Happy ________Day

This Emma-ism seems to cover whatever the occasion is, as long as it is cause for celebration. Just fill in the blank! Today I had a happy day; I spoke to all of my children -- both biological and acquired, and I spent the day with two of them and three of my grandkids. "Twas lovely.

Here is one of them in the backyard of the restaurant, where we spent the 1/2 hour wait for a table. She had just identified a basil plant and was feeling rather proud of herself.

Yesterday, I visited my mother to say Happy Day and took with me pictures of her mother and her mother's mother so we could talk about them.  I also brought her two dark chocolate bars, which she sampled immediately.

It was a delicious day in every sense of the word.  Here, before I go to bed to recover from my Happy___Day, are two more "only in New York" pictures I took today.  This first one in the Q train, en route to Brooklyn.

 

And this one in the neighborhood, which - in case you can't read what is written above the filled trash bags behind the padlocked fence, says 

ACTIVE DRIVEWAY

NO PARKING  

 Am I missing something?

Friday - again???

How did that happen? Oh, I know: it was a very busy week. I was in the studio three times this week - a record for the last few months. Today began with the plumber, after which I went to the gym for the first time in I-won't-mention-how-long. It actually felt good to be on the treadmill again, although I must admit my blistered foot was somewhat the worse for wear by being enclosed in sneakers. Bah!

Picked up lunch at the supermarket and spent the rest of the day in the studio, dyeing fabric and sewing therapy strips - an activity I had started earlier in the week. Green. Have no idea where it is going, but right now it is on my large design wall.  I can't say I am crazy about my collection of greens, but I'm working on it. Hence, the fabric dyeing today.

The joy of this season is that I can stay till 7:pm (as I did tonight) and still drive home in the light.
I was greeted with a package on the doorstop from Hilary and family, in advance of Mother's Day.
Flowers are always a treat. Also a card from Jeremy and a phone message from Miss Emma, whom I will see on Sunday.

Tomorrow, I shall visit my mother and I am trying to decide between fleurs and chocolat. Maybe some of each.  The weekend promises to be busy - I hope yours will be good, too!

the post-open studio blues (not)

What a terrific day. Plenty of wonderful art and lots of people. Our studio had the best food, so people hung out - which was not a bad thing at all:-). I was too busy meeting/greeting to take photos, but it was great fun.

There were 15 of us showing our art, among whom were Michael Manning who is (sadly) moving to Chicago.
I think his work is wonderful and if his canvases were not too huge for my walls, I would consider taking out a second mortgage to buy one. Ah, well - I can dream.


The good news is that I sold my piece, "For Sale or Rent," which the buyers referred to as a "fabric painting." Hmm...I like that term. They are taking it to their home in Florida, where it will live happily ever after.

I was back in the studio yesterday, trying to get it back to its normal messiness so I could work. Made some progress. The tomato cage, which served as a scarf display, is still on loan (permanent loan?) from the designer who fashioned it.   He suggested I use it to hang my fabrics so I could see what I had (ha! what an idea!).  So I'm in the process of slicing up pieces and hanging them to see if this is really a viable idea.  Here's as far as I got before I had to leave the studio for a dinner meeting.

These are 4" wide strips (more or less) and we shall see if it works out when I really start to use it.  I have a long way to go - but cutting strips is almost as much fun as ironing.

 Enough of this idle chit-chat.  The morning is almost over and I am still at home; time to get moving.

getting ready

Yesterday, we spent the whole day setting up for open studios - and having a few laughs along the way. My roommate Francesca is a printmaker and does amazing etchings.

 Anyway, before I  go over to the studios, here are a few pix I took yesterday when we were finished setting up. I was really pleased with the results of mounting my small pieces on black stretched canvas. Worth the effort of sore shoulders from all that unaccustomed stitching from the day before!

Below, two quilts pinned to my design wall.

 

 

 

The scarves look great hanging on this special display element contributed by a donor who wishes to remain anonymous.

Exhausted at the end of the day, we went outside to get some air and I plunked myself down happily in the chair at the dumpster.  I think we should have taken it upstairs.  If it is still there today, I will probably do so.(not that I have room for it).

