patchy kimono!

another finished object! really? wow!
(truth be told, i have a lot of finished (sewn, knit, or crocheted) objects lingering around, i've just been incredibly lax about cataloging (and sharing) them!)
anyhow, this here's a fairly simple kimono style robe. the pattern is from the 1970s, this pattern to be exact. fabric is patchwork i made myself, from various and sundry scraps i had in my scrap fabric stash. it's a pretty equal mix of vintage and new fabrics. the edging and belt are made from newly acquired bits of fabric, as is the unseen solid red-orange lining.
the impetus? most ready-to-wear robes are abysmal, and lack personality (perhaps i've been looking in the wrong places? hah!). anyway, i never could find a fun (or sturdy!) robe in the usual mass market retail venues, and haven't found a thrifted robe that's up to my own quirky, personal snuff. so i felt i had to take matters into my own hands, as it were. i wanted something really 70s and fun...i think i succeeded.
yes, it's like wearing a quilt, but that was sort of the point. :)

liberated log cabin

ages ago (read: many, many months ago), i mentioned i was working on making a bunch of liberated log cabin style quilt blocks, done in the vein of quilter gwen marston. the method i used is detailed in marston's book, liberated quiltmaking II.
anyway, i made over one hundred of said log cabin blocks, with the intention of making a wall hanging of some sort, as well as a queen-size quilt, and then using the remainder for experimentation (table runners? potholders? pillows? art? something else??). all the blocks are made using solid-colored scraps of silk, cotton, cotton corduroy, and cotton/poly that were languishing in my stash.
the first of those intentions to be realized was the wall hanging, which is shown above. it's roughly 3 feet x 3 feet, dimentions-wise. the back has a sleeve for hanging; i'm in the process of finding a nice rod with which to hang it from. i jerry-rigged this up on to the wall of my studio with masking tape in order to snap a photo. :)
the quilt is merely machine stitched-in-the-ditch; when it comes to quilting in a more complicated manner than that, i'm (currently) pretty lost. so i'm keeping it simple. it's pretty much straight-line quilting for me at this juncture (this being, like, my 3rd finished quilt-like project ever). i'd love to learn how to stipple and have it look nice! just need to get more practice, probably...?
overall, i'm pretty darn happy with it. making the liberated quilt blocks is tremendously easy, and wickedly addictive. making each little block feels like one is making a little piece of art. putting them all together is a nice exercise in and of itself; one gets to fiddle around with and observe the interplay/balance of colors featured within. it was easy to just let go and let the piece come together intuitively.
(if you're so inclined, you can peep at some close-ups of the quilt here, here and here.)

memory (like an elephant): spray painted gold boots

(image via this ebay listing)

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i seem to have this crazy long memory for interesting things i've spotted on others. i'll see someone wearing something in (what i feel is) an inspired way, make a mental note of it, and often find myself thinking about that person and that cool item of theirs, sometimes for years and years, oftentimes almost obsessively.
back in the mid-2000s, pete and i were out in san francisco, and were grabbing a drink at a local coffeehouse. said coffeehouse was in the mission, if the (faded) memory serves. i sat down to take a swig out of my juice, looked up and toward the cashier stand, and spotted a stylin', gray-haired, middle-age woman in a vintage-flavored, thrifty outfit, most of the details of which are by now quite hazy.
however, i remember one detail of her outfit quite distinctly: she was wearing a pair of nicely beat-up leather cowboy boots, that were spray-painted in a rich metallic gold. the paint job was a bit imperfect and/or a bit worn. i instantly fell in love...with her boots! gold!! old! awesome!
...i haven't stopped thinking about them since.
i've been meaning to replicate said boots (using an old pair of secondhand green leather justin's i've got laying around), but haven't gotten around to it...yet. maybe soon. maybe this post will provide the impetus i need to get going on that long fallow project...

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two things...
one: have you ever spray painted your shoes/any shoes/an accessory/leather goods? what were the results? any tips on how to successfully "tag" your taps?
two: i wanna know about you! do you ever obsess over the details in others get-ups? do you have a memory of something you peeped on someone else stuck in your head, even still? were you moved to find or replicate that item or that person's look?
or am i the only elephant?