SLOW WORK & A SIMPLE LIFE

so, found this on flipboard; fits in with my planning the next decade.  i complete 70 this year, and want to achieve certain objectives.  it's a 'minimalism challenge', and since i love lists......................and why reinvent the wheel.  for me it's not about interior decor or how much i own, it is about how i want to live my life.  
some of the items are - stay offline for one full day, examine your daily habits, let go of a goal............. who wants to do it with me?  oh pleeeeeze. 

http://tinyurl.com/ouhzedz


xo, karenza

boho curtains

the boost came from pinterest
one of the neatest social media sites ever.  

ever

the fabrics are a skirt i don't wear
any more but couldn't bear to give away

add an old bedspread that got ripped in the dryer, and i couldn't bear to give away,

put them together, and 

ta da ..... my boho style bedroom
curtain.






in all it's glory

bizzeee bizzeee

trying to keep all the little irons burning in the correct directions and sequence, to mix metaphors.

update on workshops ----

thursday 6th november 2014, part of the heart of the city festival, at carnegie center, 401 main street, 3rd floor atrium gallery, from 2:30 to 5:30 pm - making winter festival decorations.  

templates if you want to use them, all supplies, materials, tools free.

a chindi-nation workshop funded by carnegie community center, i hope:)

vintage wool and vintage silks

making gifts for wimmins' dinner 2014

here we are, making bracelets to give as gifts for donations to the wimmins dinner.  denise in the blue top, our wonderful new friend who is visiting from prince george, doreen,  in black, karenza in white top, and ruth in sacral chakra orange. 

wimmins dinner on 28th november, and we are soliciting donations.  this year we want to pay everybody who works on this event, and are aiming for $1125.  get your wallets out people.

luv ya,
:)

the kindness of the women who donate to chindi workshops

the kindness of the women who have recently donated to chindi nation workshops and clinics shall go down in the history of the downtown eastside.

lookit, this is a sample of the beautiful, gorgeous, amazing astounding cloth donated by a woman whom i know only through the stall she has at the powell street festival.  

how these fabrics got to us is a story in itself. 

muriel, the woman who has donated these cloths had a conversation with her friend, kathy, and said she wanted to unload some of her collection.  kathy mentioned this to kazuho.  kazuho asked me if i wanted fabrics and gleefully i said, yes, yes, yes, please.  of course, the sequence of events is guessing by me, but the conduit of muriel-kathy-kazuho-chindi nation-sewing group stands.

arrangements were made and on two occasions in the summer, kathy arrived with boxes and bags of lovely cloth, and these are only a small portion of the gift we received.

after discussion with some members of the sewing group that meet at carnegie centre (anne, denise, louise, ruth) we decided to make ourselves (yes, i am including myself in this largesse) smashing outfits.  do they still use that expression?  

the fabric that is left over will be then used by the carnegie girl band to make themselves some glittery wear (vests perhaps, and headbands) and the balance will then find it’s way to the thursday sewing group, open to all, for use.

this is only one woman, or chain of women, who have donated fabric and quality clothing for up and re cycling.

the others are, alphabetically:

anne d,

jane k,

maggie rose m via ruth mcg

wen zhu

whom we gratefully thank, and will feature when we decide what we are going to do with their largesse

what do you think?  is this a good allocation of this wealth?

cheers

karenza

so, this is the thing.

for the past year or two i have been making these little booklets and distributing them to whomever.

i tear recycled paper into half, then fold it over, and then write on the blank pieces.

it makes for an interesting

'textural' read because there are all sorts of interesting snippets of information on the side that is not blank.  like so

this particular booklet has some pages from northrup's women's bodies, and a page from a notice from our housing coop.

the clean green recipes are hand written, and personally guaranteed - i use these myself.

the buntings are here, the buntings are here

the buntings are here.

here are buntings.  and the dictionary says...........................
buntings are triangular shaped paper or fabric, attached to a line, and hung as decorations.

 i remember buntings from the days of yester year, when i was just a wee babbie, sucking at my

little fist, waving my arms and legs in the air at the colourful moving little flagsies.

well, it could have happened that way.

for my own nefarious purposes i have stretched the meaning of buntings - which are basically decorative streamers to be hung all over - to include bunched up fabric on a 'line' and scrunched up paper on a line.

yes, here they are - all made from fabric scraps and candy wrappers that were destined for land fill.  

yes, here they are..............................i forgot to take photos of them being made, but really, it isn't rocket science..........is it?


anon dear ones, anon
xoxoxoxoxo
karenza

happenings - past, present, future

there is so much happening in the 'hood, the city, the geographical west coast, the 'north american' land mass, the 'hemisphere' the planet, the galaxy, the universe and beyond.  and i keep thinking of the butterfly flapping it's wings in tokyo and mount st. helen erupting fiercely.  

something like this image posted by my friend vikki, the image is photographed by stephen ellcock. in such beauty we could be destroyed.  

my friend jacqueline's husband of many years died earlier this month; i never knew him - just from facebook pictures.  a good man; he had to be a good man to be married to jacqueline; who is a strong and gentle woman.

