An Early Morning

I heard this weird thrumming sound, hrmmmm, hrmmmm, hrmmmm, but very deep.  It woke me up; I looked at my phone, 3:45.   What was that sound?  I walked around the house, then out on the deck.  It was some medium-sized cargo ship thrumming its way up Puget Sound.  The thing definitely sounded like it was out of whack.

Out comes the kindle with its little glow light.  Check cellphone, 4:25.  The birds are chirping; light is creeping around the blinds.  Off goes my kindle, I lay down trying to go back to sleep.  I check my cell phone again, 4:55.  Oh what the heck, it is just too light to go back to sleep now.

I finally get up, turn on the computer, put some tea in the microwave, sorry, I was too lazy to brew a pot of loose tea, look out the window to see two cruise ships heading back from Alaska.  I bake a batch of scones for breakfast.

Sunrise is now officially 5:18, but let me tell you, it is light waaaayyyyy before 5:18.  The photo above was taken at 5:15.  The birds were singing at 4:25.  The light is very different up here from Virginia, I am naively thinking of Sweden.  Nope, not even close, we are on the same latitude as northern France, Bern Switzerland.  

Today, we have the sun sparkling over the Puget Sound, no marine layer this morning.

I have cut out six coats.  Now it is time to get pinning and sewing.  I foresee the need of coffee this afternoon.

Studio Tour

Yeah!! My vests and coats were juried into the Bainbridge Island Studio Tour for August 7-9.  I am very excited, but now I have to get to work making vests and coats.  As much as possible I try and use recycled fabric.  I have stacks of men's pants and coats and have been cutting them up for use in my princess cut pieces.  I spent a couple of days grading patterns and making muslins.  I have to get a friend to try on a couple of the muslins and make some adjustments.  In the meantime, I have been cutting out those that I know the sizing works.

I now have a pile of vests to sew together.  I am trying to cut two more out, then I will have 6 vests to begin sewing.

Here on Bainbridge Island, so far the weather is so very changeable.  I awoke just after 5 AM and saw the wall in the hallway was awash with bright orange light of a sunrise.  The dark days of winter have been replaced with a sun that appears at 4:40 AM and sets near 9PM now, although it is light around 4AM and stays light until well after 9 PM.  I have been told in the summer it will stay light until 10 PM.  I now have to put the shades down in our room if I have any hope of sleeping past 5 AM. When I got up at 7 to get the kids ready for school, this is the view that greeted me.  The sun was gone to be replaced by a thick marine layer.

The interior of the island was bright and sunny this morning, and it was VERY warm in the sun.  It is funny here how it can be 65 degrees air temperature, but in the sun it feels very HOT.  I am not sure why but the sun is so intense here, so much more so than in Virginia.  

Here is the midday view.  You can just see the tops of the hills in the suburbs of Seattle across the fog-filled Puget Sound.  I never get tired of looking out the window.  

Now, I have to warm up my tea and get back to cutting out my coats and vests!

Busy Making

I have been really busy sewing these past few weeks.  I wanted to apply for the local studio tour here in Bainbridge Island, but I had to make a few more pieces to show.  I took my pieces to be juried and I am awaiting the results.  I am honing in on a design that I like and can modify pretty easily to make it look very different.  It is based on princess lines, which I think look good on just about everyone.

The first piece I sewed together was using a cotton/linen blend that I had that for some strange reason I bought in yellow.  I held the yellow fabric up to myself and my daughter said, "Yuk Mom!  That looks awful."  So much for that fabric.  So a couple of years later I had my friend Rachel throw it into an indigo dye pot.  I wasn't so sure about the color at first, but then it grew on me.  It is an interesting mottled green with tints of yellow and blue.

I sewed a mid-thigh length vest and then appliquéd silk circles on it and added some hand stitching.  I love the resuI lined it with some beautiful quilting cotton with dragonflies printed on it that really complemented the hand-dyed linen.  I think it would look great with leggings for a light summer coverup.  I love the result, and I hope you like it, too.  

The second piece I cut out and sewed together was a fitted vest made from old suits.  This little fitted vest has a flared out hem and is hip length.  The grey wool is very soft.  It is a very fitted and looks great with a white cotton shirt and jeans.  A feminine take on the men's vest that I call a Revest.

I sewed on some beautiful ribbon from Laura Foster Nicholson.

I also lined this vest with some great cotton fabric that complements the grey flannel.  I really love my clothes lined.  They just feel better.