My lifelong personal goal is to become an efficient and relaxed travel packer. Unfortunately, I'm still trying to attain that. So while I was sure I'd be able to fit in another solid post before my imminent departure, once again I've fallen short. (Though I'm not leaving the house in a whirlwind state ~ some progress!)
I'll be back soon-ish with more to share, though I will be posting on Instagram while away. In the meantime, here's what's on my design wall this week!
I never thought that.
But I have been asking anyone who'll listen, "Really? It's May? How can it be May already?"
No excuses. Maybe a short explanation. I was working on so many secret family projects that I couldn't post for a while. Once they were finished and gifted, I was a bit burned out. Throw in some travels (which upset any semblance of routine here), the ease of Instagram (where I have been posting) and there you have it ~ blog neglect. I recently got my mojo back and decided to update here with a few posts and then return to regularly scheduled programming. Ok, let's go!
Last year while I was down in Texas, visiting Molly, she was complaining about her husband constantly appropriating her beloved college quilt for TV viewing. Always on the alert for possible Christmas gift ideas, I mentally jumped right on that! Upon my return, I immediately pulled out Sujata Shah's's book, Cultural Fusion Quilts. If you recall, I wrote a post on this book for her blog tour and my enthusiasm at the time wasn't just a favor to a friend. It's a great book full of ideas for quick and 'full of life' quilts.
My son-in-law is a tennis player so I decided to go with that theme. With so many novelty sports fabrics available these days, I was startled to find that these three prints were about the only tennis fabrics out there. My big challenge was finding compatible fabrics to tone down that neon ~ no small feat! I tried to mostly pull from the stash and once I had a decent selection, I returned to the book to find a block pattern that could handle the large, bold prints.
I settled on the Windmills quilt pattern from the book and made a few blocks in the recommended 7" size but thought they looked a bit clunky with so many of my small scale prints. One of the great things about Sujata's method is that the block directions lend themselves easily to fine-tuning a project size. After making a few smaller test blocks, it was obvious that 6" blocks would work better and the design wall was quickly covered with them. Luckily, I was able to find some compatible fabric in the stash with enough yardage for the borders.
I had to use some of this text print of Australian locations since my son-in-law is from Sydney. (And he did notice it within minutes of opening the gift!)
I was then faced with quilting decisions. I think I need to make a large sign for the sewing room wall that says PRACTICE YOUR MACHINE QUILTING! because I never think of this until I'm staring at a quilt top with a gift deadline. The top always looks so wonderful (Don't they? Nothing like a newly finished top!) and then I'm reminded that, just like I forgot to lose those 5 lbs last month, I also forgot that I meant to practice machine quilting. Now what?
If you're inexperienced in free motion quilting, I think the easiest way to machine quilt is to do something simple that is straight-line-ish. I first stitched all of the horizontal and vertical seams in the ditch, effectively outlining the blocks. Then I stared at the design for a while until I could see an easy but complementary solution for anchoring the block interiors. Working from side to side (the shortest distance), I echoed the blade edges in 'freehand' line, working diagonally from block corner to block corner. Here's a (very) quick sketch to illustrate.
I used a neutral gray thread, but illustrated the stitched rows in red and green to differentiate them from each other. If you click on the quilt photo just above the illustration, you can see how it looks on the quilt. (A few of the block rows were quilted in corner to corner 'petals', but then I experimented by adding that center square on some of them. Fancy!) Since the blocks were pieced in free-form style, there was no need to be fussy about the quilting design. Just like the windmill blades, some are fat, some are thin. Nothing fancy but I did feel the quilting complemented the block design. (Note to self: PRACTICE YOUR MACHINE QUILTING!)
Tennis quilt 60"x72"
This and my first Cultural Fusion quilt were both gift deadline quilts yet a pleasure to work on, though that doesn't mean it wasn't a dash to the finish. In my rush to get it wrapped before the kids' arrival, the best color capture photo was this quick, draped-on-the-couch shot. I kept the quilt a secret so it was a nice surprise for everyone on Christmas morning!
So where was I? Oh yes...jet-lagged, dazzled and blown away at Sena Klets, less than 24 hours after our plane touched down in Riga. We must have talked to Ziedite Muze for over a half hour. Aside from being a project manager at SK and a fountain of information on mittens and Latvian costume, she's got a deep background in ethnic textiles and we found ourselves jumping from topic to topic. (She lived in Japan at one time!) It was hard to pull ourselves away but poor M had been sitting out in the square for over an hour and a half ("We're just running in for a few minutes to check out the place!" ~ how often he's heard that line!) so we picked up our mittens, added that gorgeous red pair from the box and their excellent mitten book (more later) and checked out.
As the days went by, it became abundantly clear what an important cultural symbol Latvian mittens are. They are ubiquitous.
We found them among knitted goods at grandmothers' craft tables at a park festival celebrating the Latgale region of Latvia.
Here I am browsing one of many mitten stands at the craft area of Riga's anniversary celebration.
Hobbywool is a Riga yarn and craft shop which sells lots of hand-knitted mittens. They are probably most well known for their popular "Knit Like a Latvian" mitten kits, which are a great introduction to many who would like to try their hand at making their own pair.
Small selections of mittens can be found for sale everywhere ~ in gift shops in the city, in Jurmala (the beach town), at the airport. After seeing the mittens at Sena Klets, few compared, though the ones marked Tines, 'lovingly hand-knit by latvians grandmothers' were consistent in quality and more regular in size. I fell for several pairs of these. It wasn't until I got home from my trip that I realized that Tines has a shop in Old Town.
What?!!!
So, of course, I had to book a flight and go right back! Well, not exactly. I've left a few of you hanging here about why I returned to Riga so quickly ~ six weeks later, as a matter of fact. M & I had such a great time on our trip that when we got back and blah-blah-blah-ed about it, Molly decided she couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit and introduce Teddy to his Aunt & Uncle. He was at the perfect age for such a long trip ~ still nursing and not crawling yet ~ but her husband couldn't step away from work on such short notice so I volunteered to go along as nanny. And thus my return ticket was booked before my suitcases were unpacked from our August trip.
Doesn't every child need shots like this in his baby book?
Teddy checks out Riga's Art Nouveau neighborhood
Hanging out in the town square with Uncle K
It was a very different visit from the first. We stayed in Riga for the whole time. Mostly visiting, short outings during the days, game playing at night. Someone stayed at home with Teddy several times so we, in different configurations, could enjoy some special events ~ Madame Butterfly at the Riga National Opera (my first!) and hockey games between the Riga Dynamos & Russia. Heather and Molly ventured out one afternoon to try a Latvian sauna experience which Heather has described in this post on her travel blog. Needless to say, they came home laughing, birch branches in hand.
After hearing so much about it, Teddy was dying to see Sena Klets. It's in the neighborhood, how could anyone possibly walk by without a quick pop in?
Teddy and Ziedite hit it off immediately. As you can see, there's quite a bit more to Sena Klets than mittens.
Men's wedding mittens
Care to see those stocking a little closer?
I was a little disappointed (though my wallet wasn't) that despite the beautiful selection, there were few mittens that fit me on this autumn visit to Sena Klets. (Lucky I didn't hold back in August!) I mentioned it and was told, a little sadly, "We need more knitters". (Which reminded me of a conversation I had with a rug dealer in Istanbul in January who confided that many of their beautiful vintage rugs are actually found in the US at estate sales as young people in Turkey aren't interested in rug weaving as they used to be.)
No shortage of inspiration on display, though!
But we still had to find the elusive Tines shop. After some wandering around Old Town checking landmarks and every turn & alleyway, we took a right at, yup, a knitwear cart, and laughed that we had been so close so many times without a clue to its existence. And that's for next time.
**I initially thought I could cover this in one post, but I do want to give each place its due. Some of you have asked questions about yarn, patterns, Latvian designs, prices and more and I plan to answer these as I go along. You know, between decorating the house, Christmas shopping, gift stitching, and post office trips. I'll try to get back within a couple of days.
Although I haven't knitted anything in several years, when my son and daughter-in-law told us that they would be moving to Riga, Latvia, my mind immediately jumped to mittens. For a couple of years, I flirted with Latvian mitten projects but somehow quilting nudged out the knitting and the mittens took their place on my 'I really must get back to those some day' list. Would I be able to find authentic Latvian mittens on my trip? Um...no problem.
