Olallieberry picking

How many olallieberries can 1 mommy, 1 daddy, 1 reluctant 2 yr old, 1 gramma, and 1 camera laden grandpa pick before getting tired and wanting to head off to the beach for a picnic?

Yesterday, it was around 4 lbs.

Olallieberries are a cross between a Loganberry (itself half blackberry and rasberry) and Youngberry (itself half blackberry and dewberry).

Their season lasts only an extremely short time, so running into them fresh for the picking was a very rare treat.

Today we made a pie and I guess I'll freeze the rest of them for later treats in pancakes, muffins, late night snacky treats....

Later this evening, under the cover of darkness, while my belly is full of pie...I may hunker down, and with the help of my fabric-addicted-amazing-quilt-making-mother, choose a few quarter yards of Liberty of London prints from International Fabric Collection for us to share.

Int'l Fab doesn's seem to have this print, however, from Calico and Ivy in Australia. It's an amazing print that I would order in a hot second if I lived down under and shipping was a bit more affordable. Ah, and it's still $53US/yd ...I guess that's the price of beauty!

Oh, and if you have time, please visit Sarah's blog, My Spare Time, and check out the Liberty of London fabrics she just scored - nice choices!! Oh so pretty pretty. (The rest of her blog rocks too!)

Japanese baby quilt - first girl block done!

Progress on the baby quilts is being made little by little.

This is the first block I just finished for the Japanese baby girl quilt, for my sister's little girl. I really love how it's turning out, I will probably end up wanting to keep the quilt once it's complete.

Good thing she is making a quilt for our baby as well, so I will feel more inclined to turn it over. I don't think it will come to a hostage situation.

I ordered some AWESOME templates from this company called Ardco. They are useful in cutting out fabric pieces for either hand or machine piecing. They are made of metal and seem generally bullet proof. The back side has this killer no slip sandy stuff that allows you to mark your fabric without the thing slipping all over the place.

I ordered the Tea Leaves (AKA Joseph's coat) templates in both sizes - 6" and 12". I cannot wait to try them. Their shipping time and customer service was awesome. If you need templates, I would highly recommend Ardco.

My plan was to use them on the Liberty of London fabrics, but since I didn't pick up any more fabric yet, I'll wait a bit and perhaps orders some online.

Thanks Sami for the tip on International Fabrics and their good selection and prices of Liberty. Cool site!!

Liberty of London fabric quest

In search of Liberty of London fabric, I drove up to San Francisco this morning.

Parking was strangely easy near Union Square, although ALL the tourists were out. Not sure if I was really one of them, but I guess by default of living in San Jose all the time, I probably was.

My husband and son caught a train up there, and I drove to pick them up at the station. For an almost 3 yr old boy, a 1.5 hr train ride is pretty much as good as it gets. He loved it of course.

We grabbed some lunch and headed over to Britex Fabrics.

Liberty of London fabrics are on the 2nd floor, and they have a good selection, probably around 20 different bolts, maybe a few more. I was sort of expecting a wall full of them, but their selection was very pretty.

I was saving this blog post so I could show you pretty pictures of all the new quarter yards I picked up, however, I must admit that I got a bit of sticker shock.

At Purl Soho, these babies go for only (ONLY!!) $35/yard, which may sound outrageous for quilt fabric, it is actually a very very good deal. Britex was selling it for $50/yard, so I actually didn't even buy a tiny small piece.

Sadly, I show you a picture of the flowers on my kitchen table instead of those teeny tiny liberty beauties that I was thinking would come home with me. Perhaps this is just a sign that I need to do some more online ordering from my beloved Purl!

Ok, and if you're thinking, why would anybody ever become so attached to these Liberty fabrics? Pleeeeease go and see the amazing beautiful stunning quilt that Alex of Moonstitches is in process of creating.

Paper flowers

For Father's day, I made paper daffodils for my husband.

They came from Paper Source. It's taking more discipline than I have to avoid also picking up the kits to make their Fringe flowers, Vintage Blooms, and Norsa flowers.

The girls in their shop recommended that I trace some more blossoms on more colorful paper, if that was my taste.

I'm HOOKED!!

Their web site even has how-to videos. Is that the coolest or what?

