shhh!

dont tell anyone, but im at work. i cant help it, the place is empty and i have nothing to do. i spent the last hour and a half checking out all of the sewing patterns at the craftzine archives (all 35 pages!).
pretty fantastic.

i had class all this morning, i was in a group who presented on chicago and environmentalism. i gave a mini presentation on how to be a green consumer, and why handmade is (or can be) earth-friendly. basically, by buying locally handmade or making your own whatever, you are a) eliminating packaging and transportation costs and fuel; b) you can ask whoever made your thing where the materials came from and make an informed decision whether or not you want to purchase it; c) can be pretty sure that fair labor practices were used; d) handmade products often used recycled materials! yay!

so pretty much i have decided that my project will be focused on re-using products to create a sustainable consumer path. because i love to consume. i do. shopping is my fave, when i have a bad day there is nothing that makes it better than a new american apparel dress and a cupcake. god im awful.

tonight im going to get my act together and do some hardcore sewing. im going to make some cute bags for my girlfriends, finish the straps on jacob's backpack, and possibly start some pjs. other than that my plans for the evening involve laundry, yummy snacks, and a good movie. preferably 80s.

k well im off, ill post pics later!!

oh really.

Okay so I'm going to try to put up pictures of everything I have been working on so far... I've been making vintage-inspired purses for the girls and a backpack for Jacob, and I've made a dress form from a cast of my body...yeeeeah. It was a messy project - I havent paper-mache-d since I was like seven, but it was fun.

Today class was soooo long, we had a one and a half hour commute - which was longer than class was! It was pretty cool though, we went to an Islamic community organization on the south side that is really pro-active in the community in terms of social justice. They had an AWESOME art program, and had a huge festival this past summer and brought in Lupe Fiasco - pretty fantast.

I'm basically super tired though so I'm staying in tonight and working; tomorrow morning I'm going to a quilting circle/get together with Mary SB and Trish Williams. Her website is handworksbytrish.com and her work is so beautiful and inspiring. I'll let you know how that goes! I'm really excited.

Also, on Sunday I start my first day volunteering at the Hyde Park Art Center. Hopefully I get to help out with a class and hang out with a bunch of kids. Art + Kids = Best Combo Ever.

Okay now for the pictures (hopefully): so the story pretty much is, it started out ok, had to spend a bit of time with the seam ripper (frustrated face), then decided it was cool anyways ("it happens!"face), and then i finished! I still have to add the yo-yo flowers though, i found some cute rose buttons to sew in the middle. very sweet.

Gray Skies and Purple Socks

So it's the first day of my new blog! And I have no idea what to do with it! I'm making this as part of a class project. I'm a senior in college developing an independent study on feminism and the handmade movement in Chicago. I'll be making my own clothes, sewing everything I can think of, going cool places like depARTment and the Renegade Craft Fair, reading tons of blogs and seeing how people network, and a whole bunch of other fun crafty things!

Besides all that, I'm sitting in my apartment wrapped in the sea green afghan my grandma made me, eating Annie's organic mac and cheese and watching Malcolm in the Middle. It's so ridiculously gray, cold, and windy outside - I have class again in three hours, and am not looking forward to the trip there.

My grandparents were here this weekend, it was such a fabulous weekend! I love my family tons, and sunny skies and warm weather made it great for shopping (which we did lots of) - found the cutest shirt for my cousin Jacob that said "McDreamy" on it (gotta be a Grey's fan to get it...oh and Jacob's five by the way). We had such a good time, went out for good, got to talk a lot about life and what I'm doing next year. Graduation is creeping up on me and I still don't have a plan for what I'm going to do if I'm not in grad school. Yikes.

'K, well I'm off to do some sewing (uhm, or maybe take a nap....)
Laters!