sarah in nyc

  Although I had finished Alan's tallit in time to ship it to him before Rosh Ha Shanah I didn't have the time to make the bag that I had promised to go with it. Alan was willing to wait for the bag. We had decided that this text  אִֽם־אֶשְׁכָּחֵ֥ךְ יְֽרוּשָׁלָ֗͏ִם תִּשְׁכַּ֥ח יְמִינִֽי׃  If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither;  תִּדְבַּֽק־לְשׁוֹנִ֨י ׀ לְחִכִּי֮ אִם־לֹ֢א אֶ֫זְכְּרֵ֥כִי אִם־לֹ֣א אַ֭עֲלֶה אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלַ֑͏ִם עַ֝֗ל רֹ֣אשׁ שִׂמְחָתִֽי׃  let my tongue stick to my palate if I cease to think of you, if I do not keep Jerusalem in memory even at my happiest hour. would be featured in the interior of the bag.  Aside from that, Alan had given me carte blanche to do whatever I wanted.  I wanted the bag to go with the tallit-- that is spare and men's wear related. The bag had to be sturdy because tallit bags get hard use. The bag also had to reflect who Alan is. Alan is a T-shirt and jeans kind of a guy. He is a mathematician. He is ...

  This was a truly successful work vacation---that is shifting my attention to a different piece on my to do list.  I finished the tallit last night. When i posted last time I was most of the way through the embroidering of the letters on the atara. My next task was removing the flannel onto which I had calligraphed the text In the past I have used cotton batiste or an old cotton sheet as the, (as it is called in the sewing universe) waste fabric that is then carefully pulled away after the embroidery is completed. Instead, I used the Grateful Dead flannel because it was at hand. The softness of the flannel fivers as opposed to the crisper batiste made removal a bit more difficult. There is always a period of time when the piece looks like a complete disaster. As I worked I thought about the many myths and folk tales where doing a long and boring task is a major plot point. I kept my self on task by listening to podcasts and a thumb drive of old recordings of Jean Shepard from...

 My husband has a friend whose grandmother lived in Brooklyn. During the summers rather than going on an actual vacation she would sleep in a different bedroom for a couple of months. I have taken a similar work vacation. I am taking a break from the Schechter Mappah and going back to work on Alan's tallit.   I had calligraphed eight verses of Psalm 146, twice for two of the stripe panels earlier in the summer. It was time to tackle the other two renditions of Psalm 146. The white acrylic paint has a weirdly dry texture.  Eventually all four text stripe panels were completed. My goal in this tallit is to make it look like a standard issue tallit from a distance. I began stitching straight lines of black straight stitches starting from the outer edges of the tallit. Each row of stitching is a presser foot apart from the one next to it. I then added a black ribbon with a zig zag stitch. Here is the reverse of the  tallit. Unlike a garment, both the right side and ...