little happy things

I see Log Cabin a lot and I’m still charmed by it.

This little bag is the product of a bunch of scraps from a larger project. The scraps were too small to be re-used in the project, but just too good to toss out or use as filler.

The lining is made of Joann-brand fabric. (It looks so clean right now! Soon it will be “christened” by leaking pens and other bag foibles.)

To make the bag, I used the technique for a lined zippered pouch, but I gave the bottom a bit of depth. I used the technique seen in various patterns (if you’ve followed an Amy Butler or Lotta Jansdotter pattern this will be familiar to you).

Cut out squares from the bottom(s). Sew the side seams. Sew the bottom seam.

Then flatten one side seam and the bottom seam and sew across both (you’ll do this on each side). My apologies: I don’t have a photo. If there is interest/confusion, I will figure out a photo or drawing. It really is easier to see than to read.

This is an incredibly self-indulgent post wherein I lead you down the path of my thoughts at present. Feel free to skip large sections.

In an effort to beckon the authentic flowers, I am making some fabric imitations.

lingering questions

1. Why is the origin of the word gingham?
Wikipedia: It comes from an Indonesian word.

Online Encyclopedia Britannica: “The name comes from the Malay word genggang, meaning ’striped,’ and thence from the French guingan, used by the Bretons to signify cloth made from striped colouring.”

2. The rye bread I buy has only one heel. Why is this?
(Haven’t found an answer. B’s theory is that we might want to see what the bread looks like inside, and the heel would block the view.)
Wikipedia: Rye bread

Online Encyclopedia Britannica: Rye bread

3. What is molasses?
Wikipedia: “Molasses (or treacle) is a thick syrup by-product from the processing of the sugarcane or sugar beet into sugar.”

Online Encyclopedia Britannica: “Syrup remaining after sugar is crystallized out of cane or beet juice.”

weighty thought

from The High Price of Materialism by Tim Kasser, page 77, third paragraph.

“…when we are intrinsically motivated, we do what we do because it is enjoyable, involving, and challenging. One of the most interesting questions researchers have asked about such experiences concerns what happens when people are rewarded for doing the things they find intrinsically motivating. If rewards are important motivators of behavior, giving people money or praise for doing something they enjoy could increase their motivation. On the other hand, it could lead people to care more about the rewards than the activity, and consequently to experience less interest and enjoyment. As such, rewards might decrease intrinsic motivation.”

I like to think I’m above letting lovely praise change that which I am intrinsically motivated to do. But I wonder. Maybe it’s a ratio: If you love the thing more than the reward, then maybe you’re immune?

From the tag on the tea-bag string.

I hope it is sunshine-y wherever you find yourself today.

We braved the scary roads to support a local school and see quilts at the same time (win-win). The show was about 100 quilts, in a gymnasium. All proceeds went to their Dollars for Scholars program. There were quite a few really nice antique quilts (with stories to match). The quilt above was made between 1930 and 1950.

I found this small tablecloth at an antique store this weekend. I don’t know that I’ll be able to cut it up…I’m growing rather fond of it.

While I am going to continue practicing free-motion quilting, the latest project will get quilted using a long-arm machine. I made an apron to keep my scissors handy.

I made a dress for this summer (I know I’m getting terribly ahead of myself). Pattern used: McCall’s 5377. (Technically I made dress A, but I used the length from B.) Fabric is from Joann, bought rather cheap.

Front

back

The Very Talented Denyse Schmidt now has a pattern for purchase.

Looks like a new challenge for the new year!

I think I’ve done all the decorating I’m going to do.

Special thanks to B for risking life and limb hanging the lights.

The paperwhites (narcissus) are blooming…and two of the Pottery Barn napkins have been made into pillows.

(Update: the video stalls out at 2 seconds…not to worry, it actually ends there)

Me at seven months.

1) These city-specific Moleskine journals. With maps! And a way to trace your route!

2) Toot & Puddle: Let It Snow. Excerpt: “He knew that the best present was usually something you made yourself, a one-of-a-kind thingamajig, not just a whatsit anyone could buy in a store.” I’m rather fond of thingamajigs.