Pre-trip, I had pestered asked the kids about the mitten possibilities around Riga and was assured by them both that they knew where we should go. Sure enough, on my very first day there, Heather suggested we go over to Old Town, where, a mere 20 minute stroll from their place, is the mother lode of Latvian mittens, Sena Klets.
A peek in the front window ~ Sena Klets
Sena Klets, which means 'ancient barn' in Latvian, is the National Costume Center, the only shop in Latvia to specialize in all aspects of authentic national costume. Not only do they sell a variety of regional costumes and pieces thereof, they also sell the striped fabrics to make the skirts and provide historical pieces for costume exhibits around the world. It's not a large place, but it's endlessly fascinating to anyone with an interest in textiles. In my many stops here over my two trips, I always found something new to fawn over. But my first visit was all about the mittens!
Many of the mittens at Sena Klets, a cultural/educational center as well as a shop, are for display purposes only and each are tagged with the region/town from which that particular design comes. A clever 'mitten map' is displayed in the costume area to give visitors an overview of mitten styles and their region. It seems somewhat contradictory to describe such simple, almost peasant style mittens made from the most basic wool as dazzling, but that's exactly what these are, especially when grouped together. Intoxicated by the patterns, I couldn't stop snapping photos.
While the hanging mittens are for display, many mittens are available for sale and these are arrayed, roughly by color, on a long table underneath.
Many of the mittens for sale are duplicates of some of the display pieces while others are not. I can hear everyone saying, how can you choose? But actually, one's choices are whittled down quite quickly, for two reasons. First, although they look gorgeous piled in a heap, you can quickly weed through to find real gems among the plainer designs or color combinations. And secondly, the mittens aren't sized. Meaning, there are no uniform proportions among the selection.
Sena Klets employs knitters out in the countryside and as I understand it, sends the patterns and yarn out which returns as these gorgeous mittens. Knitters may understand this better, but the stitch numbers in different patterns vary so some mittens end up larger than others. Also, gauge varies among knitters working with the same yarn and needle size. As a result, some mittens are long and narrow, some wide and loose. It's a real hunt to find a perfect match of preferred design, color and fit.
Dollar signs in that right-hand cuff? *Danger*!
Would you laugh if I told you I didn't intend to purchase any mittens, just soak up the inspiration? Yeah, I thought so.
What started as a quick run into the shop ("Don't worry, we'll be in this area regularly during your stay!") evolved into a good chunk of time as Heather and I ogled and considered pair after pair. I chose a couple that I couldn't leave without and, noticing that during our time there, several pair were purchased by other tourists, I asked a sales woman how often the mittens were restocked. It was our first day of a two week trip! It may have been a language problem, it may have been a brush-off, but I got a quick and curt, "This is all we have" so I headed over to the sales counter to make my purchase. Just as I was about to hand over my mittens, another employee, who had minutes before walked through the door with a large cardboard box, approached me, asking if I'd like to see what had just been delivered. With a quick glance and grin between us, Heather and I trotted right behind her.
Such an unassuming cardboard box, filled with newly knitted mittens! Ziedite Muze, our new best friend, explained to us in perfect English that some of these mittens would be for sale, some were slated for display and some, in fact, were single mittens, what I'm assuming were test pieces for color schemes or perhaps a new knitter's 'application' for consideration, all sent from one region of Latvia.
She started unloading the box, enjoying our anticipation and doing a quick examination of each pair before relegating them to one of two piles, for sale and for display. Some were spectacular, some were more common, but each added made the collection even more breathtaking.
When these several pairs came out of the box, I almost keeled over.
While we examined and considered, Ziedite tagged the mittens that would be added to the sales table. What a dream job to be surrounded by such beautiful handmade items every day!
***I have so much more to share, about Sena Klets and other mitten tales, that I've decided to break this into a couple of posts and continue with part two on Monday. Our Christmas tree and boxes of decorations await and really, how much of this visual textile feast can you take in one bite?
But home now. So. This has been the longest I've stepped away. Unintentional, but I'm back, settling in from a crazy few months that included numerous out-of-state jaunts for family events, several visits from faraway friends/family and a long-planned trip.
I went to Latvia!
I soaked in the incredible and varied city scenes in Riga.
An interior court behind a shop in Old Town Riga.
