Are you being a responsible human being, staying home and keeping to yourself?  Are you doing your bit to protect your community by not breathing on them?  Good for you!  I'll bet you're binge-watching something, too.  Allow me to recommend a YouTuber filled with brio and joie de vivre.  

Her name is Micarah Tewers and she makes clothes.  I suggest her for the following reasons:

1. Her method of working is refreshingly historical... not that she makes historical costumes (though she does), but that she has a historical approach: no patterns, just pinning things to her body, testing the fit, and improvising.  If you're a sewing geek like me, eager to know all abut pattern drafting and the "right" way of doing things, her videos might make you feel like a kid again, just discovering that with a needle and thread you can turn an old tee shirt into a ball gown for your Barbie.  Watching her simply "wing it" is delightful.  If you're a new sewist, intimidated by all the technical stuff on sewing blogs, and wondering how much time and money you have to invest before you make something worth wearing, Micarah's thrifted flights of fancy are permission to play and encouragement that you can get great results without having all the "right" tools and methods. 
2. She is funny!  Clearly, she has a theatrical streak (and at least three different voices that she employs for dramatic effect), but she doesn't come across as snobby or out of touch the way many theatricaal people do.  Instead, she's wonderfully accessible.  She's a complete goober, a total dork, and you're invited to join her in her romps.  Her video editing is very MTV... rapid cuts that feel like a strobe light flashing in a club, which can be annoying if you're in a more contemplative mood.  But if you're in the mood for light entertainment, enjoy it!  Like, just watching her crack herself up with puns in her "Turning Adult Diapers into a Wedding Dress" video was hilarious.  I couldn't contain myself.  Ha!

In some ways, she is my working opposite.  Where I over-engineer things, and can find ways to make any project more complicated, she uses hot-glue!  It's fun to watch her work.   

One thing to bear in mind is that even though the frantic pace of the videos seems fast, it takes a lot of editing. As of right now, she doesn't have a lot of videos uploaded, but I have high hopes that more will come.  

Micarah Tewers brings zest, kindness, humor, and goodwill to her videos and her interactions with viewers and followers online.  These good character traits are why I've filed this post under Phillipians 4:8. 

Today's post is about Yoko Saito's artwork, and about a skirt I made recently, from the same stash and pattern as the A-line of last week.  It includes a strip of bias-cut wool in very soft taupe colors, appliqued onto a darker wool using Yoko Saito's instructions, so I've taken to calling it my Yoko Saito skirt! 

Yoko Saito is a famous quilter.  Her work is very Japanese in its sensibilities: subtle colors, subtly combined, with impeccable stitching and attention to minute detail.  There are three elements which come together to make a Yoko Saito quilt really distinctive to me: the taupe colors; the complex and often layered applique; and the hand-quilting.  Doing an image search for "Yoko Saito" will give you a pretty good idea of her aesthetic; it's the kind of work that rewards close study.  Be aware as you look that Saito has many students and followers who replicate her style, so not everything you see is definitely made by her; but it represents her school of quilting. 

On May 13th this year, my friend Rosanne and I went to the Northwest Quilters' Quilt show.  For me, it was an art show!  So much artistry, so much beauty.  I want to share it with you! 

Re: the pictures... I did not talk to the quilters or get their permission to post these pictures here, but as they'd already made their work public by exhibiting it, and as I was within the rules of the exhibition to take pictures, I think it's all right to show their workmanship here as long as I credit them.  If the work is yours and you object to its placement here, Contact Me and let me know, and I'll remove your stuff.  Ditto if I've mis-attributed something and you want me to fix it.  Thanks! 

As always, click on a picture to see it enlarged. 

This post is an intro to my tag Philippians 4:8. 

One of the blogs I love reading is Male Pattern Boldness.  In particular, I like to click on the tag "Clothing and Culture" and read all the archived stuff.  Peter Lappin's quirky humor and thoughtful questions bring out the best in others, which accounts for the wonderful conversations that blossom in the comments section.  Today I was reading this discussion, from 2010: (Re)touch me in the Morning.