Thursday, January 29, 2009


i'm working a little later than expected tonight. nothing dramatic, but it made me think to update the desk posts...
changed the desktop images on my avid last night: on the left: allison (of SUPERSCHEIN) and brian standing in line outside the riviera in chicago last february during the wilco residency.
on the right: jeff tweedy during one of last year's letters to santa living room shows. that white square hanging from the mic stand is one of the printed pot-holders i made as a souvenier of the potluck & musical revue. :)
you can also see a "rampant badassery" sticker taped to the bottom of the left monitor. WORLD WIDE, YO!
both pics taken with my analog cam, by the way.

b/c it's a cool visual, here is a pic that is an overview of how i constructed the potholders:
from left to right:
1. gocco printed square (kind of lo-fi screen printing)
2. example of backing fabric
3. printed square, batting and backing during quilting process
4. a finished quilted square trimmed up
5. cloth strip to be used as binding
6. potholder with binding being turned to front & pinned
7. done! it's even got a loop at the corner.
the back row shows many of the different fabric combos i used. they're all pinned, waiting for the top stitching on the binding. i all i made 40 potholders in 16 different fabric combos. i took this pic standing on a chair in my sewing room.

for the potholders i used the same binding technique i use for my quilts. SEGUE! last night i made considerable progress sewing the binding on a kids' quilt that's been kicking around unfinished for about six years. i am THIS close to finishing it. last night i laid on the couch under it watching the colbert report. (if i've ever sewn or knit something for you, i have tried it on, or slept for a night or two with it on my bed. i just like to enjoy the finished project before sending it out in the world. note: i do NOT try on the baby stuff i make. nope.)

i've been laying pretty low the last few weeks: i was too sick to go out for awhile so i just got into the habit of spending evenings at home. all day yesterday i was thinking about going home to sew and check the blocking of roberta's scarf. tonight, i'm having to stay a little later at work, but i'm pining for the knitting needles. (say what you will.)
the only thing left to do on the aforementioned kids' quilt is to embroider a phrase, my signature, and the date on it. i like to use a phrase that is related to something going on when i finish the blanket. past phrases:
-"we can swim any day in november." from the postal service song, the district sleeps tonight. i finished the quilt right after thanksgiving. a thanksgiving i spent swimming in my friends' pool until 2am. brilliant. :) this was for nora.

-"this is the new year." from the death cab for cutie song, "the new year." i dated the quilt jan 6, 2006. it's not as obvious a choice as it sounds: jan 2005 started off with my sister in the hospital on life support. it was a statement of reclaiming the new year, dammit. i kept this quilt.

-"churro of understanding" is a reference to my friend moe's short film, "corndog of tolerance." i sent him a letter addressed to moe "churro of understanding" g. then i wrote a postcard to our mutal friends tiff & duane explaining the whole joke. this quilt went to tiff & duane for their son, barrett.

those might be the only ones...i used to just embroider them with the date and "Yvon."

totally unrelated, but truly cool: last weekend the western regional barista competition was held in l.a. (i was working, wtf?!). the top three spots were won by three of the guys who pull shots at intelligentsia. WOO! i am such a fan girl. i believe i blush when they slide those cappuccinos across the counter. *swoon* GO TEAM! last year's national championship was won by a barista at the los angeles branch of intelligentsia. (recently noticed that they've expanded their late hours to thursday! if i get out of here before 9:30p, think i'll head over. dude, it is 9pm now. there is no way i'm getting out of here in time. ahh, well: overtime, yo.)

No comments: