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  • Oops!

    I noticed that the photo in my last post had disappeared; I don’t know where it went, the link was there, but sometime between when I first posted it (I checked it was there then) and now, I must have done something to change its character.  It must be that old Mardel magic.

    Well I am finally working on the yellow pants again.  When I picked them up I had to take a few minutes just to puzzle through what had been done, where I was in the process, and what was next.  As you will recall, they had been thrown in the wash, unfinished and unpressed following zipper insertion when I discovered that there had been a close encounter of the poison ivy kind.

    The pressing has been accomplished.  I need to to try them on, decide on whether there will be darts and a partial drawstring, or if the entire waistband will be gathered up. It is a simple project but I have been having trouble getting around to it.

    Between work, yard, and my new workout schedule I don’t seem to have time. The weight work and stretching is helping, I haven’t gotten far in terms of what I can do and have discovered that I have lost a lot of strength on one side, but I am standing a little straigher and having less trouble getting out of the car, so I can definitely see improvement. 

    On top of everything else, I seem to need more sleep again after a long period of doing fine with less. I miss the extra time.  On the other hand, when I try to force myself to my shorter sleep cycle, I fall asleep in the afternoon, even at my desk or my knitting or sewing, and then go through a prolonged groggy period that is worse than just sleeping longer to begin with.  Now this could just be a reaction to the new workout routine and other things and I will get back into my normal schedule soon enough.  Certainly when I was younger I needed more sleep so who knows.

  • I dreamt of fabric and patterns

    Summer keeps getting in the way of sewing, now that I am feeling better that is.

    I hoped to get into the sewing room last night, and I did, but not to sew.  Mondays are always such busy days anyway.    We finished dinner about 9 PM, just in time for me to go sit in the family room and knit a little bit on my socks while watching "The Closer".   I was hot and tired from my first full workout with my new trainer and weight/stretching routine.  It was a welcome relief to just sit in front of the television and not think for a little while.

    Unfortunately, dishes, laundry and other mundane household tasks were still awaiting after my little reprieve and by the time I finished, a few minutes after 11, I was simply too exhausted to begin working on the waistband for my yellow linen pants. 

    I was ambitious enough to think I could finish the filing and clear off the ironing board so I could work on something today, and I did manage to do that, just barely, as I ended up sitting down thinking about fall clothes and flipping through the card file which contains the samples of my fabric stash.

    I saw a couple of suits at Bergdorf Goodman recently, a beautiful Oscar de la Renta tweed with organza ribbon trim, and a lovely Armani in a textured camel colored wool.  Neither suit was in a flattering color, but I have been thinking about them ever since.  One would think, with three shoe boxes filled with fabric swatches, I would have the perfect fabrics in my stash.  Not so!.  I might have a fabric for the Armani in a deep green, a beautiful solid color cashmere and alpaca herringbone weave. At first I was not sure that I wanted to use such a deep color, I had imagined something lighter and more feminine.  After sleeping on it however I think the green would be lovely.

    I dreamt of fabric and suits and jacket shapees all night so I had to get up and play around with how to draft the asymmetrical opening  of the jacket and I spent time this morning playing with drafting  pattern pieces while I sill remembered, and writing up notes so that hopefully, if I ever get to this project, I will remember the details.  I don’t know if what I have will work yet, and quite frankly, I am not going to get much further on working on this right now.  I seem to have frittered away the morning and it has suddenly dawned on me that I have many other things I am supposed to be doing today.  At least I should have enough information saved  so that when I do get to it, I will be able to jump right in.

    Armani

    The pattern pieces are stacked right on top of each other so it is hard to see the details, but I think you can get the general idea of what I have been working on.

    I know, I know, you don’t really believe that I will ever get to this project, and that is a valid concern.  I seem to think, and write, about sewing far more than I actually sew.  But there will come a time when I actually have time and all these bits and pieces will come together.

    I have faith.

  • Berkshire Choral Festival

    What a marvelous life.  A perfect summer day in the garden followed by a perfect summer evening. 

