Happy Birthday to Us!

We haven't been very active Crafty Chroniclers lately. It would be fair to say that this summer threw us a few curveballs, to say the least, and we've been focusing on non-crafty things. We are grateful to hear that, in our absence, many of our loyal followers have still been checking in with us. And we were surprised and delighted to find a mysterious package on our doorstep this weekend --

We may have overlooked the fact that we started this blog one year ago yesterday, but our friend Janet reminded us with a thoughtful 'birthday' gift of two kinds of essential creative fuel... Diet Coke and rocking tunes from badass girl groups. Thanks for coke-ing us!

So we're revitalized and we're gearing back up to get creative -- it's time to make things!

Thank you for reading, and expect more from us very soon...

Birdhouse Update: Tenants Move In!

Remember the personalized birdhouse that I gave to my father-in-law at Christmas? 

Well, it's finally summertime... and some new tenants have moved in. What fun!

Handmade Parade: Mini Portraits

Two years ago, I made mini portraits of my sister- and brother-in-law's menagerie. These sweet keepsakes are on 6 x 6-inch framed cradled panel.

I used a Chartpak blender marker, black, grey, and white coloured pencils, graphite pencil, acrylic paint, and a matte gloss medium.

It's a techinique that I've also used to make people portraits for other family (because as previously reported everyone needs some art with their own face on it!).

They can be hung on the wall and are also deep enough that they can stand up freely on a bookshelf or mantle...

Material Girls: Kitschy Knots

We at Five Corners have been lucky enough to have two separate coworkers gift us with giant bags of fabric in the last few months (Thanks, ladies!). We tend to be attracted to cute, vintage, or just plain weird patterns, and now that we have so much, we are starting to wonder what the heck to do with it all...

So we're introducing a new feature called Material Girls, where we pick a wild pattern and challenge ourselves to make something great out of it!

I started it off with a challenging fabric - a cool, but very busy, pattern of knots in primary colours. I actually think it's wonderfully kitschy and fun, but it's so... MUCH.

So I took the route of isolating some of the details, backing them with interfacing to stiffen the fabric, and giving them more breathing room for their new life appliquéd onto a snazzy navy v-neck shirt...

 

You Asked, We Answered!

You decided what project we'd take on and you've waited long enough.

We changed the design quite a bit -- to update it and to make it work for our space. But we think you'll still recognize the "seating system" inspiration in our final design.

The first step was to customize it with our awesome logo, so we dusted off our screenprinting supplies and got to work!

Ladies and gentlemen, may we present to you... our new version of the mid-70s seating system!

To make it a seating "system", everything comes apart and can be moved into different formations:

Knowing that it would be used in our messy messy studio (by messy messy us!), we decided to use a button closure, so that the covers can be removed and laundered.

Ahhh, just what we need in the studio -- a comfy spot to relax, put up our feet and not get any work done!

Handmade Parade: Recycled Vintage Embroidery Quilt

My grandmother and great-aunt, like many women of their generation, were skilled embroiderers. When they passed away, my mother inherited their hand-stitched tablecloths, napkins, and table-runners. Though many of them are too small for my mother's table, are worn/slightly damaged, or are out of fashion, she has kept them with respect to the work that her family put into making them, and for the memories and meaning they hold for her.

Some of the best cloths made an appearance at my brother's wedding a few years ago and my wedding last year, to honour my grandmother, who would have been so happy to be with us on those special days. But mostly, they've been folded up and stored in a cabinet.

My brother and his wife recently had a child, a beautiful bright baby girl named after our great aunt. To welcome her, I recycled some of the embroidered cloths that her great grandmother and her namesake stitched so many years ago and fashioned them into a baby's quilt.

The idea of my little niece cuddling up against vintage embroidery that was hand-stitched by her ancestors is so beautiful to me. I'm sad she'll never get a chance to know these strong and loving women, but she will definitely hear their stories... and she'll have a little part of them beside her as she grows into a strong woman herself.

 

Handmade Parade: Spice Tray

For almost as long as I've known her, my close friend has spent the summer at her cabin in Northern Saskatchewan. Every spring, she packs up her car and makes the trip to her favourite place on earth, only to return six months later before winter sets in. This means a huge packing up of the car, twice a year, and major decisions about what items are essential enough to make the cut.

I had all this in mind, plus her passion for cooking, when I made her a spice carrier last year. This baby will travel with ease between homes, and never leave her stranded without the essential ground cumin!

I chose airtight glass jars and then built a wooden box that would fit them snugly, attaching drawer pulls as carry handles on either side. I hand-coloured a vintage illustration of a "cuts of meat" diagram (from a pretty creepy 1960s cookbook called The Complete Round-the-World Meat Cookbook) to decorate the bottom of the tray.

 

 

(Aside: Is it weird that I collected this gem of a book, featuring such recipes as "Tongue in Almond Sauce", even though I follow a vegan diet? No? Perfectly normal? I'm a hero? Okay, good.)

I also made an accompanying cookbook for my friend, with categories and splash-resistant pages, so that she could keep her recipes organized in one place, ready for easy transport. I filled it with a few of our shared favourite recipes, and left lots of room for her own cherished discoveries.

Check out the illustration on the "Desserts" cover page...

Stay tuned... Megan will be reporting on our completed 'Seating System' shortly!