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carrying on with some bests, short-form.

#7: blog find of the year
there are so many good ones out there, aren't there? here's two that have been making me happy:
strange maps
craft nectar


#8: moment of peace
almost every time i pick up a needle, which is almost every day. focus, quiet, steady stitches.


#9: challenge: something that made you grow
there were a few. i am going to keep them close to my chest for now, but i know what they are and how i handled them. sometimes i was proud of myself + sometimes disappointed (happily, more pride at the end of the year than disappointment!). . . but i will not forget the lessons, this time.


#10: album of the year
some of my listening obsessions this year, in no particular order...
she + him
david byrne
the killers
and right at the end of the year, over winter break, conway twitty + loretta lynn (2010 has been declared the year of classic country over at our house)


#11: the best place
home... both of them, with e.

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happy new year!
has it really been a month since i've been here? almost.
so much has happened in the past month + i needed a long break to take it all in. and now it is the new year, + i am a bit overwhelmed by that but also very excited about what is to come. 2010 will be a year of profound change for me, and i am committed to dealing with that with honesty and openness and good spirits.

so the past month, in a nutshell:
*i finished my exams. that was a bit absorbing. (almost- i have a paper due friday but the biggies were the middle of december). just one more semester to go and i will be finished with law school. what?
*my wintry polaroids were featured on this joy + ride, a beautiful online magazine curated by shari + sheri. it was such a wonderful honor to be included; thank you ladies!
*i traveled... to florida, to louisiana for a beautiful few days with my family + visiting old and very very dear friends, back to florida again.
*i sewed like crazy, and rode the happy wave of creativity that has been with me for several months now. it shows no sign of abating, and i am grateful for that.
*i loved being a part of the month of december on habit. i miss it already.
*i lounged with my e. we have listened to music + watched many movies + cooked + baked + walked + talked about the past year and the past decade and the year that is to come. it has been very, very good to be home.


also. when i was last here i was doing a little best of 2009. and i dropped it. i don't think i want to go through all the prompts, but it always takes me a few days to get into a new year (and besides, our tree is still up!), and i am a completist-- so i think i will spend the rest of the week just briefly documenting a few more bests. just because.

#6. Workshop or conference. Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was especially beneficial? Where was it? What did you learn?

i realize now, searching through my blog archives, that i never posted about my experience attending denyse schmidt's improvisational piecing workshop in february. how did that happen?! (i think i can guess... posted pics at flickr, got too immersed in schoolwork, and forgot. but still.)


so yes. in february i had the absolute pleasure and privilege of attending a daylong workshop with one of my heroes, my inspiration, the woman who inspired me to start sewing again after not having touched fabric in over a dozen years. the incomparable ms. denyse schmidt. my heart flutters just thinking about it, y'all. i wanted to take this workshop because i felt for far too long that i was overly committed to patterns, to planning, to having everything just-so. and improvisational piecing felt both freeing and terrifying. reading about erin's experience at the workshop sealed the deal. and it was everything i had hoped for and much much more.


denyse is a remarkable teacher. encouraging and smart and very funny, and possessed of the rare skill of knowing exactly when to push a student to a breakthrough. sitting in her lovely light-filled studio (these photos are little vignettes from that space), i felt truly in the zone of creativity... pulling fabrics from large paper bags marked only "small," "medium," and "large," discovering completely unexpected combinations of color and pattern and texture. it was freeing and addictive. since february i have been using this technique non-stop-- like for this quilt, and this pillow. and i am looking forward to the advanced improv class this spring.

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5: Night Out. Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night?

i'm enjoying putting these together as little lists, so i think i will carry on with that today.

*the 25th anniversary celebration of purple rain, the movie. screened in prospect park on the biggest movie screen in brooklyn, with a sing-along... thousands of people on picnic blankets, the late summer dusk turning into night. laughing with e. the whole crowd rising to our feet to belt out purple rain together, dancing, singing at the top of our lungs. at that moment i loved prince and i loved new york.


*another prince moment. 2 fridays ago. a long long long school day, working on legal papers that needed to go in the mail. by the end of the day my eyes were burning from looking at the computer, i was working on what must have been the 10th draft of our document, and i was getting crankier by the minute... my friends were at kareoke in koreatown and my phone kept buzzing with text messages. "where are you?" "leaving soon." "still here." "still here." finally i left (almost ran, to be honest) to the train station... dashed to the kareoke bar... found them still there. they had bought me a cocktail and it was waiting on the table. and we sang. and sang. purple rain, when doves cry, bruce springsteen, cyndi lauper. and had burgers and another cocktail and the day lifted from my shoulders... floated off really. perfect.


