After a week with quite nippy temperatures and the first frost, we’ve been given the gift of a glorious Indian summer weekend here in Maine.  Highs in the upper 70s (and even above inland I expect), lows in perfect sleeping weather.

The view from our porch late this afternoon. Some trees are losing leaves, but we still look mostly green... trees are turning, but nowhere near peak yet

Today was a grand day with a Coastal Quilters meeting after dropping our younger son off for his first 5K run.  The run is a fundraiser for the High School (graduating class maybe?), and coincides with Homecoming, and is open to adults, teens and middle school kids.  Eli’s Cross County coach, Jim Morse and one of the coolest teachers EVER on the planet let alone here in Camden, ran, as did Eli, his best friend since first grade B. W., and the top girl on their team J.R., also in 8th grade.  Well… just before the meeting began I got a call from the hubster with the results:  Mr. Morse won by a goodly margin.  Two college kids came in 2nd and 3rd.  Eli and B.W. came in 4th and 5th, respectively, and J.R. was the fastest female and in the top 10!  WOW!

Since Paul and Eli were at the high school watching games, etc., I decided to putter in town and have lunch (a rare treat!) at my favorite eatery, Marriner’s Grill.  I got a small table on the deck overlooking the harbor:

Camden Harbor from my seat on the deck at Marriner's Grill, my favorite diner

While waiting, I continued this wonderful book I’m reading called True to Life:  Twenty five eyars of conversations with David Hockney, by art critic (and really insightful writer) Lawrence Weschler.

A fascinating read, besides which Hockney is pretty cool and interesting

Given that I’ve put on a few pounds this past summer, the choice of BLT (Bacon Lettuce and Tomato for those not in the U.S.) and fries with diet cola was not exactly smart, but it sure tasted good!  Deborah…lookit!  I actually took a picture of my food before I snarfed it down!

A good meal: diet drink, fattening and tasty food, and a good book!

After that I went home, walked the doggie for 2 miles, then sat to start this week’s lesson.  An online class at Joggles.com, Sketching and Watercolors in a Mixed Media Journal with Jane LaFazio   began this week.  I know I’ve been promising what I did in the last class with her, and I will post, but decided I’d actually try posting what I’m doing NOW (and not months ago) when I can.  The hope is that I will make this journaling thing a habit AND improve my drawing skills.  The first lesson was to sketch an everyday object,  using a Tombow pen (a water-soluble ink… draw in pen, then use a wet brush to spread the ink to create light and shadow).  I decided that my laptop is definitely an everyday object, and since it is a Mac and Steve Jobs died this week and I love the quote I used, I’d sketch that:

R.I.P. Mr. Jobs. Thank you for changing our world.

Well…. I discovered that it is challenging to deal with a LOT of flat surfaces, omitting excess detail, and still find some shading.  Especially when the laptop and screen are mostly shades of gray, making the diffused shadows even more difficult.  I’ll try another, more textured something later, but for now…first the outlined-in-permanent pen version:

Used pencil to get the proportions and lines mostly right, then inked with a Pitt permanent pen, then erased the pencil

Next I added the gray (dark) Tombow and washed with water ….   I am not certain that we were supposed to use the permanent pen for this lesson, but I wanted to include some text and for the outlines to not blur, so I decided I would anyway.

The page with a quote from Steve Jobs, showing the Apple home page

And the sketch and laptop:

I simplified some, omitting some desktop icons and extra open windows.

All in all a wonderful day.  And since it is almost suppertime, I guess I’d better get off the computer (thank you Apple for making a great system!) and go think about dinner.  Maybe.  Pass me a white zin, first, please!

Snapped this with my phone on morning dog-walkies–our first frost.  It was 35 when we got up this morning…and it is supposed to be colder tonight.  Then (go figger!) up to low 70s over the weekend!

Hi all…. a review for you of a DVD and/or app for you i-Device (iPhone, iPad or iPod touch):  the Footbook by Jim and Diane Stutsman available at their website Online Sewing.  Jim is the buy behind the online group/learning mecca Club J, for Janome owners.

This DVD/App is for Janome feet, but many of the tips on the app will apply to ANY brand of pintuck foot, zipper foot, whatever.   For those of us who don’t have iPhones or iPads or an iPodTouch, they also have the info on a CD to use on a computer.  I noticed that they didn’t have the price on the description (for the CD at least), and wrote the Contact Us person to mention it would be a helpful addition.  Turned out it was none other that Jim Stutsman of Club J with his wife Diane writing the text and narrating the videos.  Jim wrote back, said good point and thanks, and offered to send a free CD to me for alerting them and the suggestion.  Nice!

