Summer Fun: Postcard

I wish I could drop this photo in the postal mail to all of you since our summer has been going so swimmingly (pun intended).

I'm here quilting away and enjoying feeling warm finally.

This is my son, skipping rocks out across the Pacific Ocean.  What a lovely sight.

Happy summer.  Let me know if you have some major projects that are moving ahead.  I feel like I'm making progress!

Just Ducky

Anzula is a yarn company that makes perhaps THE softest sock yarn I have ever felt. 

The base is called Anzula Squishy and the colorway I picked up is called Ducky.

At $34/ball, it isn't for every pair of socks you want to knit, of course.  On the rare occasion you want to make something really REALLY special, I think this is a good contender.

My final vote for/against the sock yarn doesn't happen until I have knit up a pair of socks with it and worn them for a while to see how they hold up.  Stay tuned for that.  I'm toying with the idea of knitting up the Waffle Cream socks by Anne Hanson of Knit Spot.

What I did on my summer vacation: a visit Purl Soho's warehouse AKA Liberty of London Central

Purl Soho, the beautiful store, is a treat that only those on the island of Manhattan are privileged enough to enjoy.

Clever Californians know the secret of their warehouse located in Tustin.

I stop in there when I can, but the hours are pretty limited (M-F) and they close quite early.

This summer, our vacation was in So Cal with our family, swimming, eating my DH's famous BBQ, and collecting sea glass on the beach.



We had a run over to the Purl Soho warehouse and of course I found a few things.  3 small pieces of Liberty of London fabric found their way home with me, and also some Nani Iro fabrics, just for fun.  Hard to resist them.

Of course the highlight of the vacation was time spent with family, but I will confess that going to Purl was my second favorite thing we did.

Handmade Garment Label

Putting ink on fabric is something that I have a little hankering for at times. 

After my made my Alabama Chanin t-shirt corset, I couldn't help by try to put a custom handmade label on it.

The garments she does have labels that include some hand writing on them for that personal one of a kind touch.

I wanted mine to look similar.  A quick search for washing icons gave me some ideas for adding some cute laundry care pictures.  The little "Q" "O" (Quilt Otaku) logo could use some more playing around with, but for my first try, I'm happy with it. 

Red button craft thread was used to attach it, used 2 threads at once.  I left the knots showing on the outside back of the garment.

My first garment: Alabama Chanin Corset

I am admittedly a person who really likes to use hand sewing techniques to make quilts.

By veering of that path into making a garment I felt more that a little bit out of my element.

Quilting weight cotton has certain properties of staying in one place and generally not acting like jello when you work with it, as long as you keep away from the bias.

Cotton jersey fabric is of course the opposite, acting like jello at best.

Pins are your friends when working with jersey, I discovered.  Reading all the directions (which I did) helped a lot too.

Natalie Chanin's book called Alabama Stitch Book has a couple of really interesting garment patterns in it.  There is a skirt called the Reverse-Applique Swing Skirt that I have not made yet, but my hope is to try my hand at that very soon.

The project I made above is called the printed T-shirt corset. 

The origin of the fabric I used was 2 T-shirts that I got from my favorite TexMex eatery in Austin called Chuy's.  If you're from Austin, you know what I mean about this place.  Yum.  Unfortunately, they don't sell shirts online.  Boo.

I may have been close to being able to use 1 shirt to make this corset, but I wanted to arrange the design carefully and also get a small bit of the logo on the back too, so having 2 shirts to start with was a good idea.

Cutting them out was pretty easy, I followed the instructions in the book.  Sewing them up was also not hard, but I did use a lot of pins like a smart little quilter.

I didn't want to make a judgement call on if I really like the shirt until I wore it and washed it to see if it fell apart in the laundry machine. 

So far, so good.  First wearing included a super tight/thin tank under it because I found it a little low cut for my personal taste.  I'm thinking of adding some binding around the neck and arm holes to give them a bit more heft so they will hold up better over time.

It came out of the laundry looking great, in one piece.  I did hang dry it though, as I normally do to some of the clothes that I like too much to subject to the torture of the dryer.

The real reason I made this shirt was as a test run.  My next one will include some applique that will be a time investment.  This one is a great test of sizing & fit without much handwork devoted to decorating the fabric before garment assembly.  I love the black on black corset version she has on her site, but I may end up making a brown version.
Maybe I can wear it again tomorrow.  Think anybody will notice?

Hand Knit Socks: Getting to know Cookie A (again)

The last time I knit a pair of socks by Cookie A it was her most famous pattern called Monkey.  Almost 17,000 pairs of them have been logged in on Ravelry.  Not bad for a little sock pattern. 

I decided to branch out and try  her pattern called Wanida, a significantly less popular pattern with only around 1,000 projects noted on Ravelry. 

