Modern House Applique BOM

This Sunday, I'm teaching the Applique Block of the Month at A Verb for Keeping Warm.

Come on and join us if you live in Northern California, it is going to be so super fun.

The theme for our class is modern homes and the block this month is based on a home designed by Joseph Eichler, a well known modern architect.

A few of my quilt group friends live in his homes and they are beautiful and filled with light inside. Hopefully I'm doing this one justice by the quilt block.

A couple of notes for you on goodies I picked up at Stitches West last weekend (in case you ever knit):

Imagiknit: Very interesting yarn booth that was there at the yarn show. I could not help but get a little bit of their Madeline Tosh yarn (lace weight) and also some Malibrigo yarn (again in lace weight).

Sincere Sheep: My friend owns this shop and dyes some beautiful yarns and fibers with natural dyes. I got some goodies to try and make socks.

Feeling Ewe: (link is email address only) What a cute name! I could not resist their superfine Merino and cashmere blend. I got some to play around with that was a natural white color.

Becoming Art: The fiber that I got in this booth was wildly beautiful and is part cashmere again. I am a sucker for it right now.


Finally, and nothing to do with Stitches West...

Have you seen this fabric with Unicorn Meat chart on it? Odd, right? I am attracted to it somehow, don't ask me why.

Stitches West 2011

I visited Stitches West this weekend with my friend (and knitting genius) Marianne. It's a HUGE knitting convention in San Jose, CA and not far from where I live.

With something greater than 1000 shopping booths, it was amazing, and overwhelming at the same time.

Since I have learned to spin yarn recently, I was on the look out for cool fibers and also fun tools. A bit of yarn found its way into my shopping bags as well even though I was not really there to buy yarn.

The one thing that I found at the show that I COVETED but of course didn't buy because it was on the expensive side:

Horse and cart scissors from the Bagsmith booth.

They almost killed me with their beauty. I can see them sitting next to me (in my dreams!) while I hand quilt all my finished quilt tops. If you have not used their scissors before, please do put them on your list to check out. I find them to be the very best around for applique.

I'll have to write another post with links to what I did end up buying since you may enjoy knowing about it.

Old School: Hand Quilting

I've been working on hand quilting this very small antique (circa 1890's) quilt top for my mom. It's been a lot of fun and isn't in terrible shape for it's age.

I am not sure if I will actually finish it before her visit here. I am thinking at this point that I won't make it, but we'll see...

This morning we are heading out to do some photography and for a family adventure in San Francisco. It's a bit of a drive for us, but it's worth it.

We're going retro with our photography and shooting film. My son saw my husband loading up a camera and organizing film canisters and asked, "What's film, Daddy?"

Wow, am I really that old? Guess so! Here's to some good old school fun.

Quilts Japan #138

If you have not grabbed a copy of Quilts Japan issue 1, 2011, vol #138....maybe now is the time.

The pages are full of traditional brightly colored quilts, similar to that on the cover, and they are all really detailed (of course) and beautiful.

The best part of this issue is that it includes the Quilts Japan 2011 calendar.

This calendar has inspirational quilts on every page. It's really a nice one.

Patchwork Quilt Tsushin also has their first volume out for the year and for some reason the quilts in the photos are not speaking to me. I think it's a personal taste thing, but anyhow, the Quilts Japan calendar is not to be missed.

I got some hand quilting done yesterday when my quilt group came over to visit, so I'm feeling like progress is being made there - woo hoo!


Does quilting and Superbowl mix? Hm....