3) Saturn Press (no Web site*). I wish you could download the weightiness of it, the crispness of the paper, etc. If you write to them, they will send you a museum-worthy catalog of their products (where I found the card above).

*Saturn Press
PO Box 368
Swan’s Island, ME 04685

4) This little Christmas story about a captain with troublesome fairies. Click here for a link to the album (the first link is a sample in mp3 format).

5) I found the book Simple Contemporary Quilts at the library. And it has projects by Talented Lady Hillary and by Talented Lady Amy.

6) The draft snakes have worked out well. B has nicknamed them “Charlie” and “Carl.” He has also made up potential books about them, such as “How Charlie The Too-Fat Draft Snake Saved Christmas.” As I write this, he is in the kitchen, making a hot cup of something. The sound of a spoon on a ceramic cup seems like music, today. Must be getting on to Christmas…wherein I find sentiment practically everywhere.

I’m pretty happy about Christmas all year long. B says that in late November and December, the world just catches up with me.

We put up some of the decorations on Thanksgiving, but I was too embarrassed to tell. I thought it was a tad early…but there it is. They’re up, and I’m glad.

About the stockings: My first name starts with M (my household nickname starts with B) and B’s real name starts with W (no, not Walter…think Beatty). If I had it to do over again, I would do two Bs. We never call each other by our “real” names, so these stockings seem like they’re for other people.

I embroidered the M using a satin stitch, and the W is a collection of French knots. All of which I learned here. I enlarged the letters from two fonts I liked, traced them on the flannel, and then filled them in with embroidery floss. I then cut out and sewed the stockings.

These paper “ornaments” are actually gift tags from the Martha line at Michaels.

This pear ornament was made by my mom.

In the form of a few images from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (illustrated by Lizbeth Zwerger).

(See the small ‘painting’ within the picture? Two small faces? I wonder about this. Are these the artist’s children? Neighbors? No significance?)

6. I’m thankful for companionship.
It is such a gift, and one that I never expected to find. I cherish it.

7. I’m thankful for poetry.
I am especially grateful for Billy Collins.

8. I’m thankful for rubber gloves.
There is no job too scary when you’re wearing rubber gloves.

9. I’m thankful for hot running water.
Two things contribute to this: 1) Two trips to Kenya as a teenager, once in a town and once on the savannah, both times with water-shortage issues. 2) My parents’ house is out in the country and has a (finite?) well.

Running water seems like a miracle to me. And hot running water is a luxury.

10. I’m thankful for children’s books.

I have a deep affection for the work of Lizbeth Zwerger.

I also really love the book Angel Pig and the Hidden Christmas, which was introduced to me by one of my nieces.

To return the favor, I sent her And Tango Makes Three. Note: Tango was on the Most Challenged Book List of 2006, so it might not be welcome in every family.

11. Art in the form of painting.

Theodore Roethke said “Art is the means we have of undoing the damage of haste. It’s what everything else isn’t.”

Two favorites: Fabrice Moireau and, as always, Carl Larsson.

3. I’m thankful for peach rings.

4. I’m thankful for automatic washing machines.

My late maternal grandmother’s hands told stories of years of boiling water and various hard-core laundry detergents. I wish she was alive, she would have the fanciest washing machine or, even better, me to do her laundry.

4b. I’m thankful for hand-made drying racks.
(Please e-mail me if you’d like the address of the woman who makes the ones I use…she doesn’t yet have a Web site.)

5. Netflix. I am thankful that DVDs show up in the mail (even if one gets accused of having a school-girl crush on Michael Wood because of the frequency of his documentaries in the queue). I am also thankful that I won’t have to go into a video store ever again.

This is a treat. We try to buy local and organic, but more often than not we end up getting food that has been shipped a long way to us. We’re working on this. But, we have not had oranges or bananas for a long, long time. (There has been the odd joke about scurvy.) These little jewels are from California…(we live two states away).

