Renegade

Today, Nick and I headed over the Golden Gate to check out the Renegade Craft Fair. It's Renegade's first year in San Francisco. The fair was pretty good, not too big, and well filled with people. It felt very much like walking around inside Etsy. A very trendy mix of crafters indeed.

I was very good, this is all I bought. A set of sock monkey cards from Hello Lucky and a little sausage dog journal from Rock Scissor Paper.

After the fair we walked to Ghirardelli Square for lunch and cupcakes. This was our first visit to Kara's Cupcakes. I had the Vanilla with Buttercream cupcake & Nick had the Java (I think I'll go for chocolate next time. The buttercream at Kara's is amazingly flavorless).

We had a great time and walked a lot (this made up for the naughty cupcakes). So nice to get out of the house and see a bit of the city we live so near. Now I'm back to the sewing machine.

p.s. My hands are feeling better today, perhaps I'm finally on the mend. Thanks for all the kind words.

Reporting Back

I know you're all dying to know where I ended up going yesterday. We didn't make it to the fabric shop (not that it's a bad thing), but we did do some other fun things...

I picked up 3 new Japanese inspirational craft books at Kinokuniya .

Here's a peek inside one of them.

We also went to a great art store where I picked up a few things for a monkey project I'm working on.

And before I went out, I tried out one of my bias tape makers. I've had them sitting in the closet for months! Why, oh why have I not used these before? What a great sewing tool this is. I used my 1" bias tape maker to make the ties and some bias binding for this little drawstring bag I whipped up for my friend Amanda's birthday. No plan, no pattern, I just went for it. I'm fairly pleased with the result, and Amanda was too. Sorry the picture is so rubbish, but I was running out the door.

And now it's the weekend! Where do I begin?

Off to the City

Today is our friend Amanda's birthday, so I'm headed for the city with Nick at lunch time. I get to run around SF all afternoon with Amanda while Nick works, hehe. I need to go here for thank you card bits (and a super secret shop idea I'm working on), and maybe we'll swing by the cool vintage fabric shop Amanda heard about on Apartment Therapy. I hope she wants to go check out the Japanese bookstore too. Last time I got this. I'm aching for some new inspiration. I'm excited to have a day out. Can you tell?

I managed to get something made yesterday. I'm going to be writing up a pattern for my shopper tote, so I made this one to illustrate the steps. I actually made a mistake sewing the pocket in so I guess I'm going to have to keep it for myself. Oh well.

Look where the handles meet the pocket...whoops!

I used French Seams on this tote, and added the pocket. My old ones have serged seams and no pocket. I think that will make for a better pattern, and a better bag. Oh, and if you're curious about French Seams, check out this post by Tess over at the Sew Mama Sew Blog. It's a great guide for different seam finishing techniques. Cool! So have a great Friday and I'll catch you later.

The Long Weekend is My Friend

Though I didn't get as much sewing done as I'd have liked, I was able to make a few things over the 3-day weekend. I've added a new shopper tote to iSew.

I put together a little quilted case for our new camera using all scraps & leftovers.

We went on a couple mini road trips. First to Healdsburg for a walk and a yummy breakfast. We visited a great shop called the Olive Leaf. There were so many great things to see in this place. Nick was hesitant to go in, but in the end I was waiting for him to leave. ;)

Nick spotted these vintage pages of a French child's schoolwork. Check out that penmanship!

Love the tins. I think I saw some like that in France.

We also took a drive down to Alameda, a small island across the bay from San Francisco. We just took a stroll and had some lunch. I found a great vintage feed sack and also got a few things at JoAnn's while we were out. It was a lovely day and I enjoyed just kicking around with Nick. Now I must get my pattern instructions finished so I can get it tested and into the shop!

Kind of a Day Off

I guess things are starting to get back to normal. We're not traveling, no one's staying with us. Pretty nice. I've been missing my sewing machine terribly. I really want to make a handbag or something, but the monkeys are taking over my life...oh, and that wedding thing too. haha According to my new wedding ticker, the big day is 56 days away. omg So much to do!

On Wednesday, I decided to get myself out of the house and head into the city with Nick. It was a beautiful day and I just had to take a break. Turns out I got a bunch of wedding things done. I guess it's best to just go with the flow, eh? I hadn't really planned anything when I went into SF, but I was able to get some shopping done. I found my pink Crocs, got some makeup done at Macy's (I'm a no makeup kind of girl. I don't have any and I wouldn't know what to do with it if I did). I bought the ugliest bra ever at Victoria's Secret (which will be returned), then found the perfect set at Nordstrom (no photos girls, sorry...TMI). I even bought myself a little present at Bath & Body Works, this lotion smells so good. When I went out, I felt a tremendous sense of guilt, but in the end I made lots of progress! Hooray!

Now I'm off to fill some orders so I can visit the post office today. I must get those invitations in the mail.

A Happy Day

(sorry in advance, this is a long one)
I'm very excited today because Nick is coming home from his trip to the UK. I haven't seen him in 12 days! That's a record for us since we started living in the same country. haha I can't wait to see him and I know the kitties will be glad too.
The other good news is that I finally found myself a photographer for my wedding. That was a huge unknown up until now. I've been spending a lot of time on the wedding details since I got the bridesmaids dresses taken care of. This is basically what they'll wear.

