I <3 fabric

Good day for fabric! I’m generally excited about fabric and nothing is more interesting than new fabric techniques & types. I do love exploration of new stuff.

FIRST: in my wandering I discovered the wonder that is Ah! Kimono, which is a site that will sell you pieces of fabric from kimonos. I received my first package of fabrics (<– over there) with a lovely note this week. These are all green-hued, about 9″ x 9″ and I think (totally not sure!) they’re silk. Let me just tell you that my photo does not do these fragments justice. They’re beautiful, and have awesome texture and sheen. One is pebbly and rough and thin, another is thick and silky…

Having a weakness for fabric, I joined Ah! Kimono’s quarterly fabric club. I did that so that I wouldn’t be able to choose what colors or styles I get. I have a bad habit of picking the same things over and over, and I thought this would be a great chance to get something new and unexpected to play with. What will I do with it? I don’t know. I have an idea about a skirt, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten.

Also! SECOND. I got this book in: Fabric Art Workshop by Susan Stein. Very nice. I’ve looked through it about 5 times today since I got it. Fabric painting is something I’ve done a little, but technique and materials was sketchy for me. This clears some questions up, while giving me new ideas about things to try for decorating fabric. Like dyeing fabric with rust, that’s a new one. Got plenty of materials around here for that idea.

I ordered the book because I was curious about some techniques I saw reading a recent issue of Cloth P aper Scissors that I picked up (not the current one, the one with the yellow birdhouse on the front). If you haven’t seen it, it’s a lovely mixed-media magazine from Quilting Arts, seems like a nice bridge between sewing and painting.

So clearly I’m not doing well on the “fewer things to do” classification of life, but hey, I don’t actually have any fabric paint right now, so at least I can’t hare off to do it right now. The kimono fabric, on the other hand…

A little reflection …

(Today’s photographs are courtesy one of Austin’s universities, Concordia, which has recently sold its long-time central Austin campus and moved up north somewhere. Although I hear it’s a nice new place, it’s sad when a landmark disappears, so I went over and recorded some of it for posterity one day.)

Hi again! Remember me?  I’m still here, and even a bit more awake today than I have been.

Last Tuesday I admitted defeat and gave myself permission to check out for a while. Normally I’m a pretty energetic driven person, and am really quite insane with the level of things that I try to accomplish with each of my days. I’m always coming up with new things to try out. Have I mentioned the Appalachian Trail?  No? I’ll get to that.

It’s unusual when everything gets to be too much, but it happens sometimes. As of last Thursday I was so mentally cashed out I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through my day. We won’t even talk about Friday.

My job takes a toll on me because information management is at the core of my job. I love information management, actually, I could be a one-woman CIA, but sometimes, when there are thousands of bits of disparate data to be wrangled in an appallingly short period of time, it can be exhausting. It doesn’t help that I’m a ferocious perfectionist.

I’m still not through recuperating. I made about a half-hour’s attempt to do something crafty yesterday.  A very large and very irritating and somewhat upsetting error made me realize I still really am not minded to do anything even remotely challenging with my brain yet. I stopped, put everything neatly away, and did not fix.  I knew the “fix” would work out just as well as the original attempt.

I did try to acknowledge how tired I was. On Saturday I played Zelda on the Wii for a shocking amount of time.  I love Zelda.  It’s a very pretty game with castles, lots of water and sunsets and sunrises (Japan does medieval Europe!) as well as odd creatures.  I love quests, too.  And the new Wii controllers let you swing your arms about and really get into that sword-fighting.  I just have to be careful not to accidentally bash my husband and dog in the head.

Then on Sunday I read an entire book (and not a serious one by any means) and finished up by having tea and crumpets. Before you laugh, I read a lot of British fiction and I never did know what crumpets were. I saw some in the bakery of the grocery tonight and just had to try them. It’s probably a pale substitute, but hey, I’m in Texas, I do what I can!  I bought lemon curd to eat with my tea too, does that count?  Has my accent changed yet?

Presumably I will feel back to normal one of these days. I do think, however, that I need to consider cutting back somewhere in my life before I burn out really badly.  I feel that coming on.  I mean, I know I like to be busy (manic, really) but I think I’m at that point where it’s time to be realistic.  I keep thinking of new things to add to my lists of stuff to do/accomplish, but I suspect that I’m going to need to schedule more brain rest in there somewhere.

I’m coming up on my first blogging anniversary, too, and beginning to reflect on what the past year has brought me.  I didn’t really expect it, but I’ve learned a lot from this year.  A lot.  I’ve learned quite a bit from the self-reflection of writing, and I’ve learned a lot from others’ blogs as well.  I’ve been inspired to alter not only the direction of my writing and my blog, but life as well.  I’ll be pondering all that when I get a minute.

Other People’s Blogs.  I’ve been inspired, frustrated and overwhelmed.  Some people just floor me.  What I’ve seen has made me joyful, sad and angry.  I don’t understand all the perspectives I read.  I agree with some, others are provoking, still others are just not really meant for me.  People are truly a mass of conflicting ideas and emotions and thoughts.  Blogs, when done right, are a really incredible method of exploration and expression.

Ah, well, that’s enough reflection for the day.  I’ll return tomorrow (or the next day) with more … I’m just going to go with the flow for now, as they say.  Just thinkin’ about the state of things, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll bake a cake.  Because if I’m going to have tea, I might as well have cake and crumpets, right?

National Sibling Day (April 11)

So I learned that today is National Sibling Day - another made-up holiday, but I like this one because … well, my brother is my best friend in the whole world. He’s 14 months younger than I am. He is my earliest memory - I remember my mom showing him to me when he came home from the hospital. And we’re … not unalike, but not alike either.

My brother is very charismatic - if you met him, you’d get sucked into his vortex too.

The best way to explain my brother Jeremy is to show him in his usual guise in a photo. He’s usually doing something on a mountain. Snowboarding, hiking, biking, whatever… When I get emails from him, the signature line is “I fear flat planets.” He frowns upon heat. He showed me my first glacier. This photo is of Jeremy when he lived in New Zealand. He’s lived there, Tejas, Colorado, Vermont, Montana, Alaska and Washington. He’s always sending me pics of him on top of mountains.

I am remarkably proud of my little bro (who is almost a foot taller than I) for his dedication to living life without fear, and for his absolute loyalty to those he loves. He does whatever the hell he wants. He lives wherever he wants. He believes his own reasoning is good enough for anyone. He regularly hurtles himself down steep slopes but thinks the fear is fun, or at least interesting. He’s taught me a lot about how not to be afraid in life, about how to go for it and ask questions later. About how asking permission is a lot harder than getting forgiveness afterward. (Right, bro?) He’s taught me about what it means to believe in others and myself.

Jeremy is not organized (at all), and he’s forgetful. He does not own furniture nor is domestic in any way - really, he does not “own” anything or want to. He does not want to settle. He travels and learns and argues with people, and spends a hell of a lot of time working out (don’t get into a fight with him, he works out daily and has an … er, volatile temper).

Jeremy’s someone I look to when I find myself playing it safe instead of doing what I believe is right. He is proud of me for being a person I like, not for toeing the line. He thinks rocking the boat is probably better than accepting the status quo. Jeremy’s fearlessness is what I remember when I’m afraid to be me, or to state my true opinion. He reminds me that no matter what, I shouldn’t accept being passed over or ignored.

And if I don’t like where I am, I can always go forth and find a new and more interesting experience.