Malvena Pearl’s Emporium

We recently put in a request to the elusive batch of House Elves to do some overtime, assisting with the pillow covers for a client’s sofa. The client provided all of the materials and requested biased piping, using a cashmere blend that will match her sofa. It turns out that the House Elves were on sabbatical, so the Proprietor completed all the sewing, research and musical accompaniment selection, herself.  Soon, the House Elves will return, but until then, I’m on my own. With some limited assistance from Hercule, who eats his dinner in the Malvena Pearl Studio and sometimes naps there, this project is now COMPLETE. And as my thesis mantra became, Done Is Good.

Any road, here are pictures that Mr. Acorn was kind enough to take for us.

NOTE: The musical accompaniment that assisted in the completion of two pillow covers are listed below the photographs. Happy New Year!

Music that helped me complete this project:

The Band (the brown record)

Mel Torme sings Songs of New York

Frank Sinatra Songs for Lovers

Robin Williamson Songs of Love and Parting

Bruce Springsteen Unplugged

Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown

Mr. Cinders (1983 revival original cast recording)

K.T. Tunstall Live in London 2010, in which KT does her impression of an audience member: “MORNING LOVE. I’M OFF TO WORK, NOW.” in her Biggest most Boring Voice, ever.

I showed my work on Facebook and got some nice responses:

This yellow, red and orange piece was for C. at the lovely wedding of R & R.

So, another friend wrote and asked me if I could make something to go with a festive tropical dress she has, that she wears to a holiday party each Christmas season. Here is what I came up with. This piece did not work for my friend’s Ensemble. It is now For Sale on the Malvena Pearl Etsy web site:

In the past few years, I’ve made an effort to either volunteer at the Dickens Fair in Daly City, California, or to spread my enthusiasm about going to the Dickens Fair to other folks.  I’ve made a bonnet or two for this occasion and assisted a number of friends with their outfits. Here’s a photograph from 2005, one of the first years I went to Dickens Fair with pals Beth (on the left) and Aimee (on the right). I made Beth’s gray and plum-colored outfit, my outfit, helped Aimee embellish her jacket and skirt; and I made both my bonnet and Aimee’s bonnet.

If you like live music, live theatrical performances, dancing, games and general holiday fun set in the time of Charles Dickens’ city of London, then you may want to go to the Dickens Fair.  Happy Christmas!

Today is a special day. Remember those who went before you.  Dance, sing, draw, paint your face, celebrate. Your grandparents wanted you to be here. They may even have prayed for you to be here. So embrace the life you have and give thanks in a way you know they will still hear. Decorate some sugar skulls. Light a candle for those who are no longer with us and tell them a story.

I designed and made the quilt square using fabric from my stash and  gave it away, here. It will be part of a quilt that raises funds for a national domestic violence prevention program called Becky’s Fund.

Skull A Day quilt square donation

I recently designed, produced and completed this sparkle collar for the owner of a very lucky Brittany Spaniel

Here’s some progress on the quilt square, which traveled with me to the home of Ms. C. yesterday. I went to help her paint a mural on her baby’s bedroom wall. The baby is due in a couple of weeks. Ms. C. is the friend who drew a bird a day for many long months in 2010 and has a nice collection of illustrations to enter into an exhibition or two. And she’s going to be a mother very soon.

Here’s the latest:

with some leaves

more flowers

This quilt square also went with me to my first meet up with four other members of the Oakland Needlers group. What a hoot! They were working on cross stitch, knitting, crochet and hand-sewing projects. I am so glad I was invited. Lovely folks, good conversation, funny stories and advice given and accepted on the “needle arts” or “fiber arts.” I feel like i made some new friends and they are all in the East Bay so that’s wonderful. We meet again in two weeks. I want to have this quilt square complete and in the mail to the project person, Abby at Skull a Day,  by next Monday.

Ninja Becky Thomas vs. Breast Cancer: Pink Warrior

I want to let my readers know about a great charity investment they can make to a great local cause. Becky Thomas, who has been teaching  role playing workshops at Dr. Comics and Mr. Games in Oakland for 20 years, needs our help. She’s fighting the good fight against breast cancer. Becky’s partner, Steve Kani, designed some very cool t-shirts to raise some funds for Becky’s medical treatments for cancer. Becky teaches math, studies Ninjitsu and works with a number of autistic and special needs kids in the role playing groups  and tutoring after school.  I feel very grateful for Becky’s work in our community. I am not sure I’d be here if I hadn’t had some wonderful teachers when I was younger. They helped me find my love of history through role playing games and I learned to sew FOR those games. If you’re so inclined, check out Becky’s blog and the t-shirts here.

If you know of other ways to help Becky, please be in touch with her or with Steve through their blog or web site. Thanks!

Here’s the latest work I’ve done on the quilt square: the teeth of the skull.

I’m thinking of different stitches I can use to outline it and then make the wreath of flowers and leaves around it.

And here’s another evening of work on it, now with more definition:

Greetings from the Emporium! Happy 2011 to everyone.

Every so often, inspiration strikes to help get me moving to our next endeavor. I will be posting much more often this year as I have been inspired by two sources. I read an article about a project diary called 365 Make Something Every Day and Change Your Life. This  strikes me as very similar to the write-every-day strategy for folks who are writing a novel in a month. I’m inspired.

I also have a friend who has been drawing a bird every day. Her work is all over her living room and it’s inspirational. I will Make Something Every Day.

To jump start this process, I began work on a quilt square for a charity quilt. It’s being put together for a non-profit called Becky’s Fund by Abby over at Skull A Day. I’m kind of excited about it because I’m starting small and contributing to a group project. This I can do. I started yesterday.

I have been drawn to the images of Dia de Los Muertos, since I volunteered at the community event at the Oakland Museum. The first year I volunteered, I got to  meet the organizers and participants and also was able to participate in the celebration and community blessing. I want to draw upon traditional imagery from that event for this project.

I did some research on images of skulls and went through my fabric collection to find a suitable background fabric. I drew the basic design in chalk and then went over it in ink onto the back of the square of fabric. I want it to be tactile, so I went over this outline with the sewing machine. It’s going to be partly applique and partly embroidery, with ribbon flowers. Here are the beginning photos.

Here are some photos of the completed bonnet. My friend made the lace that I used to trim the inside: