Broadside

The project for Letterpress I was a 10x10 broadside - text with a corresponding illustration. I chose a quote from Kurt Vonnegut, one of my all-time favorite authors. I had the opportunity to see him speak at the University of Iowa many years ago and I feel fortunate to have been there. I remember sitting in the lecture hall listening to his stories and thinking, wow, this is amazing.

I've had a lot of opportunities that I'm really grateful for, I have an amazing happy baby, great family and friends. I often pause what I'm doing, whether it's playing with Isaac, reading a good book, or taking a walk outside in the perfect weather we've been having lately and think "this is nice." I resolve to do that even more often, because I don't do it enough. I'm going to frame this broadside, because I am so proud of it, and hang it up where I'll see it every day as a reminder.

You can see some of the process here - proofing the text, carving a linoleum block, proofing the block, and the final print. There is a whole stack of proofs and goofs that you don't see here. This was a time consuming process, but the nature of setting text and pulling prints is almost meditative and gives you time to think "if this isn't nice, I don't know what is."



Type: Stymie 24pt

Paper: Rives BFK

Pressure print

The very first night of Letterpress I class we made pressure prints. Mine is inspired by log cabin quilt blocks. I was immediately hooked on letterpress printing.

Quick change pants

Way back in March I made some quick change pants from Anna Maria Horner's book Handmade Beginnings. The 3 month size, shown below, still fits Isaac (although barely).



He also has a pair of 6 month quick change pants which have fit him perfectly now. I need to make some more sizes for 9+ months.

The pants are super easy and super quick to make - they took me about 2 hours each. I really like the fact that they're reversible, no exposed seam allowances anywhere (therefore no need to serge!), and you can adjust the cuffs as your kiddo grows. As an added bonus, not much fabric is needed for them so I was able to pull from my stash instead of buying new. I have at least 4 more fabric combos set aside for various sizes of pants. Just have to find time to actually cut + sew.

Oh nuts

Proof + layout for what will (hopefully) soon be a 5x7 letterpress print. Yay! I'm thinking brown for the "oh nuts" and an opaque turquoise for the small text. We'll see what I end up with - my skills in color mixing need some improvement.

Wheel of Mystery quilt - done!

It's finally finished!



My friend Julie did an amazing job quilting this! I started this thing way back in 2006 and just finished sewing the binding on this month. It's super nice to be able to cross this off my to-do list and hang it up on the wall!