Spotlight post put off until next week...

Dealing with in-house crisis at the moment...  Just family drama and I want to write out a proper article for our artist, not be all unfocused.

Short story Saturday er...Sunday (sorry)

Subtle

 "Very subtle," her grandmother said, judging the flavor of the loose leaf tea blend that Minka had poured for her just moments prior.  "You're finally developing your palette and not buying such obnoxiously strong flavors."

Fortunately, the younger Sun Bear still had her back turned and was able to roll her eyes and bite her tongue.  She frankly preferred stronger flavor since she was trying to give up coffee and it was a hard road without having the dark tang and bittersweet burn in the mornings.  She had just learned that whenever Dame Ricia made it known she was dropping by, Minka had better have tea freshly brewed and it had best be something that the silvering old bear wouldn't complain as much about.  "Thank you, Grandmother.  It's a white coconut cream blend that I found."

 Ricia sniffed haughtily.  "It's a smidge heavy on the coconut, but I suppose everyone has to experiment."

They sat in silence for several moments as they sipped their tea and Minka couldn't help but think about the day she'd gone downtown to the quaint little tea shop owned by a family of Spectacled Bears to purchase this blend.  She had done research for hours online trying to find something that the grumpy old bear would like so she could get some sort of validation whenever a visit happened.  Ricia was the only family Minka had in the same time zone, so she would rather keep the peace.

The owner's son Nero had been the only one in at the time, so he was happy to shuffle around the counter that just barely came past his knees.  He had caught her smile and explained that his family had purchased the business from a family of Lop Rabbits when he was only 10 years old, so everything was a little on the petite side for him and his parents.  His father worked outside of the city in a factory, so it was primarily just Nero and his mother that ran the shop.

For close to an hour after he had bagged up the half pound of white coconut cream tea, the pair had talked about everything from how Minka was enjoying the city since her move from a small farm town several hours away to how to best brew the tea since it was a white blend instead of a green or black that she was used to drinking, to finally, him asking for her number when the evening rush of hipster moms heading home from their day jobs stopped to pick up their pre-ordered blends.

"Are you listening to a word I'm saying, young lady?"

Minka was jostled out of the memory, blushing and embarrassed to be caught daydreaming about the tall stranger.  "Sorry, Dame Ricia."

Harumphing, Ricia puffed herself up a bit.  "I was just saying that I think we need to see about setting you up with some suitors.  I'll chaperone of course, but it's not right for a woman your age to be completely on her own with no marriage prospects."

"I am 27!" She exclaimed and set her pale blue teacup down hard before she could catch herself.  "I am perfectly fine just seeing what comes along, thank you.  I'm not sure that you and I would be on the same page for what I want in a partner."

Ricia's eyebrows rose comically high.  "Oh, don't tell me you're one of those queers."

"GRANDMOTHER!"  Minka stood and rubbed her forehead, trying to think of something safe to say.  She wasn't out of the closet to her family where her bisexuality was concerned, and starting with the angry old matriarch on her father's side was an absolutely terrible idea, she knew that well enough.  "Regardless of who I choose to love, I was referring to the fact that you would most likely want someone with a six figure salary and a summer home on the cape who's already planning for 4 cubs and I'd have to join a country club.  That's not the life I want."

The old bear sat there, stunned.  None of her grandchildren, not one of the twelve of them, had ever spoken to her in that fashion.  She certainly didn't appreciate the tone, but Ricia knew she was out of her element.  "Well," She stood and smoothed the non-existent wrinkle from her jacket, "I must apologize for touching on a nerve.  I should go."

Groaning, she stepped closer to her grandmother.  "No, I'm sorry.  You don't have to go.  The truth is, I've just started seeing someone, and I don't want to muck it up with him."

"A him, oh thank God."

Deep breath in, deep breath out, Minka thought to herself.  "He's very polite and knows his tea.  He helped me pick out this blend that I bought for you."

Ricia sniffed again.  "Well then.  I expect to see you both for dinner this weekend.  I need to meet this young man."

That was enough to set off a panic for the younger bear.  "Oh, sure.  Saturday around seven, Grandmother?"

"Perfectly."  She still moved towards the door.  "I have much to do, dear Minka.  So I'll see you then."  As her large paw touched the door knob, she turned and tilted her head.  "I hope he's also a bear, but that's probably too much to ask, isn't it?"

"No, actually...Nero is a Spectacled Bear.  Thank you for the invitation to dinner, Dame Ricia.  We'll see you then."  She bowed her head slightly out of respect.  When the door clicked shut, she facepalmed as hard as she could. "Stupid stupid STUPID!"

She whipped out her cell phone and scrolled through her contacts until she found Nero's name and number.  It rang a few times and she was rehearsing in her head what to say to his voice mail when he picked up.

"Minka?  Hey, how's it going?"  He sounded so laid back and sweet, even though she knew it was about the time that the shop would be getting busy.

"Well, this is going to sound...really weird.  I know we haven't had a chance to go out on that date or grab a drink or anything yet...but my scary controlling grandmother that I was telling you about has mandated that I bring you to dinner Saturday night at seven.  Would you be willing...to join me?"  It came out mostly in a rushed jumble, her heart in her throat.  She wasn't so much worried about rejection as much as she was worried about him saying no and what kind of consequences that would leave her with as far as Dame Ricia went.

There was a long pregnant pause on the line and she was getting more and more nervous by the second until he cracked up laughing.  "Sure.  I'm assuming semi-formal, no blue jeans.  Want me to pick you up at six so you can brief me?"

"My God you're amazing, thank you so much."  Minka all but sighed in relief.

