The Baby at the Bachelor Party

{I'm taking this opportunity to do a little #latergram style blogging. This post is brought to you by August 2013...}

Apparently not everyone has gender-inclusive bachelor parties, complete with the attendance of a baby (neither mine nor the bachelor's, for the record). At least, that's what Jenny and I gleaned when we served as chief participants in Joel's bachelor weekend. We got a lot of odd looks when we told people what we were doing. Which mostly involved gallivanting in a park, eating really good food, imbibing delicious drinks, going to a spa, attending live theatre, eating amazing cookies, and hanging out.

Did I mention the cookies? They're amazing.

I took this opportunity to multi-task and give Elody her baby quilt. Improvisationally-pieced with (mostly) Modern Meadow prints plus a little magenta and yellow for pizazz, this quilt came together quickly over a couple days. Lots of vertical movement and negative space, just how I like my quilts.

And Elody seemed pretty content as well, even as we wrapped her and unwrapped her for our high-class on-the-couch photo shoot. The back has 2 prints, both with lots of blues and purples. It's all straight-line quilting, at random intervals. I can't really remember why I chose to quilt it like that, but I like it.

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Into the Blue

A few weeks ago, about five days before I left Michigan for a conference in New York, I made plans with my friends Josh and Adam who, as it turned out, just returned to the city with their new son. Josh and I have been friends since high school and it's the sort of friendship sustained over irregular yearly-ish visits rather than regular emails and phone calls. Hence it was only when I announced I was flitting through town that I learned about Leo's arrival. At which point a flurry of fast sewing and quilting ensued.

I decided to continue the minimalist monochromatic series with a perennial color favorite: aqua. (Also, I knew I had enough solids or near-solids to make this design work, which is not something I can say for most colors. Aqua: it speaks to me and makes me buy it.) Working on a fast deadline meant that simplicity reigned, and a giant starbust seemed fun and (relatively) simply. I drafted 4 20" blocks on butcher paper and paper-pieced the quadrants. Keeping giant pieces of fabric in line was a tad tricky, but I only had to unpick and resew 2 seams, which I considered a victory.

Keeping with the simplicity theme, the back consists of two large pieces of fabric from Erin McMorris collections: a large red chunk from Weekends and a smaller saffron bit from LaDeeDa. I had been waiting for an opportunity to use the large red flowers, as chopping this particular large-scale print seemed counterproductive. I made this quilt a couple weeks after Rossie's thoughtful post about gender and quilting, and I was particularly pleased to use a giant floral print on a quilt for a boy because, seriously, flowers are awesome for everyone (in fact, it was a former male roommate who taught me that sometimes you should just buy flowers for yourself, because they're lovely and pleasing to look at and increase joy).

The quilting is "echo-plus," which is to say quilting lines offset about 1/8" from each seam, plus a line through the approximate center of each wedge. Enough to hold the quilt together but scant enough to keep it soft and drapey. When I arrived with the quilt, I learned that my color selection was prescient as Leo's room has a Tiffany blue accent wall.

Black and white chevron-striped binding? Yes, please. I adore this binding. I'm convinced it's brilliant, so don't tell me otherwise. The stark contrast between the soft aquas and the robust black thrills me. Also I got to sew it with black thread and I so rarely use black thread that I think the spool has been with me for at least 5 years. It was crying out to be used.

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dGS: May

I've returned to the whirlwind life: going to sleep in 5 different places in 6 nights. It's almost glamorous, except for the shlepping of stuff, the digging through the bag for contact-lens solution, and the reacquaintance with x-long twin beds. So maybe a college dorm room isn't glamorous, but my 10-year college reunion (go Ephs!) was delightful and fun, if a tad exhausting. In the past week, I also snuck in a couple of academic conferences and now I have a couple of weeks in New York for research (and play). In each of my previous NYC summer stints, I lived in Brooklyn. This time, my friend and I are subletting an apartment in the East Village, which means--among other things--that I am surrounded by tons of vegetarian cafes and restaurants...pure delight, I must say.

While real life has a funny way of limiting sewing time, I managed to get these blocks together (at the last possible second) for do.Good Stitches. In May, Kelli asked for framed patchwork blocks. I was grateful for a simple block (see: last-minute sewing), and I think these will look great together in a quilt.

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Free Bike Fridays

I highly recommend free bike Fridays at Governor's Island. Formerly an army and coast guard base, Governor's Island has become a lovely space for ordinary people to mill around, picnic, bike, read, hang out, or do whatever (legal) things one wants on an island a brief free ferry ride away from another island.

It was an admittedly gray day the afternoon I ventured over (take the 1 to South Ferry or the N/R to Whitehall and the ferry dock is east of the Staten Island ferry). Nevertheless, plenty of people were meandering around the island, biking, reading in hammocks, or viewing the sites.

Like the Statue of Liberty, easily visible from Governor's Island.

Or Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge, also easy backdrops for one's photos.

I hate to complain about free bikes, but I wish the company operating the bike rentals required everyone to wear helmets, not just those under 14. The island's bike loop is pretty flat but there are enough other cyclists and pedestrians, not to mention the regular risk of rocks, uneven terrain, brake failure, not paying attention, etc, to warrant requiring all to wear helmets. But I'll step down from my bike safety soap box and just recommend getting over to Governor's Island the next time you can.

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From the Arts and Culture Desk

When it's not raining, there is a ton of stuff to do outside and for free in New York. And when it's raining, as it has been for most of the afternoon and apparently will continue to do for the next week, there's still a ton of (different, sometimes free, sometimes not stuff) to do in New York.

Tucked into a small space adjacent to its monumental MoMA neighbor, the American Folk Art Museum is well worth a stop. Current displays include an exhibit of Paula Nadelstern's Kaleidoscope Quilts. Free Fridays start at 5.30 pm and include a free concert. To be honest, the music was the least impressive part of my visit, but perhaps you'll encounter a more calming sound accompaniment. The quilts are truly incredible -- from the tiny piecing only visible up close to the mirage of kaleidoscopes from afar.

If you want to see an excellent piece of theater, head over to the Manhattan Theatre Club to watch the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner, Ruined. Set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ruined takes rape and recovery seriously. Though intense, the play is not without its humorous moments. The cast is incredible and wrestles with moral ambiguity throughout the performance, aided by several actors who play multiple conflicting roles. Student tickets are 1/3 the price of regular ones and well worth every penny.

And on a lighter note, there is of course food. I haven't eaten in House of Vegetarian (in chinatown) but I love the prevalence of vegetarian restaurants around me. Buddha Bodai brings together a cultural melange of patrons -- with monks, financial district kashrut adherents, vegetarian hipsters, and an occasional dash of Yiddish students sharing space and big tables. The food is delicious and while I've never had real shrimp, it was fun to order and eat fake shrimp (and be assured there was no fish in it as most fake shellfish contains other fish). The fake chicken is some of the best I've eaten and the meat-eaters at my table felt it was good too (having not eaten meat in 17 years, I'm not exactly qualified to render an opinion on its meatiness). The fake crab meat was disappointing, but that was the only less than stellar item. I would happily eat there frequently, especially because the prices are reasonable and the food filling.

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Ich voyn een new york

After 6 days of Yiddish classes, I can muster ich voyn een new york -- I live in New York. Truth be told, I can come up with a few variations -- so long as they are in the present tense and use a very limited vocabulary and do not need to indicate anything conditional. But it's progress. And it's been fun using the language-learning part of my brain, which has been dormant since furiously studying for (other) language exams almost 2 years ago.

And the living in New York element has proven quite fun. The side-by-side cosmopolitanism and parochialism provides endless fascination. Just the other day I passed the Cuban-Chinese Benevolent Association as well as a Japanese-Peruvian restaurant. I can walk down the street to about 6 Thai places, and try out their Panang Curries (my favorite Thai dish) through the $6, that's right, $6 lunch specials (includes an appetizer too! what's not to like). I've found the best Panang curry I've tasted since leaving Krung Siam in California at this hole-in-the-wall.

Then there's the New-York-centrism which is a special breed unto itself. Witness, for example, the following conversation:
A: "So you went to school here. Did you like it?"
B: "I loved it, and so many people stay in the city after college. It's great. I bet people stayed in Philly [A's college location] too."
A: "Hmm, not really. People who are from Philly stay there, but most others leave. They go back to New York."
B: "Oh, weird. I mean it's not like Philly is Madison or anything."

At which point I had to interject and note that there are far worse places to live than Madison and there are, in fact, people who gravitate toward it, even if it's not New York.

But there really was a rainbow visible over the Brooklyn/Manhattan bridges last week (Thursday) in between the rain. The reprieve from rain this weekend and today was lovely. Alas I think more droplets are in my future.

Finally, this dress is awesome.

My friends made me buy it, and I resisted. But it is truly a wonder. Comfortable and cute, with pockets no less. I recommend it. It'll probably go on sale soon, being from Target and all.

And craftiness will return...as soon as I take a picture of the buttercup bag. Or maybe I'll post one of the quilts I made before venturing to New York. To be continued...

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