Thank you for loving the bag from last week every bit as much as I do. Do you know that bag has been sitting around this house for several weeks now and nobody...nobody said a thing about it? I'm taking that to mean that either they thought it was something I purchased (which I'll accept as an offhanded compliment), or they truly did not notice. So thank you for noticing!
The next summer project on my list was a skirt, also for me. (That's a new trend around here apparently, making things for me.) After making the rooster T-shirt from my Alabama Stitch Book, I knew I wanted to make the Bloomers skirt. I mean, it's gorgeous, right? Looks like it would feel amazing to wear? And, I love the idea of a garment for myself stitched entirely by hand. But I thought it would be fun to do a stencil pattern of my own design. So, I doodled, and doodled, and tried to find some inspiration. Something as pretty as that Bloomers stencil pattern...the one that was right there in the book, ready to pull out and use right away. The other day I just stopped doodling and just jumped in. Just like the bag, I used fabric from my stash, in this case a dark navy and cornflower blue. All the panels have been cut, and the top layers have been stenciled with that pretty bloomers stencil (in a dark charcoal gray), and now I'm doing the handstitching (with dark-ish gray button thread).
This book has made me fall in love with handstitching all over again. I love the rhythm, the portability of it, the quiet and comfort I take in it. I think I will think of that when I wear this skirt.
Daria and I are taking turns posting one image each day which conjures up inspirations of July's eight by eight theme of water. Today is my image, which I could talk way too long about, but I won't. Let's just say the little southern girl in me thinks of summer, water, and sun when I see "vintage" Lilly Pulitzer.
OK, its time to put up some new inspiration images around the studio for me, so I'll be working on that a little this week. Even though I don't want summer to end, my mental gears are switching away from my spring/summer inspirations. And friends, my best advice for you today (if you need any) is to make a big glass of something good, and belly up to your computer to listen to This American Life's episode #293 "A Little Bit of Knowledge" , in particular their definition of a "modern jackass". This is my new favorite term, could be an all time favorite, and I have used it more than I should this past weekend. Which probably makes me one.
