Me and Him.

My good David and I went to Seattle for a few days, we rested, relaxed and enjoyed time together. You might imagine that being a care taker, being taken care of, surviving cancer treatments and moving into life after active treatment is quite a process and I can attest to that, it really is! Taking time to connect and enjoy one another is essential. 

Boy did we need this time together.

I don’t know that I have ever seen starfish that are as big as this. We stood about 20 feet above this starfish and I bet it was bigger than a dinner plate. I am not saying I would like to eat it though.

I am so happy to experience open air markets like Pike Place Market in the U.S.! All this hermetically sealed food in plastic wrap? Does it have to be this way? Gosh. When we were in Barcelona we explored a market where a butcher had a cutting block that had been hit so many times it was severely concave, it was impressive. I know. Germs. Phobia. But you know? We humans seem to stick around! 

Me and him at an ATM machine. I couldn’t resist snapping a photo.

This was a good vacation because it was just relaxed. We walked all over the city. We found ‘favorite ‘ spots and frequented them. We ate well. We enjoyed drinking wine. We talked, loved and were present to one another. What could be better?

We even stepped out of our comfort zone and ate meat! Andouille sausage sandwiches with sauerkraut , potato salad and a pickled pepper to be exact. It was just something we stumbled upon in Pioneer Square. It cost all of 10 bucks for two plates and it featured foods found in Pike Place Market. We don’t eat meat often but we are opportunistic! They placed gorgeous thick wooden tables and benches in a small park surrounded by brick building that must have been at least 100 years old. There were ball jars with wonderful flowers and happy eating people, come on! Try some meat! OK. And another local treat? Yum.

And I do like my 50 year old trinkets. I didn’t buy any of it because they thought so highly of it (price-wise, that is). But it was a vacation to be cherished and daydreamed about!

Last year at this same time, my hair was just growing back in and I was preparing to go to Switzerland to teach (you really should go to that link and watch the video Marlis created). This last year has been quite formative. Cancer, facing my own mortality, has changed me, not to mention my body. I have been quiet for all of the above reasons. I am returning and settling in to myself, I have been quite creative too, just not very verbal about it over the interwebs.

If you could hear me over here, you would hear a big sigh.

Thread as traveler.

David and I just got back from shanty town, oh uh, I mean, Seattle. What a great city. It feels like a town, which is nice.

It is such a working town, quiet, humming right along, I loved walking the streets. We passed through neighborhoods, quaint with corner shops, over highways, alongside real traffic, through alley ways, the whole deal. We kicked back, ate, drank, walked, boy did we walk. Maybe 6 to 10 miles a day. We had a clean fresh room, we found a coffee-shop to land in, I stitched, he read. We ate doughnuts! The raised cinnamon sugar doughnut? I am glad those doughnuts are on the other side of the continent! Can’t walk there from here! We went two days in a row and each ate 2 doughnuts a day!

 

A total of 4 doughnuts! OMG

 

We don’t eat doughnuts in-real-life.

 

Anyway.

The production of Sew-plies Purses is unceasing. The above Poppy Sew-plies Purse feels very Inspired to Quilt in look and feel. Working with organza just feels comfortable to me. And to watch the sheen of the thread against the organza? Very i2q.

I painted these poppies, perhaps a year or more ago. It was just a sample, playing around with dye and trying to paint and achieve color variations, I liked it, so I batched, washed and put it aside. Layering it over this scrap of Japanes kimono fabric is really opening up the visual conversation. Being able to see through the organza, to see some but not all of the silk undeneath? And to sew them all together? That is the magic of working in layers like this. 

The difference is the use of commercial prints and hand embroidery. What fun a single stitch is. I love hearing the needle rip the cloth, the thread pulling through. Joy. Relaxation. Did I mention the tea shop we found? I am looking to find a yummy green or white tea. I am sorry, I keep derailing my own post. We have been having such fun!! Tonight we will walk Manhattan.