A fun roof line against a clear August sky.
The gorgeous ceiling of St. John's Church.
House of the Blackheads
I sampled as many Latvian and Russian dishes as I could and took full advantage of the opportunity to indulge in the cafe and beer garden culture of late summer in eastern Europe.
Cold beetroot soup ~ as delicious as it is pretty.
So many beautiful, fresh-from-the-garden dishes.
Our favorite beer garden, Egle, practically obscured by overflowing flowerpots.
I lingered over gorgeous Latvian mittens at craft fairs, street stalls and shops at every turn. (More about these in a separate post.)
I strolled in the Baltic Sea.
The beach at Jurmala with Ms.Ferreting Out the Fun, aka Heather, my DIL
I went to Finland!
Helsinki harbor
I spent a day in Helsinki, a smaller than expected but beautiful port city.
I ate lots and lots of licorice. Who knew that licorice is so popular in Finland, especially the 'salty' kind, salmiakki? An afternoon stop included two kinds of licorice ice cream on the menu, one vanilla dotted with licorice, the other, salty version, resembling cement. Looks can be deceiving ~ delicious!
I shopped, a bit. The Finnish design aesthetic is obvious everywhere. Finland is home to both Marimekko and Ittala and it was fun to stop by their flagship stores.
I spent a day out on Suomenlinna, an island fortress a short ferry ride from Helsinki, so important to Finland's defense through the ages.
A small population still lives on the island in distinctive, charming cottages.
Some views reminded me of my childhood in Maine.
We brought picnic food and lunched on reindeer, sea buckthorn jam, fresh bread and my new summer favorite, pear cider.
And then I went to Estonia.
I'll be honest. I knew little about Estonia before we made the two-hour ferry trip across the Baltic from Helsinki. From a distance, Tallinn looked like a fairytale.
Up close it did, too.
Most of the buildings in Tallinn's Old Town date to the 13th-16th centuries. On our last night there, we took a stroll around the interior of the city walls. It felt like a Disney set.
I returned to Riga for a few more lovely days.
After two wonderful, late summer weeks in a location that was not on my radar until recently, I came home, unpacked my suitcases and put my feet up. Then I booked a flight and went back to Latvia!
Really. I went back to Latvia.
For two more weeks in October. But that's another post. With mittens. Don't forget the mittens.
This has been a busy year so far and my summer looks even busier. On the handwork front, I've mostly been working on old projects, chipping away when I get the chance, trying to move a few WIPs into the completed column. But if you've been following me here for any length of time, you know I often can't resist the lure of a challenge, and last month I caved and joined a very loose group (in the nicest sense of the word) on Instagram who are making blocks from the Quiltmania book, 2001 Nouveaux Blocs de Patchwork. The book is a reprint of a popular Japanese book from the '90s, written by quilter Chuck Nohara, one of Japan's early quilting stars. There's not much text, it's basically a compendium of 2001 blocks.
The people in the group (which anyone can join along) are making small blocks, 5" or 6" square, some of their own choosing as well as some which are chosen as suggestions and posted on Instagram every few weeks. I think it started with several quilters who are taking classes in Sydney from Lorena Uriarte, who has now made two large, award-winning versions. As Instagrammers admired their blocks, more decided to join in and a quiltalong was born. I was nudged by that expert nudger, Thimbleanna, and despite my reluctance to start another project, I broke down and purchased the book a couple of months ago. I do love a new challenge! And the lack of rules appealed to me ~ make it large, make it small...just come along! The book arrived, I flipped through it and then had to put it aside for several weeks because...
...look, I'm a 'Nana'! This is little Teddy, Molly & Chito's new baby who arrived on May 18. I spent the first two weeks of June in Dallas with him and his parents and hated to leave. I think I'll like this new role! But now I'm home so back to my project...
As I said, the book is filled with little blocks. Filled. All kinds. Appliqué and pieced, in many categories. I was familiar with Nohara's blocks because when first published in Japan, some were featured in several articles in Quilts Japan and Patchwork Tsushin, magazines that I often read. May I be honest? I thought a lot of them were kind of wacky. I still do, actually.
