Journal

Pickles!

Alexia — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:43:17 +0000

I have been sewing like crazy, working on some things for Anna Maria Horner's booth at market but somehow I squeezed in some time for pickles! I picked up these cukes at the local farmers market last week and finally got around to pickling them on sunday. I made 'fridge cukes (no canning time around here!) so they are almost instant gratification. I tried one today and they are delish, spicy and salty. Yum.

Here's my no fuss recipe...

1lb pickle cucumbers

4 c water (2 c boiling and 2 c luke warm)

1 3/4 c white vinegar

2 tbl pickling spices

1 1/2 tbl kosher salt

6 cloves garlic

Some sprigs of fresh dill

Slice the cucumbers however you prefer-chips, spears etc...

In a large glass bowl mix the salt, pickling spices, dill and cucumbers. In a large glass measuring cup mix the white vinegar and boiling water. Pour this over the cucumber mixture, and then add the remaining lukewarm water. Stir and let rest for about 30 min at room temp. Once your water is no longer dangerous to transfer pour the batch into a large glass/plastic tupperware and place in the fridge.

This will keep, in my experience, for a couple weeks in the fridge.

If you want to make them a little spicier add a tbl of red pepper flakes.

Sewing Machine

Alexia — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:06:33 +0000

A friend sent me this great animation of how a sewing machine works. It shows how the needle thread interacts with the bobbin and bobbin thread to make lockstitches. Too cool!

Hex Crazy

Alexia — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:34:43 +0000

So I have been recovering from what we're pretty sure is H1N1 and I needed soemthing to do while trapped on the couch for over a week.

I had picked up some paper hexagons from The City Quilter when I worked there, and had made a few hex's here and there. I grabbed my scrap bin and went to town last week and this is what I ended up with...

Paper pieceing in this method is very easy, but it is only fun if you enjoy handsewing. Each hex is made of a fabric piece basted onto the hex shaped paper. Then each basted hex gets sewn to the next by hand along each edge. Very addictive finding all of those little motifs and placing them perfectly on each hex!

Summer of Change

Alexia — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:19:43 +0000

This has certainly been a summer of change for us. In April we thought this fall I would be at Parsons finishing my degree and here we are back in Nashville! It is good to back, right now, and we look forward to the ease with which I will be able to complete school here. It is good to have a back yard again, something I had hoped to solve in NY by moving to a different neighborhood. But it still would not have been as spacious as what we have here. We have been drying laundry outside, cooking more and I have an entire art/craft/sewing room that is amazingly inspiring. You just never know what is ahead, and for now, I feel content with where we are.

Caught

Alexia — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:25:45 +0000

Who me?

Coaster Tutorial

Alexia — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:12:35 +0000

I have been working on a tutorial for these easy, foundation pieced coasters. I'm almost done and can't wait to post :)

sewing and piecing

Alexia — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 04:08:00 +0000

I have been working on a lot of freelance projects lately, in addition to finishing my school apps so things have been a little hectic.

I have made a few blocks to contribute to a quilt for a friend at work that is getting married. Here are a few...
(The polka dot is the sashing, we each attach a sashing strip to the left and top edge of our blocks and that way the person that sews it together doesn't have to also sew all of the sashing.)

This one is my favorite.

And a few more.

self-portrait in progress

Alexia — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:57:00 +0000

love

Alexia — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:54:00 +0000

I really love this building.

subway portraits

Alexia — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 01:43:00 +0000

I have been sketching people, in secret, on the subway for the last couple months, in hopes of using these sketches for a series. I am struck by how many people I come into fairly close personal contact with on a daily basis here in nyc. Yet, there is a disconnect...I find my (and most other people) inclination is to not make eye contact, not speak or engage in any way. How do we live in such a dichotomy? As a recording of this concept I am stitching, fabric collage-ing and quilting subway portraits. First, as an excercise, and then I will decide where to take this project.
They will also be components of my Parsons application. I'm applying...we'll see what comes of it.

hand embroidered with ink- 16"x18" approx

fabric collage and painting- 20"x24" approx

fabric collage and painting- 20"x24"

reversible quilt- 18"x22"