Just over a year ago ,our dear friends, Alfie and Judy, were in town from Minneapolis. We invited them and their son David, and his sweetie Arielle for dinner. David is working for a left wing intellectual journal. He has been writing for them and has also been developing their web presence.
As we were cleaning up from dinner, David cornered me in the kitchen and asked me why I didn't have a blog. He explained how incredibly easy it is to start a blog and shamed me into starting this blog.
So here it is, just over a year, and more than 14,000 hits later. I love that some of the folks that read this blog are people I know well in real life, family, friends, sewing buddies. Other readers are people I know well, but only virtually, buddies from the Creative Machine list or from Pattern Review. Some of you are folks who I don't know at all, and I'm delighted to have you visit here.
I was wondering if I could ask folks who stop by here how they got to this blog. If you are shy, you can send your reply to my email ( so not everyone needs to see) sj.hand@verizon.net. . Otherwise, you can just press the comment button and let me know there... Thanks for letting me know.
And now, I'm changing the topic. My husband tells me that I will too often change topics with out warning. So, this is your warning. Deborah's daughter's bat-mitzvah was yesterday. I had made kippot for both deborah and her daughter. Deborah loved her Chanel style kippah. She looked regal. And yes, the kippah looked beautiful with her jacket. Her daughter looked adorable in her white kippah as well.
And now a slightly different, yet related topic. My husband's birthday was yesterday. He loved the dinner I had made for Friday night. He also loved his gifts, a slide show of pictures of the kids set to Volare (a family joke), and I also made him an atara/neckband that I sewed onto his tallit. He found that gift when he went to put on his tallit in synagogue. Yes, he liked it.
I had also asked Tony, who gives out the honors, to call my husband up to the Torah. He was called up and a nice fuss was made over my husband. So the dreaded birthday, was in fact a pleasant one for him.
Tomorrow the wings tallit is being picked up, tomorrow I need to finish it.
I have found that writing about my work has been a wonderful way to keep track of what it is that I do. Too often, it had felt like I was getting very little done. The commitment to write has served as a sort of a check list, reminding me of how much I have gotten done, but also helping me to keep on track with my work..
I have found comments and suggestions made by the folks who check in here to be really helpful and encouraging. I produce work in a pretty limited niche. It is so helpful having feedback from folks who are not part of the target market for my work. It is so nice to see that a challa cover or a tallit can work not only as a religious object but just as a good piece of craft.
So again, thanks for stopping by. I really appeciate your visiting.
As we were cleaning up from dinner, David cornered me in the kitchen and asked me why I didn't have a blog. He explained how incredibly easy it is to start a blog and shamed me into starting this blog.
So here it is, just over a year, and more than 14,000 hits later. I love that some of the folks that read this blog are people I know well in real life, family, friends, sewing buddies. Other readers are people I know well, but only virtually, buddies from the Creative Machine list or from Pattern Review. Some of you are folks who I don't know at all, and I'm delighted to have you visit here.
I was wondering if I could ask folks who stop by here how they got to this blog. If you are shy, you can send your reply to my email ( so not everyone needs to see) sj.hand@verizon.net. . Otherwise, you can just press the comment button and let me know there... Thanks for letting me know.
And now, I'm changing the topic. My husband tells me that I will too often change topics with out warning. So, this is your warning. Deborah's daughter's bat-mitzvah was yesterday. I had made kippot for both deborah and her daughter. Deborah loved her Chanel style kippah. She looked regal. And yes, the kippah looked beautiful with her jacket. Her daughter looked adorable in her white kippah as well.
And now a slightly different, yet related topic. My husband's birthday was yesterday. He loved the dinner I had made for Friday night. He also loved his gifts, a slide show of pictures of the kids set to Volare (a family joke), and I also made him an atara/neckband that I sewed onto his tallit. He found that gift when he went to put on his tallit in synagogue. Yes, he liked it.
I had also asked Tony, who gives out the honors, to call my husband up to the Torah. He was called up and a nice fuss was made over my husband. So the dreaded birthday, was in fact a pleasant one for him.
Tomorrow the wings tallit is being picked up, tomorrow I need to finish it.
I have found that writing about my work has been a wonderful way to keep track of what it is that I do. Too often, it had felt like I was getting very little done. The commitment to write has served as a sort of a check list, reminding me of how much I have gotten done, but also helping me to keep on track with my work..
I have found comments and suggestions made by the folks who check in here to be really helpful and encouraging. I produce work in a pretty limited niche. It is so helpful having feedback from folks who are not part of the target market for my work. It is so nice to see that a challa cover or a tallit can work not only as a religious object but just as a good piece of craft.
So again, thanks for stopping by. I really appeciate your visiting.
I don't remember how I first found your blog, but I now have it bookmarked so I can pop right to it.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog. As an Irish Catholic I can't relate much to the type of religious garments and accessories you sew, but I do love your blog. I've learned a lot.
Kathy
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI follow your interesting comments on CM@yahoo, so when you said you had a blog, I came and had a look!
By the way, I love how you photographed the eagle wing tallit on the dressmakers dummy. I could never get a real idea of what the whole thing looked like in real life when you photograph them flat. Since it is actually worn in a similar way to a garment, it helps with the visual in my head.
and then suddenly I thought, whoa! It must be pretty stunning to be in the synagogue when everyone is covered with all the beautiful colours, text and images...(especially, I think, the ones with work you have prepared to help people worship). I think it must really help with the 2way connection between here and up there.
Sandy in the UK
I found your blog through Pattern Review and the article you wrote on fabric shopping in New York. Maybe I'll get there sometime. I follow your blog -- more because I do appreciate the religious fabric art you do. This comes out of being a committed, left-of-centre Christian with theological training. I also appreciate how you work with the young people so the fabric art truly becomes a story of who they are.
ReplyDeleteI found out about your blog through my mom, who's on Creative Machine. Having gone through the tallit design process with her, I love seeing how each of the tallitot you make weaves in the kids' personalities and taste in addition to their bar/bat mitzvah portion.
ReplyDeleteSandy -
ReplyDeleteMost folks wear the traditional black/white striped tallit, which is pretty beautiful in it's own right.
But on the High Holidays lots of my work comes out. The room is filled and as I look around I see tallitot and atarot and tallit bags I have made over the years.
More often than I care to admit, I will spot a nice looking tallit across the room. Eventually it will hit me that I had made that tallit sevaral years ago. It's a bit like seeing a student one had taught a long time ago. This fall we were at a Bat mitzvah out of town, and I noticed a tallit a few rows a head of me...it looked like my work, but I didn't recognize the woman wearing it.Because I work so closely with my clients, it would be odd if I didn't recognize them, perhaps I would forget their names, but certainly not their faces. This tallit tough had been purchased for this woman. It was nice to see that tallit again.
Shelley's Garden-
I'm delighted that you like my work. I'm working in such a teeny niche...Jewish but funky yet knowledgeable..it's gratifying that it has appeal beyond folks that are exactly in this niche...My husband sometimes laughs at me, because I come up with ideas for terrific products,but they are tremendously appealing to only 50 people on the planet,and I know them. Probably why it is a good idea that I do custom work..
Ami--I loved working with your mom on the halachic aspects of your tallit. She is a terrific human being..and I need to check out your blog more often...
for letting me know how you got here.
I see your posts on the CM list and being nosey I come over to look at the pretty pictures. =) Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI found your blog via patternreview.com but I have to admit my favorite posts are the ones about your Friday Shabbat dinners -the homemade Challa - yum. Thank you.
ReplyDelete