But here's the thing. When you see them being made up in a variety of fabrics, and grouped together as more and more are assembled, they are quite charming. My first decision was size and I chose to make my blocks 6" square. Some are going smaller ~ 5" ~ and smaller often makes blocks more appealing. But smaller also limits one's fabric choices. I had been wanting to make another project in busy little prints after making my Valentine quilt a couple of years ago and this seemed like a good time to try that again. (That little quilt is one of my favorites of all the pieces I've made!) I chose several designs that I wanted to start with, scanned the little block designs, re-scaled to 6" (I use Adobe Photoshop Elements ~ very quick and easy) and printed them out.
These were the first two I made, block #606 (cherries) and block #463 (flower pot).
On Sunday morning, I made this block, #823, while watching the men's Wimbledon final. Of course, I had to include a strawberry. And because I don't want my loyal blog followers to feel like they're getting the sloppy leftovers, here's my fourth block, #412, the classic 'Honeybee' block, as yet not shared on Instagram.
I love how it turned out, though I am afraid I may be veering into 'twee' territory and am planning some solid, geometric blocks for my next few.
Here they are, all together. I'm planning to add a more, regularly. You can follow me on Instagram if you want more frequent updates. (Link in sidebar.) To answer a number of kind inquiries, no, I'm not giving up the blog, but any of you who have blogs know that it takes time to write a post. So I will continue to share here when I have something to say and several times a week, I'll share a photo and quick update in Instagram, if you're interested.
I may not be back here for several weeks as I'm having a visitor soon...
Hope you're having a great summer!
***If you're on Instagram and would like to see others' blocks, check out the hashtags #chucknohara and #chucknoharaqal
The most popular post in my 10 years of blogging was about the restoration of my young niece's Blankie in 2007. Though comments have been closed on it for some time, I still get email about it! Eight years later, Rachel is preparing to head to college this fall, so I decided to make her a quilt for her graduation.
If you recall, in December I wrote a review of Sujata Shah's fabulous book, Cultural Fusion Quilts. I was really excited about the concepts in the book and wanted to revisit them ~ this quilt was the perfect opportunity. I chose the zig-zag design for both its ease of construction and its graphic possibilities and then started pulling large, bright prints from the stash.
If you're familiar with Sujata's block, you may have noticed I changed it to a nine-patch from its original sixteen-patch formation. This was because of my desired finished quilt size, 60"x72", which would neatly use 5x6 12" squares. If I used the original sixteen-patch block, the graphic prints I was using would have been chopped down too small for my preference. This choice, however, was a bit time consuming because while Sujata's blocks can be set side-by-side to get the zig-zag effect, I needed two different block sets to achieve the same graphic result.
It's been a long time since I made a utility quilt this size and I loved every minute of working on this one! The blocks went together quickly and I pin-basted for the first time ~ it's official, I'm a dinosaur! ~ before machine quilting it.
First, I stitched in the ditch around the block edges, vertically and then horizontally.
Then, I stitched a line through each light value zig-zag course, diagonally. My plan was to stop here as the three layers were more than sufficiently secured, but I thought it would look nicer with the dark zig-zags stitched as well and I was right. Because of the slightly wonky nature of the design, no marking was necessary ~ it was very enjoyable to see this coming together!
I chose this wonderful purple Tula Pink stripe for the binding. You may not have noticed, but one of my design decisions was to avoid any white or very light unpatterned colors. I'm not such a dinosaur that I don't remember college days and I wanted this quilt to be used with abandon ~ comfortable on a floor, around food, etc without worrying about occasional stains.
I loved this quilt so much that it was a little difficult to part with ~ wouldn't it look great on my computer room couch? Of course, I couldn't wait to gift it to Rachel and she seemed pretty excited when she opened it graduation weekend.
This is my favorite shot of the weekend. After she opened her gifts, I commented that the first graduation quilt I ever made was for my brother, her Dad. My nephew jumped up, exclaiming, 'We still have it, Aunt Jan!" He dashed off and came back with it, looking not unlike Rachel's original Blankie ~ patchwork side recovered, new binding attached, only the backing original. Thirty-two years later, well-used, the comfy cover to grab when watching tv down in the family room. That's why we make quilts, right?
