Aloha means love.

Maui. My impressions are still too fresh to make any sense of them. This is my country and yet, not my land. Hawai'i is a cultural and geographic entity onto itself. In a way, Hawai'i is culturally more a colony than a state, as these polynesian islands were overthrown and rule by the United States forced upon the native population. It is the only state in the Union to have two official languages, English and Pidgin. Beneath the beauty and aloha is a history of pain.

I am a haole, for sure. But I fell for your beautiful charms, dear Maui, yes I did. I hope I have the pono that I might one day be accepted a tiny bit into your heart, as well. I dove from Black Rock (and, no, you will not see the photo of my fine cankle-y self doing so, thank you very much). I will be back. If for no other reason, to visit my son, whose heart you stole and who cried upon having to leave your shores. He has already been inspired to quit school, get a job as a waiter and craft a shack from leaves and plastic sheeting near the Honolua surf break. Pele, we stole your land and you capture our sons in return. To be expected.

We are back.

But I am certain I left part of my heart there.

A hui hou.

Little moments

Sushi and sunsets. Not a bad day at all.

High five! For free stuff!

Farbenmix is five years old today!

Happy Birthday, my friends!

YOU are part of Farbenmix, too. No Farbenmix without you, so the birthday presents are for you! Check out the free ebooks available for download here.

Hedgewig, a little pincusion wristlet is my little contribution to the party. Instructions are available in English, German and Dutch (dank je wel, Lilian!). it took some thinking and thinking to come up with a way to make this pin cushion without any hand stitching (yuck: hand stitching). Find out how Hedgie hides and hides again before coming out of his hole.

From the cutting room floor

Well, my part of the book is done. It's all in the hands of the art department and copy editors and technical editors and other umpa lumpas that make book magic. I don't think it is a good idea to tell you exactly what is in the book. But I can tell you a few things that are not in the book. Quite a bit ended up on the editing room floor. But, if there's one thing you and I know how to do, it's how to make something of scraps. One of those scraps is a little bag pattern a bag I call El Porto. You'll see it here and there photographed in the book, so act surprised when it shows up there. Until then, you can make one, if you like.

Mein Teil des Buches ist soweit fertig. I sollte euch nicht genau alles sagen, was im Buch drin ist. Aber ich kann euch mitteilen, was nicht Bestandteil des Buches ist. Vieles ist aus Platzgründen gestrichen worden. Aber aus Resten kann doch etwas nettes zusammengesteppt werden. Eins dieser Reste ist eine Mehrzwecktasche namens El Porto. El Porto kommt ab und zu in den Bildern im Buch vor. Von daher bitte beim Buchlesen deine Überraschung vortäuschen ;-) Bis dahin, wenn du möchtest, kannst du selber eine nähen. “El Porto” means “the port” in Portuguese, but where I live, it refers to a section of beach north of Manhattan Beach, near the oil refinery. Because of the topography of the ocean floor at the surf, here is a great place to learn to surf. You can also watch the airplanes taking off from Los Angeles International Airport. I like to think that “port” to which El Porto is referring to is the door to the rest of the world, either out there over the sea, or up there to where those airplanes are traveling. The El Porto bag will help carry your stuff during your adventures near and far.

"El Porto" heißt "der Hafen" im Portugiesischen, aber hier, wo ich wohne, ist El Porto ein Stück Strand im nordlichen Manhattan Beach, nähe der Ölraffinerie. Der topographischen Lage wegen eignet sich diese Ecke besonders gut zum Wellenreiten. Von hier aus kann frau auch die Flugzeuge von Los Angeles International Airport starten sehen. Für mich ist "der Hafen" El Portos die Tür zum Rest der Welt, über die Wellen und am anderen Ende des Ozeans. Die El Porto Tasche ist dafür geeignet dich in deinen Abenteuer nah und fern zu begleiten.

The bag El Porto is an excellent learning project. I imagined teaching in one project almost everything a person might encounter while making a Farbenmix or Fledge pattern. I imagined, if I were a home ec teacher, using this project over three or four days to introduce a lot of ideas and techniques. While completing this bag, you will learn or brush up on the following techniques:

• Making a fully faced cut-out pocket
• Hong Kong seams
• Encasing a zipper between the shell and the lining.
• Insetting a zipper
• Construction

As well as a few other things, that you will be able to use to embellish and expand other projects. This bag was intended--in a single project--to take the square-pillow-and-potholder-sewist to the level of making, for example, a fully lined jacket.

El Porto ist ein gutes Lernprojekt. U. a. wird frau folgende Methoden lernen bzw. auffrischen:

• Gucklochtasche
• Nähte in Schrägband einfassen
• Das Setzen des Reißverschlußes zwischen Außentasche und Innenfutter.
• Einen Reißverschluß mittig einbauen.
• Konstrukt

Darüber hinaus bietet El Porto auch ein paar Sachen, die du für andere Projekte verwenden könntest, wie z. B. die runde Zwickeltasche.

I must admit that I did not design this bag alone. My two children were right there with me telling me what they wanted. Their checklist included:

• "A soccer ball needs to fit inside."
• "There should be a place for soccer cleats and shin guards. "
• "I want my volleyball and beach towel to fit. "
• "There needs to be a place for my water bottle. "
• "I want a pocket for my iPod. "
• "I want a pocket for my cell phone. "
• "There should be a place for my sunscreen."

To that list, I added these:

• A security pocket on the inside.
• The bag design should be good for both kids and adults.
• The design should allow for simplification, as well as offer opportunities to go all out.
• The design should allow for opportunities of lots of colorful combinations, but have a fashion silhouette strong enough to uphold monochrome designing.

El Porto in Italian wool tweed and Amy Butler fabrics. Sakura embroidery design by Smila.

Embroidery design Smila's World.

Ich gebe es zu: Alleine habe ich die Tasche nicht entworfen. Da spielten meine beiden Kindern mit.

• "Der Fußball muß 'reinpassen."
• "Ich will Taschen für meine Fußballschuhe und Beinschöner. "
• "Der Volleyball muß passen. "
• "Meine Trinkflasche nicht vergessen."
• "Mein iPod soll auch eine Tasche haben. "
• "Und ein Platz für mein Handy. "

Hinzu fügte ich:

• Eine Sicherheitstasche.
• Das Design soll sich sowohl für Kinder als auch Erwachsene eignen.
• Das Design soll sich zum vereinfachen eignen, aber auch Gelegenheit zum total austoben anbieten.
• Das Design soll genug Gelegenheit anbieten, viele bunte, verrückte Variablen ermöglichen, aber die
• Silhouette soll von sich aus modisch sein, um auch monochrome varianten zu unterstützen.

This bag is a new take on the classic duffle. We added interesting, attention-grabbing pockets on either end of the duffle, as well as roomy pockets along the sides. To that, we made a comfortable sling strap, which is both fashionable and functional, as it includes an integrated media pocket for your phone or MP3 player. The sling is at a length for a child to wear either over a shoulder or diagonally as a sling bag. For the ladies, El Porto hangs at about elbow length--a length I like, because I can have all my valuables tucked securely under my arm. There are quite a few bits to El Porto and it may seem a bit daunting to complete. There are four basic parts, really, each of which is a fun bit to put together before assembling the whole thing. So spread the project over a couple of days--or get in the sew flow and make one in a day.

El Porto in Paulapü and Joel Dewberry fabrics.

Embroidery designs Paulapü.

Have fun.

El Porto in vintage 70s fabrics and this pillow cover (no textile is safe from my rotary cutter).

Viel Spaß!

Available from Farbenmix mid-November. Mitte November bei Farbenmix.eu erhältlich.