sarah in nyc

 Miles' tallit is made up of ribbons that I have combined in various ways and embroidered. Since the tallit will be visible, on what we typically think of in sewing, as both the wrong side and the right side it needs to look good  however you look at it. What this means is that every time I stitch down a ribbon (or an assemblage of ribbons) I need to think about what the underside of my stitching will look like. One of my dining room chairs is standing in for my dressmaking form. I have arranged the tallit so you see all of the stripes from both sides of the tallit. This is the tallit the way it might be worn. There is more work that needs to get done.  But I am really happy with the direction in which this is gong. This has begun to reach the point where it has begun looking like a tallit.

I am slowly moving out of the land of sick. it has been a long slog. my husband has been wandering on and out of feeling poorly . We had planned on doing a delayed chanukah celebration with our kids Saturday night but our daughter has the flu...so this may take a while. It snowed earlier in the week.  I had to go to 125th Street THREE times this week to apply for my state non-driver's identification.  I am not going to bore you with the reason that this simple task too three trips. There are some wonderful old commercial buildings along the street, including this one. I would have taken more photos but it was just too cold to stop to take pictures. So this lovely 1898 building will have to suffice.  In 1900, this Budweiser beer garden was diagonally across the street from where I live. This is what is there today.  This was a challah baking week. I topped the challot with poppy seeds while you weren't looking. Tonight's chicken has been flavored with limoo, dried lim...

 Just a couple of thoughts about Maoz Tzur before darkness falls and  Chanukah is officially over. Most Jewish liturgical poetry that does a sweep of history like  Dayenu   the hopes for the rebuilding of the temple are usually found in the last stanza.  Maoz Tzur begins with the hopes of  a future  redemption rather than ending with it.   You can take that thought wherever you want to go with it.   Many of my readers may be familiar with the English lyrics of the poem rather than the original Hebrew.  Rock of Ages, let our song, praise Thy saving power; Thou, amidst the raging foes, wast our sheltering tower. Furious they assailed us, but Thine arm availed us, And Thy Word broke their sword, when our own strength failed us. Kindling new the holy lamps, priests, approved in suffering, Purified the nation's shrine, brought to God their offering. And His courts surrounding, hear, in joy abounding, Happy throngs, singing songs with a migh...

 Yesterday, we had planned to be in brooklyn for a big family candle lighting and celebration. Unfortunately, the fact that my husband and I were both under the weather meant that we couldn't go. However with the magic of the internet we did candle lighting together via Zoom. Despite being family, some of the customs of candle lighting differ slightly. The actual candle lighting is traditionally followed by this text which is a little historical and legal round up about the act of lighting Chanukah candles. הַנֵּרוֹת הַלָּלוּ שֶׁאָנוּ מַדְלִיקִין, עַל הַנִּסִּים וְעַל הַנִּפְלָאוֹת וְעַל הַתְּשׁוּעוֹת וְעַל הַמִּלְחָמוֹת, שֶׁעָשִׂיתָ לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה, עַל יְדֵי כֹּהֲנֶיךָ הַקְּדוֹשִׁים. וְכָל שְׁמוֹנַת יְמֵי הַחֲנֻכָּה הַנֵּרוֹת הַלָּלוּ קֹדֶשׁ הֵם וְאֵין לָנוּ רְשׁוּת לְהִשְׁתַּמֵּשׁ בָּהֶם, אֶלָּא לִרְאוֹתָם בִּלְבָד, כְּדֵי לְהוֹדוֹת וּלְהַלֵּל לְשִׁמְךָ הַגָּדוֹל עַל נִסֶּיךָ וְעַל נִפְלְאוֹתֶיךָ וְעַל יְשׁוּעָתֶךָ. We kindle these lights on accou...

 I haven't posted for a while because I  have been sick. The world hasn't stopped because of of a bad cold though. We reached the halfway point of Chanukah last night. There isn't a photo of night three because I had to light Shabbat candles as well. I loved this video about a tallit and tzizit factory in Israel. I'm sorry that there isn't an English translation. But this factory does the entire process of tallit making from making the wool threads, through twining and weaving the tallitot themselves. If you want to see tallitot made by hand you can watch this  video of a tallit weaver in Tzfat. The weaver sees the act of weaving the tallitot as a spiritual practice. For me, both videos are food for thought as I work away on the tallitot that are currently on my plate. And for your Chanukah listening pleasure, the Muppets singing a Chanukah song. Chag Sameach!

 Well, I am laid up with a cold once again. You know how cold meds all tell you not to operate heavy machinery while you are taking them? A sewing machine isn't exactly HEAVY machinery...I can hold all of my machines one handed. However, it isn't a good idea to operate a sewing machine if your brains aren't fully plugged in. I currently have two tallitot on my plate, Miles' tallit which will need lots of machine embroidery and Nini's. Nini's tallit is Nova Scotia themed. I had been working on adding some fog to the tallit using oil paint sticks. I was thinking that the fog needed something more.  While tidying up (I do actually do that on occasion) I found a couple of spools of white silk thread. I also had pulled out a giant cone of a persnickety rayon/silver metallic yarn to use on Miles' tallit. My cold has shut down many of my brain cells, but I can do a chain stitch by hand even with reduced brain power. A little bit of stitching doesn't look like m...