My first effort
Five or six years ago when Anna Maria Horner's book, Seams to Me, came out, there was a flurry of interest in one particular project in the book, the Pincushion Caddy. It was popping up on many blogger 'want to make' lists but enthusiasm waned as some reported back that the pattern was nearly impossible to assemble. I was one of those who was ready to take the plunge, despite my general disdain for such projects because the thing was so darn cute ~ and looked like such a handy sewing aide. At some point, however, I backed away from the idea since I already had abandoned several such projects midway.
Fast forward to several weeks ago. I was browsing Pinterest one morning and a photo popped up in my feed of some really nice pincushion caddies. Someone had made three ~ how hard could it be? When I clicked on the photo, I found that the maker had posted her own supplementary tutorial for how she addressed the problems with the pattern. Game on!
Before I searched out the Horner book, I did a little more internet research on this pattern. I found a Seams to Me Flickr group that was really informative. Although it covers the whole book, there are lots of pincushion caddy pics which people have uploaded to the photo pool and most have comments and/or links back to makers' blogs with their take on the pattern and their experience. Also, I learned that Anna Maria has published an errata sheet (FAQ page, link in question #4) which covers a few construction issues. However, I think that the biggest help to me was the step-by-step photos and tips that Melanie Sullivan posted on her blog, Texas Freckles, as she made her caddies.
Despite my careful preparation, my first effort was initially disappointing. After joining the outer ball to the inside tube, I flipped it right side out only to find two tucks in the outer form. That really bugged me! If you look closely at the photos of other makers, however, you can see that everyone seems to have had this problem. Texas Freckles addresses this common problem in her option to custom measure your inner piece. I did that, but after seeing this, thought about it and realized what the problem was. (**More later.)
While the fabrics I chose gave it a happy look, I was disappointed in the end product. Although I had inserted a jar into the center while stuffing (as suggested), it wasn't quite close-fitting enough to prevent the stuffing from bulging into that area. Also, it was almost impossible to stuff the body of the caddy from the suggested opening. Even though I have small hands, I just couldn't get enough packed in around. I tried using tools to prod it in ~ a small rubber spatula, a new pencil with a gummy eraser end ~ all to no avail. I left it on my worktable and walked away, planning to clean up the mess in the morning.
Bottom view
But when I returned, it didn't look so bad. I decided to unpick some stitches on an opposite side seam and stuff from the other side as well. I followed the instructions to finish the bottom and threw in a few spools of thread and some scissors to take a shot for Instagram. Once it was filled, the interior bulges were hardly noticeable. And surprise ~ I liked it! I decided right away that I had to make another, to work out the kinks. Plus, during my fit of pique I had been messaging with Molly, who quickly claimed it when I expressed my utter disappointment with the whole thing.
Yes, I've made three in four days! Are you ready to make one? If so, following are all of my suggestions for getting a good result. Although I'm including some illustrative photos, this is not an inclusive tutorial, just lots of tips.
1. You will need Anna Maria Horner's book, Seams to Me, for the pattern. It's available at many online booksellers for a wide variety of prices. It's probably also at your library. Don't forget to check out her errata page.
2. I highly recommend Texas Freckles' photo tutorial for this project. Even if you choose to use all of the pattern pieces from the book instead of figuring some of them yourself, the sequential photos here will be helpful in better visualizing the construction process. I did calculate my own measurements using TF's helpful pdf.
3. This is the interfacing you will need ~ single-sided, not double.
4. When choosing fabrics, mix things up a bit. I used plaids, florals, ditzies and at least one sewing themed print in each caddy.
5. Before assembling and using a long stitch (so it can be picked out later, if you like), stitch along the seam line of the four edges you plan to leave open for stuffing. Match these up to use as guidelines when you handstitch the openings closed.
6. I used a very tight stitch ~ 2.2 ~ which held up nicely later when stuffing. I liked the post-it note seam allowance guide idea from Texas Freckles. Highly recommend!
7. Anna Maria is right ~ it's easy to press the seam allowances over the end of your ironing board! I found it much easier to do them one at a time after sewing each seam. If you have one of those little Clover mini-irons, it might work well here.
8. **I did figure out why people, myself included, were getting tucks around the top edge. It seems to have happened with both those who were following Anna's directions/pattern pieces as well as those calculating dimensions with TF's pdf. In the 9th photo down, you'll see TF measuring the top edge of the sewn-together sections to figure the length needed for the interior tube. However, you aren't sewing the top edge, you are sewing 1/2" down from the top edge, which is a wider measurement. Once I measured 1/2" down and recalculated, my next caddies fit perfectly. No tucks!
