what happened?
Several things. Most notably, I took my Dad to Europe. He has his 70th birthday this summer, and I'm going to be gone on the actual date, so this was a Father's Day/Happy Birthday gift from me to him. 
Here we are at our last dinner together in Paris. Dad is by nature a rather unemotive person, but I am pretty sure he had a good time. He had never been out of North America before, so this was a very special occasion. We spent time in Paris and in Prague (our name is Czech and we had long talked about visiting the Czech Republic). Other travelers might have seen twice as many things as we did in the same amount of time, but we were happy just being together and exploring new places.
After he flew home, I stayed in Europe. My boss arrived and we did some museum work for a couple weeks, in Holland and in Sweden. I'd like to mention that the Museum of Worldculture in Göteborg, Sweden, has a fantastic collection of Peruvian textiles. Also a sophisticated storage system, with large aluminum frames and screens so that all the textiles can lie flat. We were only able to see a few examples, but it was enough to make me want to go back! There was a long long braided belt with a fancy interlacing color pattern; lots of embroidery, and an incredible mantle made entirely out of cross-knit looping.
Because of all this travel, planning for it beforehand, finishing up a semester of Spanish class and miscellaneous other things, creative production has been pretty much at a standstill. I did make two dresses for the trip, out of crazy polyester prints. It's really true, polyester dries quickly and doesn't wrinkle! However, sewing it is like trying to tie a knot in an eel, and wearing it is something I'd only do for short periods of time, or when utility overrides comfort, as when traveling. An additional reason for the lack of postings is that a long-submerged obsession is once again prominent in my life. I'll show you a small example:
This is Elsi in Prague, wearing a new handstitched dress. I've been exercising my pattern drafting and handsewing skills on small clothes for small characters. I'd forgotten how much I love it. On the trip I did sewing instead of knitting in the evenings and found it relaxing and rewarding. Many feelings are at work in me about this-- one of the primary ones is "you should be ashamed of yourself, playing with dolls at your age!" To which I say... Well, you know, it's actually a lot harder than it appears to draft patterns for tiny bodies and make clothes that hang right and aren't too bulky and all that. Besides which, there is a long tradition of adult women costuming dolls for various reasons: as momentos of special occasions, to replicate precious outfits for nostalgia's sake, or as models to distribute fashion examples to others. I am very picky about my dolls, and their clothes must meet high standards, so in fact this "play" is quite a challenge. And I get to practice pattern drafting in manageable sizes.
That's the nutshell version of the recent past. Looking ahead, I'll be home for a couple weeks, and then gone for probably two months. This time I'll be in a remote village without e-mail access, without even postal mail, so blogging will be highly irregular and regrettably infrequent. However, I appeal to all my friends to be patient, because come fall I'm going to have a lot to say!
Carrie! I hope you had a great time in Europe. I can hardly believe we're talking about autumn already, but I'll patiently wait until you have time to post updates.
Posted by: June | June 16, 2005 at 04:38 PM
Yay! You are home. I'm glad you had a wonderful time. I can't wait to hear more!
Posted by: Diana | June 16, 2005 at 06:22 PM
What an awesome thing to do for your father! And I don't think it's strange at all designing dresses for little ones. Liv would love it if I took that up, I'm sure! Very sweet dress. Sounds like you've got a full summer ahead. Enjoy it, Carrie!
Posted by: Kerstin | June 16, 2005 at 07:48 PM
Carrie! YAY! I will be patiently waiting for updates.
Posted by: claudia | June 16, 2005 at 09:56 PM
It's good to see you're back. I'm glad you enjoyed the trip. Hopefully I'll see you in person before you leave again. And that doll's dress looks great!
Posted by: Emily | June 16, 2005 at 10:44 PM
Such a great story! Wow, I think that you win the good daughter award.
Just curious: which hotel did you stay at when you were in Prague?
Posted by: Colleen | June 16, 2005 at 11:03 PM
Just visiting, great post about you and your Dad. I think your sewing talent is great. I like your doll dress !
Posted by: Maggie Ann | June 20, 2005 at 12:43 AM