Bring on the sunshine

Please raise your hand if you're had enough rain in the month of February already. Maybe some of you could say the same for the snow, especially if you're in the US on the east coast.

For my friends out there in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand...well, my heart is with you celebrating summer.

Finally the weather did clear a bit here and we have seen a bit of sunshine, but the cold bugs are still having all sorts of fun with my family. Our sweet and darling 2 yr old has been knocked out with a fever for 3 days now, poor little dear. Send your best healthy thoughts in our general direction if you can!

What could possibly cheer me up this week? Pediatricians who give you same day appointments, children's tylenol, 3191 blog - oh what a beautiful photographic study of light and color, reading Calico Cat blog and knowing that I'm not the only one out there that loves Japanese taupe fabric.

The tale of the red blanket - part III - "Happy Reunion - Diamonds for Blankets"

After many years of the red-themed gift exchange, and my poor sister typing "red blanket" as her computer password on a daily basis...my husband asked me to marry him.

It was a sweet and romantic proposal, and both families could not have been happier.

My sister, as a special engagement gift, and a testimony of her love to her new brother-in-law, returned the red blanket to him.

It was not quite the same relief experienced by hostages released after many years of imprisonment, but I will have to say that it was a very sweet reunion.

Ok, so in other news, I just got my embroidery pattern "Quilting Bee" from Hilary at Wee Wonderfuls. No idea when I'll whip this up, but it's adorable, and so quilty!!

The tale of the red blanket - part II - "The Cold War"

As you might have guessed, my then-boyfriend-now-husband was more than slightly upset that his red blanket had been swiped.

My sister was tickled pink with herself, and more than happy to keep it safe on a permanent basis.

This triggered what I call "The Cold War". Nobody was giving an inch, but many shots were fired over the bow.

For Christmas and birthdays, he picked out a red-colored gift every year. Red sweaters, red flowers, red cards, and any other sort of red goodies you could think of were targeted at my poor sister. (Good thing she likes that color!)

When she was in college, he helped her build her first computer. They picked out the motherboard, graphics card, chassis, everything. Guess what he created as the password to her new computer?

You got it - "Red Blanket".

This went on for years. Until...finally something happened.

(cliff hanger, right? To be continued...in the next and final installment.)

The tale of the red blanket - part I - "Grab it and Run"

This story is so famous in our family, that I cannot believe I have not told it yet.

Several years ago, I went on a trip to the Amazon region of Peru with some girlfriends to take photos and do some rafting.

While I was on my trip, I visited Machu Picchu and many other amazing places.

Along the way, I bought a red blank as a gift for my then-boyfriend-now-husband as a momento from the trip.

When I got home, he picked me up from the airport of course, and that weekend my sister came in to visit me.

I made her look through all 700 slides that I took on the trip, and she almost killed me for it.

At the end of the weekend she spotted the red blanket that I had bought back for my then-boyfriend-now-husband. He had forgotten to take it home to his apartment with him.

I think she saw this as lack of interest in the blanket, and she thought it was very pretty. She packed it up in her things and took it home with her.

That didn't go over too well with then-boyfriend-now-husband, as I will cover in my next post.

Patchwork Quilt Tsushin #142

Issue number 142 of Patchwork Quilt Tsushin is really out of this world, I must say. One of their best yet.

Tons and tons of quilts with traditional looking Japanese red fabrics, and brightly colored florals.

Several cute bag patterns (page 47 & 94 if you're following along here - taupe! Yum).

Pages 34 and 35 have some examples of this a block by Chuck Nohara that form this pattern that look kinda like the letter "Q" to me. This pattern is adorable. It looks like a good bit of work, but I think it would make a very cute kid's quilt.

Ok, so you know it is always my dream to visit Tokyo in January to visit the Tokyo Dome quilt show. Well, of course I didn't make it this year, but other bloggers did, so that's good for us.

Moving Hands blog has been a long time favorite of mine. Her flickr set of pictures from the show is not to be missed.

Super Tuesday

Clinton, Obama, McCain, Romney...it's a policical three ring circus on TV tonight with so many state primary elections.