9. For those using the book pattern pieces, I did see a very neat pincushion caddy photo whose maker noted that she used only 7 sections for the exterior and that adjustment seemed to fit perfectly.
10. Skipping ahead, the worst part of assembling this is sewing the exterior section to the center tube shape. This is what it looks like, carefully pinned, before stitching. My current machine has a flat bed so it's very unwieldy to sew ~ however, quite doable! If you have a free arm machine, it will be quite a bit easier.
11. I found it easiest to insert my left hand in the tube to help guide it along. I stitched very slowly until the entire edge was complete all around.
12. You know how fussy I am. Well, this is what my seam looks like. If you're sewing on a flat bed, there's no getting around it. It's very difficult to stitch this straight while managing the stiffly interfaced tube. After I had stitched this once (and pulled out the pins, etc), it was easy to go back over the stitch line to straighten and neaten it, closer to the interfacing. (I used my zipper foot.)
13. Skipping ahead again (remember, these are just my tips, not step-by-step instructions), it's suggested that you find a jar or can with a similar circumference to insert in your tube section before stuffing. For my first caddy, I used a container (for corn meal, I think) that was slightly narrower and you can see from my interior photos of it that it didn't do a great job. After rummaging around the pantry, I found this perfect fit, a can of steel-cut oats. However, when I extracted it after completing the pincushion, there still was a bit of interior bulging. The interfacing is just not strong enough to hold a firm shape. If you want a neater interior, several have recommended inserting a pliable plastic (plastic canvas, heavyweight template plastic, etc.).
Handstitching the opening after stuffing, using the large stitch lines as guides
14. After making the circle to cover the bottom of the caddy (and Anna Maria's tin foil trick is a winner!!), I used some fine straight pins to center it over the opening. I just pushed them in as shown. I wouldn't have thought of this until I noticed that some of the bottoms on the Flickr page were off center and *OCD me* couldn't live with that. Ha.
15. I wasn't really clear from the book whether she left the cardboard in the base or not. It looked like Texas Freckles did. I chose to leave it in, although it did make stitching it on a little more time consuming. (I only caught the fabric, however.) I like the neat look of the stiffer bottom.
Ready to start? Honestly, putting this post together took me almost as long as it takes to make one! I just know how many people love the look of these and I wanted to share what I learned so hopefully you'll give it a try, too.
Bet you can't make just one!
The Grand Bazaar ~ where to start? This Istanbul landmark dates from the 1400s and is reputed to be the oldest and largest of covered marketplaces in the world. It's no surprise that with over 3,000 stalls and shops lining more than 50 interconnected streets and alleyways, the Grand Bazaar is atop most must-see lists for first-time visitors to the city. Before our trip, several friends who have traveled there (as well as many travel guides) suggested a smaller bazaar near the Blue Mosque for actual shopping, but insisting that the the Grand Bazaar must be visited for the experience.
On one of our first evenings, we walked through the smaller, recommended Arasta Bazaar which was in the neighborhood of our hotel (more later) and determined that yes, we would definitely be returning to shop here. And then we penciled in a stop at the Grand Bazaar on the following day when we had other sights to see in that neighborhood. An hour or two was thought sufficent to soak up the flavor of the place, evade the aggressive dealers and take some photos.
The variety of goods for sale in the bazaar is broad ~ food, clothing, textiles, jewelry, tourist items ~ and the quality ranges from imported junk (China) to high end. We had been warned of the persistence of the sellers, that once you stepped into a shop, you probably weren't stepping out without something and that serious haggling over price is the expected, historic norm. We were on high guard.
But a funny thing happened ~ or didn't. Although many of the dealers were cajoling as we walked by, imploring us to just step in, consider their wares, the atmosphere was quite different from what we expected. If we were good-natured in our refusal, they were similarly good-natured in the rebuff. And when I got up the nerve to enter a rug shop (there must be a thousand in the Grand Bazaar, alone), I was pleasantly surprised to find fixed prices and a friendly staff who explained that many of the better quality shops prefer to do business that way now as tourists, especially, are put off by the bargaining.
