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.

A little something for all of you

When I was listening to a recent podcast by The Spin Doctor (a very good podcast about spinning yarn) Jillian was saying that she would love to make an A-line skirt someday.

I too am getting more interested in sewing clothes, as another outlet for applique and hand work.

This book, "Sew What! Skirts: 16 simple styles you can make with fabulous fabrics" by Francesca Dehartog and Carole Ann Camp is an interesting read if you're looking to jump into the waters of simple garments.

I like the idea of drafting your own pattern since it is very custom, as recommended in this book.  It seems faster to me when a full size pattern is included by the author, but in this case it's a draft your own approach.

The book has spiral ring binding so it sits open next to you as you are sewing.  Oh how I wish more books were bound like this. 

You can probably use some quilting weight cotton for some of the projects here if you have a couple of extra yards laying around and you want to try to have a little fun.


This book got 4.5 out of 5 stars at Amazon from over 100 reviewers.

It could be your very own book, from me to you, if you do the following:

1)  Leave a comment on this post before 9pm PST Sunday 7/21/13 - tell me why you are excited to make a skirt.

2)  For extra credit, say in your comment that you put a link to this post from your blog and I'll put your name in the give away pool twice. 

I am SO close to having 200 followers.  Wouldn't it be nice if I could break past the 200 mark?  Help me out here....good luck!

Turtle Soup Recipe

Eating cute little turtles is hardly something I intend to start doing. 

In fact I was shocked that there are lots of recipes out there for them.  I was thinking that they are too adorable to eat.  Apparently not!

Anna Hrachovec, the mastermind knitter behind MochiMochiLand just came out with a pattern for a tiny turtle. 

I knit this to match my 4yr old's most recent socks.  He is actually willing to wear the socks now that he has a matching turtle!  Wow, a small miracle. 

Mind the Gap self striping yarn in tons of colors, made it easy to find a good color combo that pops.

I'm slipping a couple more photos in here for you, I just cannot resist.

After several hours of hard work, the tiny turtle progressed from the starting link on the ankle to half way up the shin.

He really is small as you can see.  Knit on size 0000 needles!  Yowza.  Teenie tiny.

How to make Quilt Binding, or how I make it at least!

Putting the binding on a quilt is like putting the icing on a cake.

Every binding chef probably has their own secret recipe for the perfect binding.

I will tell you my recipe.  It's a bit of religion really.  If you make your binding differently, tell me why and maybe I'll try a taste!

First you will want to know how big your quilt is.  Measure all the sides and add them up.  If you're lucky, the opposite slides are equal lengths.  If that is not the case, you can do some wet blocking with pins to try and help yourself out of that little jam.
 
I cut 2.25" wide pieces of fabric, all the way across from selvage to selvage (which is usually 44" or so on quilt cotton).  I have found that is the thickness that looks good in my opinion.  Any thicker and it starts to look like more than just a little frame.  It can overpower the quilt.

Some quilters cut binding on the bias, which is also a good practice, but not necessary unless the quilt will get a lot of washing.

Joining the strips together on the diagonal put less stress on the fibers and give you a longer lasting binding.  I always do that.

I make sure that the total amount of binding inches is enough to go around the quilt + 10 inches extra for corners and joining together at the end.  

For example, if your quilt is 80" square, I would cut (80x4)+10 = 330 inches.

Wow, I did some quilting math for you.

Oh, and I don't use pins as I machine sew the binding on the front of the quilt.  I just guide it along with my fingers only.  I know....No Pins!  Horrors!!!  You're thinking I've lost my mind, right?



I use hand applique to sew the back side of the binding to the back side of the quilt.  I use cotton thread, not silk applique thread (pretty but not tough enough for binding I've found).

If you're still awake here, give yourself a gold star.

If you want to see an incredible online class on the topic with really awesome video, see Sue Nickel's Creativebug class on Quilt Finishing and Binding.  I just watched it, and it's amazing.  It might just be the best $15 you ever spent.

I'm also thinking of doing a little give away later this week, so check back soon. 

Happy Fourth!

The 4th of July is one of my all time favorite holidays.


Some extra time with the family while school's out is an awesome treat.


This year the holiday weekend was a busy one.  Lots of running around:


Monster's University - enjoyable movie, albeit slightly scary to our 4 yr old at a couple of points

Giants Baseball - fun to beat the Dodgers!  We had some nice seats there this evening

Heath Ceramics - a beautiful shop in San Francisco...if you are looking for Alabama Chanin's new plate, better wait until it's back in stock.  I did not get my hands on one.  We bought a coloring book instead.

General Store - this funky spot in San Francisco is oh so much fun.  Japanese imported household goodies, and adorable hip clothes.  R.P. Miller t-shirt was my favorite discovery.  Unfortunately not shown on the General Store web site, but available here at Gravel and Gold.  I dislike un-soft or itchy shirts.  These T's are 100% cotton and soft as can be.

Oh, yes...and I finished knitting a pair of socks, and finished quilting my secret quilt project!!  How's that for progress.  Heh! 

Mind the Gap: self striping sock yarn

I am hand quilting away like a mad person, but top secret project so no news of it here.

These little crazy colored socks did get finished recently while on vacation, so I'm sharing a quick snapshot of them with you.  Even the presence of my mom's loving coaxing could hardly get the reluctant model to keep them on for more than a couple of moments.

They are done though, and they look adorable.  Maybe he will warm up to them.  They are slightly big, so he as some time to change his mind and get some use out of them.

The yarn is by British dyer Trailing Clouds.

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.