Not sure why one pattern becomes more popular than the next.  Maybe it's the photos.  Maybe it's just viral.  Either way, I am enjoying knitting Wanida and hope to cast on the 2nd sock soon.

"Second Sock Syndrome," AKA "SSS" or basically a lack of interest in knitting the 2nd sock (no more mystery, once the first sock is complete) is my current state of being. 

What does one do when overcome by this disorder? 

My "helpful" DH has recommended one could have one's second foot surgically removed.  An interesting (sick?) notion.  I was sure I could come up with a better alternative to that.  How about....

Sewing instead!!

I may have a photo for you of my newest hand sewn creation soon.  Stay tuned.  So far, I'm navigating uncharted waters and having a serious blast.

School's out, time for some summer fun!

Even my pin cushion has taken to a lighter theme for the summer.

I wonder if the Lex Luthor minifig is uncomfortable with the orientation of that clover pin I used to prop him up.


Kids have sore fingers from squirting water guns at each other, and frankly, their parents.

Parents are starting to feel a bit more rested after a couple days of school being out.

Lots on the menu for me this summer in terms of projects. 

I finished 1 sock so off to cast on the 2nd one tomorrow.

I'm also playing around with making my first Alabama Chanin garment.  Will keep you posted on that one.  When quilters try to make garments....that could be quite an entertaining endeavor.

Also, still hand quilting away on a project that will show itself here in probably another month or so. 

Meanwhile, decorate your pin cushion with something fun.  Send me a link to it if you do!

Heavenly View

This image from my window seat recently got me to thinking how beautiful the view is up above the clouds.

I took a small knitting project on this trip with me, just a sock pattern.  When you create a new project in Ravelry, they let you name it something cute.  I called these my Red Sox Socks, after the Boston baseball team.  The pattern is not super complex, but is by Cookie A and is called Wanida from a book called Sock Innovation.  Photos coming soon.

When I read posts by other bloggers about loss in their family life, I never have anything terribly comforting to say to them since these events of course very sad.  It does make me feel less alone in this process and more like we are all just part of a greater plan.

My loss is of a person who has known me since I came into the world.  A person who did not have the easiest life but who always saw his glass as half full.  He loved to read the paper, have a morning cup of coffee, cheer for the Red Sox, and go on a drive in the car to nowhere in particular.

He taught me to count my blessings, even the small ones.  At times I don't take the time to recognize simple blessings in my daily life, but the real truth is that we are all quite blessed.

Hand Spinning on a Golding Drop Spindle

Making your own yarn is an endeavor not to be taken lightly.

It allows a knitter to get to know a lot more about the fiber and where it comes from as well as how it will behave as a garment.

I enjoy making my own yarn and even though I have a spinning wheel, I still love to play with a drop spindle.

This spindle is by the Golding company and is what they call a 'ring spindle' because of the metal ring that weights the outside of the whorl and helps it to spin longer.

There was a sample of this totally crazy looking fiber that came with the spindle.  I didn't note the name of it because it was all sorts of different colors and even had sparkles (SPARKLES!!) in it.  I thought wow, this fiber is SO not my taste.

After spinning the sample up just for fun to see if I love the spindle (and I do)....I ended up liking this funky yarn too.  Sparkles and all.

Yes, I've said it in front of God and everybody now.  I plan to knit something with sparkle yarn.  

Feel free to put the back of your hand of my forehead now.

Spoon : Thread : Scissors (hint - in hand quilting, nobody misses the rock or the paper)

I've been doing a fair bit of hand quilting lately.

Seeing the three layers of the quilt come together and the texture of the stitches turns a plain old quilt top into something quite beautiful.

Not everybody enjoys the basting process, but I use Jeanna Kimball's basting needles (longs in size 4) and an old spoon in order to bounce the basting needle back through to the top of the quilt.

Basting a quilt is relatively quick and having it all set for the quilting part is when the real excitement begins, so I do strangely enjoy the basting part.

I don't always use a blue temporary marker to mark the quilting lines, but sometimes it's useful depending on how dark your fabrics are.  One key is to keep heat (read: your iron!) away from the quilt top after you have marked it to avoid creating permanent marks that won't come out.

YLI's hand quilting thread is probably some of the easiest to use.  I find that it doesn't get knots in it easily and it threads up through a small needle eye without much of a fight.

This hand quilting thread comes in 1000 yd spools, 100% cotton, lots of different colors available too.  You can see it in the photo above in the brown color.

I prefer a raised edge thimble for extra leverage.  

Wide Bow scissors by Merchant and Mills are quickly becoming my go-to scissors.  That's quite a compliment, considering the number of pairs I own.

Oh, and a huge thank you to Jan of Be Mused blog (who you already follow, if you are as lovely as I know you are).  The mystery quilter mentioned in my last post is Yoko Sekita. The super traditional Japanese quilts are so amazing.