Some folks just live to watch the elections, but I'm sorta looking forward to other topics even though there is a lot more still to come.

I knit this little hat for the friend of my son, after I found another yarn ball after I lost the first one I was going to finish the hat with....I'm so glad it's finally done. I need to hurry and drop it into the mail before it gets too warm to even wear.

Is knitting a winter sport? Are there those of you out there knitting year round? Hm...while I ponder that, I think I'll head back to a bit of quilting.

I guess my "Super Tuesday" is going to end with a good read of one of my favorite blogs, "Super Eggplant". No political messages over there for those of you who are glued to CNN, but some very cool cooking going on lately.

The Blues

Rain beautiful rain. It's still raining here. I'm seriously afraid to leave the house without my trench and umbrella.

Being from Southern California, I'm still adjusting to this Northern California weather (read "rain").

For those of you in Australia/New Zealand, I am jealous of your sunshine!

2 blogs you must visit now now now:

My friend Elizabeth's blog is really blossoming nicely. If you're the kind of quilter that has more than 1 or 2 posts a week that are titled "Another finished Top" or "My quilt is finished," you'll love to find another person that is EXTREMELY productive with a really beautiful quality of work.

Corinne, my friend, a great artist, and as it happens, a co-worker as well....started her blog some time ago and the contents are really impressive.

It's called Chocolate Banquet, and it started with a bet that she couldn't eat a new and different piece of chocolate every day, for a year. Well, it's been over a year now, and she's still at it! She records all the calorie information as well as giving you a little write up on how much she enjoyed her daily treat.

Suspicious Redwork Quilt

When I was in my quilt appraisal class, we looked at TONS of quilts.

One of them belonging to a fellow classmate had these really interesting and different 'animals' on there in redwork embroidery.

There were these strange yak-like things, and other odd animals we could almost not even identify.

This guy though, took the cake. In the end we debated between a sasquatch and Cro-Magnon man.

Oh, and I got the most tempting and naughty email from Purl today...they have new Liberty of London prints (I will have to be physically restrained from buying some) and these little fawn prints that are to die for adorable.

Liberty, Freedom, Emancipation for Yarn Balls!

When I flew down for my quilting classes, I brought a knitting project to work on a little bit on the plane. It is a hat for a friend of my son.

I sat down, got comfy, and took out the last yarn ball that I was going to use on the hat.

By the time the plane hand landed, I had not yet gotten to the point where I needed to use the last ball, and it rolled under the seat in front of me, without my noticing.

I was so excited to get off the plane, and see my mom and all of that, that I never noticed it was gone.

A couple days ago, I hopefully stopped at the knit shop and bought another one.

Lucky me, same dye lot.

Oh, and I went to the best coffee house in all of San Jose, CA last weekend - Bearfoot Coffee. The have a creme brulee like coffee drink w/ caramelized sugar on top. My husband declared it the best coffee on the planet.

Japanese Fabric - red

Here's a photo of the red fabric that my friend's mom gave to me. They are all so pretty. Perhaps I feel a valentine quilt coming on.

If you love Japanese animation, you have to love My Neighbor Totoro.

My husband sent me a link to this adorable story of this kid who accidently dropped his stuffed Totoro doll down a storm drain, and what several dedicated adults did to try and save him.

It's called Don't Let Totoro Die, We Can Wash Him!

Gifts from Japan

My good friend that I used to work with was here visiting from Japan last weekend through today.

Unfortunately, I was out of town at quilt class for the majority of her visit. Boo-hoo...oh, the shopping that I must have missed! She's practically a professional shopper here in the U.S.

She did have time to go out to dinner last night with us, so we had a very nice visit for the evening, and ate some AWESOME Mexican food.

As you may imagine, Japan has some of the best food on the planet, but that being said...good Mexican is a bit tough to come by if you live there.

In typical Japanese style, my friend struggled to haul all the gifts she brought for us into our home.

For our son were packs of rice crackers. This was a huge hit. For my husband was a very impressive collection of Japanese junk food. He's a big fan, and I'll admit I never met a Pocky I didn't like.

