Taupe Baby Quilt: More Photos

By popular demand....I'm adding a few more of my fav in progress photos of the baby quilt. 


Our little group of ladies had a huge blast working on it.


Enjoy!

piecing in progress

quilting in progress

 Blocking in progress

 

label close up

done and all ready for the new bundle of joy

Baby Quilt: Japanese Taupe Fabrics & English Paper Piecing

Oh how I have wanted to share some photos of the secret baby quilt project with you!

This quilt was started by our small quilt group much earlier this year for one of our members, So Sue, to celebrate the arrival of her new baby daughter.

I have photographed this quilt so many many times.  I want to go through some of the favorite photos and share perhaps more of them with you.

We finally gave the quilt to the bouncing baby, and I think she likes it.  Her mommy really does, so that's a good sign.

The majority of the quilt was hand pieced using the English Paper Piecing method, since we were using hexagons.  Small hearts fit well in the border, and those were done with hand applique.

More photos soon.

A Guide To Quilting and Knitting in Toronto Canada: The Amazing, The Very Nice, and The Elusive

After spending a couple of brief hours exploring the city of Toronto last weekend, I fell in love with the city.

It's one of those places that I have been to several times, but never really got to experience.  I'm sure you can imagine there is a difference between these two things.

My exploration time was very limited, but I learned a lot and can provide some thoughts on what to put on your short list should you find yourself in the beautiful city of Toronto.


1.  The Amazing: A clear stand out

The Workroom:

It's not easy to pick a favorite, and I'm very biased to my own personal taste, but if you can only visit one shop in Toronto it has to be The Workroom.

The shop was teaming with busy quilters taking a double wedding ring class.  I was impressed off the bat with such a difficult quilt pattern and so many eager quilters getting down to business.

They have a policy that they will cut any fabric in the shop in a fat quarter for you (including Liberty of London!) so I picked up a couple of fat quarters.  Their Liberty selection is not huge, but the bolts they do have are beautiful.  They have a really nice selection of Japanese Daiwabo taupe fabrics which are not generally easy to find.  Although I have a zillion taupe fabrics already I had to get just a couple more small pieces.

The collection of mini scissors is also to die for.  They are tiny,  friendly for air travel, and come in all different styles.  Just adorable. 

I have long wanted to get my hands on some sparkle floss from Japan, and could not find it when I was there on my last trip.  Not to worry, The Workroom carries it!!

They have an impressive collection of Canadian-made items including patters by Victory Patterns and Wiksten, and a hand screen printed stuffed animal/embroidery kits by kiriki.

The only bad part about The Workroom was having to leave it!  I am already wondering when my next trip will be.  Some additional photos below.  Please do not miss this incredible, beautiful, and friendly shop!

Note the top image is a photo of the vast fat quarter collection they have for you to choose from. 

I met the lovely Workroom owner, Karyn.  I'm on the left, she's on the right.

 

A view of the bolts of fabric.

Liberty of London fabrics on the left

One the the book shelf areas - Japanese quilting and embroidery books, Daiwabo fabrics

2.  The Very Nice:  Other shops you won't want to miss


The Knit Cafe:

The Knit Cafe was certainly the most friendly of the knitting shops had the pleasure of visiting.  Some locals were there knitting away and the yarn selection was stellar.

They had more Madelintosh yarn than I have ever seen in one place.  My LYS sells out of it almost immediately upon arrival.  I was standing in front of it all wishing I had more space in my bag.

I ended up purchasing a sock yarn ball from a local dyer, Hand Maiden in a green colorway called Casbah.

I met Kristin who is very passionate about yarn and celebrating her 10th year as the owner of The Knit Cafe.  I'm on the right, Kristin is on the left.

Lettuce Knit:Another nice stop was knitting shop Lettuce Knit

I would rate their weekend parking situation as almost impossible; however, their yarn selection excellent.  There were more Canadian brands here than I had ever seen.  The shop itself is not huge, but it very full and well organized.

