2 FOs; Ali sighting; Treat Yourself

First finished sweater (and handknit) of the new year:

 

Fiber #58 :: Andi
Pattern: Chuck
Yarn: Cascade 220, a shade my mom calls "more brown than yellow" in response to the "Asians shouldn't wear yellow!" that I keep throwing around.  I need more mustard in my life like I need more handknits, but hey, it's a gorgeous pattern and I love it.  (Color on the right is more true to life)
Mods: added an extra cable twist, lengthened pattern to hit at high hip, used 2*2 ribbing instead.

I took a hard look at my handknit sweaters and realized the ones I wear most often are long sleeved, unfussy pullovers, and in colors that match everything else in my wardrobe.  So I decided those were the types of sweaters I'd knit more of.

And a skirt to go with it.

Pattern: Simplicity 2451, again
Fabric: Liberty twill Mirabelle, plus leftover red piping
Mods: shortened at hip and skimmed some of the curve out of the hipline, added a Rayon bemberg lining.  This skirt was meant to be piped!

Also, for those of you dying for your Ali fix, rest assured, she's still alive and kicking.  Late in 2012 I asked if she would be willing to do a swap, a handknit hat in exchange for a couple Renfrews.  I think I came out ahead, check out the stripey beauty she made me!  (Erg, the hat is awaiting a second skein, via Ravelry, to be completed).  Ali and I wear roughly the same size, and sometimes when we grow out of enamorment with our own handmades, we'll do a swap.  We had a stripey exchange, one might say!

Over the holidays, my brother and I took a quick jaunt up to Portland for a couple days.  The city is on both of our "maybe, someday" lists and we thought it would be fun to treat ourselves to a bit of a relaxation.  We found a place to stay through Air BnB - which I highly recommend - and opted to use Portland's public transportation the entire trip - which I do not recommend, not in winter, at least.  There was a lot of waiting for buses in the rain.  However, if I had to do a lot of waiting for buses in the cold, cold rain, there is nobody I'd rather do it with!

We napped.  We cooked.  We spent a lot of time in cafes.  I knit and read and wrote and dreamed and journaled and people watched.  We stared off into space.  We took a ridiculous number of "use iPhone to take pictures of self" photographs that we then had way too much fun hipster-izing with Michael's phone's editing tools.

Michael really likes the show It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and during the trip he told me about one episode where the characters decide to treat themselves for the entire day.  I haven't seen the episode, but apparently it involves people running around in Batman costumes, increasingly ludicrous scenarios (as seems to be the show's mantra), and a whole lotta "TREAT YOURSELF."  So, that was the motto of our trip, too.

Jessica (in fabric store): Hm, that's kind of a lot of fabric.
Michael: Jessica?  TREAT YOURSELF.
Michael (reaches into wallet): Here, I'll treat you to this one.  *Hands me bill, pats topmost bolt.*

Michael: Fake Moleskine?  Real Moleskine?  I came here to buy the fake one.
Jessica: TREAT YOURSELF.

Jessica: Should I get that flourless chocolate cookie the size of my head?
Jessica: You know what, I should really TREAT MYSELF.

So ... I treated myself this holiday season.

Some Liberty and Sewaholic patterns.  Will 2013 be the year I finally tackle pants?

Some Cake and organic jersey.  Trying not to go too crazy in the knits department, but it's so tempting ...

A yummy new pattern, and some stash yarn.  My latest attempt to control the yarn stash is this rule: for every project I take on with new yarn, I have to complete a project using stash yarn.  Now, some of the stash projects are hats, which is not as stash busting as, say, a sweater, but I will take all the help I can get.  Perhaps I should extend this rule to fabric, too.  Anyways, I used my Christmas money to splurge.  Usually I use my Christmas money to buy boring things like groceries and pay for electricity and such, but this year I figured, it's been a long year honey.  TREAT YOURSELF.