I will note that this is a DVD / app that covers the uses of all the presser feet.  If all you do is straight seams and free-motion quilting, it may have a lot more information about esoteric feet, like pintuck, beading, buttonhole, rolled edge, ultraglide, overcast and whatnot, that won’t apply to your sewing.  If, however, you want to use those feet, do sewing other than straight seams and make garments and home dec items, there is a lot of great knowledge in this small package.  The photos are really sharp and clear, like this one:

I figured I’d look up a foot I knew how to use and one I didn’t.  I learned from the videos for BOTH feet!  The one I (thought) I knew how to use is the pintuck foot.  I do, but they had an added suggestion of taping a machine needle to help form the channel and guide the fabric.  Great suggestion!  I haven’t looked at all the feet/videos, but I’ve probably done about half, and have learned something with most all of the videos.  That’s pretty amazing!  (please note that, according to Jim, this video is smaller and lower quality from those on the DVD. The iPhone app uses 3 different quality videos depending on the type of data connection, with WiFi being the best.)  Here’s the YouTube-quality sample of one of the videos:

The only negatives:  when I pop the DVD into my  laptop, a MacBook Pro, there isn’t something that opens automatically or that suggests which browsers to use.  You don’t need a live internet connection, just the browser (don’t ask why…don’t know, something with how the DVD player reads the disc).    According to the website, the DVD is compatible with Windows Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari.  On my laptop I usually use Firefox.  I remembered the first time I opened the DVD it had nice videos.  When I tried to play it today, no videos.  Weird, I thought, where did they go?  So I opened the DVD in Safari, and there they were.

The second time I put the DVD in the slot, I noticed the disk itself on the label tells you to click on the folder that says “Start.” (DUH Sarah…I shoulda read that to begin with!)   Operator error (as in my goof).  Anyway, I clicked on Start; since I had Firefox open, but not Safari, it told me I didn’t have Safari or Google Chrome which would play advanced features of the DVD.  I opened Safari and pasted the browser address into the Safari window and it played like a dream.  There is, apparently, a Plug-In that I could install on Firefox on my laptop to enable the necessary Whatever to play the videos.  Since I had the work-around of using Safari, I declined to download the plugin and will just remember (I hope) to play it in Safari.  (Note:  for those of you not on Macs, Safari is an internet browser designed by Apple, similar to the way Microsoft created Explorer.)

In sum, I thought the information was well very written, the little video clips (which run 2 minutes or less) very helpful….Thanks to Jim and Diane for the DVD to review and try out.  With 40 years of sewing in my checkered past I’ve learned a lot, but I learned a number of new things from this DVD.  To me, that means it does quite a fine job!  Cost is US$6.99 for the app or $24.95 for the DVD.  You can order it from them here:

http://onlinesewing.squarespace.com/

Cheers, Sarah

OK…on this fun, very small, closed internet group that I’m on, I’ve gotten more than a tad silly.  When wishing folks happy birthday, I used the Sandra Boynton birthday greeting (remember her fun greeting cards?  wonder if she still makes them?) I wished folks “Hippo Birdie, Two Ewes” (imagine the cartoon-like drawings to accompany that phrase.  Well, I morphed that into tunas in tutus dancing to celebrate birthdays.  So today I am a thundering and twirling 54, and it has been a wonderful day.

(there is a picture for this post, by the way, but you’ll have to read a bit…it needs to be chronological according to my feeble brain)

Actually, it began a couple days ago.  Hubby for years didn’t quite get that birthdays are important, but that it is the thought that goes into things that counts the most.  Well, this year he got it right in oh so many ways!  He thought about it ahead of time, went to a great of trouble to cross paths with our older son (who now lives on his own) and get h im and his girlfriend to sign my b-day card AND come over for dinner tonight!  Yesterday, when hubby got home from the grocery with younger son, I went to help, and he said “since I can’t sneak these into the house with you here, happy birthday!” and gave me flowers, my favorite yellow (mums since daffodils aren’t in season by a long shot).

And today was good… I started out with a bazillion greetings via FaceBook.I had resisted FB for eons, but I’ve come to enjoy it, and as of today LOVE it.  What fun to hear from so many internet friends!

