David has these great paintings by Johanna Wright. They’re both of the Whale Hero (though only one of the paintings has that title)–a scrappy-looking big blue/grey whale, smiling a nervous kind of grin, saving folks (Whale Hero) or being celebrated (Whale Parade).
Here’s Whale Hero:
And Whale Parade:
It was the little patches on the Whale that did me in. I loved them, and wanted to recreate them, so I made David his own whale.
I haven’t made a lot of softies, it’s never really been appealing to me as a thing to make, but boy oh boy did I want to make a whale! I just drew a simplified version onto newspaper, cut it out and traced it with seam allowance onto fabric to make 2 pieces. I embroidered a mouth and an eye on each piece, and sewed on some patches–I used white glue to stick them, and then zig-zag stitched around them, they were too tiny for pins. I got a bit stuck on the stuffing part, I left the open bit (to flip it right side out and stuff) by the base of the tail, so that turning it right side out would be easier, but it made it really hard to hand sew it shut. I did an imperfect job, but that’s alright because The Whale is a scrappy guy.
Ozzy likes it:
and David too:
granny hexagon, and hook!
If you make a silly face and brandish a hook, you’re a pirate! I mean, I am, and here’s me playing around with hexagon crochet. My hexagon paper piecing project has been delivered to its recipient (photos soon!), now I have something in the works for these.
I hand-sewed a final seam on something the other day, and turned on a podcast from The Moth to listen to while doing it. I just reached over to my computer and clicked the most recent one to play. The host introduced The Moth, what they do, etc, and then said “Today’s story is from Mack McClendon.” Mack McClendon! I know that guy.
See, in early January I took 9 students from the University of Vermont to New Orleans on a Jewish Funds For Justice service learning trip. For a week we volunteered, heard from speakers, took tours, ran sessions, and had great conversations about race, class, history, activism, and social justice.
One of the organizations we worked with was The Lower 9th Ward Village–a community centre started by Mack McClendon.
Mack was incredibly generous with his time and stories. In this photo above, the UVM students are asking him questions and recording his responses.
In his Moth story, Mack speaks about the building that the Lower 9th Ward Village has: how he set his sights on it, and how he acquired it for use as a community centre. It was incredible to hear him tell this tale on the internet radio, to everyone, and also have a personal experience with the building, and a sense of pride in having seen the UVM students use that building to build relationships and build their own community .
Here’s the building from the backyard:
Listen yourself: Listen to Mack.
I am posting more dated Cat and Girl because I have no photos of projects to show off. Also, because I’m back to school and giving my cardigans some heavy wear.
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