spring break skirts

I am long overdue with writing posts. . . I will be writing a couple today! About 3 weeks ago we had spring break, and although I didn’t have the week off I did have 2 long weekends in a row and it was a lovely break. As it is now getting to be spring and soon summer, the time is right again for wearing skirts, my favorite sort of clothing. These two skirts were my attempts at making some new clothes for myself.

Cotton gauze bias cut, tea length

Linen swishy skirt

I bought quite a bit of fabric, so now that I’ve tried these patterns out I want to be making some more!! but that might have to wait until the next break. . .

I am so in love!

Today I bought a walking foot for my sewing machine and I don’t know how I ever quilted without it. I mean, I knew it was supposed to make things so much easier, but with the hefty price tag I put off purchasing it. . . well today I got and it is a total dream! Definitely note-worthy on the blog. And since there is no actual love interest to report, I can at least comment on the inanimate objects in my life.

Spring is Unfolding

Unfolding, side a, with the light shining through

This week in Savannah it seems that Spring has arrived . . . as evidenced by the azalea bushes all blooming with pinks and reds and whites. It has been a little chilly and I did turn the heat on again yesterday, but Spring is definitely in the air. I feel thankful for the time change as I sit here at 6:00 pm and it is still sun-shiny outside!!!

My little quilt this week is an ode to the unfolding of leaves and new plant growth that comes with Spring. I have two spider plants in my studio and the shapes are a loose interpretation of those plants.

Unfolding, side b, with the light shining through

Again I am working on the back and front of the quilt. I stitched and appliqued on both sides. I think the openings allow this to really play, especially with the transparent fabrics (all cottons).

detail

stitching detail

side b detail

a new quilt & and an old quilt

Side A (raw silk)

This time to explore the relationship between the front and the back I took the thread ends from one side and brought them through the other. What was the top thread (lime green) is pulled to the other side and tied; what was the bobbin thread (turquoise) is pulled to the front side and tied.

side A detail

It’s not reading terribly well, but I like the idea of using the thread ends from sewing machine and doing more with them than snipping them off.

side B

side B detail

Now for the last couple months I have been working to repair an old quilt and I finally finished it this weekend!! It has been a big project! A woman I met at Mutations Craft Fair asked me if I would be willing to work on this and I said I would give it my best shot. I had never attempted anything like this before, but I was glad for the chance to try it and glad for the income it would provide.

Quilt before

When I got it, the quilt was not in total disrepair, but had come apart in many places. Thankfully it still had all the fabric and all the batting! I began by taking out the previous repairs that had been done in black thread (groan) and fixed all the top piecing, making it whole again. Some of the batting inside had come apart and I patched that back together. And finally I did the hand quilting in long lines and stitched the binding back up.

Front, after

The beautiful part of this whole project is the story. The woman (Pat) who I have been working with was recently remarried and this is her husband’s mother’s quilt. They had to move her out of her home and while they were going through everything Pat found this quilt and rescued it from the trash. Her idea, and this is what we did, was to fix this heirloom and give it to her husband for his birthday. Pat and her husband (I can’t remember his name) came by this afternoon and picked it up and it was wonderful to be part of this precious gift. He was very surprised to see it again and I hope he will enjoy having this part of his family history for a long time to come!

Back, after

After I had been stitching it for a while I began to notice two very distinctive stitching styles, other than my own. I wonder how many people worked to put this quilt together? Just two? or a whole group?

detail of fabrics

more detail fabrics

I love these old fabrics. They felt very thin in my hands, like they had lived a long life.  I wondered: did these fabrics have a history before this quilt? or were they chosen specifically for this use?

in and out

This week has been a crazy week for me- we had the Fibers Department Open Studio on Friday night (great success!)- and I did find a little time today to make my mini-quilt. This one, made of linen and silk dupioni, is a lot simpler than last week. Surprise, surprise with the little time. . . but I am interested in exploring the back/front relationship again (which I have always been interested int) and wanted to at least give it a rough attempt.

in and out, side A

in and out, side B

As I was making this little piece I alternated sewing on side A and then side B, and then back again. Using a blue in the top thread and gray and yellow in the bobbin, it gave me a variety of stitch lines on both sides, and kept one side from being the “front” and the other the “back”. The blue silk that weaves through the openings, leading from one side to the other.

detail

Because of the big openings I ended up sewing through in some places, making the delicate little stitch bridges. I like them so much! In my head I had envisioned this whole thing much more delicate and relaxed. . . but I think because of the heavy contrast of colors and the bold lines it seems so graphic.

detail

Also funny, the only place I could find to hang this for photos was in the bathroom. . . the green and white in the background is not part of the piece, rather just the by-product of the location.

When?

In a new effort to keep working, my friend Ashleigh and I have made a new goal: a little quilt every week. This is a very doable goal for me. . . small, attainable and fun! I’m going to try to make them like journal entries, not overly thought or planned.

When I grow up. . . 