    We had tickets for the Berkshire Choral Festival, in Sheffield, about an hour and a quarter’s drive, preceded by a patron dinner, so we finished our garden work and left a little after 4 PM.  The upper Taconic Parkway is a beautiful drive in all but the most foul of weather and yesterday was no exception.  The crystal blue skies, the clear views of the Catskills in the distance – what a joy

    Sheffield1

    Usually we take a picnic to Sheffield with us, but tonight we were invited to a Patron’s dinner which we enjoyed.  It was held in a courtyard framed by two of the school’s buildings.  We were the only “listeners” at our table and that made it a very interesting dinner as far as I was concerned.  It was nice to listen to the choristers talk about their week, what they learned, which conductors they like, when they are coming back next year (there will be a new conductor) and what wonderful choral pieces we have to look forward to hearing.  I loved listening to the talk of the nights works and the week of lessons and practicing. 

    I love choral music even though I can’t sing.  George sings beautifully but can’t read music.  We are a great pair aren’t we?

    The concert was really spectacular.  The audience was a little on the sparse side to my reckoning.  The place was not empty, but it was by no means near to full.  I suspect that next week’s program, Bach’s B Minor Mass, will be packed as it is a wonderful and popular piece.  We decided not to go, we have heard it so many times and there were other interesting programs this year, things we get to hear less frequently.

    Ahhh, but I am neglecting the program.

    First we heard the Mass in D Major by Antonin Dvorak.  Unusually, at least for me, this production was of the original scoring of this work.  I have heard the Mass performed before with Orchestral accompaniment, and it is spectacular.  Apparently it was originally scored for a smaller venue with only an organ.  Listening to the performance last night, with organ, the chorus often singing a capella, was a profoundly different experience than I expected from the Dvorak work.   I think of Dvorak’s choral works on a grand romantic scale – this was more definitely contained, almost austere at times.  It seemed to have a simpler, more religious sensibility which was almost haunting at times.  Although most of the movements were fairly simple and straightforward in their treatment, the Credo was unusual.  It began with responsorial singing followed by the soloists, and then the movements opens up and doubles back on itself revisiting earlier themes and combining them with homophonic choral statements that were really quite complex and beautiful.  All of that, combined with the triple meter of the movement seemed to coalesce much of the power and transience of belief – powerfully felt yet hard to pin down, unexplainable.  After this intricately woven (and sung) movement the work continued in a straightforward manor, almost framing the Credo at the center of the work.   The Sanctus lead beautifully into the serenity of the Benedictus.  The Agnus Dei was almost spare in its opening simplicity but dynamically rose to almost ethereal ending. 

    One would think that nothing could top the Dvorak, but I believe the Stravinsky piece, the Symphony of Psalms, which followed after intermission, was my favorite work of the evening.  The Stravinsky certainly sounded like the most “modern” work although it was not, remember it was written over 70 years ago.  I think we need to rethink how we define “modern”.

    The work opens with the closing verse of Psalm 38, “Hear my prayer, O Lord” and it begins with what I can only describe as a typical Stravinskian chord.  I really don’t know how to describe what Stravinsky does with the music but the opening chord is so striking it grabs hold of your attention and holds you in its grip.  I believe the opening movement starts in E minor, but with a very unusual emphasis on G, which gives it an unsettling expression.  This builds and then slows for the entrance of the chorus, singing in a classic pattern of lamentation.  Somehow, through the increasing dynamicsm of the work the movements concludes in G major, settling our nerves from the opening notes in a very powerful way.

    The second movement, based on the opening verses of Psalm 39, is a relief following the intensity of the first movement.  There seem to be several different themes or variation on themes working their way through the movement simultaneously.  The music of the orchestra is quite modern, or modernist, with a little atonality thrown in.  Generally however it flows quite beautifully.  In interesting contrast with the orchestral work, the choral music is much more traditional, as is fitting the human voice, neatly combining with the orchestral themes, complementing them, sometimes contrasting, and sometimes bridging the gaps between the different themes.  Very interesting.

    I thought the Alleluia, from psalm 150, was the most traditional of the movements.  It is elevated and stately in the manner of many religious themed choral works.  It seems like a summary of the church-going religious experience.  Somber gathering together, stately hymns, elevation through music, chariots of fire, and the calm serenity of final peace.

    The final piece was by John Rutter, a British composer, written in 1974, GLORIA.  Judging from the applause, it was the most popular work, and I can see why it was.  It was a grand, romantic, rousing, jubilant work with timpani and organ.  This is not to imply it was simple, it was not, and there seemed to be eclectic references in the work but overall, it did not strike me as having the interesting subtleties of the first two works.  Perhaps I was just tired by that point.

    I love the ride home from a concert, it allows me time to reflect on what I have heard, to dream a little, to absorb all the complex things that I haven’t yet really had time to register during the usual emotional overload of the actual performance.  Sometimes the music on the car radio interferes with my reflective state; often it is necessary to stay awake.  Life is full of such conundrums.

  • One in a Billion

    It is not fit that men should be compared with Gods
                                                    — Catullus

    Isn’t fitting that no matter how hard we try, we will never compete completely on par with the athletic greats.  Hard work gets you many places but genes will out.

  • What’s the World Coming To?

    George was watching the news last night.  More bombings in London; more security in New York.

    How do we survive the terror?  More to the point how to we get away with feeling oppressed and terrorized when we see only a tiny part of the action.  Yes Americans die, and innocent bystanders also in peaceful cities.  But how do we account for all those innocent bystanders who happen to have been unfortunate enough to be born into the wrong country?  Do we hear about the poor Iraqi citizens, who are dying in far greateer numbers than we?  Do we think about what they go through everyday?  Do we ever even dream, in our worst nightmares, what it might be like to live in a place were your just surviving the day requires courage and luck, where every waking moment is spent in fear that your children might be the next to die, that your women might be raped, that terrible things beyond your imagining are just around the corner?  Each of us is saddened when we hear about a neighbor or friend of a friend who passes away, we think consoling thoughts about the remaining family members.  Do we ever think about the grieving wives, mothers, and children in Iraq?  Do we ever think of those for whose suffering we are largely to blame?

    What right do we have to feel sorry for ourselves when we are so out of touch with so many?
                                — Thanks to  Rebecca’s Pocket where I was pointed here .

  • Offensive Courtesy

    Are you courteous to others because you are generally kind and you want to treat other people well, or do you practice the "common courtesies" because you feel you should and you think that if you perform these little tasks it will prove to everyone else that you are a kind and giving person instead of the selfish mean little worm that you secretly know you are?

    I like to think that I am a basically decent person.  I try to be kind to others and try to show appreciation when others are kind to me.  Despite this, nothing brings out my inner mulishness more than when some kind citizen thinks he or she is doing me a favor, such as opening a door, and then says "you’re welcome" before I can even get a "thank you" out of my mouth.  Often the two phrases pass in the air, barely avoiding a head-on collision, and I wish I could desperately snatch those words out of the air and withdraw my thanks, even though I know that it is selfish and pig-headed of me.  I am most annoyed when the kind citizen you’re-welcomes me  when I am still several feet away from the door he is so kindly waiting for me to pass through.  I swear I want to turn around and walk the other way.  Who says I should walk through a door just to make someone feel better about his or her Good Samaritan status?

    I usually do thank people who are kind to me.  When passing through the door, I try to look the other person in the eye when uttering my thank-you, but I may sometimes be a little distracted and thank them as I actually pass, rather than beforehand.  What I dislike about being "your-welcomed" before the thanks have been tendered is the assumption that I owe this person something.  A courtesy is a gift one extends out of the goodness of ones heart, not in anticipation of a reward.  Once upon a time I was taught that it was courteous to be nice to people and to treat them the way you would like to be treated yourself.  A courtesy is to be extended whether it is appreciated or not.  It seems to me that by saying "you’re welcome" before the recipient has even had a chance to enjoy your courtesy, you are not offering a kindness, but instead, a cut.  In effect one is saying "Here, look at what a good person I am you ungrateful wretch".  The poor victim of the courtesy is automatically placed on the defensive, dammed without chance of redemption.   

