Patchwork Underground

I went to the Skill Share Studio Block Party the other night here in Portland! It was a freakin’ blast! Emily and Co. worked their hides off to bring us this lovely event. (Thanks guys! You did a fantastic job!)

I wanted to share a few of my pics with ya’ll….

We had fun even with the blistering heat. After a week or so of it, I think we’re all getting a but used to 95-105 degree weather here in Portland…

Double dutch!

This guy has a solar powered sewing machine and does free motion embroidered pictures on patches while you watch. I also saw him at Last Thursday this month on Alberta St. Purdy darn amazing. If anyone knows who this gentleman is and how I could link to him here, please email me!

(Side note: Ok, so, I love this…but…isn’t the whole battery/solar power thing a bit overkill when sewing machines can go with foot power just fine? You can rig one up with a bicycle wheel for extra hipster points. No icky batteries to dispose of…no hundreds of dollars to put down. Just saying. Still, his set-up is a super fun way to teach people about renewable energy!)

Revelers with the City Repair T-Horse Mobile Tea House in the background. I had a loveley hibiscus tea served by a very kind gentleman. Yum. Thanks, City Repair!

Awesome band! Can’t remember their name. This guy played a wicked accordian. Very dance-able.

Folks of all ages had a good time!

Well…that sums it up. Can’t wait until next year!

And, oh yeah…I’m teaching Patchwork 101: Patchy Pillows at Skill Share next week! We’ll be making retro checker board pillows using a retro strip-peicing technique called Seminole patchwork. If you can sew a straight line, then you can do this!

The class is going to be on Saturday, August 8th from 2-5pm, sliding scale $5-$25. You can register by emailing patchworkunderground@gmail.com or you can read more about it on DIY Alert. Come! It’s going to be fun!

Here’s a pic of what we’ll be making (you can choose whatever fabrics you want, of course!)

If you’re in Portland, you’ll probably see me trucking around town today flyering for the class! Say hi! I don’t bite. =)

First off, I’m so sorry that this move has forced me to neglect my blog and all my blogfriends lately.  I promise the neglect period is almost over.

You probably guessed that our move to Portland is taking longer than expected.  After many meetings with potential housemates/landlords we have finally found the right situation in the Alberta Arts District!!  One where I get to park my housebus AND move into my very own sewing studio!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  There aren’t enough exclaimation points in the world for how excited I am!  SO EXCITED.  I’m going to be looking back at all the amazing sewing spaces I’ve seen photographed on many of my favorite bloggies in preparation for moving in.  Pictures of my new space to come soon! =)

We’re waiting here in Eugene, OR for me to get over a little cold I came down with before we make the big move - hopefully it’ll all happen in the next couple days.

On the way up to Oregon, I had the chance to stop by at my grandparents’ Eikler in Walnut Creek, CA and take a BUNCH of pictures.  I might even go so far as to call it a photo essay…..

I know that a lot of you were really interested in my grandma’s gigantic macrame.  I have to make it clear that my grandma did NOT make the macrame piece in her atrium.  It was a gift from a local high school art teacher.  My grandpa led me to believe that it was a class project but…he’s 87 now and tends to make stuff up to fill in the gaps so it’s hard to say one way or another.

When she was still alive, my grandma - Betty Kunkle - was a full-time potter.  Her (crazy-super-fancy!) house is covered in all this art - some of it hers, some of it from her neighbors and friends and some of it from her travels around the world.   It hasn’t changed much at all since my grandma left us way back in 1993.  Visiting her house was (and still is) a totally classy experience, especially for a little girl growing up in a podunk blip of suburban “town.”   I think you’ll agree that the sophisticated retro modern awesomeness is totally overwhelming….in my opinion, the whole interior decoration vision my grandma had for this house is an art piece in itself.  Prepare for picture overload:

……

A couple of footnotes:

-The white feminine sculpture behind the artist’s wooden model was made by my grandma, as was the brown and black tiled wall plaque, the melty sculpture/tower and many of the pots on the top shelf of the hutch in the living room.  We still don’t know who made the chair-man.   (Possibly an uncle?  Possibly grandma?)

-There’s a family rumor going around that grandma’s backyard was in Sunset magazine in the 60’s.  Fact or fiction?  I don’t know.  More research to be done, I guess.  How to figure that one out?

-My grandma painted the brick fireplace white in preparation for a dark multicolored jute macrame my mom said she was going to make for them.  Mom says she started it but never finished.  Where is it now?  Unsolved mystery.

….

So, now I just need to buckle down and make a ton of hard copies of these photos for my grandpa.  Any suggestions for how to do that painlessly (and inexpensively)?  I’m not a whiz with those dark arts….

I am always trolling the “hobbies and crafts” section of the magazine racks. Yesterday, we went to Borders - which seems to have the most diverse selection of paper crafts/knitting/sewing/etc magazines - and I saw this little gem for the first time:

A whole over-sized magazine full of funky mixed media aprons. Ok ok, I love aprons…sorta….but doesn’t is seem like you can’t go anywhere without apron patterns being shoved down your throat these days?? I mean, is it just me or are aprons kinda useless?? I love a lot of the designs in this mag (especially the recycled sweater apron….and the one with the collaged sun on the front) but I’d love ‘em a lot more if they were skirts or wall hangings. I mean, where ya gonna put all those aprons?! My kitchen isn’t big enough for a full-size popcorn bowl, let alone a DIY apron collection.

Apronology is put out by the same folks who brought you Stuffies - Stampington and Company (their website is here).

when all the sudden I saw this:

So, I was poking around the internet learning more about the history of the sewing machine…. ‘cus I’m a dork like that…..and I discovered lots of bizarro facts that I wanted to share with you.

For example: the first servicable sewing machine caused a handsewer’s riot in Paris. Fear of unemployment caused tailors to torch the army uniform factory that was using the “mechanical stitcher.”

For another: When the first treadle machine came out (FYI: treadle machines are those old school pre-electrical machines with the rocking foot pedal) folks in Britain suspected that the rocking motion was unladylike because it might cause arousal in the user. (No comment. Except: why doesn’t my machine do that?)

And another: I also discovered that the first zig-zag machine was invented by a lady! Her name was Helen Augusta Blanchard. She patented her zig-zag machine in 1873. She came from a wealthy family back East but when her family lost their fortune, she started patenting her inventions to support her kin. All the pictures of her on the internet make her look like a dog, so I messed around in photo shop to bring you this modern wonder….

I was excited to find Helen because I’m always looking for handy ladies in history. Crafty female icons in history are accounted for - Betsy Ross, Mme. DeFarge, etc. - but female handiness? Not so much. It seems to me that there’s absolutely no difference between the two qualities except…oh, I dunno….gender?

As a crafty AND handy lady myself, it’s inspiring to read about Helen’s 28 patents. I will always think of her when I use the zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine. (If you want to learn more about her, the best site about her that I could find is here.)

And yes, we made it to Santa Cruz safe and sound. Thanks to all for the well-wishes! =)