bits and bobbins

a creative week

2012-01-26T12:38:43Z

..in spite of it all. all being that everyone in our household has been at least a little sick, if not a lot sick, the past couple of weeks. i’ve had a chest cold (?) with a hacking cough so vigorous and spasmodic that it has nearly given me upper abs of steel. so un-fun.

still, I managed to drag my bones out of bed or off the couch long enough to lay out and sew a crib sized square triangle quilt i started sometime last year. i have enough to make about 3 quilts, actually. i made a quilt back for it last night and hope to baste it before the week is out if all goes well and i’m feeling up to it.

on Sunday i rallied long enough to go to this month’s meeting of the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild, where we did a mini project with zippers (see little quilted pouch, above). it’s not my best work but it was fun to make.

i also forced myself to go to my fabric silkscreening class on Monday, where I was able to pick up the fabric i printed in last week’s class, which was printed using a contact paper stencil and a little quilt inspired motif i came up with myself. i also stayed long enough to burn an image on my screen, which i will be able to print with come next week.

what did you accomplish creatively this week?

sketching with india ink

2012-01-18T21:12:48Z

in the fabric silkscreening class i am taking at lillstreet, we are supposed to be coming up with designs to burn on our screens. i’m playing around with india ink and vellum and seeing what comes out. doodles, really.

my week to date

2012-01-13T00:02:46Z

monday morning: went to the DMV downtown and got my new Illinois drivers license. happy to have a nice new non scary dl photo. ????

monday night: started my fabric silkscreening class at lillstreet. i took an instagram snap of these samples from one of the quilting classes while i was waiting in the hallway for the instructor to arrive. love that faux bois fabric!

wednesday: went to the salvo. bought a tacky silver and gold 80s purse, a rainbow stripe 80s dolman sleeve cropped sweater, and a pile of sheets. some sheets will be used in my fabric silkscreening class (a cheap way to acquire yardage!) and others to add to my growing collection to be used for a making a vintage sheet quilt…

wednesday night: the sky last night was so very gorgeous. this is the view from our apartment, looking south.

thursday: we got a big dump of snow today. it’s been a mild winter to date…i half wondered if it would really ever come at all!

bill cunningham new york

2012-01-07T02:09:34Z

bill cunningham new york: probably the best (documentary) film i have watched in a good, long time. i was smiling throughout the whole film, all 1.5 hours of it. he’s just so amazingly dedicated, funny, self-effacing, driven, and earnest. endearingly nerdy and obsessive in his drive to document what people are wearing RIGHT NOW. and he’s so spry and spunky for 80! i wish I had half his energy, and i’m 37!

love him so very much, he’s definitely one of my personal heroes.

the link above is just a trailer on YouTube, but if you’ve got Netflix streaming you can see the whole thing in toto…

***

have you seen it the film? what did you think of it?

1.6.2012

2012-01-06T16:21:55Z

i basically haven’t changed at all.
same tricia, different year.
always completely out of date & stuck in my ways.

-vintage goldtone hoops with orange, pink and purple beads: 25th street flea market, NYC
-pink fluorescent 3/4 length sleeve tee: j crew
-pink mexican embroidered dress: flea market in east village NYC about half a decade ago
-lace leggings: UO
-embroidered belt: thrifted in jacksonville, florida
-men’s gold digital watch: casio, baby!
-brown boots that literally go with everything: madewell

goals for 2012

2012-01-07T02:31:21Z

it took me a couple days to formulate some plans.

quilting related:

-keep quilting. quilt more and more as time allows.
-push myself, and stretch myself when it comes to quilting. strive to keep trying new things, developing new ideas, and follow through with those ideas and finish those projects.
-work toward finding and developing my own personal quilting style.
-improve my machine quilting skills. move beyond straight lines.

art/photo related:

-take more pictures. via the slr and via the phone (instagram, etc.). i.e., more photos by any means necessary. photos of anything and everything, myself, poppy, peter, anything around me. just get back into it.
-paint more. acrylics, gouache, watercolor, whatever.
-take a painting class.
-draw more too, damnit.
-use what I learn in my fabric silkscreenng class to make fabric for art, clothing and quilting. don’t end the class and not continue on with what was learned. perhaps use this fabric to as above in the quilting section, enhance my personal quilting or fashion design vision, as it develops and continues to develop.

fashion related:

-try a little harder. been in too much of a rut the past couple years. have fallen into wearing “uniforms”. so, i want to strive to try harder to express myself every day. maybe even document it again, but can’t promise anything.
-keep making more of my own clothes. use hand printed fabrics and marimekko stash to make some new dresses.

personal:

-read even more books.
-do some traveling. preferably out of the country, or at the very least, go somewhere in the states where i/we have never been.
-make new friends.
-spend more time doing art with my daughter.
-eat even healthier. cut back on the sweets.
-take a dance or yoga class.
-walk more.