I am thankful to have eaten today. And I’m thankful for the people who spend their time learning about soil, water, compost, and climate. I feel so lucky to live in an area where there is fresh-from-the-farm produce (surprising, considering how far north we are). Granted, it’s not year-round, but I’m thankful for the time we do have.

I’m thankful for farmers.

This is a handkerchief (a bit of it). I am thankful for the hands that made it. And if hands didn’t make it, I’m thankful for the artist who drew the design before sending it off to be made by a machine.

This Thursday is when Thanksgiving is celebrated in this country (the United States). While there is a lot of valid discussion about what the holiday does/should mean, I know that for myself there is always more time to reflect and be thankful.

Traditions didn’t seem to take hold very well in my family of origin, but one that lasted awhile was the candle-lighting-and-being thankful ceremony. Not being terribly interested in lavish meals, the food was typically just-one-better than our regular dinners.* But before we ate anything, each of us had an unlit candle. We would say one thing we were thankful for and then light the candle from a central one, and put it in a rather tacky-but-meaningful candelabra.

I’m thankful for crafters. I’m thankful for the things people make that they are willing to share via the Internet, so that other crafters (all over the world) can be inspired. Thanks, crafters. You make my life happier. I look forward to your projects almost as much as I do my own. I read your blogs, look at your projects, get inspired, and feel like all will be well with the world.

I’m thankful for craft. I’m glad there is a medium to make something with one’s own hands, engaging the brain, fingers, eyes…interacting with our chosen tools (fabric, paper, paint, wax, lye, scent, etc.).

I’m thankful for crafting. I love the process of making something, even if the outcome is not what one imagined it would be. I love being surprised by the turns any given project can take. The act of making something is at once engaging, soothing, and restorative. I’m thankful for it.

*(You know how when one goes to an interview, people say to dress one-better than you would for everyday? This was like interview food.)

Addendum:

1) Etsy.
2. Supermarket.

Like many of you, I am a big fan of The Small Object.

I was pleasantly surprised to see her profiled in the December 2007 issue of Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion.

Here’s what the cover looks like



(I don’t buy magazines as a rule…I am rather proactively sheltered from large segments of popular media, and experience culture shock when I am exposed to it. For instance, I bought the newest Martha Stewart magazine and, after tearing out all the advertising I found pointless/insulting/redundant, was left with a rather slim volume. I was enticed by the gingerbread houses on the cover.)

I sent out these cards a few years ago, and I loved them so much I wanted to use them again. I bought them here, and what do you know, they are still available.

Also, I took my canvas bags once again to Jo-Ann, and the checkout girl grabbed it and used it. I didn’t even have to ask! It just warms the heart…

…the holidays do sneak in.

This is the chair that lives by the front door. (We take our shoes off when we come in, and this helps…not that hopping on one foot while untying a shoelace isn’t a certain kind of fun.)

I made the pillow from a pair of boxer shorts. I remember cutting it very carefully so as to avoid the seams. I’m still not sure how I did it.

You could blame Hillary, but it wouldn’t really be fair. She mentioned some goodies on her blog, but it was me who found my own way to the local Michaels.

I take my canvas bags everywhere (which typically consists of the grocery store and Jo-Ann). I usually have to spell it out (”I brought my own bag”) because the checkers will look directly at the canvas bag you’ve placed on the counter and then begin to pack your items in a plastic bag. This time, after spelling it out, the checker replied, “You don’t like plastic?” (Note: Initially she put my canvas bag in a plastic bag. I’m absolutely serious.)

Sigh. No, frankly, I don’t. Need some resources? One. Two. Three (caution: sad image).

So, no points for *not* being a consumer today, but a few for giving the checker (and the ladies in line behind me) something to think about (reusable! what a revelation!). One of these days I’ll get some bamboo-fabric bags and feel even better.

Forgive me, but does anyone else think Craft Punk would be a funny name for a blog? (I estimate that there are 15 people in the world who will get this pun: The place where craft blogs and music collide…for those outside the 15, there is a techno band called Daft Punk). I bet this blog is already up somewhere…

Yep.

