Our Domicile

I have a bit of a thing for thank you cards. It is probably thanks, in large part, to my mom, who was quite consistent when we were growing up about sending thank you cards for gifts. It has certainly been reinforced by having some particularly thoughtful friends, and an ongoing love of sending and receiving real live mail. It’s for the latter reason that I tend to gravitate towards actual cards or hand-written notes over thank you emails, when possible.

That said, I do feel like the immediacy of email is sometimes the enemy of a hand-written thank you note. I frequently feel like I’m letting people down by taking a week or two to send an actual thank you card, in place of an email. I’ll admit sometimes I do both.

I’m hoping to instill the same habits in little Miss L, and this holiday season was really the first time that she had any real sense that gifts were given to her and that they also came from someone in particular. And so, while this is perhaps verging on the late side of things, this morning was the first time I had time to sit down and set her up to help me with sending thank you cards, which means we’re sadly going to be late according to current Emily Post guidelines for sending thank you’s. Alas.

To involve her, I decided to pick up some blank note cards at the art supply store which she could decorate. I set her up at the kitchen table after breakfast with some paints (she choose red and yellow) and some cookie cutters she usually uses for playdough to use as make-shift stamps. We had a great time. I also invested in a $8 “Thank You” stamp, which I hope to reuse for many years, which I then used to stamp the front of her creations and viola, mama and little girl thank you cards.

The best part? Aside from the process of doing it together, which was great fun, she seems to have perhaps (ok maybe just a little) got the thank you concept, as she’s been happily declaring “thank you cards!” every time she sees the pile ready to go in the mail.

I’m big on stamps and kids art in general these days — beyond giving kids stamps, which is also awesome. My friend Louise mentioned that she picked up a date stamp so that she can easily date her daughter’s artwork as it is produced/comes home (brilliant!), and I’ve been thinking this same principle for making thank you cards could be applied to birthday cards, with the acquisition of a good “Happy Birthday” stamp. I did favourite a bunch of excellent “Thank You” stamps on Esty, if you want to consider the same kind of a project. In the end I picked ours up at Granville Island, but I’m particularly fond of this one. Next up? Perhaps we’ll try making our own stamps!

I’ve always categorized knitting as yet another hobby that I simply do not have time to partake in. With a serious stash of unsewn fabric already languishing on the shelves, I’ve actually seen my resistance to take up knitting as a kind of virtue, knowing full well that it will likely only lead to more unfinished projects and yarn stashes. I’ve also always been a bit concerned about flaring up repetitive strain injuries that my work life puts me at risk of.

But.

Since entering my new life with babe, and the arrival of two fabulous knitting stores in my midst (one in my neighbourhood and the other owned by a friend and full of inspiring organic yarny delights), I’m done with resisting. The final push towards knitting is coming as I’m finally getting moments of independence and respite as little Miss L is better as amusing herself for small stretches and naps (somewhat) more regularly. Add that to a new going to bed ritual that involves Martin more than me, and I’m finding myself with moments snatched here and there that I’m aching to fill with some kind of project. While, I could in theory sew in these moments, the set up of the sewing room (in the basement) and the kinds of projects I like to take on, I really need stretches of time that are not yet abundant in my life. But, knitting. Well knitting (or so I fantasize) can happen while she plays on the floor in the livingroom, or in the 45 minutes or so of energy I have once the baby is in bed and the adults are fed.

And so, I have begun. In my dream world I was going to take an intro class. But, life isn’t quite predictable enough for me to sign-up for and commit to a class yet. So, last night, with some yarn I’ve had on the dresser for a few weeks now and a pattern I’m aspiring to follow in hand, I set down with the internet, youtube videos of the incomparable knitting goddess Vickie Howell, and taught myself to cast on. And, after five or six attempts and redos I think I’ve got that part down. (It did require one phone call to a dear friend in Portland to get some guidance to help me reduce my tension). Now I’m working on trying to knit up a gauge square, which is… well with a bit more googling and youtube, not doing too badly? I think? We’ll see.

The whole knitting up a sample square thing seems to be akin to the “sew a muslin first” of sewing. One of those slow and steady wins the race things, where it’s worth investing the time up-front but I must admit I’m itching to get to the real goods. I’m also, of course, itching to move beyond my initially selected project to something more challenging/exciting. Like this awesome totoro hat (!) or this gorgeous little knit dress kit for wee girls at Plum Studio.

But, for now. I’ll stick to my square. Which is so far, not measuring up as it were. But I’m just going to keep going and get the hang of things. Tomorrow I’m hoping to attend a friends crafting gathering and hopefully can get some tips there to help me make some more progress.

