I Did It. My Way.

We've already established that reading pattern directions is my kryptonite. Even when I was making dresses and blouses for Home Ec I needed help translating arrows and darts. The fact that my mother was a pretty accomplished "sewist" didn't help matters because she was left-handed and (to me) did everything upside down and backwards.

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I wanted a purse made from my treasured stash of Japanese fabrics.  I knew how I wanted it to look, and I knew I had all the hardware and fabric and fusible fleece to do it.  I even had the right size hexagons to paper piece the top part so I dove right in and then spent an inordinate amount of time ripping it apart.  Ironically - I understand purse construction SO much better that now I might actually be able to tackle reading a pattern!

When I made this I tended to put pieces together and then say, "Hmm, I should have put those snaps in before I joined the 2 pieces together."  I honestly think I made a purse upside down and backwards.  While I don't think Mom would be proud,  it is finished.  I might need to remake one of the snap-in inserts, I got so caught up in stippling that the finished insert might be too heavy for the purse.  I was always so afraid to stipple but I'm finding it can be very Zen-like.  (It's also quite a workout for your upper arms, let me tell you!)  I have no explanation for my obsession with pockets other than to admit I have a fantasy of presiding over a completely organized purse. I bought a special zipper for the topmost closure - just in case those pockets get overstuffed and unseemly, I can zip the whole thing shut and no one will know.

I'd say it came out about 85% like what I wanted, and I might up that percentage after using it for a while. Think I'll move into it and give it a test drive next week.  But YAY, I finally (after years of waiting) did it!

I Think I'm Turning Japanese

I really think so.

(Okay, it's an old song by the group The Vapors, but for me it's for realsies.)

I've had a love affair with all things Japanese since I visited there back in 2004. We were there because Joe had been made president of the local Rotary chapter that year and one of his "duties" was to attend the world conference. Duty? Hell yeah! The club picked up his tab so our only expense (besides meals and incidentals) was my plane ticket and a big boost to our hotel allowance. (I've got a "good hotel" thing and I'm willing to pay for it, dammit.)

The trip was epic - Rotary gave all attendees a beautiful tote bag filled with rail passes, bus passes and all kinds of maps and information.  We traveled all over by ourselves, got lost a few times, ate all kinds of food we had NO idea about but loved every bite.  The temples in Nara were breathtaking.  Our suitcases came back jammed with elegant, diminutive Japanese sake flasks, kitchen utensils, and FABRIC.

I've hoarded the fabric, doling it out in bits and pieces for worthy things. I added to the stash when I worked at The New England Quilt Museum. I was fortunate enough to enjoy an employee discount on the uber-gorgeous Japanese taupes and imports - resistance was futile. My Japanese stash occupies its own very select storage box.

[caption id="attachment_2816" align="alignright" width="300"] Oh SNAP-in pocket with dragonfly snap closure & an exterior pocket[/caption]

Just after Christmas I started looking at my very tired purse and decided it was TIME to bust out some really good fabric and treat myself for a change.  Since reading bag patterns is my kryptonite I decided to just take what I know and sew. It hasn't been pretty.  I've added at least 3 new variations on old swear phrases to my vocabulary. I'm not finished yet but I kind of like where it is going, even though the finished height was supposed to be the width and the finished width...well, you get it.  I started paper piecing the hexagons just after Christmas - I love hand sewing and I love how Japanese fabrics go together.  I'm working on making

[caption id="attachment_2799" align="alignright" width="300"] Bag interior with oh SNAPS![/caption]

different snap-in attachments that can vary  with # of pockets and depth. Sometimes I like to tote my iPad places and it will fit very comfortably in the finished purse.  I still need to finish a few things, cover a thin slice of foam core with fabric so it has a nice, flat bottom, and make the straps.  I'm enjoying this enormously, even thought it has meant a lot of re-doing and re-engineering things as I go along.  Why not?  There is no deadline and it's just for me.  For ME.

PS - Happy New Year - I can't believe it's been so long! I noticed that the powers-that-be are sticking ads on my blog posts. GAAUGH.  I am not responsible for their appearance or their content. Turn your nose up disdainfully at them.

PPSS - I feel like a drug dealer but....want to (beautifully) burn a few hours of your life? Love trees? Love all things Japanese?  Click here.  You're welcome.

UFO to CG

Like any respectable quilter I have a collection of UFO's (unfinished objects) that have cried out for my attention but never quite captured it - but then, if I knew how to finish them they would not be UFO's, right?
On Christmas night we get our little group together for dinner at our friend Tom & Joe's house. (Nothing like an impending Christmas party to light a fire under the UFO cauldron.)  I needed gifts for three ladies who (lucky for me) appreciate hand-made items.   I learned a few things that I thought I would share with you:

1.  Anything - and I mean anything - can be made into a tote bag.

2.  I need to invest in a good walking foot for my Bernina.

Solange, a bona fide French Parisian, was born and raised just outside Paris in a village where her father was mayor. When WW II broke out this graduate of La Sorbonne went to work for the US Intelligence Service and can tell stories that would curl your hair - all in the name of freedom.  I adore this woman. I want to be Solange when I grow up.  She is always incredibly and immaculately dressed, most often in haute couture Chanel she wore (and still fits into) from back in her college years in Paris. (It still looks fabulous.)  For Solange I made a tote bag out of some Michael Miller fabric that was a gift from a friend who went to Paris.  I was going to make a bag for myself but got sidetracked and never got it done.  The fabrics, the colors and the subject matter were a perfect match for Solange, who loved the bag.  This is how it came out:

[caption id="attachment_2281" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Interior bag"][/caption]

Irma was next.  Irma is a pistol, she's an 80-something firecracker who loves being (as she calls herself) our "Jewish Friend" in attendance at our annual Christmas party.  This year Irma brought her mother's Hanukkah menorah and we had a little ceremony where she lit candles and did the blessing. It was sweet.  Irma is also a world-class knitter so I knew she didn't need a tote bag as much as a knitting bag.  I had a few pieces of Sashiko that I finished ages ago and had hanging in my sewing room gathering dust.  I combined them with some bits of a failed Japanese quilt that went south with a bullet (thankfully before I got too far) and made Irma a new knitting bag:

[caption id="attachment_2287" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Ignore the brassy yellow, it's all a deep gold"][/caption]

Last but not least was Kay, Tom's mother.  She is the only "mother" left in our little group, all of the rest of us having lost ours, so she is our group surrogate.  She is a warm and wonderful woman who taught English Literature (what's not to love!) and adores travel.  I had a wall hanging I was making for the kitchen that stalled out and sat in a box for 8 months when I took it out and decided it, too, could become a tote bag.  (See #1 above.)  I am delighted with how it turned out and I think Kay was equally delighted to receive it.  I have, however,  resolved that as much as I adore Japanese fabrics I have a looong way to go before I learn enough about sewing with them to try anything else very soon. (See #2 above.)  Here is Kay's bag:

[caption id="attachment_2290" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Haven't added the black handles yet...."][/caption]

So there you have it - a bunch of UFO's turned in to Christmas gifts.  No patterns, just did it on the fly. I always hesitate to give things I have made myself because I don't think they are quite "gift giving"  caliber but I love all three of these women and I wanted to give them something from my heart, something useful, practical, but with a little whimsy. They were very well received and I feel pretty good about that.  It's nice when giving a gift makes both the giver and the recipient happy, no?

PS - Sorry for the weirdly stacked images, Wordpress is trying to shove them all into the same gallery and I wanted to separate them into their own categories.  Anyone know how to change that?

[caption id="attachment_2291" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Detail - love those YoYo embellishments!"][/caption]

Swap Performance Anxiety - Part I

We've already covered my anxiety issues with creativity in art, but I've taken it to a new level.  In the world of social media, the online quilter community is alive, well and active!  I ventured in to an online swap organized by an online peep  who threw out the idea of having a secret Santa swap via Twitter. I jumped right on that idea as a great way to venture in to my first-ever swap.   (Disclosure - in the evenings, I sit with my iPad and enjoy an adult beverage while I read through the tweets of like-minded quilters, comics, and others.) These "adult beverages" get me to do things I might not normally do if my performance anxiety fears are not properly repressed.

ANYWAY, I signed up for my first swap.  It took a little time for Amy to sort out the participants (I think there are over 50 of us) and get us all partnered off. There is a $15 limit, it can be hand made or not, and finished and in the mail  by December 10th.  Easy peasy, right?  Right.

Sure. Unless the Secret Santa Swap partner is a quilting uberstar.  Holy crap.  When I saw the name I nearly fell over.  My first reaction was to bail out.  Honest.  What do you do for someone like that?  I spent the first week just spiraling.  I spent the next week attempting to do some sashiko in her favorite colors.  It came out nice, but not "here is something I made just for you" nice, but "what the hell are you on" nice.  I caved in and set it aside. It's not that bad, just not good enough to offer someone with her background.  Crap.  It's just a swap, right?  It's not eternal judgement, right?

In the end, I decided to.....WAIT.  I mailed the package today and I can't really say what it is in it until it is received by my partner.  I'll reveal who it is (and what I sent) in a later post.  In looking at the pictures of what other swappers sent (on a Flickr page) I'm feeling pretty okay about what I ended up doing.  Not great..... but okay.  That's enough for me, the twin sister of Stuart Smalley:

Making Progress?

Still hard to type with this thing on my finger, but managed to finish my first purse.  I learned  a LOT.  Like 1) use a pattern next time,  and 2) when you have 4 things to measure and you measure 3 of them, it does NOT mean the 4th one is "all good to go."   I do like it, wonky shape and all, but don't imagine I will show it off. I'll use it for my own shopping and errands.  That works for me.

I managed to put a heavy-duty needle on my Bernina to sew this up and I snapped off half of the screw (head)  that holds the needle in place.  So..... I guess I'm stuck with a heavy-duty needle for a while, until I sort out whether or not I need to find a Bernina part or if  a teeny screw will do.  I'll put Joe on that, he loves a project.   Until then, I better go through my stash and find some heavy fabric for a project, huh.

