Send a healthy thought our way

This week has been so very less than stellar.

Our little one has a bad cold with high fever. We got our flu shots with hopes to avoid all of this, but sigh...not so.

Send a healthy thought our way, hopefully this germ will leave our house soon.

My mom will probably tell me that this too shall pass. Are you listening to her germs??!!

To cheer up sometimes I make my family tell me one good thing that happened to them that day.

Maybe you have one you can share with me...for now, I'm so thankful to have Tylenol.

A Verb for Keeping Warm

Today I took a yarn making class at this super cool shop in Berkeley, California called A Verb for Keeping Warm.

Owner Kristine Vejar (show above) was there dying away, making more one of a kind yarn for folks to make into beautiful knitted items. I was so very tempted to buy tons of yarn, but I resisted. Ok ok, I bought a bunch of roving instead.

My class was taught by this really awesome teacher who goes by WonderMike on ravelry, and even has his own podcast (I think that makes him famous!) called Fiber Beat. He's super passionate about fiber, spinning, and knitting, so I'm already looking forward to next week and thinking I'd better start downloading his podcast.

We learned all about how to use a drop spindle, and I even made a really tiny amount of seriously funky looking yarn.

A drop spindle is tiny and according to some, all you really need in order to make yarn.

I decided to try a really basic drop spindle - the Hi-Low version by Schacht.

So what's next? Well, a bit of homework, to spin some yarn so we can make a 2 ply next time.

Oh yeah, and squeeze some quilting in too. Guess it will be another busy week.

Have any short term project goals in plan for your coming week?

Christmas in January

Christmas in July is so expected. That is when folks start their big projects for the upcoming holiday.

Christmas in January...now that's thinking outside of the box!

Truth be told, I made this above Christmas ornament for my darling niece back in December and forgot to show it off then. Cannot resist posting a picture of it for you to enjoy.

I used Jinny Beyer's book on patchwork puzzle balls and it was super easy.

Does anybody out there have Jinny's new book yet - Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns? I really REALLY want this book BAD.

And speaking of new books....Yoko Saito has just released a new book on basket quilt blocks. It is called Basket Made From Cloth.

Meanwhile, I'm still feverishly working on the crochet scarf that I mentioned in my last post. I will confess to you that I'm secretly really looking forward to wearing it.

Zauberball Yarn with inspiration from Moonstitches

A very long time ago, the lovely and talented Alex of Moonstitches made a scarf she called the rhubarb scarf.

I decided to do something similar, but am using this German yarn called the Zauberball.
Check out these socks made from it over at Simply Fabulous Cari
.
Translated it means the "magic ball".

It has every color in the rainbow and is quite the traffic stopping scarf.

For my taste, it certainly has a lot of color, but I think I'm getting used to it and if worn with something simple, I think it will look pretty cool.

Do you think it's OK, or too wild?

Well, over lunch, or if you have some spare cycles tomorrow if you have the day off for MLK, enjoy the first flickr set of the Tokyo Dome show 2010 that I have seen - graciously posted by Jennifer of Moving Hands.

Well worth a look - as is all her work! Thank you so much for sharing so quickly! Someday I will be there, and will post my photos for you.

Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival 2010

Raise your hand if you're going to the Tokyo Dome quilt show this year!

Ok, so I'm not raising my hand.

Not for lack of interest, but with a baby in the house, travel to Japan is not in the cards for me this year. (tear rolls down cheek)

What is one to do with no ticket to Tokyo?

Sit around the house and cry all weekend? Dream of all those awesome taupe quilts and handmade quilts that I won't get to see in person? Start eating boxes of chocolate in a fit of sorrow while contemplating missing a chance to meet Yoko Saito in person? Invite all my quilting friends over to feel bad for me?

No, no no no no! We shall have none of that.

Lucky for me (and you, if you aren't going either) there are a small handful of extremely generous quilters who visit the show and post their photos online.

Both Jennifer of Moving Hands blog and Alex of Moonstitches have posted some of the best photo collections I could find in past years.

Looks like Jennifer is going this year. Please check out her amazing blog Moving Hands, it is really one of the most beautiful out there. I have said it before, but her hand quilting is amazing and her color pallet is beautiful.

If you plan to go to the Tokyo Dome and share photos with us, pls do leave a comment so I can pass along links to the rest of the folks.

Oh, and the book in the last post that I did is Quilt Party - Yoko Saito's catalog of student work from 2008. It contains 81 pages of full color, full length photos of her student's taupe quilts. Some would call this sort of publication 'quilt porn'. I call it a little slice of heaven.

Shakin' it up

In case you don't live in California, and didn't feel all the earthquakes we've had in the last 24 hours, I'll just say that they keep us on our toes here.

No damage thank goodness, but sheesh! Enough already!

I am always falling in love again and again with incredible toy companies, and Rubbabu is no exception. Their products are not only super fun and functional, but beautiful as well.

I gave them to my boys for Little Christmas, which was yesterday. I always try to give my boys a little something to close out the season each year on Little Christmas.

I have been making more Dear Hannah blocks as you can tell from the above.

What may you ask is the awesome book laying underneath this beautiful block?

Any guesses?

Is it so pretty that it's distracting you from looking at my block?! Better not be!

2010 WOTY

WOTY, or Word of the Year as some call it, is the single word that you hope to live by in the new year.

Happy New Year, by the way.

Some of my friends have chosen their word of the year for 2010 already.

Family. Perseverance. Growth. Genuine. Simplify.

My husband and I decided to be cutesy and match each other. He's taking Rest and I'm taking Relaxation.

What's your WOTY for 2010?

The above photo is from our afternoon visit to the De Young Museum. We could not help but visit the Amish Abstraction quilt exhibit again. It was even better the 2nd time around.