artisan bread fair

Only 3 more days and I'll be on my way to Skowtown (Skowhegan, Maine for those of you from 'away')! What's in Skowhegan you might ask (and rightly so...)? Well, the 2nd annual Artisan Bread Fair of course!

While the Kneading Conference wraps up on Friday, July 30, folks will be able to gather to enjoy the fruits of their (and others') labor on Saturday, July 31 at a fair devoted to all things 'bread'.

I'll be there peddling my tote bags made from recycled flour and grain bags, hoping to catch the eye of the fairs' sponsor, King Arthur Flour. I mean, I do use *a lot* of their bags in my work!

And appropriately enough... "The Artisan Bread Fair will occur this year on the Eve of Lammas Day, or as it was called in even deeper antiquity, Lughnasadh. This is the ancient, mystical feast day halfway between the Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox when we celebrate the season's first grain harvest and revel in the Miracle of Real Bread from Earth to Hearth. There will be bakers at work with wood-fired hearth ovens, oven builders, grain millers, artists, booksellers, live music, storytellers, seed vendors, baking and agricultural equipment vendors and much more. And to go with all the excellent artisan breads being sold, there will be local foods from area farmers and restaurants including hearth-baked pizza! Come join us for the Rites of Lammas Day!"

The fair takes place at the Skowhegan State Fairgrounds, from 9am-3pm on Saturday, July 31st. See you there!

 

wanted: your trash

You know those empty plastic-type pet food bags that you've been so reluctant to just throw away? I mean, all that plastic going into the waste stream... The shame! The guilt! 

Well, have I got a deal for you! You can get rid of the empty bags AND the *guilt*, plus score yourself a really cool tote bag in the process. For every ten empty bags that you send me, I'll send you a tote bag crafted from one of those bags!

Send your empties to: One Woman Studio, PO Box 1343, Ellsworth, ME 04605. And if you're in the Ellsworth area, contact me at julia@onewomanstudio.com to arrange pick up/drop off!

foxy gloves

I just finished cutting down my gone-way-to-seed foxgloves and I am feeling a bit sentimental. 

These photos were taken at the height of their beautifulness. Are they not the most spectacular flowering plant? Oh, I know... you bet I say that to all the plants...

Just look at this close-up and try to tell me your heart doesn't go pitter-patter. Kinda sexy aren't they?

to market, to market...

A great big *thank you* to all my peeps - and brand new peeps - for coming out in the fog and drizzle yesterday to stop by my Guest Artist booth at the Blue Hill Farmers' Market and say "Howdy"! You just made my day with all of your positive feedback and down-right contagious excitement about my work! Not to mention buying up almost every bag I had for sale...

And a BIG *thank you* to  Market Manager Donna of Horse Power Farm in Penobscot, ME  for inviting me and running one of the best - and biggest - farmers' markets in Maine!

doggie bag

Here's a sneak peek at the first in a new series of purses and messenger bags I've designed to utilize my ever-expanding collection of animal feed bags. Empty horse and alpaca feed bags... dog and cat food bags... The pliable and durable plastic-type material lends its self so well to this more structured design. And the colors! Bright, saturated, pink, lavender, yellow, orange, green!
This purse will be on display at the 2nd annual Schoodic Arts for All Recycled Art Show, July 1 - August 15, 2010 at Hammond Hall in Winter Harbor, ME. Come on down and check it out! All the art work on display is made from at least 90% recycled, repurposed or man-made material. So cool!

the world within

I snapped this photo as I was out wandering my garden after a rain storm. I can't help but ponder the world  contained within this tiny droplet of water!

Click on the image to get a super close up and just look. Look into it. Really look into it. Astounding...

fare play

You know those wicked cool recycled grain bag totes, made famous by your favorite little dumpster diva? Well check 'em out now! As if having my recycled tote bags for sale in the super-hip, Rockport , ME cafe and market, Farmers Fare wasn't enough... they decided they needed to make them their very own!

Using their signature graffiti-like graphics and playfully juxtaposed words, these totes have been taken to the nth degree of hipness. Go there and get one before they sell out, because they will - they are that HOT!

Major kudos are owed to Farmers Fare's  masterful graphic designer Christian Helms, of Austin's The Decoder Ring Design Concern and Tim Sommer of Inner Sense Screenprinting, in Searsport, ME for helping to make this all come together.

And many thanks to all the folks at Farmers Fare - but especially Teri, the brains behind this project - for looking me up, tracking me down, and being one of my biggest fans :)

Click on the photo below to see more of these cool bags

message in a bottle

The Plastiki Expedition is a handpicked crew of adventurers, scientists, and creatives drawn together with a single goal in mind... To sail across the Pacific on a 60-foot catamaran made from reclaimed plastic bottles and aptly named 'Plastiki'.  

But why? According to their website "their mission is to beat waste by inspiring sustainable solutions, while bringing awareness to the ecological damage being done to the world's oceans."

I'll drink to that!

puppy love

Oh, how I do love puppies! And when one of my handmade recycled creations - like my DogChow Tote Bag - was recently featured in a blog post along with an adorable pup... well, I just had to share the cuteness! Check out Murphy and his debut on Happy Day Vintage. And for some really awesome vintage finds, visit Happy Day Vintage's Etsy shop for cool stuff like this:

diamond in the rough

I'll admit it - I actually look forward to my weekly trips to the local... dump. I know there are far more politically correct words to use to describe this bustling hub of waste shuffling activity, but come on - the place is a dump. Anyway...

I was cruising the metal pile a few months ago looking for anything that might lend itself to being useful - I've found file cabinets (heavy enough to anchor the Queen Mary), desks, chairs, buckets of nails... and also stuff that was just to cool not to bring home with me but would serve no practical purpose - rusty tricycles without pedals, wood stove parts and pieces, duct work...

Well, as I was in kind of a hurry to get the heck out of there (someone had just off-loaded a heap of not-so-fresh crab shells into the adjacent dumpster) I decided a drive-by with the windows rolled up would have to suffice. But then I saw it... in all it's eye-popping aqua-ness... right there on the edge of that tangled mass of corroded conduit and battered bed frames as if it had been placed there oh so gently for me to find...

Admittedly, my first thought was "that will make an amazing door-stop" - I mean the thing is 50lbs of solid metal and the thought that it might actually run hadn't dawned on me. Yet.

So home we went, but not before a brief detour to the Sew & Save Shop in downtown Ellsworth, Maine and my friendly sewing machine repairman who gave Old White a thorough inspection, hooked us up with a reconditioned foot pedal and announced "That's a fine machine you got there!". You should have seen the look on his face when I told him I just pulled it out of the metal pile about 15 minutes ago.

Long story short, it sews better than any machine I have ever used. It feeds beautifully, makes perfect stitches in the toughest of material, has a separate bobbin winder - not to mention it's downright gorgeous!

Funny thing is, I had been thinking seriously about purchasing a new machine for months. My WalMart-special Singer (it was a gift!) had been balking at the paces I was putting it through - it was never meant to sew the kind of stuff I sew - and I was surprised it had held up this long. But lack of funds and that little voice that was saying "wait..." prevented me from making that purchase. I'm ever so glad. I don't think I could have  found a machine more perfect for me!