Since this is not exactly a sustainable trend (Christmas money comes but once a year!), I started thinking about the small ways I like to treat myself.  I find it hard to walk that line between frugality and, well, misery.  Sometimes I feel guilty that I am indulging too often in 'simple' pleasures of the non-free variety, but other times I remind myself that it's important to be nice to yourself.  Maybe it's just a question of degree.  Anyways, here are some of my little indulgences.  I figure it's never a bad thing to have a list like this to turn back to from time to time.

Naps. Better still, two in one day!

A skein or two of tasty yarn.

Fresh berries in summer. A basket of fresh figs in fall. Heavenly!

Sunday afternoon meals that take 2-3 hours to prepare. Even better is when I clear my plate for the evening as well, so that I'm not rushing around but can linger in the kitchen.

Decaf lattes. Don't laugh, I know that defeats the purpose of the espresso in the latte! I can't do caffeine, but every once in awhile I will hop into a coffee shop and ask for a decaf. It always makes me feel ridiculously indulgent to do this, probably because I take the opportunity to linger in the cafe, do some people watching, or pull out some knitting, my journal, or a book. Ah, unstructured personal time, what bliss.

Filling a large glass half full with ice, topping it off with a fizzy drink, squeezing in half a lemon, and climbing into the tub for a good soak.

What about you?  What are your small indulgences?  I figure it never hurts to have more ideas for this type of thing!

Snowy White ... and Seven

Wow! I won a blog award! That's never happened to me before ... and makes me feel pretty darn special. I will do the seven random things about me at the end [actually, this whole thing was supposed to go at the end but my brain got addled re: photo posting order, and, well, it turned into one of those 'ah, never mind' kind of moments] ... but thank you Ruth Anne for the nomination! It was really sweet of you.


I'm getting really backed up in my posting. Not that I've made anything new recently, but I actually finished both these projects in early March. Eek!

Here's the doll quilt I sent out for DQS8. My partner mentioned she likes simple and modern ... which ... is an aesthetic I've never really done before. But I scoped out her blog and found some inspiration quilts, dug into the stash, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best.


Hm. You couldn't expect me to not put a tad bit of quirkiness into it, could you? I tried to keep the hand quilting simple though. The floral is Lecien, the solids are linen or cotton, and there's some Robert Kaufman and Denise Schmidt thrown in for fun as well.


Experimented with the patchwork strip on the back. The aqua binding was also my penchant for complementary colors showing through, but I think it turned out OK. I like the one little blue square ... I hope it doesn't bother my partner!

Here's that second Ingenue I was talking about, a.k.a. the white sweater I've been missing for years now. This time around I lengthened the sweater sleeves to full length, though admittedly I was knitting up to the very last yard of yarn and so they're a couple rows shorter than they could be! Or maybe I'm so used to sleeves that are too long that they're actually the right length.


Everyone who sees this sweater asks about the stitch for the collar. It's really simple! Just p2tog, then kfb for the following row, then 2 rows of stockinette, and repeat. I have to say, I wear this sweater a lot and a lot. In fact, I'm wearing it this very second.


And the back. It's funny. These past two years in school, I've noticed that every Fall I stress out and lose weight because I don't eat due to stress, and then every Spring I stress out and eat chocolate like crazy and gain the weight back. Not terribly healthy. My friend commented there was probably something seasonal going on, which at first I wasn't sure about because the timing seemed off ... and then I remembered that I'm kind of a late bloomer, so it would totally make sense that, come January or February, I would feel this incredible need to store up fat reserves for hibernation. Yes.

OK! We should make that random fact #1 about me. 6 more to go.

