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Archive for February, 2015

Gauguin Sale Breaks Record

Posted in Little Known Facts, Serendipity, Trivia, tagged , on February 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »

'Nafea faa ipoipo' (When will you marry?, 1892) by French painter Paul Gauguin

‘Nafea faa ipoipo’ (When will you marry?, 1892) by French painter Paul Gauguin

” The 1892 oil painting by the French post-impressionist, Paul Gauguin, of two Tahitian girls called Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?) was sold by the private collector Rudolf Staechelin, a retired Sotheby’s executive and has broken the record for the world’s most expensive single work of art.   While Mr Staechelin didn’t name the buyer it was thought to be the state-financed Qatar Museums that purchased it for $300 million. The Gulf nation had set the previous record in 2011 when it paid $259 million for The Card Players by Paul Cezanne, and has spent millions more on Western modern art in recent years.”

Read more of this interesting story from the Telegraph here.

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The Cussin’ Jacket

Posted in Sewing, tagged on February 6, 2015| 2 Comments »

Rag Jacket Layout 1

Strips Sewn in

Strips Sewn in

Detail of Rag Strips and Lining

Detail of Rag Strips and Lining

Completed Jacket

Completed Jacket

For the last week or so on Facebook my friends have seen me post about this jacket that my friend Sandra and I have been making in our quest to challenge ourselves to sew some things a little more difficult.  This project has involved a lot of cussing!

First of all, it is a rag jacket so you sew the seams in the opposite way you normally would so it keeps your head messed up thinking about whether you sewed the seam right because it looks so wrong.  Then the directions on this particular pattern were not written in the most clear way that it could have been.

And had I not been working on it with Sandra I probably would have thrown it out several times!!!  But we didn’t and now…now that it is finally finished we both are very happy with how they turned out.

But I will NOT be doing this one again anytime soon.  It will take me some time to get over it!  LOL

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Records Broken at Auction of Rare Impressionist and Modern Works

Posted in Little Known Facts, Serendipity, tagged , on February 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Sotheby's staff prepare to hang Claude Monet's Le Grand Canal, which sold for £23.7m. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

Sotheby’s staff prepare to hang Claude Monet’s Le Grand Canal, which sold for £23.7m. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

“A Sotheby’s auction featuring rare impressionist and modern works by Monet, Matisse and Picasso has broken the record for the highest sales total ever reached at a London auction.  The evening auction on Tuesday raised an overall total of £186.44m ($284.11 million), and broke auction records for five individual works by artists including Seurat and Malevich as bidders from 35 different countries clamoured to get their hands on the many iconic works up for sale.”

“The most expensive work of the night was Monet’s 1908 oil painting Le Grand Canal, which sold for £23.7m  ($36.12 million)– the highest ever price for any of Monet’s Venice view works. The painting, which was part of a private collection, had been on loan to the National Gallery in London since 2006.”

You can read more of The Guardian article here.

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More Yarn Busting Ideas

Posted in Crochet, tagged , , on February 4, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Stash Buster bracelets 1 Stash Buster bracelets orange brown white Stash Buster bracelets multiHere is another yarn buster idea…well, this one won’t take a whole lot of yarn but maybe you have some small ends of skeins lying around.

These little bracelets are made by just chaining about a 24 inch chain and then slip stitching in the 7th or 8th chain from hook to form the loop for the button.  You can add additional colors to it by adding the next color and chaining the length of the 1st chain.

Let your imagination be your guide.

 

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Yarn Stash Buster

Posted in Crochet, tagged , , , on February 3, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Stash Buster Zig Stash Buster 1 Blankets Stash Buster 2Yesterday we talked about keeping a stash of yarn and/or fabric. I have a pretty good one and have had it for a long time.  I use some up and then it seems to replenish itself.  (LOL – Magically!)

Last year I learned about an organization, Comfort for Critters, that provides blankets to homeless pets.  They rely on volunteers who crochet, knit and sew to donate these blankets.  Our local shelter, Humane Society of Warren County is one of their participating organizations.

I have made several blankets to donate.  The great thing about doing this is that they don’t require any specific size…they can be for small or large pets.  And they don’t have to be any special color or design so you can practice your crochet stitches or try out new ones on these blankets.  And anything you donate will be greatly appreciated.

There are plenty of other places where I am sure they would be happy to distribute warm blankets to people who need them locally too like C-CAP and local churches.  So bust out some of that stash and do something nice for some pet or person and try learning a new stitch while you are at it.

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The Stash

Posted in Crochet, Serendipity, Sewing, tagged , on February 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Fabric Stash

Fabric Stash

Yarn Stash

Yarn Stash

As I teach more classes in crocheting and sewing I have come to realize that I have become one of those people.  You know, the ones who keep a stash of yarn and/or fabric.  My Granny was one.  She always had a big stack of fabric so that whenever she wanted to “run up a frock” she would have just what she needed.

Fabric Stash in Bins

Fabric Stash in Bins

When you love yarn and fabric it’s hard not to buy it when you find a good deal.  We always have an idea of what we might do with it but it is just hard to get to every project we want to get done.   I have LOTS of yarn and fabric and I do have ideas for ALL of it.  And one day, maybe when we add 3 or 4 more hours to each day, I will get to it all.  I know Granny would understand and probably be proud of the stash I have.

Soon I will share some “Stash Buster” ideas for all that good stuff you have lying around.

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Remembering Mondriaan

Posted in Little Known Facts, tagged , on February 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Piet Mondrian 1908-10, Evening Red Tree_oil

An early Piet Mondrian 1908-10, Evening Red Tree, oil

 

Piet Mondriaan, 1930, Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow

Piet Mondrian, 1930, Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow

Today in New York City in 1944 Piet Mondrian died.

Pieter Cornelis “Piet” Mondrian was a Dutch painter.

“He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed neoplasticism. This consisted of white ground, upon which was painted a grid of vertical and horizontal black lines and the three primary colors.”

You can learn more about him by clicking here and reading about him on Wikipedia.  Once I saw a private small airplane painted like the red, blue and yellow neoplasticism style.  I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough to get a photo of it.  I still think of it every time I see one of Mondrian’s paintings.

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