Doors Opening and Closing in Real Life

for the faithful fifteen

The doors opened in December 2007, but somewhere along the line I deleted my first few offerings, so Volume I starts off with the piece I wrote on March 2, 2008.

I am talking about the print version of my Cafe Nita Lou blog, shown in the photos below.

Cafe Nita Lou Blog Books (front covers) photo by Nita Lou Bryant

And, yes, I do realize that the image is partially in shadow. You may think it the shadow cast by an amateur photographer; I see it as a visible manifestation of an author's sorrow.

I had such high (and improbable) hopes when I first began blogging, hopes centered on words like Book Contract and Publication. Maybe even Movie Deal and International Rights. I was certain that if I simply put my writing out there recognition, fame, and fortune would soon follow.

Cafe Nita Lou blog post 2008

It didn't.

And neither did very many blog readers, though I remain deeply grateful for the few and faithful I have. Still, I continued to blog along and a few good things grew out of it. Some of the posts I wrote found a home (in revised version) in my local newspaper. I was asked to give a talk at an Austin high school. I won a memoir contest, complete with prize money! For a while, there, it seemed that my writing career was really, truly taking off--albeit not as dramatically as I'd hoped when I first began blogging.

Then it stalled.

Nothing I submitted was accepted for publication. My contest entries didn't make the list of finalists, much less the rank of winner. An editor's evaluation of my award-winning first novel manuscript was--well, dampening.

And then Real Life turned complicated and difficult. 

Physical injury, surgery, recovery; temporary relocation during major home repairs; an abortive attempt to sell our house and the reluctant move back into it. Then came a second injury, necessitating more recovery time--my few and faithful Cafe Nita Lou followers know the story.

Cafe Nita Lou blog post 2009

I tried to put the best face on it...but the new year brought with it an unprecedented level of stress and  anxiety centering around unanticipated family problems, problems so personal and painful they drove me to my knees. The situation continued to escalate throughout the fall. Writing fell by the wayside, thrust aside by the onrush of Real Life.

Though I scarcely even knew how to, my primary coping strategy--surprisingly--became to sew.

But in order to make room for a sewing machine, stacks of fabric, boxes of thread and notions, and a table on which to pin and cut, something else had to go. I  decided to take some time off from the quest for publication and fame and fortune as a writer. I packed up my file folders and draft manuscripts and sealed them up in boxes; I stacked my books and literary journals on shelves in the closet or on the floor.

Cafe Nita Lou blog post 2010

In this way I transformed a writer's workspace into an artist's studio.

I wish I could report that all the complications and difficulties, the stress and worry of Real Life somehow magically disappeared with closing of CNL and the opening of Studio Nita Lou.

They didn't.

In fact, things have only gotten worse. Truly, dear and faithful blog readers, these Real Life events have broken my real-live heart.

And yet...

And yet it is some comfort to have chosen to close one door and open another. At least in this I have had a choice. Thus, my choice for now is to sew, and to write about sewing, because to do so is soothing and it brings me some measure of joy. My choice is to construct  from fabric and thread and imagination things that bring comfort and delight to others in the way that I'd hoped to do with my words.

In the photo below you see the back covers of Volumes I-III of Cafe Nita Lou, complete with bar codes.

Almost like real-live books.

Cafe Nita Lou blog books (back covers) photo by Nita Lou Bryant

This week at Sedbi Design Studio: Paris 1900 and Somewhere in America in the 1940's

Rustic Poet's Notebook (front)

photograph by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

Well, someone in my family attended the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900. I don't know which of my ancestors it was, but they sure bought back a lot of postcards. I used a few of them the other day as fabric transfers on the Rustic Poet's Notebook I made for a retired librarian friend in Ohio who celebrated a birthday this week. The photo above shows the front of the notebook; below is a picture of the back... 

Rustic Poet's Notebook (back)

photograph by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

and next is a photo of the inside--note the handy dandy notecard 'n writing implement pocket I constructed using a postcard photocopy, two clear plastic greeting card sleeves, and a world o' scotch tape.

Inside of Rustic Poet's Notebook showing pocket 

photograph by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

I also enclosed a handwritten card with helpful and detailed operating instructions for using the Rustic Poet's Notebook, to wit:

Throw it in your knapsack & go write!

A friend who runs a literacy program here in Austin was having a birthday this week, too. I made a throw pillow for her, using fabric transfers from a circa 1940's children's art book, and some material I purchased a few weeks back when my friend accompanied me to the fabric store. Below are photos of her gift:

Side 1 of Literacy Throw Pillow

photograph by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

Side 1 of Literacy Throw Pillow (close-up)

photograph by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

Side 2 of Literacy Throw Pillow

photograph by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

Side 2 of Literacy Throw Pillow (close-up)

photograph by Nita Lou Bryant 2011

My cousin's birthday is this Friday and I'm making a pillow for her, too, but I haven't quite finished it yet. I'm afraid I got a wee bit distracted by my latest design and sewing adventure:  baby stuff!