*my grandmother took me + a friend of hers to our favorite snack bar in pune in may. we sat outside under the fan and drank filter coffee and ate spdp (crunchy savory sweet goodness, a pune specialty). the air had cooled so much from the heat of the day, i remember, and i only had to dab my face with my kerchief a couple of times. in the darkness of the courtyard, which was lit by little lamps, we were surrounded by small families + groups of young friends from the university, + the air was filled with laughter. i remember that we giggled + gossiped together, we three ladies, + that on our walk home down the busy shopping road + by the campus, i was struck by the vividness of life at night... when darkness fell, light was more intense, more vibrant, there was a quickness + a lightness to everyone's step.


we stopped for ice cream. i had kesar pista (saffron pistachio); nani had lichi.
that night we stayed up very late + talked, my grandmother and i. me curled up on her couch with my stitching, + her on her green lawn chair that i thought was so funnily placed near her dining table, with the crossword puzzle in her lap. i took photos of her until she laughed + protested + made me stop. it's because you're beautiful, i said.

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carrying on, this friday evening, with the best of 2009. i don't have coordinating photos today, but digging through the 2009 files, i found these rather random shots that made me happy.

#3: Article. What's an article that you read that blew you away? That you shared with all your friends. That you Delicious'd and referenced throughout the year.

well... i don't actually know what delicious is. i guess that's a sign of being a little out of touch with the technology and the young people (i swear that sometimes i feel like a 75-year-old woman in a 31-year-old body... a couple of months ago my husband had to explain to me what viral videos were.) but i do know that i like things that make me think, + i like to pass those things on. again, i don't have one article. the cluster that comes to mind are a series of pieces, newspaper stories + editorials, about the ongoing civil rights struggle for gay marriage. this is very fresh in my mind because of this week's loss in new york. if you did not hear about this already, on wednesday the new york state senate voted down gay marriage, in a somewhat out-of-the-blue vote that left many of us shaken. it came so close on the heels of the maine vote, too. at the same time that this disappointed, however, it was a reminder to pull together, to stay strong + informed, + to keep fighting.

since i can't come up with one article, though, i'll reference this video again. tom duane was the sponsor of the NY marriage bill and he is one of my heroes.


#4: Book. What book - fiction or non - touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies?

a little list:
*not buying it, by judith levine
this book changed the way i think about consumption. she went a year without buying anything but essentials, and this is that story. this is what i wrote to a friend earlier this year about it: "what i am loving about it is that rather than just being a series of cutesy vignettes (i.e. not buying X was so hard!) it weaves in all kinds of analysis of why we consume, the politics of consumption, psychoanalysis (the nature of desire), capitalism, advertising."


*my life in france, by julia child
this book was one of those where i was just grinning ear to ear throughout the whole read. julia child is such an inspiration to me. the joy she takes in every moment just leaps off the page. she is fearless, smart, politicized (loved the inclusion of her + paul's struggles with mccarthy in the book), and doesn't take herself too seriously. i always think that if i have half the joie de vivre that she had, i'll have a pretty fantastic life.

*the craftsman, by richard sennett
my awesome friend caroline recommended this book to me, and i'm in the middle of it now. it is a philosophical study of craftsmanship and making, both from individual and collective perspectives. what is the relationship between making and reflection? what is mastery of craft + how does it change the process of making? what is the role of the craftsperson in society? this book has already changed the way i think about my creative process, and has helped me to articulate many of the things that i noticed about craft + had not been able to describe.


ok, back to the books for me. have a nice weekend!

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this month i am going to take a cue from my dear + wise friend shari, and do a little reflecting on the year that is drawing to a close. shari writes that we too often tend to dwell on the negative things that have happened when we reflect on the past, + i think that that is true-- i know i do this a lot (oh, i could have done this, why did i do this silly thing, oh, the mistakes that i've made!) while i think there is something to be gained from this-- from looking your mistakes squarely in the face, recognizing why you did something that you regret, + learning from it-- dwelling + brooding are not so helpful. particularly at the holidays, which despite all its cheer + sparkle + sugary treats, also seems to be a time for the unexpected resurgence of memory (both sweet + painful). as we learn from what went awry in the past year, it is also so good to remember what was good + fun + rewarding, + an opportunity for growth.


so following shari + via her, these prompts from gwen bell's blog, during the month of december-- in fits + starts, no doubt-- i will take this opportunity to take charge of the memory-making of 2009. i will remember what was sweet + lovely in this year, what went very very well, what i am proud of. i will likely add a few other little categories of my own. we'll see.


1: Trip: What was your best trip in 2009?
oh... travel. 2009 was such a good year for it! i was so lucky this year to take so many wonderful trips. in may i spent a week in india with my grandmother, two weeks in nepal doing human rights research, and a week in tokyo with my sweetie. in july i visited shari for a fabulous summer weekend in vermont. in august i spent an absolutely delightful week with e in holland, in amsterdam and north holland. the fall brought a trip to asheville, and later this month i'll be headed to louisiana for a few days with family + friends + amazing food. (and the goodness is going to spill over into 2010, too... at the end of january i'll be returning to nepal for follow-up work!) 2009 was full of incredible, eye-opening, heart-expanding travel and i feel deeply blessed.

2: Share the best restaurant experience you had this year. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind?

