needle & thREAD

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I welcome you to needle and thREAD. What have you been sewing lately? Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo and a brief description of what you're up to? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much. Tell me about it in the contents or leave a link to your blog. I'll be happy to come by and visit!

You can get your own needle & thREAD button here in your choice of several happy colors.

I haven’t much sewing nor reading on which to report. I’m definitely yearning for some quiet morning hours in which to sew and some quiet evening hours in which to read. They are not presenting themselves just yet. I promised a picture of Sarah wearing her flannel Class Picnic Blouse. There she is, playing with helicopter seeds. Don't you love those?

I did begin to craft a dress for Katie this morning. I’d love to work some more today and finish it tomorrow. We shall see.

 

In the reading department, I’m still very slowly working my way though Living into Community. It’s great book, one that makes me want to reach for the highlighter incessantly. But I’m learning something about myself in the reading: my reading habits have been affected by my internet habits. I’m much more distractible than I used to be. I read a quote and have to fight the urge to Google the person who said it. I’m restless and can’t settle in to do the work of reading something so meaty. Needless to say, this observation about myself greatly disturbs me. It also makes me want to persevere—because it is a worthwhile book.

My friend Linda asked me to David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell (interesting thoughts on conversion in link). She asked me to read it because she wants to talk about it. That’s a guarantee I’ll read a book. Any book Linda wants to talk about is a book I’ll read. I’ve just begun. It’s my downstairs book. Living into Community is my upstairs book. Last week, when I was resolving some long lingering doubts and wonderings, I resolved to change some habits. One of them is “internet reading.” I’ve always been a voracious reader, but until recently it was “nose in a book” reading, not internet reading.  I think the “nose in a book” me is more peaceful. Peaceful is good.

So tell us all about your reading and stitching!

needle & thREAD

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I welcome you to needle and thREAD. What have you been sewing lately? Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo and a brief description of what you're up to? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much. Tell me about it in the contents or leave a link to your blog. I'll be happy to come by and visit!

You can get your own needle & thREAD button here in your choice of several happy colors.

The morning sewing time is working nicely so far. Firstly, I’m motivated to get up quickly. When I hear the alarm, I remember  why I set it—to have quiet time alone in my sewing room with some fabric and some prayer. It’s a great incentive to hop to it and maximize the time. I usually get at least an hour. It’s a little tricky to discipline myself to stop, but for some reason, if I’ve gotten that hour in, it’s easy to go back and pick it up sometime during the day, even if just for a few moments. So, all in all, a fairly good report on the experiment. We’re two days in;-)

Sarah’s top is finished. My model is sleeping as I type, so no pictures of the finished product. I’ll add those later today, perhaps. I made Karoline’s Class Picnic Blouse in a Size 8 this season. I made her a 6 last year. So, since I made Karoline’s two sizes larger I made Sarah’s two sizes larger as well. But Sarah’s is going to be pretty huge on her I think. Oh,well. My plan all along was to layer a turtleneck under it during the colder months anyway. It will be fine.

Now, on to cutting for Katie. I’d love to think I get both the Lisette tunic (for the sewalong) and the Oliver + S Book Report dress finished by needle & thREAD next week but I’m going to be away at a soccer tournament for three of those days. So, we shall see. I don’t really think the morning sewing time is all that efficient.

 

In reading news, my quilting fabric stash welcomed a new friend this week. My friend Marcia lived down the street from me during high school. She moved to Kentucky moved the day after graduation. We re-connected on Instagram and I’ve very much enjoyed keeping up with her family there. Marcia noticed that we had some overlapping circles. First, there was Grace. And then there was Erin from House on Hill Road. I don’t know either Grace or Erin personally, but Grace feels connected through Ginny, who is very much close personal friend. And it turns out that Erin is Marcia’s real life buddy.

