small hands

Today is my boy's last day of preschool. We brought flowers and cookies.

My girl's first day of preschool, six years ago, at the same place, I was pregnant with him. I walked away from the school sobbing, she sitting in the circle on a teacher's lap.

It has been a wonderful environment for them both.

On to kindergarten!! Behold the big hair on my sweet man.



My best wishes to those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

The theme of Tie One On this month is Mini Me. Some participants have made wonderful aprons for themselves and their family members. I only made an apron for my sweet girl. She is totally not a mini me--she's completely unique.



Since she's been born, I've called my sweet girl "Lady Bug." She's also quite interested in cooking; in fact, we made egg nog from scratch this afternoon because she loves it and can't wait until December.



I told her to give me her Iron Chef pose.


And I thought her athletic shoes were appropriate because cooking is hard work, athletic and there is a lot of movement.



My baby.

This is a very good start to the weekend. Oh how I love the Fall Fashion issues.

It helps that I took the day off of work.

Debra asked: Do you think the sewing helps your sanity because it's something just for you?

Actually, I sew a fair amount for others, but it definitely helps my sanity. If I were standing in line at the DMV (which I hate), it would help my sanity to be able to knit. But I don't knit because yarn is expensive and I don't want knitting to distract me from sewing.

There are times when I sew so compulsively that I question my sanity. :0) I will just blame all the crafty blogs that I read, which inspire and motivate me.

Tish directed my attention to a debate of sorts about Mena Trott's response to the question of where are the women bloggers. Mena's response seemed to reduce women to being knitting bloggers, rather than more worldly/political.

It would bore me to death to blog about politics. And you all. But am I acting like a girl if I blog about quilts and aprons? I guess so. Since there are more women graduating from law school than men these days, I suppose I'd be acting like a girl if I blogged about practicing law.

I blog about what's up with me. I don't feel dissed by Ms. Trott's response.

Here it is: a tutorial on how to make a cosmetics bag. I guess that's what it's called.



It is an interpretation of the directions from this book:


ISBN 483472235x

Step One

This is the shape of the bottom.



This is the shape of the top.



Whatever dimensions you want to make your bag, the male part of the bottom and the female part of the top have got to be equal. Also note that measurements of the flaps are all equal, with the inside measurement being twice the flap measurement.

[The dimensions of the directions from the book are in centimeters. 1 centimeter equals .394 inches]

Draw the pattern of the bottom shape twice on a piece of paper. I like to use freezer paper because it’s big, but I also use graph paper because I'm not so good at 90 degree angles. For one of the pieces of paper, cut the bottom shape in half, horizontally and tape together to make the top shape. This will ensure that the top and bottom are the same size.

Step Two



Cut out the interfacing and fabric. I like to stack the fabric on top of the interfacing and cut them together to ensure consistency.

Sew the fabric onto the interfacing.


Bottom


Top

I didn't quilt the fabric or do the circular cut outs. This is the step where you would do that.



Step Three

Attaching the zipper.



My sewing machine came with a zipper foot and I think it is incredibly useful. If you don't have one, I would recommend getting one. The regular foot pushes against the metal in the zipper and you don't get a straight seam.

Sew the two top pieces onto the zipper.


Your zipper should be two inches or so longer than the top. If it is more than that, cut the excess after you sew the top and bottom together.

Pin the zipper to the top before sewing.



Sew the long side each top piece to the zipper.Fold the pieces down and sew on each side of the zipper.



That equals four sewing passes altogether.

Step Four



Create the handle, which is not going to be very long or wide. It should be less wide than the male part of the bottom of the bag.

To create the handle, fold a piece of your fabric in half, inside out, and then turn it right side out and iron flat. Then push a piece of interfacing inside of the fabric and sew each side to make it flat.



Attach to bottom piece.



Step Five
Pin the top of the bag to the bottom, with the beginning of the zipper above the handle.

Sew the sides together, but not the indented sections.



Reach into the opening of the indentation and unzip the zipper.



Squeeze the sides together vertically and sew together.