Patchwork Tsushin #172

I have a subscription to both of the popular Japanese quilting magazines (Quilts Japan and Patchwork Quilt Tsushin).

Some issues inspire me more than others.  When there is a holiday issue, or one that is devoted to a theme that I'm not super into (Patchwork Tsushin #173, ahem...redwork), I can get a little less than excited to thumb through the pages.

When an issue like Patchwork Quilt Tsushin #172 comes along, I know that I will spend some serious cycles soaking up the inspiration.

On page 15 of this issue there is a quilt made out of a matrix of 392 different girls dressed in traditional kimonos.  It's not only just an awesome collection of traditional Japanese fabrics, it's an amazing showcase of some serious needle skills.

On page 12 there is a quilt made up of circular 'ball' motifs from traditional Japanese floral fabrics.  Stunning!  

Page 13 has a bag made up of cherry blossoms on hexagons, again, using the Japanese floral fabrics.

Page 28 has the most adorable bag made with a cross stitch kitty on it and some Japanese Ikat fabric.  

What really killed me though in this issue were the photos on pages 46 through 51.  They are the most detailed scenes of Japanese villages, alley ways, and homes.  Oh how I want to learn to read Japanese so I can just find out who the creates these quilts.  

Have you see this issue yet?  If you know who is making the quilts on pages 46-51, I'll email you a gold star!

When in Austin, Texas...do as the Texans do!

If you have read my blog for a while like a lot of you have, you probably well know that I'm a serious California girl.  I love living in the golden state, and the bay area weather really agrees with my system.

When I do leave home, I end up in Austin, Texas from time to time.  My goodness I get such a kick out of visiting there.

On my last trip, I took the advice of my good quilting friend Carol and had dinner at the Eastside Cafe.  They grow most of their own herbs and a lot of their veggies on the property in a garden right next to the restaurant.  Things are so super fresh.  The servers are warm and kind and the inside has different rooms because it used to be a house.

I was also wandering around South Congress looking for a couple of things in an antique shop called Uncommon Objects.  I found way more than I thought I would, so that was really fun.  The ultimate treasure was a vintage rosary for my son's first communion.  They have a funny movie of some of the interesting things in their shop.

The most fortunate thing that happened to me was walking past a jewelry shop called Limbo.  I love very simple affordable little earrings and necklaces.  I got a pair of earrings and may have to try to order online.  The shop in person is super modern and amazing. 

I did manage to avoid something that Texans call "Fire Ants."
I was like, "Gee, what's a fire ant?"

My friend laughed and said they have been known to kill baby cows.

I'm thinking it's a good thing that I didn't make intimate acquaintance with any of them.

I guess I've finally learned to appreciate good old California style ants. 

Reverse Applique: What's Black and White and Red all over?

The conventional answer to that one is The Newspaper, but I'm not sure anybody really reads that anymore these days.  A bit of a shame really, but too easy to get news on your tablet I think.

Although my initial efforts at reverse applique on jersey fabric (ala Alabama Chanin) are far from perfect, they are moving along, and IMHO looking rather cool.

This one is white on top, black as the 2nd layer with some pinkish red paint.

I made a front and a back and hope to turn it into a bag eventually once I get more than 2 seconds to rub together.

To those of you who have been hanging out recently at Quilt Market, it all sounds very exciting this year.  I'm looking forward to seeing all the season's new fabrics for us quilters to play with.

Little Oak Cardigan: Road Test & Preschooler Extortion Practices

Towards the end of the school year our local public elementary school hosts an amazing art show.

It is combined with an open house event where you can enter your child's classroom and visit with the teacher.

This year the event did not disappoint. 

The children sometimes adopt the theme of a famous artist's work for their own original painting.

This year was not only a feast for the eyes, but included a small dosage of preschooler extortion as well.

I finished knitting the Little Oak sweater, and of course my 4 yr old still refuses to willingly put it on. 

He is very interested in increasing has saving account though, so for 2 dimes and 1 nickel, the sweater was donned and some photos were finally taken.  

Giving in to your pre-schooler's extortion tactics: questionable parenting technique
Getting photos of him wearing your knitwear:  priceless

Reverse Applique: Alabama Chanin Project

I have been working on a mini-table runner using reverse applique and methods invented by Natalie Chanin.

The project itself has been a joy to create and it is a secret (perhaps not so secret now) gift for a friend who hand carried home some serious goodies for me from a recent trip to Japan.

She may at times read my blog, but truth be told, I cannot contain myself from sharing this little photo of the project, and hopefully my friend will love it.  I think it is turning out quite pretty.

It's not quite done yet, but it isn't that far off either.

In other news, I am still working hard on a super top secret quilt project that is just perfect if I may say so myself.



