Calamity Kim

Thursday Morning Letter to You

"Please write again soon. Though my own life is filled with activity, letters encourage momentary escape into others lives and I come back to my own with greater contentment."

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, 'A Woman of Independent Means'

*****

Turning off the air conditioning and switching it to heat; finding my robe and slippers; grabbed a cup of fresh coffee and I sit down to write. It's morning. The squirrels aren't even up yet, but my husband sits at the keyboard in another room and plays beautiful music while I think of what to write. Elton John songs, lovely melodies cause me to pause in the midst of a sentence and think about sitting on rooftops, kicking off moss.

Now, before I can even write a word, it's David Bowie, Life on Mars, the notes reminding me of verses, music is poetry to the ears. Sometimes it feels as though all the rough edges get smoothed out as he plays; my cellular structure moves back to serenity and homeostasis prevails. I close my eyes and forget what I wanted to say; only relaxing into the sound of the keys being struck with confidence and agility. Audible proof of my husband's talent soothes my soul. I wish he would never stop playing and that I could sit forever his audience, captivated by the sound, just in the next room.

He pauses and I imagine him sipping his coffee and suddenly the next stanza comes forth and I begin to write.

At long last, I wanted to share another apron with you. Well, actually two aprons. The first is titled Tea with Jane Austen and it is in the new and current issue of Apronology, available at your local book store right now.

This is the cover. It is a once a year publication and copies of the premiere issue are still available at the Somerset Studios website.

This apron was inspired after watching Becoming Jane (thank you Junie Moon for that DVD) and a trip to the fabric store. I don't know about you, but certain fabrics speak to me, telling me what they want to transform into. The complete instructions to create your own version are included in my 3 page spread. Congratulations to editor Beth Livesay and staff for producing another wonderful issue! The photography is always so gorgeous. These magazines are like books!

You could wear this apron as a dress with leggings or jeans or maybe a skirt with lace at the edge. The gathered top is flattering and comfortable and as I showed the magazine off at knit & bitch last night I was happy to hear that someone had bought this issue because of my apron- not knowing I had made it, but because they loved that apron! That is very satisfying and makes me feel quite content. The excitement of being published and having people love what you make is a wonderful validation of your talent. I spend most of my time thinking up ideas and then worrying about how to pull it off- make it work, as Tim Gunn would say. To have my inner critic silenced and subdued enables me to work in peace.

On Friday, after coming home from working hard at the Sewing Expo in Tampa, I found an advance copy of Belle Armoire in my mailbox.

This is the cover for the Mar/Apr issue that has another of my aprons in the Salon section. I had sent it in to be considered for the Alice in Wonderland tribute coming up in the Somerset Studio Mag but it didn't make the cut. Thankfully, the editor of Belle Armoire liked the apron well enough to include it in this publication.

I was thrilled to find my "Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast" Apron next to such lovely creations. I patchworked some quilt fabrics and added inkjet images printed on organza of Alice, the Mad Hatter and Rabbit and embroidered all around like a crazy quilt.

Fabrics with tea cups, flamingos and cat faces tell the familiar story we have come to love. The center pocket is from Through the Looking Glass and has Alice holding a cake for the unicorn and lion; the organza is soft and ethereal with hints of flowers showing through the backing fabric it looks dreamy and magical. I hope I receive this back in time to wear it to the theater when  Alice in Wonderland (by Tim Burton) comes out. This is an Indygo Junction pattern just in case you would like to make one for yourself.

The music is silent.

He has gone off to work and I shared my news. Another day ahead.

I have flowers to make and things to get done. I hope you will take time to go to the bookstore and find a copy of Apronology or Belle Armoire and if you do, be sure to tell the stranger next to you- hey- I know the woman who made this apron- her name is Calamity Kim!

on my fridge

on my fridge, originally uploaded by calamity kim.