More later, après le déluge.

sore fingers

It's been a while since I have done a lot of sewing by hand. But in the last two days I've been attaching my small pieces to canvas - with stitches. Hard on the digits if you're not used to it. Nonetheless, worth it because at least they are presented decently. Tomorrow, I hang my work, clean up the design wall (not in that order) , iron the scarves, and vacuum again. It will be another busy day, but I will have photos next time I post.

one handed blogging

I am sewing with my left hand - facings. One down, two to go. I thought I could type with my right hand while I was sewing but to my surprise, it did not work out. Imagine that!  So - I am typing with two hands and will soon stop and sew a few stitches, then repeat the cycle. I expect this will take a while.

I was in the studio today, continuing to clean up for Sunday's open studios. This means hiding things where I will never find them again, just so the place looks reasonably neat. Despite the fact that nobody who comes buys a textile piece, I persist in showing them. This year, along with the prints on paper and the collages o paper, and my scarves, I have five small quilts in various irregular sizes. If I stick them on my padded wall, they won't look like much. If I want to mount them on canvas, I have to either wrap fabric around or paint the canvas because there is going to be space around the piece. Nothing like waiting 'til the last minute.

I was too tired to decide this afternoon and I am still sewing, so who knows? In the meantime I took the piece I had been working on to the studio with me today to find some fabric to mount it on. Hmmm... I posted it upside down and it seems to look ok either way.  The proportion is just wrong and it is too small to stand by itself, so I believe this will work. 

i

For about a nanosecond this afternoon I thought about finishing it in time for Sunday. But then sanity took over and I decided to leave it on the table as-is, in full view, so people could see what something looks like in process (if they are curious).

Before I left today, I pinned a scarf that needed help, to the other table. I screened some images over what was there and I think I'll leave it in place as a demo. 

Turning into a pumpkin as midnight strikes, and I need a break from sewing, so I will continue tomorrow.

events and non-events

First, the events (aka good things)

I discovered yesterday that Quilting Arts has produced a new e-book about text on quilts, compiling the best of the articles on the subject from the magazine over the years. I received a copy yesterday: it's beautiful and informative -- and I was pleased to see that the article I wrote almost a decade ago, "Get it in Writing," is in the book. At that time, I was one of the few people using text on quilts and the first one to write about it in Quilting Arts. Here's the cover - isn't it lovely?? Then, the NNJMQG has gotten enough "me! me! me!" responses that we are thinking about holding our first meeting earlier than originally planned. We shall see. Meantime, we have started a blog, which at the moment has nothing on it but a welcome message. Hopefully, this will change. Finally, after having stared at the piece on my home design wall, I have decided that although I wanted it to be larger, it wanted to stay small. It was getting grouchy and confused with all those extraneous pieces hanging around, so I took them away and photo #48 is much happier now. We are going to have another conversation and I will listen to what it has to say. I need to sew it together and then think about what comes after that. Stay tuned.

Now, the non-events (aka annoyances)

Blogger seems to be going back and forth between the old and new (UN-improved) version and I never know what I am going to get when I click on it to post. Wears me out. The "new" blogger is all about making money for its google-self and it annoys the hell out of me. As IF they needed more money. (I think this is turning into a rant, so I will stop. My #48 piece above is not the only grouchy one here. This grouchiness is probably because today was the third day in a row I have been in the house. Bleh. It was unintended but somehow morphed into being that way. For two days, I was slogging along trying to redo my website. I won't bore you with the details about why it was so difficult and time consuming - and it is not quite finished, but at least it is consistent (I think). Still working on the galleries page, but I'm up to HERE with it right now so it will have to do till I can get back to it.

My weekend plans have been cancelled because my chauffeur has a bad cold, so I have no choice but to spend Saturday doing a task I have been avoiding: starting to un-clutter (or is it de-clutter?) the former abode of a person who may have been related to the Collyer Brothers.

On that note - off to recharge my batteries for tomorrow.

wordless

a different kind of NY day

Wow! Two days in a row.  Met my friend Aleeda for lunch today in NY and we had a delicious $8 buffet lunch at Tiffin Walla, vegetarian Indian, on 28th St. near Lexington Ave.  That whole neighborhood (known as Curry Hill) is filled with Indian restaurants and many have South Indian cuisine: my favorite. 

Aleeda and met to discuss the North Jersey Modern Quilt Guild we are starting, and we hope to have a place to meet and some other things taken care of so we can have our first meeting sometime this summer. We are going to be an "un-guild"-- informal, friendly, and low-key.  We both belong to the NY Metro Mod and will continue to be members there, but the NY guild is now closed to new members, so it's time for the North Jersey moderns to have a chapter. We're so excited!