I picked up some beautiful hand made ceramic buttons and a ball of self stripe yarn by Canadian dyer Rain City Knits in a blue and orange colorway.



3.  The Elusive:  If you can get into these places, you're slicker than I am

Finery Hand KnittingI was interested in this shop after reading about it on Yelp, but I wandered around the mall that it was supposed to be in and I never did find it.  A lot of the signs were in Chinese so I was a little hard pressed to figure it out.  Bummer, it might have been cool

Americo Original

It would have been fun to visit this shop too, but although they were supposed to be open on Saturdays, they were closed with a sign that said they would not be in that day.  I had to drown my sorrow by walking into a bead shop two doors to the right of it called Bling Bling.  That was actually a cool find.  Sorry Americo...I missed you.

Jersey Gored Skirt: Alabama Chanin Pattern

A quick photo for you of the simple skirt I made.  I'm no seamstress mind you, I'm really just a wandering quilter looking for another hand applique outlet.

It's from the Alabama Chanin Gored Skirt pattern in the book called Alabama Studio Style, p101.

When the skirt is dirty, I find myself willing to do laundry just to get to this garment again.  I'm thinking a 2nd one is in my future.

The instructions in the book is to do everything by hand.

I wanted to follow the instructions, but you know...I've never been one to follow the rules.

The important part of sewing jersey on a machine is to get yourself a jersey-friendly ball-tip needle for your machine.  I did that for less that $4 on Amazon.

It worked well, and I used pins when putting the seams together.

The top layer of the garment is black and the bottom layer is a dark charcoal.  I didn't actually have 4 yards of any fabric, so that is why I ended up with 2 colors.  It didn't matter much since it was an experiment anyhow and I was really just making it to see if it would fit.

After it was finished, I put an elastic waistband in using fold over elastic I got from the Alabama Chanin web site.  I also used the felled seam technique, hand sewing to have the excess seam fabric lay flat.  I was not sure if this was a good idea initially but I LOVE the look and will be doing this on all my jersey seams from now on.

I'm thinking of making a more complex project soon.  Something similar to the skirt made by Bowersette of the From These Hands blog, perhaps. 

Until I get more than 5 minutes to rub together, it looks like I'll be washing (and re-washing!) this skirt.

Naturally Died Yarn: Indigo Targhee & Golding Spindle

When you decide to spin your own yarn, it is usually for several reasons.

Those of you who don't spin are perhaps thinking the reason you do it is because you are nuts.  Well...not exactly.

The types of dyes used on large scale production yarn are mostly acid dyes and have a distinct pallet that can be at times a little 'in your face' for my taste.

If you get fiber that is dyed from natural dyes the colors are more muted, maybe a little easier to wear with your regular clothes.

Another reason to make your own yarn is to choose the breed of the sheep that the wool is from.  This fiber is from a sheep breed called Targhee and their wool is what I consider the cotton candy of wool.  Lofty, airy, like a cloud.  It spins up to a non-itchy yet well wearing yarn.

I am only spinning up a couple ounces of this fiber (maybe I should have gotten more?).  Due to the limited bit that I have of it, I decided to put it on my Golding ring spindle. I'm getting it mostly spun up at bath time while the kids are soaking in the tub, I stand next to them and spin away. 

Colorway is called Indigo Blue Sky, fiber dyed by A Verb For Keeping Warm.

In Search Of Alabama Chanin: a visit to Verb and Heath Ceramics

A Verb For Keeping Warm in Oakland, California recently had a trunk show where we went to try on the various different garments and consider what our next sewing projects would be.

There were a lot of beautiful garments there as well as sample fabrics in different colors with different treatments on them either with or without beads.

It took some time for use to check them all out.  Good that my kids are so fascinated by the ping pong balls they have at the shop, and good that the shop is so kid-friendly.

I think the only person who was really bored silly was my DH, but he did some web surfing on his phone so he survived and smiled at me with that smile that says he's glad I'm having so much fun.

Some additional photos for your enjoyment below.  I have not started a huge Alabama Chanin garment project, but I would like to soon before the weather gets too cool for the air brush paint to dry quickly.  I think warm weather really is best for the painting work. 

Enjoy the bonus images, captions are below the related photo.

One of the sample fabrics with black beads on it.  So many beads, very beautiful.

Another sample fabric with both beads and reverse applique.  These beads were brown on dark grey fabric and looked pretty.

Another sample fabric with reverse applique and knots on top.  You can see the beautiful shop in the background.

This is my charming friend Marianne modeling some of the sample garments.  She is even more sweet and lovely than she is beautiful.  Always more fun to shop with a good friend.

 Here is another sample fabric with embroidery and beads.  White on white.  Stunning.

Another sample piece.  It had both embroidery and beads.  LOTS of beads!

 This is my DH.  See the smile?  I know I'm biased but I find him so hunky-handsome sitting in a quilting/knitting shop. He may be thinking he'd rather had his teeth cleaned.

 Another sample fabric with beads, reverse applique and embroidery.  This was one of the more complex pieces.

Sample fabric with reverse applique and heavy clusters of beads inside of the cut out applique.

 On a different trip we visited Heath Ceramics in San Francisco.  This is an Alabama Chanin flag that was hanging there.  So very stunning.  All shades of blue.  Out of this world beautiful.  Lots of hand work, reverse applique.

This is another piece that was at Heath.  Sampler quilt with many different treatments including some beads.  Beautiful and also for sale!

A photo of the Alabama Chanin plates at Heath along with the books that I have and highly recommend.  I would love to have a set of these plates.  They are hand etched, so more costly than the other Heath plates.  Time to save up your lunch money.

To Taupe or Not To Taupe: That is the question

A recent post comment from Lynne had me laughing so hard I almost fell off my chair.  It's like a letter to the editor that just needs more discussion.

She mentioned that she still loves Japanese Taupe fabrics, but has seen a lot of chatter lately about how quilters are glad that we are moving away from this boring palette.

After some searching around, it is true that there are people out there that are tired of taupes!  Seriously!  Sick of them, and looking forward to their exit from the quilting scene.



Maybe I'm like one of those old hippies who still likes to wear tie die clothes 30 years after they stopped being popular. 

They will have to rip the taupe fabric out of my cold dead hands. 

Do you love taupes still?  Are you eagerly awaiting their demise?  


Leave a comment so I can get a better feel of what the quilting universe has to say on this one.



In other news, I've run into so many cool and interesting goodies lately, I have to share some of them with you here:  Enjoy.

Above socks by Zkano:  Made in Alabama!  Too cool for school.  Really comfie too.

Color Block Wallet:  Kids love this portable set of 100% beeswax crayons, made in Germany by NonPerishableGoods

Susan Frost Ceramics: beautiful, albeit not easy to order online unfortunately

Modern architecture & cool eats:  The Shed in Healdsburg, on my short list of places to visit

Greenware cutting boards: perfect gift for a new home or even just a treat for yourself someday

Poketo: if you like minimalism and clean lines, this is a very cool online shop for adorable goodies including some Japanese pots and pans

Oyo tiny figures:  Pablo Sandoval is by far my favorite from the SF Giants - not a Lego 'mini fig' but close and really cute

Japanese Quilt: Yoko Saito's Traditional Patchwork Lessons & Taupe Fabric

When I was flipping through the pages of Yoko Saito's Traditional Patchwork Lessons book, I ran into a super traditional flower basket quilt pattern.


This pattern has probably around for more than a hundred years, but when I saw it in the Japanese taupe fabrics I decided to go for it and make a small wall hanging.



I had some pre-cut squares from Pinwheels and put them together into 4 blocks.  Two very high contract blocks, one low contrast one, and another with different amounts of contrast but using mostly reds and pinks.

I'm happy with how it turned out and now I need to plan the quilting.


Thoughts and ideas on how to quilt this little wall quilt? 

Japanese Taupe Fabric: precut squares

Just a quick view of how I organized the taupe fabrics before making basket blocks out of them.

