Reccomended Reading: No One Is Coming To Save Us, by Stephanie Powell Watts

No One is Coming to Save Us, by Stephanie Powell Watts 9780062472991

A perfect choice for a quiet afternoon in your favorite chair and set in modern day North Carolina, Powell Watts tells the story of Ava and Sylvia, mother and daughter navigating family, change and the future. Ava’s lackluster marriage to underachiever Henry is falling apart as she makes what may be a final, desperate attempt to have a child. Then her first love moves back to town in a flashy mansion on a hill. Sylvia’s troubles are with the past and present, too, and with her troubled daughter. This is a moving, engrossing and character-driven story about family- the one you’re given and the one you choose, even when life doesn’t go as expected. It’s a lovely and honest look at being a woman, a wife and a mother and making peace with what is and what can be. 

Buy it from Bookshop.org.

I Made Another Shirt!

I am totally loving my new shirt.

I made this from 100 Acts of Sewing's Shirt No. 1 pattern, with fabric from the Ebb and Flow line from Moda and Janet Clare. I had the fabric in my stash for a while- I bought a yard which is the most I usually buy of quilting fabric- and when I was "shopping" my stash a few weeks ago I pulled it out and realized it had to be a shirt. Which also meant I needed more, so luckily I was able to find another yard on Etsy and thus could make myself a nice blouse.

I had originally planned to make my first Shirt No. 1 with a Tula Pink fabric but I'm still nervous to cut into that! Anyway I just love this so much. I love whales, and this will be perfect for summer and remind me of the beach, Nantucket, Salem, and Hawaii all at once. The most important places in my life are connected to the sea. 

When I made the muslin for this I made a medium which fits well but I thought it was too short. It's designed for a boxy fit (the muslin was practically a square) and fell at the high hip on me. I like my shirts to fall at mid-to-low-hip so when I made this version I lengthened it to a 3X length to give me lots of wiggle room then hemmed it to where I liked it. I'm super happy with it and I know it will get a lot of wear. 

Now I'm waiting for some more fabric to arrive from eBay for my next version of this versatile and comfy basic.

Momma-lorian and Me

I made a shirt!

For many of you this is not a big deal but this is my first finished handmade garment. And to be fair it's not 100% finished because I'm replacing twill ties with fabric ties just as soon as I have time. And I made Baby Yoda a matching outfit.

The pattern is by Frou-Frou and it's their "camisole" shirt. I made it with 2 yards of Kaffe Fassett quilting cotton I had in my stash. After doing a muslin I found the original length to be much too long so I shortened it in the second round. It's boxy and loose, and looks nice with slim-fitting pants. 

Baby's dress is a scaled down version of the pattern, made exactly the same way. She does not have shoulders so it doesn't fit her the same as it does me. But I used the same shape along with the same construction details- French seams and bias binding on the arm holes. I used the Rose pattern I have made before to get the basic size and shape of the dress. I don't plan to make fabric ties to her dress though, nor do I plan to make a matching bow for me. 

Frou-Frou's pattern was easy to follow and quick to make, even for me, a complete beginner. I would definitely make it again with another large-scale pattern but I can't see having too many of these tops.

Here is a closeup on Eugenie. Isn't she cute?

A Dress For Baby Yoda

I am obsessed with Baby Yoda.

So I am now obsessed with making clothes for her. Yes my baby is a girl. Anyway I made this outfit with some scrap Lilly Pulitzer fabric from my stash, because my baby has to be fabulous.

The tutorial I used is called The Rose and you can find it by clicking on the link. The 11-inch Mattel Child doll I own can comfortably wear 0-3 months size baby clothes, for what it's worth.

I Made Shoes!

I made espadrilles! Dritz sells a kit and I've had two of them hanging around for a long time. Over a year. Anyway I decided yesterday was "the day" and I made myself a pair with Melanie Testa's beautiful pink batiks.

I love them! And they fit! I have a second kit I'm going to use to make a pair for my husband.

They are not difficult to make in terms of the directions, though the online tutorial from Dritz is better than the instructions in the package. The difficult part was the blanket stitching. I did the left foot first and you can tell my stitches are better on the right foot. I did my pair first so I could get the technique down before making a pair for someone else.

I will not be going into mass production because (a) ow and (b) I have high arches and these aren't great for my feet but they were a fun challenge. They will mostly be around-the-house shoes I think but I do love them.

Sew Together Bag

So I was feeling like working on something and dragged this kit out of the stash- the Sew Together bag, which was kitted by Gotham Quilts and bought at the Empire Quilt Guild's show a couple of years ago. It takes me forever to get around to making these things sometimes.

Staying safe at home has encouraged me to reach into those dark corners of my craft room and pull out kits and bundles and other things that I can work with without buying anything new.

Truthfully I was intimidated by the pattern, which is difficult, but I found a great tutorial from The Quilt Barn which made it easy-peasy.

I'm almost done- I just have to work through the final post in the Quilt Barn's series. Then I'll have a pouch!  And I only broke one needle so far.

January's Over...

and I made and gifted this baby quilt to my friend and her wife. It was a blast to make and I got to use some of my favorite fabrics.  The pattern is by Sew Fresh Quilts and I made the larger 46 x 32 inch size.

