Exquisite City

Last Saturday, the kids and I went to see a very cool exhibit, "Exquisite City," in a theater on the North Side of Chicago. As in the old game "Exquisite Corpse," the artists who contributed to this show were each asked to imagine, in cardboard, one city block in Chicago--without knowing how the other artists were picturing the assignment. Astrid was clearly feeling like Godzilla as she stomped around the "streets" of the miniature city--and I was a little nervous that one or more blocks might tumble in her wake. But both she and Elliot were impressed by the level of detail many of the artists achieved, as well as the humor and weirdness of many of their creations. In the same place, there was a little voyeurs' heaven....a wall full of windows into which we could stare. Elliot and I really liked the Mexican wrestler with the knife in his back. Astrid was not so delighted by this window.

Talking after class

Lately I've been getting home around 8 or 9 on Thursday evenings. I teach from 2-4:30, but I've been observing other instructors' evening courses--so by the time I've sat in on the first half of someone's class, I still have an hour-long commute home, often in very dark and rainy weather. I'm *really* tired on these evenings, but also a little wired (adrenaline from my dark drive, I guess).

Tonight I got home in time to kiss Elliot goodnight, and then I sat on the couch with Terry just chatting. For some reason, this is something we don't get to do all that often, so it was very, very nice. The best part of chatting was this: Terry recounted for me a conversation he'd had walking home from Elliot's school. The conversation consisted of Elliot explaining how he'd worked a math problem involving cube roots--how he'd set up the equation, the false starts and missteps he'd made, and how he did the whole thing without using any "materials" (he's a Montessori kid).

I'm sure that long ago I learned how to do whatever it was Elliot had to do today (I used to love math), but I don't remember how to do it, or even why it's a good thing to know how to do. But there was something very sweet to me about Elliot walking his dad through a problem that really interested him, and then knowing that his interest mattered enough to his father that Terry would remember what Elliot said and then tell me about it--especially when he knows that I don't get the math. Terry admires both of our kids' thinking, and his love for them comes through so clearly when he's telling me what's going on in their heads.

Marathon sewing lady

No pictures right now, but man, have I been a-sewin'! While Elliot was away at Nature's Classroom in Wisconsin last week, I wanted to sew him a new bathrobe (with Malden Mill's polarfleece that I got for $1.95/yard at Fabric.com. I bought four yards each of brown, grey, and wine). I was able to trace off the pattern and cut the fleece by Thursday evening, but I was worried that I wouldn't get to do any actual sewing before he came home on Friday afternoon at 2. I got up early on Friday, got Astrid to school, and sewed non-stop until 12:30. Done! And it looks great: a deep chocolate brown, with nice big patch pockets. All Elliot needs now is a pipe to smoke....

On Saturday, I started working on pants for Astrid. Unfortunately, the polarfleece is a bit heavy for pants--the construction of which I'd hoped to streamline by using foldover elastic. I made one pair from the fleece and had to do a regular elastic casing. Then I pulled apart three *way* outgrown pairs of jeans I sewed for Elliot and used them to cut out three pairs of jeans for Astrid. I've got one sewn and I hope I can get to the others tonight or tomorrow. Since the fleece didn't work too well for regular pants, I think I'll use a lot of it for winter pajamas---maybe even some for me....

Tired and happy....happy!

I've been super-busy with papers to grade, sick kids, Halloween costumes to make....and a new blog I've been writing for work. (As you know, life blog and work blog must never cross paths....so the life blog has been on hold while I've been getting the work blog up and running).

None of this matters, of course....what *matters* is my pictures from Election Day! I work across the street from Grant Park in Chicago, and, while I decided not to stay downtown for the rally (I wanted to be home with my husband), I really wanted to document my experience of living through the giddy tension of the hours before election returns came in. I even walked over to Sears to buy a nifty little ultracompact, as I didn't have our clunky (but beloved) old digital camera with me. An expensive, impulsive purchase, but I'm glad I did it.

What a day! What a night! What a speech! It's a gooder-than-usual day to be alive.

Halloween's on its way, and cold weather, too

Chicago was blessed with an absolutely gorgeous Indian Summer weekend--75 or 80 both days--so we've been wearing shorts and doing yard work. (I make a point of mowing the lawn at least once every 60 days....I'm hoping today's session will be my last until May).

Even with the beautiful weather, I was able to think about the chilly times that are on their way, so I did two things that I'm quite proud of (well, technically three). First, I made air conditioner covers for our ancient, ugly, and inefficient dining room unit (which we will replace in the spring) as well as for Elliot's bedroom unit. I used two layers of sand-colored microfiber suiting that was given to me by a woman I happened to meet on the el train a couple of years ago---she was ready to have a baby and was trying to get rid of sewing cloth she didn't see herself using in the next few years. The cloth in question would have looked great on her, as she was a beautiful brown woman from Pakistan; the same cloth would have made me look like a beach. (Not a "beached whale," as the cliche goes, but the actual beach). Underneath the cloth, I created a two-layer plastic sheeting cover for each unit. I haven't yet addressed the leakage all around the units....but considering that I left the dining room unit completely uncovered until early December last year, I'm feeling really, really good about myself.

