Old blue jean inspiration . . . . and a Give-away!

I have been inspired by the idea of recycling denim jeans for many years.  When I was weaving full time I trimmed out mountains of blue jeans and cut miles of denim strips on my rotary cutter.  I have not woven many denim items in the last couple of years.

But this summer I was inspired to get out the bottomless box of denim pieces and my rotary cutter.  I spent an afternoon or two in the screen porch cutting strips.  Dusty job!

I have woven a couple of new batches of denim coasters on my four harness table loom.  I love to use this out in the screen porch when the weather cooperates.  The warp I am weaving off now is done in "inspiration threading", an old favorite.  It is a grouped warp threading and lends itself to many variations. I will post photos when I finish them.

These plain weave coasters were completed this summer in the screen porch.  I am still drawn to the texture and variation of color in the way these strips weave up.

These  coasters are being featured  in a giveaway from Michele Paley on her blog, Michele Made Me.  Michele has featured denim projects of her own design and those of various guest artists during the month of September.  It is a wonderfully fun collection of work and sharing !  Please take a look at all these posts - very creative projects and talented craftspeople.  And you might win one of the give-aways!

Visit my Etsy shop to see my denim items now and I will be adding more soon including coasters and runners in the inspiration threading.

I feel at least one more post about denim recycling to come .  .  .  .  .

Paper (fiber!) Love

For months now I have been captivated by a couple of origami patterns.  I am addicted to making these box sets.

My family and friends save safety envelopes and recycled paper of all types for me!  Part of the satisfaction of making these little cuties is that they are all upcycled materials.

Even the buttons come from the vintage and salvaged buttons in my ever-growing collection.  I cannot resist a button and none are too common to be discarded!

Then, as I mentioned in an earlier post to this blog, I got started folding paper cranes for The Brain Injury Association here in Minneapolis.  This was a huge success for them and has caught on with some other chapters around the country.  Check your local chapter to see if they have started a drive in which you could get involved.  This was quite spectacular - approximately 140,000 paper cranes!

Folding the paper cranes was just too much fun to stop.  I combined the crane with the little boxes to make this "Little bit of Luck" box.  Fun, fun!  

My daughter, Celia, brought an outdated Minneapolis city map book so of course, MAP Boxes!!  I'm not sure where all this box folding will lead but there are seemingly limitless paper options and oodles of ways to embellish the folded product so it could go on and on and on and. . . . . .

(P.S.  These are all available in my Etsy Shop)