CHICKPEA SEWING STUDIO

April 15th

 

 

Today, a crazed individual or individuals decided yet again that blowing up people is the solution to all their problems. I heard a little child is probably amongst those who perished. My heart swells and then suddenly pinches back in when I think of my own child, of the children I know and cherish. I took a moment, turning off the radio's stream of alarming news to look through pictures like the one above and cut a handful of Grape Hyacinths to arrange as a wordless prayer for one of these moments when you simply don't know what to say.

 

from the thrift store today

 

 

I have been on the lookout for interesting vases and props lately whenever there comes a moment to visit a thrift store. The bottles were so bright I couldn't pass them up, especially since the soda was drunk and no longer a threat to my good health (!). The pewter vase is excellent, thank you whoever donated it to DI, It's very heavy, stable and deep enough for all kinds of stems, I like the contrast in shape with the mid century candle holder for the cabin. Speaking of the cabin, would the snow melt already! The area apparently is covered in wild flowers in the spring, imagine the possibilities...

 

{Le Pays des Merveilles}

 

Here is a haul post of sorts, a flower haul from Trader Joe. Roses, freesias, ranunculus and pincushion proteas greened with boxwood and poppy leaves from the garden, in the largest vase of the house. I never thought it would be used much as it is so hungry/greedy for flowers but I was wrong, these are actually a bit too crowed in there.

 

 

I realize that all my arrangements are fan shaped, and until I find opaque containers to hide the mechanics (think chicken wire)  it's hard/impossible to shape them any other way. It's all about years of practice I suppose, time will tell!

 

E's Cradle

This toy cradle was meant to become a Christmas present for little E  but winter came early and it languished half painted in the garage until the recent turn for the warmer. I finished it as soon as the sun came out last week, two facts I am incredibly astonished about...

 

 

The cradle is spay painted in Heirloom White over a coat of gray primer. The little mattress and pillows are sewn in matelasse and filled with a few layers of cotton batting. I serged two rectangles of a soft woven for sheets.

 

 

Making good use of the Bernina 580 embroidery module again to decorate one of the sheets with her initial. The alphabet is pre-programmed in the Bernina, I simply added a layer for the heart frame and  increased the stitch count by 30%, it gives a "bumpier" result, much like an antique monogram. the piece could have been stabilized a bit more though, next time I will use cut away instead of a thin tear away. It should reduce some of the pucking.

 

 

The cradle is already being played with as I type but it still needs a little blanket in Berrocco Alpaca, I am a bit slower going on that end!

Happy Easter

 

Spring bouquet snipped here, there and from the ' other side of the fence ' at the end of a very full day of gardening. I was looking all around for the right spot to shoot this when arm and leg fatigue won out and we just ended sitting on the floor...

 

 

You see things differently from down here, I should lay there more often.

 

Alexandria

 

 

 

National Gallery of Art

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An unbelievable morning spent alone strolling the corridors of the National Gallery of Art. It was an emotional experience, so much beauty to leave behind at the end of the visit. If you feel so inclined more pictures are available on my Flickr feed, link to the right.

Eyes Wide Open

 

 

 

First Night in DC, we were invited to take a flash tour of the memorials at night.

Well worth braving the cold for. Our legs are tired from the incessant walking but our eyes are still wide open.

Books for a Sunday afternoon

In this house books don't get read anymore, they used to but then came fanfiction, netflix, pinterest, blogs, facebook and soon it was game over. Hopefully this month marks the beginning of a come back, after trudging through the new P.D. James Death Comes to Pemberley (apparently not my thing but enjoyed by a dear friend) I picked up Hitchers from the reader's choice shelf at the local library. A sure way to find something enjoyable, I have been told. The main character in Hitchers is called Finn, a good sign surely and so far the story has been riveting. This book is really well crafted, I find myself re-reading entire paragraph to enjoy them all over again, and thinking of sending a copy to my mother who likes to practice her English by reading novels. I sent her Never Let Me Go, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Beware of God, all personal favorites... This one might fit in just fine.

Speaking of favorites, this green vase from  uber famous French florist Christian Tortu has been a really great ebay find. You can fill it with one flower or five and it works! Magic...

New Pillows {red nails-red hands-red toes}

 

 

I finished my woven pillows last night in a frenzy. The determination to bring something finished to the Guild meeting has everything to do with it after about a year of nothing to show and tell. Taking the pictures to illustrate this awesome turn of events, in the way envisioned showed me something else about my health though, something I haven't been looking square in the face for some time. My hands and feet are cold and red. Sometimes my toes burn and itch terribly... not the cutest trait really. Well it's not what I thought and have been treating them for over a year (blaming it all on my running shoes and the pool's showers). The actual dermatologist I visited a last yesterday (this was not my first consultation on this subject) told me at once: You have perneo/chilblains. Not because of the cold so much as because your blood circulation is terrible... I hate taking pills, and was wishy washy about the treatment he prescribed until I saw these pictures of my hands. There is a problem, really. In the spirit of how things really are I will not even attempt to retouch the terrible blotchiness (is that even a word?)

 

 

The Pillows are not uniform in size, I didn't expect/remember-about the fabric take up (shrinking) off the loom. It was considerably more accentuated with the twill treadling (far right below). But never mind, I still managed to stuff in the feather inserts from Ikea. My favorite remains the large stripe in plain weave. It makes me think of a scandinavian summer just as I hoped, a first when it comes to weaving.

 

 

The cases are closed with simple 14" metal zippers. It has been so long since I put a zipper in, I almost had a moment of panic but the night glow of the Bernina soothed me, with cooing sounds of things not tangling underneath. Just kidding! But no laugh, it was very easy, again like riding a bicycle. I like to backstitch a bit before lifting my foot to slide or open the zipper pull out of the way, that too came back to mind right away.

 

 

Finn believes lately that pretending to sleep is the funniest trick in the book, as long as you make loud snoring noises bordering on drowning.