After a recent trip to San Francisco, where I did my fair share of window shopping but was very restrained on the spending front due to some big bills we're facing, I have been re-energized to sew again. It's been a long time since I've really sewn much, my time being much more devoted to work lately (where lately equals the past several years), but I'm really feeling the itch. I was particularly inspired by this Sunhee Moon tunic, which I LOVED but couldn't justify buying when I have a room filled with lovely fabrics languishing in the basement. So now I'm looking for great, simple tunic patterns. The one shown here, which I found at Sew Mama Sew, is a great one, but I'm wondering what else is out there. Anyone have a great, simple and flattering tunic pattern they'd just love to share?  I know several of you are rather handy with a needle and thread… (Oh and if you've sewn this Anna Maria dress, feel free to send on your thoughts as well).

A few weeks ago, while having tea at Martin’s mom’s place, she started bringing out several of her hand embroidered table cloths to show me. Most of them were made by her or her mother in years now best measured as decades, and I loved pouring over the little details of them. I’ve never been much of one for the fine needle crafts, focusing more on the big picture sewing end of things, but over the past few months I’ve found myself noticing cross stitch and embroidery more and more and thinking that it would be a nice meditative hobby to pick up.

My problem with it has always been — and I know I’m not alone in this — how lame most of the commercially available patterns are for cross stitch, embroidery and the like (Jenny’s Sublime Stitching of course being the exception). Much of the work that Martin’s mom has — whether on pillows, napkins or table cloths — has a much more modern feel to it, in the Danish Modern sense of the word. Simple patterns, lots of use of space and often monochromatic. After an evening of google searching and much bookmarking, I became a bit overwhelmed looking for a project that would suit my needs. It had to be simple enough that I could start and complete something without getting totally overwhelmed. I wanted something with a modern feel, and I wanted to start picking up some basic skills to that I could potentially start designing my own basic patterns to stitch.

While on a trip to Victoria recently, I decided to stop in on their very well stocked stitching craft store (on View Street/Trounce Alley) and see if they could set me up with something along the lines of what I was looking for. After evaluating many Scandanavian sampler packs — the most compelling and beautiful of which were I think a bit over my head — one of the women there asked if I would be willing to try out Crewel. “Crewel?” You ask, as I did. What the heck is that? From best I can tell Crewel is basically embroidery with wool instead of cotton or silk embroidery threads. It is the basic form of stitching from which many tapestries were made in days of yore, and generally it’s much like embroidery with a finished product that has a slightly different texture due to the wool floss (a bit fuzzier). What sold me on it was the patterns available in the little kits from a company called Wool & Hoop (the photo up there is of the kit I chose). Many of them are monochromatic, they’re all quite modern (though a bit more off-kilter than the designs I originally had in my head) and best of all, each pattern inspired me to think I could easily start drafting my own/answering to my own embroidery desires without too much trouble.

I was so sold with my wee kit and the idea of crewel that I actually went back and bought the Wool & Hoop book which has several patterns in it as well as ideas for ways to use crewel embroidery to embellish household stuff, clothing etc.

I’m about half way through my little project kit (it’s about 3×3 inches) and so far am really enjoying it. As I suspected, it is very meditative, I can bring it along with me on the bus, etc. and my stitching is definitely improving quickly. My only complaint so far is threading the needle with the wool, as it isn’t nearly as cooperative as embroidery thread. That said, I suspect most of these projects could be made with cotton embroidery thread to fine results, so I may try that next as an experiment.

I’ve got a strong itch to get sewing. While right now I have exactly no time to actually scratch that itch, I’ve got a number of plans up my sleeves, and decided this weekend to take stock of my fabric stash and available patterns/project wish list and plot something out as a project for when we return from some sunshine. Then I made my big mistake: I went online to seek out a pattern for a basic bias cut slip (something I’ve been looking for, for ages) which I want to use to make some simple night dresses with some lovely Heather Bailey fabric I’ve got collecting dust. While I found a lead on a book that may hold the secrets to such a pattern and requested it from my local library, I also found this new Amy Butler tunic pattern. And, after telling myself very sternly that another pattern was the last thing I needed, when I’ve already got piles of unsewn projects in the basement I went ahead and ordered it. Then, because I could get free shipping if I ordered two, I also ordered this one. And now I find myself watching some ebay auctions on more fabric. This now leaves me with at least 3 projects – tunic, slip and skirt – to complete and a book tour to plan all in the next few weeks. I sure hope I come back from the beach good and rested.

Oh, and speaking of sewing, Alicia has an awesome Binding 101 tutorial on her site, if like me you are binding challenged.

