Christmas Sewing

Image: Of A Winter Beachwalk

The challenge of sewing with out either of my sewing machines, has become translated in the question of -What can I serge????

After some much needed time to myself, I made a runner which I serged with a rolled edge and some coordinating napkins. I have also been randomly serging scraps from the flannel bag aiming for another quilt for the boys room. One I want to tie with floss or yarn because when was the last time I have ever done that?

The serger is great for instant gratification. You can eliminate turning right side out if you want to. The feeling of just humming along puts one at ease and your stresses slide away tumbled beneath the threads of the loopers and the needles.

I think about the freedom sewing gives one to create the things their mind envisions. These kinds of creations can be achieved so speedily with the serger and I am so thankful for mine.

I bought some roses to lift the mood as the temperatures here reach down below freezing heartily. "Rosy Outlook", I kid you not their label read. I tried fabric, I tried walking around the nursery filling my paper sack with paperwhites to force for Christmas.

What it was that really cheered me up from the gloom that sneaks in with the tiredness new babies can cause mothers; was just about five minutes at my serger and coming out with a table runner ready for Christmas and it it not yet December.

I'm starting early this year. Last year it was so late when we got a tree due to friends and so many things going on. This year it is about being early and more prepared so things are ready and I can rest and enjoy.

I also finished cross stitching a stocking for my son, and have started on one for baby. I am so proud of the results I am producing on linen, that seems like a major victory after my first attempt seeming so difficult.
It is really true that once you start evolving to work with good materials you don't want to go back to what you were doing before.
The red tug heads out to meet a tanker, pushing past the grey water out to the sun behind the cottony clouds. I sit on the sofa and think about how nice it feels just to sit for awhile and watch the sea not sure which direction it would like to go.

My Sewing Machines Are At The Doctor

What does a girl do without her sewing machines? I wouldn't know, I'm facing new territory with them both in for redo at the same time! It's a hard feeling, knowing that you cannot sew. Thank God for repairmen. And yes it was way overdue.

I was free motion quilting, everything going along smashingly, and whack, it just died, stopped, hand wheel seized. Well the goal of finishing the quilt by Thanksgiving, is likely toast. Ah well, there is a method to all of this.

I have been considering getting a fast stitching machine, a 15-1600spm'er. I have yes been thinking on this lots lately. Hopefully my machines didn't hear me and and one decided to die or give up, or just got plain tired of making me happy. As if to say - oh you don't really want me, well, I'll show you!

Sewing machines have distinct personalities; some, one can live with, and some, one cannot. They have temperaments and little sticky stupid hills they want to die on to, and sometimes seem so much like people it is scary.

A sane person would use the time to clean the studio, rearrange, or maybe even cut fabric for a new quilt. I, the philosopher, will think on machines of course.

Do I want to get to know someone new? I imagine tackling a new machine is like dating again after a divorce, and a woman maybe just gets to the point where she just cannot handle men for a while. Or perhaps more like whiney kids, whom you love, but you're just not sure you want to be around them for the rest of the afternoon. So you dole out a fruit strips and pray that Thomas the Train can give you enough break just to gain your balance.

Or maybe the excitement of a new gadget just takes over? For such a creative type, I do love my machines. Strange. I keep waiting for that machine without buttons, some sort of holographic morph out of Star Trek (which yes I would never watch but my husband makes me) and I tell myself, yes that is when I will buy a new machine. A buttonless machine.

And maybe the man upstairs has other plans. I know the tool appears just as the teacher, when one is ready, when one demands good tools. We cling to old hairdryers yes don't we, when their are ceramic/inoic blasts of blissful dryers out there that give us the hairstyle of dreams, so why does sentiment cling like fuzz to the bobbin case of our insanity. Ah yeah?

I like using thread, I was doing so great, emptying spools on this quilt, and now perhaps I need time to think on its completion, and being machineless will give me that space.

Marblized Color

Spring weather somehow induces me to sew. Quilts, a dress, a handbag perhaps - I haven't made one yet and have been wanting to, with a matching wallet. All in time, I planted white geraniums, they stand out but nicely commend a background of deep blue sea, but somehow the garden doesn't hold it's allure quite yet.

Here is an organizing project, my DMC floss boxes covered with marblized paper to add a touch of class that plastic just sadly lacks.


I think about a thought- will America become a stronger nation? Amid all the worry for our country and our citizens, that is one comfort I suppose, that we stand to gain with loss.

What's Happening in the Studio?