From left to right:

Lights
Mediums
Darks
Purple/Blue/Green
Red

They looked quite crazy before I sorted them but they look rather neat and tidy now.

Twisted Limone Yarn: 2 Day Socks

I've never made a pair of socks over the course of a weekend before.

I would not have dreamed it possible actually, even for kid sized feet.  

Truly, 'kid' sized feet of an almost 8 yr old boy are getting quite close to the size of my own feet.  He's a little like a puppy with those huge feet.  I often wonder how tall he'll eventually become.  Much taller than me, that's for sure.

Instead of using 3 double pointed knitting needles (DPN's) to make these socks, I decided to use a teenie tiny circular by Clover.  Size 1, 9" circular to be exact.

Initially it was bothering my hands to use it because the needle itself is so short.  I almost gave up on making these with that needle set and cut over to DPN's.

It all seemed to just 'click' at some point, and it was really fast to knit them up.  The almost knit themselves really.

If this continues my family may become really REALLY sick of hand knit socks.  I take them around with me to swimming lessons, piano practice, soccer...before you know it, a pair or two show up. 

Magic!  

Yarn by Twisted Limone, one of my favorite shops.  Socks hold up VERY well to serious punishment.

Basket Quilt: Japanese Taupe Fabrics

Before PIQF rolls around again this fall, I wanted to do something really inspired with the small pre-cut quilt fabric squares from the Pinwheels booth.

Does this give me just cause to buy more in October?

Maybe.  Pinwheels is not on the list of vendors yet.  Oh dear.  I hope they go!  I might actually cry if they don't.

Either way, I am in process of whipping up a wall quilt with four basket blocks made out of Japanese Taupe fabrics.

So far, enjoying the process.  I was inspired by Yoko Saito's Traditional Patters Lesson book.  It's got a lot of the basic quilt blocks you see in antique quilts but all done in in the taupe colors.  Very attractive.

Alabama Chanin DIY Trunk Show: Run, don't Walk!

It's rare that I attend an event that I am this excited over or this pumped up after.

Now through August 26th A Verb For Keeping Warm in Oakland, CA is hosting a DIY trunk show for Alabama Chanin's DIY clothes collection.

You can try on all the finished garments from the kits that are available on the Alabama Chanin web site, and Verb will order kits for you including 10% off!

I met my friend Marianne there and we had the best time looking at all the details of the garments and trying them on.  I was the most fun I've had in a long time.

After we got home, I was so excited to make something that I whipped up a skirt.  Yes, an entire skirt in 1 evening.  Oh yes, my first skirt that I have ever made.  And in case you're wondering....it fits!

More on that later with photos of the event including my beautiful friend, DH who sat there for likely more than an hour while we drooled and kids played with ping pong balls (thank you Verb for having ping pong balls!!!), and some information about how I cheated on my homework when I made the skirt.

So run, don't walk over to Verb, try on some incredible garments, order a kit, and get cracking.  The sample fabrics they had there we just stunning and so inspirational. 

It's a hand work / applique dream come true.

Is Summer Over? Can we make soup yet?

Summer is almost over and kids are back starting to think about school.

Does that mean that I can make soup?

Recipe for best soup on earth:

1)  1/2 white onion + 2 shallots + 2 cloves garlic  +4 carrots (saute)

2)  add in 2 peeled Russet potatoes, 1 peeled apple, 1 med peeled yam, small amount of fresh grated ginger, salt, pepper

3)  add 1 box chicken broth or less if veg are all covered with liquid (add more later you you want, note you cannot remove any to make it thicker!)

4)  simmer on med-low-ish for about 30 min or until things are soft when poking w/ a fork, remove from heat

stick blend it like mad

enjoy it, don't tell anybody else how to make this, demand kisses for it or at least complements about your hair

Let's keep this our little secret, shall we?

Image Transfers: Creativebug

I've taken to watching random Creativebug classes at night before bed in order to relax.