And finally finished is the sweater for my 4 yr old.  I need to put buttons on it still, but it is adorable and he is willing to try it on for $.25 per session.

He even modeled it for my friend the other day and ended up with $.50 total.  Smart kid.

Are you ready for Mother's Day?  Maybe you are wondering where the perfect place is to take your special mother.  How about packing a picnic and heading towards a Peony Garden.  That sounds like a good idea to me!

Playball!

I'm probably not the only person on planet Earth that loves Baseball season.

In past years I have cheered for my old home town team.  I will admit that I still love them, although I also cheer for the new home town team these days.

If you're into baseball, you may wonder if it's possible for one person to like these two teams.  I'm might be the only example of this sort of a sports fan.

Major league sports aside, this year is a very special season.  Our son has decided to play ball this year, and is having a great time at it.  He even received the 'Game Ball,' last weekend, a great honor going to the player of the game.

I have been knitting a little sweater called the Little Oak Cardigan by Alana Dakos during the games.  It's sized for our 4 yr old who's opinion on the matter is:

"Mommy, I don't really want a sweater."

Sigh.  I will finish it anyhow, and at least make him model it for a photo.  It may then be shipped off to a niece so that it will be actually worn.  

How I managed to produce a kid who doesn't like hand knit sweaters...I will never know.  Good thing he's so cute.

Meeting Natalie Chanin at A Verb For Keeping Warm and...brain teaser answer!

The brain teaser post was so long ago that I'm sure you all know you got the right answer.  It was of course the ark from the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie.  The Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, California had an exhibit of items that were brought in not only from the movie itself, but that were also real 'found' objects from actual real live archaeological digs.  

It was really cool.  We had watched the movie before going to the exhibit so the kids were excited to see all the stuff from the movie in person.  I'm not sure if kids or parents enjoyed it more. 

I recently had the amazing pleasure of visiting A Verb for Keeping Warm's stitch-in session with author Natalie Chanin.

My friend and I headed up from San Jose to Oakland in rush hour traffic, but it was after all very worth it.

Natalie spoke of her current endeavors as well as thoughts for the future of her company.  I didn't get the feeling that she is super keen to write another book, but I did beg her to anyhow since the first three books are so amazing. 

She gave us choices of all the colors of organic cotton jersey that her company uses for their clothes so we could combine them in different ways and have a small fat project to experiment with color.  

The clothes that some of of the students were wearing were made from some of the books.  They were just spectacular. 

Natalie is super down to earth and just about the nicest person I think I've ever met.  She was so sweet to spend time with us and to teach us a bit about her hand stitching processes.  I am off to try and make a garment now.  Not sure if I'll start with a tank top or a skirt, but either way the wheels in my head are turning.  

A little photo of me and Natalie.  I'm on the left, she's on the right.

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Brain Teaser

Just a quick brain teaser for you to wrap up your weekend.  Excuse the fact that it isn't exactly related to quilting.

Anybody out there recognize this object?  

Clue: I ran into it recently in Southern California.

If you live there, you can visit it too but only through April 21st.  My boys (even the adult one) got a huge kick out of this exhibit.

Alabama Chanin - some serious fun

When I originally broke out the airbrush and painted some fabric for an Alabama Chanin style test project, I also created a darker color piece.

I'm not sure that I love the dark red paint on white fabric that I used previously, and question my wisdom in using light silver paint on dark gray fabric.  When I look at the work that Alabama Chanin does that appeals to me most, it is actually the lower contrast look that I gravitate towards.

Next time I'm going to try the silver paint on white fabric, and some black paint on the dark grey fabric to try and achieve that elegant low contrast look.  Her long bloomer skirt is an example of this style.  Anna's Garden Swing Skirt is another beautiful example.

For now, it's all just learning and refining the basic skills of using the template and an airbrush, which is new to me.

It isn't that hard to pick up, but like everything...it will get better with some practice.

I'll be putting some black fabric under this gray that you see above and starting in on the reverse applique next.  

It's all quite addictive really.  The reverse applique is super portable and a perfect project for baseball season!

Playing with Twined Knitting and Secret Ops Quilting

At Stitches West this year I took a class on Twined Knitting from author Laura Farson.

It was very different than the usual knitting method, but pretty cool, and very Scandinavian.

Maybe the brim of a hat or the cuff of a glove will have something like this going on in the future.

There is an interesting Ravelry group on twined knitting where you can learn more, if you're interested. 

I really like this hat pattern called Undergrowth.
 
Are you planning for Mother's Day yet?  If your mom knits, maybe a wood DPN holder by  Knitzi would put a smile on her face.  Wow, there is even a carved version in walnut.

Spare time is at a premium for me these days, but what little of it I do have is devoted to a new top secret quilting project. 

It's a surprise for the person to receive it, so I'll leave it at that for now to be on the safe side.