Resolutions and Etymology

Res-o-lu-tion 

[rez-uh-loo-shuhn](Source:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/resolution)

Dictionary.Reference.com lists 12 meanings for the word resolution. At this time of year the most common use is the second meaning, "a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something".  Because this is sometimes a blog about sewing, the fifth description was also of interest, "the act or process of resolving or separating into constituent or elementary parts". 

I think the best resolutions are the resolve to do something positive. First, I resolve to return unused supplies to the store. This one resolution really applies mostly to knitted projects and forces me to work on a project immediately so that I know as soon as possible when I have an extra ball or skein of yarn. I just tuck the receipt into the band around the yarn to keep it accessible when needed. Besides saving money it becomes a clutter buster by preventing stash build up.

My second resolution for the year is to look up the word meaning and or word origin for at least one word everyday. I have not decided if I will share a word a day here though because that might just drive away readers. I suppose that might depend on word choices. It could add a new group of readers too. In English, we invent new words to describe things making the language vibrant and adaptable, but there are rules. With texting* and tweets a division, nearly a rift, is forming between the formal language and the abbreviated, phonetic and acronym** shortcuts.   

From Online Etymology Dictionary, (http://www.etymonline.com) for your informed pleasure, here are two words derived from Old English for today:  

The Verb Sew and the Noun Stitch

sew (v.) 

O.E. siwian "to stitch," earlier siowian, from P.Gmc. *siwjanan (cf. O.N. syja, Swedish sy, O.H.G. siuwan, Goth. siujan "to sew"), from PIE root *syu- "to bind, sew" (cf. Skt. sivyati "sews,"sutram "thread, string;" Gk. hymen "thin skin, membrane," hymnos "song;" L. suere "to sew, sew together;" O.C.S. sijo "to sew," sivu "seam;" Lettish siuviu, siuti "to sew," siuvikis "tailor;" Russian svec "tailor"). Related: Sewed; sewing. Sewing machine is attested from 1847.

stitch (n.) 

O.E. stice "a prick, puncture," from P.Gmc. *stikiz, from the root of stick (v.). The sense of "sudden, stabbing pain in the side" was in late O.E. The verb is first recorded early 13c., "to stab, pierce," also "to fasten or adorn with stitches." Noun senses in sewing and shoemaking first recorded late 13c.; meaning "bit of clothing one is (or isn't) wearing" is from c.1500. Meaning "a stroke of work" (of any kind) is attested from 1580s. Surgical sense first recorded 1520s. Sense of "amusing person or thing" is 1968, from notion of laughing so much one gets stitches of pain (cf. verbal expression to have (someone) in stitches, 1935).

Footnotes: also from Online Etymology Dictionary

*

text (v.) 

"to send a text message by mobile system," 2005; see text (n.). Related: Texted; texting. It formerly was a verb meaning "to write in text letters" (1590s).

**

acronym (n.) 

word formed from the first letters of a series of words, 1943, American English coinage from acro- + -onym "name" (abstracted from homonym; see name (n.)). But for cabalistic esoterica and acrostic poetry, the practice was practically non-existent before 20c. (see here).

Resolutions?

It's the first Saturday of January 2012, the year is already a week old.  And a busy week it has been.  My son and one other person told me they had started a project for the whole year.  One of those "I am going to do this activity everyday of this year" kind of projects.  Some of the bloggers I follow have also listed things they are going to do everyday this year. My son's choice was to draw a cartoon everyday, a friend is writing in her blog everyday, others are sewing something new each day, another is taking a photo everyday.  You may have something you have committed to do every day too.

I promise you I will not write in my blog everyday, but I think I should step it up and write at least every week. Maybe if I take at least a photo a day, the blog will be easier because I will have things to show.  Right now I have lots of ideas that I want to work on and several are quilts.

My current project is a quilt that I was inspired to make because of the intensity and variety of the fall colors this year. It will have more colors in it than I would have used on any traditional quilt, but I think they will work.  Normal  fall colors in Colorado are usually bright yellow aspen or cottonwood leaves contrasted with the dark blue-green of the blue spruce trees, like you can see in the first photo below.  Here are some examples of my inspiration for the quilt.

Blue Spruce behind a cottonwood.

An Ash tree in the park. 

Cottonwoods, aspens, weeping willow and others in various colors.

 The fall colors I am using in my quilt are helping me through the cold days of winter. Here they are before I cut them up. I still have a few blocks to sew before I can start sewing them together.  

In the bottom photo you can see part of the pattern I selected. I really like the hexagons in the grandmother's flower garden quilt but I wanted to work with larger pieces so I chose a 4-inch 60-degree diamond.  When three are sewn together it forms a hexagon and resembles the tumbling blocks pieces. This quilt will not follow the same rules with the light and dark shading as a tumbling blocks quilt would. I decided each tree will be represented by one block of three diamonds. No two blocks are exactly the same in the whole quilt.   I am not sure how that will work when I start sewing the blocks together.    

This quilt will look more like the fall tree colors in the Midwest, where each tree is beside another kind of tree and the colors look like paint splashed across the hills.  I will post more on it as it advances. I plan to give it a green border with a few appliques to represent leaves tumbling along. I may have to call this one "Tumbling Leaves".     

The Red Dress

My Daughter came home one day in December and said she needed a red dress for school. Her English class had the assignment of dressing like their favorite character from one of the books they had read for class.

SEW I DO, so I made a red dress. Because I wanted the dress to do double duty, I selected fabric far more formal than needed. My hope was it could double as either a holiday dress or something she could wear to a school dance event. When I finished, she looked at the dress and said it would never do.

She was planning to dress as Curley's wife from John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. I was familiar with Lennie and George, the main characters and knew of Lennie's disabilities. I also knew that George watched over Lennie as best he could. I had never read the book so I knew very little of Curley's wife.

My daughter found this clip for me on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKufKCXH61c

With only a day to go until the scheduled event, I had to agree that the dress was not going to be suitable for the character. Furthermore, she advised that the character needed to have red high heel shoes with peacock feathers on them.

Photo image from Google Images - microscopy-uk.org.uk website

I gave her a pair of my red shoes and found a pair of peacock feathers at the local craft store. We glued the feathers to the shoes and I wondered just why it was that someone would wear peacock feathers on red shoes. My daughter asked me why the peacock feathers, then denied that she had ever asked for them. Fortunately her brother confirmed that I had provided what she had requested.

I took a look at the story and it turns out that Curley's wife wore red mules with a picture of ostrich feathers under the foot.

Photo image from Google images - Armchair General Website

Hum, how did she get peacock feathers on red shoes out of that? Anyway, with just hours to go I started over on the dress. Luckily, I had just the dress in a storage closet. We made some simple emergency alterations and the dress fit and moved like the one in the movie.
The red mules? Well, I could not change shoes to mules or paint on ostrich feathers, so we had a good laugh about her mix up. Chalk it up to experience, but when sewing costumes for characters, do your own research about who the characters are and what they wear. Sometimes the request does not match the requirement.

Maybe she will wear the red dress to a school dance.