and one way or another our time on this planet, the world, this universe......................

chindi needlework clinic - mending sheets

after a while sheets tend to wear and thin out at the center portion, while the edges retain their 'bounce'.

indians are a frugal people.  i remember my grandmother, josephine jacobs hackett, settling down every afternoon, after lunch and before nap time, working at this type of work.  and she did it all by hand, no sewing machine.

as a self proclaimed practitioner of the slow work movement,(google it), and in keeping with the promise in my last post,  here we are.  you can view this clinic by clicking on the youtube link http://www.youtube.com/user/kalikalimai1?feature=mhee
the reason for this link method is because i couldn't get blogspot to accept my little slide show.  

stay tuned for further chindi needlework clinics in the downtown eastside vancouver.  

toodles
:)karenza

mending & darning workshop - last session of pilot series.

my scarf

i am giving a workshop on darning and mending.  bring your clothing or linen and help save our environment while saving your money.

the workshop will be at the carnegie community center, 401 main street, vancouver, in the basement art studio. 

it is on thursday 26th july 2012 from 1 to 4 pm.  coffee pot ready.

this is an article on darning as an art form, a quick and easy read.

http://www.treehugger.com/style/darning-clothes-as-an-art-form.html 

two week long summer events one in the downtown eastside, the other off downtown eastside

so, tune in to inner city blues reggae with augustos pablo. found him while trolling you tube.  something that is very, very downtown eastside, as experienced by many sisters and brothers, including myself.


while you listen to this, you can read about the langara summer school on sustainable communities, and the indian summer festival on the blog i write for cacv.


and, just to stir it up, here is assassin - something's gotta give.  as my young nephew shaun, has informed me,  yolo.  leave me a message and it will be revealed 

needlework workshops by chindi

without ado, (doesn’t it sound frightfully jane austen?) these are the workshops being given by chindi nation during the summer months.  except for one, they are all in the downtown eastside (rah, rah), and also, except for one, they are free.


but first, what would you like to see chindi nation doing in the way workshops to promote the sustainable use of textiles to make beauty around us.  with tremendous emphasis on enjoyment while making.  please leave a comment in the section at the end of this post.  it will be of tremendous help in designing workshops.  thank you.

chindi nation interview on vancouver co-op radio

hey, monday 5 march, the first interview by myself on behalf of chindi nation.  co-op radio, 102.7fm 


i was on eastside stories with host ayisha faruk, activist, poet, mother - powerful woman. 


thank you to mary bennett of cacv who sent me the link - have never been able to get cfro online before.  


it's been a while since i posted, and have a lot of catching up to do with news for this blog.  some of the activities go back as far as november 2011.  i know.  they include chindi nation's first ever eco fashion show, using reclaimed clothing, an article in ming pao, chinese language news sheet, i know.  and an introduction to bharbara gudmundson, photographer, writer, leather worker.


happy listening, :) - love, karenza

crart (craft + art) in a dollar driven world

the only reason i discovered this is because i wanted to watch something while exercising!


thanks to the often reviled national film board of canada.  


textile craft? nah.  just craft/art = crart.

the whole piece is amazing; my favourite bits are the brightly coloured, cheerfully tape things that just bind him up good and tight so the fucker can't move.  

winter workshop - handmade gifts

saved - on the brink of being chucked to become landfill, these sample books were donated to the ewma studio.
  
(thunder, lightening, eerie noises).....
read on to find out what happens next

hand made gifts for winter festivals

winter festivals coming up, a lot of people give gifts.  i am having a special workshop.  join us and make a small pouch (medicine bag, cell phone pouch) or a simple hat, or...........


the workshop is on thursday, 5th december 2011, at the ewma studio, located at 52-54 east cordova street, starting at 1:30 and ending at 4:30.  


as always, the fabrics are remnants or reclaimed. the skill level required is from beginners to ultra experienced.

eco friendly, one of a kind, surface design on reclaimed clothing

what is fashion? what is style? what is eco fashion? style is revolution style is identity, style is exploration, style is accessible, style is cultural, style is individual, style is expression, style is political, style is economical, style is language, style is reclamation, style is social change...........................style is.


so what is fashion?  is style a separate thing? 

i have been, as you can see, burning the midnight candle at both ends pondering these crucial matters.

logo no-logo anti-logo workshop no. 1 at oppenheimer park

 this "socially responsible graffiti" has been added to a number of buildings on cordova street, and will continue to be added during the coming weeks.  why this label, you may well ask.  well this busyness looking/dressed man asked what i was doing, and that was my reply.  "socially responsible graffiti, sir, it's in chalk".  "good for you" he said and went his merry way.

the following pics are the first in a series of 3 textile workshops where those who identify themselves as downtown eastsiders design and make a logo that represents for each what the dtes means to them.  does that make sense?
click on read more to see more news on this event

busy busy busy

i have not been able to post for too long, and am missing doing this.  

there are a whole lot of exciting projects going on in the downtown eastside, vancouver, and it has been difficult to choose which i want to join because of course, i want to do everything.