***

i’m well aware that the turn of a new year is an arbitrary date on which to set goals, as goals can be set and strived toward at any time or date throughout the year. still, i like it…it’s a time to look back and reflect on the year gone past and formulate plans to make the year ahead as fruitful as possible. never a bad thing.

happy new year!

2012-01-01T22:47:43Z

this photo isn’t from NYE, but, close enough. (it was from pete’s work Xmas party back on dec. 10th.)

i have been around, but busy. i also got an iPad and that derailed my blogging big time…went into deep media digestion mode and created virtually nothing in a virtual sense. pinterest and Flickr efforts excepted.

it was a crazy year, full of a tremendous amount of change. good change (moving, poppy growing up and getting potty trained (!), and starting at a new preschool), and bad change (health problems, peter’s dad passing away, etc.).

but overall, the year ended on a good note, i would say.

-poppy’s new school is great. very urban and forward-thinking, as well as kind of hip. her head teacher has pink hair! they even make a point to serve them healthy organic food and emphasize environmentalism, which is a nice touch. she’s going 5 mornings a week and seems to love it. yay!

-poppy’s school is about a mile away. i usually walk back home after dropping her off, and walk back over to pick her up. lately i’ve been taking the stroller with me to pick her up so i can walk us home too, so I get about a 3 mile walk in each school day. hooray for exercise! i need it, as it’s been a non stop sweets and candy fest around here since Halloween…(maybe you can relate???)

-while poppy is at school, i usually head home to sew. i’ve been getting into quilting, big time. i made my parents a large quilt for Xmas, and also finished one baby quilt (for my newest niece marabel, born mid-dec), as well as a full size red and white zig zag quilt, which now resides on our bed. i’ve also finished multitudinous quilt tops in the past little while and have more ideas and quilts in the queue.

-on a quilt related note, i joined the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild in dec and met a fabulous group of ladies there…including one famous quilter, jacquie, who lives in my building. she and i have even gotten together a couple times since at her place to chat and sew. she’s amazing. so happy to make a friend here, especially one as nice as jacquie, and especially one who sews/quilts!

-i signed up for a fabric silk screening class, it starts next week, and runs for ten weeks. so excited!

i’m off to do some sewing RIGHT NOW. a perfect way to start the new year. while i sew i plan to ponder my goals for 2012. still formulating plans. *smile*

***

what have you been up to? i’ve missed you. :)

putting things back together

2011-10-12T13:07:05Z

we’ve been in our new place here in chicago for two weeks, tomorrow.

my mom came a few days after moving in to help out and take care of p while i set to work putting things in their places. having her here was amazing…i was able to get a lot done. without her here, the same work would have taken me months to complete. because 3 year olds need to be cared for, fed and entertained, you see…

there’s still a lot of work to be done, but little corners of the house feel settled and for now, that’s enough.

***

every day i am surer of our decision to move to chicago. i have and always have had a lot on my mind, but my soul feels more at home and at rest here than i have anywhere in the last two to three years. i believe i’m allergic to suburbs.

i’m really loving how *close* our new place is to everything. how i can not bother using the car most days, and can just hop on a bus or train to get me where i want and need to go. or just use my feet. it just feels easy and right.

sweet home chicago

2011-09-23T13:08:55Z

we’re here!

we arrived earlier this week, after a two and a half day road trip that took us through new york, new jersey, pennsylvania, ohio, indiana and illinois. sounds like a lot but it wasn’t bad at all, roughly a 13 hour drive (not attempted all at once, thank goodness!).

we started looking for a place on monday and found an amazing ultra modern apartment that same day, in the river west area, kind wedged between wicker park and the loop/river north. we move in late next week. it all happened faster than i had expected. i’m sure it will take a while to get settled. i’m used to it now. will possibly post some photos when that eventually happens.

my soul already feels lighter, being back in a big(ger) city. the bustle and movement and diversity are energizing for me.

living in suburbs was difficult; and greenwich, ct is a very tough suburb to get into, no matter which way you slice it. i don’t miss it one iota.

vegetables i have grown and known

2011-08-28T20:34:21Z

our gardens were really good to us this year.