”. The ideas is to blog about how you integrate your own heritage into your work or how you are attracted to another culture - like Celtic knotwork, African art, island themes, renaissance, etc. Or how your culture/heritage/upbringing influence you in some way.

I did quite a bit of thinking about my post for this week. I really searched for an answer to where my influences come from. My heritage is mostly German and Irish as near as I know. Most of the family history seems to imply that my ancestors were part of the migrations from Europe to the United States in the 1800's when millions of others came to this country as well. I am grateful they came but as far as influence from them I don't think so.

I feel more connected to the pioneers in my family. Most of them loaded the wagons and came to the midwest prairies to farm. I have so much respect, awe and admiration to anyone who was able to do that. I think it is where my frugal nature comes from. I love to use things until they are worn out and then see if they can be brought to life in something new. This was a way of life on the prairies of Kansas where is could be very hard to have the cash for store bought goods. The quilt block you see here fits that theme. It is a family quilt made in Kansas possibly 70 or so years ago. I have heard that my grandmother who had 12 children and was too busy to quilt provided the print fabrics from worn out dresses and other women in the family with fewer or no children made the quilts. The entire quilt is hand pieced and hand quilted and no two flowers on it are the same. I treasure this quilt for its beauty and as an small example of the women I am descended from.

Here you can see a sample of my crafting in a rug I made for my home. I bought some polyester crochet thread one time thinking it was cheap and I would knit it into lacy washcloths. However what I found on making a sample was that the polyester thread irritated my skin so I knew I couldn't use it for that purpose and sell the cloths. I have always collected old sheets, table cloths and clothing that can no longer be worn for rag rugs. Over the years I have crocheted a lot of those and was looking for a new idea. I came up with crocheting my own rug base and then cutting bias strips to latch hook onto the base. This is what you see here. It is my new bathroom rug and I love the way it turned out. It is made from that crochet thread I couldn't use for washcloths, old sheets and some of those "I can't believe I bought this even if is was on the $1.00 a yard table" kind of fabrics that had been in my stash for years and never used. It is thick and soft and almost tickles your feet when you step on it getting out of the shower. It was one way that I was able to use things that could have been thrown away and have given them a new purpose. I get a great sense of pleasure and satisfaction from this type of project. I feel as if I am carrying on traditions by creating these kinds of things and they are worth the time and the energy to make and use every day in my home.

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