Paper Sculpture

This is a very interesting feature on a French artist who fits mini paper figurines inside cardboard rolls

Aren't they exquisite?  I really like the way the light comes in at the end to frame the silhouette. There are some really interesting paper crafts being done now.
 Check this out---  dress made by Jolis Paons:

This was included in the book by Jason Thompson, Playing with Books, which I recently got a copy of, and hope to do some of the projects included there,

He is the author of a blog as well,  ragandbone, and he is a bookmaker.  I really have noticed an upswing in interest in the whole topic of typography lately.  I wonder what factors have been encouraging this?  The interest in monogramming-- customizing goods to your own taste,  recycling art? like the re-use of old books and paper as featured above?  everyone's familiarity with their keyboards now that so much is done on computers and the ease of changing fonts?  a counterbalance effect of people doing hand-writing things now that they spend so much time typing?  do you have any thoughts on this?

Oh, and one final photo of paper dresses, taken at the cardboard village in Moscow:

some More quilts from Houston

this first one was mostly painted fabric:

 This one has some photo transfer where the little girl is by the water, with applique surrounding it:

 This is another quilt that uses photo-transfer, in a more fanciful composition:

 When I first looked at this quilt, I didn't immediately notice that there were alphabet letters on it:

 I liked the colors in this quilt: 

 There was a small display of quilts from an International show in Japan, and I thought this one was especially charming:

 I really enjoyed the color and fabric patterns used by this quilter.

 It is fun to go to quilt shows.  I notice that a quilt can catch my attention for various reasons.  Sometimes it is the colors that catch my eye, and I'm interested in the fabrics that the quilter chose to combine.  Other times it is a technique, or a little detail that I want to look at more closely.   I suppose this is the case with most people, we find some aspect of the quilt that piques our curiosity that then draws us in for a closer, more comprehensive look at the quilt. 

Resto Hardware Steampunk

I recently visited a Restoration Hardware store, and noticed that they had a lot of product with a definite steampunk vibe, the "Victorian / industrial" style: 

 

 On Westheimer,  in Houston, there was a fenced lot full of jumbled, abandoned antiques. I found the random juxtapositions quite interesting.

 This is a shot of the wall of a coffeeshop that continued that sort of style:

 And, finally, my own back yard seems to share some of these elements. (But this photo is from a while ago, since now we are entering the season of snow and ice.)

Leaving Houston Day

Well, I'm just about to leave Houston, but have a little time to post some more quilt photos:

Festival Day in Houston

I think I walked quite a few miles today!

 As you can see, there are more people now, but not as crowded as other times I've been here!

 Although I went to look through the vendor's booths with no intentions to purchase anything, (since I started to pack last night and I seem to have a bit of a load), I couldn't help myself!  What can I say, it was a good year to be a shopper. (Seriously, I noticed lots of vendors selling fabric at cut-rate prices-- barely over cost, but I didn't look at fabric much, I already got some last week for gifts, and it is Heavy to carry!)

I really scored at one of the vintage quilt and textile booths.  I scooped up these gorgeous hand-sewn blocks, 19 of them in the bag.

 and also 32 grandmother flower garden blocks that were sewn with such happy colors!

At the same vendor,I got all 5 of these needlepoint peices for $46.50! She was clearing them out.  Lucky me.

 And finally from the same vendor, a redwork piece that seemed perfect for me, since it does contain my initials, MH, plus a P as a bonus.

I added 3 more gorgeous wools to my collection.

 These are 3 little hand-stitched pictures from Africa-- again, really cheery

  I won't go into all the other stuff that ended up in my bag -- some gifts, a couple of books, a cross-stitch pattern, that sort of thing.
Tonight I'll try to cram it all into my suitcases because I'm coming home tomorrow!
I might have a little time to knit on the scarf I've been working on in the evenings, doesn't it look pretty on the chair?

  I would be remiss if I didn't include a few more pictures of quilts from the shows!

This is a Miniature!!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the time at the show! I sure did!