Simple Interrupted Stitch

Slow bag progress...

Buddy helping
Originally uploaded by Perlin Perlin

I've worked my camera battery so hard, I exhausted it so I'm going to talk about the bag progress and show an older photo.

The bag is coming along, the panels are done as are the straps. I was trying to put in the pleats today (it is a pleated beauty) and had to rip them out twice. I'm just not sure why it was going so poorly. The wool was hard to work with as the contrast fabric, in part because it was such a different texture than the corduroy that it kindof bunched under the presser foot throwing off the seams. At least that part is mostly done and I'll probably opt to do the pleats by hand since I was making it so wonky on the machine.

Because I was a little tired, I started a new project of a quilted mat for the kitchen. When I recharge my camera battery, and if I can get it done and the kitchen floor clean for a candid shot, then I'll post a picture.

The photo is of a fantastic little helper named Bud who was so helpful when I made this couch quilt. I totally copied the idea of a woman who has a blog called Small Fox Big World or something who had ordered a pre-cut squares set from StarlitNest on Etsy. I did the same because the Mendocino quilting fabrics are so cute and having them all cut made it much easier to put everything together. The funny part is that as much as Bud sat in the middle of everything I was doing while I was making the quilt, he won't sit on it on the couch! I don't understand why he lost interest so quickly...but sometimes cats just defy human logic.

More bag talk...

barkcloth
Originally uploaded by Perlin Perlin

Today was a sale day at Whiz Bang fabrics in SF, so I went to see if she had the Amy Butler pattern for the Weekender bag. She had it so I bought it. She also recommended this vintage fabric and I liked it so I bought it too.

I gave my mother one of the pleated beauty bags I made this Spring and she really loved it. I think that the colors I used then (green, gold and light red) would match nicely with this fabric to make a sort-of set. But I have to feel out how she feels about mid-century textiles. There are none in her house, but maybe that's just coincidence. I like the natural elements in the fabric (yeah baby...wheat!) so I may just keep it for myself.

I think that I will make a "trial run" for myself anyway with some other heavier weight fabric I have already. I should say that for years if we were going somewhere for the weekend, I would make us late by packing at the last minute, doing my OCD house checks, and would run down to the car carrying a grocery bag (plastic and/or paper!) filled with my stuff for the trip. By having two pleated beauty bags which I then started to take with us, I received recognition that I was definitely improving in the packing department. But those bags are open at the top and the idea of having something with a zipper is appealing. A little terrifying to think that I will have to put the zipper in, but still appealing. Like Halloween...scary, but with a big payoff!

pillow talk

pillow talk
Originally uploaded by Perlin Perlin

I'm posting this retro photo instead of an update on the bag.

The bag is coming along and is about halfway done, although I forgot that I usually make the handles longer and wider than she suggests. I remembered the wider, but forgot the longer, so we'll see how it turns out.

This photo is from last week, I made two pillowcases out of what was left over of a vintage sheet (pretty roses) after I used some of it to back a quilt for the living room sofa. The little red legs belong to an elephant softie I made earlier this year from some thrifted felt and a dinner napkin. He's pretty cute.

While sewing today, I was watching Martha Stewart and she had a guest who had this big old bird that Martha knew so she let it ride around on her shoulder and shit on her (I'm not joking). Seeing the bird reminded me of when I was in highschool and I babysat for the grandchildren of one of my grandmother's friends. It was at a very nice old apartment and there were two sweet girls. The adults left and I was in the kitchen feeding the girls supper. All of a sudden I hear a baby crying in the living room. I was thinking "holy shit they left a baby too and forgot to tell me!" So the living room is completely dark. I tell the girls to keep eating and I tiptoe through the living room looking for a bassinet with a baby in it. I get closer and closer to the crying. I'm finally at the front windows and feel like I'm really close to the baby. I open the curtains and...nothing. I then look to my left and make out a big lump covered in a rug. I lift up the rug, and there he is...Pappagallo. Well, I later learned that that was his name, but he was a big-ass old parrot (like decades old) who liked to cry like a baby.

Relieved I went on with the evening and told the adults when they got back. They were all quite tipsy so they found it all amusing.

Flickr verus TypePad grudge match...tonite!!!