My mom has a dear longtime friend who, over the years, has been known to go into a bit of credit card debt here and there. Often paying off her Visa with her Mastercard, she would let these things run away from her for a while and then take drastic measures to pull it all back under control. Tried and true strategies like freezing your credit card in a glass of water, or having other people "babysit" it for a while until the bills are paid off. These days that kind of strategy doesn’t work so well. I rarely pull out my credit card when making impulse purchases, as I make most of those online and I know the numbers off by heart. Danger Bay.

My latest transgression: fabric on Ebay. Who knew!? I had hear rumours of course, but last Sunday night I went on a hunt for a particular colourway of an older Amy Butler print that I wanted to make some of the holiday gifts on my list. I started with the usual online retailers — ReproDepot and Purl Soho — but when they didn’t turn up what I was looking for I thought "what the heck, why not try Ebay". OMFG. Seriously. The fabric! The options! The colourways I thought were gone! And. Right now the Canadian dollar is kind of trouncing the US buck and that meant a potential wealth of savings. The more I bought, the more I could potentially save! So compelling. I held back to only 4 yards (with combined shipping of $3 no less), but I’ll admit I’m starting to get a bit itchy for more. Then, I go and read at Hilary’s blog this week that she’s been buying Japanese fabrics from Etsy and now I think I may need to see if the bank will change my credit card number so I can bury it in the garden until next spring and safely refrain from getting in over my head.

  sunday dinner 
  Originally uploaded by emira

This isn’t exactly a detailed view of the completed apron, but rather an apron in use kind of shot. I finished it this morning before noon (thanks to the "fall back" of the clocks giving me an extra hour this morning). Then, after a trip to the grocery store and some time cleaning up in the garden, I put it on to make dinner, prep some food for the rest of the week and generally get down to the rest of the weekend’s household chores. As far as aprons go, this one is a winner. I like the fact that the top is pretty full coverage (handy when cooking stainy things like tomato sauce and some beets I steamed tonight) and it’s long enough to wipe my hands on as I switch from cutting something to stirring something else.

I think I’ll try making some matching pot holders, though I may be brave and try the slightly more complicated Amy Butler version that comes with her Cafe Apron pattern as they seem a bit sturdier than the ones in the Lotta book.

  stitchin’ 
  Originally uploaded by emira

On Sunday night, I had the chance to cut out and start on the reversible apron from Lotta’s book. I picked up the fabric at Fabricana on the weekend, so I was all ready to go. It’s a pretty simple pattern to cut out and it leaves plenty of room for personal embellishment. Before you can sew the two apron sides together you need to  decide how you’re going to customize/decorate it. I started with my solid side, put on a pocket using the reverse side’s fabric and then decided to add some embroidery. I’ve been itchin’ to embroider since having the joy of being on a panel with Jenny Hart last Spring. (As a side note I ordered some patterns from Sublime Stitching a few weeks ago in hopes that I might be able to use a bit of embroidery on xmas gifts this year). I bought myself an embroidery hoop this week and where I can carve out time in my 10-12 hour work days I’ve been plugging away at it. It’s not turning out too badly. I’m hoping to have a bit more time this weekend and if not, then next week. Currently, my goal is to finish the apron (which is truly a very simple pattern, I’m just waaay too busy lately) for my birthday. That’s two weeks.

  gardening apron 
  Originally uploaded by emira

I promised plenty of apron talk this month, and I have to warn you we’re a month out from month’s end and I’m still in the thinking/planning stage and not the actually doing stage.

So here’s the thing. I have a chance to be near my favourite fabric store this week and the two books containing apron patterns that I ordered have yet to arrive. I’m pretty sure I want to make the Lotta apron (as seen here, but I need to know how much fabric to buy. Does anyone have Simply Sewing? Can you send me the fabric requirements? I’d so appreciate it.

At this point it seems highly likely that I’ll be spending the month of October obsessing over aprons. There are worse habits.

Several of you have contacted me recommending I check out the apron pattern in the newish MaryJane’s Stitching Room book. And others have cast a vote for the Lotta Jansdotter book, which I was already not so secretly lusting after. Then I found this photo of an apron made from the Lotta pattern and since the colours are basically exactly the same as our kitchen I considered it a sign. I’ve ordered both from Amazon (such a splurge!) and am secretly hoping they arrive in time for this weekend so I can start a new project. I have that itchy sewing feeling, and not nearly enough time to indulge it.

As it so happens, I also ordered a whack of patterns from Sublime Stitching (finally) last week. So perhaps my new apron will be an overly ambitious combination of fabric and fancy pants embroidery. We’ll see. If all goes well, then many folks may be getting aprons this holiday.