New kicks: Don't hate

I wasn't going to let something like jury duty get me down.

On this glorious day, during our lunch break, I strolled into Soho and stopped into Opening Ceremony - a boutique that is generally too cool for school. I started to get bored flipping through racks of clothing made for people who have nothing better to do than, well... shop in Soho during the weekday.

But wait! What was this? In the sea of black micropolyblendedviscosecyanide pleated high-waisted short shorts, I spied some floral print as I rounded the first display. Liberty of London? As I got closer I realized they were Nike's!



Of course, I had to buy them.



I haven't worn high-top sneakers since the 8th grade when those velcro Reebok's were the sh**. I'm sure I'll look dumb as heck walking around in these, but I don't care! I love them! So what do the kids do these days? Tie or untie? I should go all the way and dig out my E.G. socks and peg the legs of my jeans.

I can't wait to brighten up that dreary jury duty waiting room tomorrow with these guys.

New toys

It's been more than a year since I got the Canon Rebel Xti. It was a vast improvement over the point & shoot that I had. Well, I finally invested in some proper lenses. I wanted a lens I could walk around with and take candid pictures of people and things on the city streets. After doing what felt like 100 hours of research, I decided on the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L. It is a great lens, and now I just have to learn how to use it. And, don't let anyone tell you different - it is HEAVY. I mean HEAVY, no joke. And for a walking around lens, it'll be quite the workout. But, I'm prepared! I can't wait to get some nice springtime shots!

The other lens I bought is the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 macro. I'm excited to take some close-ups and also have an alternative if I don't feel like lugging the heavy one around. I was told this is a decent lens as an all-around basic use kind of lens, but since there's no zoom, there would be some limitations. Here's some pics from this new lens:



I like how this picture turned out, but I really have to work on my hand shake. So, I should definitely look into mono/tripods. The lens was about 2.5 inches away from the earring.



Then I played around with using this as a basic lens. I think it looks great! And, I was able to catch Brigitte showing off her pink belly in the awful lighting of my apartment. Fun!

Oh yes, another baby quilt

Sometimes I feel like my friends are single-handedly keeping this planet populated. Migglesworth's old old friend had a baby boy, born May 5th, and he'll be receiving this one. I had been working on the other baby quilt, so I had to whip this one up snappy-quick.

I had been tempted for a long while to try the reversible quilt technique. And tempted only because I wouldn't have to wrestle a monster through my sewing machine to quilt it. I loved the idea that I could work on each individual square, and then put it together. It is the answer to anyone's problems if they're dealing with very little workspace.

After flipping through Sharon Pederson's book and looking at my fabric stash, I decided I liked the idea of a quilt not having a back, but I wasn't really a fan of making "two quilts in one". I think quilts, if used properly, are in fact actually being used. So, more likely than not you would see this underside, and that would be an eyesore.

I had so much fun making this quilt. I cut out all the batting squares. Cut out all of my half-triangles. Sewed half-triangles onto batting squares, and then... CHAIN-QUILTED. So, not only could I quilt manageable sized squares, but I could run them through assembly line style. Oh, I was quickly becoming a convert.



And then I had to put them all together with these strips. The strips being the connectors of all these quilted blocks. That was easy enough.

It's definitely not one of the neatest looking quilts I've made. I didn't line up some of the strips, and when machine attaching the final part of the strips, you have to be careful as to what it will look like on the other side. Mine not look so good. Well, I guess mine does have a front and back then. Oh well.

Year of the Rat Quilt

I'm not a huge fan of "rat". The chinese zodiac is riddled with serious translations of animals: boar vs. pig, ox vs. cow, hare vs. rabbit. Why the long face, chinese zodiac? Why so serious?

Who am to change tradition, so I'll stick with Year of the Rat. Here's the Year of the Rat quilt for my friend who's due with her second any moment now. (It is the year of the rat, right?)




This is my first quilt where I actually felt like I was being creative as opposed to some geometrical human calculator and a human guide for my sewing machine. I drew out the mice, um rats, and created the little appliques. I used fusible web, and then satin stitched around the edges. This was my first go at applique, so I wanted to go the easy route. The satin stitching took some getting used to, and boy does it take a lot of thread, but I liked the result.

I embroidered the tails and eyes, and thought better of including whiskers, and feet as I felt I wanted more of the idea of rat, than rats all over the quilt.

And then, the quilting. I started machine quilting on the rat blocks. (Oh God, I can't say it anymore. I'm switching over to mouse/mice.) Uh-hum, so I started machine quilting on the mouse blocks. I tried echo quilting on the first one, and then squiggly lines on the second block. They looked awful. The echo quilting made it look like a "kaboom! supermouse coming through!" The squiggly lines just seemed messy. So, I picked out the quilting - which I don't recommend - and hand quilted the four mouse blocks.



Finally, machine quilted the rest of the blocks in the same style as those fun coasters.

I love this quilt. I really wanted something muted and simple, but not boring.

