I open my mouth...

It's Sunday morning and I've been busy.
Wednesday night I was at a meeting of the Pomegranate Guild executive -- I'm on membership.

Some (no names to protect their identities) were lamenting the fact that no one wants to step up to the plate to volunteer to carry out tasks. I totally agree BUT I know myself and know that certain tasks are not for me. I cannot delegate, I don't want to be in charge. But ask me to help, I'm your woman. I'll even volunteer before I'm asked.

So, we were discussing the problem of last minute changes to programming. December's planned program was cancelled by the presenter due to other commitments. I have no quarrel with the canceller -- she is working major-time on the Guild's 25th anniversary celebration and main project. So what are we going to do for December's meeting. Here's where the "I open my mouth" comes in -- I volunteered to do "Our Lives as Crazy Quilts" -- a presentation about how I translate family and life cycle events into textile "scrapbooks". I will demo technique and philosophy. So now I'm thinking about how I can translate something I do on my lap to a frontal presentation. It's challenging but I'm excited about it.

I am almost finished the Heschel wall-hanging. I have two motifs to finish. I finally figured out how to do needleweaving flower petals (I searched on chloesplace.blogspot.com until I found a demo) and have even made a kind of device to keep the sides from caving in on themselves. So the needlewoven flower will be one motif. And I have to figure out how to use my needlepunch so that can be motif #2. I hope to get them done today.

Last night we went to hear Liel sing. It was a benefit for SACH, Save a Child's Heart, a non-profit organization which provides heart surgery to children of the third world and cardiac training to third world professionals. I hadn't heard of the organization before so I was quite impressed. A little less so by Liel. She has an amazing voice but I had a problem with the decibals.

Anyways, today, aside from stitching, we will go out to shop -- Home Outfitters -- to buy new pillows and otherwise spend out Aeroplan miles rewards.

Beads

Haven't done any stitching but I have finished removing the beads from the fabric they were on. They are for the most part plain clear beads. But they were used to outline flowers painted on a silky type fabric so they took on the colour of the flower they were adjacent to. On their own, they're just plain clear beads. Gave me an idea of how to use them. I'm just sifting through them now to remove the threads which didn't fall out when I cut them off the fabric.
Yesterday evening I was at Weight Watchers so didn't get home til late and did not stitch.
This evening, I have a Pomegranate Guild executive meeting so again won't get any stitching done. Oh well, I'll just have to think about stitching instead.

Trip to Israel?

This morning, we decided to see if we could find a cheap flight to Israel this month. I called the travel agent and there is a really cheap flight $599 CDN plus taxes BUT it's only for 9 days. I'm sorry, 9 days just doesn't do it for me. I need a few days to recover from jet lag. And even if we decided to do regular price $1199, the timing isn't all that great. They need me in back in the office by November 24th. So, as disappointed as I am, I think we will defer travel to the middle east until January-February.

In other exciting news, my needlepunch kit arrived today. I have yet to figure out how to use it and I hate reading instructions but at some point will bite the bullet and figure it out. This may just solve my signature problems.

I haven't stitched much today. I think I sewed on a button. Whoopee. But I started detaching beading from fabrics my mother collected for me from Edith's, the store where she bought her outfit for Yoni's bar mitzvah. They do alterations so there are hems and other bits and pieces for my cq work. It keeps my hands busy (without involving my mouth...) and in the creative mode, if only passively.

Just stitching...

Yesterday, I started on the SRE on the Heschel piece. Only had half a day to work because in the afternoon, I went with Mintzy and Rafi to see a matinee of Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" at the Bluma Appel theatre. I was rather impressed by the set, rather minimalist but very inventive, including a water feature to replicate a stream. The acting was quite good for the most part. My only complaint, the seat, has more to do with me not being able to sit for long in one position, than the seat itself.
Afterwards, we went out for a bite to a vegetarian Indian restaurant at Bathurst and Dupont, more or less. The onion soup was delish and a baked potato and bean salad was just enough for me. Rafi and Mintzy continued on to Dori's to babysit and I took the subway home. So I didn't get home until close to 8 and didn't stitch at all last night. And I missed phone calls with both Inbal and Rotem. I'll call them on my own.
This morning we're up early and I've been stitching on the Heschel. It's coming together. I've just about finished the SRE, finished my final seam and now am going to do some embellishing with buttons, jewellry, etc. Listening to Mozart choral music on the radio with stitching. Does life get any better?
But now, after stitching, I'm having trouble focussing my eyes.
Anyways, not much else planned for today. Maybe a visit to Mom, maybe drop in on Alissa and Mel. Maybe stay home and do some more stitching.
Oh yeah, just before the Mozart, I heard Gordon Lightfoot singing a song and think I've found the words for my course piece in his lyrics.

Inching my way along

I've been working on the smaller Auf Simchas quilts. The first one I'm making for a fundraiser for my nieces' and nephews' school. It has three cq blocks -- I've completed the seams on the first block and am now doing the seams on the second one. The first one turned out great so I hope the next two will meet the standard set.

Menachem stained the shadowbox blue. I like the colour but am not sure if it needs another coat. And whether it should be a little shinier. Decisions, decisions.

I washed all of the stuff Judith gave me. The first load was O.K., the second shrunk quite a bit and I still have to dry two loads and iron everything. But I'm excited about what to do with the stuff afterwards.

I am hoping to make it down to the Textile Museum on Saturday morning for their fall sale not so much for the fabrics as for embroidery threads. And then in the afternoon I am going to see a play.

I am hoping that once Bat & Sandy return, I will be leaving the office earlier and will be able to spend a little more time stitching in the late afternoon/evening. We shall see.

Quilting gone wrong

Yesterday evening, I added a few beads to the centrepiece of my challah cover. Then I started free-motion quilting. It did not go so well. I'm still picking out the stitches. Teeny weeny ones. I remembered to put the stitch length to zero. I think I forgot to put the tension to zero as well.
Oh well.

This morning, I started embroidering seams on the first of the two small wall hangings I'm doing. It looks nice so far.

We have a funeral today. A woman my age who has been battling breast cancer for at least 10 years. But it was still all too fast. A few weeks ago, the doctor told her she only had a few weeks. And that's all it took. It's awful, and it affects all of us.

WW today. Don't know how I did. Don't particularly care. I know I'm eating better so that's really all there is to it.

I was hoping to do some stitching this evening, but I may just park myself outside the shiva house to tell trick and treaters to skip this house.

The mother lode

A while back I wrote about fabric I found at a garage sale. Well if I was pleased then, I'm thrilled now. But more about this later.

Yesterday was an errand day. We went to Penina's to drop off the gift. Ended staying for breakfast (that was our second breakfast because we're early risers).
From there we went to my friend, Judith's. Carmit forgot the charger for her camera when she left here and Judith is going to Israel today so we took it down to her.

Judith is a friend I met at university. She is very outgoing and while playing Jewish geography, we found out that her first cousin is married to someone I was with in the tnua (youth movement). So we hit it off right away and have been friends ever since. Judith loves shopping but not at stores -- garage sales, rummage sales, etc.
We often do this together but we haven't physically seen each other in almost half a year, if not longer. During the summer, I'm away weekends. During the week, we both work. And weekends since September, we've both been busy -- she with her grandchildren, me with my needlework and both of us with the holidays. So it was really nice to see her.

And then we popped in at my mother's for a short visit.

OK, now the story I referred to earlier. Judith bought some fabric for me at the Designer's Walk (google Toronto Designer's Walk) sidewalk sale several months ago. Books of fabric samples. In short, the mother lode. I spent the afternoon taking the books apart and sorting the fabrics. The only drawback is that some of the fabrics have glue on them. I washed one piece in the machine at high temperature to see if the glue was water soluble -- it wasn't. I guess I could have ironed the glue onto craft paper but I couldn't be bothered. So this morning, I trimmed off all of the glue-y bits and now I will wash all of it, see how it holds up to water (it's all cotton or synthetic, except for one book of "dry-clean only" which I have set aside in the meantime), then iron it and get started.