Wordless Wednesday

Fabric SOS - Where is all the Broderie Perse Chintz?

Looking forward to an exhibit of contemporary broderie perse, my co-workers and I have started our quest to creating our own (much less complex) attempts at this  beautiful art.   (So much less complex that our PR maven has nicknamed it "faux bro".  I love that.)   One problem - we can't find chintz anywhere.  There used to be reams and rolls of lovely polished cotton chintz, just ripe for cutting up and arranging artfully on a plain background. I bought a bunch of it for my bridesmaid dresses (and yes, I made the leftovers in to curtains. I'll post a picture sometime). So what's up with disappearing chintz?  Anybody out there have some leads?  Help!

Image:  Margaret Young Stansberry, c. 1830

Collection of the New England Quilt Museum

Lake Day

Finally home  from a long day of work - day one of the auditors coming in to prepare the financial reports for the past fiscal year. It is comparable to a colonoscopy -  honest -  except a colonoscopy is better because you get drugs. But I digress.

On  my way home I stopped at a local gourmet shop and treated myself to some nice cheese, a little pâté for Joe, a bottle of wine, and something to nibble. When I got home the answering machine was blinking and it was the  accountant,  telling me she needed to reschedule and would not be coming in on Friday.  OH.  EMM. GEEE.   Are you serious?  This means I do not have to make the commute and go to work tomorrow either.   A DAY AT HOME.  Alone. And it is supposed  to rain all day.  Does it get any better than that?

I opened the bottle of wine, made a little plate of the gourmet nibbles and put my feet up. I'm completely intoxicated with the possibilities and options of doing everything and nothing. Kinda like a snow day - or, since it is spring, a "Lake Day."  Lake Day was an unannounced holiday at my college.  The bell tower would start ringing at about  7AM and it meant classes, tests, anything and everything was canceled for the day.  We would go down to the lake and lay around on blankets, reading or sleeping or drowsing.  It was always on a really beautiful day, with no warning, no planning. It just happened.

Even with the rain (which I love), tomorrow is my Lake Day!

Cue the Monks!

It's Monday, I'm home all day, and I don't have to do anything until supper tonight.
WHAAAAT?

Yes, it is a paradise day.  I'm due for one.  I've got the sheets washed and hanging outside on the clothesline (okay, they are still the flannel set but it is getting nicer out...).  I've got my homage to Yoko Saito wall hanging spread out on the guest bed for some  major tweaking before  I press, baste and quilt, and I've got my snazzy new (old) TV hand-me-down set up in my sewing room.  Does it get any better than this?  So what am I doing?

Cathedral windows.  You heard me.  When I was about 17 I saw my first cathedral windows quilt and it just knocked me over.  I have never forgotten it.  I have always wanted to make one, but was completely overwhelmed at the amount of time, effort and hand sewing involved.  Fast forward a few decades and I have found some nifty tutorials on the blog sites.  I now love hand sewing and I feel ready to take the plunge.  So far I have only committed to a small set, so it might end up as a pillow. ( Or a pin cushion, if I don't even make it that far. )  I think I'll pop a Monty Python movie in the VCR and let the chanting monks inspire my cathedral windows.

For those of you who want to play along at home, the tutorial is  from the blog Making Ends Meet.  It  is clear, easy to follow, and inspired me to take the plunge:   Cathedral Windows Tutorial

V & A Envy

I have always wanted to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, but never more than right now.  Just opened, Quilts 1700 to 2010 is the V&A's first exhibit (ever!) of British quilts from 1700 to the present day.  The "present day" stuff doesn't excite me much, but the "1700" on  part makes me weak in the knees.  To make matters worse, the museum I work for (New England Quilt Museum) is sponsoring a trip to the exhibit in April!  Not that I could afford to go anyway, but I've actually been designated as  the person to stay home, mind the store and be responsible.  Sucks to be Cinderella.

Meanwhile, I'll have to content myself with reading the Curator's Blog and playing around on the Virtual Gallery web pages.  PS - somebody on that tour better bring home some fat quarter trip treats or there will be one peevish staff member lurking about in the galleries.

Hari Kyuou - Say Goodbye (and Thank you) In Japanese

If you wonder about my long love affair with all things Japanese, here is a perfect example:   Hari Kyuou. Japanese women perform this ceremony of consolation over their broken needles and dull pins.

This from Miho Takeuchi's wonderful blog:

It was believed that  tools and utensils used roughly should become the monsters (the Gods named Tsukumogami) to attack people 100 years later. Tsukumogami, or “artifact spirit”, are a type of Japanese spirit.  According to the Tsukumogami-emaki, tsukumogami originate from items or artifacts  that have reached their 100th birthday and thus become alive and aware. Any object of this age, from swords to toys, can become a tsukumogami.

I love the thought of thanking the needles and pins for their service, and sending them off with consolation and assurances they will never do harm.  They are such vital tools to what we do, why not honor their service?

Along with consoling their broken needles, women are encouraged to console themselves and bury secrets too personal to reveal. Thanks to Miho for the above post - visit her blog and learn more about the ceremony - it is fascinating.  Studio Aika