I am just popping in to say hi!
A friend who thought she had allergies really had a cold and passed it along to me! I still love her, but now I am just worn out, coughing, sneezing, head stuffed like a rag doll and as much as I want to post something fabulous, you'll just have to wait another day or two for me to feel better.
Maybe this is a sign I need to slow it down and rest more.
Maybe a little Mad Hatter and chicken soup to cheer me up.
xo,
calamity k

mitten3 by dadaya on Etsy

via www.etsy.com

Maybe, could I please have these lovely gloves? Imagine how happy I would be wearing them, playing out in the snow, er, sand. Dang living in Florida!!@#$%^&* I want to wear wool gloves!

beret27 by dadaya on Etsy

via www.etsy.com

I could get the matching hat, also!

mittens14 by dadaya on Etsy

via www.etsy.com

Best thing I've seen all day!

Wool Gathering

I spent the whole day yesterday washing wool.

It's a lot of work but very rewarding when you have a table full of lovely white locks drying. In between waiting for it to soak I started cleaning up my "paper doll room" which has now been dubbed "the wool gathering room" because of all the fiber I seem to have acquired! I have declared a self imposed intervention and I'm not buying any more roving until I get some of this spun!!!

I was amazed to unearth a queen sized bed in there! Who knew? I made a vow to keep it uncovered so I can sneak in there and take naps. Let's see how long that one lasts.   ;p   I took everything off and washed and dried the sheets and pillow shams and quilt. It seems so lonely in there. But it smells nice.

Everyone is waiting for someone to come and play with them. Eventually I think I can talk Mr Husband in to putting up a shelf that can hold my tiny cupboards up above this side of the bed. I don't want to hang them directly on the wall, but I will (that's a promise not a threat!) if he doesn't come through with that shelf!

This "Miss Incomplete" doll was from a pattern by Sweet Meadows Farm and I wanted to make her because she held a stack of pancakes. She is to be painted and distressed; a prim doll- I think I should finish her. I have a huge pile of unfinished things to get done. I was going to show them all to you but you can go look here for yourself. I just can't get past the knitting and washing wool in order to go sew.

Everywhere I look is wool or reminders of yarn and future projects.

It's like a museum of creativity. Quiet. Dust motes floating on shafts of light sliding in through the curtains.

Piles of this and that surround me. It's a small room. No cat swinging in there. But it has so many things I love. My books...

Another unfinished doll.

Now I can lay down on the bed next to my sweet rabbits and bears and read a book I'd forgotten I even had. Well, it's a nice idea but I have to hurry and get showered and fly out the door- so much to do- the day is approaching noon.

I succeeded in finding my wool to be died and putting it all together in a large bin. I have been trying to get and stay organized but you know how us creative types thrive in chaos. It doesn't matter how hard I try, it still always gets messy! Next week I am making fabric flowers and mermaid paper dolls for an order that I have from a lady who lives in England. I am looking forward to it.

The rest of this week I will be in Tampa everyday at the Sewing Expo as an ambassador- I can't wait to wear those white gloves and turn some quilts and help out in classes and be at the Surface Design Guild Tampa/Sarasota Booth!

What fun! Maybe when I get home I can come in my woolgathering room and

curl up on the bed...

That sounds nice but I'll probably be working on something-

Like this bag I started- it's from Deb's Gypsy Bag pattern. It needs to be lined and handles made for it. I spun the flowers into the yarn- pretty cool, eh?

So much to do!

I'll keep ya posted... xo, calamity kim

Little Miss Matched Socks

When we were at the "Spin In" conference at Destin last month one of the people I met had on these socks. They were so cool! They are made by a company called Little Miss Matched and they come in pairs of 3 and are all different. Zany? Quite! I love these for wearing with yer flip flops- perfect for the weather we are having- and I just ordered a pair. I'll be sure and model them for you when they arrive. Check out the website and thanks to Peggy for the link to find my own pair, er, set!

so silly and fun!

have a happy day!

xo, calamity kim

The Latest Fashion from Betsey Johnson

I would so rock this look!

I am making a bird hat just as soon as I can!

Just wait.

soon....

Spoiled Rotten Calamity

The big adventure to Tampa on Sat was wonderful!

After walking around Anthropologie and looking at everything twice I finally decided to use my Sister's gift cards on this bag.

