If you live in Salt Lake City you will already know about Cactus and Tropicals, a nursery in the Millcreek neighborhood. It's one of my favorite spaces in the valley, summer and winter. They host weddings here and amazing Christmas parties. My former house was close enough to walk there, now it's a healthy bike ride away.
I am currently entertaining ( in deep research) the possibility of a large-ish orchid arrangement for our are dining table. I know very little about orchids, beside the fact that they just want to be left in peace. The pot though, that is what I really enjoy looking for and I think I found just the one:
Except for the eccentric price tag, it's love at first sight. It took hours to track it down on the internet where it gets a bit cheaper but still... It's called a footbath, hand painted outside and in and so far that is all I know! But I have sent out for information on the "continent" and hope for more very soon.
Even it this fancy doesn't lead to much, I still enjoyed the visit enormously and so did Finn (so many garden water features to plunge your sleeves in!). There are a lot more pictures of the greenhouse and grounds on my flickr if you are interested.
The 24 silver plated knives I recently purchased on Ebay (from England) needed a cover. As thick strong/stiff military wool is about impossible to lay a hand on I decided to go the way of the matelasse. After a bit of driving around I re-discovered a store in Salt Lake called Home Decor fabrics. They sell interior decor weight material for very little money. You won't find any bright print but it's full of classics and neutrals.
{ 24 silver plated knives }
I was rather slow recognizing this lavender stripe would be perfect, but I couldn't be happier with it's 'Frenchness'. Thanks to the good folks at Bernina and their ever generous loan the embroidery adventure continues. I like to really take advantage of the large hoop and was able to embroider the numbers and words at the same time. The B-580 has this nifty function that lets you curve the words a little or a lot. It takes an instant but creates a truly different, softer look.
I would love to report that this was a quick, satisfying project, but in truth it took hours of continous sewing and embroidery. At least there is no need to remove the embroidery module to switch back to regular seams, so that's a little bit of time saved, but regrettably it does not sew a fold over on its own while you make soup!
The cover prevents the knifes from hitting each other but it's not very attractive when rolled up. This is why I always make a simple bag to conceal 'the lump'. It keeps everything snug and safe, away from the sticky fingerprints of a certain 4 years old.
This could have been a day of epic fails but it all turned out ok. Let me explain...
Seminal reason for things not getting accomplished:
I found a new fanfiction author (an actual author). Her pen name is Bedelia. She write equally compelling Harry Potter and Twilight stories that will keep up well past your bedtime.
Oversleeping makes getting to the pool on time for the geriatric water aerobic class I have been taking with J impossible, "Let's go running" instead I told myself (ha!). Raining sheets for hours and the will to move going with it down the drain.
I swear sometimes the first step outside is the hardest. But once it's over with the second and third bring immediate glee ( or is it relief?). Since I don't believe in motivation through looking at skinny people on Pinterest I went to itunes instead for some new music and got to this song the round about way:
Apparently it's quite popular but I am significantly out of touch these day that it is new to me.
More on the "thinspiration boards" or where I express a strong opinion for the first time and over-share.
I had the shock of my life this week when I discovered what 'Pro-Ana' means. The least amount of effort yielded dozens of well taken care of / regularly updated blogs spewing all sorts of pure garbage!
I know it's the first time I ever take a position of any kind on my blog but you see when I was 17-18 I became severely anorexic; it was only through the vigilance of my mother and at her great expense that I got better, relapsing a few time in the years following the first crisis. Getting better from such a mental illness is arduous, but it can be done, you just have to make a choice before you do your body too much harm. For example my bone density is not very good and I most likely hurt my teeth very badly and got many more cavities than sugar would have inflicted alone. I used to dance Ballet every week night now I will never see one again. I do not read Vogue or buy fashion magazines EVER. I used to cut them up and tape them on the board by my bed, a cro-magnon type pinterest board. Now I divorce any clothe that don't make me feel pretty. I purposefully choose curvy role models and quit going to any gym class where mirrors can be found (this explains the geriatric aqua gym, those ladies are too funny!). I am not happy about my body everyday but since I started running which is admittedly very recent I have a new found respect for what I didn't know it could do. See, respect is what is missing when you starve yourself, self-loathing takes its place instead.
Having a child, turning 30 then 31, 32, 33... (did I say having a child?) helped tremendously, it's about focusing outward and cutting yourself a whole lot of slack. I am getting off the soapbox now but keeping it close by just in case. I will leave you with this picture of my son taken yesterday afternoon just after he fell asleep in my harm while I was reading the most sleep inducing book about space shuttles out loud:
A few weeks ago I taught my first class at Pioneer Craft House here is Salt Lake City. It's quite different from a shop setting, much more like art school. The level of the students that signed up was amazing, they were definitely seasoned seamstresses and produced many more bowls in our two sessions together than I thought possible. One of the student had even sewn her own machine to exhaustion and used the B 580 instead (lucky lady!)
