Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
Post #1977: In which a vaccine reaction gives me an excuse to stay home and sew.
On Monday night I got myself vaccinated against the flu, something I have been meaning to do since October, but has now become a necessity since I will be travelling to Ottawa on Sunday. Nothing like an airplane to breed illness after all.
But because I have a super-good immune system, vaccinations pretty much always knock me out. That is, the immune system goes into overdrive making the antibodies and then I get tired (and) in the case of the flu vaccine – achy. Not terribly so of course, nothing like having the actual flu – but enough that on Tuesday I stayed home, took a lot of ibuprofen, and lounged around the house.
For the first time early December I had a quiet house to myself all day – and it was glorious! I spent at least half of my day listening to an audiobook and sewing – I’ve had an itch to make some new clothes lately.
Between Tuesday and two evenings I finished the Capuccino Dress pictured here… even handpicking the hem so it would be invisible. This is a muslin project really, to test the pattern and the fit, and as such it cost me approximately $15 in materials. Although it turns out that the fit is just fine, I don’t love the cut on me – too shapeless for my figure (unfortunately because what a cute dress)! Also, I should know better than to wear anything with gathers at the neckline with my bust!
Even so, I wore it to work today with a cardigan – because all dresses look better with a cardigan in my opinion.
I’m just feeling glad that for the first time in ages I got a chance to make something, even if it didn’t turn out to be something that I love. Each thing I make is one more set of learning tools for the next thing – and without a doubt, clothing is the most challenging of all. This project taught me invisible hemming and properly turned cuffs – and those are both pretty versatile skills.
Pretty soon I will be turning a work corner which should mean – more time for other things – and as I am itching for new clothes, sewing must definitely be on that agenda.
Post #1976: Taking a whole lunch hour
I took a lunch break today and worked on the shawl pictured with this post – an afghany thing made of flower motifs that I’ve been working on through the holidays. It felt good to take my scheduled hour off, even in the midst of a long to-do list, because I’ve realized that if I truly am going to make space in my life so that I don’t go crazy, it means taking my entitled breaks. This is not quite a first during my job life – I used to go to the gym on my lunch hours – but once I stopped doing that, it seemed wrong to take time off mid-day at all.
I’m going to try to make this a habit for the next little while, see if it helps me with this focus on time and space for other things (like crochet, and walks, and meditation classes).
Post #1975: Five (six) favourite makes from 2014
This might very well be my favourite make of 2014 – a Dala horse, hand sewn for my 3-year-old (horse-crazy) niece Grace. While she is much too young to appreciate such an endeavour – I will point out to you that the saddle is English-paper-pieced hand-piecing and took me about 8 hours to do… but that’s not my favourite part. What I fell in love with is the embellished “straps” crafted from felt, ribbon, buttons and red embroidery thread. Something about that piece makes this little treat all the more lovable to me.
The pattern for this came from Love Patchwork and Quilting out of the UK – same folks who publish Mollie Makes and a host of other great magazines for makers.
2014 was a pretty good year for making things all around – despite the fact that work and other things (like cabin-building) have kept me very busy. I haven’t always been good about posting the handmade things here, unfortunately, as it wasn’t a really great year for blogging and I often just threw photos up on Facebook instead of logging in here. (Part of that was related to a firewall issue at work that made it difficult to post photos to my wordpress posts – this seems to have been resolved recently).
A few of my other favourite makes from the year are posted below – these are the items that I fell in love with – but not an exhaustive list of them. As I winnow away at my disappointment at not being “perfect” in my hand work (because I am not, will never be, don’t need to be) I find a great deal of enjoyment in most of the articles I complete. Probably the area where I feel the least satisfied in the last year is on the clothing front. I just didn’t give myself enough space to make clothing which requires nitpicking with sizing and patterns – and thus aside from one sweater and a tank top, most of the garments were pretty forgettable.
So what were my top five makes from 2014 aside from the Dala horse?
There are, of course, many things that took much time and did not make it up here today (like the lace table runner I spent four months crocheting) – and it’s not because they are lesser projects. Just that some things catch me with a particular appreciation – and they do tend to be the things I use everyday – the marriage of utility and aesthetics striking a deeper chord in me. I feel very lucky that I fell into this form of hobby almost ten years ago (spring of 2005 to be exact) – something I never could have envisioned that has brought me a more comforting home and a more aesthetic life.
Happy New Year to all of you! I encourage you to find beauty and new projects in 2015 – light in a sometimes dark world. xo
Post #1974: In 2015, let there be air.
