In my quest not to cram...

Tadah! An arrhae pillow.

I've been ticking off my list the different handmade items I'm preparing for my sister's wedding this July.  So far, we're done with the Save-the-dates and the couple's seal (will post photos of those soon).  We also did a quick course on fabric flowers while Clarisse was in town.

Fabric flowers for her entourage!  Clarisse learning how to make fabric flowers.

I mean to finish her headpiece, then their signing tree, then focus on their invitations.  Sounds like a plan, huh?  Just sharing in photos the process of making my sister's arrhae pillow.  I made an earlier one to serve as her ring pillow.  Another check off the list, and a handmade item closer to a heart-made wedding.

It starts off with crocheting a little doily, which I made in the company of yesterday's amigurumi class.

Materials assembled!  Items include satin ribbon, linen cloth and organic cotton.

Sewed the linen to make a pillow with my trusty Brother.

Once sewn, I stuffed the pillow with the organic cotton I've had in stock from Ritual.

After closing up the pillow, I sewed the doily onto it, keeping the stitches inside and away from view.

Will keep posting the items I finish!

Scribbling again

My latest signage/calligraphy project.  Gouache on primed canvas.

Happy Easter!  :-)  I've been dying to resume my writing here, and in the middle of deadlines and tasks, I'm stealing a few moments to do this update.  I figure this is the kind of thing you just have to go ahead and do, as between projects, my family and loved ones, wedding preparations (for my wedding and for my sister's), travel, and life in general, you just really have to stick your leg out, or literally jump off the train for a few moments to get what you want to do, done.

Anyhow, I've returned to nurturing my romance with letters.

Text from the Mole and the Owl.  Recent calligraphy practice.

In high school, I developed an interest in calligraphy from one of my teachers who was formerly a Pink Sister (a cloistered religious order).  She would write me these notes in a lovely gothic type, and I asked her to teach me.  We never really got around to having formal writing sessions, but I studied her pens and the way she wrote, and got myself some pens of my own.

I always wondered though about the elegant script type of calligraphy, the delicate cadence of wide and narrow strokes.  I thought they could be achieved by varying the way I held my gothic nibs.  So when I joined Fozzy's calligraphy workshop at CraftMNL last year, my eyes widened (the heavens opened and the lights danced before my eyes to a crescendo of angelic voices) at seeing how flexible nibs worked.

Amazeballs.  Photo from CraftMNL's Instagram.

And since then, I've been hooked!  Nowadays though I find myself doing gouache or watercolor type and signages for a number of different occasions.

For my sister's wedding.

Directional signage for one of our events.  Watercolor paper mounted on an embroidery hoop.

Will be posting more projects soon, but for now, a shoutout to the world that my romance with scribbling and type has been rekindled.