Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Artisan Profile - Suzanne Keolker of Mugwump

The name Mugwump was a nickname my dad had for me. I was never sure where the name came from; it just meant something endearing to me. I've recycled this name for my business that I started 8 years ago, but crafting and creating has always been in my family.



One of my first craft projects was making lacy hankerchiefs on Mom's sewing machine she taught me to use. She taught all us daughters to sew our own clothes - all six of us! I really looked forward to creating some fashionable clothes beyond the lime green pant suit Mom made, or the homemade underwear she made to help save money. My last handmade clothing item was sewn in high school. I made a glorious bright red jumper. My brother commented that I looked as if I were wearing a tablecloth. That was it for sewing clothing for awhile.

I finally picked up my Viking machine again many years later to make a tote bag out of an old vinyl banner. Since I was taught early on that nothing gets wasted, (even lime polyester fabric), I created several tote bags from the banner and a new love of sewing came back to me. When the vinyl banners were gone, I found more material to use and more styles of bags as a result. I've used placemats, window awnings, shower curtains, paint by numbers, latch hook, board games, embroidery, lawn chair webbing, study prints from schools, and the list goes on. I started a line of wallets from kitchen contact paper, air mattresses, and discarded classroom wallmaps. My latest have been pouches from discarded children's books from school libraries. I don't think I'm stopping yet! There's plenty out there to use and I shan't run out of materials anytime soon.

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