Traveling, no blogging, great ice cream

Yes, my blog has been quiet lately, but I have an excuse--I've been traveling a lot over the past 2-1/2 months. I was in New York City for a week in late April, in China for two weeks in late May and early June, and then back on the east coast for ten days at the end of June. I'll start posting photos of my China travels sometime soon. In the meantime, let me praise the virtues of great ice cream in New York! On the first warm spring day there in April, I happened to pass an ice cream truck boasting "artisan ice cream," and I couldn't resist the temptation. I had a scoop of pistachio, and it was the smoothest, creamiest, tastiest ice cream I've ever had! If you're ever in NYC, keep your eye out for the Van Leeuwen ice cream truck--it's definitely worth a try, although you won't want to think about the amount of fat you're consuming. Here's their website: www.vanleeuwenicecream.com

And here's a photo of their truck that I happened to find on a Flickr site:

Woes of the Middle-Aged Crafter

My day job requires me to read constantly, and over the last couple of years, I've had periodic bouts with eyestrain. I thought it was just overwork, since everything looked fine until I read too much. Lately, however, the difficulty of maintaining focus, combined with eye aches and headaches, forced me to go to the optometrist. The verdict: presbyopia--that is, the dreaded need for bifocals. Only these days, one usually shells out for so-called progressive lens, which have gradations in magnification that allow one to see clearly at multiple ranges. I also needed reading glasses, because I like to read while lying down, which apparently means that I need to be able to read through the top part of the lense, whereas the reading zone for progressive lens is towards the bottom.

The optician did a rush job on my reading glasses, and I just picked them up this afternoon. Relief is in sight at last!

D'oh!

Last night I was busy admiring my obi bags and patting myself on the back, when I noticed one of them had a big mistake--I had stupidly forgotten to turn the pocket piece right side out, so when I reached into the pocket, I could feel the raw edges of the seams. Aargh! At least the error means I get to keep this tote, which makes me happy, since I love how it looks on the outside. I'm starting to build up quite a nice collection of defective bags.

To console myself, I made another tote from a mezashi (obi sample fabric) in a similar colorway. This one is just fine--I hope!

Obi Bags

I've been working with obi fabrics for the past two days, and I'm enjoying the results. My studio is starting to look like the interior of a craft gallery!

Beloved Unwanted Visitor

Despite my admittedly half-hearted efforts to keep her out, our younger cat frequently insists on keeping me company in my sewing room. Sometimes she finds a spot on the floor from which to observe, but she often makes herself at home on my cutting table, especially if there's a nice comfortable piece of fabric for her to settle upon and shed all over. My lint brush gets a lot of use, and in extreme cases, I have to send my fabrics through another wash cycle to make them usable. Oh well--what can you do with family?

OUCH!

Happy Canada Day, which I'm also declaring Rotary Cutter Safety Day. I was looking forward to some serious sewing time--I hurt my back while I was in Toronto last week and haven't been able to sit or stand comfortably for any reasonable length of time until today, and I was finally feeling up for sewing. After less than fifteen minutes, though, I stupidly managed to cut my left index finger while cutting fabric with a rotary cutter. I did something similar about ten or fifteen years ago, so I guess it's about high time that I got another reminder the hard way to keep my fingers behind the ruler's edge. Now I'm sitting here trying to staunch the bleeding and typing one-handed. Remember--let's be careful out there!

On Interfacing

I grew up using cheap fusible non-woven interfacing. I always hated the stuff, and I avoided using it whenever possible. I hated the way the adhesives stiffened the fabric and made it feel like paper or tagboard, and I hated the pilling that quickly set in on my shirt facings and dress collars. When I noticed that commercially purchased dresses often had collar facings made of the fabric alone, and without any interfacing, I started making my facings the same way, despite advice to the contrary and dire warnings that the fabric would stretch as a result. But I recently bought some high quality, fusible woven interfacing from my favorite local fabric store (Fabricana, with stores in Richmond and Coquitlam, for those of you in the greater Vancouver area), and when making a wristlet purse the other day, I tried the new interfacing on a delicate kimono silk that needed extra strength.

What a difference good interfacing makes! I wish you could actually feel the purse in the photo above. I used a lightweight fusible interfacing that felt like cotton lawn, and it provided great support without destroying the feel of the fabric. The interfacing also added body, which allows the purse to stand on its own more easily. I like the results so much that I'll be using fusible interfacings a lot more often now. I'm a convert!