So it is that Marcia greeted me at my high school reunion with my very own copy of Erin’s new quilting book. And since big parties are not really my favorite scene and quilting books most definitely are, I think Mike was a afraid for a moment that I would curl up in the corner and just read the night away. I am proud to admit I exercised all kinds of self-control and promptly took it up to my hotel room and left it there so that I wouldn’t be tempted.

The very next day, I huddled my feverish self under a million blankets and contentedly eschewed all the rest of life to read this book.

It’s an absolutely beautiful book. It begs you to linger long over gorgeous photos of lovely quilts and fabrics. Then, when you are properly motivated and want very much to create a piece of beautiful fabric happiness of your own, there is this well-written, everything-you-need-to-know text.  When I first got the book, I flipped around looking for the quilt patterns. Don’t all quilting books have quilt patterns? Not this one.

 QuiltEssential takes the focus off the product and endeavors to teach the process so well that a beginner can confidently design and sew any size quilt. It’s all here—from color theory and fabric choices to how to piece blocks and how to properly bind.

For further inspiration, Erin visits eight talented modern quilters who share their joy for the art. She talks to folks like Anna Maria Horner and Rita Hodge and gives us a real feel for the richness and diversity and pure joy of the art.

A couple of years ago, Carmen gave me a whole bunch of mixed pieces of Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric. There is certainly enough fabric here for a quilt top, but I asked myself which quilt top?  I really couldn’t consider designing the quilt around the fabric I have at hand. Actually, so far, I have always purchased fabric a quilt pattern someone else has written and even then, usually purchased far more than I need because I’m so afraid of messing up and not being able to follow the plan precisely. This book is worth its weight in gold if it can teach me to go confidently in the direction of my own designs. Really, though, even if I never design a pattern of my own, this book is invaluable because it equips me to follow anybody else’s pattern. Nothing in the quilting process will be a mystery any more. It’s all here.

Did I mention that the book is beautiful? Oh. So. Very. Beautiful. Truly, everything you need to know about quilting in one incredibly beautiful volume!

needle & thREAD

Happy morning!

I think I might be addicted to the smell of steaming cotton. A part of me worries that it's actually finishes and dyes I'm inhaling and I do consider from time to time that perhaps I should only sew with organic cotton. Mostly, I push those thoughts aside. There is something about the smell of steaming cotton and the feel of flannel between my fingers that is soothing and comforting and inspiring all at once. It's Stitch Therapy and for me, it's very effective.

I spent all last week, most of this week, and much of the week before last with my heart in my throat. Every time I came up for air it seemed, someone I loved was in crisis. They were not small crises and not a one of them was within my control. I couldn't fix a thing. Instead, my role was to absorb. Fear, grief, panic, loneliness, more fear--I listened and I absorbed. Perhaps that's not my role. Perhaps I'm supposed to listen and deflect. I don't know. I just know that right now, I'm wired to absorb. And a person can only absorb so much before she is uncomfortably bloated with the pain of other people. 

Enter cotton. I can't explain it, but the creative process brings me back to a place of peace. Maybe it's the control. I can subdue the fabric. I can cut and stitch and press it into something beautiful. Or maybe it's just the peaceful relaxation that comes with inhaling the steam of fabric dyes and finishes:-). Whatever it is, keep me pointed in the direction of my sunny sewing studio, please.

I have nearly finished this top for Karoline. It could easily have been ready to wear last weekend but I deliberately didn't hem the sleeves or add the elastic to gather the shoulders. I want it to be her birthday shirt and her birthday isn't until tomorrow. If I'd finished it early, she'd have worn it early. See? There's an upside to procrastination!

I've got two books going, each very different from the other. I'm reading Living into Community in the quiet of the mornings. It's a meaty, thought-provoking book that cannot be absorbed whilst surrounded by the cacophony of life in this home:-). A quiet book that challenges me to push beyond my reluctance to enter into groups. Any groups. I'm wary of groups and yet I'm starved for community. This is a conundrum I must resolve. The author, Christine Pohl, suggests that healthy communities are sustained by four things: gratitude, promise-keeping, truthfulness, and hospitality. I'm not far into the book, but I find myself looking again and again at that list and checking it against the relatinships in my life--the ones that remain strong and enduring and the ones that have failed. Yes, those four pillars are there in the strong ones and at least one of them is consipicuously absent in the ones that have failed. Something to think upon.