This past Saturday I went into San Francisco with my friend Amanda to look for fabric for my dress. Unfortunately, I didn't even come close to anything. There was surprisingly little in the way of bridal fabrics, even at Britex. I suppose it's even harder when you know exactly what you want. So far the front runner for the main part of the dress is a special order from JoAnn, that's right, I said JoAnn - Hey! At least there I can use a coupon! I guess, in my head, I had hoped for a more glamorous fabric experience. You know, like I found it in some back alley shop for $3.99 a yard. There was a really great blush colored lace in Orange County, but the design was all over and I think that's just too much. sigh At least I've got the pattern, right?
Anyway, the day was a success and a lot of fun. Amanda and I shopped for about 10 hours, something Nick would never have done, no matter how many stores have a man chair. We went to the Japanese book store I've been wanting to see. There were so many books in the craft section, I was a little overwhelmed. In the end though, I had to get something. This was my choice:

I have no idea what it's called, but it's absolutely filled with amazing patchwork bags. Very inspirational.
Britex was not a complete failure, I did pick up a few buttons. For monkeys, of course. Just a little side note, I've been looking for a lemon button forever! So cool that I found the perfect one.

And last but not least, the yarn shop. No, not for monkeys this time, I can't afford fancy yarn for those guys. Who'd buy a cashmere Gadget Monkey? ImagiKnit was a great store with loads to look at and covet. I ended up with this pretty pink speckled yarn. No idea when or how I'll use it, but it's pretty, no?A lovely day out with lots to share. Can't wait to hear some opinions on that fabric now.

A Visit to the City

Being a new Bay Area resident, I'm still trying to find all of my fabric resources (not that I need any more fabric). Friday I took the afternoon off and rode the ferry into San Francisco to locate a shop called Peapod Fabrics. I also met up with Nick & a coworker, Amanda, for some drinks & dinner. I haven't made it into the city much since we've been here so it's kind of an adventure for me.
They've set up an ice rink at the Embarcadero, right across from the ferry building. Oh how I love to skate. I might just take a run over there again after Christmas, hehe. I'm a sucker for an ice rink! You gotta love an ice rink with palm trees around it.

The fabric shop was just lovely. It's very small, but I described it to Nick as exactly what it would look like if I owned a fabric store. Very neatly organized, sock monkey on a shelf by the door, polka dots around the cutting table. It was very me and stocked with my type of fabric. Take a look at the website for some great photos of the shop. I'd love to sign up for a class there some day. The owner is super nice, she actually came by my booth at the market a while back. Of course I had to get something, so I picked out these 3 little remnant pieces to add to my collection. I see zipper pouches in my future.
After my trip to Peapod, I headed back downtown to meet Nick. I had some time to spare so I ran in to Urban Outfitters to see what kind of bedspreads they've got these days. Those Birdie ones I got a few months ago made great totes, and they sold like crazy. I'm not especially hip, so Urban Outfitters is a great place for me to go to see what's cool. I got two bedspreads in teal and green. The colors are great! Owls and birds seem to be all the rage right now, so we'll see what the shoppers think when I can get some new totes made and into my shop.
Today I'm trying to make some progress on a custom quilt. I'd love to get it to FedEx by Wednesday morning. Wish me luck!

Cupcakes & Bridal Registries

First off, let me say thanks for all the "Happy Birthday"s I got yesterday. I don't like getting older, but I do like the way you feel a little special for a day. Know what I mean? It's always a bit sad going to bed on your birthday because you know you'll just be a regular person again the next day, lol. Anyway, I had a great birthday yesterday.
I told you all that I was planning a trip into San Francisco. After a little ferry drama, I made it across the bay. It's a lovely ride when the fog is away. I did some research before I left to find a good cupcake source, and was lucky enough to find one in the ferry terminal building. The shop is called Miette. They've got a great website with really sweet graphics, so I was convinced. I did actually read some reviews before making my choice, it wasn't entirely based on graphics and location. I decided on a chocolate cupcake with vanilla butter cream. Now, I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but it was the only way to get the vanilla butter cream, and that's what I was really after. All the other cupcakes had some sort of fruit mixed in or something, and I'm a plain Jane. I carried that cupcake around for several hours before actually tasting it. The anticipation building, I finally decided to give it a go. In the end, the packaging was better than the cake. I know, sad. The cupcake itself was waaaaay to chocolatey & squishy, almost like it was undercooked. The butter cream had no flavor whatsoever. I was crushed. I kept taking more bites with lots of frosting to see if I was wrong, but I wasn't. It was a complete bust. Ah well.
I did have a great day, to spite the cupcake. I don't want to bore you with details, but I ended up registering for the wedding at Macy's & Williams Sonoma. I had a lot more fun at Williams Sonoma. I don't need all that stuff that a bride normally registers for, I'm old, I've already got it all. I enjoyed picking cookbooks and fun bakeware like this and this. We'll see how it goes. The Macy's registry may get forgotten. Sorry Martha Stewart.

Day Off

After having two weeks off, I decided to join Nick & our visiting friends on a trip to the city yesterday. I'll get back to work today, I think. We've lived here for almost 5 months now and have spent very little time in San Francisco. Nick goes there every day to work, but promptly gets on the ferry and returns home. And what better attraction to experience than Alcatraz? That's right, we visited an old prison. Have any of you been there? I'm guessing you have if you've been to San Francisco. Alcatraz is right up there with the Golden Gate Bridge, Trolley cars (which we also did) and sourdough bread. I've been to Alcatraz before, but not for a long time, maybe over 15 years. Can you say creepy? The audio tour was good, but made it even more unsettling I think.

I'm pretty sure the highlight of my day was walking past Macy's in Union Square, the place is covered in Martha Stewart. Aqua rugs, aqua signs, logos, window displays. I might have to go back to SF next week for some bridal registry ideas. Gotta preview before I drag Nick along. sigh