Taken out the window…

Of this cathedral.

Melissa’s happy news

First off, I am just so happy for Melissa. I also wish that it was my news too. “Jealous” isn’t the right word, because that would imply that I would rather have it myself than rejoice for her. And that’s not true. I just wish it could be news for both of us. And it can! I dwell in possibility…and maybe someday in Scandinavia, near Melissa.

Angry Chicken’s book signing

As many of you have read, this lady has a book out. And last night there was a signing in Portland, Oregon (which is about 5 and a half hours from here). It looks like it was a lot of fun. And this photo caught my eye especially. Does that fabric ring any bells? An apron! What a good idea…

I admit I momentarily considered driving down for the book signing. Look at the fabrics in that shop!

Jane Brocket’s book and blog

This book has caught my attention and I am calmly (ok, somewhat desperately) trying to find it here in the States. The author also has a blog, which had about the most timely and coincidental post ever a few days ago. A old friend was talking about her options for life, and was feeling somewhat confused. And then Ms. Brocket’s amazing post about changing one’s mind…which I forwarded to said old friend.

Getting the blood up

So I was somewhat surprised and disappointed at this snarky and near-sighted write-up. I thought it entirely missed the boat on lots of levels. I was heartened by some of the comments, though.

1) If your husband/spouse/partner is putting expectations on you based on something he’s seen, the issue isn’t with what he’s seen, the issue is with him.

2) There is no magic formula for a woman’s life: Some women love their jobs/home/domestic things/waterskiiing/historical fiction/emu farm. Saying that women who enjoy domestic things “raises the bar” for others is simply goofy. Do women who have successful careers/the ability to bench-press a Honda/libraries of first editions/jars of home-made jam “raise the bar” for those who don’t? There is no bar. We’re all walking our own paths. Find your own, embrace it, and don’t judge what fits someone else.

Point 1: There should be room for all of us

I can’t not make stuff. I can’t not feather the nest. It comes naturally. Some women can’t not have jobs with Fortune 500 companies. It fits them. It makes them happy. They’re good at it. It comes naturally. Should we compare lives? Should an apple be an orange? There should be room for all of us. (Which includes the female Vice Presidents of Finance who work at jobs all day and go home to knit socks, and the women who stay home all day and read economics books for fun, and all the other wonderful combinations of humans. The lines aren’t easily drawn, and it begs the question as to why we need to at all.)

Point 2: Teachable moment for myself

I pondered the article a long time, and then I went downstairs and worked on a quilt. When I’m working on a quilt, I can’t wait to wake up. Which means that I go to bed about 7:30 p.m. and wake up at 3 a.m. rolling ideas around and wondering if the sewing machine is loud enough to wake anyone. I can’t not make quilts, and I strive to surround myself with people who support that, even if they don’t understand/agree with it, or choose it for themselves.

I hope I return the favor.

There are quite a few things I should be doing. I’m adding “blog post” to the list, just so I can cross something off. (I can also cross off “browse Flickr for inspiring crafty projects.”)

I was reminded how much I love Lotta Jansdotter’s sensibility last night while browsing one of her books. (In the end, I bought this one instead. I know, everyone is going on and on about it, and I hate to follow trends, but I really liked it.)

Her stuff just amazes me, so simple and perfect.

I have a Lotta Jansdotter bag (I don’t see it in the bag section of her site). (It wasn’t this color when I bought it…I dyed it.) I have an unnatural love for this bag, but my fidelity is being tested by these bags. Maybe when this one wears out in five years?

I bought these labels awhile ago and have been pasting them on everything. Their only drawback is that they tend to curl (I’m re-thinking the one I put on an envelope to the lovely A…which may or may not have ever reached her. Hmmmm.)

I’m thankful for Lotta Jansdotter, her talent, and the fact that she’s willing to share it with the rest of the world. I’m also pretty happy with these labels.

