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I just don’t get it

Sometimes I just don’t get it.

This Chanel jacket arrived this past week, forwarded by one of my favorite personal shoppers. The jacket fits me beautifully, but I don’t like it.

Why?

Well, it looks like a muslin, like something I just slapped together to get the fit right.

It is not a muslin. It is actually beautifully finished, beautifully and meticulously constructed to look just like it was slapped together.

I understand about deconstruction from a purely intellectual standpoint. I understand about exposed seams and ravelling and fringes and so forth. But I can’t help myself. I still fail to see why someone would spend $4,000 on a Chanel jacket that looks like something their dressmaker just slapped together in a few hours.

I suppose, if I were the person who purchased this, (it is on sale now for about $1700) I would appreciate how beautifully it was made and get a little thrill out of the fact that it is such a meticulous piece of work even while everyone who saw me thought I was wearing some falling apart jacket that I didn’t bother finishing.

But I am not that person. And although I don’t have trouble with the idea of people buying expensive clothes or investing in them to the best of my ability, I don’t really get this "expensive run down" look. Perhaps I don’t have enough money to appreciate the irony.

Later in the week, I got another Chanel jacket. This one is from the fall line and it is much more traditional. I like it much better. It is also cheaper, retailing for around $2700. I am still not buying it, and it doesn’t fit me well — it fits through the shoulders and needs serious shaping below the bust. I would enjoy making something like it however, and I have the perfect fabric in mind.

Why is it cheaper even though it is wool? Well it is much more traditionally made. This jacket looks more like a finished jacket but it took less time to finish it properly. There was a lot of work that went into making that other jacket look like it was unfinished.

Here is a peak of a detail from the original.

For more you will have to seek out your nearest Neiman Marcus or Chanel boutique. Or wait to see if I ever do anything further with the ideas this jacket has inspired.

July 7, 2007
Ending a year and starting sewing again.

Well I was determined to end my 49th year actually sewing, not just dreaming about it, and on that count I have been successful.

Last night I finally sat down and finished the blue tee. This was originally supposed to be a "muslin" but I liked it so much that I had to finish it. I am going to finish the purple printed tee as well, although I must have, in a fit of pique, put the remaining fabric away for a later project. Rather than storing that fabric in my muslin pile, it got moved, following Judith’s excellent suggestion that it looked like a skirt, into a future project box that is currently stored at the top of the master bedroom closet. Since it was late, it seemed best not to go hauling things out of the top of the closet in the dark, so it will wait until I get tired of UFO’s or get around to that box of fabric.

Taking pictures of a dark blue tee is not easy:

It is meant to be loose and fairly boxy and I am quite happy with it, even though I did have trouble sewing the neck band and I messed it up more than once before it went in correctly. But basically I love the tee. The fabric is really nice, a beefy cotton knit from Wazoodle and I love the shape and size. The neckline lies perfectly at the back of my neck and the tee does not slide back, threatening to strangle me they way most purchased boxy tees do. This is going to be a great hang-out and exercise tee.

To refresh your memory, this tee is a morph of two patterns: Christine Johnson’s 3 tees pattern and an old Vogue pattern, Vogue 8253:

When I think about what I actually did, I realize this top is mostly the Vogue pattern, using the Christine’s back neckline, which fits me much better, but using the shape of the shoulders, front neckline, and sleeve shaping from the Vogue, sized up to be somewhere between a CJ small and medium. Actually the back is cut more in a trapeze shape between a small at the under arm and a medium at the hem, and the front is closer to a small all the way down, except that I added a little fullness at the center front for the bust..

So I have no idea how I am going to file this in the pattern file: under the Vogue number I suppose.