I have hardly had time to work on the piece I started last week that is now in the slow design stage. Very slow.  I'm adding, moving things around, and taking pictures.  And I can see that I will have to make some new units -- not knowing whether they will work.  But if they don't, I'll save them for something else. Here's a progression so you can see my process...

For now, I am leaving them. Tomorrow, the studio!

Only in new york

3:45
On the bus home from a lovely lunch with an old college friend. Sitting in rush hr traffic, so amusing self with blogger on iPhone.

I arrived early. So treated self to a walk up and down 39th st ( ) 8th & 7th in the garment district. I had the luxury of taking a leisurely stroll and of being alone. Sadly , I saw many 50 percent off EVERYTHING MUST GO signs in fabric store windows.  OTOH - I went into one and was surrounded by to-die-for-linen cloth 60" wide, $4.99/yd; silks, wools, cashmeres...  I was so overwhelmed, I couldn't buy any of it.  Maybe tomorrow, when I am in the City again.  But what am I going to do with it???  --- if only I could SEW...

 

 

6:00

Home now and have had a cup of coffee and uploaded the rest of the story. Yes, there is a story. This man is the story. The restaurant was dim, so my trusty iPhone didn't get a sharp picture - but that's ok.

Karen and I had about a 3 hour lunch, catching up after 50 years.  This man, who was nursing his espresso, overheard our whole conversation and decided to chat with us.

He told us he had been a bag man for gangsters long gone (none from natural causes) and he named names, most of which I recognized because they were not only famous during prohibition and in Las Vegas, but one of them lived across the street from the house in which my mother grew up in Newark.

(nice family, according to my mother's memoirs).

I don't think he was boasting, and I can't imagine what he is up to these days (probably not much) - but this was not an inexpensive French restaurant; lunch for one set me back for what dinner for two might cost somewhere else.  But, hey - this colorful guy was worth the price. 

He had financial advice for us: 1) buy gold.  2) ditch American dollars and buy Aussie dollars  because the American dollar is already worth very little and will shortly be worth ZIP.  He repeated this emphatically, several different times.  Maybe he can afford to eat there every day because he is paying in gold and/or Aussie dollars.  And maybe I'll check back tomorrow to see if he is there again, to get more advice.

Finally, as Karen and I were leaving, he pulled a photograph out of his wallet and told us proudly it was Benny Siegel, one of the people he had been associated with and had named earlier.  Benny Siegel?? 

I googled the name after I left the restaurant. OMG. Unless you knew him really well, you knew him as Bugsy.

Only in New York.

LOL

I don't know how I found this blogpost from 2009 when I was surfing last night, but it cheered me up immeasurably and, as always, made me giggle out loud, from the first sentence on.I hope it makes you giggle, too.

 Life as a Blogophyte

from Funny Word of the Day by Jessica K

Once again, I have had to appeal to my 66-year-old (ok, 67, but I told her I'd shave off a year for helping me) mother, who not only has her own blog, which she updates incessantly, but also her own website. She sent me the following email yesterday since she knows I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing here:

Get yourself on some blog rings, dearie. A few suggestions to get you started.http://www.nycbloggers.com/form.asphttp://www.ringsurf.com/ring/nybloggers/http://www.ringsurf.com/Arts/Writers_Resources/
You might also want to add sitemeter to your sidebar so you can see what your traffic is. Many people visit that don't leave comments.http://www.sitemeter.com/
Finally, put a subscribe to this blog form on your sidebar. go to Layout, click on "add a widget" and you'll see a subscription widget come up.
xxx

Should I be humiliated that I couldn't figure out how to do these things myself or that my mom is 30 years my senior and has 20 followers on her blog when I have only one (who is, ahem, my mother)? I read a ton of blogs every day but I never realized what it takes to get people to know that you exist. There must be millions of blogs out there but if no one's visiting, is it like they don't exist (you know, tree falls in forest and all that)?

The truth is that I think my mom is pretty darn cool for having started her own website and blog in her 50s when most adults her age were just learning to use email (we tried to teach my grandmother several years ago and that was a big failure). She's always been a doer and, while I'm a doer too, I guess I just do things a bit more slowly than she does sometimes.

Mom's even on Facebook (yes, I finally accepted her as my friend after debating whether that was too weird). However, I don't think she's used Twitter yet--in fact, I'm not even sure she knows what it is--so maybe I can beat her to that. If I do, I sincerely hope I attract more than one follower!