Author Archives: Jan

About Jan

Musician and geek and Juris Doctor; lover of fine art and fine craft; mother and grandmother and significant other and friend. Passionate about sewing.

Put Some Cork In It

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Today was a snow day and in my neighborhood, the snowplows come around infrequently. I had a “Music at Noon” performance scheduled with a Dana School of Music musical theatre student, but morning classes were cancelled, and the head of the musical theatre department wisely cancelled the Music at Noon performance. I was supposed to go to an activity with my granddaughter, but knew with the six or so inches of snow we got last night and the dearth of snowplows, I’d never get out of my neighborhood. So snow day = sew day. Have you seen the cork fabric … Continue reading →

A Little Box Pouch

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What to do when you realize you have all the necessary Christmas gifts for the family gathering except for one—your [virtual] sister-in-law? You dig into your treasured shibori stash, find a tutorial you like, and whip up that one last gift. The treasured shibori fabric was destashed by my friend, quilter MaryLou Alexander. MaryLou’s quilts all begin with high quality undyed fabric, which she scrunches and folds and stitches and dyes with either MX dyes or natural dyes, before cutting and piecing and machine quilting. (She’s currently in her natural dye period. Everything in my treasured stash comes from the … Continue reading →

A Second New Top for Vacation

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Our flight to Mexico was scheduled to leave early on the morning of January 2; we would drive to Cleveland on the afternoon of New Year’s Day to stay in a hotel near the airport. I had packed on New Year’s Eve. That meant I had the entire morning of New Year’s Day to sew one more top for Playa Maroma. I dug into the stash and grabbed a poly knit I had picked up several years ago at Fabrix in San Francisco. It was not a “me” print, although I’m not sure the real “me” print exists. I’m ambivalent … Continue reading →

Tiny Treasures Tray

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A few days before Christmas, I realized I needed a gift to put under the tree for the Jazzman. I buy him this and that throughout the year when I see something he needs or could use, so there was nothing I could think of to get him so he would have something to open at the family gathering. I had seen this Tiny Treasures Basket & Tray pattern a year or so ago on the Noodlehead website. I knew I wanted to try it sometime. Now I had an opportunity, and I had two coordinating fabrics in my stash … Continue reading →

Courtney Top for Mexico

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Vacation plans always make me want to sew. Surely I have some nice piece of fabric in my stash that will make me feel chic on vacation. And this trip was no exception. We’re on a week’s snow escape vacation, and judging by all the weather reports from NE OH, we timed it perfectly! Two nights before we were to fly out, I dipped into my stash and found a silky rayon I purchased several years ago at Fabrix in San Francisco on a shopping trip with Shams. Then I dug into my StyleArc pattern stash and Courtney called out … Continue reading →

Returning from the Piano Bench

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Yes, it’s true that I haven’t posted in a very long time. I’ll tell you another time what all I’ve been up to. One thing I’ve done is take Joan Hawley’s “Zip It Up: Easy Techniques for Zippered Bags” class on Craftsy. If you’re just getting interested in crafting cool bags for yourself, friends, and craft shows, I highly recommend this class. The fabric is hand dyed using Shibori techniques by my friend, MaryLou Alexander. You can see the beautiful art quilts she makes with her hand-dyed fabrics on her website. Aren’t I lucky that she calls me when she’s … Continue reading →

A T-shirt Fit for a Gala

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While we in the opera program at YSU’s Dana School of Music were preparing for our spring opera weekend, the program director, my boss Dr. Yun, asked if I would accompany the trio from Mozart’s “The Impresario” for an upcoming gala. The event was sponsored by YSU’s College of Creative Arts & Communication, of which Dana School of Music is a part. I put it on my calendar and promptly forgot about it. The three weeks leading up to opera weekend are the busiest of the year for me. I don’t see my guy except when he’s sleeping and for … Continue reading →

Three-Quarter Patch Tote from Craftsy

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Shall we admit that I’m a pushover for a clearance sale? Even when I have a lot of fabric that is perfect for making a cute bag, I still follow the links in the Craftsy emails I get. Must get help to beat this addiction! It’s opera season at the university where I work as a collaborative pianist. So my time is not my own. But last week we had a day off between final dress rehearsal and first performance. I grabbed that time, preceded by a couple of stolen hours on Easter weekend, to make the opportunity to sew. … Continue reading →