The Sew-plies Purse is playing a huge role in my makings! I am literally sewing on the subways, at the coffeeshop, wherever possible. My goal is to draw, transform, change, create texture, communicate through needle and thread.  To sew imagery from experience as quickly as possible, given the medium. It slows me down just enough! 

Fun, fun, fun!

100% Human

I am enamored of labels. I remove them from my clothing, collect them in baggies, I love them. I daydream of a collection of labels organized by color. The last time I visited my folks, I nabbed a coffee bag label printed on twill tape, I am telling you! Precious Item alert. Yup.

I am making this ‘garment’ for myself. So I decided to stitch my own label, so far I have embroidered,

‘Made in New Haven, Ct

100% Human.

What should the small print should read?

Do I need some care instructions? I like the idea. 

David and I are still enjoying a vacation with each other, so I will be scarce for a few more days.

Yarn Bag and Project

Dear Person-Who-Lost-Your-Grocery-Store-Stuff- Sack-Purse. I found it. It took my fancy and I am using it. I feel badly for you. I am sorry if you are looking for it. I wanted to do a post on Facebook: I have taken to stealing. Because it is true. 

And I continue to move labels around and misrepresent items in my possession. 

 

Who doesn’t need a Knitters Ruck Sack? This bag will be a regular ‘wear’ over our jaunt to Seattle. It has two neat coils of Malabrigo sock yarn in aguas color. I am making Boardwalk.

At which time, I want to knit this. I need both sweaters and this one will need to be made out of Jared’s line. I tried both sweaters on while visiting Purl in Soho. I need both!

I am determined to have this sweater complete and worn in one months time. OK? Do you hear me? I am verbalizing a commitment to self, publicly. I want that sweater. I would love to fall in love with a ‘look’ and to create a few choices pieces to flesh out that look. I am a textile artist. I print cloth, I have a great stash, it is time to start making things! Fixing and updating vintage blouses? Yup, got that too. I am hoping this sweater will look cute over printed button up shirts (like this one, oh my! That one needs some green to tame it!).

I am on a mission to dress creatively!

My Man and I are off to a much needed vacation! Seattle here we come.

Project bag?

My Man and I are planning a trip to Seattle next week and I need soft, easy to carry, project bags. In fact, I care more about packing my projects than I do clothing! This bag is made of cotton kimono scrap and is lined in cotton kimono cloth. It is not as ‘sturdy’ as the ‘market bag’ I made earlier in the week. But it is basically the same design. Perhaps it needs some boro stitching and patching, which would give the cloth more body.

I do like the strap tab detail at the lower left. 

I think it is kind of funny. I have had this ability since I was a child. I could not for the life of me, figure out how to sew the straps into the bag while I was lining it. This bag also cinches shut with the weight of what it carries and the strap emerges from a button hole middle top sack. The strap and buttonhole just mussed up my ability to think! So I stopped, got my book, went into the other room. Read for a while. Closed my eyes and saw it! So I hopped up and finished sewing the sack.

My friend Cricket can’t see pictures in her head, I can, can you? It would bum me out not to be able to see things in my minds’ eye.

 

Oh Gosh. Does this mean that each of my Sew-plies purses needs its own project bag? I think that is going a bit too far.

That’s that.

Socks, toes, skirt? That is all I have to say about that.

I have been wanting a RED sew-plies  purse and this is it. There is a bit of kimono fabric under and Inspired to Quilt style poppy on organza. I found the dragon while walking here in Carroll Gardens, last November and it has been a magnet on the fridge ever since. Now the dragons outline will be embroidered here.  I may use some hand dyed red velvet for the straps and flap, I don’t know but this bag will be very rich indeed.

A Project Bag in the Making.

I have been making Gather your Sew-plies purses left and right. The entire plan in making these bags is to be able to sew wherever I go, the subway, the coffee shop, the Promenade, you get the idea. As I have been doing this, I have been thinking, what about a project bag?

I love a good backpack, having my hands free is important to me. I have been designing this backpack for quite a long while. I wanted it to be soft, meaning, I want to experience the cloth I use as part of the design. I wanted the straps to cinch it shut and keep it shut by way of using the weight of what the bag holds to keep it closed; the entire top edge of the purse is a drawstring compartment and the arm straps are the ‘cinch’ that keeps the bag closed. 

I had one yard of this fabulous cloth. I think of it as a ‘market print’ There are flowers, cherries, strawberries, garlic, peaches, the print is crisp and clean and pretty. To give the cloth some body, I doubled the cloth and sewed straight lines along the grain using Aurifil Lana#12. The buckle you see is just for show, it does not function to shorten the straps.

And, well, of course you need another bag to hold all the little things, thread, the project itself. This draw string bag came with a long sleeved t shirt which is also printed with the word ‘frock’. I embroidered over the printed ‘frock’ on this bag and use it almost like a stuff sack.

And here is a peek into the bag itself.

I have bought a snap setter and I intend to set some snaps into the pockets (check out the first photo to see one of the two pockets, there is one on the outside and one on the inside) but, that is scary. I will need to punch a hole into the pocket and the purse itself, and I don’t want to mess up.

I need to practice my snap setting skills first.

Here is the man cat, tuning into a few good z’s. He looks happy, doesn’t he?

A wondrous day.

Ah.

I feel a confessional coming on. 

I feel like I am just about landing in my body and settling into my life right now. The cancer treatments are behind me. I go for my monthly check ups I am getting to know the nurses, it is becoming normal. I am moving into regular old life. I am slower than I used to be, I can’t seem to keep up with my email or blog. Sitting in front of ‘The Computer’ almost feels toxic, I am in the mood to make! 

I bought some yarn and I am going to be knitting this (ravelry link), in this. We are taking a short vacation soon, and I am preparing for the creative time I will have! Sew-plie purse, check, knitting project, check! Some hand sewing too, but I have the goal of finishing the sweater during this time.

I am taking a creative break and challenging myself to try out new ideas. I am dreaming up projects and scenarios, like sewing with thread on buckram out in the wild, Sew-plies purses, walks, exercise. Tomorrow,  my Man and I plan to walk to the Promenade, while there is a chill in the air, then off the Matt Umanov for music supplies… I love to encourage David in musical purchases! Maybe we will go out for lunch.

I want a new power strip with the rocker switch in a particular orientation.

Tonights’ dinner, homemade eggplant sauce oover pasta. Fresh, good, yum.

I am hoping you might get a chuckle at seeing this, Elliot and Alex are snuffling my ears while we wait for a scoop of ice cream at Farmacy. 

Sewing what I see.

I have been making the Gather your Sew-plies purses obsessively. I am on #8 and I have set a goal of making 30 of them. Really I have made 9, but I gave one away. 🙂 I have also been at home and focused for quite a few weeks, and it is time to stretch my creative muscles and to see what change will bring. So I packed up the latest Sew-plies purse along with some buckram and thread and I walked up to the Promenade to ‘sew (I mean draw) what I see’.

This little drawing took about 3 hours to do. The buckram provided a ‘grid’, which helped in ‘drawing’ straight lines. I brought two types of thread, straight sewing machine thread and #12 Aurifil Mako’ (which has become my favorite hand sewing thread), both in black. I don’t think this drawing is complete and I would love to try using the #12 Aurifil thread in this drawing. The two different sizes of thread will compliment one another nicely, I think.

On the walk home, I began to wonder if I need to paint the sky a light blue… hmmm.

I will be doing this again. I would love to stitch/draw some people, crowds, horizon lines. I need more buckram.

It is magical.

This weekend we went to our friend Clark’s house for a picnic. Clark lives in a home that has been in his family for 110 years. The house was 60 to 70 years old when they bought it. It is an amazing house. There is a creamery, they used to sell milk. A barn, several acres of land, farming machines-rusted and dilapidated, two swings, trees and lots of shade. It was a fabulous weekend. We relaxed, we ate, we chatted. I sewed.

This sew-plies purse is coming to a stage of completion, but because it explores ideas of graffiti, it may just be waiting for the next step, I am not certain.