It has embroidery and is large enough to carry my knitting.

The embroidery is great and it has a little bling that isn't too trailer park. They only had about 4 different bags; not a great selection compared to the last time I was there. The whole store was less filled and the displays were all different and I only took photos of the front windows.

They were filled with flowers made from soda bottles and mounted on bike wheels.

Really incredible display that must have taken months to make. I can't even imagine getting that many bottles together, more or less cutting and airbrushing them!

Their windows always make you stand back and say, ahhhh.

I didn't buy a whole lot but I got things that I loved, like this badger pillow.

OK, to explain my love for this pillow- Not only do I love the combination of graphics and embroidery but it reminds me of the Badger in The Fantastic Mr Fox and Bill Murray voiced the badger and I have a small thing for Bill Murray, especially his performances in Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters, CaddyShack, Lost in Translation and Zombieland.

I know I make flower rose pins but this one was just too pretty to pass up.

The most expensive tea towel I have ever owned.

This one was 24.99, usually the ones I buy are 18.00 or on sale but I picked this one because the birds could be me & my sister.

I love the embroidery and applique.

I have been wanting one of these red cap mushroom plates and finally bought one. I think I am totally spoiled rotten, don't you? Yeah, I know. I have lots of stuff and now I have even more stuff! Imagine if you had every possession you had ever owned in your life- NOW that would be a whole lotta stuff! I do purge on occasion and have minimized it to only things I truly love left in my house.

I also bought some raw fleece to wash from eBay and some new fabric from Ikea.

This is very thick, almost like canvas and will be great for bags.

I had to have this because it looks like Godzilla is attacking Swedish Asian chicks! I wish I knew the story behind that fabric!

I also bought a sheepskin to put on my chair when I spin.

Spoiled, right?

So I had a wonderful birthday and Valentine's Day. We saw The Wolfman yesterday, which I totally enjoyed except for a few editing blunders it was pretty good. I think I will always love the original more but I can see this becoming a cult classic, maybe the extended director's cut will be better when it comes out on DVD. The costumes, sets and actors were all fine and there were scary moments that made you jump. The Wolf was pretty fierce- he was ripping off heads and disemboweling folks right and left- much nastier than the original and of course Sir Anthony Hopkins plays malicious and evil like no one else. I don't want to spoil it for anyone so I'll quit there.

This week is another busy one and I will be volunteering at the Sewing Expo on Thurs, Fri & Sat in Tampa. I hope to get started on my row for the Row 10 Group I'm in over at Flickr. Feb is my month and a few of the quilters have already started my rows which were all about red cap mushrooms, gnomes, snails and mushroom houses.

This is by Lucinda:

and this is by Laura J:

 and this block is by Sarah:

I am blessed to have such talented friends! The Group is about making a quilt row for someone each month and there are 10 people in the group so there will be 10 rows. I can't wait to see all the finished quilts after this year is over- it will be amazing! Like a virtual Quilting Bee! If only my Grandmother was alive to see the quilts and quilts shops out there now. She would be so happy.

Anyway, I hope you all had a happy weekend and thanks for dropping by.

Gotta get busy!

xo,

Calamity Kim

Time is love

Today is my birthday. The day is ahead of me and I can spend my time doing whatever I want. It's all about me today. It's usually all about me everyday, but let's not knit pick, OK?

As an artist the one thing that you never seem to get paid for is your time. You can get the materials back and a bit more but time is not something you can swap for money. The time spent thinking about making something and then actually creating it, along with pricing, packaging and then either listing it online or taking it to a brick & mortar shop to sell is never in the final price. If it were some of my things would never sell! They would cost a bazillion dollars.

When I think about my birthday, the one thing I really want is time. Time to spend with the people I love. Talking on the phone or actually being with them means a lot because to me that is love. They want to be with me. That is a gift. I have everything else. Really, I have a great sewing machine, a wonderful spinning wheel, a new washer and dryer- what more could I want? A card is nice. A hand made card even better! That's time well spent. Valentine's Day is all about showing your love and I always have the double celebration- love, love, love.

All you need is love.

