things

Well... I seem to have fallen behind, with the whole daily posting of things made. It was been very busy lately, ofo course. I have been making a lot though. I promise.
here are somethings:

Here is my bubbie reclining in a comfy new necklace that I knit her...





I think that I got the itch to make things for the pups from Pamy who has always made little garments for the boys...



It has become very important to make things that are not stressful, not related to sales.... not for show, but for my more intimate life. little things for the dearest of the dear.

My friend Despina has started this really cool thing on Facebook called MAKE PER MONTH. Everyone in the group makes something for another person each month...

this is what I made for Despina:




my friend Kendall made me this beautiful little quilt.... which I lost the picture of... check back soon.

Along the lines of studio excitement, Cayewah gave me this awesome old thread spool holder!






It has lots of pegs and other storage places for my threddys and other sewing stuff.
We don't know who made it, but someone did, probably in New Mexico, maybe 50 years ago.

suddenly december

It was been a while!




I have been...

- packing up the house and prepping for MA

- moving materials around at the YMCA

- running around like mad, making up for a stolen phone - yes, the night before the long drive.... naturally

- driving up 95 with Riva and Lucy (cayewah's pup) for 9 hours, stopping in with Joellen and Jason for the night, driving 10 more hours thru the rain and fog

- Arriving in Northampton. Florence actually.

- Snuggeling

- Binding quilts and embellishing mittens



- doing trunkshow # 1 - went very well (here is Lulu, we did the show at his house)



- making doggie jackets




- knitting (basking in loving admiration for the importance of making)

I'm up in MA, taking good care.
Making, trying to keep my dogs and myself pretty warm.

Everything is going very well. We are most certainly on vacation, despite the ever epic lists. The days are less full and the freezing-ness is making me drink more tea and wear thicker socks.

...and the persuit of happiness

This incredibly beautiful op-ed piece by Maria Kalman was recently in the NYT.


http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/back-to-the-land/

certainly worth a look!

we are making making making here. almost time to hit the road!

Here is the set up of the wonderful thanksgiving block party that we went to!
the 1200 block of e. 49th street was blocked off and the table was made up in the middle of it all!



can I please move to your neighborhood?

Uncle David comes to the Y

After much persuading from Cayewah and me, our good friend David Frank came over to the Y today and did a little spinning with the kiddos!

radical cuteness ensued!




I'm working, a little more every day of "Lovingkindness: a cookbook"
tomorrow equals pocket pies!

pictures to follow.


.... there is a road that meets the road that goes to my house.... (the decemberists... july july july)

One Day in Savannah GA

Great news! We got the Loop It Up grant from the Hodge Foundation!
What a thrill it was to open the letter--- adressed to

Molly Green Lieberman
Cayewah Easley
Loop It Up Savannah
c/o the west broad street YMCA

HOORAY!!!!!!!!!
so onward, to good work and constant making!

one hundred million lights on the darkest night

"I don't believe in the wasting of time.




and I don't believe that I'm wasting mine" - Fiona Apple said that

when i grow up i'm gonna be happy and do what i like to do

ingredients:

one long continuous thread

(this is for Eden)

Quite a long time ago, Cayewah brought up the idea of a continuous thread. A thread that is so central to our thoughts and works and wonderings that it appears in everything that we ever make or do or say.

There is this (perhaps idealistic) idea that if we all were absolutely true to our selves and did exactly what we felt we really should, we would create a place that was harmonious.

I like to think about everyone having a long red continuous thread that they hold onto, and follow thru the maze of it all.

hmmm.

I feel perfectly calm until I think of the dozen or so people who I have neglected to call back in the past week. I love you. it has been a little bit of a constant week here in savannah GA.
School started, History of Fabric is good and more reading than I think I have managed to do in the past 3 years!
La La LOOP is marching right along! Jill and Lynz came over to the Y on tuesday and the kids all said " how come you all got that thing in your nose....???" -- referring to all three of our noses being pierced and indeed, having something in them! Cayewah refers to our house as the "pierced nose palace"

I've started up working at the store again too... it has been real fun to reconnect with everyone there. Especially my buddy Jerry who is now the assistant store manager. I am of course always going on + on about Loop It Up and I learned the other day that Jerry started a whole LIBRARY in Tennessee with simmilar intentions as LOOP! He used to manage a Barnes and Noble store. At may book stores, when a book or magazine "expires" they tear off the cover and throw out the body of the book. YIPES! sounds terrible, but it is routine policy in the US of A. Jerry got permission from BN and began saving the coverless books. He began sending them to kids who read the books, and then drew covers of their own! Eventually, they built an entire library which is housed in a prison some where in rural Tennessee.
I am reminded again of this movie which I still haven't seen that Marie Frank told me about --- The Gleaners and Me -- about those of us who live or work off of the things that other people leave behind.

So, we'll be easy from now on.

I am hoping that the coming week is made of well spent days. I am pretty certain that it will be.

1-2-3 Vacation's OVER!!!!

Today was the first day of school, here in Savannah GA. Lynsey and I successfully made it to our 8am History Of Fabric Class. I'm pretty excited about it, Pam once said to me that History of Fabric is just a collection of stories about people and their fabrics.

I spent this afternoon at the YMCA, starting to get things organized. I'm trying to get all the 2009-10 Loop It Up promo stuff done THIS WEEK! we just got our very own email address: looplinktangle@gmail.com - this will also be the address for the materials center.

