Down to the wire…

I’m slowly plodding along with the remake of all my class jacket samples.  I have only four jackets remaining and my poor machine and I can’t wait.  If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read the last post.

I’ve had a good long break from teaching, and that has been needed and wanted.  I think I’ve been incredibly productive, but really, there is never enough time to do all that you outline in your head when you wake up in the morning.  Like Daily Goals, not to be confused with Monthly Goals, Goals for the Next Hour, Goals for the Year, Goals for the five months I’ll be home from teaching…  I’m sort of a goal setter, or list maker, and I just get the most incredible amount of joy when I cross something off the list.  On really oppressive days, when the tasks are not quickly crossed off, I’ll add silly things like, Eat Lunch.  That sounds stupid, but it serves a two fold purpose, makes me remember to eat, and gives me something to cross off that isn’t oppressive.  And when I wake up to a slew of inquiries, from venues, students, potential students, former students and people who do a Google search and come up with my name,  a good chunk of my morning is in old fashioned correspondence.  This venue needs materials list information, that venue needs updated press photos.  This venue wants proposals for 2018, that student needs information on how much yardage to weave, what fiber and what sett…  You get the idea…

Anyway, that wasn’t actually a complaint.  I get to cross emails off the list much more quickly than say, “Make 9 Daryl Jacket samples…”

In between there, I am usually working on an article for a magazine.  This past year I’ve been involved in a series of Essential Techniques Articles for Threads, a beloved publication of mine, I have every issue and have enjoyed every one.  I have hard copies of each issue, as well as 1985 – 2012 on DVD, and 1985 – 2015 on USB Flash.  I subscribe to the online Threads Archive, and Threads Insider.  And I use them.  Of course when I started to write articles for them, I was especially thrilled.  I’ve written for a number of magazines, and though Madelyn van der Hoogt was the most wonderful person to write for, and my 6 years as Features Editor of Handwoven Magazine one of my top ten professional experiences, I really enjoy writing for Threads.  My immediate editor Carol is super to work with, and she is also a weaver, go figure.  And Threads is thorough and exacting in its styling for articles, its editorial department, and its layouts.  There is a color theme set for each issue to make the magazine look more cohesive.  Who knew?

So I took a welcome break from the stack of Daryl Jackets, and piles of old sheets, and I started to make a sample for my latest Essential Techniques Article for Threads, this one on Inserting the Perfect Lining, (by hand of course) for the October/November 2016 issue.  The editors at Threads decided, for the garment sample for the article, that it should coordinate with the chosen palette for the issue, and that the fabric should come from Mood.  If you are a Project Runway Fan, you will know about Mood.  I’ve been there a number of times myself, it is just across the Hudson River in NYC, but to have a package arrive with a generous amount of wool with a viscose satin splashy lining from Mood was just too much fun.  I glared at the pile every time I cut out another Daryl Jacket out of sheets.

The pattern is Butterick 6169.  Youthful and fresh.  The basic  motorcycle jacket.  Each front piece is actually three sections so matching the stripes was a bit of a challenge, but I’m so happy with it that I want to make one for me.  I can’t keep this one because it was made in a tiny size for the model.  The lining is a wonderful pop of color!

The manuscript is complete, right on schedule, (due this week but I’ll be with my husband all day tomorrow at the chemo center, and I’ll be judging a show in Philadelphia all day Thursday) and that my dear readers means that I have three weeks until I start traveling again, less because class prep starts shortly with printing monographs and handouts, and cutting pattern paper and interfacings, because those have to be shipped out in the next two weeks to arrive on time on Whidbey Island.  I have a five day garment construction intensive followed by a three day vest class for an adjacent guild.  And then I’m only home about 10 days and I’m out again to Eugene Textile Center and Fiber in the Forest, followed by a cruise to Alaska with my husband.  We are crossing our fingers he will be well enough to make the trip.   And then it is summer season, conferences, and the prep for the fall, when September looks to be a repeat of last year.  I basically wasn’t home.

So it has been a productive few months.  Not a lot to show you dear readers, but nevertheless, really productive for me, the fruits of my labor won’t really start to show until I start using all these jackets in the classroom.  I still have about 4 dozen patterns to duplicate, but we tackle this one day at a time, one item on the list at a time.  And now I’ll go cross off, “Write a blog post” from my list.  And then start cutting out another Daryl jacket…

Stay tuned…