Entire tablecloth
displayed in use
Quarter of tablecloth
displayed flat
Close-up of diamond pattern 1
Close-up of diamond pattern 3
Close-up of diamond pattern 2
Close-up of diamond pattern 4
It's probably easier to list the hobbies I don't have rather than those that I actually work on however I am most interested in needlework, sewing, baking, gardening and reading.
I do counted cross stitch, needlepoint, Hardanger, Reticelli, Hedebo, pulled thread, silk ribbon embroidery, Brazilian embroidery, Japanese embroidery (Bunka), crocheting and knitting (although crocheting doesn't exactly use "needles").
The first year the shop was open I had precious little time to stitch. Since then however, I've tried to find time to stitch a few hours a week primarily on shop models. This year I've managed to complete a Stitcher's Attic piece, a couple of Shepherd's Bush needlerolls, C.A. Wells' pulled thread sachet/pincushion, and a small needlepoint ornament. I even got around to having our local framer (Bay Station Access) frame the Linda Barry piece I completed in 1996 but hadn't done anything else with. It now hangs in the shop. In the queue at the moment is are two needlepoint ornaments, a Lanarate pumpkin, a Lizzie Kate design - My Secret Garden, a "leaves" blackwork piece and C.A. Wells' Pyramid Etui . I have other projects I've been intending to get to: a hardanger table runner (for myself), Linda Barry's Elizabethan Treasures sampler (which I'm about 1/4 of the way through), and all the projects from C.A. Wells classes (see C.A. Wells Information).
Projects finished shortly before I started work on the shop were two sachets (from a C.A. Wells class), a linen storage roll, a hardanger doily in pastels and another in a wine over-dye. Many of them were given away as gifts but some are in use as shop models. I keep hoping to work more on a Christmas stocking of a wizard and a castle (by the needlepoint design company As You Like It) that I started in 1995 and if I'm lucky I might finish it before I die. I did actually finish a sampler in 1996 that I started in the same year! It was from a SOCS class I took in September 1996 from Linda Barry (Silken Elegance) and I finished it in 3 months. Considering the number of UFOs I have in my stash this might have set some kind of world record for me.
I finished a project in mid 1994 that took a full year to complete. Now this wasn't a year of working on it once in a great while. This was concentrated work for 3-4 months with a month or so break in between. It is a 36" square Hardanger tablecloth made from a pattern that spanned several issues of the 1993 Cross Stitch Sampler magazine (featured as a tea cloth on green linen). This was a wedding present for a dear friend of mine who to this day treats it as a treasured item (and I know it is in a good home). It was featured in a 9/6/95 San Francisco Chronicle article on the resurgence of needlework where a black & white picture was included. It contains 4 distinct diamond patterns done in dark blue perle cotton on 25 count white Dublin linen.
| Entire tablecloth
displayed in use |
Quarter of tablecloth
displayed flat |
| Close-up of diamond pattern 1
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Close-up of diamond pattern 3
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| Close-up of diamond pattern 2
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Close-up of diamond pattern 4
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I've been sewing since I was a small child although I like to think my sewing skills have improved since then. I started out college as a Textiles major, although I ended up with a degree in Computer Science, which helps me better afford all these hobbies :-). While I made most of my clothes for years I no longer have time for that. BTS (before the shop) I still made the occasional clothing item like pants for my husband but I rarely have time to sew these days. What little sewing I do now is mostly small gifts for others and that include tea cozies, table linens, baby items other items embellished with machine embroidery.
Like most people who grew up sewing one of the machines I owned was a Singer. I started on my mother's wonderful Singer which was built in the late 30's. It sewed forward and backward and that was it but it was a great machine. She still has it and is under orders never to give it away except to my sister or I. The first machine that was actually mine was a Singer Touch & Sew that my family gave me as a high school graduation present. I'll never forget getting a small box from my family which when unwrapped contained the foot pedal for the machine! I think I had the caught-in-the-headlights look for several minutes if not days. While I no longer have the machine my sister does, since she sews infrequently any more, and it's still going strong.
I purchased my first Pfaff in 1986, a 1471 which was their first computerized model. At the same time I purchased my first serger, a Pfaff whose model number I no longer remember. I upgraded the serger in 1994 when I bought a Pfaff 784. Both have been great machines and I hadn't thought much about another machine til 1996 when a friend introduced me to the Pfaff 7570. Without much prompting I was hooked and bought one. Since I'm in the computer business my friends and co-workers can't get over me having a sewing machine that has a serial port, takes PCMCIA memory cards and has its own software. They want to know when it will have its own IP address and can receive e-mail so they can talk to it directly. It's an absolutely marvelous machine and I must admit I bought it because of the embroidery features. I'm continuing to learn the art of digitizing and I've bought some designs from several sources. I have been very happy with the choice and quality of designs available on the market today. If I were to wish for a class of designs it would be for tea related items since I'm a tea lover. With this machine/software combination I feel like I have an interesting way of tying what I do for a living and what my hobbies are.
Baking is one of those things I've loved doing since I was a teenager. I was always the one who baked birthday cakes for friends at school or cookies or whatever. If I got to bake it, I'd make it. Over the years my skills have improved and what I like to make has changed. I tend to concentrate more on chocolate desserts than anything else and it's not unusual for there to be 60 pounds of chocolate and 30 pounds of butter in the house at any point in time. I've taken classes from several chefs/pastry chefs and some continuing education classes from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. All of these have helped refine my skills and given me knowledge of processes and techniques that I'd read about but hands on work is the best teacher.
I'm also a member of an organization called Baker's Dozen, which if you watch the TV Food Network now has a baking show with some of the members as the guest pasty chefs. The organization is open to professionals and non-professionals alike, you just have to be passionate about baking. We hold meetings about every 3-4 months in the SF Bay area and the topics range from how to start a bakery to field trips to butter tastings. It's wonderful to get together with a bunch of people who love baking and who lover to exchange information. There is always sharing of ideas and while I'm not a professional pasty chef they are happy to share and listen to people who are not in the business.
While I make desserts the most (and I feed them to the group I manage as well as the shop and other friends) I also bake bread and breakfast type "pastries". There is something so very simple about making bread, even when I use my Kitchen Aid Mixer to help. I still knead it some by hand and it's great for taking out the frustrations of the day! And an ever better treat to get something so tasty when you're done.
My favorite baking books/authors are: