labour of love

a couple of weeks ago i got this box from my sis which contained her vintage finds in Carmel and Monterey.   

while meandering around the heap and pile i created, after unloading, i spied some quilt squares of printed cotton, peeking out , like calling for my attention.  i pulled out a piece and realized it was quite a number of vintage floral fabrics.   

i immediately calculated the area it would cover, after making a patchwork out of ‘em and knew right away, it would cover the whole of me, but i don’t need to be covered.  some parts of me are better exposed.  bwahahaha!

i knew instantly what i would do with them. . . i could reuse the fabric in some other way.  i've always loved patchwork and crazy quilts...i relate to their sporadic, quirky nature.

it's a happy top, don't you think? the fabrics are so fun to look at and the 100% cotton is a substantial weight and because my seamstress Marilyn has her edging machine here at the shoppe, we did nice edges and i didn’t have to fix a lining for the beautiful patchwork top.  i don't know how old the fabrics are, but i'm guessing the 60s.

just the other day, another of the wonderful boxes arrived, again from my vintage-crazy sis.  and i am guessing what i may find inside.  i am definitely looking forward to working with it once i get to see ‘em and decide what to do.

ain’t this such a happy, crazy patchwork top?  i bet you would agree.

climate change

you hear it everywhere, climate change.  the Philippines certainly does not experience winter, although the winds last week were wintry cold.  one, however, cannot dismiss how erratic the temps have become - some nights are cold, literally. . .(stop that look), and some nights are hot, literally. . . and am talking about the weather.  

my closet is just not enough to accommodate wardrobe for this sudden changes, so i went on a purging spree. . .

i had always wanted to get rid of my sweaters, ones i have bought for winter, during my stay in London, and another was from Belgium, wow, i certainly have some emo attachments, i cannot just part with them so i figured on repurposing my sweaters, and voila!  

messenger bags and matching cellphone cozies.

ain't i just a genius?  bwahahaha!

F.A.R.M. goes English

it may conjure up images of tacky doilies or hippy-style waistcoats. . .

but crochet is making a comeback. 

crochet was developed in the 19th century, during the victorian and edwardian era, as an imitation of fine lace - the real thing was expensive, but women could produce crocheted pieces for pennies. 

it enjoyed a resurgence post-world war II and again in the sixties and seventies when crocheted waistcoats and dresses became fashionable with the hippy set.

 

and F.A.R.M. goes English. . .with its own line of bib necklace, made of crocheted colorful floral doilies.

for this line, F.A.R.M. celebrates the rural women of San Nicolas, Baao - my very own community here in the Philippine.

Ribbon Play

"to invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk" - thomas alba edison.  i have never met this guy, but we certainly share one thing in common - our love for piles of "junk".  bwahahaha! 

when i bought my pile of ribbons, exactly 5 years ago, i didnt really have anything specific in mind, as to what to do with them, i was just bedazzled by the variety, the colors and the textures.  i was dreaming to put up a flower shop and use my pile on to bouquets and wreaths. . .of course, fate has to have a hand on my life's paths and the directions i would take.  so, instead of having the flower shop, i put up a Cafe and used my pile to decorate and serve a purpose - a divider! 

the creation of F.A.R.M. certainly paved my way to turning my trash to treasure.  from discarded buttons, to recycled fabrics, to scrappy ribbons. . . i have to be literally immersed in piles of "junk"/materials/media, to create.  and for this entry, i present my latest line of F.A.R.M. Threads:  Ribbon Play - 

bags embellished with ruffles and rosettes, made of scrappy satin ribbons and recycled fabrics.  

dainty as they may seem, the bags are sturdy, lined and zipped and carries with pride, the F.A.R.M. trademark.  

F.A.R.M. never runs out of ideas. . .

little F.A.R.M. beings

i was always in a quandary when i look at the heaps of buttons i was accumulating - the smallest, cutest buttons one can ever find,  and when i say small, i mean just that, little, minute, tiny and seemingly useless diminutive gems.  

i didnt have the heart to dispose of them, so i just had them in ziplocks and boxes, and the last time i looked, i had several sacks of them,  bwahahaha. 
now isn't that hoarding? well, not in my vocabulary.  i have to be surrounded and sometimes literally engulfed with immense quantity of materials, media and be in the best of contrivances, to let my creative juices flow, hah, i know myself that much, so i didnt quite worry.  i know, at the right moment and at the right time, a new idea will pop up and a great product will be born. . .

so it came to pass, that Jam, my protege, asked me for our book of genius ideas, thoughts we play upon and entertain, and viola!  a star is born - the little F.A.R.M. being.

for Christmas, these cute  beings, adorned my beautiful farm tree at the F.A.R.M. shoppe.  and when friends, F.A.R.M.ers and non saw them, they just can't help it, they must have my cute little F.A.R.M. beings.  

certainly the star that lit my tree this season. 

flower power - rosarette

for as long as i can remember, flowers have always been a passion and a constant source of inspiration. 

i have always been a lover of flowers. as a child, i would draw and paint them for hours on end. i would pick flowers from my mother’s garden and ‘cook’ them, when we play house.

i would also pick flowers and offer them to the blessed virgin, during a month-long festival called ‘flores de mayo’

as an adult, i marvel at their existence. growing and tending flowers is an important part of my daily life. 

as soon as i had my own space to garden, i immersed myself to not only picking flowers but also growing them. i read books about plants and flowers and earned my calluses from hands-on gardening. a flower in my garden draws from me a prayer of thanksgiving, awe for the creator and a sense of commitment to nature.

i am drawn to flowers because they are symbolic of the most powerful of human emotions: love, life, passion, also color and fragrance. i try to accomplish the same with my images. if one of these paintings can evoke an individual smile, tear or memory, then my body of work, comprised solely of flowers, has continued to blossom, 

in my rosarette line of handbags. made from upcycled fabrics, the rosettes are meticulously handsewn by the rural women of san juan and san nicolas, in my hometown, baao, camarines sur.

Yoyo Hand Bags

 

the yoyo quilt was a popular style of quilt making in America from the 1920s to the 1940s.  yoyo quilts are popular because women could carry the little circles of fabric with them and make yoyos whenever they had a free moment.

 

yoyo quilts are also associated with yoyo, the toy,  very popular in the 1930-1940s.  this wooden toy with a string looped around the center axis was developed here in the Philippines over 100 years ago, by Pedro Flores, who brought it to the US and sold the Filipino yoyo company in 1928.  In 1932, Donald Duncan, the businessman who bought the company, received a trademark for the word Yo-Yo.

  
the rural and traditional appeal of yoyos get center stage in this line of denim and canvass bags – The Yoyo Bags.  Definitely rural. . .
and fab.