2. I primarily cook vegetarian meals, though I often eat meat when I'm eating out [very rarely, like twice/week unless I'm totally submerged in school work, in which case I may buy lunch at school 3-4 days that week]
3. I have a younger brother who is my best friend, brother, and sometimes twin [i.e. I try to strong arm him into close friendship with me, to varying degrees of success]. My parents are pretty cool, too.
4. I looooooooooooove to read. Even more than watching movies.
5. I do love watching foreign films though. It satisfies my inner anthropologist.
6. I didn't start wearing sweaters until college, because I thought they made me look fat. I was very sensitive about my body during high school. You could say I had food/exercise control issues. I'm much better now.
7. I did a lot of dancing in college and really miss it. I'm hoping to pick it up again once I graduate! [Stephanie, you're inspiring me!] I'm thinking ... Brazilian capoeria? Bellydancing? Or maybe swing, which I've always wanted to learn.

OK! That's it from me. I don't think I'm going to tag anybody, but if you'd like to play along please leave me a message cuz I love to read random lists about people!

Small things, gifted things

FINALS!!! Holy crap. As I was explaining to somebody yesterday, this is one of those 'dash pell mell through your assignments, and just pray you have enough hours in the day to finish everything you need to' kinds of weeks. Like, close your eyes and dive in and just hope that some larger power out there has helped you calculate the amount of time and energy you need for stuff, and that you won't run out of time before you run out of assignments.

So, because I like eye candy and need to feel like this is not an all bad time of life, some random projects I've completed in the recent past:


Handwarmers from the roommate. Leftovers from the 2009 hat mania, actually. I improvised this pattern: cast on 30 stitches, in a 3 knit-2 purl repeat in the round. When I got to the thumbs I cast off 5 stitches and then on the next row cast back on the same number, and then knit until there was no yarn left. Roommate stays up later than I do, so I'm hoping these will help keep her warm as she's typing away.



Believe it or not, I bought these in high school. I was 17. That was almost a decade ago. We are not going to talk about unimportant numbers like age right now. Anyways, I have always looooooved them and probably dragged them to every darn place I've lived [minus China], but didn't wear them terribly often because they were still gloves at that point and didn't fit well into my life. So! I bought myself size 0 double-pointed needles, chopped off each glove tip, unraveled the yarn, cursed like crazy as I tried to work the yarn back on to the needles and then bound off to create the fingerless gloves that you see. A simple refashion, but oh how I wear them more! It's great.

Finally, my DQS8 mini quilt arrived! My swap partner also sent some great fabric and really cute goodies as well. She did such a great job balancing the colors and patterns and using whimsical fabrics and bright and cheery colors, and goodness knows I will probably never get around to making myself a strip-quilt type of decoration so its a darn good thing that somebody else did! And hey look, it fits in perfectly with what I've already got going on my bedroom wall! Best of all, when I wear my DS-shirtdress refashion I can match my wall. Maybe I should just stand there all day. Although given the paragraph at the top of this post, mabye that will have to wait until next week.

DQS8

So. I signed up for another doll quilt swap. The last one really stretched me creatively, I couldn't help it. Here's a little inspiration mosaic for my partner:



1. bee inspired October, 2. sinp.sew.send. - July, 3. Mermaid, 4. DQS7 finished!, 5. DQS6 Received, 6. HIWTPI Front.JPG, 7. Sonja's" circle tree quilt, 8. dqs7 finished, 9. finished doll quilt for dqs7!!!!!

If you haven't already started, I will shamelessly admit to liking some of the following fabrics but never actually indulging myself in a purchase:

~Zakka owls like these
~Trees like these, especially in the blue/green colorway in the coasters
~Handwriting fabric like here in green
~Heather Ross mermaids in the peach colorway
~Heather Ross' Far, Far Away line

NOTE: this is NOT, I repeat NOT, an 'ask' to go out and buy anything! It's just if you happen to already have these in your stash, the tiniest scrap would be smile-inducing :-). You'll probably notice from my finished projects that I rarely use oodles of designer fabric except as accent pieces, and I wouldn't expect anybody else to do that for me! And if not, well, the mosaic probably makes it clear that I'm often not so much about the fabric as I am about color and texture and lines and design ...

