taos, i hardly knew ye

Back from the West, I can finally understand why people keep moving there. Why, indeed, one of my best friends (and her fiancé-cum-husband) moved to New Mexico. It is an enchanted land; it is temperate and intemperate at once, it is bigger than any place I had imagined before. I was charmed by its loveliness and moved by its richness and poverty.

I also found what may be the best fabric store in the world, Common Thread, in Taos. They carry things I've never seen all in one store: Marimekko, chirimen, Indian cottons, Guatemalan wovens, really unusual silks and velvets, a HUGE assortment of vintage and new buttons, about 2000 kinds of ribbon (okay, maybe more like 500, but an array the likes of which I've never seen otherwheres), as well as made textiles from around the world--everything from saris to kimonos to Hmong quilting. And the store itself is beautiful as well.

I did, of course, bring some things home; you can see more photos here, with notes to tell you all about them. And there are most certainly works in progress, but I am still in the middle of the biggest one, (not to mention the impending SPC; please come if you're in the cities/surrounding area!) and so it will be a while before I can take photos and post. Alas. Alack.

There is a huge fly buzzing around in here, but it is still good to be back.

Fanmail from some flounder?

My packages have been temporarily routed to my parents' house, just across town, but I'd forgotten until my mom called on Monday to say I had not one, but two packages, one of which bore the delightful, many-starred Australian airmail logo.

First I opened the one with the KingPod return address.

Do you see the wool felt (I can't believe how much I love it, with its suggestion of all manner of tiny possiblities), the pink pompon trim? The bits of fabric, including one that became a lovely dress? And there are cards from Amy's shop, and Yoshitomo Nara cards, and Pucca stickers, and fancy papers, and it was all wrapped very nicely, until I ripped it apart. That would be the blue in the background: the wrapping paper. Thank you so much, Amy!

And then, the one from Sarah:
Vintage ribbon (I think one of her favorites? Am I right, S.?), and another pretty pretty ribbon, and a grey, pearly button, and a sweet card (thank you especially for this) and a chapter of a book wherein the narrator discusses ribbons. Yes, the perfect novel. Thank you very much, oh red-felt-flowered one!

Tomorrow I leave for New Mexico. No blogging, then, until next week. But I'll leave you with a tantalizing little snippet of what I did yesterday:

And, if you have nothing better to do, you can always vote!

oh me ± oh my

Can I still post something for "work-in-progress Fridays"? It's one of my largest works in progress right now, and it's the reason I haven't been able to post much the past while. In all its shabby glory:

This is where I'm living, for the next three months. The rent is a lot cheaper; the square footage is correspondingly smaller. But there is room for a big worktable in the center of the room, and I drafted three shirt patterns and one for a jacket yesterday, so the work vibe is good.

Now to get back to it. Real posts (and photos of packages from Sarah and Amy) very soon.

PS: If you liked my back-tack3 softie, please go and vote! for it. I was a lucky finalist--one of only five! Vote here. Voting closes the 24th, so hop to!

blue

Sometimes I think of this weblog as a record of the things I allow myself to give up. I was a packrat as a kid, and still am in some ways, although the pending trans-Atlantic move is helping me give things away. These are the last two of a set of four bowls my mom gave me when I first moved out of the house--I've had them for 8 years! My friend is coming over today and I know she likes these bowls. You can't take it with you is my motto of the hour.

More "color week" here and here.

the rabbit has landed

She's arrived.

everything: the monstrous post

When I don't have time for everything in short doses, you end up having to endure all of it at once. So, gentle Reader, for your ease (skip to the good parts!): A Table of Contents.

1. Packages Rec'd. This Week Or So
2. Projects in Progress (Projects' Progress? I'm no Bunyan....)
3. Do You Want This Fabric or It Is To Be Had Cheaply
4. Epilogue

1. Packages.

Reader, you cannot imagine my delight at the receipt of a package with Shim + Sons in the return address space. What? And why? Lady Shim sent me the lovelies pictured below simply for hosting the trim swap. Well, if all it takes is having other people send me presents to receive one of the dearest thank-yous ever, I'll do it anytime! S., thank you so much. I've already used some of the ribbon (see Chapter Two).
Do you see the beautiful tea towels (also here), the tin of ribbons (also here), the handmade tags for presents I'll send out? So pretty. So thoughtful. So completely unexpected.

