Yep. Worked on more pillows over the weekend, but this time they aren’t of the hand-painted variety.  I decided I wanted to try something different and asymmetrical. These are the results (neither has been stuffed yet):

I like this one, but something about it bothers me. Someone suggested last night that maybe I need to change it so that I have more space devoted to a primary fabric with the other as an accent. I think I’ll try that this week.

I really like this one, but once I started stuffing it, I found the flaw: my gold accent trim ‘pops’ away from the pillow and looks bad. So I’m going ot re-do the design so that the gold accent is actually stitched flat invisibly and it will look better.

I’m really enjoying working on pillows at the moment, but know I need to get back to my bears. Hopefully all of this will get listed in my shop soon!

Cord-Trimmed Pillow

So I decided to try something different for me and following the suggestion from a friend on Facebook, I tried fabric painting. I think I’ve fallen in love with it! For my first project, I decided to paint my trademark cherry blossoms onto a couple of pillows. Pretty straightforward. But then I decided to make them patchwork, just like my paintings. I’m very happy with the results.  The first pillow I made I put a gold and red braided trim on. It looks nice, but was a Pain to do.

Knife-Edged Pillow

The second pillow, I left the trim off and went for a plain knife-edged pillow. I like both of these pillows, but think I prefer the crisp, clean look of the knife-edged pillow. Next I’m going to work on making some pillows that don’t have the patchwork background!

A new, fun direction has been opened for me! Yay! Let me know which type of pillow you prefer: trimmed or not!

Introducing ‘Ty’, my first plush bear for sale. No, he’s not a ‘Faire Bear’ though I suspect he’d like to go on his days off. Ty is a hard working bear, rarely seen without his removable tie, and he likes to sit back and drink iced tea and watch the trees blow in the wind on the weekend.

Ty is going into my shop today and marks my first new listed item in THREE months. Let’s hope his friends and relatives get listed soon too!

Well, I am slowly making progress on new items for my shop. But these aren’t paintings! These are bears! Cute little plush bears that will charm the pants off of you! Right now they’re pretty naked themselves, but soon they will have all sorts of costumes and clothing!

I’m also working on the first apparel items for my shop. Hopefully I’ll have some way to get them modeled soon!

I realize no one knows I make apparel, and even less know Ive been asking for measurements, but if anyone is willing to provide me real-world measurements using this:

http://www.simplicity.com/index.cfm?page=section/fittips/howmeas.htm

then I can start ensuring I am making clothes for real-world sizes. I have dress forms for all sizes but haven’t had ‘real-world’ measurements to try and base my clothes off of. I do dresses, skirts, tops, costuming, hats and so on. I just haven’t listed any in my Etsy store as I usually do them on-demand.

(I also have a more detailed measurements sheet I use for special orders, but no one online wants to fill that out as it’s VERY detailed. )

So if you’re willing, please send me your measurements at keith@mindlesspursuits.com! I promise not to share them!

Please note: none of these are mine. They came from Pun of the Day, which I dearly love and encourage you to check out!

• I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
• Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He’s all right now.
• I couldn’t quite remember how to throw a boomerang, but eventually it came back to me.
• There was a sign on the lawn at a drug re-hab center that said ‘Keep off the Grass’.
• He drove his expensive car into a tree and found out how the Mercedes bends.
• Police were called to a daycare where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.
• A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was a nurse said ‘No change yet’.
• There was once a cross-eyed teacher who couldn’t control his pupils.
• A bicycle can’t stand on its own because it is two-tired.
• When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.

(Sung to the tune of Mamma Mia by Abba)

I’ve been eating at you since you first opened
And today I saw your new sign, saying bring in a friend
Look at me now, I eat here too much
I’m a big cow but I just passed the salad bowl
For sausage I’d barter my soul
Just one taste and I hear Pavlov’s bell ring
One more taste and I will eat everything, o-o-o-oh

Pizzaria, here I eat again
Oh, my, how can I resist you?
Pizzaria, tummy’s grown again
Oh, my, just how much I missed you
Yes, I’ve been to the slice bar
More than once I’ve been so far
Oh, why do you have to tempt me so?
Pizzaria, now I really owe
A bill I’m afraid to have to show

I’ve been hungry and bad about my weight loss with you
I can’t count all the times that I’ve avoided you
But then I’m here, with a coupon too
The buffet is near and I can’t stay away too long
You know that I’m not that strong
Just one taste and I hear Pavlov’s bell ring
One more taste and I will eat everything, o-o-o-oh

Pizzaria, here I eat again
Oh, my, how can I resist you?
Pizzaria, tummy’s grown again
Oh, my, just how much I missed you
Yes, I’ve been to the slice bar
More than once I’ve been so far
Oh, why do you have to tempt me so?
Pizzaria, even if I stray
Oh, say, to my local Subway
Pizzaria, you just have to say
Oh, say, Two-for-one and I’ll stay

Pizzaria, here I eat again
Oh, my, how can I resist you?
Pizzaria, tummy’s grown again
Oh, my, just how much I missed you
Yes, I’ve been to the slice bar
More than once I’ve been so far
Oh, why do you have to tempt me so?
Pizzaria, now I really owe
A bill I’m afraid to have to show

So, DesireLines… may I call you DL?

Hahaha…well, if you insist- though you can just call me Ryan if you want. I was going to say that’s what everyone calls me, but…erm…that would be a lie… And, no, I don’t think it would make family friendly reading if I told you!

Let’s start off with a very simple question: how did you acquire your shop name?

I thought long and hard about it for ages- I wanted something that would suit me forever, so I could build a brand with it. Then I came across this name- it’s an ordnance survey term for the wavy, meandering lines that people create in public spaces when they don’t follow the paths set out by the planner. These wandering paths are known as Desire Lines and I liked that it suggested going your own way, making your own decisions and not necessarily going the expected way. Also, at the time I was working on some work about sexual psychology and paraphilias and I liked that it sounded faintly seedy and a bit like a sex chat line Read more »

Well, after some subtle arm-twisting and some public encouragement, I have launched the ‘Honest Answers From A Guy’ blog! I’m still not certain how well received it will be, but since the thread on Etsy was popular, I decided to listen to the encouragement and get it moving! So please check it out and give me your feedback!

Happiness is a Warm Sunbeam, originally uploaded by Mindless Pursuits.

At least Lexi thinks so. I’m thinking of playing with this to make it a print to sell in my shop….