It was actually the second quilt I made for this occasion; I started with a unicorn layer cake quilt which was perfectly cute (if hard to photograph because of the light colors) but when I saw the dragon I knew I HAD to make it. So with less than two weeks to the shower I buckled down and got it done.

See this is cute too, right?

This pattern is from Moda's Bake Shop.

All this means I got exactly none of my other goals met for January but that's OK.

Since I Can't Be at the Retreat...

This weekend is my guild's winter retreat and I am super bummed I'm not there. All weekend long I'm looking at pictures of my friends hanging out and making things and I'm envious of the camaraderie and the opportunity to sew sew sew all day long.

I tried to make up for it a little bit though.

I spent yesterday at my machine learning Victoria Findlay Wolfe's technique for Y-seam-free herringbone quilts. The design's not the best and I picked those scraps to practice with because I didn't think I would miss them lol.

However it was fun and not even very difficult. Findlay Wolfe teaches the technique in her book Modern Quilt Magic.

I have a pattern from Etsy that uses this technique and I've already started picking fabrics for that- and of course I have a million other ideas for things I'd like to make with herringbones.

Then this morning before work I spent about a half hour working on a different project that's further along. I'll have pics and more about that soon.

What are you sewing this weekend?

2019 Reading Statistical Roundup

I know this is a craft blog and not a book blog but I did this roundup for several years on BostonBibliophile.com and I want to do it again here too.

How many books read in 2019?

I read 71 books in 2019. That's down 1 from last year.

How many fiction and non fiction? 48 fiction versus 23 nonfiction. 

Male/Female author ratio? 45 female writers to 26 male.

Diversity?Of 71 authors 25 were people of color. That meets my goal of 20-25 POC authors in 2019 and represents just over 1/3 of the total.

Favorite book of 2019? Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken was my favorite novel; for nonfiction I loved The Queen by Josh Levin, My Own Country by Abraham Verghese and The Dinosaur Artist by Paige Smith.

Any that you simply couldn’t finish and why? A few. Just ran out of steam on them.

Oldest book read? Probably My Own Country, published in 1995. It was a year of recent reads.

Newest? We Ride Upon Sticks and Are There Presently, by Quan Barry, to be published in March 2020.

Longest and shortest book titles? Shortest title: Bunny, by Mona Awad
Longest title: The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna, by Juliet Grames

Longest and shortest books?Longest: Killing Commendante, by Haruki Murakami
Shortest:  Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata

How many books from the library?None! I didn't visit a library all year. Sad! For the fourth year in a row, too.

Any translated books?I read books or stories translated from Japanese, Russian, Italian, Danish, Polish, Finnish, Swedish, and Hebrew. I really have not read many translated books this year- only 10. And none from French which is kind of shocking. So that's a thing to do more of next year and a big surprise honestly.

Which countries did you go to through the page in your year of reading?I went to Japan, Russia, Italy, France, Denmark, Poland, Finland, Albania, Israel, France, China, the Philippines, South Africa, Scotland, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Zambia, Sweden, England, Ireland, the Bahamas, Colombia, Cuba, Palestine, Egypt, and Nigeria. But mostly in English language originals.

Most read author of the year, and how many books by that author? I did not repeat a single author all year.

Any re-reads?Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris. I did it on audio whereas I had originally read it in print.

Favorite character of the year? Small Frank from French Exit.

Which book wouldn’t you have read without someone’s specific recommendation?
Writers & Lovers by Lily King.

Which author was new to you in 2019 that you now want to read the entire works of?
Oyinkan Braithewaite.

Which books are you annoyed you didn't read?Nothing really.

Did you read any books you have always been meaning to read?My Own Country, by Abraham Verghese.

Bookish Events in Marie's LifeI started a new job at a bookstore in Brooklyn. That's honestly about it. I'm pretty disconnected from the literary world despite sitting at one of its spokes. Two of my friends published books- Rebecca Kim Wells published Shatter the Sky and Tracy Strauss published I Just Haven't Met You Yet. I went to events for them so that was pretty cool.

Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2020:In 2020 I'm delving into my crime backlog and my most-anticipated reads are

1. Grotesque, by Natsuo Kirino,
2. Macbeth, by Jo Nesbo,
3. Gang of Lovers, by Massimo Carlotto,
4. Black Star Nairobi, by Mukoma wa Ngugi and
5. Cult X, by Fuminori Nakamura.

Last Finish of 2019

I finished this quilt the day before Christmas. It is the Scandinavian Tomte by Rebecca Mae Designs.

The trees were pretty straightforward but the gnome was very challenging. It's hard to see in the picture but the hat is pieced horizontally and the pieces must line up perfectly; there is at least one place where I just couldn't make it work. Precise cutting and piecing are a must.

I quilted it in straight vertical lines using Aurifil monofilament and Aurifil 50wt in gray in the bobbin. The monofilament was a dream to sew with. This was my first time using it and I was nervous, but it worked so well I want to quilt all my quilts with it now. Not really- I'll still use regular thread too- but it was a revelation to me.

Closeup on the tomte himself

Next up is a simple throw quilt I have to finish for a baby shower in a few weeks. Onwards!

I hope you had a great holiday season and wish you a great 2020.