Lemonade socks

Months ago I had started a half circle cardigan. When I was about to start the finishing process, I realized, after some soul-searching, that I didn't like it. Aside from me not really wanting to do the finishing, and if you'll just ignore the other part of me not really knowing how to do part of the finishing, I just didn't like the sweater. I knew I would never wear it. It was all 2x2 ribbing, so it was going to CLING... if you know what I mean. And, it turned out a little small. Small and clingy, in this very sort of muted variegated way was going to make me look a little crazy.

So after staring at this pile of knitting for months, I decided to do the painful and totally frog it. About 9 skeins of frogging. It was just too annoying to look at everyday. Such a reminder of wasted time. (Although, this was the project that had turned me from an english knitter to a continental knitter.)

The yarn really is so much fun and it's such a unique colorway that I had to knit it up into something. So, here they are. A pair of socks. Sometimes sock yarn should really just be for socks. They're much cuter on my feet than CLINGING to my torso.



So, there's my version of turning lemons into lemonade.

Ripple Weave Sock pattern from Vogue Knitting Fall 2006
Yarn from ShibuiKnits - Sock

I did like this pattern very much. It was easy to get into the groove of the ripple weave pattern. Not confusing, but not boring.

Fancy Tee

I don't think I've ever been able to master the concept of "business casual". It was easy to throw on a suit. And it's easy to throw on some jammies. But, business casual... casual, but not too casual. Ready for business, but not too stiff. So for the past however many years, I've been going to work looking like a waiter, pretty much.

Maybe I've found my happy medium with this fancy tee.



I used Vogue Pattern 8392, View A and Amy Butler's Nigella fabric from Purl. Aside from using a size smaller, I am definitely going to make some modifications on my next one:

1. Longer sleeves. (Or lose some weight. I hate when the underneath part of my sleeve rides up into my armpit. It's bad enough when my pants do it.)

2. Longer length. (Or lose some weight. It's bad enough I have to deal with my big booty. The general public shouldn't have to suffer too.)

3. Different neck closure. Hook and eye closures are not so good when there's no tension pulling them closed. So they pop open often. I'm going to try some cute covered buttons next time. Or even on this one.

It was very easy, and very quick. I do recommend it. And I think it's cute, fun and best of all, business casual friendly.

Doing it my way

I'm finally starting to accept the fact that I'm no spring chicken. More often than not, I'm being called "ma'am" instead of "miss". I often mention movie lines or lyrics to the younger set with only blank stares in response. But, the worst is this: I get heartburn turn acid reflux when I eat foods that are too "heavy". I don't even know what that means other than bad for you. But, I do know my list of no-no's is growing.

I was devastated when I realized the carbonara at Otto set off acid reflux for weeks, only to be followed up with chocolate giving me migraines. Am I paying for past indulgences? Am I setting my 20's straight now that my body cannot take anymore abuse?

Well, I decided to do it my way. (Sorry Mario.) I found a decent carbonara recipe that used cream instead of raw egg (boo-hoo). And instead of pancetta, easily obtainable bacon was an ingredient. Hm, bacon has never given me any gastronomical problems... so, when I passed the sign stating "REALLY GOOD BACON" at the Greenmarket in Union Square yesterday, I had to indulge.



Isn't that awesome? It's like 99% fat, 1% meat. I've always told the Migglesworth that I must have been a pork bellies commodities trader in a former life. Either that, or I watched Trading Places too many times when I was younger.

And, it gave me a chance to try out my new Le Creuset stainless steel cookware. It's amazing. I highly recommend it.

I would have taken pictures of the final dish, but being a little pork belly myself, I snarfed it all down.

Many many thanks

Sometimes it's hard to make friends. Sometimes it's even harder to make friends at work. And when you do, I have them to thank for my daily sanity.

Thanks Davina - you know why.

And thank you Jane for all the fun and the introduction to Tammis Keefe.



And a big thank you again to Purl Bee for always providing such wonderful inspiration.

The Yuwa fabric used in this project is very sheer, so I decided to double it up for a tougher hanky. I used my sewing machine and embroidered initials onto the corners using water soluble stabilizer. Then, I serged the edges right sides together, leaving 2 inches to flip right side out. Pressed flat. And finally, topstitched around the edges and to close the opening.

It was my first time using such soft, sheer fabric. Quite the learning experience. It's a little fussier than I'm used to.

A common love

Thank you, Mr. Mark Lipinski for the link back here! We have more in common than you think...

Pugs!

Urban Quilters League... UNITE!

Thanks to Linsay, whom I met over Flickr, I joined a new quilting group - the Urban Quilters League. (I think we're still deciding on a name, but this was the only suggestion and I think it's cute-thanks Marie!) With this being my first quilting group, I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't able to attend the first meeting, but I was able to join their second meeting and met most of the members. We were limited to meeting for an hour because we were using City Quilter's classroom.

My first UQL assignment: create a 16" x 13" block for Rose's soon-to-arrive baby. The group had picked out fabric at the first meeting, and thankfully I could join in the fun even though I was late to the game.

Yesterday, I ran over to where Linsay's roommate had the fabric for me (thanks Kevin!) and got started. I drafted a design last night, and finished the block this morning. It was the first time I designed a block so I was a little nervous about getting the measurements right. And, I had never done curved piecing before. It was definitely not as difficult as I thought it was going to be, much to my surprise.