This purse is a big(ger) one. I should have perhaps measured it before I went ahead and sewed it shut. I don’t mind though. I even kind of like it, the one change I think I will make is shifting the snap placement. Do you see when it is closed that the right side of the purse has more cloth than the left?  Part of me likes this, part doesn’t. The part that likes it says, it is almost like the proud city boys who wear their baseball caps off to the side. The part that doesn’t like it? I do get off on symmetry sometimes! 

I have figured out a great way to make the scissor pocket. This week I am going to update and expand the Gather your Sew-plies pattern, I have begun working on it already.

This cane stand sits just inside the front door of Clark’s house. How tidy. What an amazing collection.

Clark has clothing from his great grandmother in his home. I snuck around and peeked into the closets and drawers. I found lace, beaded lace, a sewing kit (!!!), a velvet cape!

Look at that peplum. That had to be part of a bustle, I wish he had the skirt that went with this jacket. The cloth was probably cotton flannel, though it may have been a very light weight wool. I was sneaking around, so I didn’t linger to find out! Clark didn’t mind. But I was still sneaking!

Look at those beautiful buttonholes.

Gather your Sew-plies!! Class at The City Quilter.

Here is a cut and paste from The City Quilter‘s web site:

 GATHER YOUR SEW-PLIES!

Hand sewing requires few tools: scissors, a thimble, perhaps

a piece of wax and some thread. While making a

‘Gather your Sew-plies’ purse, we will explore hand sewing

themes in embroidery while creating our own purses. Each

purse has a scissor pocket, a thimble holder, and an area

to keep a few choice items. It will sit tidily against your

body so that you can easily move around and carry your

tools with you. This class will explore embroidery and composition

in an interesting, offbeat and artistic manner.

 Sundays, Sept. 23, 30 from 12 – 4 PM

Instructor: Melanie Testa Fee: $ 90

 I have been working and digging on this sample, for the class. I can’t seem to finish it, or to let it go for that matter. I tried to separate myself from it today, but could not. I went to pick up the scissors from the sharpener and took it as an opportunity to drop another sample Sew-plies purse at The City Quilter. I brought this one, hoping to ‘finish it in time’. But I couldn’t hand it to Nancy. So I gave her an indigo dyed purse. One that features one of Glennis Dolce’s moons. I am so happy to have found a place for a piece of her work!

So, are if you in or around New York City and would you like to take a creative embroidery class with me? Please call the gals at (212-807-0390), email (info@cityquilter.com) or drop by the shop with your credit cards ready.  

I would like to have fun with you and some good old fashioned stitch.

 This purse uses my eye/heart stencil. I am exploring how I might embody the layered textured, interrupted, messy nature of graffiti, in cloth, with this purse. It is time for this purse to turn a corner and get another layer. Maybe on the back, I am not sure. So you will be seeing more of this purse in the next few days.

 

I have become a quiet blogger. I am learning to run The Clever Guild, I built the site! Now I have to learn to use it! Funny how that happens.

I have begun training with Marianne Kane at MyOhMyTV. I am also going to a pool program for survivors twice a week. I am doing things I would have never thought and I am really enjoying myself.

Cricket and I got mani/pedis’ this week. I told myself to get blue or green. I love looking down and seeing this color. Anyway. I have been having a hard time keeping up with myself! It is all good though.

Writing the article at Role/Reboot is an interesting experience. I wrote it (with a little help from my Mom!), I knew it was going live. When the day came? Deer in the headlights. But then, I said what I had to. So I was alright with it. It got maybe 94 likes on Facebook. 11 Tweets and 17 Shares. 

I have a favor to ask, Will you please post the link to the article on your Facebook for  a time? I would love to have as many people as possible read it and share it. Simply living without breasts should be offered as an option to breast cancer survivors, it should be accepted as part of living female in this world. No questions asked. Can you tell I feel passionate about this topic? So, please share, tweet, pinterest the article.

So, that is a quick recap from me.