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I know it has been awhile.  My days are crazy busy, yet feel un-creative.  I knew this would be  the case about now, I had this glorious time last winter with nothing on the calendar where I could live in my studio, never change out of my pajamas and just make cool stuff.  But summer is not the season for that.

First off there is the yard.  My husband is an avid gardener, and he is finally not traveling himself, so he can spend the spring starting plants, creating beds, moving things around the yard, and creating a lovely oasis.  This of course requires me to be a part of that, which is fine, I get to benefit from the rewards of course, but spending time outside, means less time in my studio.

And my lovely Brianna is home.  My time with her will be less and less I’m sure, and her unbridled enthusiasm when within 20 miles of my studio, makes me want to throw open the doors to her and let her have at it, though again, that takes away from my own work time, and of course makes my studio really really crowded.  I wouldn’t deny either of us the privilege of sharing my space.

And my lovely son is winding down his last week in the states.  Next Monday, the 16th, he will deploy to the middle east, he says it will be to a “nice” part.  He will most likely be gone about a year, and I will miss him beyond any words I can write here.  God Speed Eric, come back safe.  I spend the afternoon with him at a National Guard family picnic yesterday in south Jersey.

And Tuesday morning about 4am, I am heading to the airport to board a plane for Eugene, Oregon.  I will be teaching a five day garment construction intensive at the Eugene Textile Center, and I’m really looking forward to that, but I’ve spent the last week or so printing, packing, and shipping materials ahead.  This afternoon I finish up the final packing since Brianna and I are heading out to spend the day at the Frances Irwin Guild meeting dyeing scarves with tissue paper.

And on top of all that, I am teaching a new class at the end of July, part of the American Sewing Guild conference in St. Louis, called Behind the Front Lines.  (Please know that when I came up with this title, I didn’t know my son would be deploying.  It is a bittersweet title, having nothing to do with the military…)  The class is in fact, all about linings, interlinings, underlinings, facings, and interfacings.  Confused?  That’s the point of the class.  Internal structure is so important in garment construction.  This is to garment construction as engineering is to architecture.  My job is to un-confuse you…

The class ended up because of placement during the conference, a three hour class.  Anyone who ever heard me speak knows I have no problem speaking for three hours, but I really really like having something of quality to impart.  So I need a Powerpoint to support my lecture, with lots of visuals, and that takes a lot of time and resources to build.  I actually love building lectures like this.  I get to pull from my own body of work, create step by step tutorials, and by huge coincidence, make use of the very materials my daughter is painstakingly scanning and archiving as I type.  My mother’s entire 10 volume set of binders of sewing leaflets and magazine clippings from the 60-70’s is now digital, and it was great to be able to bring up the category of facings and interfacings, linings and underlinings, and plug in illustrations that show perfectly what I’m trying to convey.

So my days are not my own, there is lots happening in my neck of the woods,  and all of it is good.  Even my son’s deployment.  He volunteered for this, and it is something he needs to do.  And I fully support him.  But I’ll still miss him like crazy…

Meanwhile, there are classes coming up that still have space, feel free to grab a few days away and immerse yourself in something creative, summer is the time.

There are still a couple of openings in my garment construction intensive, at Peters Valley Craft Center in northwestern NJ.  June 27th – July 1st. Click Here for more information.  If you want to get back into making clothing, or want to start from the beginning and learn to make clothing, you’ll do just that, and go home with a cool jacket.  Plus Peters Valley is a really really special place…

A new venue for me, The Rehoboth Art League, in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, has scheduled me to teach a three day introduction to weaving.  This is for those new to the medium, and in three days we will cover speed tapestry weaving, inkle loom weaving and shaft loom weaving.  I bring the frame looms, the inkle looms, and the four shaft Structo’s. No experience necessary!  It is a great way to see if weaving can become your next passion!  The class is July 7-9, and if you have never been to Rehoboth Beach Delaware, you are in for a great treat.  I grew up at the Jersey Shore so I’m a little jaded.  But my week in Rehoboth, Delaware last September was magical.  And I’ll be back there vacationing with my family next September as well.  Click here for more information.

And at the end of July (24-27th), is of course the American Sewing Guild conference in St. Louis, MO.  I love this conference, it is more garment based than some of the Quilt Expos, and I’ve taken some wonderful classes there myself.  I’m teaching a hands-on workshop in making bound buttonholes, rectangular and triangular, and a workshop on Weaving your own Trim on the inkle loom, for beginners who want to make their own trim for Chanel Jackets and home dec projects. (I think that class is almost full)  I’m also teaching of course, the new lecture called Behind the Front Lines, which I described above, and one called “What went wrong?”  This is one of those classes, like when I do a technical critique of a fashion show installation, that changes every time I do it based on what garments are in front of me.  Everyone has things they’ve made that could have fit better, could have been been engineered better, including me.  I always learn from what I make, even now, the important part is that you learn, and I hear over and over in the classes I teach, “This isn’t quite right, but I can’t figure out what’s wrong.”  If you aren’t a member of the American Sewing Guild, but from the handweaving community, think about this class, if you are within a reasonable distance from St. Louis, and bring a pile of garments for evaluation and suggestions on how to make them better…  For more information click here…

And finally, at the end of August (25th – 29th) there is another opportunity to take a five day garment construction intensive at Harrisville Designs, in NH.  I believe there are still a few spaces left, and this is another one of those magical places.  What’s not to love about heading to New England at the end of August? Click here for more information.

Stay tuned…