I am going to stop now. I have to pack for my trip back to Boston anyways. Tons of pictures to upload and share!


Oh yes. I know lots of crafters have been posting about Haiti, and I just wanted to say that the public health student in me HAS to mention Partners in Health and their amazing work in Haiti. They're an organization that's pretty lean, truly on the ground and partnering in real and significant ways with locals to make sure that stuff gets done.

Sent and Received II

Wow! This one was fun. I signed up for a summer-themed doll quilt swap back in June, and here's what arrived in the mail from Julie:

Argh, Blogger is rotating my photos without permission again! Anyways, this is such a cheery, summer-y mini quilt! The fabrics that Julie chose are all so incredibly perfect for the theme - watermelons, ladybugs, bright cheerful plaid! and I cannot begin to describe to you how technically flawless this quilt is. The quilting is unbelievably even and straight. As someone who always, always has difficulty getting things to line up, I am in awe. Thank you so much Julie! This one will be highly treasured especially during Boston's long winters!!!

It took me a really long time to figure out what to make for this swap. I don't know, summer is a hard one for me. After admiring Blair's value quilt for a long time, I thought I might try out the design in a mini format. It continues the scrapbusting theme, and I really love the way that value works to create pattern in this quilt. My initial blocks were 3" by 3", and after all the cutting and sewing and such, 6 blocks across measures just over 12". This is as close to a traditional patten as I think I can get, and the closest you'll get me to triangles in quilts.

Admission: I am running REALLY late sending this out to my partner. School has just caught me off guard, plus my brother was visiting last week and I'm only finally starting to feel back on track. Don't get me wrong -- I adore my brother. He's one of my closest friends. But as a result, I may have spent a tad more time chilling with the bro, and a tad less time reading, than I should have. But! I have big plans to send this out in the next 2 days. Swap partner, I am really REALLY sorry!!! I don't know where the midterms came from ...

Mini Quilt #4 // Work It

Ugh. It has been a real tamade kind of day. You know, the one where I stomp into my bedroom for my bar of Green & Black's chocolate, wilfully ignoring the health coach in me that used to counsel people through alternative, non-chocolate methods of coping with stress or a bad day. Suffice it to say, every last thing that I did post 11:15 today was a complete and utter waste of time. Not for lack of trying. Oh no, I had many things that I tried to do today. When you're stressed that you're behind on your work, that is the loveliest feeling in the world. Another day -- LOST!

OK. Let's stop dwelling on that and instead turn to this mini quilt that I slipped into the mail a week ago. This is the fourth doll quilt I've ever made, and this time I really tried to lavish a lot of attention and detail onto a very small piece of real estate.



When I first saw the announcement go out for Doll Quilt Swap 7 I thought, “No … no way.” No way because there are some darn amazing quilters in the pool and I didn’t want to be the laggard in the group. No way, also, because I wasn’t sure that I really wanted to commit myself to another one of these.

Then Rita emailed me. Crafting buddy Rita. The one who helped me finish the binding on the circle quilt for mom. “Are you signing up for this? I will if you will!”

Oh man. I am horrible with peer pressure. I was really lucky in that my fantastic swap partner gave me very free reign. “Quilter’s choice” were her exact words, I believe. So while I was piecing together that skirt [I had been working on that baby all summer], I kept loving the scraps lying in heaps on the ground, kept thinking it was such a shame to not use the fabric combination for something else.

Random piecing commenced, since I have never been particularly good at traditional quilt patterns. Something about choosing fabrics that work well with a pattern has always mystified me, but random and quirky? I think we’ve established that I like random.

Once I completed the first part of the doll quilt [and, thankfully, she commented that she liked it! Boy, quirky is hard to do for somebody else], it sat for a long time. I liked it well enough but thought it could be better. I thought about it to and from The Food Project. I even mentally brought it with me on vacation. I knew I wanted something random in one corner and that I wanted an uneven white border, but I couldn’t figure out what that something in the bottom left should be.