Step Six

The lining is a combination of both the top and bottom. This is the shape.



Fold down the top and iron.



Assemble lining by sewing the top and bottom, then squeezing together the sides and sewing vertically, the same way as you sewed the bag.





Turn lining inside out.



Place bag which is still turned inside out inside of lining.



If necessary, increase top fold (which you have ironed) to tighten the lining to the shape of the bag.

Hand stitch the lining onto the bag. Your stitches will go beneath the outer fabric, between the interfacing and the fabric.



Step Seven

Turn outside out.



Push the corners out. Shape to make square.

Enjoy.

* * *

Creating this tutorial, I realize that I am not a technical writer in any sense of the word. So if anything is not clear, please comment. I will continue to tinker with it. If you come upon this tutorial after my comments are archived, please e-mail your questions to me at mamaflavored@yahoo.com.

This weekend was good and restful. On Saturday the kids went to their dad's house and I cleaned up the house and worked on the bag I posted. [I'm still working on the tutorial and trying to figure out the lining step.]

I also watched Ray, which was good and heavy. He had a hard life and heroin didn't make it any easier.

On Saturday night I had a date with FIRE, which was really fun. We went to Skates.

Sunday I cleaned up a lot more and folded and folded and folded laundry. And there's still more. Oy. Donating to Goodwill this week.

I also made this square bottom bag, which was a combination of this tutorial and Mariko's tutorial. The outside fabric is from a Ralph Lauren sheet: Americana.



This is the inside pocket, made from Ralph Lauren fabric: Stone Harbor.



I watched the Six Feet Under finale twice (Eastern and Pacific time airings)--I enjoyed it and also found it completely idiotic. After the earlier showing I watched a few minutes of Entourage and while it is really witty and entertaining, and Debi Mazar is all that and a bag of chips, it grates on my nerves to see really young people spending/wasting a ton of money.

My boy has decided that it's time for him to sleep in his own bed.

Hello? REM sleep? It's me A.J. I know, it's been a long time. Ten years.

It is really weird to have deep, uninterrupted sleep and dream after a decade. Unfortunately, I've been having trial nightmares because I have a federal trial coming up in two weeks. It will even out, I know.

I've figured it out, mostly.

I am really pleased about this one.



This is a prototype, chock full of flaws. I made it with fabric I don't love and a zipper that clashes, because I wanted to see if I could figure out this pattern written in Japanese. I can!!



Yay. Now I can do it correctly with fabric I do love.

Here are the directions:



From this book:



ISBN 483472235x

I made a bunch of mistakes working through the project, beginning with forgetting that the dimensions in the book are in centimeters. Okay! So 1 centimeter equals .394 inches. Got it!

And there is one part, about the lining, which doesn't give any dimensions.

The mind boggling part for me about making bags is that you make them from the inside out. Makes sense...you know, invisible stitching and all. It is so cool to turn them right side out and see the final product.

It's so foggy/overcast outside--66F is the predicted high today; it's currently 58F--that I just want to stay inside and make some more bags.

I intend to write out the instructions in English, like Mariko's tutorial. Stay tuned.

* * *

To LBellatrix: About the super cheap magazine subscriptions: It is hard to believe at first. Make sure you buy from a reputable seller: one who has a 100% or close to it rating and lots of sales. But it's a great bargain. I think the economics of it are that the magazine needs high subscription numbers to get a lot of money from selling ads, so they deal with these subscription sellers to bolster their numbers.

I forgot that I also subscribe to Metropolitan Home, so that makes it 21. Oy.

For Mabi:



I'm near sighted, baby doll.

I wear contacts, but they make my eyes itch. They're clear.

Five Idiosyncrasies

idiosyncrasy: a peculiarity of constitution or temperament : an individualizing characteristic or quality

I got tagged by robin to answer this meme. I was tickled to be tagged, but I don’t think I’m a particularly idiosyncratic person. Robin’s potato and cinnamon idiosyncrasy is world class!

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you'll recognize most of them.

1. I like really hot coffee. My coffee machine doesn’t make it hot enough. So I nuke it for 45 seconds in the microwave. During those 45 seconds, I play Race the Microwave, and try to straighten up the kitchen as much as I can. If the kitchen is already straightened up, I will load the washer or unload the dryer. You can get a lot done in 45 seconds.

2. I have a very keen sense of smell. I hate the smell of chicken parts or wrappers in the kitchen garbage. The smell will wake me up out of a sound sleep. So while I’m cooking chicken, after I chop it up, I walk the parts and the wrappers to the outside garbage.

3. I have 20 magazine subscriptions, because I love magazines and they’re cheap on ebay. 1. House and Garden. 2. House Beautiful 3. Elle Decor 4. Domino 5. Martha Stewart Living 6. Essence 7. O 8. Elle 9. Vogue 10. Harpers Bazaar 11. Dwell 12. Sunset 13. New York 14. Allure 15. Marie Claire 16. Bon Appetit 17. Cooks Illustrated 18. Patchwork Quilt Tsushin 19. Country Home 20. Country Living Twenty is a lot, n’est pas? But they make me happy when I get them in the mail.

4. Since my first pregnancy, I cannot abide wet food. So pasta with too much sauce, or pizza with too much sauce and wet toppings–I will not eat it. Or a wet sandwich. Or a wet burrito. Being nauseous for 40 weeks will do that to you.

5. When someone comes into my office, I straighten the things on my desk. I can’t stop myself. Most of the day, I’m turned at a 90 degree angle away from desk and facing my computer. So when I have to face someone sitting across from me at my desk, I feel that the files and papers are unsightly and undercut my professionalism, so I neaten.

Tagging Carole, redheaddread, Mary, James, and Siow Chin.

I was sitting with the kids reading this magazine yesterday evening and I noticed the cover said Target Goes High Style.

As I saw the first page of the article I said an aghast "No."

My daughter asked "What's wrong?"



Wrong? Thomas O'Brien, the designer I've idolized for two decades, is designing for Target. I can get something he designed without going to Soho.



I am all over these dishes. I can't wait until October when the stuff comes out.




Nancy Crow has a new book coming out. Very exciting.

This weekend was good. Saturday I finished the quilt and put it in the washing machine and then took the kids to the mall. My girl had requested that we go to the mall to get school clothes. She asked because she thinks that’s what teenagers do.

We picked up shirts, lots of shirts, because my kids don’t wear jeans. They only wear sweat pants or pants made from that soft jersey material. My boy even picked out a bunch of shirts. Thank goodness my children do not want clothes made by rap artists, because there’s no way in hell I would ever buy them.

I presented the quilt to my girl at the dinner table, telling her that I hope she and her children and grandchildren would enjoy it, that it was made with love and that she should feel safe and happy with it wrapped around her. She was very touched and surprised, as she didn’t know that I had intended to give it to her.

I didn’t sew for the rest of the weekend, feeling tired and a tiny bit burnt out. I took the blue coin quilt out of the fabric basket that I had stored it in and felt inspired, just looking at it, to put the layers together to get started on quilting it; but I didn’t.

On Sunday, we had my dear friend, T., over for brunch. She has been traveling all over the world as corporate counsel for a clothing manufacturer, including Hong Kong/Beijing/Tokyo in March, Cuenavaca, Mexico in June, and she is going to Europe (UK/Spain/Italy/France/Germany) for two and a half months in September, with a trip to Egypt in November while she’s there.

I was nervous about the brunch–feeling kind of scattered about what exactly I should serve--and picked up pastries before Mass. We picked up strawberries, orange juice and a sour dough batard on the way back home. We served eggs, bacon, home fries with sour cream, strawberries, orange juice, coffee and pastries.

We ate and talked and talked and talked–with my son listening and commenting the whole time. He would not be persuaded to go and do something else.

I gave T. the Pink Lemonade apron, which made both of us very happy. She said it made her want to go home and cook something for herself.

I took a bath last night and when I got out of the tub at 9:10, both children were asleep. I thought they were playing a joke on me, but they were actually asleep. So we all got an early bedtime.

