Nov 19, 2013
In northern Lazio, there is a hilltop that Rick Steves essentially saved from washing away, both figuratively and literally. Civita di Bagnoregio was the birthplace of St Bonaventure, but the gritty volcanic tuff and earthquakes eroded the sides and summit of this bluff. Until Rick Steves waxed on about it in the early 1990’s, it seemed destined to disintegration.
About 10 days before the Rising Star Quilt Show, members received an email with new ways they could support the show. I’d never made a 12×12″ mini quilt for the raffle, so why not?
In 2010, I made an 8×10″ quilt based on a drawing I did of this hilltop town. About 75 pieces were pieced together, which was quite enjoyable, and I wanted to take this and play with the basic image. Could I create a simple quilt and finish in time? As Tim Gunn says, “Make it work.”
The mini quilt had 4 different fabrics, 3 of them hand dyed/painted pieces from my stash. I outlined buildings with machine quilting, but that left the windows. What to do? I would love to capture the way shadows hit the space, and I would love to finish this quilt before Friday afternoon!
In comes the October speaker for the Rising Star Quilt Guild, Jane Davila, who not only spoke but brought many goodies for textile artists. I picked up a couple of nail-polish-bottle looking bottles of accent ink from Smooch. Obviously, I have a lot to learn about using these inks, but when the time and simplicity are paramount, it worked.
I wasn’t at the show on Saturday (ehem, it was the best day of the last weekend of sailing season), but I heard it attracted a bunch of tickets. Best wishes to whoever won!
Oct 17, 2013
October 26 – 27, 2014
Amble on over to Cary Hall in Lexington, MA for the Rising Star Quilters Guild for eye popping quilts, a boutique of hand made items, raffles and scavenger hunts. Truly something for everyone, quilt fiend or not!
Autumnal Stars is the large raffle quilt at the 2013 RSQ Show
I’m donating a mini quilt for our raffle inspired by a hillside town in Italy. You can also see my contribution to the “Two by Two” challenge (photos up next week, I hope!) Hope to see you there!
Oct 4, 2013
Did you catch it yet? It’s a total trip that I really dig. The Museum of Fine Art’s Hippie Chic fashion exhibit is a blast from the past.
The fifty-three outfits span the 1960s and 70s and are curated into five themes according to influence. The installation is super, complete with a juke box full of period music. Frequently, you can the view the garments from several angles which I appreciated. The enthusiasm of the time period radiated, as suddenly I loved the shag carpet in neon colors on round go go platforms!
Hippie Chic is on view until November 11, 2013, so there’s still plenty of time to soak it up. Meanwhile, the MFA web site has great features to whet your anticipation. There’s even a fab game (this coming from some one who would rather do just about anything than play games on her computer!) where you create your own album cover.
Don’t miss this fun exhibit! I heartily recommend soaking it up as soon as possible, then heading back to Lauren Whitley’s gallery talk on November 7.
Love the dress!
Sep 29, 2013
For many years, I bought yarn because it
- called to me (who else has heard the yarn whisperer?)
- was priced irresistibly
- made me feel good.
From these purchases, I made things, adapting patterns, making it up along the way. Despite trans atlantic moves and the inevitable destashing associated with such junctures, I built up a fine collection. Eventually, I whittled my way down to only leftovers in early 2006. Lately, I’ve bought yarn with the express purpose of making a sweater, a skirt, a pullover and followed a pattern (novel approach, right?). Patterns have their personalities and reflect not only the materials, but the designer and the habits of the maker. A successfully recreated project acknowledges features of all. This means you need to know the measurements of the person for whom you’re making. Ideally, you know what your project pitfalls might be.
Three cases in point from recent knitting projects:
Sorry for the selfie! It’s all I have live now.
1) Annamaria Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio: This fitted 3/4 sleeve V neck cardigan has nice shaping details and looks like a perfect choice for skirts or trousers. I noticed the 13.5″ from lower edge to underarm was the same length for all sizes.