"Don't think anything of it."  He chuckled.  "But y'know, if you wanted me to meet your family old school style before the first date, all you had to do was say so.  Not the most subtle, are we?"

First Textile Thursday

Well, the Craft Lab is currently under construction (I'll post pictures next week, right now it's frankly depressing to look at), so this week I feel like sharing things about my history with playing with fabric and give you an idea of why I do what I do with it. 

Since I was itty bitty but old enough to know better than to try to chew on the pointy things, I sat on my Nonnie's lap at her sewing machine and would pretend that I was helping.  She was always very encouraging about that.  I had a wonderful eye for putting fabrics together, and would often go with her to JoAnne's (back before we learned the difference in quality between quilt shop fabrics and craft shop fabrics, but that's a lesson for another day) to give my opinion.  Not only did Nonnie quilt, she made me dresses, made me porcelain dolls and dresses for them.  She has always pushed me to let my imagination go wild when it came to things that could be useful and pretty at the same time.  Quilts specifically, could keep you warm if you were cold, could double as a window covering in a situation where you didn't have curtains yet, could be used to make excellent blanket forts, and are always best when loved.

When I was 8 years old, she gave me a simple pattern and let me choose the fabric for a doll quilt.  I can picture it in my mind, but photo evidence has gone awol and the quilt itself is long destroyed by mice (wasn't stored properly during a move).  It had white daisies with butter yellow centers on a sky blue background, and a denim patterned blue, and a pretty sunshiny yellow with white lace overlay looking fabric.  I was SO PROUD of that little quilt.  Nonnie did the cutting because an 8 year old with a rotary cutter is just an emergency room trip waiting to happen, but I did the pinning, the piecing, the tearing out when I didn't stitch a straight line with the machine, and then the sandwiching the 3 layers, and the actual quilting.  I think it took the course of a summer because I remember taking it in for show and tell when it was all done.  Quilting has been part of my entire life, and while I could make a dozen puns about it being all stitched and patchworked together, I won't.  It's just such a major part of me, I can't imagine not being covered in loose thread on a quiet evening before I switch over to being covered in dog fur from playing with pups.

Here we are, nearly 20 years later, and I've made more quilts than I can count, most as gifts, a handful for myself, and some as custom commissions.  My favorite ones to do are simplistic patterns with a handful of detail work, so I can let the fabric itself be the show piece.  I love batik fabrics, the hand dyed ones traditionally from the island of Bali are the best, you can sometimes catch a piece that still has some of the wax they use to create the design and it is easy enough to pick off, and you have an even more unique piece.  No two bolts of that fabric are the same, even in the same dye lot.  But because I was a sales rep for a quilting fabric company some years ago, I learned to love good quality 100% printed cotton too.  And since my mother owns a quilt shop now, I've turned into a smidge of a fabric snob when it comes to my own projects.  I won't touch stuff from Walmart, Hobby Lobby is a maaaaybe, JoAnne's is even less likely.  There are plenty of small locally owned shops around that I'd rather give my business to if Mom doesn't have what I need for something.

These days, I love incorporating my fandoms into my quilts.  The one I've got pictured below is actually going to be one of my art show entries for Midwest FurFest 2016 once it's completed.  It's a combination of batik fabrics, limited run fabric from author Jennifer Chiarvini's line based on her book "The Aloha Quilt", and embroidery of different animal busts.  One pet project I'm also trying to cultivate is creating quilts based off of people's fursonas and other assorted characters.  My idea there is I can applique either a paw print/hoof/etc or a name, until I get the proper technology and cutter to be able to partner with an artist and have a face/bust of the character to put somewhere on the quilt.  I'm also playing with paper piecing techniques to see if I can eventually design some of those to maybe offer miniature quilts that would offer even more personalization options.

I currently have 3 quilts on my commission list, with room for 4 more with an Midwest FurFest delivery/Christmas arrival if shipping due date, and am going to try to put 2 or 3 quilts in the art show.  I intend to give everyone here sneak peeks at them while I work on them.  If you're interested in contacting me for a quote or seeing some of the patterns I have available, please feel free to hit me up on Telegram @SewingBunDog or Twitter @BodaciousBunDog.

Wishing you all the best, and can't wait for you to see what I'm cooking up for the first Story Saturday!
Jazmine
 

Welcome to Furred Words!

Hello & welcome to Furred Words, your spot in the furry fandom to get a weekly Artist Spotlight, some short stories & snippets from my wordy projects, & the occasional WIP picture of my textile work that I do on commission and for fun. 

Moving forward, Mondays will be Spotlight Days, where you get interviews and links to artists in the fandom that you might not have found otherwise (we all love a good new artist now and again).  If they happen to be open for commissions at the time, I'll try to have either a link to their commission price list, or rattle it off right on the post.  If you are interested in being Spotlighted or have a suggestion for someone I should contact about being a part of it (hey it's free publicity), please feel free to contact me via Telegram @SewingBunDog or Twitter @BodaciousBunDog or on FurAffinity username/JazzBun

Thursdays will be Textiles Days, where you get to see what I've been stitching together in my lab...with my two hunchy little minions Grace & Quigley.  Occasionally, I go visit my friend MiniKat who streams on Twitch as a miniatures artist, so someday I may set up a stream over there myself.  In the meantime, you'll just get pictures and it's an excellent way for my commissioners to see what I'm doing with their stuff.

Saturdays will be Story Time.  Flash fiction, poetry, snippets of longer stories, but it'll all be Furry/Anthro themed so it'll fit into at least some of your interests.  If it's going to be NSFW, it will be tagged as NSFW, scout's honor.

Beyond that, I'm excited to get the ball rolling, so I can't wait to show you what I'm up to on Thursday!
Be good or be good at it,
Jazmine