    Yes, I know that it can get tiresome being nice; too many people ignore you or run right over you and take advantage.  Still, it is not nice to publicly humiliate them either, or correct them in public.  If you can’t be gracious about being gracious, it would be better just to mind your own business and not try at all.  No one would think badly of you, most people probably wouldn’t even notice.

    FINE QUILTING PINS

    While I was at the post office this afternoon,  I picked up a package from Londa’s .  I really hadn’t expected it to come so quickly.  After reading the article on pins in the last Threads magazine, I ordered the Clover fine quilting pins.  I had never ordered from Londa before, but she e-mailed me right away to tell me that there had been a rush on the pins (understandably so) and she was waiting for another shipment to come in.  I was in no particular hurry and informed her of this.  I was surprised when they came so soon, and was definitely in the mood for a present.

    Don’t they look pretty in their bowl?

    Pins_003

    Perhaps I should have ordered more.

  • Swamp Thing

    My Poison Ivy saga continues,– or at least the poising ivy continues to crawl its way around my person, so any sewing is still on hold, at least while my wrists and arms remain in a crusty oozy stage.    It has been over a week now and the original site of infection is healing, so I do see a ray of hope on the horizon.  To think that I used to be the designated PI person in the household because I never got a rash — goodbye to all that.

    On Friday I did get the crotch seam sewn on the linen pants and then I dripped PI ooze onto the lovely yellow linen.  They went in the wash and I was so disgusted I haven’t touched a sewing project since.   Closet cleaning and reading old sewing old Threads Magazines will have to continue to do a short while longer.

    It is lovely to have an excuse to lounge about and read, but the forced inactivity is getting to me, as well as the general annoyance and disgust factors that are at play in my personal image awareness.  Still, things are improving, PI is not fatal after all, and fiberly activities will resume.

  • A step out of the Routine and Catching up

    I had a lovely weekend in NYC with my friend Mary.  It was hot and sticky and we spent part of each afternoon napping, but all in all it was a nice break from the normal hectic routine. 

    Friday we walked down Fifth Avenue to 28th street to go to Habu Textiles, which was an amazing place with really unusual Japanese yarns and handwoven silks and linens in textures and quality one does not normally find.   It was almost too overwhelming and we did not stay long.  I am already planning a return trip, but not right away.  Renovation expenses force me to keep my distance in the short run.

    Mary needed a nap in the afternoon as she is recovering from a cold; I was hot and sticky so returned to the hotel as well.  I had a wonderful roasted vegetable salad for a late lunch and a pot of coffee and then went for a short walk up Park Avenue to Walter Steiger (we are staying at the W New York on Lexington and 49th Street).  The fall selection was slim yet but looks promising with some attractive evening shoes and some very nice suede pumps with round toes that look comfortable and ladylike, unlike the rather childish or Betty Boop inspired styles that seem to have been so popular of late.       

    Later, Mary and I met at the bar for a drink.  I really like the way the public spaces in this hotel are arranged and designed.  They are modern and hip yet friendly and relaxing too.  The staff have been very helpful and accommodating. 

    Dinner at Aix on the upper west side was excellent.  The fish was superb, well chosen and well-repaired and the combinations of flavors were very well matched and balanced, just unusual enough to draw your attention, but so well done that they really stuck in one’s taste memory, as if they were meant to be and you had always known you would like that particular taste sensation even though you might not have encountered it yet.

    I tend to get up early in the mornings so I used this time to catch up on my reading backlog of old magazines.  I suppose I should have been knitting, but somehow I was more in reading mood.  There is no real accounting for what will be the plan or activity of the moment.

