Handspun Leg Warmers for a 2 yr old Ballerina

I finished a pair of leg warmers in only a couple of evenings for my sister's little girl. She is a tiny ballerina, with teenie tiny legs, so hopefully these will be to her taste.

I road tested them on my 2 yr old son, and I'm not sure he's a fan. Not sure he'd make much of a ballerina either in fact.

Couple more photos of them over on ravelry.

This weekend is a catch up one but I am spending it all with my family so it doesn't get better than that.

I saw this automatic lego sorter online and though, gee, the reason parents give kids legos is to entertain them for as long as possible.

Are they nuts creating a product that speeds up the lego building process? I need to have a chat with the inventor of this. They must not be an actual parent.

Modern Quilt Blocks and reminder to check out Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival

Today we kicked off our first applique block of the month at A Verb for Keeping Warm up in Oakland.

I had it in my mind to make a modern house quilt for some time now, and it turns out that the folks who joined the class are super into architecture and design so it was a very cool fit.

Students made some awesome blocks, very very modern. My block is pictured above. I used some of my favorite Japanese Taupe fabrics in more or less a muted colorway.

In case you don't know about the Great Quilt Festival at the Tokyo Dome....you should by now. It is my dream to attend it in person. Every year I say, "I AM GOING THIS YEAR!!"

Alas, I did not get to go in person this year, but I have high hopes that with some potty training for our little one, we might be easier travelers next year.

Anyhow, worry not my friends.

There are generous photographers/bloggers out there that attend the show pretty much every year, and some of them take incredible photos.

Jen of Moving Hands blog has already posted a lot of beautiful photos. Thank you, and well done!

If you know of more photos, please feel free to comment here with links. I'll look at every photo. Maybe even look twice.

Hand Applique Class - Modern Houses

I'm almost done with the modern applique block I designed for my upcoming hand applique class.

We are doing a block of the month, and the class is taking place in Oakland, California at A Verb for Keeping Warm.

We're meeting next Sunday, January 23, 2010 in the afternoon. Join our class if you have time.

I'm going to design a quilt block with the theme of modern homes...one a month, during the year. The colors I'm using for fabrics are all Japanese taupe fabrics.

Let me know if you have been working on any projects using Japanese taupe fabrics, I would love to see them.

White Elephant - Handspun yarn

My knit nite friends were over for our holiday party last week and we had a real blast.

I even taught one of the husbands how to make yarn using my spinning wheel. He actually wasn't half bad at it.

The white elephant gift I got was awesome, some beautiful yarn that I'm planning on using to make a scarf for my husband, and needle holders for when you make socks. So cool.

I ended up giving away around 300 yards or so of handspun (photo above). The gal who got it is a seriously talented crocheter and I just cannot wait to see what she does with it. The fiber is hand dyed by Pigeonroof Studios in the Collision Course colorway.

I'm sure you know about this already, but have you checked out Barbara Brackman's new Civil War Quilts blog? It's pretty darn cool.

Because I Told You

When my 2 yr old asks me, “Mommy, can I take my socks off now?”

I say, “Why do you need to do that right now, honey?”

He says, “Because I told you!”

I’m starting to wonder if he’s saying that only because every time he asks me “Why?” ….my answer right back to him is, “Because I told you!”

What an embarrassing reminder that they are so good at acting as little mirrors. It looks like Because I Told You will be the theme of our conversation for the foreseeable future. Time to embrace it.

Tonight is our big knit night annual holiday party. We ended up putting it off for a while because my house had the stomach flu on the day we were originally hoping to have it.

All of us or so excited to exchange white elephants. Above is a photo of mine, but you’ll have to wait and see what’s inside!!

Holiday Handwork

I did a tiny bit of hand quilting over the holiday break. Working on quilting an antique quilt for my mom as a table runner.

Thinking about my resolutions for last year - did I really do any of them? Gosh, do I dare go back and read them?

Thinking that the end of this wonderful vacation is about to occur. Can it be? How did that pass so quickly?

Happy New Year to you! More soon.