NEEDED an orange dress

I felt like I needed an orange dress in my life.  But I had an orange dress.  An orange linen dress but it was not the shape I really wanted.  And the fabric was starting to go so I did not feel like it was the most presentable dress to wear out of the house.  The fabric was showing a lot of wear.  Kind of a fuzz and change of color.

So . . . I took my orange linen dress and turned it inside out.  The inside of the dress was much less worn so I fitted my simple sheath pattern to it.  The sleeves were a little bit shorter then I was thinking and the dress was a tad shorter but I have another orange dress.

A simple sheath dress was made.  I got a complement on the "t-shirt" dress on our trip to Alaska.  I do not really think of it as a t-shirt dress but I can see it.  It is as comfortable as a t-shirt.

I have another three linen dresses that are showing similar wear.  Just not nice enough to wear out of the house.  But if I turn the inside out and use a bit of sewing, they will be.  The fabric will have another life.  The only thing I may have to purchase is thread.  And I will get teased.  I have friends who tease me that my clothes never die, they just are reincarnated.  Maybe, eventually, unless it is shredded, this dress will turn into a quilt.

By the way, shredded has happened.

survived the day

I am breathing.

It was a difficult day at work and by the end of it, all I wished to do was sit at my sewing machine.  So, that is what I did.  I finished cutting out a shirt and made some nine squares.  There is a quilt in my head that is trying to come out.  These squares are actually for the quilt that will end up in my chair or bed at some point.  I make one unique nine square and put it aside for the quilt that will stay in this house.  Not like we need another quilt but I do not turn down quilts.

The time at the machine was good.  Today was a tiring day at work and my cough is coming back.  But a shirt is started and more quilt blocks are being put together.  It is not really much in the grand scheme of things but with a short evening ramble that included frozen custard, it is a nice break from the madhouse.  Now, if I can survive the rest of the week.  I have to keep reminding myself that it is a nice paycheck.

More nine squares tomorrow!  Or spinning?  Or dough under my hands?  I need more people who need bread and it will get to them before it gets bad.  But that is just life.

bits of what I brought home from Alaska

I really did not think about souvenirs on our travels.  My thoughts were more along the lines of pictures and experiences.  But then we entered a fabric store in Juneau that catered to quilters.  The fabric store was quite exciting because another shopper, who was from South Africa, got woozy and fell over.  I sat and talked with her until she felt better, my parents sat in the lobby, and while I looked at more fabrics, my Beloved walked her down the stairs in the building.  

The thing I liked about the fabric store is that they carried Alaska artist Barbara Lavallee's work as quilting squares.  I had seen the prints as prints, note cards, and post cards but the quilting squares spoke to me.  I walked out with too many but now I am going to make a quilt of them.  I just have to have enough energy again to get started.  The cough is better!

I also came home with this bronze of a momma polar bear and her cubs.  The bronze has a titanium finish to give it colors.  The family joins a pewter bear and a dragnet.  Koda Bear thinks the animals who watch over me when I sew are pretty cool.  They all sit at the end of my sewing machine.

Now, I have to make my souvenir.  But that is pretty normal.  I have some wood block prints to hang near my sewing machine as well.  Sitka was a lovely place for art.

while on the pirate ship

During the trip on the pirate boat, I worked on a sweater I was making.  It meant I got to look at scenery going by instead if I had been reading and I would not have experienced anything.  There was some ripping out that happened.  Mistakes were fixed but in the end, I have a sweater.

I designed from an Eileen Fisher sweater I liked.  A bit cropped.  Oversized but not too oversized.  The grey yarn is a yak silk blend that I spun.  The bit of white accent is a cashmere yarn that I also spun.  I needed to spin the cashmere on a drop spindle so I took that bit of spinning with me when I was traveling.  It is an interesting fiber life to lead when you are making all the yarn you are using in your making.  But it is my current life right now and I like it a lot.  

I am still sleeping a lot so it has been a very quiet crafting, cooking, baking week.  I get tired or over heated and I feel horrible.  But I had ten minutes today when I felt very good.  I am hoping for more minutes tomorrow.  I will just have to take it easy.

Totem park

One of my favorite things about Sitka was the Totem Park.

It is part of the Sitka National Historic Park.

It was one of my Mom's favorite places too.  She remembered it from when they took a cruise to Alaska.

It is right on the water and it connects two sides of town by an easier path then walking the road.  I actually walked through it again a couple times in the rain.

I did not get a picture of Koda Bear with his favorite totem pole but there was one in the city square that if he could have visited everyday, he would have.  

Just lovely.