    I read a Forbes Magazine from last week.  It is filled with many interesting short articles, such as the one about China stealing technology through the use of Trojan Horses which invade computers and steal important information, eventually routing it back to the home computer.  Such things are notoriously difficulty to eradicate once acquired and they are also very difficult to trace.  It seems evident that China and India are going to be huge power forces in the future world economy and China certainly has an excess of human brainpower and willingness to work hard and achieve and compete on a global scale.   Still, I hope that this enormous use of mental ability is not used to shortcut the process.  China is already well on its way to success in the global economy and should not need to resort to short-cuts such as stealing ideas, rather than spending money and time on education to prepare a population to developed the next generation of ideas and their resulting products.  I believe that there are many in China who want to replace the Untied States as the center for new ideas and technology and they seem to be well on the way.   I would think that creating the atmosphere needed for innovation will put China at the top of the technology and manufacturing heap, not stealing old information, no matter how tempting that may seem in the short run.  Of course the powers that be in China may be counting on the possibility that by the time world figures out what happened, China will already be dominant and there will be no stopping them or turning back the tide.   If so, I think they are misinformed.  Already, according to something I read somewhere, Bill Gates, has said the best new ideas in R&D are coming out of Microsoft’s China facility as opposed to Seattle or Europe.

    I thin the US has been neglecting China for long enough and it is time to begin to pay sharp attention, attention moderated by intelligence.

    Also interesting were articles on the EU and the vote in France as well has how Great Britain is becoming a model for economic reform which many in Europe are looking toward to help with solving many problems in the European economy.   France and Germany are crippled by high taxes and expensive protectionist policies and these could eventually cripple the entire European community if a way is not found to integrate the future with the needs of the past and a way to integrate new EU members with old established economies.

    Other articles that got me thinking, although my thoughts are by no means coalesced yet, were the article on the agriculture and land boom in Brazil, and the wild-west atmosphere and enormous profits to be found in farming in the central regions of that country.  Those of us in old established agricultural economies tend to assume that farm subsidies and protectionism are the only way for agriculture to survive.  Instead it is expensive and stifling.  This really gives one pause.

    Last but not least was an essay on world health issues and the cost of solving these issues.  This particular article dealt with treating HIV infected persons with expensive drugs, which may not be the most cost effective method.  Oh the drugs may well be effective in helping those who already infected but they do nothing to stem the tide.  For that, treatment of other sexually transmitted diseases that lead to open sores, and education may be the best treatment.  Treating existing cases does not help if more cases keep appearing daily.

    The whole issue of aide to Africa, and much of the third world, is such an interesting topic for research and thought.  Yes great sums of money are needed but getting materials and supplies to needy areas is just the bare minimum edge of what is needed to solve the problems.  You need to get the materials to people, pay the workers, educate the population so that they see the work of the aid that you are offering.  It is easier to raise money to buy things that it is to educate populations and pay workers.

    It seems that if we want to really have a world with equal opportunity and rights we really need to rethink what those terms entail and what is actually needed.  So much of our attempts at solving the ills of the world are half-assed.

  • Linen Pants

    I finally started working on my linen pants.  They should be a simple project but I seem temperamentally incapable of just whipping something up.  Of course I would start a new project just hours before going away for a couple of days… well, this way I have something to look forward to when I return.

    I decided that I will let the lining hang free on these pants, not my usual method, but I think more appropriate for this lightweight linen.  That means that I have to finish the seams more nicely.  If I were completely bagging the lining I could just serge the edges, but somehow can’t bring myself to do that if they will be seen, even if only by me.  Besides, this is a fairly ravelly linen and I don’t trust the serging to hold.  So I made French seams instead.  They are only one seam pants so that was not so bad, but I French seamed the lining too.  On the linen I also zigzagged in the seam allowance as the  sheer parts of the linen were starting to pull out of the seam stitching already, and I thought this would be extra protection.

    Yellowlinen1
    It may be merely excessive and I may regret it.  I hoped that the weight of the seam will help the hang of the pants, but it may not work.

    I also got the zipper in and the lining attached at the zipper, but I have not sewn the crotch seam yet.  Somehow I am having trouble keeping my legs straight and am getting them all in a tangle.  This could be because it is nigh unto midnight.  With a clear head, sewing the crotch curve is a piece of cake, but I am not confident of my late night mental competence.