On July 6, Hillary posted a wonderful coin quilt on her blog.

I was very inspired and pieced together two of my own.



Well, today I finished the pink one.





I quilted a little bit more around the colored squares than Hillary, just because I think flattening the colored fabric enables you to appreciate it more.





I debated the white binding, because some of the colored fabric would have looked terrific as a binding, but I like the choice of white.



I quilted this one first because it's for my daughter. It's more chill to work on a project that is staying at home. At least until my baby goes to college.

I thought I would share more pictures from this book:



ISBN 4529040011

I went to Costco at lunch and they are selling flannel sheets. Every year I buy a new set, in anticipation of cold nights, because the price and quality are great. Flannel sheets and tulip and daffodil bulbs. Already.

Autumn is my favorite season, but I'm not ready to get my head around Autumn on August 10.

The kids start school on August 31. My baby boy starts kindergarten. He has his Spider Man back pack and his Spider Man lunch bag already. He's mentally done with preschool and has stopped napping.

How many grown ups wouldn't love to have a siesta as a structural part of their workday? I know I would.

I am so looking forward to making one stop to drop off and pick up both my kids.

A meme:

Here are the rules: List five little things which make you happy/satisfied/give you pleasure. Don't go for the obvious ones like second-hand bookshops, warm baths, icecream, wanking, seeing a band live or whatever. Odd little things, which give you a little frisson and make things better, even if just for a moment.

1. Putting folded laundry into a drawer.
2. Sweeping the sidewalk in front of my house.
3. Kissing the left side of my boy's nose.
4. Using pre-printed return address labels instead of writing my address on an envelope.
5. Being on time.

Yesterday evening, after a carefully prepared dinner of stir fried chicken and green beans (with carrots, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, honey, and red bell pepper) and steamed rice, which was enthusiastically eaten by both children (GASP), there was a knock on the door. It was my new neighbor, carrying a box from Amazon Japan. He said the postal carrier had given it to him and we agreed that our postal carrier is a little bit out of it. Then the neighbor stood around and I wondered if I should invite him in and show him what I got from Japan. But, I don't think he's...you know, crafty.

Four handbag books:



IBSN 4569635539

Inside:







ISBN 4579108213

I really like the shape of this bag.



Front Cover:


Back Cover:


ISBN 4529040011


I really like the shape of this bag, though I would need it to be bigger.



ISBN 483472235x



I'm really interested in making these small, rectangular bags, for trips or to keep my dental care stuff at work.

The directions, written in Japanese, seem pretty straightforward, but I expect there will be a fair amount of trial and error. My stepfather reads no Japanese.

Amazon Japan gives you no preview of the contents of the book. So what I do is go to the ebay sellers on Crafting Japanese and look at their scans of a book I'm interested in. The ebay sellers are asking for twice or more of what the book would cost on Amazon Japan, so I don't think I'm being unfair to them by looking at their scans but not buying their books.

Stay tuned for completed projects, but first I have to finish the Pink Coin Quilt. It should be done this weekend and then it's going on my daughter's bed.

This documentary, Born Into Brothels is available on Netflix and will be shown on HBO on August 16. I watched it this weekend, at first a little apprehensive because I was feeling a bit down and I didn't want to become more depressed. It is a wonderful film, quite uplifting and quite useful in putting life into context. It is so very interesting and I recommend it most highly.



Last week I saw this film, from the same team who made Amelie. It is truly a great film. If you loved Amelie, you will love this film.

*Sob* She's back and she runs like butter. And my sister took my kids to the movies. And I got discs 3 and 4 of Season 5 of the Sopranos.

Life, she is good.

So...um...I posted yesterday that my sewing machine is not working. I had a choice of two shops to take it to be repaired--one in the city where I work, one close to my house. I decided on the one close to my house because the other one is owned by a guy who is...not a people person. Plus, if they complete the repairs on a Saturday, I would have to drive 35 miles to get my machine. And I would drive 35 miles to get my machine.

