Patchy presents

Being notoriously tight, when friends get hitched I often pretend I know nothing of bridal registries and instead whip up something for them on my sewing machine using bits of kimono and other textiles left over from various projects. These gifts end up costing nothing in real money but consume hours, sometimes days of my time (hello friends who have taken up so much of my life which I can never get back, you know who you are!). This week I finally completed some cushion covers for a friend in Tokyo who got married last November, when I was ridiculously swamped with work and did not get around to sending anything, which is also my excuse for why my website is not running yet… even though it’s paid for and just waiting for me to upload schtuff onto it, I have had that magical piece of equipment, a scanner, sitting unopened in my room since October, and I MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT OR THE MONEY WILL HAVE BEEN WASTED. But at least my cat enjoys rubbing her head on the box, so it’s not like an expensive piece of equipment is lying idle. $300 for a cat’s head scratcher, a bargain, no?
…Anyway, I bought a roll of Hmong indigo-dyed batik and some pieces of embroidery in Laos which I’ve cobbled together into cushion covers. I couldn’t really just stitch the embroidery panels on to the backs of the batik cushion covers because the dye is still coming off the material (my fingers were blue after sewing the batik) so it has to be able to be washed separately and not dye the embroidery panels. See how there’s press studs on the cushion covers? The embroidery panels just snap off. Such an innovative idea, I know. This is the sort of rocket science that occupies my mind while I’m swimming laps at my local pool. I’m sure Einstein had similar brainwaves.
While I was hunting around for glamorous pictures of myself to show the world (to no avail), I found this photo of a kimono patchwork throw that I made for another friend’s wedding a few years ago while I was still living in Tokyo. I pinned it to my wall to get a photo of it before it left my hands, and now I’m getting all nostalgic about my little crappy flat where I lived for 4 years…it’s hard to see in this pic but next to the patchwork is a Japanese wooden set of drawers with an assortment of flea market treasures on it. I love feeling like I’m living in an antique shop and the crazy juxtaposition of crap that would be totally worthless to anyone else. I’m living in a crazy juxtaposition of crap at the moment too, but it’s not as photogenic, mainly because there’s hardly a patch of floor to stand on from which to take a photo.