Happy (Belated) Easter

Last weekend, D and I went to San Luis Obispo for Easter. It was so great to see the children & my family. The weather was incredible & the good food just kept on coming.

Saturday night, my dad made a *delicious* seafood paella. He actually caught the fish himself in Mexico. He's such a Renaissance man. (here I am trying to take credit for the paella)



And this was our Easter spread, featuring the "Steve Bunnies" I made for the children as tablescape. How appropriate.



Check out these adorable little placecards.



And who is responsible for all that adorable-ness?? She's only my niece, but she makes me so proud! *sniff*



And what Easter brunch would be complete without a Madonna Inn black forest cake?? Hello!



And if prying myself from my family wasn't hard enough, this was the scenery on our way out of town. The orange you see is a huge patch of California Golden Poppies.



Can you even believe it?

Quilted Scrap Pillow II

You really think I would only make one? Come on now... In between naps, I put this one together:



The details:



And together:



These will look so sharp on D's sofa.

Quilted Scrap Pillow

I have been so sick all week that I haven't left the house in 3 days...which enabled this completely recycled project made of things I already had in my arsenal (yes, I am really sick). Inspired by this awesome blog post, I busted out my scrap bag and composed.

I didn't worry about pinning or making things exact.



Then I graduated to a larger free-motion quilting project (still not up for a full-size quilt yet). I started with gray thread, but pulled out the first pass - I think neutral is better to start with.



Then I recycled a pillow and backing from this project .



And voila!



Don't worrry, no large, or otherwise usable pieces of fabric were harmed in the making of this pillow...

Happy Accident

I have no idea what just happened...

What started as a free-motion quilting experiment, and then an appliqué quilting experiment, turned into a tooth fairy "pillow" (finally!) for my niece, Malia. And I am so happy with it!



See the little tiny pocket for little tiny teeth? Hopefully the Tooth Fairy can get her fingers in there...

The deets:



And don't worry, there's a pocket on the back big enough for a little cash or a pack of gum or keys to a car (kidding).



...time for a nap.

Home Sick, Binding

Yesterday I stayed home from work with a cold. The only energy I could muster was to bind and bind...

Here is one of the scarves I'd been imagining forever. I bought this charcoal & creme piece of wool when Poppy was preparing to move (it was dangerously close to my work anyhow). The fabric was too expensive to do anything more than this scarf with, so here's my micro-vision. And then I found the binding fabric at Peapod. It's cotton from Japan, but looks/feels like silk. Dee-lish.




Then, (I know you're totally sick of looking at this fabric, and this quilt - but this is a different one, I swear! And the last one too!...wait, scratch that.) I used the leftover polka-dot fabric I am backing the big quilt with. I think I like this better than my historically go-to "seed" binding (for this one anyhow).



I tried my hand at machine-quilting with the walking foot. Next up, free-motion quilting.

Blue Bottle & Velo Rouge

I've pretty well weaned myself of coffee, but every once in a while, I like to indulge. This cutest little neighborhood cafe, Velo Rouge, serves the world's greatest coffee. They also have a delicious food menu.



I stopped by today to take some coffee to my family in San Luis Obispo - a sure-fire way to get a sweet cup of joe in the AM.

....and yes, of course, I take my own coffee sleeves in.

Food Phase

I'm a food-phaser. I find something I like (which is by no means a rarity) and I'll eat it every day for days/weeks/months and then abruptly stop. It's been grapefruit, peanut butter, whole wheat english muffins, Peasant Pies, Cadbury mini eggs....

My latest food obsession? Roasted root vegetables:





...it could be worse...like creme brulee.

Wee Kimono-Shirt

There's this little store in town that sells adorable children's clothing and paraphernalia. Overpriced, I browse for inspiration (is that bad??).

And let's get something straight here....I am not all that imaginative. But, I can often times see something and recreate it. From there, the design deviates and I can sort of call it my own, right? And so it goes with this little shirt I saw:

Before:



After:



This is draft #1. Next time, I'll make it longer (a dress maybe), the back of the neck higher, and make the sleeves better (elastic, maybe?). Anyhow, I made this sans model, so I gotta see if it fits Miss Maile first.

