Hats Off to Public Transit (NYC - Field Trip)

While Rosalinda is involved with her new graduate studies, I've taken in a fewwww New York City sights. Headed through downtown Manhattan, on the R train, and bound for the free Staten Island Ferry past the Statue of Liberty, I spotted some lovely art work at the 23'rd street station. 
 
If you follow my sewing blog, and/or listen to my sewing podcast, you know I love hats. So on the way back, I hopped off to check out these subway tile beauties.

Ench By Sew-026: Embellishment Via Vancouver B.C., Canada

Hey! 

The latest Enchanted by Sewing Podcast has been published!

Listening Option I) You can listen to the show right on the web by clicking on this link

http://traffic.libsyn.com/enchantedbysewing/CastFINALNov2014VancouverEmbellishmentD6.mp3

*****

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Listening Option II)  Click on this link to iTunes  to download this and other Enchanted by Sewing shows to your mobile device (iPhone, Android, etc.) free from iTunes 

( https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/enchanted-by-sewing/id566370325)

This month’s show  is  EMBELLISHMENT VIA VANCOUVER B.C.

The Enchanted by Sewing Podcast is, an extension of my regular sewing blog - Me Encanta Coser, which,  roughly translated means, Enchanted By Sewing 

My blog is written in English. The name celebrates the historical and modern use of the beautiful Spanish Language in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, where I live. 

Recently I was in western Canada, in Vancouver BC for a six days trip. My husband attended a conference for GSA. Not being a geologist, I went along for fun!

I’ve taken four trips to Vancouver in the last six years. It's a place we really love to go. We are all really drawn to the city and the vicinity. We identify with the city as fellow westerners. There is a strong bond of shared history and culture, between people in the western Americas, particularly down along the coast. There's also a lot of ross culture with my home in the San Francisco Bay area. 
That said, there is a spice of difference and Canadian feeling. We feel both comfortable, and excited with the sights sounds and smells(!). 

In the show I discuss . . . 
On my slow travel trip, I kept embellishment in mind when I

- Shopped
- Looked for inspiration for sewing projects
- Designed and Worked on a small sewing project

I also included a lot of travel notes in the 'cast. You'll hear about how my interest in very accessible forms of Native American art in Vancouver, the out of doors, and local city life affected my sewing ideas and my travel style.

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Web Resources

Sunset Inn and Suites – Burnaby St, West End, just off Davie
http://www.hotels.com/ho164255/sunset-inn-and-suites-vancouver-canada/?PSRC=AFF01&dateless=true&gclid=Cj0KEQiAkJyjBRClorTki_7Zx8QBEiQAcqwGMeXJ-gc2KOCEPb-gB9qWOWmCcrtOOkuID51u6QGew0UaAvNr8P8HAQ&hotelid=164255&rffrid=sem.hcom.US.google.003.08.02.s.kwrd%3DZzZz.s8fvadtdYZr1h.0.55304224213.1020qs718367.d.c

Button Button - A Unique, Artistic Button Experience
http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/11/embellishment-buttoning-up-vancouver-bc.html

Button Button is on the edge of Gas Town. It's where the Steam Clock is. Yup, it was being renovated when I was there!
http://creativefinds.ca/art-retreat/attachment/vancouver-gastown-steam-clock/

Dressew http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/10/californian-visits-vancouver-bc-sewing.html

Beadworks http://www.beadworks.ca
Bead store on Granville Island
In the Net Loft building

5 - 1666 Johnston Street, V6H 3S2
T: 604.682.2323 | F: 604.682.1303
" Located in the Net Loft Beadworks is the ultimate destination for all of your jewellery making needs. Choose from thousands of different beads; from pearls to shells to glass and everything in between, and materials for making earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and more. Ask the helpful staff for tips, and you can even create your one-of-a-kind accessories in-store. We also offer classes."

Inspiration
From Nature, City Walkings, Fantastic Museums and People I meet

Stanley Park is a huge fantastic city park. Wonderful views of the water, water activities, biking, walking. Woods too - take your pick.