The Y is doing this really great thing. It's called KaBOOM! Design a PLAYGROUND. It's a program thru Home Depot, the kids get to draw and design their own playground and the materials are donated by Home Depot. AND then in one day a volunteer crew comes to build it!

Look at this AWESOME picture of Kendra!


And cute little Vandell in the background!

When I got back here a few weeks ago, Peter at the Y said to me, "welcome home."
My heart will never be homeless. that is for gosh dang golly golly sure.

One day in savannah ga

Things are falling into place. I wrote an outline, Cayewah wrote a really good letter applying for some funding from the Hodge Foundation of Savannah GA for LOOP IT UP. Peter and Howard have been helping to edit it. All that is left to do now is SOMEHOW get all the essential signatures on it and then send it on in. done done done. This however, is a little trickier than you might think. I am here in Florence Massachusetts. Cayewah is in California. Howard in in Savannah. somehow, between scanners, fax machines and good will, it should all be together in the next few days.

I've been saying for some time now that I will begin the process of writing a philosophy and curriculum for loop it up. lastnight I finally got the idea to do it like an artist book. and then, began writing today:

Loop It Up Savannah. One Day In Savannah GA.
The Savannah Community Materials Collection.
This is my true life’s work.
Molly Green Lieberman, written as tina said, with every fiber of my being

1.
My good friend Kait, an artist, a preschool art teacher, said to me earlier tonight, “I believe that anyone who sees hears feels or knows something and then makes in response to it and then they feel fulfilled and happy, even if it is just for a second, is an artist.”
I have long puzzled over what makes an artist. Or perhaps, more relevantly, what causes someone to believe that they are not an artist?
Most likely, there are many explanations about this, and my purpose is not to analyze or even to discover and address them. However, I can tell you what I have learned from working with the children of Savannah GA. When given the opportunity to become fluent with materials-- to explore, play, look and really see, wonder and eventually make, even the most down- trodden and exhausted child begins to see themselves as an artist.


so thats a start. jenny lewis says: as for those days that act as markers in your life, but inbetween, you can't remember....

and so, pressing on. pressing right on.

surprise!

*** Not really sure how I came across this, but apparently there is a bakery/ children's charity in Illinois called MOLLY'S CUPCAKES. How fitting, right mom?

feeling thankful for :

- a sunny day today

- the friendly people at the Vet... even though we spent $150, it was a nice experience

- little drop in visits from Elena, Cheyanne + Rita

- Mary Calucci offering to help Cayewah and I with the Loop It Up grant proposal

- Cayewah taking my scribbling and ideas and writing a beautiful concise something or another (she always does this! I have a pile of them in my bottom desk drawer)

- A lovely burrito night with Kait

- Pamy Wiley giving me a sturdy leg to stand on when ever I lose both of my own

- my sister is coming home this weekend

- My mom and dad

- another shot,again and again every blinking blooming day

Senior show, moving....UPdates!

These are the postcards from the fibers senior show which was BEAUTIFUL + last week!


We're all moved in!!! Lynsey, Jill, Dom, Derrick, TJ, Inu and + spent a very HOT muggy sunday moving into our new place! I have a few things over at the old house still, but for the most part we're all done! Perhaps the very best part of the house-- aside from that it is OURS!! is that we have a studio! in which I plan to get to work, at long last!

My good friend Flannery has moved in for a few weeks while she works on a special project! GET THIS: Andre Leon Tally-- editor in chief of VOGUE came thru durring the fibers senior show and loved all the work. As it all pans out, he is taking Flannery, Lizzie, Iona and Cherise along with Cayewah to NY to meet Vera Wang, Ruben and Isabel Toledo and other fashion people..... OH MY!
I guess you really never know what is going to happen next!!

Cay's bell tower

***this is what I made for Cayewah to celebrate the beautiful NEW fibers building!
front and back.

An Incredible Project

*** My good friend Cayewah just sent me a link for a very cool project. The Holocaust Museum of Huston Texas is doing an exhibit to remember the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust. The I Never saw Another Butterfly project invites artists of all ages to create a hand made butterfly in any medium and send it in to the museum by June 30th.

Way more info at this site:
http://fiberartcalls.blogspot.com/2009/02/butterfly-project.html

We're planning to do this project with the LOOP IT UP kids.

today is a sunny sunny day in Savannah GA.

"there's 15 miles til the promised land, and I promise you I'm doing the best I can..."

post new york

New York was wonderful, such a nice combo of working the show and wandering the city. I stayed with some old + dear friends of my parents, right around the corner from the Javitts Center. here is a shot of our booth at SURTEX.... and there is Karin hanging things up!
It was really interesting to talk to all sorts of industry people and see what is going on in the surface design world. we made a lot of good connections with companies looking to hire young designers and artists, which are sure to come round and provide great opportunities for the sweet folks in the fibers department. here are Pam +Cayewah, shortly after we learned that the SCAD ICFF booth was going to win an award (Best Design School!!! hooray hooray) how wonderful to be recognized for doing truly good work. we are all exceptionally proud. here is a picture of the ICFF booth as well.........
Home in Savannah, the SCAD fashion show was a sweeping success, and was particularly praised for the STUNNING nano-felted backdrop by David Frank, a huge success + beautiful piece of work. check out this link to see some pictures: http://www.scad.edu/events/fashion/2008/
also, there are pictures and videos of the process on the fibers dept. blog which is in the link column on the left. FIBER FIBER FIBER. well, I have to go do some errands and then FINALS. OY VEY. but life is undeniably, very good.