Production lines - seasonal making

"When in doubt, make a book" - or a dozen!

Cut and folded

They are a dos-a-dos format, using a small section of some paper painted (on both sides) at a workshop at Committed to Cloth several years ago -

Punched and ready for sewing with red and yellow linen threads
 (the extra bit of cover will be trimmed later)

The paper bands hold the books closed, but elastic bands are more practical when the books are in use -

The remnants of the paper were used to make gift tags, embroidering a gold star over a red dot -

And a one-off - wreath made from discarded pine (or fir? spruce?) branches - without a firm base to attach the branches to, it was flopping about, so I started again...

 Not much firmer - more of a catherine-wheel than a typical xmas wreath!

Given that someone keeps stealing plants from the pots outside the front door at Rathcoole Gardens, it doesn't seem wise to put anything portable on the door...but it's too warm inside, really.

Out of the closet - or rather, the wardrobe

Since my art school days, round about 2010, I've been wearing jeans, black jeans, on a rotational basis - one pair on the body, the other in the wash. It's been a liberation to be freed of "the tyranny of the closet", never being able to find the "right" thing to wear. So much easier to put on the jeans, add a teeshirt and other layer, and it's all done, you're set for the day.

And, in theory, it reduces the number of garments in one's wardrobe.

But recently I bought a dress, and then another, "just for a change". In the past few years, dresses have been flooding onto the market. Goodness, I even made one last winter.

Also recently, I became aware that the dresses, and much else, are simply languishing in the closet, probably picking up that unwelcome whiff of oldness that starts to inhabit clothes that rarely see the light of day.

As a result of these actions and thoughts, I came up with a personal project: 

Jeans-Free July

Can a jeans addict wear other garments for an entire month? Are YOU a jeans addict - would you like to try??

Excited by the idea, I had a little rummage in the closet and put a few outfits together in readiness. (Only 10 days to go!)

Dresses -

Latest acquisition - I felt the need of some COLOUR

"Just a long loose teeshirt" - but the golden colour
is so wonderful!

The smocky dress is bit short, needs leggings...

Without the teeshirt, this is perfect in the heat

Oldies but goodies - in fabulous fabrics. I whipped up
the jacket back in the 80s from a remnant, as one did
in those good old days

 Skirts -

That's probably enough* to be starting with, whatever the weather -

Just in case the weather turns chilly, as it can and has done, a number of LBJs (little black jackets) are ready for action. I do love an LBJ...

Leggings, if I dare, "at my age" - and why not! -

With other teeshirts, other shoes....

Love those long loose linen shirts!

Various non-jean trousers emerged, along with some other beloved linen shirts -

Candidates for studio-wear

... and a drawerful of teeshirts -

Too many stripes? No! You can never have too many stripes!!

*A while back I purged my wardrobe, with the help of a friend, in a couple of days of "japanese tidying". This involves gathering everything and going through it piece by piece. In our so-rich western culture, when we gather everything together, it becomes plain that we (I use "we" loosely, there are exceptions...) have SO much and often too much in our fortunate lives ... but that's another story.

At the risk of becoming a little old lady who is still wearing the clothes she bought during her working life - clothes that are now looking a little tired, emitting a gentle whiff and hanging loosely on her gaunt frame - I probably need buy nothing more for the next two decades, just rotate what's already there.

But goodness, isn't it nice to have something new to wear!! 

Extreme thrift

So there I was, piecing together some bits of polyester wadding to go inside journal quilts! Daft or what ...

The remaining bits got smaller and smaller ... and three "innards" came out of something that could, or even should, have been thrown away -

I even used up odd bits of thread that were to hand, which wasn't about thrift but about making it more interesting to myself, during the doing. And hey, no-one would be seeing this!

As I was about to add the innards to the pile of materials for possible JQs, I saw the results in terms of shapes and compositions, and liked what I saw. 

Randomness has yielded inspiration - a design source. The middle on particularly pleases me, the way the long strips fit into the angle, and the shorter strip, itself angled, into the other angle. I couldn't have made that up ... it had to "just happen". And now that it has ... how to take it further? 

For now - I need to use this wadding and make some JQs, the deadline is approaching - I've traced the shapes. What happens when they're layered up, in various orientations?

Tracing the design, to make it more complex, which lines would you leave in and which would you take out?

Later I'll scale the original shapes down to fit many-on-a-sketchbook-page and play with colours and arrangements, juxtaposition and composition, balance and tonal value, contrast and highlight.

Death and taxes: what I have learned so far

Inevitable...

This morning I finally felt able, thanks to a good night's sleep and waking up to sunshine, to tackle Tony's long-overdue self-assessment tax return. He had left his files in a good state - years of bills neatly organised, correctly labelled - but many of his accounts were online-only, including his bank accounts.

1. Once the banks etc are informed of a death, the accounts are closed and online access to the data is no longer possible.

Tony died shortly after the end of the tax year I'm dealing with (and a return must be made for the few days of the next tax year), and who thinks of immediately checking online accounts? Add to which, when the emails to friends were finally all done, and for some reason someone had shut down the computer, we could no longer log in for some reason (to do with "key chain"; is that what it's called...) - which made for lots of other problems.

2. Do not shut off someone else's computer.

Even if you were able to deal with "it" immediately, what do you need to do? It would have been helpful to have statements of net interest from all bank accounts, and statements of earnings from pension providers (as a teacher who had formerly worked in Germany, he had several pensions). Plus there was "investment income" of unspecified sorts.

3. Now - this minute, or this weekend, but no later - compile a complete list of your sources of income for those who have to deal with your estate - name of institution, account or reference number, type of account - or have enough identifiable paperwork, nicely filed if possible, so they can work it out. Do it now, "just in case". (And - do you have a will?)

4. Also compile, and leave for your executors, an up to date list for logins. Many people write their passwords etc in a little book. I keep mine in the desk drawer, handily and dangerously [we are told] near the computer,  and after 10 years of increasing mess in the old one as ever-more-complex passwords have to be chosen, I have started a new one: each site that requires a login gets written down, so that eventually all the sites in use will be noted and the old book can be disposed of.

One of the problems in doing the tax return was that he hadn't printed out the returns for previous years - that would have been so useful as a model to follow. I'm still trying to figure out where certain bits of income go. Knowing I'd have to do this figuring out is one of the things that helped me procrastinate doing the job.

5. If you file income tax online, leave a printout in the file.

The big problem was that, on being informed of his death, the tax office (of course) closed the account. They sent me a set of forms, which should have been a big hint for what to do next, ie file before 31 October as stated on the covering letter - but was I reading carefully, was I taking hints? No, I was organising a memorial event, struggling with a eulogy, getting through the days.

6. If you are an executor, or a widow/er, have an expanding file for correspondence on "things that need dealing with" - and keep it under review. Do not ignore correspondence. It would have helped me to read the tax letter carefully and put a sensible Do By date at the top. 

Not strictly tax, but a problem nonetheless: the bills had been paid online ... but which of the suppliers supplied what? Tony's accounts were shut down and I had to set up new ones for council tax, gas, electricity, water, phone, broadband/tv.

7. Keep a list of outgoings, with account numbers/references, and logins; the occasional printout is useful. I've been getting annual summaries from some suppliers, which is helpful not just for seeing expenditure but for having these sorts of details to hand.

The tax deadline having passed, I needed a new access code for doing it online. Phoning the tax office's automated number was a matter of listening to a long blurb (each time), making an endless series of choices, and using "a short phrase" to tell the robot was your call was about. Er, how would you explain something so confusing in a succinct way? I found that "bereavement" got the call quickly to a Real Person - and they were very helpful.