My first block for the Quilt a long 2 (unpressed)

For the quilt a long I have decided to pursue yellow and blue. I may come in a little shy on this neat yellow background, but I figure I might make it if I use another color for a border/do the square blocks in another similar background so I made the decision to just risk it and solve the problem if it is a problem later creatively.

As for the first quilt a long, I am awaiting the delivery of the fabric to use as the sashing. I cut up one, but the hubby didn't like it, and I agreed, and as my huge stash just didn't have anything (I can't believe it) I was justified in actually needing to order fabric!

For my sister in law I ordered some college fleece and coordinate and will do a fleece blanket pillow combo for her for graduation as she is off to Virginia.



On the docket right now

This has been providing challenge to me as an artist. I am slowly learning better technique. Tape is part of this improved skill, lots of tape. I ran out and had to by more. But it works great. I have taken to doing smaller sections at a time, using an X-acto knife, and building a section from the worktable, and then taping it up to the growing art piece on the wall. The quilting is going to really carry this piece, and I have to remind myself of that so often when I make color choices, and I start pondering what is really going to light up behind lots of thread work.

The completed dress! It is from an old Vogue I posted about before.

This was really more of a challenge for me to cut out than to sew. I did really well on the pleats in front. The bodice came out just a bit snug on me, but that is part of the pattern in a way. I need to wash it and remove all my sewing markings.


What a man!

I saw this guy and his dog when I was out hopping around town with my friend. She thought I was nuts, but the picture came out pretty good for through the windshield. Her thought was about the dog jumping out, but he looked like a pro rider to me.

Next of the agenda, I got some embroidery ideas up my sleeve which include a custom monogram, and a lot of unessecary beauty.

Photo Essay - Spring

Shift Gears Already

January is almost through, and I have been in a frenzy of cutting things out. They get cut out, put neatly in a bag, awaiting the seamstress in me to ignight. I like the feeling of having a project all ready to just sit down and sew. No back and forth between the cutting area and the machine. I must admit that while I may loose some of the initial flow or enthusiasm for the project, I am attracted to the compartmentalized idea of a garment all ready to be sewn. I ponder my motivation for all this cutting:

merely because I have the dining room table fully extended?

a response to the grey days of winter which is no doubt eased by bright fabric?

a way to feel like I have used my fabric without really?

So then, as the law of nature would have it, I pile up all these cutting for use, and then a friend throws a project my way. And who can refuse a pillowcase to attempt when the fabric and pillow come accompanied with a caddy full of stamps?

Do you get in creative modes? Cutting mode, sewing mode, studio reorganization mode (I have been stuck here for awhile before the current cutting mode, embroidering mode, and etc. ?

Flecks of Joy

As Friday draws to the lull in the afternoon, we all know the moment, where the week seems to stretch out with the anticipation of some time off, I take a break and marvel and just what a good week it has been. Visits with old and new friends, new fabric acquisitions, a trip to the big city, a movie in the evening, the better part of a morning spent in thought while doing the dishes.

My goal this weekend is to sew a garment. So if nothing comes up, I will do so. The house is caught up, and the laundry - I really should take a picture just to prove it. Soft piano plays in the background, and I have inspiration to write. I should get to the second novel waiting in the wings. The characters are probably starting to believe that I have forgotten their moments and emotions.

I'm thinking about how we all live our lives so differently. Everyone has their peculiarities which somehow fleck off onto everyone else- if only to take for in a passing thought up in the brain that is flushed out as soon and the chin darts to the other shoulder.

What is the message that you brought to someone today. And what was it they gave to you in return?

Accomplishing

Well, there has been the colds, the Holidays, and really, the general disinterest in the sewing room lately. I put together a garment rack and got it up in my studio so all the colors of the rainbow are now clearly well represented by t-shirts in my wardrobe. My new shoes are organized. There is some residual clutter that I am dealing with as a result, but overall the result is pleasing.

I am working on my blocks of the week (catch-up) for the quilt a long, and have finished my part of a round robin for quilt group, so soon I will be back to the art quilt that nags at me on my design wall. The sun is nice today, and it lifts the mood toward the new year ahead.

All in all this has been a year of trial for me. I am expecting the year ahead to hold more cheer. I have been contemplating my resolutions, and so far only one stands out to me, and that is that I would like to sew more garment and utility items. I feel like I have been doing a lot of quiltmaking and that that has been taking over my creative time. Some of the items I would like to sew are:
1. Lounge pants
2. Sundress out of cotton lawn
3. A carry all bag
4. A patchwork purse
I will get to the storage cart covers, hopefully start sewing on them after the party I am throwing this next week.