2009 was also full of really good food-- how do i choose? i'm going to copy shari + say that in the united states, our meal together in brooklyn was definitely a standout (and the brick chicken i had was easily the best chicken i've ever had. no joke.) there were also many cozy meals with my e that made his visits to brooklyn so sweet... while we had a lot of good restaurant meals, sharing slices of grandma-style pizza with him at my corner pizzeria is one of my favorite things to do. outside the united states, i treasure each + every meal i ate with my grandmother. i think i took photos of them all too :) i watched her cook + we ate + talked + laughed + she told me stories about her life while i recorded them on a little hand-held recorder. it was so nice. and with e, one meal in particular in tokyo... we ate yakitori (grilled meat on a stick), sitting under a tarp in "yakitori alley," a row of little shops under the train tracks, while it poured rain just outside. the shop was playing american music from the 1930s and 40s, the food was incredible, and we felt, i think, cozier than anywhere else we went in the city.

so i think i'm already cheating just a bit, because i can't choose one best thing. but i think that's a very good thing.

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on this last day of november:

back to new york after spending the thanksgiving holiday in florida. there was pie, times 3, 2 for the thursday meal with friends and 1 on saturday, for us just because.
pumpkin pie with shortcrust-- i didn't strain the pie filling, just blitzed it in the blender till smooth, and it was the best pumpkin pie i've had. + apple with butter double-crust. then another apple, same as before.
and i had the last of the apple for breakfast this morning before heading to the airport, and it was delicious. i do believe that pie might be the best thing about thanksgiving.


reading and reading and reading some more, on interracial marriage in the early 20th century (for one final paper) and racially targeted advertising (for another). there is so much that is surprising and fascinating and compelling to learn, and i'm enjoying it.


curled up on the couch under my new quilt-in-progress, which i basted in florida and lugged back to new york to tie. at the rate i'm going, it'll be on the bed sometime in 2012 (but hopefully sooner, because i like it, a lot.)

and getting ready for a fun month of december at habit. you know how much i enjoyed my time over there in september-- something about that format just clicked for me, and the project makes me happy. in december all of the guests from the entire year, january through november plus molly and emily, will be posting-- a virtual dinner party (and breakfast table and long walk and all those other little moments of thought and reflection) every day. i am so looking forward to joining in again, and i hope you'll come and visit.

288: my new coat

this is my new coat.


it's been finished for about a month now, but it took some good weekend weather, combined with a visit from my patient husband (harder than i thought!), to get it properly photographed. our beautiful sunday walk in red hook, enjoying the unseasonable warmth and sunshine of mid-november, seemed just about right.


since i've neglected this space so much this fall, it's hard to remember how much i've mentioned of the process of making this. so let me just assume i mentioned next to nothing. back in september, i enrolled in a sewing class at brooklyn general, a sewing + knitting store in my neighborhood. it was an advanced class, and this coat was the project. i was pretty nervous, because my garment-sewing has been limited to some very simple tops + skirts (and even those have been hit + miss), but i thought if i am going to take a class, let's just go for it. i would never have attempted this pattern on my own, and it seemed perfect for trying with an expert teacher's eye guiding each step. (the pattern, by the way, is very easy vogue V8548, View B. i'd beg to differ with the "very easy" part of that pattern title.)

this whole process was frustration + joy, frustration + joy. i love the fabric i chose, echino dots (a heavyweight japanese cotton), until i tried to line up the pattern pieces on critical-to-me areas like the princess seams in front + back, and the seams in the back bodice + back skirt, and they would not match up. at all. the print on this fabric is completely irregular, which is part of the charm, but it makes matching a mess that made me want to cry. i ripped out pieces + recut more than once. finally i eliminated the seams at the back and cut those pieces from one large piece of fabric, to avoid the whole matching problem. and i am glad that i did, because it looks so much better and i am so much prouder of the finished piece as a result.

the other exciting thing about this coat, though you can't see it in these photos, is that it is lined with silvery gray satiny fabric. i have also never lined a garment before, and this made me feel so accomplished :) hand-sewing the lining in was also a wee hassle, but so satisfying to see how good the finished seam looks.

the only thing i didn't do myself on the coat was the buttonholes. i have made buttonholes exactly once-- for an ipod cover for e. there was just no way i could try it when i had put so much time + work (+ money- that fabric ain't cheap) into the coat... i had nightmare visions of botching it completely. so i forked over the money to a seamstress, having brought her the buttons.

things i'd like to remember to do differently next time: the pattern showed loop closures for this view, not buttons. that was maybe a good idea. the buttons gape, and they are really heavy for this weight of fabric. i added one snap to deal with the gaping, which helped tremendously, and i am going to add 2 more. also on the button front, the pattern called for horizontal buttonholes, and i insisted on vertical, because i thought there would be weird horizontal movement with such large buttons. there's weird movement with vertical, too, as it turns out. i don't really know which is best. also, if i did this pattern again, i'd probably do the view with a narrow tapered neck, not a wide neck-- i love how dramatic this neck is, but i look kinda like a house up top. a bright yellow, polka-dotted house. because it's just so happy, i'm okay with that, but i don't know that i'd do it twice.

all in all, i'm proud of this coat and wearing it brings a smile to my face. i am very, very happy that i took the time to rip when needed and re-do. and i feel much more confident about tackling complex patterns, which was something that terrified me. next up may very well be pants!