I have plans to cut out another top in a really interesting textured charcoal gray knit. But first I am making a pair of one-seam pants in a neat French terry I got from Textile Studio. I am actually going to keep the light gray (shown in the photo) on the inside and leave the dark charcoal on the outside:

I was surprised to see that I had enough for two pairs of pants, another sign of successful weight loss. Previously I would have had to cut them differently, using side seams, and staggering the pieces so I would have needed more length even though there would have been more waste. This is also a boon to having TNT patterns. I know how much yardage it takes and what to expect, whereas when fitting new patterns I have experienced some unpleasant surprises and therefore tend to buy more fabric than I need if I am not sure what I am making or how it will fit.

I only cut one pair now, if I like them I will sew up another pair before changing the serger thread. It shouldn’t take long.

This morning I cut the pants and serged all the edges. This probably isn’t necessary as it is a pretty stable knit, but it just looks nicer. I also serged the edges of the blue cotton border eyelet I got from Kashi in the spring:

I am washing that and some ambiance lining since a skirt made from Simplicity 4186 will be my next project after the pants and tee are done.

I will be only using the border half of the blue cotton, so the remainder, which will be significant will be used for something else, what I don’t yet know.

I have not been working steadily or at any great pace, but I have been enjoying myself. I think I need to learn to work with more interruptions, and with an audience, and I am slowly getting used to the idea.

The new Patrones arrived today and it is ok, but not my favorite issue so far. That shouldn’t surprise me, as generally speaking, summer clothes aren’t my favorites. I also have finally spent some time perusing the new Threads which is definitely one of the best issues they have produced recently.

I might still get some more sewing done today, but I also want to write another blog post over at that other place, and catch up with some emails so I might not get to it. I do need to go to the gym even though it is my birthday. I need to think of working out as being good to myself, rather than as a chore to be endured.

But I can’t complain. It is turning out to be a good day.

July 5, 2007
TNT

A significant part of my "spare" time the past few weeks has been spent looking at fabrics and dreaming of things I might make, as well as bemoaning the fact that I probably need to make a muslin of everything. Bummer…muslins are great and I highly recommend them, but they are not conducive to instant gratification.

I have also been cleaning out my closets and trying on everything that they were harboring. In the process, I made, what seems to me a remarkable discovery. Many of the clothes I made two summers ago fit now, or nearly fit, which means that I actually have some patterns that fit, and they are, for the most part, basic patterns that I can use for new garments or as a basic block for altering other patterns.

The second half of 2007 suddenly looks much brighter:

First I learned that I could wear these pants again:

These are actually just one pair of several pairs of one seam pants that are in my wardrobe, both in wovens and knits. I also took this pattern and adapted it to be pants with a side seam, the first pair of pants I had ever made where the pants fit through the waist, hips, and crotch curve, and the side seams fell absolutely straight. I wrote about them back in May 2005 . All of these paints were made from a pattern I got from an online sewing class to which I can no longer find any links and I have totally changed the crotch curve, and in the standard pants with side seams, the entire shape of the pieces.

Still, I learned a lot using this pattern over a year or two and it is still has basic information which I use even when using other pants patterns.

I also learned that the straight skirt I last made two summers ago fits well and that pattern can go back into my basic pattern list without further alterations (yippee!)

I don’t tend to think it matters what basic straight skirt pattern one uses, as there are only so many variations. This particular skirt is from an OOP Sandra Betzina pattern for Vogue:

Between this skirt, and the pleated skirt pattern I used last summer and fall, I have a good foundation for several other skirts, and a good base to use when using new patterns as well.

Then I found that two older knit top patterns also fit again, or fit with only minimal work needed, perhaps a small full bust alteration, depending on the stretch factor in the particular knit being used, Butterick 3124 and Vogue 2483.

But truly the biggest thrill for me was that I almost fit back into a peach silk dress I made back in 2004 for my step-son’s wedding.

It is not quite a TNT pattern as it looks a little dumpy on me now, and actually it is too small through the bust and too big through the hips. The hip thing can be easily altered, the bust, not so much, and although I can zip the dress, I feel like my chest has been wrapped in a compression stocking, so this is not a dress I would recommend for wearing comfort.

However, this is something I think I can easily alter, even with my relative lack of experience in FBAs.