Watch this space for hedgehogs...

Real World and Virtual Nesting

The cabinets in my kitchen are small and insufficient in number, which often results in this bit of dialogue when the dishwasher is being unloaded:

PERSON UNLOADING DISHWASHER:  "Where does this go?"

ME:  (opening cabinet door to point inside) "It nests inside that."

It's tricky because like items don't necessarily nest inside each other. Inside the cabinet to the left of the dishwasher, for example, two salsa serving bowls nest inside a vintage souffle dish which nests inside an oval casserole pot alongside a metal strainer nesting inside a small metal mixing bowl which nests inside a blue enamel serving bowl--and so forth. It's a system that seems to have no particular rhyme or reason. And yet...things do somehow fit together.

This morning while rearranging my electronic kitchen I decided to nest one blog inside another.

Henceforward my brand-new Sedbi Design Studio blog will nest inside Studio Nita Lou. I realize this choice may or may not make sense to anyone else in the blog world, but it feels right to me. For reasons highly personal and complex  I have mostly written about sewing over the past several months, an activity that takes place at the real-world Sedbi Design Studio. And yet, despite recent evidence to the contrary, I believe Studio Nita Lou is about far more than sewing. Unlike my real-world kitchen the cabinets here are sufficiently numerous and roomy to hold myriad forms of art.

So please bear with me while I finish nesting...

3-D Travel Pillow

close-up of packed suitcases on 3-D travel pillow
photo by Nita Lou Bryant

As promised, here are photos of the pillow I made as a birthday gift for a friend. I started out with a red placemat for the back and some travel-print fabric for the front, on which I placed a fabric transfer of a vintage postcard. Once I sewed it all together I was basically pleased with the result, and yet--the pillow seemed to cry out for something more. I considered adding a vintage button or several, but that wasn't quite the effect I wanted. So I went home and thought things over.

The next morning I decided it would be cool if those little suitcases actually appeared to be packed--stuffed full the way my own bags are whenever I set off on a travel adventure. So I rigged up a small scale 3-D special effect using a second piece of the travel fabric, some batting and some bias tape, then sewed it onto the pillow by hand.

Without exception, this pillow has elicited the exact same response from everyone who's seen it. First comes a smile, then a hand reaches out to administer a firm finger-poke to the bulging suitcases. The poke is repeated, leading to a burst of laughter from pillow poker and bystanders.

Best of all, this 3-D experience doesn't require anyone to put on a pair of those goofy glasses.

back of 3-D travel pillow
photo by Nita Lou Bryant

front of 3-D travel pillow
photo by Nita Lou Bryant

side view of 3-D travel pillow
photo by Nita Lou Bryant

vintage travel postcard & suitcases on 3-D travel pillow
photo by Nita Lou Bryant

This week at Sedbi Design Studio: Our Not So Grand Opening

Truthfully, Sedbi Design Studio opened without much fanfare. A DBA was filed, the domain name registered, a website basted together, and--well, that was pretty much it. I guess you could say we are taking things slowly.

This week in the studio, I made two Amateur Seamstress Fabricards, one for my father-in-law and one for a friend, plus I made a composition book cover for myself--to use in a writing practice group that will meet weekly starting this coming Monday. Oh, and I started a pillow for another friend’s birthday. I’ll post photos of that next week.

I designed one of the Fabricards as a wee photo album, and put pictures of my husband, myself, my daughter, and our dog in it for my father-in-law. The other card was a reprise of the Galveston Beach themed towel set I made last week for my brother-in-law. Below are some photos. If you like what you see, I’d be happy to custom design a Fabricard (or any of the other products pictured below or in the Product Preview slide show) for you to give to your friends or in-laws. Or maybe you’d like to order something for yourself?

Just drop me a note (nitaloubryant@sedbi.com) and we’ll get started.

Thus with a scant few paragraphs and some photos is the Sedbi Design Studio blog launched. 

Yep, not much fanfare here. But we’re off and sewing.

See you next week,

Nita Lou

Here is the Galveston Beach Fabricard I made for a friend.

front view of Galveston Beach Amateur Seamstress Fabricard by Nita Lou Bryant

inside view of Galveston Beach Amateur Seamstress Fabricard by Nita Lou Bryant

back view of Galveston Beach Amateur Seamstress Fabricard by Nita Lou Bryant

And here is the Fabricard/Photo Album I made for my father-in-law:

Front view of Still Motoring Along Amateur Seamstress Fabricard/Photo Album

Inside view 1 of the Still Motoring Along Amateur Seamstress Fabricard/Photo Album

Inside view 2 of the Still Motoring Along Amateur Seamstress Fabricard/Photo Album

Back view of the Still Motoring Along Amateur Seamstress Fabricard/Photo Album

Last but not least, here is the composition book cover I made for myself. I especially like having a pen holder pocket.

front view of Amateur Seamstress Composition Book Cover

back view of Amateur Seamstress Composition Book Cover