I recently had a landmark birthday and have surprised myself with the lack of grace by which I have embraced this new year and new number. I always guffawed at people who had crisis at turning 30 or 40 or 50, but when it came to my turn I was right there. . . and crying at inopportune times.  Not so much because I’m feeling old, but because at this new decade it is natural to evaluate and check-in with life. . . and I have had to acknowledge that my life is very different from what I thought (as a girl) it would be.

detail

I’ve never used the text function on my sewing machine, but I tried it here in the background. It’s all things I thought I would be or have or do by this age.  And the hand-embroidered text talks about age, and when does one really “grow up”? It’s pretty straight-forward.

detail

I still need to finish it with a binding. . . so it’s not quite done. But I am proud of myself for at least doing something this week beside a couple dumb little towels. Thank you Ashleigh for the incentive.

back

As always, I love the back. I purposely used a darker thread in the bobbin so that the machine stitched text would be more obvious on the back. As much as I am realizing that what I am and what I expected are different, I still have feeling tentative about expressing those desires. . . so it made sense to me to make them subtle on the front and more obvious on the back.

projects for my hands

What I have been making the last couple weeks have been projects for my hands. I am still adjusting to working during the day and most evenings I come home with my head feeling rather mushy. Trying to keep up my studio practice?? how is that going to work?? I can say that I am getting better at managing my evenings, by evidence that this week has been the best week so far. Hey, I’m even blogging. That is a step in the right direction!!

Not for Ellsworth, but for me

I started this quilt in 2004, but when I came to grad school it got put on the shelf. I couldn’t find time to hand quilt. . . but now I have taken it down from said shelf and am back at it. The design was inspired by a piece by Ellsworth Kelly that I saw at the Art Institute in Chicago. This is for me, for my bed or my couch, or wherever I need it.

detail

I also really love making these little needle books, so I made a set using some lovely gold and sparkly fabric. . . and using again the circle motif. It always comes around! (no pun really intended).

needle books

I have done some more applique on dish towels. I bought a bunch and have just been doing similar things to what I did for some Christmas presents back in December. I like using the utensils but they are all feeling a little stale. . . forced maybe, or the colors are off.

 

  

  

The photos are all close-ups of the applique, which only take up about 6 inches of the dish towels.

Finally, last night I made myself a little hanging pocket for the side of my sewing table. I have been needing something like this for SO LONG! And let me just say that I am so excited to have it now. A little bag for all my sewing scraps- oh the bliss!

I still want to make a little pin cushion to go on the right side, but I think I’ll have to stuff it and sew that on by hand.

I also love this fabric. It was in a bag of fabric that I got from a friend and as much as I love the print, I also love that the fabric had a history before it ended up in my hands. There are some brown spots (stains?) to prove it.

in the dark

As I am now a person who goes to work in the day, I only find myself in my studio at night. Which is funny, really, because it’s a sun room, 3 walls of windows.

flags at night with spools

work space

This is what things look like in my studio at night.

I am really trying to appreciate the space at night and in the dark. For instance, the other night was a full moon and there was breath-taking blue light streaming through the trees and in the windows. It was magnificent. The light was so different from the sunlight, yet no less brilliant.

A new year!

I have not written a post in about a month and it is high-time that I get back to it! Christmas has come and gone and New Year’s has also come and gone. I love the month of December and love the holiday season and am always a little sad to see it go. January is not as sparkly.

My cute little Christmas tree:

Making a peppar kokar (gingerbread) house:

Thanks Asa!

Last month I was mostly working on making presents of various sorts. I really like making things to give away (which is not so good if I am ever going to try to live off the work I make. . .)! For several friends I appliqued on dish towels:

I stitched around the appliques with a small, dense ziz-zag which will hopefully stand up to many washings. I wish I had saved one for myself!

I also embroidered a set of pillowcases for my mom. My parents have a Sweden-inspired bedroom and I was working with that sensibility (design and color) for the little motifs. The hardest part was figuring out how to make the second one as a mirror image!

I just now realized that the birdy is upside down. . . whoops.

So if this is a little summary of the last month, what is ahead? That is a very good question! 1:I will be going back to my work with the digital printer, both to polish up the pieces I did last quarter and to start a new one. 2:I have also resurrected a quilt that I started 3 years ago when I was still doing all hand quilting. I haven’t touched it since moving to Savannah, but I am determined to finish it. I will post photos soon. I am about ready to sew the binding on and then I have probably 20 hours of hand quilting work. . . give or take. 3:I am working on restoring a quilt for a woman in Savannah. This is the first time I have done anything like this and I am slow at it, but I appreciate it as a new sort of challenge.
So this is where I am. . . I am excited about 2008. It’s a new year and there are many unknowns and much to look forward to and it’s time for me to get back to work!

Thanksgiving

I had the pleasure of hosting Thanksgiving this year. . . the first time! My parents were visiting from Colorado and my sister from California and together with a group of good friends we celebrated the holiday. We had a really fantastic time eating some really yummy food, enjoying each other’s company and practicing a spirit of thankfulness.

Kevin’s cranberry sauce turkey carving

I set the table with the hunger placemats I had created last month, hoping that their presence under out heaping plates would spark a conversation or remind us again to be thankful.

This day became really the first “installation” of these pieces. It was a little strange because I was there and could answer questions and that’s how the conversations began. . . something like, “did you make these?” I think it would be quite different if they were placed somewhere without me. I also wish I had had enough time to make enough placemats for the entire table because as it was not everyone had a hunger mat.

Betsy’s beautiful bread

oh, how I love pie

It is a family tradition that after eating the thanksgiving meal everyone picks a little fabric pouch. And in that pouch is a few beans or pumpkins seeds or really whatever we have handy. The number of beans/seeds is the number of things for which you are thankful that you get to share with the group. As I kid, I didn’t like doing this at all. . . but now I really appreciate it. So in the Spirit, things I am thankful for: my family, a strong community of friends, opportunity for education, and freedom (especially to worship as I choose).

after charades and still smiling