First, I am breaking the diet (I have lost 10lbs) and making French toast for breakfast and then we are hopping in the car and adventuring up to Anthropologie in Tampa. I will take a few pictures.

Tomorrow we are seeing The Wolfman and having a romantic dinner (any dinner I don't have to cook is romantic in my book!) and maybe taking a walk on the beach. I can wear my hat cause it's a bit chilly.

Usually I try to do something with hearts and I just haven't made time this year to do that. I am sorry, sweet calamities.

It doesn't mean I don't love you, because I do. But if I spent time making you something sweet you'd really believe me when I said it, right?

In March my world will slow down a bit and I will certainly have something wonderful for Easter..I miss making stuff and showing it here- I really do. Those days of virtual tea parties are remembered with a whimsical smile.

Looking ahead, ideas of what to make for our Surface Design Guild's Alice in Wonderland Challenge are beginning to percolate and I will share that soon. The Movie comes out in March and at our meeting March 9th we will have a pretend tea party of our own as we share items made with the Alice theme. So much to do, so little time to do it in, rushing, hurrying, so difficult to keep up.

Excuse these somewhat old photos in this post- I don't have a cake to take pictures of and thought it might be nice to share these from the virtual tea party Vanessa threw a few years ago.

Time... just never enough of it, is there?

Happy weekend to you and I'll be back soon with tales of my adventures.

xo,

calamity kim

where in the world is calamity kim?

Aww, man! I didn't mean to disappear, sweet friends of calamity, I just got busy!

So crazy busy that I couldn't squeeze in the time to share it with you. I wanted to, I just didn't have an hour to spare.

Let me recap the last few weeks:

I got home from the Spinning Conference and spent the next day at our Guild Playday where one of our members led us in a workshop on "Stamping with

Hardware Store Materials". Then on Monday I washed 1/2 of a raw corriedale fleece.

After 5 rinses it came out very white and beautiful and as soon as I have time, I'll wash the rest of it and dying day is set for Feb 21st.

Before I left I purchased the lovely owl pin (made from zippers and felt) from Woolly Fabulous on Etsy. Because I was her 600th sale she kindly loaded me up with extra goodies like the bird pin and some teeny tiny wool balls and felt ball acorn. I love her work and think she is such a talent. Check her site here.

 

Then I started spinning some more flower yarn to go in a bag that is almost finished.

It's not as easy as just plain yarn because of all those giant silk flowers getting through the gizmos but it's worth it.

So I got that spun and soaked and dried.

My amaryllis finally bloomed. The one from Target.

It was lovely until the wild rains knocked it down, shoulda woulda coulda staked it or brought it back inside before that bad storm.

At least I have the pictures to remember it by.

Then I spent the day at Picasso Moon Yarns. This is Debra, the owner.

She is modeling her fabulous knitted and crocheted scarf. She is beautiful inside and out and has a wonderful talent for fiber art, teaching and her shop radiates an atmosphere conducive to inspiring creativity.

Then I spun some more.

Then I was knitting a scarf.

Then I helped Deb move the shop for a few days.

Just 3 doors down from the old location but it may as well be a million miles away in atmosphere. It's all yarn when you walk in the front door and so cozy and eclectic and yarn-yummie-delicious!

Don is in the back of the shop, holding court with his fans.

Then we found a wild heron beside the lake in our backyard and after getting him warmed up I took him to the Save our Seabird Hospital where they told me he had a broken leg and I left him in their capable hands.

Then it was our Guild meeting where we celebrated our 10th Anniversary. Haven't downloaded the photos yet.

Yesterday was Knit & Bitch at "The Moon" and then tonight is the reception for the FAB show. It's so crazy to have a schedule full but everyday this month there is something penciled in and I am trying to keep up!

I will finish my post on the Fiber Fairy Tales Blog that I started about my spinning trip and try to keep you posted- Sat I am celebrating my birthday in Tampa with trips to Anthroplogie and Ikea! yeehaw!

So, thank you for all the "wondering where you are emails"- I am happy, busy and looking forward to March when it slows down a bit!

xo,

calamity kim