sarah in nyc

 I suppose that if I had a stand alone studio for my work that I would show up and work away at just my client work and go home when I was done for the day. Instead, like the work in the pre-industrial world the labors, the one I am paid for and the ones I do to take care of my household just kind of flow into one another.  This morning I knew that I had to set the color on a scarf I had been commissioned to make. Setting the color means lots of long hot steamy ironing with paper between the iron and the painted silk. The color setting works better with a nice padding beneath the work. I also have a healthy stack of ironing that needed to be done. So I began the work of  setting the color by ironing a red plaid cotton tablecloth that had been my mother's. After the tablecloth was reasonably smooth and folded into 1/8ths I started pressing this pretty piece that you see here from the reverse so you can admire the nice stitching. I'm not sure of the original use. perhaps it...

 Well, since you asked, our seders were lovely. The first night was just family and the second night we had both friends and family. Yes, I did get a whole lot of pleasure from seeing the people we love eat the food I had made for them. It was a relief to get all of the food packaged and out the door in time. Although I did forget to send along kugel to one of the households we were feeding. The lemon cakes baked in muffin tins was a hit. It always makes me feel good to hear a first bite be deemed so good that it elicits a string of curses from the eater. This cake has never failed me and is always especially good with a dollop of very tart lemon custard. Most Passover cakes are filled with nuts. Ground nuts make an excellent alternative to flour and it doesn't have the gunky heavy taste of matza meal. Unfortunately, my youngest is tree nut allergic. The meringues ( flavored with fresh lemon peel dark chocolate and chunks of dried apricot) I had made were nearly all gone after the ...

 Some number of years ago, (10? 15? 20?) our friends Debra and David came for a visit. At that point, I was making pillbox-shaped kippot. I had made one using a wide embroidered border from a vintage dress as the side of the pillbox. It was gorgeous but much too wide for most human heads. David has a larger than usual head. If he were a character in a romance novel he would be described as having a leonine head. He fell in love with that kippah and I let it take it home with him. David adored that kippah and has worn it constantly ever since. The kippah was so well-loved that the original embroidery wore away. He had the kippah "slipcovered" with another pretty piece of embroidery. This bit of embroidery is wearing out as well. David asked me to make him another kippah.  I searched through my stash and had selected a few lovely pieces of red and spice colored upholstery fabric that had a similar feel of faded grandeur. I had even cut them to size when I remembered how much Da...

In 2011, Hilary gave me the honor of making a tallit out of old family textiles. you can read about both   starting Hilary's tallit  as well as  completing Hilary's tallit . When I made this tallit I was concerned about how much life was left in the over 100-year-old silk that had been Hilary's great- grandfather's tallit. Last night Hilary brought me the tallit in hopes that I could extend the life of the tallit a bit.  This is what arrived to my house last night (along with Hilary and her delightful kids who are no longer little kids but are now delightful adolescents). The 120-year-old silk is shredding. I assume that none of us will be looking all that fresh and perky at 120 years old either.  This tallit was created to mark the end of what Hilary had called "the death years".  She had been for a hard period dealt with the decline and death of several loved ones who are represented in this tallit. If the black st...