So I am thrilled. With these patterns, and the two knit top patterns that are still sitting on my cutting table waiting to be perfected, I could practically make a wardrobe in a pinch, and I can certainly use them as a starting point for working with several other styles and determining accurate pattern sizes.

July 4, 2007
White

The accomplishments of the weekend are blue and white. Unfortunately, no sewing was involved.

After the crew "cleaned" the pool there was still a fairly noticeable black ring or two. We, the clients, were not happy. I was told by the pool guy that he poured acid on it and scrubbed but it didn’t come clean and that it would fade in time in the pool chemicals. Well, that may be true, but I have had rings in the past that did not fade in pool chemicals.

So of course I did it myself. I didn’t want to get taken off the list for water delivery, and I was afraid that we would be waiting for these guys forever.

Besides, once I thought about it, it occurred to me that if the pool guy was right and the grime was caused by oil residue from the trains that go by several times a day, acid alone would do nothing, because you need an alkaline detergent to cut through oil residue. Although most household cleaners would probably do the trick, some one would require more elbow grease than others.

Luckily, although I am not one of those people who finds cleaning a pleasure, I do believe in keeping the appropriate tools in the house, including appropriate cleaning chemicals, and we have had many oil spills on the garage floor from G’s leaky truck.

It is amazing how bright the inside of a white pool is in the sunlight.

But the results are worth it:

July 2, 2007
Eye Candy

Yes, the box of fabric arrived from Kashi yesterday evening.

It took me all day to get around to taking the photographs.

The Fuschia rayon lycra jersey was the first fabric I chose. There were other things I kind of had my eye on, but that was the first fabric I found that really screamed "buy me". So I did. I bought lots, thinking something along the lines of top and skirt, or sweater set (and skirt) or dress….vague ideas at best so I needed to be prepared.

Then I was talking to Carolyn and my eye fell on this wonderful cotton voile print. I am talking about the orange fabric in the middle here. This is not a print in which one can get lost in a crowd. I immediately thought of a skirt to wear with the knit. The pinks are the same. I immediately thought of something floaty, with multiple layers of fabrics, and perhaps asymmetrical pieces. Then as I was watching the others shop, I saw someone pick up a really fabulous piece of deep pumpkin/bunt orange silk. I remember charmeuse, but it might not have been. I was sorely tempted and my idea started to change. But I did not buy the orange silk because I suddenly remembered that I might have something similar sitting at home, and I did. That lovely piece of orange silk twill will become the lining for the skirt that will be made of the orange cotton.

Kashi showed us some fabulous silk prints that had just come in and this one really stuck in my mind. He had it in black, and this wonderful bright navy blue. Now I don’t do particularly well with classic navy, but this one is wonderful. So I wandered around thinking about it. As usual with a successful purchase I had an image forming in my mind of a dress, but a printed dress with a coordinating, or contrasting for that matter, print as well. But I didn’t find anything. I decided to buy the silk print anyway and just after he cut it, someone came in and bought some of this perfect navy blue silk, the perfect blue to go wtih my charmeuse. It was not what I was originally thinking but immediately my thoughts began to transform themselves. I took some of the solid as well.

Remember that burnt orange charmeuse? Kashi had

it in purple too. Purple is a much better color. This one is actually deeper than it appears in the photo, purples seem to be hard to photograph.

Then I pretty much sat down and let others shop and tally up their purchases. I was done cutting and just needed time to get my order written up, but I was happy to look at what everyone was buying and ooh and ah their purchases. Then, just as we were writing my order up, I saw another silk. Truthfully I had seen it before, but it hadn’t clicked with me until right then.

I am sure you know what I am talking about; you see a fabric you love but you can’t for the life of you figure out what you would do with it. There had been another fabric like that at Kashi’s, a beautiful deep dusty plum printed eyelet, but I passed on that one. This next fabric spoke to me but I couldn’t quite understand its language. And then it occurred to me: bias. Cut the fabric on the bias.