I probably should not just watch 'whatever' because it makes me want to collect more tools and get into new things that I don't have time or space for.

The class I just watched on Image Transfers by Courtney Cerruti was super fun and requires little more than a roll of packing tape.  

She shows you how to use it to make transparent images from your own photos and also from other forms of printed media.

I was having a blast going through my latest Dwell magazine, pulling out pages to do some transfers.  Even my DH thought it was pretty cool.  In the end you have these awesome stickers that you can use for notebooks or just about anywhere.

I've been putting mine on my quilter's notebooks where I store small fabric scraps and inspirational notes.

Placemats for a Round Table

When I take my sewing machine out to the dining table my motto is Go Big or Go Home.

The fur starts to fly and the entire table is easily completely covered by my cutting mat, tools, and the machine itself.

Some time back we decided to create an eating area in the kitchen.  It was not a huge space, so a round table was a good way to squeeze a lot of people into a little spot.

Have you ever tried to purchase place mats for a circular table?

Well, it's not as easy as it sounds.

After 'enjoying' overlapping rectangle place mats, and having 'fun' with their corners flopping off the edges, I finally decided to create a pattern and some custom place mats.

My first attempt at the pattern was a little small, so I made it taller at the top.

I tested the pattern with our dinner plates before I started to cut into the fabric.

When I was at The Intrepid Thread I found some gray and yellow fabric that worked perfectly with the colors our eating area.

I'm happy with the way they turned out and the family likes them a lot.  I'm thinking of making a second set of them. 

I wonder if anybody would like the pattern I created?  I could turn it into a .PDF I think if there is any interest, give a shout.

In other news, I highly recommend that if you happen to run into chocolate by TCHO (local California Bay Area chocolate company), avoid it and don't start eating it.  It's addictive, and perhaps the best chocolate I've ever had.  The blue wrapper, milk chocolate version, does not mention any illegal drugs on the list of ingredients, but I've found myself choosing where to grocery shop based on if they carry it or not.  Beware.  

Do they have a 12 step program or something?  I'm not ready to give it up yet though.  I don't even usually like milk chocolate!

An Intrepid visit to The Intrepid Thread quilt shop

As you have probably noticed, I have some really specific taste when it comes to quilt fabric.

Most of my shopping is done either online at places like PurlSoho, Superbuzzy, or at quilt shows where you can run into some interesting Japanese imported fabrics.

When I discovered there is a somewhat new fabric shop not far from me, I was excited to check it out and see if anything appealed to me.

The Intrepid Thread is in sort of an industrial/office space type complex, so it took a little driving around the parking lot to find it but it was not very hard.

It is located in Milpitas, California, and has been around for more than half a year.

The fabric selection is very modern with perhaps the best selection of geometric prints I have ever run into.  It feels very fresh and young compared to the other quilt shops in the area.  I found myself shopping with wild abandon, purchasing all sorts of quarter yards of fabric without really knowing what I would do with them all.

They also had some very cool ombre fabric that I want to turn into a quilt border.  I found what I thought was Liberty of London, but it was basically faux Liberty of London.  Looking and feeling very similar to the real thing, it was around $10 a yard (instead of ~$40!), so I of course got a couple of small cuts.

Employees are super friendly and helpful, inviting me to walk around and check out their huge classroom.  I felt instantly at home.

They did not have a big selection of notions, but that is the only minor ding I can give this awesome shop.

If you are looking for a better quilt shop in the California Bay area, I highly recommend that you check out The Intrepid Thread.  I will certainly be back.  

What did I make with all those fabrics I picked up?  You won't have to wonder about that for too long...I already finished a super cute project.  More on that next time.

Quilting with whips, chains, and leather!

Well, ok.  This post isn't really a deviation from my usual G-rated content, nor will I cover actual topics similar to those discussed in an unmentionable song by Rihanna.

I'm not exactly thinking of using whips and chains in my quilts.

I have thought about using chains before since Chanel uses them in their jacket liners to weigh down the garments.  

In this case I actually have leather on my mind. 