The other book is a cookbook. I bought The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen years ago and then I sent it off to a friend whom I thought would get more use out of it than I would. Tonia mentioned she was reading it the other day and was kind enough to look through her copy and see if it were worth my buying again or if there were just too many wheat recipes to make it worth my while. She encouraged me to get it and I'm glad she did. Mediterranean cuisine--particularly authentic Italian food--is my touchstone. When I call to mind "home" in the sense of my family and certainly in the sense of comfort food, it tastes of tomato and basil and garlic.The essence of family has always been time in the kitchen and lots of time at the table. My cousin Ellie compellingly captures it here. This cookbook is a nice guide to embracing the best of the Mediterranean diet--the vegetables and the legumes. It's so good that I don't think anyone would miss the meat and I can easily work around the gluten. Oh, and cheese. See? I've already forgotten cheese;-). It's that good.

I welcome you to needle and thREAD. What have you been sewing lately? Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo and a brief description of what you're up to? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much. Tell me about it in the contents or leave a link to your blog. I'll be happy to come by and visit!

You can get your own needle & thREAD button here in your choice of several happy colors.

Needle & thREAD

This morning, Katie and I made a disheartening discovery in the sewing room. She has outgrown my fabric stash. That is, nearly none of the fabric I have stashed was cut in lengths long enough to work for her fall clothes. Furthermore, she’s outgrown all but one of my Oliver + S patterns. I had the one pattern that fits traced and ready to go, but she couldn’t find two fabrics that would work for her.

So, did what we all do in times of sewing distress. I got on Facebook and asked for advice. There, Jennifer suggested the Lisette patterns. I have one of those in her (gulp—really?) size. Jen mentioned that she had a similar, but different pattern and a very similarly sized daughter. We decided to go for it together. Sew along! A couple other friends are joining us. It’s all very informal. I don’t even have fabric yet.

I’m sewing this one. Jen is sewing this one.

My friend Kathy has asked me about choosing fabric. Since Katie and I had some fabric shopping to do this morning, I kept Kathy in mind and tried to take note of my steps. In dase you’re wondering, here’s my fabric shopping strategy:

I spent a whole lot of time on sewing blogs back when I first started to sew. I got a sene of different designers and what to expect. Those are my go-tos when I’m looking for something new. They’re also where I check in periodically to see what’s new. All those blogs used to be safely bookmarked on my Google Reader. No more. I don’t read online much at all these days, so I’m sort of out of practice but I’m going to try to reconstruct the list. Here’s a brief list and I’m certain I’m excluding someone.

Heather Bailey

Anna Maria Horner

Bari J

Joanna Figueroa

Camille Roskelley

Kate Spain

Leisl Gibson

Amy Butler

That list is what is represented on my shelves.

Sometimes, the designers have shops and I buy there. Anna Maria Horner is one I usually purchase in her shop, because I love her ribbons and patterns and other goodies and I’ll buy those at the same time.

 

I have hit some great Heather Bailey sales.  Anna Maria Horner is on my very short regular blog reading list even when I’m not shopping fabric.

Outside of designers shops, or when I want to buy from more than one designer, my first stop is the Fat Quarter Shop. There are two reasons for this. (1) They are blog sponsors and no other fabric store wanted a spot here. I like to dance with the one who brung me. (2) They have incredibly excellent customer service. From answering questions to notifying when something is in to packaging to cutting to just plain getting it right—they’re top notch.

Other places I go:

Hawthorne Threads: I like that they offer coordinating color suggestions—nice design feature. I feel like their selection is different from the Fat Quarter Shop.