I am currently at work on a quilt for the holiday season. It’s a very simple one, but along the way I became enamored with one of the fabrics (the photo above does not do it justice…it is soft and dottie and perfect). I went to Joann to buy some more of it (nothing doing, it’s gone forever). Normally, I’m with Kathy. I have a plan when I go into the store (and, yes, I admit it, a list). But a certain fabric sort of called to me, and two yards later…

As the lady was measuring the fabric, she said, “It has an Asian feel, doesn’t it? With the little doorways.” And I said, “I was thinking it was kind of Scandinavian.” We both re-looked at it, and realized that we were both right. It was a cool moment.

There are people who can walk past $2-per-yard fabric. I am *usually* one of them…

I wanted this one to do this project.

I really liked this one (does it also remind you of wallpaper a bit?).

This one struck me as sort of prairie farm-wife…and it was orange, so it came home.

I have no idea.

Want to cancel a catalog? How about a bunch of catalogs? Follow this link…

It theoretically takes 10 weeks, and I’m not sure if they can cancel catalogs for which you don’t have a customer number. I figure it’s worth a try.

This is the picture I will be looking at this month (from a Carl Larsson calendar). It is called Aftonvarden (Evening meal). Every year I say I’ll get a different artist…I never do. I love his paintings.

I recently bought a pendant from Blair’s Etsy shop (find her blog here). I’m always amazed to get things from Etsy sellers…you can feel the love, generosity, and (I like to think) the pleasure they had making their stuff.

The pendant is made from plastic (Shrinky Dinks or something similar?) with a swatch of fabric (or a photo of fabric?) on top. I haven’t figured out how she did it, but I bet it was tricky.

All is quiet here, even with a rather bright quilt up.

We use checks about three times a year (and I wish I could personally thank the person who invented debit cards). We do carry the checkbook, though, and the checks were getting smashed up.

So I made this. Wouldn’t you know *after making this* I found a lovely way to do corners…

The front (I ran out of fabric and had to piece it)

The back

Closed

Turns out I missed the blog. There is an odd phenomenon that when the blog is up, the creativity gets spread thinner as I try to be interesting here. But when the blog is down, I have more projects that I could share, um, on a blog. I’m going to try to keep the posts further apart, and see if that gives me the re-charge I need.

Plus, you take the blog down and then get to be an audience member of the Martha Stewart sewing show. How’s that for bad timing? Don’t get your hopes up for amazing photos of her set, or her, as I didn’t take the camera inside. I was trying to be rather existential and fully present and in the moment and everything. But, some outside shots (thanks, B)!

We had a great time in NYC. And I met some very nice people while standing in line.

I really wanted a show-and-tell of everyone’s projects after the show, but no such luck.

Other than that we
1) wandered around Chelsea,
2) and Central Park (where we saw Gary Sinise filming a show we’ll never see because we don’t watch TV)
3) plus the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where you can clearly see a Nine Patch on the floor

4) and the Museum of Modern Art, where we were not allowed to photograph the coolest thing there (by Richard Serra)
5) We’re also pretty certain we saw Alec Baldwin coming out of a bank near Rockefeller Square. I think celebrity sightings must be fairly common in NYC. I was way happier to see the anonymous woman who helped us when we got lost on the subway…

And a stop at Amy’s Bread for an A-recommended cupcake. She’s right.

When B was a teenager, his family lived in Clarkston for awhile. There he made a friend, JM.

When I was in college, I took a year of French. In my class was a girl, JS.

JM and JS met and married.

And last Sunday, they welcomed Owen.

We took a care package* over to their house last night. It was too much fun to pick out stuff for them. It was interesting to try to imagine what someone with a brand-new infant would need/want (other than sleep).

Now, crafters, you know that I couldn’t *not* make something for him. Just a small something, mind.

It’s a sachet (they can add their own potpourri or lavender or other nice-smelling stuff), and also a “baby sleeping” signal.

The fabric is from Superbuzzy. I embroidered the letters, and the handle is simple grosgrain from Joann.

Front view

Back view

*
What two people who do not have children think of as a care package:
Lasangas from Trezzi
Not-exactly-health food
and a variety of Burt’s Bees mom and baby potions and lotions (we bought them at Huckleberry’s)
Buttermilk bath for baby
Samples of goodies for baby
Foot creme for mama
Hand creme for mama
and of course…fresh flowers.