The other fall thing I did was to get started on Astrid's Halloween costume. She wants to be an alien--which was Elliot's costume last year--and I had just enough scraps from his ensemble to make up the better part of hers. She'll have black tights and a black turtleneck underneath the cool jumper I put together (made with Simplicity 5391, now out of print). I love how the binding came out---I used some of the fold-over elastic I bought from SewZanne's, and it worked great. I also made a metallic teal batwing "sweater" to go over the jumper--really, it's just sleeves and a bit of a back--I figured out how to make it from an old Threads article. Now I just need to design her Alien Headgear, which will probably be based on whatever big-enough plastic beverage container we empty between now and next week.

Elliot's going to be a ghost; right now we're haggling over how high-concept it should be. I have grand ideas about an apparition covered with the washed-out photos of Civil War soldiers or WW I sailors, but it sounds like he just wants to be "a scary ghost." My mother wisely reminded me the other day that Elliot's getting to the age at which any recommendation I make will be completely unacceptable; she urged me not to press my luck with him, so I will try not to. (Perhaps *I* can be a high-concept ghost....)

Believe it or not, once I was done making Astrid's alien dress yesterday, I grabbed an atrociously-huge, never-ever the right size pair of jeans I made a couple of years ago, and I turned it into a jumper for her, using the same pattern I'd just traced off for her Halloween costume. I used homemade bias tape for the bindings, and I salvaged a pocket from another way-too-big dress I made myself a year or so ago.

I think I'm done sewing for the week.

Working my way back up

A long silence, huh? It took me a while to get over the stomach bug I had when I last posted--and an even longer time to catch up on my backlog of work. I'm just about done with the article revision that was supposed to be complete in mid-August....I don't think I've ever been so late with a piece of writing. Fortunately, the editor isn't quite done revising her piece yet, either. Elliot's birthday was on Friday, the 26th--and boy, were we in cupcake heaven (except me--I was sick). We made 48 cupcakes for Elliot's schoolmates and teachers, and there must have been a few kids missing, because he brought home about 10 of them. I like this picture because it looks like Elliot is growing out of Astrid's head.

Lots of anxious fall days, watching the economy implode. I heard people on NPR comparing the current panic to the terrible uncertainty following the 9/11/01 attacks, and while it seemed like an outrageous idea at the time, I confess I've had some moments since then when I could see what they were talking about.

Onto a more pleasant subject: Astrid's been taking her Saturday morning art class for a few weeks now, and she's really enjoying it. I don't think it's providing the level of challenge that her Montessori teachers urged us to try to find for her, and, to be honest, I don't think she's doing anything with her teacher that she couldn't do with me--but it's very nice for her to have someone else to work with. She's quite strong-minded, and we do sometimes step on each other's feet when I'm teaching her. I have definitely enjoyed sitting outside the studio, in the fall sunshine, doing my class prep on Saturday mornings. I hope the weather will stay nice....

Last Friday, Astrid had her annual checkup--including three shots. In the waiting room before the appointment, she drew this picture of Frida Kahlo. (Yes, she is quite focused on Frida Kahlo.) In this drawing, Frida Kahlo is working in my office (all of the furniture and fixtures are pretty accurate), and she's using the computer to create a self-portrait. As you can see by her "Woo-Hoo!", Frida's pretty happy with how her self-portrait is coming out.

How much pink and blue linen is left?

A few months ago I bought some v-e-r-y w-i-d-e linen for making curtains. I *did* make a set of bathroom curtains with the pink, but the blue isn't as pretty in "real life" as it was online, and both shades are so wrinkle-prone that I've opted not to make any clothes with them. (Really, the only time I iron is when I'm sewing.....I think I ironed a shirt for Elliot last year, when he celebrated his first Sacrament of Reconciliation at church....).

So we're been using the linen a little square at a time, as the foundation for our embroidery experiments. Here are two that I've finished over the past couple of weeks. They're a little small, so I'm not sure what I'll do with them--perhaps applique them onto a pillow. The bigger ones we've made have turned into pillow covers in their own rights (we posted Elliot's little partridge pillow a few weeks ago.) Most of those haven't been posted here because they are likely to end up under certain people's Christmas trees.

I'm pretty pleased with both of them. The Fire Chief (not a great photo--sorry) was based on an image in a very early book that Richard Scarry illustrated for Little Golden Books--Cars and Trucks (and see the updated posting about the bowdlerized early-70s version of the book--it's the one I have, and boy is it weird!). The bright primary colors of Scarry's illustration don't come through in this simple embroidered rendition, but I think the spirit is there.

The Young Pioneer design took a lot longer. It's based on a teeny part of a very complicated textile design in Jill Kachurin's 2006 book Soviet Textiles. (What a great book--I'm so glad I bought it! I sure wish some of the textile patterns she curated for her 2006 exhibit at the MFA in Boston would show up in someone's quilting line.)