But first time I applied for a new access code I didn't really take in what I needed to know. Acting on someone else's behalf makes you wonder whether it's your details are needed, or theirs. Once the code arrived, I got hopelessly lost in trying to get the access ... and by the time I plucked up courage and tried again, the code had expired - back to square one and getting another code, but at least by this time I could listen better - and knew what to ask.

8. When making phone calls, write down, in detail, what you are told that you need to do. Ask to have it repeated. Do not delude yourself that you will remember, or be able to figure it out. 

9. Do not lose the bit of paper on which you've written down what you need to do. Use a big piece of paper, and keep it in the right compartment in your regularly-reviewed file. 

Now I'm waiting for statements from various places so that I can fill in the UK interest worksheet, which is about halfway through filling in the tax return online. A glass half full! What had been a brick wall is now ... what? a scree slope? a rocky path? an open horizon? ... not so scary, at least. The aim of getting The Tax done is simply to get it off my plate, off my mind.

Here's another thing to consider, whether you're bereaved or not, an executor or not:

10. If you have various "devices", use an online calendar that can be accessed on all of them. Put everything into the calendar - eg, the weekly review of the expanding file. Possibly also the dates bills were paid, that sort of thing. Get into the habit of checking the calendar regularly. It's been a godsend for me; the number of double-bookings and missed deadlines has declined steadily...

Today feels like the first day of spring. The tulips that Sylvia brought along are basking in the sunshine, and I have almost two hours to make some fabric pots for dipping at ceramics class tonight.

Drowning in fabric

The past few days have seen a flurry of curtain making - not my favourite sewing activity. Even though my sewing space is fairly large, there has somehow never been enough room for laying out the fabric and being able to pin things easily.

Most were "medium-sized" curtains, or rather, curtains for medium-sized windows, but one curtain was a door curtain -

The fabric for that, and its matching window curtains, came from an end-of-roll sale at a local upholsterer, total cost £10 - the curtains used every inch, and have false hems. Cost of lining, ruffling tape, hooks - £38. Time taken - 10 hours (includes conversion of Ikea loop-top pair). Job satisfaction - 5/10.

My tips for curtain making -

- clear as much space as you can, and sweep the floor

- pick up threads as you go ... or the curtains will ...

- set up the ironing board next to your machine, and use it to support the fabric

- measure twice before cutting (ie, measure both edges)

- measure the windows yourself if at all possible

- pin up hems and put curtains on the rail to check the length before machining them

- check that lining hems don't droop below the curtain hem

- preferably use a steam iron that doesn't leak

and - if in doubt, buy an extra metre of ruffling tape. I'm half a metre short, and must go back for more. 

Mending

This is type of mending is kaya -

Kaya image from srithreads via here

Rather like Chunghie Lee's pojagi, isn't it? And yet, very different...

Chunghie Lee kimono image from here

Kaya is more in the boro line of things -

Boro image from here

Mending is darning, mending is patching ... it can be necessary, or it can be perverse ...

Lots more mending at http://pinterest.com/clarabellacraft/mending/

Mending preserves memory, adds to memory, intensifies memory.

Wonderful idea for a bookwrap

Seen at scrapsandstrings.blogspot.co.uk/

If you are compelled to hang on to those teeny, tiny scraps, why not use some to make a Bookwrap Gem?

Brenda has done something very simple and elegant, using trimmings from a bigger, strip-pieced item ... a great idea.

Do you save selvedges?

Here's a suggestion for how to use them - see more pix here.

Once upon a teapot

It's given me great pleasure to crochet this tea-cosy (pattern here); never mind that it's slightly too large for my teapot, it's a present for someone who may have a larger one. I'm about to start another for my own teapot - slightly smaller, and different colours.

Felt insoles

As I was getting out the bags of wool tops and wondering if I could remember how to make felt - it's been a while! - I came across the bag with felt and pre-felt made in years past. What a lot of it there was -

 All I needed was enough to make some insoles, and with a little further felting this piece became thick enough, and was still large enough -

The larger scraps were used as an extra layer at the heel.

He'll probably like to use them plain side up -