Little moments

Sushi and sunsets. Not a bad day at all.

High five! For free stuff!

Farbenmix is five years old today!

Happy Birthday, my friends!

YOU are part of Farbenmix, too. No Farbenmix without you, so the birthday presents are for you! Check out the free ebooks available for download here.

Hedgewig, a little pincusion wristlet is my little contribution to the party. Instructions are available in English, German and Dutch (dank je wel, Lilian!). it took some thinking and thinking to come up with a way to make this pin cushion without any hand stitching (yuck: hand stitching). Find out how Hedgie hides and hides again before coming out of his hole.

From the cutting room floor

Well, my part of the book is done. It's all in the hands of the art department and copy editors and technical editors and other umpa lumpas that make book magic. I don't think it is a good idea to tell you exactly what is in the book. But I can tell you a few things that are not in the book. Quite a bit ended up on the editing room floor. But, if there's one thing you and I know how to do, it's how to make something of scraps. One of those scraps is a little bag pattern a bag I call El Porto. You'll see it here and there photographed in the book, so act surprised when it shows up there. Until then, you can make one, if you like.

Mein Teil des Buches ist soweit fertig. I sollte euch nicht genau alles sagen, was im Buch drin ist. Aber ich kann euch mitteilen, was nicht Bestandteil des Buches ist. Vieles ist aus Platzgründen gestrichen worden. Aber aus Resten kann doch etwas nettes zusammengesteppt werden. Eins dieser Reste ist eine Mehrzwecktasche namens El Porto. El Porto kommt ab und zu in den Bildern im Buch vor. Von daher bitte beim Buchlesen deine Überraschung vortäuschen ;-) Bis dahin, wenn du möchtest, kannst du selber eine nähen. “El Porto” means “the port” in Portuguese, but where I live, it refers to a section of beach north of Manhattan Beach, near the oil refinery. Because of the topography of the ocean floor at the surf, here is a great place to learn to surf. You can also watch the airplanes taking off from Los Angeles International Airport. I like to think that “port” to which El Porto is referring to is the door to the rest of the world, either out there over the sea, or up there to where those airplanes are traveling. The El Porto bag will help carry your stuff during your adventures near and far.

"El Porto" heißt "der Hafen" im Portugiesischen, aber hier, wo ich wohne, ist El Porto ein Stück Strand im nordlichen Manhattan Beach, nähe der Ölraffinerie. Der topographischen Lage wegen eignet sich diese Ecke besonders gut zum Wellenreiten. Von hier aus kann frau auch die Flugzeuge von Los Angeles International Airport starten sehen. Für mich ist "der Hafen" El Portos die Tür zum Rest der Welt, über die Wellen und am anderen Ende des Ozeans. Die El Porto Tasche ist dafür geeignet dich in deinen Abenteuer nah und fern zu begleiten.

The bag El Porto is an excellent learning project. I imagined teaching in one project almost everything a person might encounter while making a Farbenmix or Fledge pattern. I imagined, if I were a home ec teacher, using this project over three or four days to introduce a lot of ideas and techniques. While completing this bag, you will learn or brush up on the following techniques:

• Making a fully faced cut-out pocket
• Hong Kong seams
• Encasing a zipper between the shell and the lining.
• Insetting a zipper
• Construction

As well as a few other things, that you will be able to use to embellish and expand other projects. This bag was intended--in a single project--to take the square-pillow-and-potholder-sewist to the level of making, for example, a fully lined jacket.

El Porto ist ein gutes Lernprojekt. U. a. wird frau folgende Methoden lernen bzw. auffrischen:

• Gucklochtasche
• Nähte in Schrägband einfassen
• Das Setzen des Reißverschlußes zwischen Außentasche und Innenfutter.
• Einen Reißverschluß mittig einbauen.
• Konstrukt

Darüber hinaus bietet El Porto auch ein paar Sachen, die du für andere Projekte verwenden könntest, wie z. B. die runde Zwickeltasche.

I must admit that I did not design this bag alone. My two children were right there with me telling me what they wanted. Their checklist included:

• "A soccer ball needs to fit inside."
• "There should be a place for soccer cleats and shin guards. "
• "I want my volleyball and beach towel to fit. "
• "There needs to be a place for my water bottle. "
• "I want a pocket for my iPod. "
• "I want a pocket for my cell phone. "
• "There should be a place for my sunscreen."

To that list, I added these:

• A security pocket on the inside.
• The bag design should be good for both kids and adults.
• The design should allow for simplification, as well as offer opportunities to go all out.
• The design should allow for opportunities of lots of colorful combinations, but have a fashion silhouette strong enough to uphold monochrome designing.

El Porto in Italian wool tweed and Amy Butler fabrics. Sakura embroidery design by Smila.

Embroidery design Smila's World.

Ich gebe es zu: Alleine habe ich die Tasche nicht entworfen. Da spielten meine beiden Kindern mit.

• "Der Fußball muß 'reinpassen."
• "Ich will Taschen für meine Fußballschuhe und Beinschöner. "
• "Der Volleyball muß passen. "
• "Meine Trinkflasche nicht vergessen."
• "Mein iPod soll auch eine Tasche haben. "
• "Und ein Platz für mein Handy. "

Hinzu fügte ich:

• Eine Sicherheitstasche.
• Das Design soll sich sowohl für Kinder als auch Erwachsene eignen.
• Das Design soll sich zum vereinfachen eignen, aber auch Gelegenheit zum total austoben anbieten.
• Das Design soll genug Gelegenheit anbieten, viele bunte, verrückte Variablen ermöglichen, aber die
• Silhouette soll von sich aus modisch sein, um auch monochrome varianten zu unterstützen.