Pot O' Gold...Er...

In honor of St. Paddy's day, we served some traditional Irish fare. My roommate, Sarah, D, and I had nice little celebratory feast.


(yes, I know 5:45 is very senior-citizen-early-bird-special of us, but I had rehearsal...)

Yipes - actually doesn't look all that yummy, does it? ...Well, it was pretty tasty. But remind me never to be a food stylist.



And traditional Irish oatmeal raisin cookies. Never heard of oatmeal cookies as an Irish dessert? Oh...

I Wonder Where the Car Is...

....Oh yeah.



We went to San Diego a few weekends back and of ALL the colors of ALL the cars at our rental agency, this is the car we ended up with. It was the only yellow ride, and we were the lucky recipients. Do you think they laughed at us as we drove off?

Anyhow, I spent one day walking around La Jolla and watching the seals. Not sure why, but I much preferred these guys over the ones at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. Apparently, this used to be a children's beach, but after El Nino, the seals took refuge in this little cove. Now the animal activists don't want to kick them out, and they've soiled the beach quite a bit, but the children kinda want their beach back...



And maybe you're wondering what wild and crazy kids do on a Saturday night in La Jolla....

Petit Craft Blitz

It was an unplanned craft blitz. And while I didn't accomplish quite as much as the last blitz, I knocked out a couple fun projects.

These onesie/burp-cloth sets for my good friend (and Cuban sistah) Madeline's beautiful new baby, Carolina.




And these looped towels from Amy Butler's In Stitches book.




I bought a bunch of that Amy Butler green polka-dot fabric to back my quilt (which I won't show you again until it's complete) with, so I put the excess to good use.

Muir Beach Hike

Today was such a lovely day in the City....which doesn't exactly explain why we headed north to Marin. But we did, and it couldn't have been more perfect. Off the trail from Muir Beach, D and I found a sweet little picnic spot.



...and then I threw him off the cliff.

Stitchin' Post Quilt Kit

I think I mentioned this quilt kit ages ago, but am just now getting serious about it. I bought it at the Stitchin' Post in Sisters, OR last summer. I finished the top panel today.



Fabric look familiar? Determined, I have been working on it since I woke up this morning sprinkled with some oatmeal-making, TV-watching, and veggie-roasting. I think this is a good stopping point for today...now I can step out of my PJs and face the day (it's like 3:30 in the afternoon).

Check out these corners...oh, yeah.

Blankie

Here's the blankie I made for Callie's new little man, Wyatt:



The stripes are cotton flanked by linen and backed with super-fine corduroy. I'm telling you, this thing is yummy.



I didn't know what "flavor" the baby would be, so I did my best to make it unisex. I hope Wyatt and Daddy approve!

Blitz Complete

It was a heavenly day - America's Next Top Model reruns, takeout sushi, frozen yogurt, and my sewing machine.

It was fairly productive. Here are the finished products from today (minus the wedding gift - I'll post once gifted - No peeking, Karen!)

Jamis's Tooth Fairy (non) pillow, which has a cool little tooth he can dangle out from under his pillow so TF knows there's something in there and doesn't have to rummage under the pillow and potentially wake the toothless wonder.


...he's a big car guy.

Here is the stack-o-sleeves.



And here's the dress.


...the back.

I still need to hem it and maybe take it in a bit, but I'm too tired tonight.

G'night!

p.s. D got his Balentime's Day cookies - shortbread. 'Cause mama's little baby loves shortnin' bread.

And...

A tooth fairy pillow for Jamis (STAT)
D's Christmas quilt...from 2007...start it, I mean.

Oh yeah...and...

Let me add to that list of "projects to finish":

Piece the quilt from the kit I bought in Oregon last Summer
...and finish it.
Make pillow shams
Make pillows for Sarah
Make D V-day cookies

Ok, I think that's it for now.

This Friday - Craft BLITZ

I have Thursday and Friday off, so it's gonna be a blitz. Well, Thursday will be bills/taxes/business, but Friday will all crafting all day.

Here are a few of the things I plan on knocking off my list:

Finish Callie's baby quilt (baby's been born by now, for sure - oops)
Finish Karen's wedding gift (was married 7/07 - oops)
Finish my stack of coffee sleeves
Make my edged scarf

And...make this...