We relaxed and started to have some fun. We ventured into shops and stalls, admired and inquired. Haggled a bit, in some cases getting a better price, in some cases not. But in each case, the interactions were relaxed, friendly and quite interesting. Many come looking for jewelry or ceramics. For me, the bazaar was all about the textiles.
I went to Turkey hoping to bring home a suzani. I saw many, many pieces, all qualities and sizes but didn't purchase one. The hanging above looks exactly what I was looking for ~ yet I have no memory of seeing it, let alone taking this photo! Does that give you an idea of Heather's and my state of euphoria (stupor?) as we drifted through the unending warren of delights? (The guys, not so much ~but they were good sports.)
Outside of most rug shops, kilim pillowcovers (cut from flatweave rugs) were stacked high to encourage browsing, I'd guess. Most were geometric but when I asked at one about availability of florals, he ran and got this dealer, aka 'the George Clooney of Istanbul' who brought me to his shop around the corner, dropping piles for me to peruse while he regaled us with humorous stories of some of his exploits in the business. I did get a deal here and the entertainment alone was worth the price!
In sharp contrast to the opulence of the domed ceilings of the Grand Bazaar, the Arasta Bazaar in the Sultanahmet area of Istanbul looks a little sad early in the morning on a snowy day. But it's a little gem of a place with many lovely shops and almost no pressure. A quiet place to browse and consider.
I cringe a bit while posting this photo ~ it was about 20° with a brisk wind, I was freezing! ~ but it's my best shot of the interior bazaar area, the nicer shops which are well worth a visit. Iznik!!
And this ~ this is, in my opinion, the crown jewel of the bazaar, a little shop chockablock full of (mostly) vintage textiles. Museum quality textiles. Hats and robes, saddlebags and wallhangings, bolts of ikats (vintage and reproduction) available by the yard. It's a tiny place, the four of us pretty much filled the available floor space as I slowly turned, trying to take in all of stacked and hanging items. I was practically hyperventilating but it was so high-end and nearing closing time, so I didn't want to ask to be shown pieces. We turned to exit and something caught my eye on a bottom shelf.
These are wooden spice boxes from Afghanistan. As the young clerk started pulling them out, each was more beautiful than the last. I was fawning all over them (so much for keeping a straight face...) And then he said something that really knocked the pins out from under me. "We have a lot more at our bigger gallery." I thought they were going to have to carry me out of there but when I heard that their home gallery was just around the corner from the bazaar entrance, not a one minute walk from this shop, we were off.
The people working at the gallery were generous with their time, sharing staggeringly beautiful pieces from their collection drawers with fascinating stories to go along with them. It turns out that while most of their sale pieces for are originals, part of their business is in selling very high-end reproductions of antique Caucasian and Ottoman textiles, all hand embroidered and produced by their shop of artisans in Armenia. They pride themselves on providing sustainable income for skilled women through through this project. Another most memorable interaction!
Are you wondering why my photos from Arasta are both morning and night shots? Because after some of my usual back-and-forthing, I had to run back the next morning to buy a spice box.
So our trip was drawing to a close and something was nagging at me. I had posted an Instagram photo of this rug shop from the Grand Bazaar earlier in the week and each time I looked at it, I was more incredulous that I hadn't gone in to take a closer look at these stunning, graphic kilims. Our plans for Friday were somewhat compromised by the unexpected frigid weather so we decided to spend part of the day back over at the Grand Bazaar.
I'm not sure why I've always been so enthralled by patterns, but the rugs in this shop just about took my breath away.Of various vintages, mostly 40-50 years old (the ones we looked at), those exposed to more sun over the years were softly faded. Others retained the original color saturation of the vegetable dyes used.
Here's the thing about the rug shops. Almost all stock is folded and stacked so browsing necessitates a salesperson unfurling options after you ask to see a certain size or pattern. This is where the pressure comes in so many situations as the more rugs laid out, the stronger the pressure to purchase. We'd heard some real horror stories before our trip but this couldn't have been further from the case here at Recep Karaduman. After many were considered, they refolded what we clearly weren't interested in, leaving our favorites arrayed on the floor for consideration.
Why are these guys smiling? I've heard Turkey doesn't allow its visitors to leave without a rug. That's true, isn't it?
