From the Couch

I had great plans to hit the studio and start sewing more Deny the Landfill Pillow Covers (like the floral one above) first thing this morning. But some mornings demand easing into them. Slowly. Gently. Today was one such morning. Instead of shivering in the yet to be warmed up studio, I curled into the couch with coffee and a stack of books, magazines, and catalogs.

• The current Gaiam catalog includes many upcycled products such as hooked t-shirt rugs, scrap fabric ottomans, and used tire containers.

• The latest catalog from Webs: America's Yarn Store is chock full of tempting fibers and patterns, as usual. (This particular catalog is called Yarn Porn in my house. As you might suspect, it contains attractive, tantalizing photos and lust-inducing patterns.)

• Found a recipe for dinner tonight - Southern Indian Squash Curry - in the Spring catalog from Penzeys Spices. 

• Finally bought a copy of Mollie Makes instead of just looking at it in the store. Delightful, gorgeous craft porn from the UK.

• Also perused a copy of Green Craft Magazine, a quarterly showcase of upcycled crafts. There's a call for submissions I just might enter if I can pull it together for the March 15 deadline. Stay tuned.

• While the coffee grew tepid I flipped through a couple of library books. Craftcycle: 100+ Eco-Feindly Projects and Ideas for Everyday Living by Heidi Boyd and Collage Lab: Experiments, Investigations, and Exploratory Projects by Bee Shay.

Pictured below, the first (of many? After lunch we'll see what studio magic happens.) Deny the Landfill Pillow Covers. This one sports a two-toned upholstery fabric off-cut on the front and 100% cotton envelope back reclaimed from a damaged shirt. It covers a standard 14 x 14 inch pillow form. The first batch of these will be for sale at Art Shop in Oxford, OH and will eventually be included in my Etsy shop. Price? Um, still working that out...