And then one night while lying on Dan's brother's inflatable mattress while visiting in DC, the inspiration fairies came dancing at my bedside as I was drifting off to sleep.

A new take on random that I had not yet tried. I think it works. To my eye, the random and color and white space all balance each other out, though I have no idea how it looks to an outsider. I’ve really been trying to work on my hand quilting, and within the “random” portion of the quilt I actually inserted a couple repeating motifs, so I tried to tie that all together by quilting those fraternal twins in similar ways.



Back when I was working my first job, one of my very favorite projects was the opportunity to chaperone Photo Camp, a project of National Geographic where they partner with local organizations that serve high-need youth, train the youth in photography skills for 4 days, and give them each cameras to document their neighborhoods, lives, and culture. Watching the high school students become familiar with their camers, listening in on photography tips from highly esteemed photographers in the field, and seeing the photographs that this collaboration produced was truly amazing.

During that time, one of the key photography lessons I learned was the importance of “working” a shot. Take ten, twenty photos of the same subject. Don’t just be satisfied with your first or second shot, but really dig in, take your time, be patient, and try to imagine the subject from all sorts of angles. Sometimes your first picture will still wind up being your favorite, but No. 12 or No. 19 might really surprise you. It’s worth it to stick around the scene of the crime just a little bit longer, because you never quite know what you’ll see through the viewfinder that works really, really well once back in the lab.

So I'm unofficially calling this the Work It Mini Quilt. Because I really let it percolate for a long time. Took my time with the details. Played around with composition quite a bit. Cultivated patience. I think that patience investment did pay off. Which means ... which means I obviously need to kick my procrastination habit in the butt instead of pretending that it lets ideas marinate. Really, it's a much weaker form of Working It.

For the backing I used some more DS in the two colorways, and stitched some rick rack over the seam to tie it together. Bound in yellow, I am really in love with this color combination. It may just have to find its way into my winter wardrobe somehow [haven't figured that one out yet! Everything winter tends to be more somber colored]. But wouldn't a splash of color be really nice when outside is so gloomy?



The one highlight of my day is that I'm back working with The Food Project for this fall term, at least. And oh, how I smiled when I stepped back into the office. It's almost like I never left. I really do love the chemistry between the people who work there, who obviously care about the community they've created, both within the staff members and the bond with the youth that come through the program each year.

Susan: So ... I may have opened my big fat mouth again. *Sees Julien smiling.* Don't smile.
Julien: *Still smiling.* Actually, this is anxiety.


Susan: Margaret, our new Executive Director ...
Max: Do you really think we can still call her new? I mean, it's been 18 months now.
Susan: How much longer do you think we can call her 'new'?
Julien: What? Compared to our old ED?
Max: Yes, our old and molding ED.
Julien: Maybe five years.

Beyond Generous

That is how I would describe her. Beyond generous.

A couple months ago I mentioned that I had never received a mini quilt for one of the swaps that I particpated in. And then in early September, look what showed up on my doorstep!



Lorna, who I had sent a quilt to, went ABOVE AND BEYOND the call of duty by making me a mini quilt in return! This means that she sent out not one but TWO mini quilts. Not only that, to add on to the Beyond Generous gift of this beautiful, beautiful quilt, she also included a bag kit with blue fabric! Blue, my favorite color, and one that doesn't get highlighted nearly enough on this blog.

I really have to apologize for the condition of the quilt in these photos. I was so, so, SO excited that I just had to snap photos immediately upon pulling it out of its package! Lorna, you really outdid yourself.


One: how do you get your corners to line up so? I mean, that is killing perfection right there. This is the very reason I always avoid triangles -- I can never get my corners to match up! It is the bane of my quilting existence.

Two: Isn't the fabric combination perfect? I love the blues she chose, the border print, and that touch of purple? BRILLIANCE. Also, I don't know if you can see it, but she stippled the quilt in a thread that changes color between blue and purple. Sigh. So perfect.