Again I am thinking about a dress, but I don’t have specific patterns in mind. I never commit myself to anything until the fabric is cut. dreams are free after all and I reserve the right to change my mind.

June 27, 2007
Monday Musings and Reminiscences of a trip to NYC

Well it seems that time just got away from me and all of last week went by in a blur. There are several posts that were composed mentally but never committed to paper or computer and now they are lost in the ephemera.

At the beginning of Father’s Day Weekend I still had such high hopes of leaping into my sewing. I wanted to make a dress to wear the next Friday (i had been hoping to do this for some time) to meet some friends during the day and to go to the symphony with my DH in the evening. But sewing time was not available and on Monday I realized that it was simply not going to happen, and in fact I had worked myself into such a lather of stress over not being able to sew that my creative instincts were literally being strangled.

I know when this happens it is time to step back. I told myself that I didn’t need to sew. After the first day, when I thought I looked like a sack of potatoes and was convinced I had nothing to wear, I calmed down and looked in my closet only to find that I did indeed have clothes and that I looked fine and would look fine on Friday.

That obstacle overcome, I was ready to curl up and read a book, deal with the many meetings that were scheduled last week, and just relax.

Then Friday rolled around and I went in to NYC to meet Carolyn and a couple of other sewing friends for lunch and an afternoon of shopping. It was a fabulous afternoon with fabulous women. Carolyn, who is much more together than I have been of late, has already written all about in far more charming detail than I think I can muster.

After chattering away through lunch, completely wrapped up in our conversations and oblivious to the fact that the restaurant was emptying out and potential shopping time was slipping by, we suddenly came to our senses and headed out the door.

The first stop was MJ Trim where Carolyn needed some trim for a special project and I just looked around hoping to learn some of the secrets of Carolyn’s remarkable ability to come up with the perfect trim for a project — one that enhances the garment without overpowering or drawing too much attention to itself.

Here are Carolyn and myself contemplating a few trim choices. Carolyn had good suggestions for everyone’s trim choices and also gently set us straight when we were contemplating bright pretty colors and trims that simply made too strong a statement on their own — not that they weren’t worthy, but that their very strength of character (and price) made them suitable only if a specific project was in mind.

I don’t often managed to keep a project in mind when I am in a trim store….I just grab for anything pretty and all rational thought just leaves my head, but I did find one trim that was deemed useful and versatile, and Carolyn had ideas that had never occurred to me:

This little light and airy sequined trim is perfect for me. I immediately had one idea for its use and then Carolyn gave me new ideas. Now that I am home I have several potential projects in mind so I do not think that this is something that is going to languish very long.

Well, that depends on what I actually get around to sewing…..

We also looked at buttons, where Joanna found the perfect button for a handbag she is knitting. I avoided looking at buttons (except for Joanna) as I have a sizable button collection which does not need general expansion except when I need a specific button for a specific project.

But I was entranced by the various sew on rhinestones and jewels, especially these sew-on jewels. You know there have been a lot of these jewels showing up in the spring collections, and there are also a couple of things coming up for fall. Looking at these little gems, and thinking about the photos I have saved in my inspiration file, I began to get an idea for a project that might materialize later this fall. I have the perfect fabric in mind, and an idea is taking shape, but I will have to work out the specific details first as I will need to determine how many jewels I will need and in what shapes and colors. Look for an update as we get closer to the cool weather.

Then we all trekked over to Metro Textiles, where I thought I was fairly moderate in my purchases, but then moderate is a rather vague term. Carolyn was definitely in control and she adhered to the principles of her fabric moratorium admirably. While we were at Metro Textiles, we met Trina, who recently started a blog, the slapdash sewist and who writes wittily about sewing and the pleasures of turning out fun clothes that are far more clever and interesting than anything I ever make.

Friday night I met G in the city for a symphony concert and we had a slow weekend without any sewing. Doesn’t this refrain begin to get boring after a while?