They offer classes in certain shops, including calligraphy. One even had a class on my all time favorite, Copperplate calligraphy. Oh, how I want to take that class!!

My husband loved them too. He took the above picture because he was so impressed with the little father's day gift offerings, and he wants to take the paper flowers to his office when I'm tired of them on our dinning room table.

It's rare that I stumble, or tumble for that matter, over a new blog that really lights my fire. Of course Ravenhill by Emily is still on the top of my list (give-away in process now, go check it out!), but I also just started reading Tumbling Blocks blog.

Tumbling Blocks has some beautiful creations and some extremely tasteful photographs that have been making me smile.

More taupe quilt fabric - Daiwabo!

It's hard to resist picking up some new tiny squares of taupe fabric when Daiwabo comes out with their new collection.

Pinwheels has charm packs of them in 5.5 inch size as well as smaller 4 inch and adorable 2 inch size.

They never seem to last long, so if you need a pack for an upcoming scrap quilt, or some small applique work, pick some up because they are the perfect way to get a large variety of different fabrics.

I've also become fascinated lately with this blog called Molskinerie. It's all about different ways to use those tiny Moleskin notebooks that we love.

Some artists do really creative work in these tiny books. How cool would it be to make one devoted to quilting? Tape tiny scrap pieces in there, draw out block ideas for your next project...I think I'll go ahead and get one started!

Modofly has some incredible decorated Moleskins that I will admit that I crave.

Baby quilt, paper pieced - first block

Here's a quick peek at the first completed block for the baby boy quilt that I started.

Last weekend my little sister and I spent pretty much an entire day working on them. We both made a lot of progress. We took this all day type class where you finish your own projects at Material Possessions in Orange County, Southern California.

Their web site is not the best, but the shop is really interesting, and has a great class space. They have some cool imported Japanese fabrics for sale as well as a limited selection of Japanese quilting books & magazines.

Tonight I also took my first pregnancy yoga class at this studio called Harmony, in Campbell, CA. I must say that for a person who doesn't know the first (or 2nd thing) about yoga, it was a cool new experience and I really enjoyed it. I'm already looking forward to the next class.

I finally sorta figured out what a downward dog is. My yoga-practicing mother will be proud of me.

Japanese quilt - for new baby girl cousin

Going through my fabric collection, I came across just a piece or two of fabric (ahem) that I am planning on working into the baby quilt that I just started.

The pieces above are going to be used in the girl baby quilt, the one for my sister's baby.

They all have 'warm' colors, like pinks, reds, oranges, and a few greens in there just to spice things up.

My son will get a very similar quilt, but with 'cool' colors - purples, blues, blacks...

Little sis and I are taking some time out to work on them during the day tomorrow, cannot wait!

These crib pictures are to die for. My quilt would not go with any of these decor themes, but gosh they are pretty. I'm a huge sucker for round cribs.

Our crib is a square one, though, and still has a naughty occupant that is not keen to move out anytime soon!

Two baby quilts for "Twin" cousins

First of all, thanks for the ideas of how to get rid of my little veggie box kitty pooper.

I think that last post scared it off, because it hasn't been back since. If I see any further deposits, I'll be sure to put some of your ideas into practice. Oh, and don't worry, I haven't gotten near the poops, since I know it's not a good idea being pregnant and all...My sweet husband has been the clean up crew.

The picture above is of a "Popcorn Hydrangea" that my grade school friend gave to me from her garden, but I could not resist and just ordered some plants for our house.

In case you have the time, you should know that the Doll Quilt Swap is on again and currently taking sign up's. They will cap it at 100 people, so sign up now if you want a spot. I participated in the past, and there are some amazing little quilts that get created here.

I am not signing up this time, however, because I have my hands full with the "Twin" baby quilts.

Probably haven't mentioned this before, but my little sister is pregnant as well and is due on the same day as me. I know, it's incredible, but yes, it is the same exact due date.

My sister decided that between her, my mom, and myself, we would each make 2 baby quilts - one for each of the cousins. They need to be the same pattern and size, but the colors and themes can be different since my baby will be a boy and her baby will be a little girl.

I've started cutting a few pieces, and getting really excited about it now. We are taking a class together this weekend to spend some time working on them. Once I have some finished blocks I'll post pictures for you to check out.