Having just finished the Plaits and Links cardi with a similar length, I thought, no problem. But these armholes are much more fitted than Plaits and Links, which impacts overall sweater length. I do wish it was longer (and may do something about it). Measure! My mods are in my Ravelry project description.
How long is your back neck to tail bone? Where do your skirt waistbands and trouser waistbands usually lie? Do you wear loose base layers (cami, blouse or knit shirt) or fitted? Keep this in mind when choosing your patterns.
Btw, the yarn is Blackberry Ridge‘s sport weight wool and silk blend. This purchase falls into the “calls to me” category. I have quite a bit of this scrumptious yarn left and can’t wait to knit with it again.
Added cap sleeves, body length and a scoop neck
2. Slip Stich Shell from Green Mountain Spinnery. I picked up three skeins of their lovely Cotton Comfort yarn at the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool, suddenly determined to knit a garment before they came to the Common Cod Fiber Guild in July. The pattern is originally born in the crop top era, so I added several inches, then later when back and added more. I still wish it were longer. Sigh.
This is a good place to point out how ribbed edging is leaving most of my knitted garments. In this case, I did a provisional picot edge.
Modifying the pattern’s crew neck to a slightly scooped neck worked better for summer. I added the cap sleeves as well. The ribbed neckline also switched into the picot edge. Picot is definitely becoming a favorite for me, but I should keep my eyes open for other options. I wore this a lot this summer, despite the high wool content.
I really thought I would wear it this summer
3. The Sasha skirt is a Louet pattern I first admired in 2008, cast on in 2012, ripped back in 2013 and thought for sure I would wear this summer. The skirt comes in three lengths. I only had enough yarn for the shorter length and didn’t want the maxi skirt or long cocktail length, so I blithely assumed (without measuring) that the 23″ skirt length would be just right (looked good on the model!)
Ha! The first hibernation period began after I originally placed the blue ruffle at the lower edge. Yuck… it would make the yellow ruffle look totally weird, I decided. Use the yellow as the kick of color instead. So I ripped back and at that time, lengthened the distance between the second and the third ruffle. Finished, and it looked weird… more length needed between the first and second ruffles or the proportion is off.
With some green remaining, I picked apart what I thought was knitting between the first and second ruffles. Nope. Now the yellow ruffle and green skirt is separated. I’ll need to kitchener this together before moving back to my original goal. Time for project hibernation. Sigh.
Measure, and know thyself, oh textilfiliac.
Sep 27, 2013
Work keeps me on the computer/phone so much that I don’t want to spend free time poking around the computer. My phone, my Fire and my life are filled with apps to put everything at my fingertips when I’m away from my desk. This opens up more time for ice cream! I look for great flavors in my content apps and my mouth!
Once a humble devotee to my Google Reader feed, the BIG G brusquely tossed me out of that quiet space when that service disappeared in late June, 2013. Fortunately, Feedly made migration from Reader painless. I could still get my blog feeds in a tidy manner.
Just like the ice cream counter, there are flavors of content aggregators for everyone. Over the summer, I developed a penchant for Pocket. Of course, I’ve loved the layout of Flipboard. But today, my daughter asked if I hung out on Bloglovin. For those of you out there already cavorting on this network, you can now this follow this blog with Bloglovin. The great thing about Bloglovin is that is mixes content with social interaction. (It begs to link to your Facebook profile, but you can easily decline.)
I love Portland’s working waterfront.
Thus, I have more time to enjoy ice cream flavors. Two standouts I’ve enjoyed in September? Maple gelato (ok, gelato’s not ice cream, it’s better than ice cream) from Gorgeous Gelato in Portland, Maine, which is definitely worth the trip. We discovered this gem on Fore Street shortly after they opened in 2010. We now detour each time we drive near Portland. Hub and I enjoyed a weekend in Portland earlier this month, enjoying gelato each and every day.
If I can’t drive 2 hours for ice cream, I’ll just as happily choose Meletharb’s baklava ice cream. Divine, crispy and creamy.
See? There’s no reason we can’t enjoy each flavor of everything!
