(Quilt-age, being pressed)
Today as I made the bed I wondered why the heck I beat myself up that I don’t always catalog and take pictures of my many, many homemade creations. For instance since I last blogged about sewing I’ve made a ten-yard skirt and choli for bellydancing, a hairband, three pair of boxers, sewed up the Patterns By Figgy’s Beach Bum hoodie, finished a quilt top, and knit a hat. And I’ve taken a picture or two, that’s it.
Taking photographs of my craft is another part of “after project clean-up” that I’m not always too thrilled with. It isn’t just that I’ve got food to cook and people and pets to care for and laundry and scrubbing the toilet, etc, etc. It’s that creations are springing out of my fingertips and I don’t want to slow down. In fact my mind is like a runaway train and my body follows: I sew, sew, sew almost maniacally at times, threading and rethreading machines and slicing through the virgin beauty of smooth yardage. It’s pure joy and industry. There is no rhyme or reason to my methods: some projects are rather slap-dash and some are painstaking and detailed. I unceremoniously pull shirts over the top of my kids’ heads, I give some of the work away to those who need or want. I sew in a label with my name. I re-fold and store yardage; smaller scraps I painstakingly cut into 3″ squares (I’m saving up these squares to make my kids a couple quilts, maybe upon their emancipation from my home) and the miniscule bits of fabric remaining are given to a local shop who sells them in wee bags to scrap quilters; the profits go to the local senior center.
Today I finished the Farbenmix Brooklyn shrug from a $1 100% cotton shirt I found at Thrift World. It took about a half hour.
I also used the same shirt for a hairband for myself. And I still have quite a bit of the stripe left!
One of the three pair of boxers I made Nels, all made from scrap and donated yardage:
And finally: a visit to Olympia last night allowed me to buy some Fabric Porn (click on picture to know more):
The two fabrics that held a special place in my heart were the lemon and the Japanese-inspired waterscape. Today I look at the selvedge and sure enough: both of them are from Alexander Henry. I’d love to work for them. As in: they just give me a bunch of fabric and I say, “Thanks!” and sew with it. That kind of work. I won’t hold my breath.
As I was reading this, Kylie walked up and asked who the girl was. I explained that she is your daughter and that you write about her and Nels. She said that Nels’ boxers are fancy and made sure that I wrote Sophie’s name on our whiteboard in the list of words that start with “s”. Then she had to ask where Sophie lives…I knew not learning how to spell Hoquiam would catch up to me eventually. Now I can spell it and even know where it is (I showed her on our map). I completely missed geography when I was a kid because we moved around so much…kind of ironic now that I think about it. Kylie also needed to know how many cats you have and expects me to learn their names and report back to her.
We have only two cats, Harris and Mable.
Yes! HQX represent! I’m always happy when people get a little bit more awareness of my little corner of the world. (Where do you guys live?)
We live in Gilbert, AZ which is about 20 miles southeast of Phoenix.
…and we also have two cats, Molly and Benjamin. If I ever update my blog I’ll have some pics for you.
Molly and Benjamin are EXCELLENT cat names and I’d love to see pictures.
I actually have a friend who works for Alexander Henry as an artist and it sounds just as lovely and magical as you would imagine; she uses phrases like “dream job” and “best job ever” with no hesitation. I love those lemons too!
Hi! I am Carrie’s friend Caitlin! She sent me a link to your blog and it’s true! Working for alexander henry fabrics is a dream job! All of the designs are hand painted, which makes each one extra special. I am so happy to contribute a small part to your creative process. (p.s. i do get lots of fabric! Maybe you want a few 3×3 squares from my scrap bag?) Your work is fantastic!
🙂
I’m with you on the beauty that is Alexander Henry fabric. Not only are the prints beautiful but the fabric is almost universally a higher quality that other manufacturers. I have that Japanese-y one, too. It’s supposed to become some pillows for the sofa but I haven’t quite gotten to that, yet. The homespun stripes rock, by the way. I used some similar fabric for the underdress of Maeve’s birthday Feliz last year. It’s just a pity that it can be so thin – makes it not wear as well, you know?
I love how discerning you are in what fabrics enter your stash! I’m picky about colors and patterns, but since I use mostly repurposed linens and stuff like that, my stash has a lower common denominator when it comes to fabric quality. Those bits you got are wonderful!