And if that weren't enough, I also received two more packages of trim in the Trim Swap: one from Alison, one from Alex.

Alison, who is one of my favorite online people because of her immaculate sense of design and her warmth, also sent a bar of fig soap (mmm!), some tea and a little spoon, as well as a tiny cherry-blossom tin for the ribbons. And Alex! Look how lucky I was to swap with her: Japanese trims with anchors, French sentences, all the sweetness of a zakka-book, and so prettily packaged. Thank you both.

2. Progress.

Whatever be your notion of me, you cannot doubt the effects of working a ten-hour day on the backstock. To wit:

And that, I daresay, is an example of pictures being worth x to the n words.


3. Fabric.

Now you shall have to bear the results of my moving, which mainly take their effect in terms of the amount of fabric I am getting rid of. I have three grocery bags full to be sold at a garage sale this weekend (! oh dear), and then some nicer, larger pieces which I'll put up here first.

The first one is poly/cotton: it's half of an old, queen-sized sheet. Still enough for a skirt or two. The middle one is a really pretty depression-era reproduction; there are about 1.5 yards (if you want it, I will measure it exactly). I always thought I'd make a knee-length skirt of this, with box pleats and a high waistband, and wear it with a fitted white middy blouse. Some dreams aren't meant to be, perhaps. The last one is unknown fiber content; it's slubby like a shantung, but it is not silk. The verso is, as you can see, a paler blue, and a little shiny. Probably about 2 yards here, too.

EDIT: They're taken! Thank you! I'll post other pieces from my stash in the next week or so.

4. Epilogue.

Are you still there? Do you think Mlle. Austen ever felt she had to ask that at the end of one of her novels (not to compare this to that!)? In any case, debts are owed herein to J. Austen (and to another Jane, whose love of the Austen Address so emboldened me to write in this style).

such good things

I read last night at the Loft and the thing is that I never think about reading until I actually have to do it, and then I have little anxiety attacks all day the day of, mostly because I don't want to regret not reading something I should have. St. Procrastinata: I took her name at confirmation. But at the last minute, I decided I would read what I'm good at, which is love poetry, and so I did, and it was just perfect. It really was.

If I could take a photo of this feeling, it might look like this:
which is the most lovely package of trims from Mo, of Froy and Olo fame. How someone who doesn't know me could pick out ribbons that are So Exactly Me, I don't know. I just feel lucky. And spoiled, again (Sally, I haven't photographed your beautiful package yet--soon! tomorrow!), but look at those pink velvet leaves!

Or it might look like this--in the middle of printing an order from a certain Chicken, at this point--and it might just feel the way it does when you say "how about a movie?" and he says, "yeah! that sounds good. want to walk up?" and it is exactly what you want to do.

You know, perfection.

So goodnight.

poetic sequence

Lynn Emanuel is in town, and I've only had dinner with her and heard her speak this morning yet but I love working with her already. She was talking about her ideas on the difference between the long poem, the poetic series, and the poetic sequence, and so I think I'll honor that with a series/sequence/long entry of my own device.

Begin at the beginning, and go to the end, and then stop (said the Red Queen, I think). So I will. This is the print I was working on so long ago, back when I had ideas like having a how-to entry every week. It's huge! It's the biggest print I've made. And I never really showed the finished work, but here it is--finally framed and up on my wall.

Next, I suppose, would be these lovely girls, whom you may remember from here. They came over to model my summer line one day a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't feel well enough to weed through the photos. But here they are:


And here is one of Liz alone, in a skirt she likes (hi, Liz!):

And then, of course, we move into completely uncharted territory, and have to start thinking about things like this

and this,

as well as the enormous task-lists for the next month as I move and shuffle and reshuffle. Fun tasks, like "finish [REDACTED SECRET PROJECT]" and "make more [REDACTED SECRET PROJECTS]."

And hmmmm, maybe I'll begin posting with regularity again sometime soon. But maybe not. But [REDACTED]. We'll have to [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]. If I could wink at you right now, I would. In fact, I am. Wink, wink.

Happy weekend.