Posted in June, friends, sewing on April 25, 2009 | 7 Comments »
In January I bought a new sewing machine. The mini-machine that I could lift with two fingers and use only for straight stitching suddenly wouldn’t work. Diligent searching on the Web for the simplest machine I could find led me to this one:
The Singer Simple is a very easy to use sewing machine with many [...]
Posted in Gloria, supplies on April 24, 2009 | 8 Comments »
On Wednesday Gloria gave me this gift of lace.
It had been on the collar and sleeves of a dress she bought in 1941.
In September, 1940, following in the footsteps of two older sisters, Gloria became a freshman at Howard University, in Washington, D.C.
Here she is as a freshman in a portrait taken at the studio [...]
Posted in Stitching, clothes, hand embroidery on April 22, 2009 | 9 Comments »
Well, yesterday was a sick day. Not feeling like doing anything at all, I got a surprising sudden urge to do something about an old vest I like a lot that was looking kind of worn.
As some of you know, for as long as I’ve had CFS-ME, and no longer had to wear business suits, [...]
Posted in family on April 13, 2009 | 9 Comments »
On Saturday, my grandson Josh, with his brother Matt (physics guy), came to take me to their house for their grandfather’s birthday celebration. (You’ve seen the card I made for him. Just before I gave it to him, I learned that it was his 82nd birthday, not his 80th, as I had been told.) I [...]
Posted in gifts on April 10, 2009 | 2 Comments »
In contrast to the Elizabethan stitches and fundamental physics and metaphysics I’ve been dealing with, I made this simple card for daughter-in-law Carolyn’s father’s 80th birthday this weekend. It’s just sequins held with beads, plus French knots and chain stitch in Eterna overdyed silk twist thread on felt. I printed the numeral on cotton, [...]
Posted in Elizabethan on April 8, 2009 | 9 Comments »
Huh? Huh? Is that okay? The knotted detached buttonhole stitch, on a practice cloth, using DMC cotton floss.
Now back to the plaited braid stitch. I’m still practicing that stitch on a curve, which is quite different from stitching it in a straight line. I’m going to show you the way I have devised to do [...]
Posted in family, gifts on April 7, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Last Saturday, grandson Caleb celebrated his graduation from the University of Washington with a family party outside Seattle. Since I live 3000 miles away, of course I could not be present. But I wanted to celebrate with them. The weekend before the party I made chipotle cheese crackers as my contribution to the potluck supper,
and [...]
Posted in art on April 1, 2009 | 3 Comments »
This photograph appeared on the front page of The Washington Post this morning. It shows a centuries-old Japanese Stone Lantern near the Tidal Basin. That’s the Lincoln Memorial in the background. The lantern was given to the city by the governor of Tokyo in 1954 as a symbol of friendship–that soon after Japan’s defeat and [...]