This bag is a new take on the classic duffle. We added interesting, attention-grabbing pockets on either end of the duffle, as well as roomy pockets along the sides. To that, we made a comfortable sling strap, which is both fashionable and functional, as it includes an integrated media pocket for your phone or MP3 player. The sling is at a length for a child to wear either over a shoulder or diagonally as a sling bag. For the ladies, El Porto hangs at about elbow length--a length I like, because I can have all my valuables tucked securely under my arm. There are quite a few bits to El Porto and it may seem a bit daunting to complete. There are four basic parts, really, each of which is a fun bit to put together before assembling the whole thing. So spread the project over a couple of days--or get in the sew flow and make one in a day.

El Porto in Paulapü and Joel Dewberry fabrics.

Embroidery designs Paulapü.

Have fun.

El Porto in vintage 70s fabrics and this pillow cover (no textile is safe from my rotary cutter).

Viel Spaß!

Available from Farbenmix mid-November. Mitte November bei Farbenmix.eu erhältlich.

Trick or treat, crash and burn...

I like things that fly. I like finding myself in a conversation about the shortcomings of flying wings. I've never seen an X-29 actually fly and until I do, I'll maintain my position that it doesn't. I think war is stupid, but I think the fact that the F-22 cruises at 1.5 mach is pretty awesome. On Friday, Jack and I had an opportunity to tour Edwards Air Force Base and the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. This is the location of many aviation milestones. And it is the location of many aviation disasters. The air force base's namesake, Glen Edwards, was himself the victim of a YB-49 crash.

In terms of Halloween costumes, I sort of crashed and burned this year, too.

We were going with Greek monsters this year. And Anna as Medusa. She likes snakes. She likes monsters. But she hates the wig. (After a bit of Googling, I learned that Medusa was also considered a goddess of true knowledge and the reason that a person would die upon gazing upon her face, was that she revealed a person's true nature).

I had a little more success with Jack. He's a cyclops.

And let's throw in a bit of cyclops trivia: Depending on the narrative, the cyclops are the children of different gods, including Uranus (sky) and Gaia (Earth), who were banished to the underworld, but called back to Earth whenever the Titans needed a good butt-kicking. A cyclops also gave Zeus his favorite accoutrements, his thunder and lighting. So there.

In the dull details...

The wolf, in the wake of a public relations disaster, has removed his grubby paws, tail between his legs, and agreed to drop all pending actions against the DaWanda crafters. That is a good start. No doubt, a good start.

On the other hand (paw), this bad dog has not agreed to stop marking the territory of all paw prints on textiles as his exclusive turf. Hey, pup, keep that leg down. Good boy.

The wolf should have his protected area. But he should be allowed to be the alpha dog in only a very limited preserve: Namely, a single canis lupus print, realistically drafted, oriented to the right and slightly upward, gold on black. Pinky-swear: The DaWanda sellers won't include any decoration like that. They will keep far away from your trademark territory.

But, really Jack, you've already paid that law firm quite a bit: Go and ask them to look up fair use and public domain really quick. A monopoly on all paw prints is biting off a bit too much. You'll just anger the pack again and you'll be the lone wolf. This market will likely leave you and head toward the north face.

The Devil is in the Details.

The devils in the dull details
The devils in the coffin
Of the details
There will be no finer day
To take my breath
Survival is all parody
Contorted and extorted
For amusement
Colossal youth on megaphones
Please call us home
We need to come home quickly
Singalong
Did this job make us crazy?
Or we're we so screwed up
We took this job?
Play dominoes with knucklebones
We feed the beast
Till he's too fat to walk

There are no devils left in hell
There simply are no devils
Left, in hell
Deliver us from deliverance
Deliver us, from all these awkward pauses
You are as brave as you believe
You are as brave as what you won't repeat
You are as lost as you need to be
You are as lost as what you won't admit
The future is a slow retreat
The future is a muscle you don't have
Gonna shake tonight

Tail between his legs...You tamed the wolf!

Gratuliere! Zusammen können wir viel bewegen.

Jack Wolfskin nimmt die Abmahnungen zurück!!

«Die zum Teil heftige Kritik unserer Kunden in den aktuellen Fällen der DaWanda-Anbieter nehmen wir ernst und zum Anlass, unser Vorgehen kritisch zu hinterfragen», erklärte Geschäftsführer Manfred Hell am Freitag am Unternehmenssitz in Idstein im Taunus. Heftige Reaktionen im Internet hätten zum Einlenken geführt.

Die Zeit.

Windows 98

Find' isch lustisch.

1997 beantragte JW "Windows 98" für alle Lederwaren, Taschen, Kleidungen u.d.g. ...mit der Absicht, denke ich, das exklusive Recht zu besitzen, diese Marke auf Ledertaschen u.d.g. anzubringen... Tja, die Beantragung würde entzogen, denn, komm, Mädels und Jungs, keine hat so viele Anwälte an der Hand als der kluge Mr. Gates.

Hier, alle JW-Trademarkanträge. U. a. "hobbyt", das finnische plural für "Hobby" und "Waschsalon". Die Rechte auf "Waschsalon" hat das deutsche Trademarkamt vergeben. Fällt mir dazu nichts mehr ein.