    To be continued upon my return.

  • Unsettled

    I have been a little unsettled the last week and not able to focus my attentions on sewing.  This seems to happen a great deal.  I have thought about sewing.  I have a project cut out and ready to go; it will not take long, but I diddle about with other things. After guests leave I always need a couple of days just to wander about and kind of re-connect with my space.  It is not like anything really changes, but all the extra fuss and stuff, and disturbance, gets me off balance.  I suppose I am too solitary and too much of a homebody.  I certainly can sympathize with Miss Cat when she comes home from boarding – she has to wander about and look at everything, try all the napping places, kind of get resettled.

    A VHS tape arrived today showing the fall Carlisle Collection and I started to look at it.  There was nothing spectacularly interesting there:  some interesting trapunto stitching on one jacket, one nice suit made of a lightweight boucle with coordinating charmeuse piping and a pretty skirt made of boucle with godets of the same charmeuse.  It looked like a pleated skirt or a “car wash” skirt with the charmeuse behind it.  There was certainly nothing I was tempted to buy and very little I was tempted to make.  The whole thing was so boring that I had to stop the tape half way through as I was falling asleep. I think I am better off just looking at the designer fashion show photos on the web.  I still have the Armani CD I got two years ago and I would love to get a Ralph Rucci CD as well, but have to recognize that I simply don’t spend enough real cash with these designers to ever get on their CD lists.   I am sure that Carlisle is trying to lure me back to the fold

    When I look at clothes now I am most prone to saying “I could make that”, except for a few really special designer garments where sometimes I am taken by the workmanship or unusual design.  I will admit I sometimes just fall in love with the fabric.  Then there are the garments I look at and say I would have to make that, those that would be difficult to fit on me from ready to wear.  I could make them look good but there would be a good bit of pattern preparation beforehand.  They fill my head with ideas and inspirations, often with plays of cut, color combinations, and design I would have never come up with on my own.

    Of course if I don’t shop and I don’t sew I will have to live in brown paper bags – that will not happen.  I am just more in knitting and landscaping mode than sewing mode right now.

    Truthfully part of my general sewing malaise stems from the entire fit issue (again).    I have had trouble standing up straight lately–I list forward or to either side.  I don’t feel any pain, I just look funny.  If I try to stand up straight, that’s what hurts.  I feel as if my hips and my back have somehow become disassociated from each other – I know that is not what has happened, something has settled, that is just how I feel when I try to make them work together.  The good news as there is nothing new or major wrong, I am able to do most things, sometimes more slowly than I used to, and  I have far less back pain than I have had in years.  The bad news is it is hard to get clothes to fit.   The dress I made for Neil’s wedding looked terrible when I tried it on last weekend, but it looked great when I made it, or at least it did the one part of one day when I was pretty upright.  The problem is in the middle, the waist area, where the bodice and the skirt have to meet – it pulled on one side and had a big buckle.  That was due to the way I was standing. 

    In desperation I tried on the dress I made for Adam’s wedding last summer and the good news was that it was now to big through the hips, and easy fix, but it had the same pull and buckling through the waist.  Separates work better because top and bottom can each just go their own way.  I wore a pantsuit to the wedding,  a nice one, but some part of me feels that weddings are for pretty dresses. 

    I think the fit issue has been a large part of why I haven’t bothered sewing anything particularly complicated,.  The separates I have made lately have fit well and have become favorite outfits.  Even they fit better on some days than others.  Matilda is a much better model as she consistently stands straighter than I.  I suppose I am just not ready to reconcile myself to the bent over life – I am convinced that new exercise and stretching routines can help, and am giving it a go.  The new routines, and training help, take a lot of time and cut heavily into my available sewing time but the long-term payout should be worth the effort.  Improvement so far has been slow but I am hoping it will increase with time.  If in the end, I need to alter my fitting skills again and adapt to a more angular existence this is a manageable fate.  I’m just not willing to give in without a bit of a fight.