All Over the Place

Nick and I went on a little expedition on Sunday to see an exhibit of this man's work (which was so cool!), and did a little shopping too. We're still trying to get to know the Seattle area.

I think I've told you about my thing for fake food. I made this cheeseburger over the weekend. Isn't it cute? I thought I could stitch the pieces together and use it as a pin cushion.

I got the pattern for the cheeseburger from this book. There are some great patterns in there. I might make a chicken leg or some chocolate chip cookies next. hehe The author has a blog too, check it out here.

Happily, I sold out of the original round of coupon organizers I put in my shop, so I just made 3 more. Now, I need to get to writing the sewing pattern. If you want to see more photos of these, they're all listed on iSew now.

While Nick helped Josh do some destruction on Saturday, I went on a little quilt fabric store hunt. That turned out to be a complete bust, but I did end up with a few things. Those 3 on the right are from Pacific Fabrics in Everett, WA.

I've been very strong lately and have purchased almost no new fabric. Believe me, I don't need it. But sometimes, you just can't resist a few new things.

I've had my eye on the animal print forever. Not sure what it will become, but I love it! I must thank Nick for sitting through a visit to Keepsake Cottage Fabrics yesterday.

Now I'm back to stocking my shops, painting every surface of my new house and trying to save for a (desperately needed) new kitchen. Did I mention I'm taking a cake decorating class too? I took a one-day class back in November and loved it. This class will go for 3 weeks. I've got to bake a cake now too. phew. Busy times.

Forced Air

I may have been the only person in Target today who thought to buy a humidifier on a rainy day. I'm so glad they had the one I wanted.

What shall I call him?

Impromptu

On Saturday, Nick and I headed south toward San Jose, there's a nice Tech Museum there that Nick wanted to see. I thought since we were going all that way, I might as well stop in at the Pacific International Quilt Festival. I mean, we're already so close, it'd be silly not to go...right?

I sort of went a bit nuts. I don't buy fat quarter bundles very often, so you know it's a good one if I do. This is the new Recipe for Friendship collection from Mary Engelbreit.

This collection is adorable, look at those cherries. I love this and this too. I can't wait to break into this bundle. You can get your own here.

I also got a nice stack of what I consider my "neutrals", like these two polka dot prints. I like to keep fabrics like this on hand to line handbags & zipper pouches, sometimes they're great for the revers side of a bib too.

I'm back at the farmer's market on Thursday & stocking up for the holidays too. I'm going to be so busy at the sewing machine for the rest of the year, it's a good thing I've got all this new fabric. Oh! I forgot I wasn't going to buy any new fabric for a while. oops ;)

A Long Weekend

This weekend we headed south to Orange County. It's a long, boring drive, so we took the scenic route on the way down.

We were lucky, it was a gorgeous day. It can be very grey along this part of the California coast.

We stayed at the Cambria Pines Lodge and had a quick walk through the gardens before continuing our journey.

Good thing I remembered that fabric shop in Buellton. It was so packed with goodies, even Nick enjoyed it. All the fabric is $5 a yard so I had to get some.

Remember those blocks I was working on last week? Here's the reason I made them and the reason we went on the trip. Mark is one! It was great to see him walking and smiling. What a cutie! (I think he liked his blocks too.) If you'd like to see a better shot of the blocks, click here.

We also stopped at an old favorite shop of mine on Saturday. I was surprised and delighted to see that Material Possessions is now carrying some Japanese fabrics. I picked up a few.

In the end it was a great trip and we're so glad to be home. The kitties are pretty glad too. We'll be home for 3 weeks now & then it's off to the UK for our wedding reception. phew, I'm worn out already.

Movin' Right Along

Remember a while back when I mentioned my KitchenAid Mixer? Well, I finally got it out of the box this weekend. Better late than never. I still haven't christened the food processor, but hopefully some lemon scones will take care of that.


That's not all I did this weekend. I went to JoAnn Fabrics and picked up some great corduroy. I completely don't agree with selling Fall stuff in the summer, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna buy it. That one on top will go great with a green pintuck cotton I have in the closet. I'm thinking zipper pouch to start.


I also grabbed some bright & colorful Debbie Mumm fabrics (on sale) to make bibs. They're a big seller this time of year so I'm trying to rotate some new ones into the mix. I have a ton in the shop right now.


I also got a pack of really cute card stock to make gift tags with. I like to include them with orders sometimes. This was also from Debbie Mumm, and on sale. It's great quality, and thick, so the tags punch out quite nicely.

Now, I really do have to start stocking up for Christmas. I already have a request for monkey ornaments! Yikes!

Road Trip!

