Lazy Summer Days.

I've been spending the last few days at my mom's house after her wedding (pictures to come) this past weekend to look after the puppy and just to enjoy some "me time". I found this old crazy quilt in the closet and it inspired a summer afternoon photo shoot (ok not exactly a photo shoot, more or less I ran around the yard with my boyfriend's little cool pix camera and snapped photos like a mad woman while the neighbors looked at me funny).  I have to ask my mom the full story behind the quilt. I know it used to be on her bed when I was little and I remember taking naps in her bed and falling asleep looking at all the different vintage patterned fabrics. I think a few of the fabrics were from my mom's old dresses when she was a girl. I love vintage treasures and heirlooms so now I am in love with it again and have it on my guest bed. I hope everyone is enjoying these last days of summer!

Book club.

I've joined a book club recently with my sister and some friends. So far the selections have been amazing. We started with a pretty heavy one, a non fiction book that is currently on the bestsellers list called Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl Wudunn. It's about the oppression of women and how to turn that into better opportunities for women and girls on a global level. It was absolutely amazing! Life changing! As some of you know I volunteer regularly at the Rape Crisis Center of Central Mass as a sexual assault counselor. I had stopped volunteering for awhile due to my crazy life situation, but after reading this book it made me realize how good I really have it. I just started volunteering again this week because of it and am trying to plan a volunteer abroad trip as we speak. The second book which was right along the same "life changing" lines was Eat Pray Love. I couldn't have read this at a more appropriate time in my life. The author, Elizabeth Gilbert, relays her real life, year long trip to Italy, India and Indonesia on a quest to find herself. And of course now I'm trying to figure out how to finance a soul searching trip of my own. I also finally got around to reading The Alchemist. All of these soul-searching books are causing a mini-crisis of self but maybe that's exactly what I need right now! It's honestly been years since I've read this much. I used to be such a book worm and over the past years, since I've been out of school, I really haven't let myself just unwind with a good book. Now I can't get enough. I am waiting for the bookstore to order our next book club selection and in the meantime I've even picked up a copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray from my mother's bookshelf just to pass the time. I'm reading about a book a week and loving it! I feel like my brain is working again! This weekend our book club plans on going to see the film version of Eat Pray Love and then discussing. Our next book is Honeymoon in Tehran in case anyone would like to read along with us. (Thanks for the amazing book choices Katie!) Check out the trailer for Eat Pray Love and then go see it!

Inspiration Art 1.

My friend Gina and I decided to take another stab at our "Inspiration Art" series. Every other week we will take turns emailing a photo, drawing or other piece of ephemera to one another. We each have 2 weeks to complete an art project based on this "inspiration". It could be a painting, mixed media or other and we can incorporate the actual image or just use it as a reference. We will each post our finished projects on our blogs. I just finished mine so have a look! I will link to Gina's blog as soon as she posts hers. Here is the image that I chose for week 1.

And here is what I came up with. I made a collage of vintage sewing patterns, buttons, lace and other vintage sewing items, and coffee as a "stain". I am going to mat and frame it but who knows how long it will take me to get to that so I figured I'd post it as is.

Forest Rogers.

I am amazed by this artist, Forest Rogers, whom I stumbled across on this fantasy art website (no nerd jokes here...I am well aware). These were a few of my favorite pieces. Her work is reminiscent of Brian and Wendy Froud who are most known for their collaborative work on Jim Henson projects. I can't believe that a lot of this is done in Fimo and Polymer clays! I swore they were real people at first glance. Now I'm going to embarrass myself trying to sculpt!