Thought for the new year:

An easy hobby is a boring hobby-

It's Worth It!

What are you doing in your life that is WORTH IT! That is something I have been thinking about as I transition to eating a whole foods diet. The washing and the chopping and the trail of dishes. It's worth it. I feel better. I'm inspired by all the colors that I am eating. And things taste so much better??

Feeding the horse I befriended.
Always have a couple carrots up your sleeve. Wander the neighborhood looking for glory- one can find it in creatures great and small.



Getting rid of the plastics in my pantry. Aren't jars just a little more romantic anyway?

Sewing is also worth it. It takes times like these when you can't quite make it into the sewing mood to realize that one should just go for it. The trail will end, forge one that is ever changing and full of new possibilities. If you aren't doing anything new/different/consistent, then it's just not that fun. Breathe in the mountain air, pet the smooth silken horses nose tip while he wiggles for the last of the local carrot; clear out what doesn't work in your life and make room for beautiful new volumes of words, phrases, and delights.
Tell the sun goodnight as if you'd never see it again. Follow the moonbeams out your window and observe the fields before they are cut.
Wander into your weekend alive and ready to alter on an instance.

Breathe and have peace and quiet

It is Tuesday and that mere fact leads me to wonder shouldn't I feel more powered up? Well, the day has been lackluster if you wanted to focus on the weather outside. The sunrise is from another morning. Inside however there has been a lot of accomplishing. I made healthy muffins and granola, so alas something for breakfast. The house smells warmly of oatmeal and cinnamon, and I am just slightly unsure where the summer went.

I am reflecting on the sewing party I hosted with some girlfriends, most didn't really sew and I was pleased at their digging in and trying something new. I think they had a good time. I got the idea to make notecards with a theme word. I used: wind, forrest, waterfall, mountain, sunset, and winter and told the girls to create a block with that word as an inspiring theme. I sat out my three mega tubs of scraps which are separated into light, medium, and dark, and told them they could use anything out of the bins.

It is so amazing how different everyone's imagination is. Not only do people look all different,

but they all have unique imaginations as well. The finished blocks! So the party was a success, and I am hoping to sucker them all into coming over for enough times to get a quilt.

I know this may be a small thing for many people, but I have always wanted milk in the glass bottles. Now not only do I find this local milk in glass, but to find it with a blue top-

My affection is won.

I sure goes good with the granola, still just a bit warm.

I was thinking on silence today, it seems rather quiet up here in my neck of the woods, maybe because I wasn't playing any music, or perhaps because it just seemed still, but I appreciated the quiet. I feel like our nation is deprived of solitude and my heart go out to the stressed out everywhere.

When It's Too Hot To Iron - Embroider

Inspiration
Into Stitches


This embroidery was inspired by my bouquet of Golden Zest and I think Teasing Georgia. You know that you are blessed when you reach the point where the roses are almost out of your memorization field. This piece is going to be a wristlet, the cute ones I have seen all over have really inspired me, although I do think this would make a pretty pillow or sachet.


The house smells like Grapefruit, and the floors are clean
wash hung out on the line since it dries fast in 90+ heat.




I am thankful that I live not far from the sea, and so even in the extreme heat, there is that wild breeze. I organized my cross-stitch stuff into a neat bag, and so this summer hopefully I will have nice relaxing places to take it with me when I get away.
I ironed all my pieces that I fabric painted/dyed/sun resisted, and I am very pleased with how they have come out. I have one all safety pinned ready for thread play, and I will get that posted soon I hope.
Machine embroidery is such a good thing to do when you have clothes to put away or a closet to organize, because you can multi-task. Now I know that detracts from the art process, but sometimes it is nice to have some embroideries ready and stitched for when you sit down to sew.
I have been listening to this ambient music all day, different, but nice because it allows you a lot more thoughts than when you listen to music with words.
I am pondering what it means to make art. Why is there this thread of needing to make stuff ourselves nowadays? People are so tired of the cookie cutter same (can't find what they want), longing for distractions and de-stressing, and wondering how they fit into a world already arranged for them by manufacturers and big box stores.
Sewing can open up a world to people. If they are willing to make mistakes and move on down the line, sewing can showcase their dreams, and manifest visions into a product that is useful in daily life. And when you sew something yourself, you have a valid right to claim this is mine and at least for now exclusively.