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.

For Gifts and For Me

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One morning about two weeks before Christmas, I walked into the Bernina store where I work and noticed several women lined up holding bolts of Shannon Cuddle, a microfiber fleece. Benartex makes a similar fabric named Minkee. I believe Minkee has been around longer and is more well known. The variety of microfiber fleece that people are most familiar with is the dimpled version, frequently used in making baby blankets. My coworker had seen a video for an infinity scarf over the weekend and made one out of Cuddle. It was so beautiful that everyone in the store wanted one … Continue reading →

Common Interests

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I’ve been living in hell this week. While driving from Northeast Ohio to Western North Carolina two days before Christmas to see my 101-year-old mother and visit with my brothers and sister-in-law, I received a call from my SIL telling me we might have to move Mother from her assisted living facility to a nursing home. Damn! You see, my plan includes: Mother living as long as she wants—in perfect health the whole time—and then just dropping dead, painlessly, of course, from a heart attack or other instant condition. So far my plan isn’t working so well. In fact, we’re … Continue reading →

Does a Manly Man Wear a Scarf?

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As we were leaving Northern California after a wonderful week of vacation in September, I ducked into a yarn shop in Half Moon Bay and picked up two skeins of Noro “Cash Island” yarn (also called “Cashmere Island”). As I was writing this post, I learned it has been discontinued. Boo hoo! It’s a great yarn. I wanted to make more of these scarves. “Cash Island” is 60% wool, 30% cashmere, and 10% nylon. Can you say “soft”? Yep, soft. When I showed it to Jas after purchase, he asked, “Don’t you have enough scarves?” I didn’t tell him it … Continue reading →

Fail/Pass

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Back in 2012, I made one of Marcy Tilton’s jackets, Vogue 8709. I dipped into my stash and pulled out a rayon woven in rust and black, and found an old silk/cotton woven for cuffs and collar. A lot of work went into this top, and when it was done, it cried to live in someone else’s closet. Last summer our friend, Diane, invited it to live in her closet. When we arrived for “orphan’s dinner” at their home on Thanksgiving, she was wearing it and both she and the top looked very happy. Isn’t it nice when a fail … Continue reading →

More Little Gifts

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At this time of year, I’m always looking for [quick] cute little gifts for holiday party hostesses and (even more importantly) my grandchildren’s teachers. Shortly after starting to work at a quilt shop, someone showed me the microwave bowl mat. Brilliant! You know how the microwave dings and you grab your soup bowl and then cry out in pain because it’s so hot that it burns your fingertips? Some brilliant crafter figured out a solution. I’ve read ten or fifteen tutorials, and the one by Lisa Lewis Koster was the one I liked the best. (I’ve removed the link to … Continue reading →

Thrill for Twill

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We have some bolts of fabric at work that have been around for a few years. The shoppers who come in somehow don’t envisage these fabrics as quilts or bags or any other sewn item. So they sit. I’ve been making it my mission to get all of these fabrics photographed (or find the pic online, although for older fabrics, that’s not an easy task), and make them available to potential online purchasers. In a sentence: what a shopper cannot see does not get sold. When I arrived at the store on Monday, eight bolts of Moda cotton twill were … Continue reading →

A Gift For a Gift

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Somewhere in my past I learned the charming custom of never sending a plate or bowl home empty after a friend has gifted you with food. But I don’t cook, so sending home a plate of some delicious food is not really a choice in my world. But sending home some cute little sewn accessory is! We had dinner out with our travel pals Mike and Marilyn a couple of weeks ago, then went back to their home for delicious homemade birthday desserts for Mike. The leftovers came home with us, and I’ve been eyeing that plate for two weeks—need … Continue reading →

No Speeding!

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I’m sure you’re tired of hearing me say how overfull my schedule is. But I miss having hours on end to just tunnel into my basement hidey-hole and sew my heart out. So in this overbusy time, I snatched a few minutes to cut out and begin sewing a Porta-Pockets Purse Insert from StudioKat. Michele [Lepore-Hagan for State Representative] gave me a fabulous bag from her sister’s handbag line to thank me for all the work I’ve done on her campaign. I have never loved a handbag as much as I love this one. And I’ve never had such a … Continue reading →