And for me was the latest copy of Quilts Japan, complete with their calendar for 2008.

Best of all, my friend's mom is a quilter. She sent the quilt pictured above for me - isn't it lovely?! All hand done, and beautiful.

Her mom is also getting on in years and is trying to find a good home for her fabric collection. She wanted my friend to bring all of her quilting fabric over to me, but my friend could only find so much space in her luggage.

Even with limited space, she brought tons and tons of amazing fabrics, collected over many years, from Yuzawaya in Tokyo (you know this my favorite shop on the planet).

I was shocked with this generosity, but I suppose I should should have been more prepared for it considering how sweet my friend has always been to me. Japanese culture is truly a beautiful one. What a blessing to have friends such as these.

Road to California Quilt Show - heading home

What a nice time we all had at the quilt show.

Lots of classes were taken, loads of new things were learned.

Lots of booths were visited and we'll have to admit that we did do a little bit of shopping. Just a bit.

I got to hang out with not only my family (including a surprise visit from my sister and brother-in-law!) but my mom's friends as well.

My mom's friends Mrs. P and Mrs. McD have grandkids too, so they were natural friends of our 2 yr old. He was loving the extra attention and kisses.

I have a pile of business cards from booths I visited and loved. A lot of them have online shops so you all will be in good shape.

My new favorite is Wooden Spool Designs. Her web site leaves a bit to be desired, but her booth was adorable! Tons and tons of hand dye wools and cute original patterns as well. She'll be at the Long Beach, CA quilt show this summer, if you're heading in that direction check her out.

I just was looking around at some of my usual fabric sources on the web and found this retro robot fabric a Purl Soho. Can I resist buying some?....perhaps. Perhaps not!

Quilt Appraisal Class - day 2

Today was my second and last day of quilt appraisal class here at Road to California.

Sort of an interesting blog talks about some of the insider info of the show - It's called Backroads2California.

We learned more today about finding the value of quilts. Similarly to real estate and the old saying "location, location, location"....the saying for assigning value to quilts is no less than "condition, condition, condition!"

There is no such thing as "good condition for it's age" as all quilts value relate to their condition as it currently is at the time it is appraised.

Our class took a stab at appraising one of my quilts, along with many others. I still have a lot to learn about dating historic fabrics and all of that, but they decided my quilt was dated circa 1900. I guess I didn't think a lot about old it was, but how cool that I own a quilt that is over 100 years old.

The little doll quilt picture above was another one of the things we studied in class.

Tomorrow I'm in my last day of appraisal class. We're going to cover fair market value, which I'm looking forward to very much.

In the evening I'm lucky enough to be taking a lecture from the owner of Pinwheels. Home of that amazing imported Japanese taupe fabric. They got these amazing and cool little buttons in. You cover them with whatever fabric you want, and they make for awesome emblishment tools.

Quilt Appraisal Class - day 1

Here I am at Road to California quilt show in Ontario, California, and I just finished my first day of classes on quilt appraisal.

Our teacher is Bobby Aug, a very experienced teacher and appraiser. I am learning a ton, spending time looking at antique quilts, and loving every moment of it. If you ever get the chance to take a class from her, I would recommend it.

My mom is here with me about to take some long arm classes starting tomorrow. It's a special treat to get to spend some time with her. I feel like I'm in high school again. She wakes me up with that same cheery voice that I remember so well. Ah, morning people.

Today we learned about replacement value of quilts for insurance purposes. I learned that most quilt appraisers will recommend against having a quilt appraised that is valued under around $200-$300. That was news to me, I thought you were supposed to document them all!

I also ran feverishly around the quilt show snapping up shots of the quilts. Will have to post on flickr...having oh so much fun. Stay tuned, more tomorrow.

First present of the year

When I was just dating my husband, he started this amazingly romantic tradition of giving me the first present of the year.

Every year that we have been together, he has given me a little token of affection at the stroke of midnight to ring in the new year.