In the forefront, the first basket made by P, in the back one of mine. Batiks make extremely sturdy and firm wall that fray less than regular fabric, notice how my baskets experiences more fraying.
The basket in the front can be either round or hand molded as shown bellow, while the one in the back is adorned on the last row with eyelash yarn:
Our happy pile:
I will be offering this class at least once a year at PCH, watching the students create such marvels was incredibly gratifying;those two evenings made me love teaching all over again.
I know it has been a while since I last posted... It's odd working under the cloud of confidentiality! (LOL). Really, as luck would have it more magazine and web work came this way and I may not speak about it before it's published... That said here is a new free pattern, hot from Bernina's We All Sew. Have you ever wanted to try out one of your machine's decorative stitches? Or a wing needle? In order to explore Heirloom sewing, I wrote this simple pattern for a mitered Linen Table Topper for a wedding, a feast or simply a quite corner.
It is sewn from handkerchief linen and would look at home on a side table either round or square. I imagine it would be fabulous on the guest book table at a wedding.
I love Handkerchief Linen, it's transparent as well as stiff. You can crease it with your fingers to fold in hems. It was hard deciding which stitch to use as the B 580 has them in abundance but in the end the best is to try all your favorite on a scrap of linen with the wing linen in and decide which is showcased best under these specific circumstances.
Amongst the wondrous things from my aunt's great parcel, I found a set of twelve gold plated tea spoons. They are in "the wee style of cute" or more correctly Louis Phillipe and needed a cover. I made one this weekend in grey wool and pink embroidery thread so pale it looks white (unfortunately).
If plated items are left to hit each other and wiggle around they deteriorate more quickly. These cover both separate each item from the other and protect the plating from tarnish, a huge problem in Utah where the air is very salty.
A little monogram for good measure, it will be my family treasure after all and an envelope to keep it all safe. (translation: tea time)
I had the misfortune of a really bad hair cut last month... it happens to everyone and since I go to a hair school it might happen to me more often than not. I haven't found that to be the case though, generally things go quite well.
Because the student cut such wild layers I lost about 6 inches of additional length and had to opt for bangs during the repair cut... it was not my plan to cut bangs, not at all. What is done is done, The Tauton Press and Bernina are requesting new portraits and today is as far I can procrastinate the task...
It's unlikely this picture will make the cut, but it is my favorite of the oh... 200 shot in the 30 minutes it takes to get a handful of usable portraits. I am forever reminded of the blog post written by Wiksten Made about her self portrait for Lucky Magazine. In it she described the misery of spending the day trying for the perfect shot. I wonder if her camera was just on a timer as opposed to using a remote control. Regardless, you can only stare at yourself so long before the nausea sets in.
These sessions yield way too many pictures but I keep a lot of them in the dark pits of the family computer digital clutter. I think about the eventuality of not being there to see my son grow and how he will never have to rummage through shoe boxes to find out what his mom looked like. I reviewer once told me that as a child she lived through this and that her mom had left photographs of her hands as well, to compare with her own maybe? I know already that Finn has his dad's hands and feet, but we share our eyes and always will.
We are just back from a few days in Mexico, where the police/military is definitely out in force. It was a nice break from the winter though and I am not about to forget Tulum and the coral reef in front of the site, paradise no doubt.
The chocolate sampling was pretty phenomenal as well.
De retour, I feel the need to sew bright warm things, and the class I am teaching next tuesday at the Pioneer Craft House (exciting!) provides an excuse to get back into coiling. The bowl below turned out really round and I can't help but be pleased by it's symmetry (this one is for you Evelyne, Merry Christmas at last!)
Meyer Lemons from Whole Foods, used in everything from salad to rice to jams, taste like the ocean.
Can you spot the (ancient) Denise Schmidt Flea Market Fancy in apricot? This wrapping technique completely obscures the design of the original fabric.
The birthday happened! between 35 and 40 people came, which was by far the most crowded this house has ever been... We loved it!
Finn turned 4, and strangely he feels completely different. I hear a lot of " now that I am 4, I am going to do this and that (tasks I refused to do only yesterday)."
I had no time to take any pictures of the house decor before the party, as even with help I was still struggling to get all the food on the tables and counters and side table and... you get my point. Two full days later the house is back to normal and I can finally look up and really enjoy the poms:
in the kitchen
and the living room
We are keeping them up for a while, they keep us in a party mood.