It's mostly CreativeBug's fault!

First of all, I ran into the above pot holder when I was in The General Store recently.  It reminded me of the free form stitching that is the crazy cousin of Japanese Sashiko.

It's certainly a quilted piece but the tiny bit of leather dresses it up and makes me think it will last longer than if it had a simple fabric loop.

I also happened to wander past Elke Bergeron's CreativeBug class on making a leather clutch.  I watched the 25 min class and got really excited to incorporate a little bit of leather in some quilted projects like pot holders or maybe small bags.

Elke herself makes some really beautiful bags.  I will be keeping an eye on her work.

Meanwhile, I want to check out some leather in person and may plan an excursion to Tandy Leather in San Bruno.

There is an etsy shop called bookhauathome that has some leather and fabric bags that would also be fun to use to tote around a small hand quilting project and your keys and wallet.  Nice muted colors.  Just beautiful.

Friendship Bracelet Central & Giveaway Winner

Summer camp continues around here and the kids have been enjoying some relaxation.

Our 7 yr old has taken up making friendship bracelets like MAD!  

We can hardly make him put them down when he needs to go the the bathroom.  If that's not dedication, I don't know what is.

I'm modeling his first fancy one in a  "V" shape.  It's amazing how much fun you can have making these for friends and how much people appreciate getting them.  I really love mine.

It's been a super busy week for me and I have so many more topics to cover, but they will need to wait for next time.  

The winner of the Sew What! Skirts book give away is Barb!  

Barb, drop me an email at quilt (dot) baby at hotmail (dot) com and I'll send your book out in the mail to you next week.  Enjoy it!

Hope you are all having a nice and quilting weekend.

I've been getting the very strong urge to spend another day in San Francisco.  Calling my name for a visit soon is:

- March - A kitchen shop, but more like a gallery of what your kitchen decor may want to look like when you finally get around to that remodel

- Flora Grubb - My favorite nursery on the planet.  Always a challenge not to spend my entire paycheck in 1 visit, or buy too many plants to fit in my trunk

- Peapod Fabrics - quilt shop with tons of Japanese influenced fabrics.  Nuf said.

- Smitten Ice Cream - using liquid nitrogen, they make your favorite flavor from milk, cream and other good stuff.  Located in the Proxy Project - a 2 block radius of coolness in the previously-questionable-now-hip Hayes Valley area of SF

Quilt Border Debacle & Recovery Plan

When you put some borders around your quilt blocks, you usually think long and hard about what fabric to use, how thick to make them, and if the are 'just right' for the quilt.


In the case of my modern house quilt, I apparently did not observe my usual process.

The fabric I used seemed like a good idea at the time.  

Once I had lived with the completed quilt top for a while, I realized that I was not in love with the border fabric and that the value of it was overall too dark.

At that point, I started to get really intimate with the dreaded seam ripper.

I carefully remove every last piece of it from my beloved applique blocks and breathed a sigh of relief.

The blocks went back into being stored in a huge flat three ring binder and I have not touched them since.

Or until now.

I finally found a better border fabric.  It is polka dot.

I know, really...polka dot?  Wouldn't that be too busy?  Well...not really.

Lecien is a Japanese fabric company that makes many of the taupe fabrics that I like to use in my quilts.  They have a cool list of fabric shops by state in the U.S. that carry their line.

My rotary cutter and rulers are out.  I'm starting to cut new pieces of borders to re-sew them to the quilt.  This polka dot fabric (the lighter, bottom one in the photo above) is the one that I'll be using.

The darker polka dot fabric on top is something I may also play around with, but not sure it will make the cut for this subtle quilt.

Oh, and lastly I finally saw the 200 follow mark being broken for my blog.  To you dear new followers, you warm my heart so.  Thank You!!!  A huge virtual hug to you.

Knit Turtle Love

The knit turtle was feeling lonely.

I created him a best friend to hang out with.

They have already started causing trouble together.

It's rather cute.

It seems like they enjoy playing tag in their spare time.