But I am waiting for the fabric to arrive. Kashi said he would ship Monday so I expect my package today. If I am lucky I will get two packages of fabric today, as I was back in NYC on Monday, meeting another friend, and I ran back to the garment district to stop in at Rosen and Chadick, where I had actually made a reconnaissance run before meeting up with everyone for lunch on Friday, but even then, it was late Monday by the time I got to the store, so the package might not have gone out until today…..

Now, I want to sew and waiting for fabric is sooooo boring….

(you know I have nothing else to sew in this entire house).

June 26, 2007
How Michael Ondaatje changed how I think about Sewing

I tell myself I have been having trouble finding time to
sew, but that Is not exactly true. I
have trouble finding time to lose myself in sewing, and that is an entirely
different thing.

It came to me this morning, making breakfast, a task in
which I don’t tend to lose myself, that this is precisely what I am
missing. It is easy, with sewing, to
lose myself, to get all wrapped up in the task, which is perhaps the greatest
reason I am not a good 15 minute a day seamstress. A mere 15 minutes is enough that I am a
goner, that time disappears into the fog and I am sewing. I can’t escape that fog of steam, the rhythm
of the needle running up and down, the hum of the machine, the allure of
turning something flat and two dimensional into something else entirely. So I wait, not always patiently, until I can
steal away a little time.

In the past I have done a lot of sewing in the evenings, but
then I had a husband devoted to his work who often did not struggle back to the
fold before 8 PM and 10 and 11 were not unheard of. I still have the darling husband of course,
but he is home, and evenings are spent together more or at least it is looking
like that might become the routine – I haven’t completely settled down to it
yet, but I am in training, and he waits patiently. Knitting, which I love but which does not
engulf my attentions in quite the same way may benefit from this change in
ritual.

I have actually tried working in the sewing room (on sewing
not work – which still occupies the same space) but it has not gone well so
far. I don’t brook interruptions by life
as well when I am sewing, and finding interruption free time has been
difficult, except in the evening, but then I am torn by the competing calls of
my creative side and the love of my life. At the moment these primary forces are still in a state of negotiation.

But how is this morning different? How did I discover something I had been
missing? It was not the pan of chicken
fajitas, peppers, and eggs.

Blame Michael Ondaatje. I got up early this morning, but I was a little draggy yet and a little
stiff, so I curled up in a chair and continued reading my current book, Ondaatje’s newest, Divisadero. When I was interrupted it took me a little
bit to come out of that world – the world of the really good book. It is more than a story, it is more than the
beauty of the writing – there a quite a few writers who do one or the other
beautifully. But this craft of fiction,
where you can create an alternate universe almost in the telling of the tale,
that is a rare skill. I am not sure if
it is a skill or a gift. I suspect it is
both because even a gift must be honed and mastered.

Admittedly I had trouble getting into this book and I am not convinced that is
Ondaatje’s fault, but perhaps a symbol of my own fractured attention span of
late. The book is complicated and it
seems to weave together completely separate and unrelated stories – but then
again they are not (separate that is) just as life is separate and distinct but
not at all so. Everything intersects and
reflects and is echoed again and again. So now (and I am well beyond the half way point) I pick up the book and immediately
get pulled away from what I was thinking and doing into another room in my
mind, a room that at this moment seems to be reserved for this book. I turn the pages, open the mental door and go
somewhere else, only to be startled later when someone knocks.

And it struck me, later, standing at the stove, that when I
sew I either use a different part of my brain or I use it differently than I do
with the rest of my life and the transition back can be difficult – hence the
trouble with interruptions. It is like
some part of the circuitry has been put in some kind of “sleep mode” while
whole new systems have been opened up and turned on. But the process of shutting down and
reawakening my “normal life” mode is time consuming and sometimes harsh. So sewing, at least for me, is about more than just the making of clothes, although that is the most obvious aspect. It is about art, and thought, and then to some extent about life itself.

Of course in realizing that sewing makes me
think differently I also realize that sewing time is then even more vital to
keeping the whole mental machine going.