I sold something on Etsy! Granted, it wasn’t something I made (it was a crepe paper kit). But it still feels good.

I think I might put some hand-made things in the shop. However, I’m not sure that my stuff is all *that* distinct. I would like to believe that there is someone out there for whom something I made would be a perfect match…

That’s a drawback about the Internet: I would love it if buyers could interact with the products before they buy. Texture and “feeling” is such a big part of crafting, I wish that people could hold and smell and sort of dialogue a bit with whatever they’re considering. I wish that people could see/feel/hold my hand-made things before they commit. Something for me to ponder…

I made another pouch. This fabric is a favorite. See, here is another time when I would love it if you were all my neighbors and you could pop in and feel the weight of this lovely stuff. It’s like a lightweight linen, almost.

Side one

Side two

I’m also excited about making some labels/stickers. For the moment I’m using Office Depot do-it-yourself stickers (no image on their site), but I have used others and had good luck as well. For now, they’re just going to be dressed-up address labels for Etsy buyers, but they have all kinds of potential.

And another shot of the red geraniums, just because I love them.

Nasturtium and geraniums blooming, clothes drying.

I made *another* pouch. The inside of my bag looks like I sell hacky-sacks: there’s a pouch for kleenex, one for coins, one for pens…

Side one

Side two

I finished my first pouch! It is the baby of two botched projects (the outside was a top and the lining was a jacket).

I love the mail. It is a daily Emily Dickinson reminder: “I dwell in possibility.” You never know what lovely thing can show up in your mailbox. Yesterday, I received my first Etsy purchase. Also, there is an option to post a customer appreciation photo when you leave feedback! What a great idea!

A side note about the postal service: We had a phone call telling us to expect an invitation. It turned up three weeks later, with the wrong zip code (it was a Spokane address and a Seattle zip code). It is particularly amazing that it showed up at all, considering that neither of our “legal” names were on it. The person sending it put our nicknames on it. And yet somehow the post office figured it out!

I made the card for my friend G. I’m not sure I’m thrilled with how it turned out, but there it is.

Joann did have the fabric I was looking for. However, I ended up deciding against my original choice in favor of these. I cannot help but think of the quote from the book The Namesake: “A nurse offers to fold up the sari but, exasperated by the six slippery yards, ends up stuffing the material into Ashima’s slate blue suitcase.” I can’t imagine what it must be like to wear this amazing stuff next to your skin. It has to be like creme brulee for breakfast, decadent and perfect.

B was born in South Africa (he moved here when he was 10, so he unfortunately doesn’t have an accent). Last year I was reading a lot of Jhumpha Lahiri and wanted to try making samosas. I’m so glad I did. He walked in the door, smelled them, and then told me stories I’d never heard before. One of my favorites: He was about six years old, and went to an Indian luncheon. He remembers walking around amid all these wonderful flowing red and orange and green dresses which were different from anything his mother and her friends wore: “My mom was wearing something tan.” I thought that was such a beautiful picture, being the height of a child among all that flower-like billowing cloth. The hosts had made special plates of not-as-spicy food for their guests…a whole day of generosity and new discoveries. I’m jealous of memories like that. Needless to say, leftover samosas do not last long in this household.

Sometimes when great things happen people are surprised: they say things like “I never win anything!” Today I’m feeling thankful for some of the little unexpected things that make me happy.

A friend of my mom’s buys old houses. Inside one of them was this bag (full of vintage patterns…which I passed along, keep it flowing). He gave the bag to my mom, who gave it to me. And I love it, every time I look at it.

I love the red wooden handles: They are worn down and smooth. I get the feeling this bag was carried a lot (what was in it? where was it taken? did the person love it when s/he saw it? did they buy it right away or consider/save up? was it a gift?).

It currently holds my knitting stuff. And when I pick it up, I remember that sometimes lovely things happen for which we didn’t even ask.