Hip Kids' kick off Saturday

Well, this afternoon kicked off the fall Hip Kids' classes.....and I had just as much fun participating as they did!  Today was a  fabric mosaic/collage on a spiral notebook.  Simple:  Mod Podge, fabric, scissors, spiral.  Sometimes, there's nothing like a simple art project to get the creativity flowing:

And an afternoon giggling with little girls, as we cut and glued and talked and sang (Pandora radio is awesome).

In the store now:

......and these are just a few that arrived!

It was a day to remember....

It started about 2 weeks ago.....with a phone call from a woman I've known for some years from church.  We used to run the kitchen during Vacation Bible School - did it every year for about 5 consecutive years.  I hadn't seen her in a while, as our lives didn't cross paths.  She called me to tell me that she and her husband were moving into a retirement home....it was time.  His health wasn't so good - she couldn't keep up with taking care of the house and yard, and she was tired of cooking.  Did I want to come take any of her sewing supplies?  I didn't hesitate - YES!

I went over and started looking at everything......fabric, irons, thread, batting, interfacing, scissors, pins, buttons, trims, needles, patterns (oh, the fun of looking through patterns from the 70s!).  Then I saw it:

My breath caught in my throat.....

I could hardly ask......"are you parting with THIS?"  I asked.  Yes, she was.  A local sewing machine repair shop gave her an offer some time ago.  "Are you interested?" she asked.  I nearly yelped out "YES!"  The offer was good - I asked if I could give her that amount.  Sure, she said.  I told her I'd check w/my husband, and come back in the next week or so to pay for it.  In the meantime, she took me outside to her peach tree, where I loaded bags of peaches, and then we sat on her back porch, chatting.....I always love to hear stories from her of her life - her husband was a pilot in the military, they lived all over the world, and she's had some adventures.  The most touching moment was when she told me that when she looks in her husband's face, she still sees the young fighter pilot that she knew way back when.....she doesn't see the elderly man he is today.  I'll never forget those words.

Fast forward to yesterday.....I went back, she gave me more sewing notions, I wrote her a check for this:

A Singer Featherweight, in pristine condition - oiled, tuned up, shiny - in it's case, with the manual.  When I opened the manual, here's the line I loved:

I took it home, gently set it up, read through the manual to make sure I had threaded everything exactly the right way, and gingerly started sewing.  Well, what can I compare that moment to?   Putting on my wedding dress the day of  my wedding?  Seeing the ocean for the 1st time after being away from it for 10 years?  Giving birth and seeing my daughter for the 1st time?  Well, it was pretty darn close.  For those of you who love sewing, who sew and sew and sew, who burst with pride when you finish a garment, or a quilt, or a purse....you understand.  Right?!

Oh, and my friend had me rummage through the last of what was to be given away to charity, and I eagerly claimed this:

And my girls and I have been having loads of fun typing away:

Someday I'll be an elderly woman (if it's the plan for my life), and I'll have all my sewing supplies.  I don't know if my daughters will be interested in them.  I certainly don't ever want them to feel like they have to take my belongings.....I hope that my things will make someone else happy.  I hope someone else will take them, and know that sewing made me very happy.  I hope my friend knows that what she parted with has made me very happy, and I'm very grateful.

Come with me to Norway!

Remember way back - a few months back, that is - when I boldly announced that I was going to do studio tours?  One a week, I believe I proclaimed?  Well, that was quite an aspiration, and life kind of got in the way.  HOWEVER, I'm trickling along, and I'm very excited to go (virtually) to Norway, to visit Heike and her sewing space....

I met Heike around Christmas time 2008 - Hip Stitch had only been open a few months - she had found our store via the internet, I believe.  She came in to use the lounge, and we instantly struck a lovely acquaintance with each other.  She shared with me that she was only here in Albuquerque temporarily - she's German, her home is Norway, and she was here with her husband and her 2 sweet daughters.  Her sewing machine wasn't with her, and she, being quite the sewer, was hoping to find a place to create.  She brought her girls in with her, and they'd work on their own little crafting, or just quietly watch their mama.

Well, her husband's temporary position (I think at UNM?) ended, and it was time for them to move back to Norway.  Since then, she's added another lovely girl to her family!  We've kept in touch via emails, and she's sent me the link to her photos of things she's sewn/knitted.  She was one of the 1st people I thought of when I wanted to do the studio tours - we've been in touch over the summer, and between her time on holiday (doesn't that sound so lovely.....holiday?), and my time on vacation, it took 'till now to get this done.  So without further ado:

How long have you been sewing?  What was the 1st project you made?

I started sewing about 3 years ago after finding the magazine Ottobre  (finnish sewing magazine for kids clothes).  first piece ever was curtains I shortened, but first thing I made 3 years ago was a sweater for my oldest daughter. It went pretty well even if I made some smaller mistakes, but short time after I took a sewing class and I learned all the basic stuff, the rest I learned by doing.

 

What time of day do you sew?  anytime?  when the kids go to bed?

I usually sew in the evenings after the kids went to bed. In the weekends, I sew during the day, too. Now, since I am home with the baby, I use every minute during the day to make some new clothes.

 

Do you listen to anything while sewing?  music?  talk radio?  children in the background?  or just quiet?