I came to work this morning and I cried. I want to say that I don’t know why that happened, but I do — it’s because I’m working two jobs at the same time and I’ve got a crazy to-do list full of things I don’t feel like doing. Also, I always feel crappy post-Christmas – too much sugar and not enough good sleeps. I am hoping that despite hosting a big NYE party this week, I will rediscover my equilibrium shortly and enter 2015 with good feelings instead of the dread that comes with being overbooked and overworked.
Don’t get me wrong – it’s not that I want to stop doing things! I am one of those people who likes to do things, see people, get involved in my community – and so on. But I’ve felt recently like I’m doing too much of the wrong things – things which burn me out and leave me frustrated (like work) – instead of enjoying time with myself and others.
For 2015 I want my focus to be on finding space – in my words, my actions, and my life. Not space so that I can do more, track more, be more – but space, for the sake of space. I plan to attend a meditation retreat in May, take more long weekends this summer to work on the cabin, and allow myself time to go to the zendo for formal meditation practice. I have recently realized that being outside frequently is not a “luxury” but a necessity, and in 2015 I intend to take my activities out of doors when they allow for it. And I also intend the space for making – music, clothing, quilts and art – not forced into the corners of my existence as though unimportant or frivolous. Once I finish my Master’s degree in April – I’m sure I’ll also find some brain space for thinking about new things.
What I will not do in 2015 is track myself. I will not write down my exercise days, the foods that I eat, the number of minutes that I meditate each day or how often I go for walks. I have a tendency to track as though it makes me a better person, but really I think it becomes one more thing that I am doing (or not doing) and is neurosis inducing.
In fact, I think it would be grand if I set no trackable goals for 2015 at all – they seem really the antithesis of my focus on space after all – and instead a prayer: Let 2015 be a simple year of being and accepting instead of doing and wanting.
Post #1973: A new fiddle for me
I have to admit that I feel.somewhat ridiculous about the fact that two days ago Brian and I had a big discussion about budgeting and getting focused on paying down the big cabin debts…. And then yesterday I went out and purchased a new violin on a layaway plan. But there it is. That’s exactly what I did. I’ve been pondering a new instrument for a long time with various motivations.
At first I wanted to get a cheap instrument for taking camping, then I liked the idea of five-string, then I wanted to upgrade and get another classic violin like my Stainer copy, but an older/higher quality version, and then I was confronted by the fact that I need to be able to plug in at shows and I really dislike most of the attachable pickups on the market (and mini-mics aren’t an option because they cause feedback on my vocal mic). I had read about these Gage Realist 5-string Violins on the Internet and listened to all the audio reviews of them – liking what I heard about and from these instruments. It’s one of the only electric-acoustics on the market at a non-custom price which was also attractive to me since I wasn’t prepared to spend more an a couple thousand dollars. Because I am taking the week off work to complete my term paper (very close to done!) and Brian took yesterday to hang out with me – we decided to go down to Long and McQuade and check out the Realist 5-string that they had in stock. Needless to say, I didn’t just try it out – but decided instead to purchase it on a lay-away plan (Brian offered up a decent downpayment towards it). I was far too attracted to the hassle-free pick-up with phantom power and the ability to get by without a pre-amp – to just walk away from the thing once I picked it up!
The amplified sound on this instrument is great, but as it’s a new wood instrument, I expect the acoustic sound to get somewhat better with regular playing over the next few weeks. Unplayed violins always sound a bit “crunchy” to me, attributed to the tightness of a wooden body that hasn’t had much resonance. If I had a stereo with a big speaker, I would simply put the instrument on top of it for a week or two to loosen it up, but given the fact that I don’t have much of a stereo setup, I’ve got to play the life into the thing. Still and all, this violin has a really resonant, almost reverberant sound – and the extra low string (which gives it the range of the viola) is pretty fabulous.
Unlike my lifetime violin (I’ve been playing my Stainer copy for 30 years), the low range on the Gage is really rich. Also unlike my lifetime violin, this instrument is full-sized and it’s got a significantly wider neck and body (my Stainer is a 7/8 and those violins are known for their slender build). So it’s going to take some regular playing to get used to and build up the musculature in my shoulders for a bulkier instrument. Since there is a 30-day return policy, I’m aiming to play as much as possible between now and early January to ensure that it is the right sound and feel for me. But so far, so good – I’m pretty excited about its tone quality and feel already. I’ve got a gig in two weeks time and my goal is to play this on stage – so I’ve got a lot of playing to do between now and then! (not to mention three sets of song lyrics to memorize – yikes!)
Red Cedar 