On the Road

Later today or tomorrow morning, depending on the weather, I will begin my trek to New Port Richey, Florida, to clear out my father's apartment there. This trip is very bitter sweet for me as it marks the end of era for my family. For about 30 years my father, and my mother, (before she died), spent half of the year in Florida and half in Canada. From the reports I am getting from Canada, my father will not be visiting Florida again as his physical condition has not materially improved, and his mental condition continues to deteriorate, since his stroke back in August.

Many of our family heirlooms are in Florida and it will be my job, and my brothers when they get there, to weed out what needs to be kept and what needs to be tossed/donated/given away.

There are a couple of weird little chairs that have seats upholstered with needlepoint, the backgrounds worked by my grandmother. And the silver tea set that I only remember being used once but is quite lovely. Then there are the soup tureens and crystal that my father collected that do not fit into the lifestyles of this generation. And there are the shoe boxes full of undocumented photographs and the bookcases full of books that will need to sorted. What about the tea cup collection, the battered 78's or the evening gowns my mother wore on the cruises they took together? All will need to be evaluated and disposed of in some manner.

Although I have known for a few years that I would need to do this, I hate it. I feel like I am wiping out part of my father's life and, at the same time, closing out a chapter of my own. To add insult to injury, I will need to travel to Canada after I return to Texas to officially be told the dismal prognosis for his future health and, probably, begin the process to have him transferred to a long term care facility. I know it has to be done but I hate it, hate it, hate it.

Ultimate Shopping Bag Update

I thought you might enjoy seeing the bag as a doggy carrier -

I won't say he enjoyed it but he endured it quite well. Sorry for the devil dog eyes!

Ultimate Shopping Bag

With Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, upon us, I thought I would share another project from the Quilt Festival. It is called the Japanese Market Bag and was presented on Bag Lady Day by a very nce woman with a name I just can't come up with right now.

It is incredibly simple and will hold a days worth of frantic shopping or a wiggly Dachshund or maybe an infant but I haven't tried the latter.

You start with two 30" x 40" rectangles of fabric. Serge them together, wrong sides together. An inner layer, like batting, is not recommended as it may make the bag too bulky. On the 40" sides create two button holes about 1" long on each side of the bag, about 10" from each end. Fold the button hole sides into the interior about 1 1/2" and sew down creating a casing. Thread a cord about 30" long into the side casings through the buttonholes and tie securely. At the top of the bag, create two other casings about 2" wide. Thread two more cords or straps through the casings to make handles. The cords/straps should be about 50" long. My directions may seem odd but here is the one I made the other day. The embroidery was a test for an embroidery pattern I like. The exterior is a rough brown cotton homespun. The interior is a commercailly available orange batik. I think it is best worn acroos the body rather than hanging from a shoulder.

Happy shopping!

PS. The pattern also included a pocket but I did not add one. The recomended size is 4" x 8".

Happy Thanksgiving!

While the rest of you Americans are cooking like mad people in the kitchen, I had plans today to do some house cleaning before Paul and I sit down to a very non-traditional steak and salad meal. My house cleaning hasn't gone very far because AMC is having a Hitchcock festival and I can't resist watching every minute of it. Earlier I saw The Man Who Knew Too Much, now Vertigo is showing with Dial M fo Murder and Rear Window following. Better than Football!

Before anyone gets all outraged at my non-traditional celebration or all sad that I won't be at a big meal please remember that I was originally Canadian. Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, on Columbus Day Weekend. Those festivities were spoiled for me many years ago because of the job I had that had a huge deadline every year on the day after Columbus Day. With a four hour drive each way to my parent's home and the huge deadline the next day I rarely enjoyed myself. Many years I would be at work that Tuesday until mid-night (when the system closed) trying to blance the Bank's budget submissions. Not conducive to a relaxing Thanksgiving meal! American Thanksgiving, while I was married, always meant another long drive each way to my in-law's home and spending four days with them. They are very nice people but there is only so much I can take of whiny sisters-in-law and long discussions about people I knew nothing about.

Be that as it may, please accept my best wishes for a healthy and happy Thanksgiving day for everyone and a calm and joyful holiday season.

Sleep of the Innocents

So sweet after a day spent destroying 4 pairs of shoes, one doggie bed and peeing all over the kitchen. Not Alex - the girls!

Carter Smith Bias Top

Suzy Seed has allowed me to publish her instructions for the Carter Smith bias top I talked about the other day. Here they are (with additions by me):

Take your full bust measurement and subtract 4- 6 inches from that amount. If you are working with really stretchy fabric on the bias, subtract 6", very firm 4". The answer is the length of one side of a square of your fabric. If possible, rip your fabric into a square. Rip/cut another square with each side equally one half of the first square.

For our example: Full bust measurement equals 44", thus each side of the large square will be 40", the small sqare will have 20" sides. For you techie types, the small square will have one quarter the area of the larger square.

Attach the smaller square to the larger one at one corner by serging. The blue masking tape represents ther serged seams.

Pull the unstitched corner of the small square to the opposite corner of the larger square and serge along this edge making a funny looking box. Stop serging a bit from the end for your hand to go through - try your hand in the opening to see ifs the right size.

This is a little tricky but just follow along. Hold two opposite corners of the small square away from each other and smooth into place. Cut a slit along this edge to just before the serged corners. This slit is for your waist.

Hold the two corners of the large square away from each other and measure a slit eight inches long at the middle. Cut out this slit about 2 1/2 inches down form the edge for your neck.

Serge around all the openings... wrists, waist and neck. Turn the serged edges to the inside and top stitch down.

You now have a fabulous top or slit the front down the middle and make it a jacket. Use the top as is if you are using your final fabric or how about using the top/jacket as a canvas for your best embellishments?