My sister was wondering if he would still continue to do it after we got married...and of course he does. (best husband on earth)

Anyhow, this year, it was a beautiful necklace and matching earings from Amy Bengtson, one of my favorite jewelery artists.

I guess she was featured on this "daily candy" web site, since she has an icon on her site about it. Looks like this could be a cool site too.

Gosh I have more freckles then I though I did!

Busy bee weekend

So far this weekend has been a busy one, but good all the same.

Some friends hosted us for brunch which was wonderful! So nice not to cook! What a treat! I feel so spoiled!

My college roommate and her husband stopped in for dinner on their adventure through the bay area. They are totally nuts, dinks, and think that a casual drive from So Cal to Northern California in 1 day is a piece of cake.

The were picking up this chair in green- wow it's pretty. Cannot wait to sit it in.

Still plugging along on the sashiko yukata quilt. It's fun to hand quilt something free form.

Oh, and we saw the coolest movie last night. Witness - from good old 1985, with Kelly McGillis & Harrison Ford. It's about Amish life and modern life and now never the twain shall meet.

For you Lord of the Rings fans out there, it's Viggo Mortensen's first film.

The film itself was very beautiful, well lit, and well acted I think. The quilts in the movie are beautiful as well. There is even a scene that takes place at the quilt frame.

A bit of adult content, so watch it after the little ones nod off. Directed by Peter Weir (Dead Poets, Truman Show, etc).

Road to California quilt show

Oh oh oh, I'm really starting to get that excited feeling now that Road to California (the quilt show, of course! in Ontario, California) is only a number of days away.

I'm flying there to attend classes starting next Wed. on becoming a quilt appraiser! Yes, little old me is taking my first steps towards certification. The process will actually take a while, and I'll be really needing to study up...but so excited about this!!

I'm also going to be in a couple of night lectures.

One is by the owner of Pinwheels, on Japanese taupe fabric. Ok, like what could be better than talking about that for an evening. That will rock for sure.

They got this new stripe fabric, I hope they are bringing some to the show for me to get a little bit of it.

I am 1!

Dear Readers,

It's Marisa's blog, Quilt Otaku, talking here today.

I wanted to write you a thank you note for all your kindness, love, and community you have offered me over the last year.

It's hard to believe that I'm already 1 year old, but I'm very pleased to finally see this amazing milestone.

Pictured above is Marisa's new children's sewing machine that her parents gave her for Christmas. I think it is her new favorite toy. It was made around 1910 by a company called Casige.

Anyhow, I will now sing a shameless verse of "Happy Birthday to Me", bow respectfully to all of you for making me feel so loved, and promise that the next year will be an exciting one!

Thank you! From the bottom of my little digital heart.

Slainte!

Kaffe Fassett quilts

Our power is back!

We were only out for just over a day I guess, so we're happy and warm again.

Good thing we had some nice offers to stay with friends but thankfully we didn't have to use them.

I made a minor correction to a couple of posts ago...the Kaffe fans that my mom saw were for display only, not for sale, but beautiful anyhow.

Photo above courtsey of my dad!

And a couple of quick links for you to prove I love his fabric.

Really --- I --- do --- love it!

It's dark here...

Well, as much fun as it it so conduct your evening activities by candle light, I must confess this power outage is getting old. We have been down for over a day now and I'll admit that I miss my heater more than my lights or washing machine.

Thank goodness for Panera bread just down the street. They've got a nice hot soup, a good fast free WiFi connection for us bloggers, and heating!

It looks like more rain for the rest of the weekend, so we will lay low and potentially stash a couple of frozen chickens in a friend's freezer.

Think a happy thought for PG&E to get their act together! I'll be back when they turn the lights on.

Oh, and yes, you all did guess it right - that is Kaffe Fassett from my last post. My parents ran into him in Big Sur, California at Nepenthe. It's a restaurant owned by his family and he is staying there for a while.

He was super cool to my mom and even gave her a little tutorial on how to make these paper fans (he was selling in the gift shop. ) oops - EDIT/CORRECTION HERE....fans were on display only, not for sale you shop-a-holics, sorry!