I am still rearranging walls to find the best place to hang this to fully showcase it. I've got my eye on a wall in my bedroom though. As someone who loves decorating and always gave each room she lived in a very different feel [which says a lot, seeing as I've moved just about every year since I was 18!] and thus who has tried out many different decorating schemes, I really do feel that decorating my walls with handmade gifts and little bits from independent stores is truly, by far, my favorite way to make a place feel like home.

And this? Icing on the cake. Thank you soooooooooooooo much Lorna!!! It is sooooooo beautiful, I still can't believe you parted with it!

Sent and Received

Enough philosophizing, back to the maker-ly aspect of this blog! Right-o. Let's do the Received first, because that is always so much more fun.

I was paired* with the lovely, lovely Kristine for Doll Quilt Swap 7 - which I initially wasn't going to sign up for, and then Rita sent me an "I will if you will!" email and I am horrible with that sort of peer pressure - and look what she sent me!!!


Wow. I think she nailed my aesthetic to the T. Matching but not? The same fabric in multiple colorways? Monochromatic, and yet the great amounts of fun you can have within that? And kerchief girl? Man, I have been crushing on that line ever since I saw Amanda make her daughter a dress with that ... probably 2 years ago. Then my wallet and I had to have a heart to heart talk and I was without kerchief girl, despondent until now because I am the proud owner of a very little bit of my own! The prints she chose, the composition, the craftsmanship -- I love it all!!!

In fact, I love it so much I decided to create a little wall mosaic around it:

Left to right: print from Abby Try Again, postcard from Zonnah, Black Apple postcard circa 2006.

Makes me smile every time I see it. Which is quite often, as it is hanging on the wall across from my bed.

Actually, that's not all that she sent. She also sent me this really great paper clip with a fabric covered button from Freshcut [I love that line!], a needle pack, and knee socks. Um, do I really wear my soul out on the Internet here? How could she tell that I am 1) never as organized as I need to be, 2) constantly lacking in handsewing instruments, due to lack of foresight when I moved here and sheer forgetfulness every time I am at the fabric store, 3) madly in love with knee socks??? OK, especially that last one, I know they're a personal trademark of mine, sometimes I forget how much of our personalities seeps out into our blogging/Flickr personas as well.

.. Sent ..

Slipped this one in the mail a couple weeks ago, and when I got a brief but ecstatic "I love it!" phone call from the recipient, I was happy to know it got there in one piece.

For the girl who loves bunnies. And purple and blue. And peach, pink, and other beautiful pastel colors. The dish cloth is made by Rita, but she kindly let me send it to Kat. It kind of goes with the mug, actually. I wonder if you could use it as a coaster Kat? Or would that be too much?

Anyways. The scarf was made by me. It's Clapotis by Kate Gilbert, and my first time trying a bona fide fancy schmancy knitting pattern. I used a bamboo/wool blend sock yarn in a colorway that says "Kat!!!" like no other. A little graduation/housewarming/neckwarming gift for her one year general dentistry residency program.

The yarn knitted up to a really thin, drape-y scarf that should be perfect for northern CA weather. Not stifling, good for spring and fall evenings, winters, or maybe even the occasional over-air conditioned summer day.

Ah, fall. The nip is in the air! As much as I like fall weather, I'm a little bit in denial, too. Mostly because I dread the 6 months of slush that follow our 3 weeks of beautiful weather in Boston. Oh well. Gotta make the most of it.

At least there will be knee socks. I'm thinking I should make it a personal mission to wear them every day for those 3 weeks straight. My brand spanking new ones from Kristine will see lots of action. Because yellow and gray? Sexiness.

Happy Labor Day weekend to all!

*Oops, I mean, she was paired with me and I need to stop being a bum and finish my doll quilt and send it off to my recipient!