I can't believe it's been a week since I blogged! Oh my gosh, I hope you're still here. Sorry about that. I've been suffering from overuse this past week. Meaning, my hands and arms are in a lot of pain and I haven't been able to be on the computer or craft much. I haven't crocheted at all. :( I'm still taking it easy, but I had to check in with you.
I had a really bad farmer's market on Thursday - probably the heat - so Friday I decided to go for a little outing. I can't bear to sit still so I thought it would be a good way to pass some time while I rest my hands.
I started out in Santa Rosa, about 35 miles north of me. I found a couple of fabric shops in my Quilter's Travel Companion that I haven't visited yet. The first shop is called Material Girl. I really liked this shop. It's not huge, but they have an excellent selection. Quite a good mix, not too vintage and not too trendy. Just a bit of everything, which is what I like in a fabric shop. They also had some great vintage aprons and melamine dishes around the shop. I love that kind of stuff, and I love that linoleum floor!
My mission was to find some fabric to make a more trendy version of my Diana Handbag to photograph for the pattern listing. I want to appeal to a broader audience with my patterns, so trendy is a must. My stuff tends to be a little too pretty. I went for a Heather Ross print for the main part of the bag and some coordinating dots & a vintage inspired floral for the rest. I spent a little time cutting out the bag yesterday, but that's about all I could manage with my rubbish hands.
I also visited Beverly's while I was in Santa Rosa. It's more like a JoAnn type store but with more crafty stuff. They do coupons, so I had to stop in & see what I could get. I picked up some new monkeys and a great fabric from the Ginger Blossom collection by Sandi Henderson. I have to say, I'm falling more and more in love with those Ginger Blossom prints. I'm coveting this one right now. It was all I could do to leave it behind in the store. I so don't need more fabric right now. Don't even mention Sandi's new collection, Farmer's Market. Stop it!!
Next, I headed east to Sonoma to see another little quilt shop. It was the cutest little place, set up in an old home off the main road downtown. The Quilted Cottage was very sweet. I love fabric shops in houses. Such a perfect setting. I didn't buy anything, nor do I have pictures, but it was very sweet and worth stopping in if you're in Sonoma. This is a great time of year to drive through wine country, all the grapevines are covered in leaves. I'm so glad I got myself out of the house for the day!

This was a great little sweet shop with lots of vintage glasses, aprons & other wonderful treasures.

Superfriends

Well, I made it back from Seattle in one piece. We had a great time and the best part was finally meeting Jenn of Jenn Maruska Design, in person! I'd like to repeat everything she said. We hit it off right from the start, she's super nice and I'm so excited to have met her in real life. I'm so lucky to be one of the few people who actually knows what she looks like too, haha.

Jenn was nice enough to take me out to look for my wedding dress fabric. I don't think Nick & Josh enjoyed it as much as I did, but I found my fabric! It's exactly the color I was hoping for and I was able to get it on sale. Hooray!!! Now all I need is some shoes. I won't be able to cut or hem properly without them so I ordered these this morning, on sale. I may switch to these once the party is in full swing. Who looks at your feet anyway?


Nick & I really enjoyed Seattle. I think it's very likely that we'll be moving there in a year or so. It just seems to fit us. We were able to drive around a lot while we were there to see lots of different areas of the city. We took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island, which was beautiful. We were very lucky and had excellent weather the whole trip. I even found a little fabric store on the island, much to Nick's dismay. I tried to be quick and came out with a few treasures from Esther's Fabrics.

It's good to be home again and back to work. What? Did I say that?

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!

What came home with me

It's not like I went to the fabric store today to not get something. I never said I was just looking, did I? I had a good time anyway. The top one is definitely my favorite. I'm thinking a taller version of that Freshcut bag I made last week (now called Ruthie). The one on the bottom is for my wedding, it replaces the large scale floral that Nick hated from my original choices.
Oh yeah, and I just want to give thanks for my sweet low energy daylight bulbs that are in my sewing room right now. It's all grey & dark outside but I can still take photos!! Yay!!!

One Down

Today I'm off to Santa Rosa for a fabric scouting trip. There's a big fabric store up there, about 35 miles from here. I need some pinks & beiges, some more fabric for my wedding and something blue for an adult bib. I'm looking forward to it. It's so pretty around here right now and most of the drive is just hills...gorgeous. It's kind of grey today, but it's still going to be nice.
I wanted to share the finished custom tote with you before I go. I think the tote works well with the zipper closure & pockets. Maybe I'll make some more for the market & see what happens. I've also got two custom monkeys moving out today. That leaves me with another custom purse and two Hawaiian shirts to make this week. I think I can manage that.

Also, yesterday I received two really great books from Amazon.com, I've been anxiously awaiting their arrival. I'll try to give you a complete review at some point, but at first glance, both are excellent!


Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts and Doodle-Stitching. I can just sit and leaf through both of these books all day. I'm a very visual person and am especially drawn to good, clean graphics. These books score an A+ in that area. I've just started reading, so I'll get back to you. Ohhh, they're just heaven!