Okay, so a brief trial of Flickr uploading versus TypePad uploading reveals that my picture was in focus everywhere except the TypePad thumbnail.  I guess I'll get the hang of this stuff sooner or later.

I also fully did not get to sew today because there was a forgotten deadline to do a review of distinctly non-sewing related materials that were sent to me two weeks ago recently, ergo there was no sewing.  Additionally, I am now drinking a Tall Boy of Budweiser, which usually means I'm not really excited about precision cutting with a sharp rotary cutter.

That takes me back to another era when I was in college and I took a class on expressive lettering (NOT CALLIGRAPHY! the teacher pointed out on the first day).  I was really unqualified to be there since I have very little structured artistic talent (I enjoy drawing nudes with my glasses off, which since my vision is about as good as a mole's you can imaging that the results are impressionistic and suitable for any art-loving yet prudish friends or family).  Anyway, the point of this overly long short story is that our teacher pointed out that we would be working with Exacto knives and that someone, INEVITABLY, would cut themselves while working on a project.  The key thing to remember if we were that individual was that nothing would take back the previous second or two, but that we shoud MOVE OUR BLEEDING HAND AWAY FROM THE ARTWORK!  (he really did speak in all caps sometimes).  You can't take back the cut, but you can minimize the damage done was his theory.  When I was the individual who took a big chunk out of my finger, you can bet I did just what he said and it really did work.

fiber3

fiber3
Originally uploaded by Perlin Perlin

Despite the STD that Flickr sent to my virgin blog earlier today, I am going to try again with the photo sending. Thank you for your patience.

Pleated beauty #4

The good thing about going into work for just a few hours this afternoon is that, technically, I have plenty of time today to sew.  The not so good thing is that I have so many projects waiting to be finished, and yet it's so much fun to think about new projects, that I'm a little stuck.

With several important birthdays and then Christmas coming up, I have a long list of ideas.  Today I'm going to start a bag for my sister's birthday.  It will be the "pleated beauty" from Bend the Rules sewing by Amy Karol.  I love the bag and have made it three times already.  For the others, I have followed the advice for a flannel middle layer, but suspect that this time I will use some batting because I'm out of flannel and am trying to use up what I already have.  I've picked this color scheme to match her winter coat and the goal is to have it done before her birthday in a few weeks!

  (Sorry the picture is so out of focus; I'm still trying to figure out the whole digital camera thing!) The blue chambray is from India and is cyan on the warp or weft and magenta on the other.  The brown is corduroy and the wool is an old houndstooth with blue and olive alternating on a cream-ish background.  I had big plans for the chambray, but tried to match the corduroy and wool with other blues from my stash hoard and nothing else worked as well.  It's the whole cool/warm thing that the chambray has going on where the purple-ish tone compliments the warm brown & olive and the cyan ties in the blue from the houndstooth.  I looked at both a nice peacock (cool) and turquoise (warm) that I have, but the single note hues just couldn't do it the same as this warm/cool blend.  Isn't fabric incredible in its complexity?!

The corduroy and the wool are from my favorite, insane thrift store. I enjoy going to the thrift store to get fabrics.  I went through a crazy phase of getting too much, but now have enough supply (and moments of clarity about what I now have that I'll never use) that I only get stuff I really like and can envision in a particular project.  I do have a soft spot for wool and since the prices are so good, any decent wool I will tend to buy.  This predilection was not helped by my purchase of a Japanese crafting book called "wool patchwork" or something like that that just has stunning projects for the wool lover.  Of course, the wools they use for their projects are more akin to what I see for $80 a yard, Italian cashmere blend wools from the ultra-lux fabric store as opposed to the 1970's era wools that were probably sold off the bolt at Woolworth back in the day that I'm getting at the thrift store.  But I love them both for what they are.

Hello Typepad

After having several false starts on Blogger, I figured that maybe I needed to pony up some dollars and cents so that I would at least commit a little bit to blogging regularly.  I took the "free" thing for granted, so there you go.

I enjoy reading about people's projects on craft blogs and hope that sending some of my images and type out into the ether will bring other people enjoyment as well, although really there's no pressure!

Maybe I will also talk more than anyone really wants to know about the world's greatest cats and some good cake recipes.  We'll see.