Kind of embarrassing, but I watch tv while sewing, or better said, I hear the tv in the background, but I am not watching, only listening. Or the kids in the background, sometimes coming to my sewing table, asking me, if they can help or if I make something for them and if yes, if they can choose the embellishment.

 

What's your favorite sewing tool/notion to use?  that you'd be lost without?

My favorite tool is definitely the rotary cutter and the seam ripper. I am perfectionist and if things are not the way I want them to be, I use the seam ripper starting all over again. I even open serger seams if I think they don't look pretty enough. So, you see, I have a sewing machine, a serger and a combined sewing and embroidery machine, that I just got from my husband as a Christmas gift. I wonder what is next, maybe the coverlock machine? We will see.

 

What project are you most proud of?  why?

There are a lot of projects I am proud of, but recently, I made three dresses for my girls, two look the same, and one only for my oldest; I am very proud of my interpretation of the patterns (I will send you the pictures of those projects after my holidays)


And the hardest part for me.....choosing which pictures to post.  So so many beautiful things she's created!!

Here is her sewing space, complete with sewing maching, serger, and sewing/embroidery machine.  And here is the space where her girls "sew":

Here are the angel wings she worked on at Hip Stitch: 

 

Heike herself, in a sweater she created:

 A fish purse for her little girl.

Elf outfit.......

 ......being worn!

Ingenious holder for all the girls' hair accessories!

Comfy bean bag chairs.

One of my favorite things she's made....the La Rue bag.  I love love the little mushroom through the 'window'.

I'd never want to leave this room if I was a little girl......play curtains around the bed!

Sweet owl bag.

Backpack for baby doll.

These are just a sampling of Heike's work.  What I think I love most is the versatility.  Sewing isn't limiting by any means, and Heike proves that, which I find so inspirational.   For your home, for yourself, for your children, for organizing, accessorizing, and so much more, thank you Heike, for sharing with us!  Maybe someday you'll make your way back to New Mexico, or I'll make my way to Norway, or we'll meet somewhere in between - and in the meantime, I'm thankful for the internet!

(And Heike, I, too often sew with the tv in the background.....Law & Order comes on at 10:00 pm, and I'm riveted to the story while sewing!)

Just arrived!

It's just so beautiful I can't stand it!!

The UPS truck just delivered them....

from Moda: Kate Spain's Fandango

Home again, home again

So good to be back (so good to have been away, too!)  I walked into the store Monday morning and just felt, well, home.  I had such a wonderful group of gals who ran the store while I was away, and everything was sparkling clean, and arranged, and organized.  Not to mention all the new fabric that came in while I was gone....I just had to touch everything!
Here's what's arrived this week:

more of Patty Young's Flora & Fauna

and Alexander Henry's Home Sewing is Easy!  Finally, I was able to get ahold of a bolt of this, thanks to help from customer Kim!

Oh, and I must pass on the names of 2 great books I read on my trip.....I checked them out from the library, on the "New Releases" shelf:  Sheer Abandon, by Penny Vincenzi, and This Charming Man, by Marian Keyes.  Both had me riveted - reading in the car, reading late into the night in our hotel room, reading while sitting in Urgent Care in St. Louis waiting to be seen (thought I had an ear infection....was only some fluid in my ears - all is well).  Penny Vicenzi is from London, which is where the book takes place; Marian Keyes is from Ireland, and the setting is Dublin mainly.  I now find myself saying such things as: "Lovely!", "Spendid!", "Bugger", and "let's have a hen party!".  So much fun!

Everything must end.....including our vacation.  This morning we leave to head back to Albuquerque.  We plan to stay the night in Oklahoma City tonight, if all goes well.  A few more pictures from our family vacation in St. Louis:

Here we are on a Mississippi riverboad  tour.....(didn't mean to cut out my husband!)  After Monday and Tuesday being over 100 degrees, the rest of the week was in the 90s and much, much more bearable!

Enjoying a seat on the boat, watching the river.  Oh, the joy of being around water when you live in the Southwest!

The St. Louis Zoo.....one of the best I've been to! (Second to Albuquerque, of course)

And back in time, to the beginnings of our trip.....my brother's home in Omaha - he lives on a farm, and he & his wife are caretakers of the horses.  Their house is just a few yards from the barn.  I wanted to cry it was so beautiful and peaceful.....white picket fence, porch swing, wraparound porch, and all.

Now we hit the road.....I hope to find a quilt shop or two along the way....sadly, there were none to be found in St. Louis.  I searched online and talked to a quilter from Louisville who knows St. Louis.  Hmmmmmm.......maybe someone needs to open a sewing lounge here!

Hi from St. Louis!  Where the temperature, with the heat index, was 102 yesterday.  We very nearly melted just walking outside.  Still, that didn't stop us from:

Going up in the arch.....touring the courthouse where the famous Dred Scott case was argued.....

.....taking in a Cardinals game (view of the stadium from the arch).......

......visiting our niece, Sarah, and her husband Erik - this is their beautiful little house in St. Louis....complete with wood floors, vaulted ceilings, and many other vintage-like details that made me ache with envy!

That's Jane and I waiting on the front porch......

......here's a quilt store in Hannibal, MO - we stopped there Sunday afternoon on our drive....saw Mark Twain house and museum, but nothing was really open, so here's just the window:

Tom Sawyer & Becky Thatcher....I just thought this was so quaint.

But now onto Hip Stitch!  Here's what's in the store:

Come check these out!