sarah in nyc

 Well, we finally had a real snow. Once again I am grateful that the task of shoveling didn't  fall to me. According to city laws shopkeepers are legally responsible to clear the sidewalks in front of their stores.   This hard working employee of the health food store across the street had to come out every hour or so to re-shovel the sidewalk. It was also bitterly cold. The snow piled up on my window frame. The next day this gentleman tried to free his car from the snowbank using only his bare hands and his cane, He was successful but hasn't yet moved his car. I haven't just been hanging out by my living room window. I even got a bit of work done. I first met Darone right after I moved to New York. I was just barely an adult and he was one of the kids in the afterschool aftercare room that I ran. Now I am fully an adult and so is he. A couple of years ago I talked Darone through the process of designing needlepoint tallit bags for his twin sons who ere about to have thei...

 I was introduced to the concept of a "Tuit list" by my sewing friends. A tuit list is the stuff that you think "I will get to it when I have the time". I am between big projects and so I have gotten to some of those things. After my mother died I, inherited two similar buy not identical ceramic lamps from her. The lamps used to live on our porch. One of these lamps now lives in our living room. I hated the shade. It looked dingy and it looked completely disconnected from the ceramic lamp. I have thought about what I need to do to improve the shade for the past ten years.  I have thought about various solutions to the sad lampshade and have watched more than my fair share of lampshade DIY videos on YouTube. Last night my husband and a friend got together for a beer. I got to work on the lampshade. First I painted the interior gold with acrylic paint. Then I painted the outside of the lamp with black acrylic paint so the lamp was at least having a conversation with t...

 Our older son is currently living in Amarillo, Texas. Amarillo has weather of extremes. While we were visiting, one morning it was below freezing in the morning when my son and I walked to his building's gym and later that day the thermometer topped 80.  These days I will often check the weather in Amarillo. Earlier this week both the temperature and the wind chill in New York and in Amarillo were exactly the same. You don't have to be amused by that fact, but I am. Right now the big concept in the universe of sewing is repurposing. Every day there are videos that cross my feed of people who make dresses out of 1970s sheets, or turn blankets into streetwear or vintage embroidered tablecloths into blouses. Years ago I purchased a length of Ikea fabric that has been a work horse table cloth. You probably have seen this cloth dozens of times as the background for a food post or behind a sewing project. The cloth has been washed and ironed countless times and had gotten both thin...

 Anyone who knows me knows that I am a  material girl. No, not like Madonna, but I am a girl of material culture. The other day I used this napkin at breakfast. This napkin was sewn by my friend Esther. using this napkin isn't quite as much fun as spending an afternoon with Esther but using this napkin reminds me of many meals eaten together, long conversations and rummaging through thrift stores together. This object holds decades of memories for me. This cracked teapot  matches my parents' dairy set from my childhood. I loved that set of dishes which is no more. I had found this particular teapot at my local thrift and used it until it was too cracked to use. My husband purchased a replacement and I have used it for several years. Last week my bottle of rosewater jumped from the pantry shelf and murdered the teapot. I was pretty sad. eBay found the answer to my despair. Not it isn't another of the teapot pictured above. I went back to another childhood memory. This is a...