Yesterday, I also sewed the borders onto the two smaller Auf Simchas pieces. They're both ready to embroider/embellish.

I finished the challah cover centre piece. Now I just have to quilt it.

I also tried an experiment to engrave a small piece of metal with my initials and the date. It didn't turn out too badly but I'm not convinced yet. I'm also going to try printer printing on ribbon and see how that goes.

Anyways, off to work shortly.

Field Trip to Home Depot and Michael's

So we went on a field trip this morning to Home Depot (hardware) and Michael's (craft store). Home Depot for the blue stain which they didn't have and would only tint for us if we bought a large quantity. So we didn't get the stain.

Since we were already in that shopping area, we went into Michael's. I had seen in their flyer advert that certain wools were on sale. I bought two balls (2 for $5), one navy and one royal or lighter blue. I swear that is all I was looking for. But I just happened to see another ball of dark blue/light blue which I've used before. It has a nice pattern as is (I will post a picture later when I've used it) and it also crochets up nicely. I picked it up, saw the price ($9), put it back, then picked it up again. I'll use it and I may not find it the next time I look. I also notice that they had stain but not the colour I want. I also noticed that they have a very nice notions section -- they had variegated cotton threads. So I don't have to shlep far to find them. And then just before we were leaving, I noticed a bin with ribbons so I found two widths of royal blue ribbon which looks like grosgain (I think that's how it's spelled).

Did I mention we "popped" into Costco on the way there? I had to replenish my supply of socks, some of which mysteriously disappeared while Carmit was here...

On the way home we hit Food Basics and stocked up on WW-type foods. I've cooked my soup and cut up celery sticks to go with the baby carrots and grape tomatoes and I'm all set for next week.

Now I'm busy auditioning trims for my challah cover. Once I get those sewn down, I can quilt the cover.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Blue stain on shadowbox

I've decided to do blue stain on the shadowbox. The other option I was considering is just too complicated. I hope to buy the stain and get it done this weekend. I still have to sign and date the cq square which I find rather daunting. I'm not used to working in such small rounded stitches and will be unhappy if it doesn't work out the way I want.

Auf Simchas II is finished. I cut the sleeve this morning before work and stitched it on during work (slow day). I hope to give it to Penina this weekend. And then I may borrow it back to enter it into a competition.

Inbal is doing her charity bike ride starting Sunday. She is going up to Jerusalem tomorrow because that's where the ride starts. I am bursting with pride.

And that's all for today, folks.

Decorating the shadowbox itself

I took a quick look at the Textile Museum of Canada website. There's an exhibit of shadowboxes which are up for silent auction. I didn't pay much attention to the content of the box yet, but more to the box itself. I saw two that interested me. The first was stained in blue so the wood patterns showed through. This is what I had originally thought of doing. But there was another one which continued the colours of the contents onto the box. For example, where in mine the upper left corner of the cq is dark blue, the shadowbox would be painted dark blue too. Light blue painted to correspond to the light blue cq piece. I kind of like that idea. But I'm not sure yet.

I didn't get any work done yesterday evening -- too tired. I didn't get anything done this morning -- too tired. And I doubt if I'll get anything done this evening either. I guess I'll just have to wait for the weekend.

Decorating the shadowbox itself

I took a quick look at the Textile Museum of Canada website. There's an exhibit of shadowboxes which are up for silent auction. I didn't pay much attention to the content of the box yet, but more to the box itself. I saw two that interested me. The first was stained in blue so the wood patterns showed through. This is what I had originally thought of doing. But there was another one which continued the colours of the contents onto the box. For example, where in mine the upper left corner of the cq is dark blue, the shadowbox would be painted dark blue too. Light blue painted to correspond to the light blue cq piece. I kind of like that idea. But I'm not sure yet.

I didn't get any work done yesterday evening -- too tired. I didn't get anything done this morning -- too tired. And I doubt if I'll get anything done this evening either. I guess I'll just have to wait for the weekend.

Pomegranate shadowbox

This is my shadowbox for the Pomegranate Guild 25th anniversary. The theme of the exhibit is "Threads of Identity". The outside perimeter of the box is approximately 10" by 10".

I chose to make my colour theme blue and white because of my strong ties to Israel.

The upper left hand corner is assorted family buttons -- my mother's, my sister's and my aunts'-- which have been beaded. Just below that are five chamsot. A chamsa is a good luck amulet.

Below that on the left is a piece of my cousin Ruthie's wedding dress. The flowers in silver were original to the dress. I outlined the flowers in blue to go with the blue and white theme.

The middle piece, is a tree on a white background. The white duppioni silk is from my sister's wedding gown. The tree trunk is from one of my father's ties. The tree top is a "sandwich" of two pieces of tulle filled with snippets from family fabrics -- my wedding dress, my mother's wedding gloves, a tablecloth my mother had embroidered, and again my father's tie. The three birds in the tree signify my three children. The sandwich technique was something I saw demonstrated at one of the Guild meetings.

The right hand light blue piece is embroidered with silk ribbon, a technique I also learned at one of the Guild's workshops.

The blue piece to its left has two Judaic and biblical symbols -- the dove and the pomegranate.
(The shadowbox picture was taken flat on a table--the pomegranate is suspended by beads and should hang vertically).

The final piece, the white wedge at the bottom is from my wedding dress. It is embroidered with the Hebrew word "shalom" and I doubt any explanation is required for it.

I still need to sign and date it.

And if anyone has any suggestions how to decorate the wooden box itself, please let me know.

Challah cover

This is the challah cover I've started on. The centre will be cut away to accommodate a centre piece, most likely decorated but without writing. (I mean, if it's covering the challah, isn't it pretty obvious what it is?)
And today, while surfing at work, I came across Soduko quilts and thought that might be a neat idea for the back. I just have to do the math correctly.

Finished wallhanging

Not hanging properly because I haven't done the sleeve yet, but this is the finished product.

Details

Here are the Auf Simchas square details.

Auf Simchas II -- Finished, well almost

So this morning I finished the binding on Auf Simchas, in time for Penina's birthday today. I still have to sew on a hanging sleeve and add a stitch or two to the mitered corners, but in general, I'm done. And it is a beauty if I do say so myself.

I think I will ask Penina to lend it to me. I may just enter it into a show if I gather up enough courage.

Now I'm thinking of backing for the challah cover I'm making. I may just use the some fabrics from the front but in a different configuration.

I will post photos later.

Pomegranate shadowbox stitching finished!

Yesterday, I put the final touches on my shadowbox cq square. On the white wedding dress fabric, I chain-stitched the word "Shalom", in Hebrew, and filled in the chain spaces with sparkly white and blue threads.

Now I have to decide what to do with the shadowbox itself. It is unfinished pine. Should I stain it blue? Paint it white? Cover it with quilting? I don't want to do anything which is going to detract from the stitching.

While I was mulling that over, I pinned the binding on Penina's piece. I actually am using a larger backing piece and folding it over for the binding. I was flustered with the corner mitering so I've left it for now.

And then yesterday afternoon, I had a spurt of energy and decided to make a challah cover from the blue and white cottons fabrics I had previously thought to use in my shadowbox project. I cut 2" and 3" strips, then cut them length-wise diagonally and arranged them radiating from the centre of a 20" square, alternating blue and white, and 2" and 3" pieces, so it's somewhat random looking but actually not at all. I started sewing yesterday and finished this morning. Now it's trimmed and waiting for the centre to be cut out and replaced with a centre piece. I don't think I will use lettering "Shabbat" or "Chag". I think the centre piece will be decorated with braiding, ribbons, or something similar to what I did for the twins. Not jewellery though because I want it to be washable.
Next project is to sew borders on the two cq hangings I'm making from the leftover squares from Penina's piece. And then embellish them.

You may have noticed that I'm procrastinating with respect to the homework from my course. I just can't get into it. I haven't found a theme or a saying yet. Once I have that, I should be able to catch up quickly.