So I had a bad afternoon at work and then I picked up my lovely girl and we took my machine down to the shop near my house. I opened the door and was accosted by a very unpleasant 60 years worth of cigarette smoke aroma. Whatever. I'm not leaving a quilt there.

It turns out that the owner of this shop is...not a people person either. I handed my machine over to her, explained the problem and she opined that it sounds like a gear issue. Sewing machines have gears--who knew?

I left it, went across the street and got my baby girl a Slurpee, and went home. Where there is no sewing machine.

No worries. I made an excellent dinner--grilled pork chops (marinated with a sweet garlicky marinade from The Barbecue Bible), mashed potatoes and gravy, and lovely green beans.

As I was cooking with my girl, my mind wandered to what's next to sew and then I realized--Holy Shit, I don't have a sewing machine. I sew every day.

After dinner I washed dishes and cleaned the kitchen.

I watered in the back yard and cut an huge bouquet of roses and Russian sage.

Then I read two magazines--Cooks Illustrated and House and Garden--hung out with my little dude (who finagled a day off from preschool because he has a cough) and fell asleep comparatively early.

Maybe I'll schedule a massage. Yes, I think I better. It will help make the time pass less painfully.

Okay, so this morning my machine stopped working. I think it's a belt issue. I'm not panicking and I'm grateful that I finished the AQ before it went kaput.

Rurality, thank you for the comment and link.

My girl sews. This is a dress she made and the cape from her Halloween costume:

Thank you all for the comments on the Anniversary Quilt. It is a great privilege to be complimented on it and I am very grateful to each of you.

Monica C. commented:

but quilting is a LOT of work!

No doubt. But it is so much easier than it used to be. It used to be copying a template, cutting out fabric, marking fabric (!!!), then sewing.

Now there are a ton of short cuts and rotary cutters. Working steadily gets it done.

Do you find it relaxing once you get in the groove of it all? Is it a stress reliever - i.e., after a long day, do you think, "I'll just unwind and get some quilting done" - or do you need a a peaceful mind to be effective?

It is very relaxing. When it is not, I don’t do it; I get up and go outside. Diane G says don’t do it when you’re not relaxed. I don’t quite follow that rule, but she’s an incredible quilter so I believe her.

I find that I carry a lot of tension in my forearms and wrists, so folding laundry relaxes me too.

Miss E asks:

But did you really teach yourself from books?

Yes, really. Lots of books from the library at first, then I bought some. Also, as any quilter will tell you, one of the most important tools in quilting is a seam ripper, so that you can pull out the errant stitches and do it over again correctly.

CJ asks:

In your book scan, it looks like the quilting is sort of squares within squares, but your pictures look like you outlined the center square and outlined the larger square. Aside from the logistics of turning a king-sized quilt around and around (making my head swirl) is there any reason you did it this way?

I quilted in the larger squares in the two previous quilts. For this one I decided not to because I didn’t want to detract from the colored fabric. I think that non-quilted space is important in every quilt. Some quilters think this is not a good thing, that it makes them look like slackers. In the quilt I’m working on now, the quilt which inspired it does not have enough quilting for my taste, so I plan to add more, but not quilt every square millimeter.

Ruth asks:

When do you give them the quilt?

The end of September.

* * *

Last year when my stepfather was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I was too distraught to write about how much he means to me.

I was thinking about it yesterday and I got all tearful and choked up.

Let me just say that it has been a great privilege to know him, to have him in my life as a father figure, to witness how much he loves my mom and the whole family. He will give you anything. He will do anything for you. He will tag along anywhere. He loves to shop.

* * *



I found some new Pocky flavors yesterday at a store near my job. I was in search of Thai basil to make a chicken and rice stir fry dish.

It came out very well and my girl and I enjoyed it thoroughly. My boy didn't want it. No worries, more leftovers.

My boy indicated that he felt a bit like a sewing orphan--"You sew all the time"--so I didn't last night. But if I'm not sewing, if I'm just hanging out and doing what he wants, I get sleepy by 8:30PM.