And although with realization can come resolve, resolve
alone does not reconcile the competing needs that life brings. I still need to work out a way to combine
sewing time, with living time, and work time, and also gym or exercise or at
least activity time, because the body must be kept as well maintained as the
mind and the creative spirit.

June 16, 2007
She’s making a list…

Today was supposed to be a Perfect Sewing Day, but well, it wasn’t. In fact, the sewing aspects of my plan for the day were completely not realized and now, although it is only 9:30, I am having trouble focusing on the idea that I could start now. So I have been refining my list of things that need to be sewn.

So although I am rather chomping at the bit at this thinking-about-sewing thing without enough actual sewing going on, I think I will ramble about my recent sewing thoughts, before they too get lost in the general shuffle and focus on other things that seems to be my life right now.

It kind of dawned on me this week, actually as I was out in the garden pulling weeds, that it is summertime and I have done very little of my summertime sewing. Now I don’t need much in terms of new summer clothes this year but that is really besides the point. I was thinking about clothes and the clothes I want to make.

Carolyn posted a picture of a really cute new tank top she made from a pretty piece of border eyelet that she got from Kashi at Metro Textiles. Now I bought that same eyelet or a very similar one, back in March but haven’t made it up yet. So I started thinking about those fabrics, purchased with such high hopes in early March (see this post ), before my life changed, and started thinking about which of those fabrics I really needed to make up now. Not surprisingly, I have come to different conclusions that Carolyn, but that is one of the things that makes this sewing community so interesting, we have so many ideas and approaches to this shared passion and there is always something more to learn. Now I don’t see that particular fabric as particularly trendy and I can see ways to use it. But although I realize that there are fabrics that are trendy, for the most part I think it is how a fabric is used that makes it trendy. I don’t think I buy many fabrics that are limited to a short time-span for use. Now I could use those fabrics in a way that would limit their life, but I am pretty consistent in my style, and there is very little that I make or wear that is "of a season". Of course Carolyn has her style sense much more on the fashion pulse than I, and I tend border more on "fuddy duddy" so perhaps I should pay more attention

Anyway, so I have been thinking about what I actually want to get made this season, and there are a couple of things from that Metro Textiles pile that I want to get made up really soon. And there are a couple of other things, two of the bundles on the pile I showed you here and a few other things I still need to pull out. So when I have a few moments here and there I shall prepare a list and a pile, not neglecting that big old stack of knits either, so that when actual sewing time presents itself, I will be raring to go.

But….

In the meantime, while I am still trying to get my head around summer, fall is just around the corner and the magazines and catalogs are starting to roll in.

Look what came in a catalog from Bergdorf Goodman:

Alberta Ferretti wool and cashmere; $1990.

Dream on.

I think I’ve seen a pattern I can adapt that from.

June 13, 2007
Monday Musings

A collection of random thoughts on sewing, clothing, and other fiber-related thoughts.

I have been sorting through the fabric collection and in one box, hidden among the neatly folded fabric I found a small stash of ribbons and trims. Now currently I keep ribbon separately, in a drawer under my file cabinet, but this was not always the case.

I had almost forgotten this beautiful deep maroon trim. It is darker than it appears in the photo and very long. I also only have a short piece, not a full yard, about 32 inches total. I have no idea what I thought I would do with it, but I do recall I fished it out of a remnant box and paid about $1 for it. Looking at it this weekend all I could think of would be ends on a scarf. I could use doubled silk chiffon or georgette and put the trim on the ends, or perhaps I could knit something out of a fine silk yarn if I can find the right color, perhaps a simple stitch with just a bit of a lacy pattern just a little bit above where the trim is attached.

I found this in the same box. I have much more of this, at least 4 or 5 yards. I have no idea what I planned to do with it, but there are far more possibilities. I don’t think this will be used this summer. Although it looks heavy with the embroidery, the background fabric is actually a very lightweight cotton, almost like a fine batiste or voile. There were a few other ribbons and trims as well, not as inspiring individually, but perfect for some project or another. They have all been added to the trim drawer, which reminds me that I have piled a few things in there lately without organizing them, so it is time to do that again soon.