- Native American Art Good locations there
- Behind Maritime Museum Mungo Martin Totem Pole
- Totem Poles, Spirit Park in Stanley Park
- Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at University of British Colombia (UBC), carvings, crests on totem poles, bentwood boxes, modern and ancient sculptures
o http://moa.ubc.ca
o Explore the MOA Collection Yourself - Images, Info, etc. http://moa.ubc.ca/collections/
o First Nations Collection at MOA http://moa.ubc.ca/collections/firstnations/
o

Vanier Park
Museum of Vancouver (MOV) http://www.museumofvancouver.ca

Exhibit - From Rationing to Ravishing Through early March 2015, 
http://www.museumofvancouver.ca/exhibitions/exhibit/rationing-ravishing


Maritime Museum - nearby the Museum of Vancouver
Exhibit - Babes and Bathers, History of the Swimsuit
http://vancouvermaritimemuseum.com/press/babes-bathers-exhibit-opens-maritime-museum

El Debut: My Pearly-Wannabe Jacket

Yes, I double-checked 'el debut' really is the Spanish version of the word we often think of as French for 'presentation'

I have been working on this jacket for probably six weeks now. I can't even begin to catalog what went into the creation and imagination of this new adjunct to my wardrobe, though I plan to highlight some of the sewing techniques and items I used in this blog. Several of them were new to me and I plan to use and try them again in less complex projects.

Nor can I say that this garment is absolutely finished. Note the piece of floral binding still hanging down from one of the faux pocket flaps in front. And I keep finding other places I want to add buttons. I don't even dare show you the back! We are not talking a mainstream piece of clothing here, yet it's definitely something I plan to wear in my everyday world.

This Pearly-Wannabe garment (you know about the Pearly's right?) has button on-off sleeves, so that it can live life as either a vest or a jacket. I'm hoping that will make it a useful travel garment.

I'll share more on this creation over time. The base pattern is one I've sewn many times in the past, but altered tremendously for this garment.

After working so long on the Pearly-Wannabe, I'm craving some plain, basic sewing time. I'm already working on a pink flowered shirt (that's where the binding that's going on the faux pocket flap and the lining for the button on/off sleeve wings came from) and have a pair of very simple black linen cropped pants cut out as well.

This jacket, no matter how much she wants to be one, doesn't really qualify as a Pearly. For one thing, all the Pearly clothes I've seen, are solid black, then trimmed with elaborate patterns of buttons. Also the Pearly roles are inherited. And they're British!

What can I say? This gal's a California Pearly!

~ ~ ~

For more on Pearly's

http://www.pearlysociety.co.uk/Main%20page.html

Redwood Symphony: No stranger to Paradise

Like it - when the music resonates right in my chest.

Like it - when I see the performers putting on the show, and I can pick out where the individual sounds come from.

Like it - when that bit the oboe does is coming up, and I spy him picking up his instrument.

Like to - watch the concert mistress rise casually up and exert her presence over her fellow players. She’s one of the people, but she’s also a power within the group unlike the director’s baton. She decides which way the bows move in the strings, and her ear picks up things nobody else’s hears.

I got to attend the Redwood Symphony’s Halloween concert this afternoon. We’ve been on stage together, when my chorus sings with them, and it gives me a neighborly feeling to see their familiar faces. It’s not just a feeling that I’m acquainted with them, but that my voice has a connection to their instruments.

This group is always everything local, friendly music ought to be. Today they started out being Interactive. The audience got to tour the symphony, visiting with each section: winds, brass, percussion and strings. We got specifics on how an oboe is different than a clarinet (about six thousand dollars more for an oboe is one of the specifics) and how the pedals work on the harp (you can get three tones for each string). Then it was listening to lively melodies like John Williams Harry Potter music and The Polovtsian Dances. For me this is the Prince Igor or Kismet music. "Take my hand! I'm a stranger in Paradise. All lost in a wonder land, a stranger in paradise."

We finished up with more interaction. Ten kids attending the concert got an impromptu chance to direct the orchestra. The rest of us spontaneously clapped along to Souza’s “Stars and Stripes Forever”.

I don’t get any of this from itunes.

Contours: Quilt Block , Contest Entry Silicon Valley fusionwearsv

My Contours' quilt block, represents the beauty and excitement the programmer feels when she realizes her power to duplicate, concatenate and transform.

Sparked by the fusionwearsv contest, I created this piece in Photoshop CS 4, using a combination of contour filters worked against the melding of filtered and conglomerated chips, I created for the Transformations quilt block.

Please CLICK ON THIS IMAGE to see the nice detail in the design

Voting in the Silicon Valley Quilt Design Contest is through June 11'th, 2010

Please follow this link to VOTE