Here is the one I made... please note that the wrist openings were cut incorrectly by me as I forget to leave an opening. You will do better with yours.

CARTER SMITH - YOU ROCK!

Site Update

I think its time that I give you some more sites that are a lot of fun.

First up - Perpetual Kid at http://www.perpetualkid.com/index.asp?pageaction= some of the items offered for sale are bandaids with fake tattoos on them, fake tattoos for the eldery and gingerbread men cookie cutters wth parts missing. A little twisted, I admit, but a lot of fun none the less.

Sew, Mama, Sew is posting tutorials available on the web all this month. There really is a lot of stuff out there ... even things that I have no interest in ever making like felt donuts or recycling a bath mat. Check it out at http://www.sewmamasew.com/blog2/.

Another site, by a fellow Kngwood resident, has the most beautiful and simple things for making or just admiring. Check out A Little Hut at http://alittlehut.blogspot.com/.

And have you seen the latest Penguin pictures at Antarctic diary (http://antarctic-diary.blogspot.com/)?

Don't forget the funniest blog in the internet - http://bitsandpieces1.blogspot.com/ just remember that it is not for kids as some of the material is definitely for adults only.

Another DIY Bias Top

Yesterday I attended a wearables neighborhood group of the Houston chapter of ASG. The agenda included a topic called 'Carter Smith's Bias Cut Blouse or Jacket'. I thought it would be a presentation on the one bias cut blouse I already had information on as I had no idea who Carter Smith was or why I would care about his garments.

Did I get an education!

Carter Smith is an incredibly talented shibori dying artist who creates high end garments and beautiful silk banners. His website (http://www.shibori.com/) shows some of his garments and other work and it is awsome. Check out the K dress and see if you can figure out how he constructs it from squares of fabric with little or no scraps. It's a bit of a mind bender.

Cut to the meeting yesterday. The talented Suzy Seed took a class with Carter Smith at the Surface Design conference this summer and came back with a top that is constructed with a large square of fabric and a small square of fabric. The only leftover fabric comes from an oval cut out of the top for a neck hole plus two scraps from cutting out holes for your wrists. It is a very clever design that anyone can do if they read and follow Suzy's instructions. I failed to follow her directions and made a couple of mistakes this evening when I tried out the design. I've asked Suzy if I can publish her instructions so that we can all enjoy this design. I'll post a photo of how mine came out when I post the instructions.

If you are intrigued by this design idea, experiment with paper first. Take a large square of paper at 8" x 8" plus a small square at 4" x 4". Sew/Tape up the edges. Cut a slit at the waist then cut out an oval for the neckline and two chunks for wrists. It will definitely make you beieve in a fourth dimension or alternative universes.

Trade A Craft

Several months ago I read about a site called 'Leahpeah's Trade A Craft'. The concept is that people who make stuff usually have some things they have made for no purpose other than they liked the process. In my case it seems to be that I make little funky purses to try out a process but never seem to use them. I do admire them on my mantle but I never seem to go to the places where funky little purses would be useful. I joined the group and for my first trade I put up a crocheted and felted purse that I had made. I traded it for a large color photograoh of a dragonfly scuplture. Remember this bag?... actually I can't find a photo of it but it was brown, pretty free form, lined with linen camo fabric and closed with a wooden leaf button.

This time Leah organized a Christmas themed trade. A few of us signed up and were paired with each other for a more directed trade. I offered to trade with two others and gave them both a choice of a funky little purse or a more Christmasy item. They both opted for funky little purses. If they hadn't I would have traded them one of the embroidered poinsetta wall hangings I have been trying, unsuccessfully (so far) to complete. Here are the purses I mailed out today..
That green felted purse ended up with a large felted flower on it centered with a wonderfully large glass bead that reflected all the colors in the wool.


I hope they both enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed making them and admiring them as mantle decorations... and that they get used!


On a lighter note... The girls and Alex have been showering me with a lot of attention the past few days. In the evening I have ended up with all three of them curled up next to and on top of eah other on the couch. As I was trying to take a picture of the doggie pyramid, Alex decided that he had had enough of that and slipped off the couch to the doggie bed pile under the TV to get a nap.
That's me on the left, working on my lap top with my mouse on its mouse pad to the right of the girls. It's sometimes quite a stretch over their sleeping forms to get to the mouse but they don't seem to mind getting pushed out of the way every once in a while... they just crawl back to their former position regardless of my wishes. With Alex in the pie with them I have to really stretch to reach the mouse.
Ah.. the little prince wondering why the wacky lady with the big lap is flashing lights at him again.







Are they cute or what?

Dark Fairy Swap

The clothing company, Free People, sponsors swaps every once in a while for readers of their blog. I participated in the Travel Swap earlier this year and ended up with a custom made silver pendant presented in an embellished box with several other goodies. When I read that they were having another swap based on their new clothing theme of Dark Fairy I just had to participate. Then I took a big gulp and thought 'What the heck's a Dark Fairy?'. I came up with the idea that a Dark Fairy is a creature of the night and therefore needs accessories that will reflect the night.

Here is what I came up with:

I started with a fabric box covered in black fabric embellished with copper and gold threads and copper ribbon. That led to a covered journal, a beaded pen in a fabric slip case, a zippered purse with copper sequins and copper and gold thread, a ribbon covered magic card case, a baggie of extra copper bits, a copper brushed woven belt, a hand dyed silk scarf and some stinky candles. The icing on the cake was a pattern I found at the Quilt Festival for a Fairy House. It makes up into a 20" tall house... perfect as a house for a small pet... like my guys or (heaven forbid!) a cat. I may have gone a bit crazy with the volume of stuff but once I got started, I had a great time figuring out what else I could do with the fabric I was using for the box.

I hope my swap partner will enjoy all the goodies!