11th Hour Crafting: Spring Blooms Swap

For the Spring Blooms Swap I was paired with Lorna, or rather I was supposed to make her a mini quilt and have it in the mail by June 21st. Which, between finals, moving, traveling, and then getting back and starting work, didn't leave me a whole lot of time! There were a couple marathon sessions during those first evenings of work and that entire weekend, just to get this done barely over the deadline.

I've had this idea kicking around my head for awhile, and had initially intended to use some other yo yo's for flowers, but because of said move completely misplaced those yo yo's and immediately began dreaming up a lavendar, baby blue, and pale yellow color scheme instead.



For the vase, I used the wrong side of some HR fabric, an idea I first came across on Blair's blog way back when she was making her summer quilt, then backed it with that same fabric, right side up.


The blue and yellow strip of binding is a scrap from Rita, as is the blue gingham flower yo-yo. The rest was stash, including leftovers from this skirt and this WIP.

A funny note about the curtain: In the time I was madly sewing away at this, I took a break to meet a friend to dinner. I couldn't figure out which way to get the stripes to go, so as we were walking back from dinner I asked him:

Jessica: Hey John, can I ask you a question?
John: Sure.
Jessica: You know drapes? Have you ever seen any that have horizontal stripes? I mean, would that strike you as odd?
John: *silent.* I have never thought about drapes in my life.

Oh. Haha. Right.


Attempted a bit of a spiral in the handquilting. I'm still working on that!

Sadly, I have not received a mini quilt in return for this swap. Since it's only been a couple weeks, maybe they're just running late or shipping from overseas. Which I totally understand. Still, if that's not the case, this would make the second time in four swaps that I haven't received anything. I've signed up for one more swap, but I dunno, I'm getting a bit tired of investing time, energy, creativity and money in one-sided deals. I know I don't make the most awe-inspiring stuff, but still ~ maybe it's time to refocus on the making for family and friends instead, although I love how swaps challenge me in new creative directions.

The coming of spring

Awhile ago I signed up for a swap over at the 6 o'clock stitch. The guidelines were to create something 8" by 10", that had red and yellow in it, around the theme Spring. I was paired with the lovely Ky and was super excited*, as this is only my second sign-up-for-a-stranger swap ever.

I was stumped for a bit on how to interpret Spring. I mean, it was still frigid when I signed up for this, it was hard to get myself in the mood. But then I remembered Spring Festival, otherwise known as Lunar New Year, where red plays a prominent role in all festivities because we do love red. And gold? Well, gold is probably the second most prominent color in the festivities. This had promise.

One of the many ways we welcome in the new year is by hanging up large red couplets with auspicious sayings on them. Some are 4 or 8 word sayings, others contain a single word, like spring or good fortune:


These are then hung upside down [usually] to welcome in springtime, because in Chinese the word for "upside down" and "coming, arrival" sound the same, so its a nice visual/audio pun that tickles the Chinese love for puns. It's an annual tradition that I look forward to each year, to spend time with family and friends for the lots and lots of food that is always consumed.

So anyways. Off I went.


I repeated the word "spring" 4 times in the diamonds and inserted them upside-down, in keeping with tradition. This is one of those designs that made itself up as I went along, the only element I had predetermined was the characters. And I have to say, for someone who swore off sewing triangles about a decade ago, and, around that time, also swore off tiny bits of patchwork, I really enjoyed putting this together.

How fitting that as I type this, we're finally getting spring here in Boston!


*So today I ran into a friend from Japan out on the grass in front of the medical school. He was writing up a report for a trip he'd helped to organize over spring break, I was just lying on my stomach and gazing off into the grass. As he was staring at the evaluations forms he asked me, "Is there much difference between 'awesome,' 'amazing,' 'incredible,' and 'unimagineable'?"

I had to laugh. Apparently, we're quite taken to overexaggerations in this language, but in Japanese there really isn't the same extremity of expression the way we throw those around in English.

"Hm, which do you think is the most extreme then?" he asked. And when I couldn't reply, he said, "Well, what about AMAZING? Do you think that counts?"