Pink Chalk Fabrics: Another with topnotch customer service and good sales/bargains.

A word about Fabric.com. They have a design wall feature where you can browse and pin fabrics to a wall so that you can see how they all go together. It’s a great feature. They have the worst customer service ever and after countless wrong orders, I won’t go back. Though their prices are better, the mistakes end up being costly.

The designers listed above usually put out a collection of fabrics, maybe in two different colorways, once or twice a year. The prints are intended to coordinate with each other. Frequently, I’ll find that a designer’s style conveys across collections, too. For instance, I stashed some Heather Bailey back when Karoline was  a baby seven years ago. It’s sitting on my ironing board with what’s left from Katie’s Heather Bailey Easter dress a year and a half ago and I am certain the two will find themselves together on a garment this fall.

Usually, I just play with this, sometimes obsessively. I’ll go to the Fat Quarter Shop and fill my cart and delete and add and delete and add until I have combinations I like. Usually, if I’m shopping to stash fabric (to take advantage of a sale), I buy in 1 yard lengths. I’m rethinking that as the girls grow. This is all a huge learning process for me.

I’ve learned the hard way to never let a fabric line get more than six months old while I wait for a sale. I’ve missed some good ones biding my time.

Kathy, I hope this helps a little. At least, it might provide a starting place for your own rabbit trail through sewing blogs.

This week, I’ve been tracing and cutting and measuring and ordering. It’s been a ridiculously stressful week and this morning, when Katie handed me her pointe shoes to sew and I felt my heart rate drop as I threaded the machine, I promised myself that I will make time for myself in the sewing room today. I’ll update as I go on Instagram.

Not much reading happening, outside of necessary reads for my kids. But the time of year and the state of my heart have directed towards the bookshelf, where I’ve stored a gift from Tripp Curtis. Barbara’s last book. I couldn’t read it when he sent it.

Now, though, I would love to have these conversations with her and I’m grateful that her words are here with us even when she no longer is.  So Raising God First Kids in a Me First World is my slow read these days.

So tell me: what are you reading? What are you sewing? And how do you shop for fabric? Surely, we can all help Kathy come up with a strategy.

And one more thing? I wrote this post last night in soccer parking lot. There's no wi-fi there, so that left a lot of linking to do this morning. Now that I've finished linking, I'm looking at my mail and my Facebook messages. Both Elizabeth DeHority and Shawn Kuykendell are in urgent need of prayer today. Please light a candle with us?

needle & thREAD

It's been a rough week around these parts, the kind of week where the little inconveniences of a fire in the dryer and a broken dishwasher and croupy colds all around pale in comparsion to real life tragedy (that's my stepbrother talking to ABC). 

I have attempted to sew, but all those pre-sewing details have stood in the way. It's tricky to do the pre-washing of fabric when the dryer isn't functioning. At long last, I finally have this delicious pile ready for pressing and cutting.

And I did get around to that necessary but tedious pattern tracing.

Of course, I'd need to clear the table to actually pin the pattern to fabric and get going. And I will. Probably today. But right now, I'm kind of pleased that day after day our table looks like this. We're getting it done and that's a good thing.

In addition to all that reading and all this reading, the only other reading I've done is my C. S. Lewis Bible (I'm very fond of Lewis' quotes interspersed throughout) and Youcat. When Youcat first burst onto the scene, there was a considerable amound of grumbling. I don't know if it's that my Facebook feed at the time was particularly contrary or what, but people seemed to think it wasn't Catholic enough? So, I just didn't even take a look. I ordered it the other day, along with the study guide and the prayer book. It begins with an invitation to read from Pope Benedict. I think he's Cahtolic enough, no? I think it's going to work beautifully in a discussion format with my middle- and high-schoolers. I'm well pleased.

That's all I've got for today.

What are you reading and sewing this week? 

I am eager to hear!

  Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo (or more) and a brief description of what you're up to? Will you tell us about what you're reading, also? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much.

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