Jelisava

Blogging is but conversation carried on with digital assistance

Light through the window brightens the afternoon like the correspondence of a friend or confidante (whether it arrives with a beep on my computer or in an envelope on the front porch)

“Letter writing is, in fact, but conversation, carried on with the pen, when distance or circumstances prevent the easier method of exchanging ideas, by spoken words. Write, therefore, as you would speak, were the person to whom your letter is addressed seated beside you. As amongst relatives and intimate friends you would converse with a familiar manner, and in easy language, so in your letters to such persons, let your style be simple, entirely devoid of effort.”

~ an excerpt from The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness: A complete handbook for the use of the Lady in polite society, 1872, by Florence Hartley (also the author of Ladies' Handbook of Fancy and Ornamental Work)

Learn how to learn

"Guitar Mountain House" (a conceptual art piece using recycled textiles) in progress / Rae puts into words what I've always tried to practice: never stop learning / July 2010

“Somewhere along the line I learned how to learn.”

~ Type Designer Rae Kaiser

Taken a fancy to them

Waiting for a cold day: Hand-sewn reversable winter hat; felted wool with button detail lined with printed flannel / 2010

“Now that people have found out that soft felt hats are much more comfortable than stiff ones, they are much worn by men and boys; of late women and girls have taken a fancy to them, and no doubt both boys and girls would like to know what felt is, and how hats are made of it.” (American Agriculturist, vol. 35, 1876)

“Hats at the present day are fashioned of an endless variety of materials, and, especially in the case of those worn by ladies, they are so diversified in form that they defy all definition.” (Chamber's Encyclopaedia, 1890)

“Hats are set well over the forehead, not tilted back as was the fashion one or two seasons back.” (Godey's Magazine, 1896)

A fine mingling

'Artifact; Product of craft and art [1970s Nag's Head Swimming Gear]' / (Pap's art show entry) Sept. 2010

“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.”

~ Henry Ellis

Industrious in the use of the needle

I've been wanting to embroider all summer and finally picked up the needle and thread (Bright yellow sweatshirt with ugly floral design, made new by covering it with a blue and yellow square set on the diagonal; embroidery added for texture) / August 2010

“The art of working with the needle any fanciful design, upon webs woven of linen, cotton or silk is of the highest antiquity.

... It is clear from Homer that the Grecian ladies were skilled and industrious in the use of the needle.”

~ A Short Historical Sketch on Tapestry and Embroidery by J. Getz, 1895

Home economy

Knit dress in progress / August 2010

“Long before researchers found that experiences, not purchases, are what make us truly happy, home economists had it figured out. They taught their students that people who 'live richly' budget more for 'books and travel, leisure and hobbies, home improvements, entertaining, and giving' than for material possessions. So wrote Grace Margaret Morton of the University of Nebraska in 1943; she specialized in dress design but knew that mere stuff had limitations.

It amazes me how often we rediscover the truths set forth by earlier women scholars. And don't get me started on how useful their lessons on thrift and the dangers of credit would be today.”

~ a letter to the NYTimes by Linda Przybyszewski, Ph.D.

Buttons like hammered silver

Plain, black fleece poncho transformed into a colorful work of art by removing stitches from the neck revealing a graceful collar, sewing patterned blue ribbon onto the side seams and collar, adding buttons like hammered silver (the buttons are actually from the old Grants store; 4 for 29 cents) / April 2010

This was the day of the poncho black as night and the girl that deciphered its magic inscription ribbon: Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly (St. Francis DeSales).

Mitza's Marimekko

White ink on red fabric: Mitza's screen print design on the left; Marimekko print on the right / New Jersey

This was the gray, rainy day that cried out for color.

Girl conquers machine

No longer upside-down and backwards / New Jersey / March 2010

This is the happy day of the girl, who had been hand-sewing for two years, finally gathering her wits about her to attempt to diagnose the problem with her sewing machine and discovering (after studying and studying the drawings in the manual), that she hadn't broken the machine, but rather, in a sewing frenzy she had put the shuttle race cover in upside-down and backwards — thus jamming the bobbin and preventing the needle from moving.

As the women sat knitting, knitting

I can't stop knitting this soft Malabrigo merino yarn from Uruguay in Liquid Amber / New Jersey / Feb. 2010

“Darkness closed around, and then came the ringing of the church bells and the distant beating of the military drums in the Palace Courtyard, as the women sat knitting, knitting. Darkness incompassed them. Another darkness was closing in as surely, when the church bells, then ringing pleasantly in many an airy steeple over France, should be melted into thundering cannon; when the military drums should be beating to drown a wretched voice, that night all-potent as the voice of Power and Plenty, Freedom and Life. So much was closing in about the women who sat knitting, knitting, that they their very selves were closing in around a structure yet unbuilt, where they were to sit knitting, knitting, counting dropping heads.”

~ Charles Dickens, 1890, A Tale of Two Cities