Monday media and miscellany...

in which our plucky heroine has a mildly productive day...
doing various housey chores, and completing a few of the smaller projects that have been on my to-do list...

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Here is a short interview with the artist Shirley Hughes:
and here is a longer interview with her part 1, and part 2
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~ week 7: reversible camisole top ~

Week seven - a reversible camisole. The camisole needed decoration, rather than being the two plain solid colors that were all I had in the fabrics that suited Kenya's wardrobe. The blue "denim" color side, now embroidered with the same motif as the hemline of the bell bottoms, makes them look rather like a jumpsuit when worn together, or maybe one of those 60's sportswear/playsuits made of separates...

I suspect that making this garment would be easier at a somewhat larger than Tiny Rag Doll scale... I used the camisole from the basic TRD pattern booklet, modified to make it reversible, fastening in the back, and changing the criss-cross shoulder straps to plain. (I don't know why I find fixed crossing straps so difficult to use when dressing dolls, but I always switch them out to be fastened with snaps or hook-and-eye instead, or as in this case, to just be plain shoulder straps)

I used cotton twill tape for the straps, which I "dyed" with Sharpie marker; running a Q-tip dipped in denatured alcohol over the markered tape evened out the color really well, and once dried, it is reasonably washfast. I have used Sharpie markers from time to time to get effects on fabric for dolly clothing, such as the specialty motifs for Kenya's dashiki.

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Today I decided that one of my speedy projects would be to make some pressing tools useful for making dolly clothing. I cut a chopstick in half and covered most of it with a layer of wool felt, for pressing sleeves. Then I cut out two vaguely carrot shaped pieces of linen herringbone, stitched and turned them leaving a gap big enough to then very tightly fill the form with wool fleece. This creates a sort of extended sewing ham for pressing skirts and bodices. I expect that these will be in pretty much constant use when I am sewing tiny garments, as their larger cousins are when I am sewing for myself.

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well gosh, my left great toe looks mighty ugly today. The whole area where the chunk of 4x4 hit is an ugly purple bruise. Fortunately it is not very painful, and does not impede my ability to walk or to ride my bike. Wellington would be very annoyed to miss out on his multiple daily walkies!

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It isn't my imagination that it seems like so many more of the folks I know have caught COVID this summer...

Graphic from "Map shows states where COVID levels are "high" or "very high" as summer wave spreads" from CBS Healthwatch...

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August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pillowcases	nut chopper handle	-
2	yak print	-	-
3	tiny bell-bottoms	-	-
4	tiny camisole	-	-
5	small pressing tools	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. my late friend Larissa gifted me with a blueberry bush when I moved into Acorn Cottage twenty years ago. This year it has been really prolific (compared to prior years), and I've been enjoying picking berries in the morning, and thinking of her...
2. Interlibrary Loan - I was able to get a copy of "A Life Drawing" (the illustrator Shirley Hughes' autobiography)
3. YouTube, where I can listen to and see all sorts of wonderful interviews with people...

Time of Isolation - Day 1486

weekend whatnots

in which our plucky heroine is bruised but unbroken...

My attempt to be efficient in making sure all the porch plants were watered somehow resulted in a sudden gust of gravity that tipped what had been a counterweight that then landed on my foot. Well actually my left great toe. I am glad I was wearing shoes, for sandals would not have been as good at distributing the stress, and it would probably have been broken rather than bruised.

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~ Bell Bottom Blues ~

After last weeks assortment of pants/trousers, I was also inspired by one of the offered patterns to adapt the pattern I use to create some vintage style "bell bottoms" for Kenya, as a companion piece to her dashiki. I think, though, that they need some flower power embroidery around the hemline...

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TIL that an intense craving for eating ice can be a known symptom/indicator of anemia. (no not me, but a dear friend) and that science has no explanation for why this is so.

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Progress is happening on the denim hat project. The outer hat crown is almost completed, and the brim and binding pieces are all cut out. Still need to cut out the inner crown, the hatband pieces and the brim interfacing. I expect that the hat will be finished this week, which will be wonderful.

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August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pillowcases	nut chopper handle	-
2	yak print	-	-
3	tiny bell-bottoms	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. My toe is not broken, after I accidentally knocked a big chunk of 4x4 over and the edge of it fell directly into my great toe. There was gasping and instant tears, followed by arnica and the ice pack from the freezer. My efforts to tie the ice pack to my toe would have made a funny video.
2. My old friend Sharon is no longer in the ER, having had her low hemoglobin topped up by transfusion; I spoke with her today and she was at the farmers market sounding much more like herself.
3. I encouraged yet another friend to participate in the Advent of a Better Year swap! that makes nineteen!!

Time of Isolation - Day 1485

Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine does her best to keep cool...

Last night I tried waiting til just before bed to take Wellington for his last walkies of the day, it was 90F at 10 o'clock, well after sundown. I remain very grateful for the effective heat pump which is making staying in the house a respite...

denim hat more pieces cut out
100 wildfires large and small in Oregon alone
mt Dishmore

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~ memory of Marimekko ~

One thing I have been wanting to do is to refurbish the bed linens. The buckwheat hull pillows need cases. I chose some neutral geometric printed cotton, only to notice along the selvedge that it is actually Marimekko! No wonder I like the motif so well!! Those were a really quick make, and I also cut to size a chunk of red paisley flannel to make a second duvet cover. My goal is to have two "sets" so as to better allow for laundry day.

Back when I was a girl, it was a special treat to go wander windowshopping around Harvard Square. (thinking about it now, it was almost European in the density of shops and schools) One of many places I particularly enjoyed was Design Research, which was a definite influence on my personal style taste, and was also the local source for Marimekko textiles and clothing. I was pleased when I found out that they also had a small shop on the outskirts of Cambridge where they sold, in addition to items that were overstock or damaged, bolt ends and scraps of Marimekko yardage!

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a number of years ago, Beth and Karen gave me a vintage wooden nut chopper bowl with a fitted semicircular knife (similar to an ulu). I decided that the knife handle could use with some attention. First some careful rasp work rounding of the handle edges, to make it nicer to hold. Then sanding, to smooth out the curves and flatten where the grain had been raised from washing. Finally, I slathered it in wood butter and set it outside in the sunshine. I might not like the hot and sunny weather, but it is great to encourage woodenware to absorb nourishment.

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Sewing large and small currently: The denim hat is mostly cut out, and I'm now adding the interfacing to the hat crown prior to hand stitching the circumferential pleat. In smaller news, I'm trying some pattern modification to make Kenya a pair of 60's style bell bottoms. They will probably need some flower power flower embroidery...

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August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pillowcases	nut chopper handle	-
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. clever Past Me bought the two pack of Nasalcrom, and put the "extra" one in the medicine cupboard. I had been meaning to order some, since allergy season seems to be extending later and later in the year. Now I can simply order more to keep on hand for backstock. I keep trying to do this where I can, it reduces stress and adds resilience...
2. a blood draw this morning that was not a problem, unlike how often it is... The medtech at the clinic was able to find a vein easily, and almost painless (unlike the tourniquet)
3. There was a charm (is that the right collective noun?) of goldfinches outside this morning, some on the phone wires, and even some in the yard eating the seed heads of weeds...

Time of Isolation - Day 1483