Craftside

A knitter's letter to President Abraham Lincoln featured in the book Knitting America

Happy 4th of July Craftside readers! I hope you all have an absolutely fabulous and festive day! I thought it would be fun to share this letter to President Abraham Lincoln written by a knitter featured in the book Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art.

Click on this page from Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art to enlarge and read the knitter's letter to the President.

More about the Voyageur Press book:

Knitting America:

A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art

by

Susan M. Strawn

Foreword by:

Melanie Falick

Beautifully illustrated with vintage pattern booklets, posters, postcards, black-and-white historical photographs, and contemporary color photographs of knitted pieces in private collections and in museums, Knitting America is an exquisite view of America through the handiwork of its knitters.

 

American flag 4th of July card inspired by the book One Drawing A Day

Today's bit of 4th of July craftiness was inspired by this page from the book One Drawing A Day: A 6-Week Course Exploring Creativity with Illustration and Mixed Media. It features the art of Dominick Santise. The top art is an American flag out of people and hand prints. The bottom art includes thumb prints. So I made an American flag themed card with my finger print.

Try making some of your own art combining two other pieces—it's fun!

More about the Quarry book:

One Drawing A Day:

A 6-Week Course Exploring Creativity with Illustration and Mixed Media

by

Veronica Lawlor

Through 46 daily exercises which make up a complete 6-week course, you will keep your artistic skills sharp and your imaginations fertile by doing One Drawing A Day. Each spread in the book features a beautiful drawing by one of 8 professional illustrators, with a description and comments by the illustrator as well as a companion exercise. Each exercise includes suggestions for various mediums or mixed-media solutions, advice on how to approach and execute the drawing, and professional tips.

Veronica Lawlor is currently on the faculty of Pratt Institute and Parsons School of Design. Her work may be seen at www.studio1482.com/veronica. She blogs at www.veronicalawlor.com and contributes to www.onedrawingaday.com and www.urbansketchers.com.

 

 

Individual salad serving idea from the book Salad Days

Isn't this idea for serving little individual salad cups and displaying them on a three-tiered tidbit tray featured in the book Salad Days: Recipes for Delicious Organic Salads and Dressings for Every Season just beautiful?

If you love yummy salad recipes along with ideas for serving them in pretty ways, check out the Voyageur Press book:

Salad Days:
Recipes for Delicious Organic Salads and Dressings for Every Season

by

Pam Powell

Photographer: Paul Markert

This book includes 150 recipes for creating delicious salads and dressings using organic, locally grown ingredients. Recipes include Apple and Roasted Beet Salad with Fruit, Nuts, Gorgonzola, and Watercress; Green Apple Sassy Slaw with Crisp Apple Maple Dressing; Pear and Grape Salad with Big Woods Blue Cheese and Concord Grapes; Pecan-Crusted Goat Cheese and Micro Greens with Crisp Apple Maple-Brushed Crostini; Chilled Moroccan Couscous Salad; Curry Chicken and Apricot Salad; Harvest Moon Salad; and many more. Sixty color photos and colorful illustrations from the author accompany the recipes. Sidebars and tips for green ways to prepare salads are included.

Pam Powell is the founder and creator of Salad Girl Organic Salad Dressing Company, with products that can be found nationwide in co-ops, Whole Foods markets, and other supermarkets. Pam shares recipes for her organic salads regularly on her Salad Girl blog. She lives in Minnesota. Visit her at www.saladgirldressings.com.

 

In honor of the 1000th craftastic post here at Craftside!

Yes my crafty peeps! This is my 1,000th post, and in celebration, I am sharing with you some eye candy in the form of a page from the Quarry book 1,000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes and a free recipe for fondant along with a chance to win a copy of 1,000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes.

Simply leave your answer to the question:

What is your favorite dessert?

Leave your answer in the comments section of today's post by midnight ET Thursday, August 4, 2011 and you are in the running!

My favorite yummy treat on this page is the idea of serving cupcakes in martini glasses with drink umbrellas!

Click on this page from 1,000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes for the recipe for fondant and a great chart to calculate how much fondant you need per tier size of cake:

More about the oh-so-pretty book:

 

1,000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes

By

Sandra Salamony and Gina M. Brown

This exciting 1000 collection presents glorious full-color photographs of delicious, decorated desserts. From extravagant wedding cakes and clever birthday cakes to cupcakes and cookies that are miniature works of art, these delightful delectables provide endless inspiration for anyone who loves decorative baking and entertaining. An appendix in the back of the book includes basic recipes for cakes, frostings, and fondants.

Sandra Salamony, author of 1000 Jewelry Inspirations, is a creative director, writer, and artist living in Traverse City, Michigan. Her sister, Gina M. Brown, is an architect and textile artist, also living in the Traverse City area. They are coauthors of 1000 Artisan Textiles (Quarry Books, 2010).

Two art quilts featured in the book 1,000 Artisan Textiles: Contemporary Fiber Art, Quilts, and Wearables

These two art quilts by Charlotte Bird are featured in the book 1,000 Artisan Textiles: Contemporary Fiber Art, Quilts, and Wearables. I wanted to share them with you because I think I am starting to really appreciate the way creative people use the American Flag as a theme and really make it their own. (See also this post.)

 

Click on the image to enlarge and see the detail shots. They include (I believe) the declaration of independence in the top polka dot flag quilt.

The top flag quilt is titled "Dulce et Decorum Est" in Latin, generally translated as "It is sweet and right."

A bit more of a Latin/poetry lesson:

"DULCE ET DECORUM EST - the first words of a Latin saying (taken from an ode by Horace). The words were widely understood and often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean "It is sweet and right." The full saying ends the poem (by Wilfred Owen): Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country."

So not only do you get some beautiful quilts, you get a Latin/poetry/history lesson.

These are just 2 of the beautiful pieces of textile art featured in:

1,000 Artisan Textiles: Contemporary Fiber Art, Quilts, and Wearables

by

Sandra Salamony

and

Gina M Brown

This stunning gallery-style volume includes some of the finest examples of contemporary textiles and fiber art being made today. The collection includes wearable art and couture, fashion accessories, soft furnishings and vessels, tapestries, display art, and quilts. A wide variety of techniques are featured, including hand and machine embroidery, decorative stitching, batik, dyeing, fabric painting, appliqué, felt, weaving, and all types of surface decoration. Full-color photography features both full views as well as close-ups that will allow readers to appreciate the finer details of many works.

Sandra Salamony, author of 1000 Jewelry Inspirations, is a creative director, writer, and artist living in Traverse City, Michigan. Her sister, Gina M. Brown, is an architect and textile artist, also living in the Traverse City area.