You can run, but you can’t hide from me when I’m carrying the Flip. This latest ambush is with my aunt Jan. For Christmas she made some very fancy embroidered pillow cases for my parents. I can’t imagine sweating and drooling on these masterpieces so I’m guessing they’re ornamental.

I dropped the ball and forgot to get photos while I was there, but I think you can see clearly enough from the video that pillow cases have a lot of detail. Gifts like this really are special, and not just because of the significant amount of time it takes to make something like this. In this (pillow) case it was about 20 hours for the pair.

One year I tried to make every gift I gave, and it just about killed me. Props to everyone makin’ stuff.

I left the video camera running while we did this. The whole shoot took about 30 minutes. I think Paris had the idea for snowflakes. Originally, I wanted to recruit a ton of people, dozens at least, to make one giant snowflake somewhere in downtown Asheville, and shoot it from a building. But the ladies were thumbs down on that. I still may do it one year. That’s a lot of white clothes!

We hope you like it. If you haven’t gotten yours yet and you know you’re on list email me. We still have a small batch that hasn’t been mailed. If you want one, no matter who you are, just let me know. We have a small number left.

Christmas Card 2009 - Snowflakes

Here are some individual snowflake photos.

Christmas cards from previous years.

The hits keep coming. Mary made a set of potholders from some funky 1970s style fabric for her funky (in a good way) older sister. She used some fabric meant for covering ironing boards in the middle because it’s heat resistant. Beyond that, she freely admits that she doesn’t know what she’s doing, and didn’t have directions. Freestyle sewing!

Photo after the jump.

Mary Earle-Sigler - Funky Retro Fabric Potholders

Check out Asheville Cotton Company.

This Monster Backpack for our nephew is another Christmas creation by Mary. Handmade all the way. Even the bag it’s wrapped in is handmade. She Googled “cute cartoon monsters” to find different ideas and used them as inspiration for her own thing. To make the applique possible she had to simplify the final design. Mary has advanced sewing skillz, credentials even, but she makes it sound simple.

And, she was wrapping gifts in our freezing cold house. Lots of snow this weekend. Not much electricity. Sorry to whoever was calling during the video. We stop for no one.

See some pics after the jump.

Pieces and thread for the Monster Backpack

Finished Monster Backpack

Orange lining in the Monster Backpack

The crafty lady is on a roll. This project is a tote bag made from some salvaged wool that she felted. Details include a fancy-pants interior pocket, and a functional/decorative patch. Curse you moths! No pattern was used. Freestyle sewing!

Pics after the jump.

Some detail pics of this wool tote bag at Flickr.

Felted wool tote bag by Mary Earle-Sigler

Home girl is knocking out the gifts, faster than I can blog them. But that’s not saying much because I haven’t been that active here for a while.

First Mary project I’m posting this season is a couple handsewn critters wallets. One for our daughter and another for our niece. Check out the video for more info. You can see all the pics at Flickr.

Handsewn Critter Wallet - One of Mary's recent craft projects

Cathy Earle - Cityscape Oil Painting circa 1973

I saw this last year, Christmas 2008, when visiting my in-laws. My mother-in-law Cathy Earle did this fantasy cityscape oil painting in the early 1970s. I believe it was an assignment in an art class she was taking. She had redecorated her office and brought this piece out of the archives. The colors are fantastic, no pun intended. They are an Army family and at first I thought this was real skyline from some place they had been stationed in Europe.

For a closer look see a larger version of this oil painting.

Jane (Sigler) Burckard - Memory Jug / Memory Jar

Today’s featured artist also happens to be my aunt Jane. And, it just happens to be her birthday! Together, let us celebrate aunt Jane and her foray into terracotta modication, or should I say “beautification.” This artifact is what paleontologists call a “memory jug” or “memory jar.” On the Mill Creek reservation the natives call this rather large and heavy, but delicate piece the “Juggernaut” or possibly “Jug-or-not.” As all history of this memory jar has been passed from one generation to the next through the oral tradition, and no documentation, save for these photographs, is known to exist, the exact spelling remains a mystery.

The enigmatic artist, who is a particularly social being and yet camera shy, declined to be filmed in our interview about her memory jug magnum opus. If you have any questions about the process involved in producing this jug please post them in the comments section. Jane is known to be a regular reader of this site. On behalf of my aunt who couldn’t appear on video I would like to thank all the little people who contributed to the making of this memory jug.

See detailed close ups of Jane’s memory jug.

Read more about the folk art tradition of memory jugs.

Brad Price - The Cellar (Painting)

I just heard from a childhood friend. It’s only been about 25 years since we’ve seen each other. His father made the wedding rings I posted here a while back. Turns out that Brad Price is quite an artist himself. I totally dig this painting of the wine cellar at Elizabeth’s Cafe in Duck, NC. There’s just something about the collision of patterns in man-made objects and hand-made or human painting that always does it for me.

When I’m back to livin’ large I’ll try to get him to sell it to me. He posted two more killer paintings at his blog today. Aahhh! I want those too! Check ‘em out at BradPriceArt.com.