Simple Interrupted Stitch

More "Bud"

Tuns
Originally uploaded by Perlin Perlin

So I know I posted about this yesterday, but this picture has really been growing on me...it's way WAY too much orange cat, but it's so great at the same time. The "Bud" has been hanging out on the couch, but is so intense to look at. He's got so many of Buddy's features and yet has a fixed stare, deep and piercing... He's great and really weird at the same time.

I've had the experience twice now of making softies and had similar feeling both times when I put the eyes on. There is something about putting eyes on an inanimate object that gives it life, or even dare I say it...a soul. After I made the first one, a felt and fabric red elephant, I instantly understood the prohibition of some traditional cultures around making images or representations of actual life. The Amish don't put faces on their dolls and I would bet money that it's because someone one time put some eyes on a doll they made and said "Whoa!" After I put the eyes on the elephant, I kept staring into them and I got a little god-complexy like "I made this and it's looking back at me!" With "Bud", the eyes are really the most intense part and they just look at you, expectantly...

Merlin's birthday present...

Softie Bud
Originally uploaded by Perlin Perlin

I made Merlin a replica of Bud and it came out surprisingly like Bud himself. It's probably the little bit of orange on the head, which is pretty much Bud's trademark. There is something about the proportion of head/ears/eyes that must register as "cat" to Bud and Nel. They both respond to it in a different way than they respond to most things. They're sortof like..."my brain says 'cat, but not cat'...what gives?" and they have the same reaction.

Up next are Bear and Nel, they are both cut out and Bear's pretty far along although at this point that still means little stuffed arms and legs in a pile. It's a little weird to look at...

Melissa's bag

Melissa's bag
Originally uploaded by Perlin Perlin

The bag is done and I'm happy with it. Hopefully the puff-factor will diminish as she uses it; I think putting stuff in it will help.

Happy Birthday Melissa!

Now that that's done, I want to get done some of the unfinished shirts I have in the fabric pile. I did one knit from a Built By Wendy pattern that looks good but just needs an elastic around the bottom hem. Why that is taking so long, I'm not sure, but I think I am intimidated about sewing the hem into the knit on the sewing machine. The serger has been a real revelation about how to sew knits, but so far I just do a rolled hem with the serger and them I'm done...no hemming!

Onward!...

I can finally stop talking about my sister's bag!

bud dismount
Originally uploaded by Perlin Perlin

Two posts in one day? Woah...

Anyway, I did finally finish my sister's Pleated Beauty (P.B.) bag, but had a terrible time taking a photo. I'll try to get one tomorrow when I can get some natural light. I think it came out pretty well. It feels a little puffy on the inside (that would be because I used a double layer (!) of cotton batting). Note to self: less may be more in this case.

It's funny because I was just thinking how the P.B. bag seems to have more steps now than when I was first making a few last spring (perception not reality), and then I had a hearty laugh because I want to make the Weekender bag next which involves some wild type of sew-in interfacing and making your own cording! Ha! Not a project for the multi-step-phobic, Ms. Perlin!

Bud was very helpful today, spending most of it on the bed on top of his favorite blanket, the orange plaid one. He really does blend right in with his little orange self. Nelson spent most of the day under the group of bikes in the spare room. Merlin had to work half the day which was really too bad. I enjoyed the day off just working slowly on the bag and watching Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox story. I can say that I've now heard enough "Mr. Cox" jokes to last an extremely long time...

western hoedown!

western hoedown!
Originally uploaded by Perlin Perlin

I was excited to see that the theme this week on the awesome fabric blog True Up was Western! Actually, when I bought this recently, I secretly hoped that she would do a Western week. I have a lot of interesting old fabrics, but I'm drawn most to wools and polyester (go figure) and don't have that many cotton prints.

The size of the hoedown is pretty big (maybe 18" by 18"), the image is in a barn and even has a fiddler, but I just couldn't get a good photo without losing the detail. The rest of the 44" width is a background of the blue in the shirt streaked with the green and purple.

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.