sarah in nyc

 When I had last posted about E's tallit it was edged with  this beautiful striped silk shantung. I had done a technically impeccable job, even the join looked really pretty.  It was beautiful, but alas entirely wrong. The red pulled focus from the rest of the tallit. The binding was too thick and stiff. I ended up unpicking the whole pretty binding---that is pretty but not right for this project, and instead bound the edges of the tallit with  the vintage ribbon you see in the photo above. You can see the ribbon in place but not yet pressed. I sewed on the corner pieces and the atara. I needed to make the eyelets for the corner pieces.  I used my trusty cuticle scissors to make a pilot hole for the eyelet. I then stitched about ten or so stitches from the outside of the hole into the center going counter clockwise. Then I stitched buttonhole stitches going clockwise over the initial set of straight stitches.. I used four different thread colors to stitch the ey...

Like every other Jewish person on the planet I know that because Purim has just passed that Passover is looming over the horizon. I have done one of my annual getting ready to start Passover work tasks. I took down our previous vintage tablecloth kitchen curtain assemblage and put together a new one. Out new curtain is made up of a cloth I had received from the collection of my friend Alix's late mother. It's Central European styled embroidery done on a jacquard woven linen cloth. It is counted embroidery that was likely done on a roughly woven fabric that was basted to the jacquard woven cloth. You can't do counted stitchery on jacquard woven material. It is a little hard for me to date this cloth. The design is very old fashioned. I am not sure about the dating of the base fabric. When i first received this piece I had thought that it might have been unfinished. There is no embroidery at all in the top 1/4 of the piece. I now wonder if it was actually designed to be a kit...

 I have been working away on E's tallit.  Unfortunately , the other day my machine was struck with the dreaded terrycloth under the presser foot. There is probably a technical name for this sewing machine ailment. I don't know what it is, but each time it occurs it needs a whole bunch of cursing and a whole bunch of work  to get your machine working properly again.  The large screw below, near the bobbin needs to be undone so you can take apart the bobbin case and clean the whole area out.  Most sewing machines come with some stubby handled screwdrivers. Those stubby handled screwdrivers are usually just a bit too tall do undo the screw with ease. A dime is usually the prefect tool for the job. I opened the area up and cleaned out every thread using tweezers and a couple of paint brushes. Usually the dreaded lint is caused by an bit of thread that has migrated to a place where it doesn't belong. After I cleaned out the machine it was ready to get back to work. I...

   In my last post I posted some photos of a tallit in progress but I was just too tired to write the text that explains what is going on with the tallit. I will now repost the photos and explain what that tallit is about.  יִשְׂמַח לֵב מְבַקְשֵׁי יְהֹוָה Let the heart rejoice of those who seek God The text appears both in Psalm 105 and chapter 17 of the book of Chronicles. The verse will appear on the neckband of the tallit. The pinot or corner pieces will have the verbs in the first part of the verse.  שִֽׁירוּ לוֹ זַמְּ֒רוּ־לוֹ שִֽׂיחוּ בְּכָל־נִפְלְ֒אוֹתָיו: הִתְהַלְּ֒לוּ בְּשֵׁם קָדְשׁוֹ  Sing to Him, compose songs to Him, speak of all His wonders. Take pride in [uttering] His holy Name, We chose to have the sky represent the Divine. The tallit is made out of periwinkle blue linen that I have washed and dried several times so it won't wrinkle like crazy when in use.  I have built up the color on the stripes using oil paint sticks---those are essentiall...

 Tonight we have been invited to a beloved cousin's for Shabbat dinner. Yes, I am bringing two challot. last night I asked if I could bring anything else. This morning my cousin texted that her beloved loved the almond cookies I had made for the High Holidays. My first thought was ,"What almond cookies?". Then I remembered that I had added almond flour to whipped egg whites and topped each cookie with a whole almond. My youngest, ( tree nut allergic) will be at dinner too. I am not interested in killing him so I also needed t create a nut-free option for him. So this is what I did. I separated four eggs and put the whites into my big yellow Pyrex bowl. I added a pinch of salt to give the egg whites a bit more structure. Since there are four egg whites I have a cup of sugar at the ready. You need 1/4 cup of sugar per egg white. It is easier to separate cold eggs just out of the fridge but egg whites beat up more impressively if they are at room temperature. So separate you...