We've been decluttering at home, mostly stuff that was downloaded from the internet for future reference. But by the time you go to check on it again, it is already redundant. I want to get the computer room set up so it can be used as a guest room.

CSNF report

I was too tired to write yesterday evening after I came home from the Canadian Sewing and Needlecraft Exhibition. Hence this morning's post before I go into my studio to work.

Yesterday morning, I went into my studio, looked at the Pomegranate project and finally figured out what to do in the last square -- I wrote, in Hebrew, "Shalom" in script. Now I am embellishing it. And then I will be finished with the textile part. And start angsting over the frame...

At around ten, I left for the CSNF. Menachem took me to the Finch station and I took the subway down. (Yesterday was also the CN Tower climb in which Gwen, the friend from work who climbs stairs with me, participated. If I had known I may have gone earlier to cheer her on. Next year, I may just join her...)

Anyways, mixed reviews for the CSNF. There were fewer exhibitors and a lot of the same old stuff. I did find out that there's a quilt store in Stouffville on Main Street but I really don't need any more fabric until I use some of the stuff I have. I enoyed the quilts which were exhibited although I was horrified to see some of them hung with the bottom lying directly on the concrete floor. But no cq. I did buy some more blue beads, some blue and white variegated thread, and a pack of 4 fat quarters. I think I may have outgrown the experience. I can see (and purchase) new things on line and at the merchant malls at the local quilt guild shows.

Anyways, when I was finished, I was to meet Menachem at a board meeting at Davenport and Ossington. Having absolutely no knowledge of how to get anywhere downtown, I asked the TTC person at Union Station how to get there and he said there's a bus from Dupont Station. When I get to Dupont Station, the TTC person there says no bus. So I walked. In addition to the four hours I had walked at the show. So my feet still ache and I think I shall spend most of today sitting.

Off to work in my studio.

SRE

SRE is silk ribbon embroider, just in case you were wondering.

So this morning, before work, I managed to get a little SRE done on the shadowbox project. Between this post and my Pomegranate Guild meeting tonight, I hope to add my French knots, beads and stitches.

That leaves me with one piece of my wedding dress mileage/kilometrage from it) which is as yet unembellished. For a mini dress, made from less than metre fabric remnant, I've sure gotten a lot of needlework/sewing mileage/kilometrage from it. I have used pieces on numerous projects and still have some left over.

So yesterday I broke down and went to weight watchers. I have been unable to lose the pounds I put on since my last (and first) successful weight loss. I feel that now that I've got the exercise part of the health equation going, I should try the weight part as well. I find that by tracking points, it does keep me more aware of what and when I'm eating. I don't like the idea of being preoccupied with food all day, but hopefully it will fall into second nature status after a while.

I took off early from work today. Yunkie picked me up and we went to my mother's because Lenny and Eyra Fritsch are visiting from Israel and my mother had them, Joe and Yvette Podemski, Yunkie, Penina and me for lunch. Menachem couldn't come -- he has a bad cold, is feeling miserable and didn't want to spread germs. It was a lovely afternoon.

Anyways, off to stitch.

Snippets, continued

I had zigzagged the snippetted circle in dark blue (same colour as tie) and it didn't look good. Also, proportionwise, it was too big for the area it was intended for. So I cut a smaller circle out of it, finishing the edge in white and then added a white boucle yarn to the perimeter. It's smaller size allowed me to put it on a white dupionni silk background where it's definitely a tree top and I used another piece from my father's tie for the tree trunk. I then put 3 birds in the tree top and a few sparkly beads from a beaded bag my children gave me for one of my birthdays. I only used the bag once and decided it should go to better use. In the meantime, I have used the beads on several projects, including the family chuppah.

I had to take the subway/bus home from work yesterday and since the subway station is at Empress Walk, I popped into the Fabricland store looking for variegated blue and white thread (which they didn't have -- I will get some, I hope, at the Canadian Sewing and Needlecraft Show this weekend). They were having a sale -- aren't they always? I bought some trims, not in colours that I can particularly see myself using any time soon but they were made from tiny shiny square sequins. And one blue wispy thing that isn't really a match to what I'm doing. Oh well.