"Did they put a bunch of exclamation points after it?" Which is something I would do. "Then yes, I think that counts as the most extreme."

***
So hm. Super excited, eh?

Swap doll!!!

Hey, remember how I signed up for that swap a long time ago? You know, the one where you make children's toys/clothing/items for each other and I realized only after I signed up that hey, I don't have children? Right. I did decide to go ahead and gift my swap item to the little girl next door, a little memento of her year in America [her parents are visiting scholars from Iran].

Anyways, my swap gift arrived in the middle of the week! [Sorry for general laggardness in posting about it - I was sooooooo excited to receive the gift!!! Just not much time to upload photos until now]

Look!!! Look!!!


PERFECT, right??? Kerri did such a beautiful job, I was thrilled over the moon [pardon the mixed metaphors]. I loooooooooooove all the handstitched details and the choice of fabrics! Swoon! I mean, the dots, the pink and red, the red riding hood! She explains it much better here, but we have such overlapping histories that weave in and out of 3 countries and 3 families, it really has the very faintest feeling of a fairy tale, this swap itself, the coincidences, the shared bonds, the pieces of humanity that transcend national borders, time, place, culture, people.


Ack. So wonderful. All the details, everything -- perfect.

So of course, me being me I just couldn't wait, I had to pop over that. very. night. to visit my neighbors and bring them their gift. I hadn't even mentioned it to them before Wednesday night because I wanted it to be a surprise.


Look! They match!


And of course, babies exploring new items the best way they know how - with their mouths! She was playing with her all night. Ramin and Shiva [her parents] wanted me to name the doll for them, so of course I named her Kerri :-). And so - thank you Kerri! We all thank you from over here in Boston!

Swap!

It got there! Yeay! I didn't want to spoil the surprise for Kerri so I haven't posted pictures of the final swap product, but here it is:


She said her living room colors are red, brown and teal, and requested a knit forest animal [but luckily crochet was OK because my knitting increases/decreases are decidedly more dodgy than my crocheted ones!]. So I poked around online for a bit to find a suitably cute pattern, and here he is! I was a little nervous crocheting a stuffie for a swap since I've never done it before, but I think it came out OK.

Edited 3/6/09: I've gotten a couple requests for the pattern. You can find it here. My apologies if you've been waiting on the link!

And then I made my first ever doll quilt to accompany him on his trip over America [I know, right? Why am I so decidedly unadventurous when it comes to crafting?]


These fabrics might look familiar from my swap with Rita [sorry, I have no photos of the stuff I made for her, this was the era of camera-lost-ness, but she does!]. A mix of new, vintage and upcycled fabrics. I never realized how fun doll quilts are. I'm going to have to make more of these in the future.

And finally, because I have been staring at this since December and I need to vamanos on this before it gets too warm to wear [ha! in Boston? That'll be, what, April? Ah, but I shouldn't jinx myself.]

Craft Swap: sneak peak 3

Just slipped in the mail 2 days ago!


Hope she likes it!

Craft Swap: Progress ...

It's coming together ...

A swap!

I've been meaning to sign up for a swap for forever and a half ... and then I always chicken out at the thought of sending something out to a complete stranger. Never quite sure of the quality of my handiwork [remember the wonkiness I sent my e. twin? Yeah. Ah, but I did finally send Rita her swap stuff and luckily that went over OK. When I finally track down a camera I will do her gifts to me justice!]

Anyways, this swap here looked pretty cool so I took the plunge and signed up!

Of course, then I realized that, ahem, I have no children or babies! What to do. Since I live among a bunch of international students, some of whom have children, my initial thought is to gift my received swap item to one of them. I think it could make a nice memento of their year in America, like the adorable little baby who lives next door. Her parents are from Iran and super super nice.

But it is past 11PM and we all know my brain doesn't work so well at this time of night, so I will sleep on it and update here on what I decide.

Still, excited!