PING @ Cea

Hi Cea,

everybody round here seems to know you so well; only me, who has been posting here for perhaps only four or five years has no idea who you are. Yes, it's a bit bold to ask but perhaps you feel like giving me a short insight who you are? In return, I'm willing to save you the trouble of reading all the past posts to deduct my background and give you my short bio. ;-)

I'm from Germany, a stay-at-home-mum, turning 45 this year, and returned to sewing after a decade-long abstinence (caused by some traumatic experience in the RTW clothes manufacturing industry in my youth) on the occasion of my marriage in 2006. Due to unexpected pregnancy, we had to postpone the wedding in Church until 2009 when Kate xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx was so kind and helped me make my dress. Since then, I'm back on the Virus and since 2010 I visit sewing classes at my local adult educational centre. I also tried my hand at quilting; so far the only thing I finished is a Hug-pillow for one of classmates whose daughter had a bad accident. Although quite simple, the result was appreciated. I bet you know how it is - ideas are plenty, but time is precious little. ;-)

On my list of finished sewing projects is a jacket for my DSIL, a tunic for me from an incredibly slippery fabric, a short chiffon kimono, two dresses for my DD who turned 5 this July, and a dress with a jeans bodice and a chiffon skirt. My current project is a dress with a taffeta under dress and a chiffon overdress. Got to wear that for a Bridezilla's wedding in August. All in all, I'm struggling along bravely, striving to achieve a similar degree of excellence as all the other members in here have.

Our private life is rather uneventful; my daughter suffers from ADHD but not badly, my mother died this January, and although I miss her badly, she parted from this world rather at peace with it. My marriage is working quite well, although Erik the Viking, as Kate likes to call my DH, isn't exactly what you'd call a modern man. I've got two brothers, one very nice, one not quite as nice, three DSIL, although I've never met one of my husband's sisters. The other sister has her moments but is OK, all in all. My DB's wife is a bit strange at times, but then I don't know her very well yet. Overall, I must say that I am really fond of this group and its members and consider most of them as friends; the group has been a source of support and strength to me in past five years or so, and I wouldn't want to miss all the lovely girls (and boys) in here.

So there, I've been bold and brash in my usual way but I'm mostly harmless like an over-eager Newfoundland dog. ;-) Hope you feel inclined to answer; if you want to, in private (feel free to use the e-mail address given). Might save the others a tiresome repetition of what they already know.

U.

Reply to
Ursula Schrader
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On Monday, July 30, 2012 2:28:31 AM UTC-4, Ursula Schrader wrote:

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Well--(still chewing on your group resume). You've gone about it in the= right way--sewing lessons and paracticing on your kids. I think you are br= ave for tackling chiffon and taffeta so early in your career. Such slippery= little devils, they are.(The fabric and the kids). I'm a bit (2 or 3 bits...)older than you,and my 3 children are now wond= erful adults. After surviving a horrific divorce(here I'll joke, and say th= e divorce lasted 37 years) and 10 years of illness, I now live alone and lo= ve it. I spend my days writing,which was my original love.(memoir, short st= ories, humor,flash fiction,children's stories, poetry, prose poems, essays = 'on writing'for HRW's newsletter,and have 2 novels in the pipe),working in = my big yard and gardens,(herbs, vegetables, fruit bushes & trees), and repa= iring my home.=20 I live in a quiet, peaceful neighborhood in Virginia Beach. The smell = of salt from the ocean hangs in the air, flavoring my laundry when I hang i= t on the clothesline. I've just gotten back to sewing. Alterations was my specialty, although I= 've sewn about everything.Bathing suits, jeans,etc. Some of the most expens= ive items to buy are the most rewarding to sew: evening wear,coats,drapes, = curtains and window shades, all of which are ridiculously easy, as most, wi= th the exception of evening gowns, involve minimal fitting. I taught myself= to make patterns, using a book on the subject. 'Start with a line on paper= ...' It's an amazing process, and I wish I'd had an instructor when I was y= ounger and my brain was more elastic. As it is, I have to go back to the bo= ok every time. I quilt on occasion, but I still cannot see the logic of taking perfect= ly good yardage, chopping it up into itty-bitty pieces,and re-assembling it= . My latest quilt project began with 4 big squares of plain newspaper. I ru= mmaged around and found a bag of blue-hued scraps, and began stitching,over=