...with this fabric.


In writing out this list, I realize there must be many more blitz days to get through all my pending projects...such as...

Painting the bathroom
Replace the 1980s white plastic towel features in the bathroom (how have I lived so long with those horrid things up??)
Paint my headboard (selecting the paint may take a day in itself)
Make Maile's duvet (Makaio and Malia already have theirs... still need to post photos of that)
Open an Etsy shop

So you see, while this blog has been sparse of late, it should be picking up steam after the blitz. Stay tuned...

I've Found a New Baby

Baby Lock that is...

This weekend, my friend Karen accompanied me in buying my very first (own) sewing machine! I have been using my mom's trusty cast-iron Singer for, well, 25 years. And she has served me well, but I thought it time to see what I've been missing.

Here it is!



I bought it at Eddie's Quilting Bee in Sunnyvale, and it was quite a pleasant experience. The machine comes with 3 years of classes and, if in a year, I decide to upgrade, I get the full value of the machine towards a better one.

My favorite features are the hands-free sewing, needle up/down feature, automatic needle-threading, and the cutting feature which cuts your thread and brings both down to the bottom (a must-have for the anal-retentive sewer).


I haven't used it yet, but I will surely be posting projects. I am so excited!!!

Chairlift

After sleeping in until 9:00 and taking a nap (in my new flannel bedding!!), I thought I should probably make something of my day. So, I used some fabric I had greedily consumed yards and yards of and has since been sitting in one of my several Rubbermaid bins downstairs, and finally covered the brown pleather seats.



A facelift for our chairs... a chairlift.

p.s. I did go on a 1.5 hour hike, so I suppose I'm not totally sloth, and the nap was sort of deserved, right?

Twitty Apron

Here is my victorious claim in the Tiwtty gift exchange. It's a pregnant goldfish (or "twitty") and it's fabulous!!



Thanks Stack - I love it so much!!

Inspirational Dance

You want to see one of the funniest SNL skits of all time?? I can't tell you how many times I've watched Will Forte in this skit, but EVERY TIME, I die laughing.

This is the only place online I can find it... it's jankey, but it works... the funny part starts about 1/2 way through.

Gift Fit for a Twitty

Last night I hosted our 6th Annual Twitty Christmas Extravaganza (yes, we have it in January... you try coordinating 10 girls and their SOs in December). It was a multicultural potluck - we had Egyptian, German, New Zealand, Italian, Vietnamese, Cuban, Jewish, "Chinese," and Swiss representation. Two words - Dee-licious.

Our personal paparazzo Katy took most of the photos, so I'll borrow one of hers for the next post. But what I DO have a photo of is the gift I made for the gift exchange.

It's a clutch, coffee sleeve, and tissue cozy! I made it with some new fabric I picked up at Peapod, my favorite little fabric store. The owner just got back from Japan, and I am sure glad she did, because she brought back this AWESOME kimono-inspired fabric. You will see this fabric again, I assure you. Coco is now the owner of this trio.



The Bend the Rules clutch:


Coffee sleeve:


Tissue cozy:


Might I add how proud I am of all the homemade gifts this year?? It brought a little tear to my eye. I SUPER lucked out and got an apron embroidered with a pregnant goldfish - Twitty lore has it that a "twitty" is a pregnant goldfish. Although we are not named after a pregnant goldfish but a rather giddy gaggle of ladies, it's symbolic and I love it!!! It's in the "shop" getting my name embroidered on it. Photos forthcoming (I realize I say that a lot and don't always come forth with the photos... I will try)

Thank you ladies and gentleman for such a great time!

Doorknobs & Chandeliers

I got sick around the New Year, so I've been lazing around the house in my bathrobe, mostly. But, I love having a project, so I started swapping out our doorknobs and hanging chandeliers (with some help, of course)....both projects that can be done in a bathrobe.

Here's the dining room:



Here's the view from my pillow - I love the idea of a bedroom chandelier:



And one of the doorknobs:



Thanks to my fabulously stylish roommate for making these selections and thanks to Dad for teaching me how to be "an electrician."