Thursday, May 11, 2006

thursday corners ... crafts

it's thursday
and
time for
corners of my home.

the tea corner:


the breakfast nook:


so last night
i got home early
and grub was
at work until
the wee hours
of the morning
doing
architekto fun stuff
(because isn't
it always fun to be
at work until 1am?).
so i tried
to find something
to eat in the fridge
and then got
cracking
on collages
and sewing...

a few days ago
i made
some coasters:

and
wanted to
finish a few
for some
packages.

aside...
i am having
a hell of a time
with
the old singer.
i am not sure
if it is pilot error
or
the sewing machine
has seen
better days.
but the thread
kept jamming up.
i tried fooling
with tension
to no avail.
if any of
you master-sewers
out there can offer
a suggestion for
a good,
realtively cheap
(<$300)
machine to buy...
please please
leave comments!

i worked
on collages
and coasters
and placemats
(inspired by
dacia ray's
lovely placemats)
until 1 am.

this morning
i noticed
it was quite
the diaster area.
so here is
my messy corner:

and
a cluttered desk:


hopefully
i will
have
some collages
and
sewing projects
to show you
this weekend!

tonight
i am going
to the AIA awards
garden party
(it's raining)
at
the textile museum.
i wore
my vintage crewel skirt
(from my grandma)
for the occasion:


tomorrow...
to the village
i go.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your tea and breakfast corners look mighty serene and beautiful. Of course, the crafting corner is not serene, but instead looks appropriately messy and fun. You've been a busy girl!

All my corners are too messy for a post today.

f. pea said...

Your "clutter" is tidier than my desk's tidiest days!

Anonymous said...

I love a good late night crafting session!

bikeandbeer said...

maybe it's seen better days, but maybe you just need to figure out the ol' buttons.... (scott and i got the singer to work somehow, by using the manual.....) target has very inexpensive sewing machines! less than $100. i think i told you that already.....

Anonymous said...

gwen, you have a sewing machine similar to mine :)

i emailed you before concerning the sweetpea swap... i have a replacement waiting to be shipped to you... please email me when you can with your addy

greenbeanbaby at gmail dot com....

thanks so much!!!

and i am really diggin' that skirt

Eero said...

Sewing machine: I have a Baby Lock Pro Lite ("BL 2000") by Tacony Corp. It's small and a WORKHORSE. I know they don't cost much, either. I have a Singer, too, although a new one....and it's thread tensions is VERY fussy. Urgh.
A messy corner in your place?!? I could hardly believe it! Cool coasters...

sooz said...

Your life looks so very gorgeous. Sigh.

I have a bottom of the range Janome machine ($250 aussie dollars here) and it rocks. I punish it and use it heavily and do nothing nice for it at all. I had a couple of other machines prior to this (one an old Singer) and even with expensive professional care they weren't kind to me. And damn near killed me with frustration.

It helps if you learn a few good habits like always finishing a sewing burst with the needle in the fully upright position and always beginning with the needle fully up or fully down position, which seems obvious, but took me a good 20 years to get set in my brain. Make sure you have plenty of thread leading off the needle and bobbin before you start sewing and make sure your very first stitch in a burst of sewing is into the fabric, not before. And never sew over pins, no matter what anyone tells you.

And there's something else people do too that helps. Let's call it the X factor. I have seen sewers repeatedly jam machines that run fine for other sewers. I suspect the above habits or maybe the way you feed fabric (too fast? too slow?) can influence how well a machine runs. Either that or black magic, I can't be sure. Have you offended any powerful people lately? Notice anyone snipping a bit of yor hair for a strange doll-like likeness of you?

Anonymous said...

I love your pictures and the coaster is fabulous. I am a bit bird obsessed right now!