Hi Everyone - I got home from NYC last night. I went to the Garment district on Saturday a.m. I liked Pacific Trimming where I bought a couple of yards of soft "ribbon" flowers that I will use to embellish t-shirts - my new favorite clothing choice. They had a very large selection of handbag handles for about $4 each.
I also bought a few yards of "braid" to embellish hand towels at M&J trimming. I like to buy plain white towels and then trim with braid to make them look custom. I even bought some fabric to make sundress, now I need to find a pattern. I used a document from Paula Nadelstern's website to figure out what to look at. One place I wanted to go (Handloom Batik) was no longer in Manhattan, so sad. Nancy even went with me to Purl Soho, but the warehouse in Orange County was way more fun. I didn't buy anything there.
Nancy and I went to see a Nora Ephron (and her daughter) theatrical piece (not a play) called "Love, Loss and What I wore." It was fun, but not very deep, even if there were mentions of divorce, breast cancer, and death. One of the funniest bits (I thought) was about women's purses, and another about bras. I think it is quite a good idea as a way to start thinking about writing an autobiography. We also could draw a favorite piece of clothing. I drew my wedding dress, maybe because I was watching "Say Yes to the Dress" on cable TV in the hotel room. I am so happy that I spent $79 (I think) on my dress, at an outlet store in Dallas-Ft Worth during a Planning Applications conference. Too bad I can't fit into it anymore. I find it quite appalling that people on that TV show have $3,000 - 7,000 to spend!
We had a wonderful dinner a block away from the theatre at a place called West Bank Cafe. Nancy had some kind of fish, and I had a black pepper pasta with duck and mushrooms. It was delicious.
I'll be in Wash DC in mid to late July. See you soon.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Bento Box: Tracey Brookshier
On Tuesday night, I went to the Quilters Anonymous monthly meeting to hear the talk by Tracey Brookshire about quilting in Japan. Quilters Anonymous is the overarching quilt group with over 400 members, of which the Ballard Stashbusters is just a "satellite" group. Tracey has sold over 50,000 copies of the Bento Box pattern - she says she is sending her son to college on the money she has made from that pattern. Too bad I didn't have photographs of ALL the many bento box quilts I have made!
Her talk was about spending 9 days at the Quilt show at the Tokyo Dome. Her slide show was FABULOUS. I am ready to go! I think it is typically the same week as TRB, so I might have to wait another couple of years, but I am thinking that January 2012 might really be a possibility. Do I really need to go to TRB annual meeting EVERY YEAR? I am not Kim! One of the interesting things she talked about was the "sensei" and student relationship in Japan. This is how the brush painting that my mother studied, and of course, Karate and other martial arts are organized, but they have extended it to quilting as well. She would show a full image of a quilt, and then a close up, showing the meticulous work, especially with applique and hand quilting. She didn't talk too much about different color choices, except for the use of beiges and browns (like the Daiwabo taupes). She asked someone about it, and they said they were going for the "American country look." It is still a mystery. Maybe they saw a faded b&w photograph that looked sepia, and they thought that is what the quilts looked like in real life?
So, start saving your money for a trip to Japan! I am READY! It doesn't bother me that I will never do that kind of quilt making. I think I can just marvel in the fact that they do it, and I am happy to piddle around to maintain my mental health. Frank is building me a shelf for the closet in my sewing room, to help me get a little more order (I hope!).
Her talk was about spending 9 days at the Quilt show at the Tokyo Dome. Her slide show was FABULOUS. I am ready to go! I think it is typically the same week as TRB, so I might have to wait another couple of years, but I am thinking that January 2012 might really be a possibility. Do I really need to go to TRB annual meeting EVERY YEAR? I am not Kim! One of the interesting things she talked about was the "sensei" and student relationship in Japan. This is how the brush painting that my mother studied, and of course, Karate and other martial arts are organized, but they have extended it to quilting as well. She would show a full image of a quilt, and then a close up, showing the meticulous work, especially with applique and hand quilting. She didn't talk too much about different color choices, except for the use of beiges and browns (like the Daiwabo taupes). She asked someone about it, and they said they were going for the "American country look." It is still a mystery. Maybe they saw a faded b&w photograph that looked sepia, and they thought that is what the quilts looked like in real life?
So, start saving your money for a trip to Japan! I am READY! It doesn't bother me that I will never do that kind of quilt making. I think I can just marvel in the fact that they do it, and I am happy to piddle around to maintain my mental health. Frank is building me a shelf for the closet in my sewing room, to help me get a little more order (I hope!).
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