Saturday Scraps

Saturday Scraps with Knees and Paws

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Hi friends! Today I'm introducing the first Knees and Paws Meme:  The Saturday Scraps is a writing and/ or photography prompt designed to celebrate process, fragmentation ad friendship.


(yes, I'm aware that today is Sunday, but maybe instead of being a day late, I'm actually posting six days early!)

This post is actually a preliminary test.  I welcome your thoughts and ideas and would love to include your suggestions in the first "real" Saturday Scraps blog hopping meme.



The inspiration for this meme is taken from my observation of a master storyteller when he taught his craft to a small group of writers. He said,

"if a writer is like a quilter, his second job is to put all the scraps together.  If that's the second thing to do, what is the first?

And the group answered "gather all the scraps."

Quilts cannot be made without scraps...and in linking our scraps together we may start to see the beginning of a blogging friendship quilt.

I have an abundance of scraps: fabric scraps, plush scraps and paper scraps. Any kind of scrap that I can collage with will find it's way into my work zone.

I also have plenty of memory and information scraps.  And I'm interested in those scraps too. 


Like the following stuff of life scrap: over the weekend I had and argument with Richard.



After which I was suddenly left with the house to myself for several hours.

And I'm reminded of the wisdom of Fred Rogers when he said

"Love isn't a perfect state of caring.  It is an active noun like struggle."

He also said,

"Anger makes us feel so isolated."

So, although I was gifted with a few hours of solitude, I comforted myself by catching up on sold items.  Yesterday was a milestone for Knees and Paws. We had our 100th sale.  It was the Lemur Tail and it's going to someone in Los Angeles California.  (How exciting is that?  Maybe it will find it's way into a film!)

To celebrate, I spent some time making a few things for myself. 

Our kitchen renovation is a decimal point away from being completed, so I felt inspired to sew a tablecloth, napkins and place mats for our dining space.     In the first phase of remodeling, I used a picture of a kitchen with brick walls as the inspiration for all the color choices.  The colors we used are dark green, rich mahogany brown, and white with copper accents.  We also have a beautiful wrought iron pot rack that our neighbor Tom made in his workshop.  Hanging above the table is a wrought iron light fixture.  The brick that I loved in the picture never became a reality...until I discovered a large scrap of fabric with a brick pattern.  This is what I used to make the tablecloth and napkins.

 

Remember the antique baker's table we found at the salvage shop?  Richard created a new top for it and conditioned all the wood to bring out the color.  

Here's what we started our renovation project with...the rubble of wood scraps.

And a century old baker's table that fits my height requirement.

 

After ^^^^ 

  Before 

I was so excited about having a new kitchen, I wanted to spend the rest of the evening at our table.  So I lit some candles and started a new watercolor painting.  The inspiration for this work was taken from a photograph on Driftwood Rambling's Blog.  Desiree's adventures in South Africa leave me with a longing to visit this beautiful part of our world.  

I started with a simple sketch.

Then I tested the colors by making a "rough draft" painting.

And then working with a larger sheet of water color paper, I attempted to put less pressure on the brush and let the colors drop and meld together for the final...

To see the real photograph that inspired this painting, click here.

Do you have scraps to share?  I'd love to read your thoughts and stories.