I was at JoAnn Fabrics last week looking for some patterns on sale and I picked up this newest issue of Quilting Arts Magazine. Now I don’t quilt, and really have had no interest in quilting, but I love this magazine. I have an ever expanding collection although I only buy them when I happen to see one. I love the ideas and it always makes me think about sewing and art and fiber in new ways.

I curled up with this magazine one afternoon this weekend and passed a happy hour or two just perusing the pages and dreaming. If anything will ever get me interested in non-garment sewing, this magazine might do it. And if it doesn’t that is OK too because I love the way it inspires me to think differently and look at things differently.

Perhaps I should just get a subscription because I get so much pleasure just from reading each issue. I suppose there is a place for inspiration even if never directly leads to practical applications.

I didn’t make this skirt. I bought it at Sears last summer when I suddenly lost a lot of weight and needed something to wear in a hurry. It was early July and already on sale. I paid something like $10.00.

I actually have worn it more this summer than I did last summer, even though I suppose it was last summer’s trend. Although I still get compliments every time I wear it. I needed to sew the hook and eye back on this weekend. Why do commercial closures always come off?

Anyway mending the skirt made me think about summer skirts and seasonal clothes. This is definitely a trendy item. But I still love it. I would love to find prints like this to sew up, but I never quite manage to do so. I have, on occasion, thought of cutting up my grandmother’s old printed tablecloths, but the fabric is heavier, and I somehow can’t convince myself that I wouldn’t just look like I was wearing an old tablecloth. I like vintage to some extent but I can’t pull off full-on-vintage it is just not my style. And although I have a friend who could make a skirt from a tablecloth and look fabulous I don’t have confidence that I could pull that off.

But the skirt does make me think of seasonal styles and prints and fabrics and remind me of some of the lovely things I bought at Metro Textiles earlier this spring, with great plans to make them up. What I really need to do is take some time and pull out a few pieces that I think must be made this summer and make them up.

And while I am thinking of current styles and fabric and design inspirations, I am also behind on my cut and past activities, making collages of my magazine style clippings. I managed to look through the ever expanding box of clippings and put together two more pages using just a fraction of the inspirations I have saved from the last couple of months:

I don’t know why I can’t manage the same kind of time and attention to detail and layout that I give to these very personal collages and apply it to our photo albums, which are woefully behind.

June 11, 2007
Strawberries

The little wild strawberries that make their home in various parts of my yard are ripe:

They are very sweet and good.

The local strawberry season has also begun for the more commercial variety of strawberries. Our favorite U-Pick farm stopped growing strawberries a couple of years ago and we missed it terribly, but it is not really worth driving to the opposite end of the county to pick strawberries (25 – 30 miles) so we just bought baskets at farm stands.

Another orchard started having some self-pick strawberry fields this year and we went up today. After picking 10 pounds of strawberries I could hardly stand up, and I am not sure it was totally worthwhile.

The old strawberry farm had a small, intensely flavorful strawberry, which I loved. These strawberries are large and fairly firm. It is easy to pick them without bruising them. But they don’t have that intense strawberry flavor that the best strawberries should have, and that I expect when I have just picked them off the vine. Even when they are ripe at the edge of over-ripeness the flavor is lacking. This kind of strawberry I can buy in the store without consequence to my back.

These were the prices at the farm stand:

U-Pick $1.49 per pound
Pre-picked $4.29 per quart

When I got home I weighed a quart basket and it was about a pound. So the money savings even made up for the gas spent driving to the farm and back (about a gallon) But the strawberries were no better than those in the store, which are cheaper now (of course I don’t know what the actual energy cost to get them to me is either).

What I want to find is a farm that still grows the old-fashioned, flavorful strawberries that would perfume the house and had that rich strawberry flavor. Those strawberries would be worth bending over and picking, or worth paying for.

Meanwhile I will eat all the little wild strawberries that I can find. Since I am behind on weeding this year, they are plentiful.

June 10, 2007