Then, chores…one of the reasons I haven’t blogged is that I am at long last emptying the storage unit of mom’s stuff and liquidating the last of it.  Have two pieces of furniture on Craig’s list.  If they aren’t sold in 2 weeks, I’m donating them somewhere!  The past two days I’ve gone through 31 boxes of books, we’ve (with Paul’s help and some from Eli) gotten 8 large boxes  with China and crystal (I’ll deal with them later) to our house, and I’ve hauled 8 smaller boxes to the Salvation Army.  The unit WILL be emptied!

And today I took a bit of time between cleaning the storage locker and picking up younger son after Cross Country Practice to sketch.  A friend of his, a guy in his 30s who was a sensei of his in karate–Mark Johnson–who has multiple black belts in multiple martial arts, is also a fairly accomplished artist.  Mark has met and studied with the current Wyeth (Jamie I think, as in N.C. Wyeth and Andrew Wyeth, yes, direct line of succession).  Mark once told me that Wyeth has students do a tough exercise:  draw a white egg (or eggs) on a white piece of paper.   So I tried it! (click to see larger)

It was GREAT!  The eggs are actually gray mostly, with a dark band around the center, because light reflects up at the under side from the paper.  Who knew?  Not me!  And I loved how the lights cast those overlapping shadows, like a Venn diagram!  Anyway, a really wonderful exercise in seeing.  So good in fact that I want to try again.  Today I used four pencils:  HB, 5B, 6B and 8B.  I’d like to try again, but instead of smudging and shading with different leads, I’d like to try it in both watercolor and in a single hardness of pencil (maybe a 2B) or even pen (once I get the outlines/contours roughed in with pencil).

Over the past six weeks I’ve done an online workshop with Jane LaFazio, in part because I wanted something to force me to sketch regularly.   I want to blog about that but as usual am behind the curve–I promise I’ll share (soon I hope).  Still need to get that storage unit cleared out, plus we’re having work done at the house tomorrow, then Thursday is Eli’s next Cross Country meet, then then then….. and I’m taking another class with Jane that starts Thursday too (obviously the first one was so good I’ve gone back for more).  Stay tuned folks!

And thanks to one and all, starting with hubby!!!!, for a wonderful day.

The white is the freezer paper pattern piece (the Ulu or breadfruit block), the red will be stunning!

Teaching Hawaiian style applique is always so much fun, waiting to see how the designs look in the different fabrics.  I offer students a choice:  dive in the deep end of the pool and begin with a block that finishes at 18-19 inches, like the one above, or give the technique a test-drive on a small 6 inch block before moving to a larger piece.   Many students like the somewhat fiddly smaller pieces because they can practice on it in class, then work on their “special” full-size block at home where they are comfortable and have all their fabric stash and thread.   As you can see… we had happy students…this is good!

The pink thread (top half is stitched) really adds a nice dimension to the blue and white pineapple block...well done!

then

Here is the same block being stitched, plus the "negative" or "opposite" block, white pineapples with a deep blue field

For the small blocks, students have a choice of the Taro leaf or a turtle.

Really vibrant taro leaves

And some turtles--really love the pattern on the batik of the turtles, looks like water currents

More Taro leaves being stitched

And turtles AND taro leaves!

Here’s a picture of the classroom:

Sewing, sewing, sewing! As you'll notice, we requisitioned another table from the hallway to go down the center... the narrow tables were not roomy enough for three students each! Thanks to all the ladies for being so gracious about the cozy quarters.

And a few more of the larger squares… I just love the variety in the fabric selections!

This photo doesn't do justice to the beautiful fabrics!

One student used her "positive" cut-out to test various decorative stitches, then wanted to work on the negative (white pineapple, dark background) at home. Great way to test...she did what I always suggest, writing notes right on the white fabric to remember which stitch, what settings. Really like that spike-y stitch!

Lovely range of pinks in the Ulu block

The cut-outs from the plumeria pattern started to look a bit bat-like on this print

(Oh…. tacky moment:  these patterns are all from my Nourish the Body, Nourish the Soul pattern available here.)

And finally, two rousing red blocks.  This student looked at various threads to satin stitch, from black to white to red, and settled on an orange that will set off the edges but not scream:

You cut one square of red (carefully) and fuse it onto two white backgrounds--two blocks for the price of one!

I had a total blast teaching in Nebraska.  The students were great, the many volunteers who put this event together were great!  Thanks so much for inviting me, ladies, and hope you my readers have enjoyed visiting with me!