-lapping the scraps onto the newsprint. If I could remember where I stashed= the thing, I might work on it. One of the other quilts began with bigger p= ieces of fabric, and I just kept adding around the border. The fabrics were= all punchy bright with black, and the finished quilt popped with color.So = I like the idea of starting with a piece of fabric, and using a random asse= mblage method.(Otherwise known as:'throw it in the blender and see what hap= pens'). =20 If someone would provide me with lesson plans, I'd probably teach sewin= g.(All usable links appreciated). It'll be a shame to lose all this knowled= ge when I go to that big Sweatshop in the Sky.=20 Last time I counted machines, I had 16 or 17. Ten are set up for use.One= of them, a little black Singer, belonged to my grandmother. Three of the m= achines are sergers, two are industrials. I buy most of them at thrift shop= s,($15. to $25.00, U.S. moolah); I clean them up, and they usually run smar= tly.Some I give away. For my own use, I've stuck with 1970 thru 1980 Singer= models, mainly because I have a huge investment in feet and bobbins, and m= any parts are inter-changable. My previous contributions to this group and RCTS used to consist of ofte= n-misunderstood humor, detailed alterations and shade-making advice,fabric = knowledge:(burn your yardage to ash,that's how you know it is natural, such= as silk or cotton), and the like. Current projects include making 3 sundre= sses, re-lining a mink stole for a neighbor, felting wool-knit yardage to m= ake myself a winter outfit, and other juggling feats. Life in 7 paragraphs.Dig it. A re-intro, and a re-birth of sorts. Cea=20

Reply to
cea

The I made my last quilt well before the fad for referring to patchwork as "quilting" began. (And tied it, if I recall correctly. Since it was too thin to be a comforter, that makes it a coverlet.)

It was the result of making four or five Hawaiian shirts and a sleeveless sheath from the same piece of fabric. (The dress was un-planned. I bought fabric for the shirts according to the pattern envelope, and laid them out according to common sense.)

I cut the scraps into 2" squares, 3.5" squares, and 2" x 3.5" rectangles and assembled them in a pattern based on a block composed of four four-patches with squares of the same color meeting in the middle (the 3.5" squares).

Blocks with one color in the middle alternated with blocks with the other color in the middle, and made a surprisingly-complex overall pattern. (Particularly when I worked the same pattern in green Knit-Cro-Sheen cross stitches on burlap to make a wallet. The crosses made it sort of fractal.)

It was just big enough for an adult to lie on -- my sister wore it out as a sofa throw.

Reply to
Joy Beeson

Too much math for me, Joy. I'm still trying to memorize the times tables. C

Reply to
cea

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Or, if you need a hard copy:
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;->

Reply to
BEI Design

Where was I?...my post vanished. Oh, yeah: LOL, funny girl. My real problem is Roman numerals, and the only reason I need them is for crossword puzzles. Cea

Reply to
cea

[...]> > > Too much math for me, Joy. I'm still trying to

Always happy to oblige:

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Reply to
BEI Design

Et Tu, Brute. I was going to print that; after scrolling down, I just sa= ved it in favs. Verily, thou art the Goddess of all things Info! Thanks.=20 You wouldn't be able to find the activation codes for A. Designs, would = you? I asked in another post this a.m. Not to be posted online, of course. = I ask for a friend, who has a business to run, and her embroidery machine h= as jammed-up. She needs to run a post-mortem on it. Cea

Reply to
cea

You're welcome. ;-><

Check your e-mail...

Reply to
BEI Design

All those cute little lettery numbers, and no zero. So, no math. Severe limitation.

Reply to
Pogonip

They did some major engineering, so they must have had some way of doing math. I was having a debate with my DS-I-L this afternoon about it. How would one do long division using Roman Numerals???

Reply to
BEI Design

I have no idea. I wonder if it's even possible.

It's interesting to me that the ancients in Mexico had a zero in their base 20 numerical system when the Romans didn't. I think it was the Arabs that came up with it in the "old world." They also used a system based on ten. I guess the new world recognized the counting possibilities of their toes.

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Reply to
Pogonip

The Romans had calculators. Zero was a place where a pebble (calculus in Latin) wasn't.

Reply to
Joy Beeson

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