The funny thing is, I messed up. Can you see it? After drafting out a pattern and creating plastic templates for the pieces, it's important to remember to trace the template pieces backwards onto the back of the fabric. I needed two each of the background shapes for the big orange circle blocks. I had three of one, and then one of the other. So, I had to flip one of the fabrics and use the back of it on the front. (It's the paisley fabric - a Katmandu fabric from Mark Lipinski.) Hope it looks ok!

Thank you Sew Mama Sew!

Flattered is an understatement. Thank you for featuring my Crossroads Quilt on your wonderful blog, Sew Mama Sew!

Blouse #2 - Getting There

So, here's my second blouse.



I like it. But you know what it's like when you make something; you only ever see the mistakes you've made. So, here is all I see when I look at it.

The collar. Oy. That was the hard part of this blouse. It doesn't stand up right, and you can see the stitching by the front facing. I ripped it out about 3 times, but finally left it alone. The fabric was starting to unweave.

The front facing. At the top, I just didn't understand what I was supposed to do. I just "winged" it. And, well, it looks it.

The sleeve caps. They're supposed to be gathered. One looks kind of gathered. The other looks tucked.

Other than that, I like it. I like the stiffness of the fabric. A japanese import fabric from Purl Patchwork. It works for me. And, I couldn't believe I found buttons that matched the gold perfectly. That made me happy. And I like the sleeves. They're pretty without being all ruffly.



I've got a lot to learn, and a long way to go. But, I've got some other patterns in mind and fabric ready to go.

Little House Blouse

I feel like a new world has opened to me. I made my first shirt. I usually have a hard time finding buttonfront shirts that fit because of the boob situation. If it fits me everywhere else, the button across the bust is usually hanging on for dear life. I tried stretchy blouses, but that just made me look loose. Tight blouse = loose girl. (I couldn't resist.) So, I resigned myself to wearing sack-ish shirts that just hung off of me. Every time I looked in the mirror, I would shrug and think that maybe I'll single-handedly bring grunge back. Even if I did, I'd be too old for it anyway.

So, I started taking sewing classes. We made an elastic-waisted skirt in class. Not sexy, not worth even talking about. But, it fit and I learned some great basic techniques. And we're onto making a tote bag with some serious interfacing and soon we'll be making a t-shirt. I'm excited for that.

Anyway, I've been hoarding sewing books and patterns just willing myself to dive in and make a piece of apparel. Every time I took out that darned tissue paper, I would stuff it back into the envelope and go back into my comfort zone. Well, I did it. The class gave me enough confidence to give it a whirl.



I used the shirt pattern in Sew U by Wendy Mullin - the Built By Wendy gal - and gave birth to my first shirt. I had bought this fabric with a shirt in mind, hoping to achieve a sort of boho, country chic. But, I think I landed short and all I think when I see it is Little House On The Prairie.

I was able to bond with my new Baby Lock Evolve serger a bit. Getting a good feel for it and what it actually does. So I used a simple 3-thread overlock to finish the seams, and a single chain stitch to complete the hemming at the bottom of the shirt. I know what all the fuss is about now. It's fast, powerful and just glides.



I'm hoping to eventually alter these patterns and really make them fit well. This shirt fits across the boob area, but is a wee bit in the waist/lower back area. We'll see.

The whole process was F-U-N!!!

Survival Tote

My mom requested a bag to hold her crochet projects a long time ago. We were a bit sidetracked by her illness. She didn't have the want or the energy to crochet, knit or paint - the things she usually passes her days with. After six chemo cycles, she has been deemed "cured". Cured from ovarian cancer. I couldn't be more relieved, happy and so so proud of her. I don't think she complained once to me over the phone or during any of my visits. She was herself, just a little more downshifted.

It's nice to have her back. She was overjoyed when she called to tell me the good news of not having to continue anymore treatments. Her body had had enough.

So, I remembered I promised her a project tote for her crafting and I thought the only appropriate color to incorporate would be the ovarian cancer blue. A nice soft turquoise. The bag is inspired by Purl Bee's The Un-Paper Bag.

"Hand Made" Quilt

I think this is the first time I've finished a project and felt proud. I've felt accomplished, relieved, frustrated amongst other emotions, but I've never felt so proud. This was a big hurdle for me to overcome. I have always been slightly terrified of the needle and thread. Never knowing how something so simple worked.



More pics here. (Still having some issues with uploading photos on Blogger. Maybe not patient enough.)

No, it's not the most beautiful quilt in the whole world, but I handpieced it and handquilted it. I'm a proud mom. I took the Quiltmaking By Hand class at Purl Patchwork back in Nov/Dec and just finished this little 24"x24" guy tonight. I held it up and was so happy to see that I could actually do some (very mediocre) handquilting. It is definitely not a hard concept, but wow is it hard to perfect. As my teacher said, you just have to practice and quilt for miles to get it the way you want it.

You can see how it's completely unplanned. The four center squares are what I finished in class, and I was anxious to get started on the quilting. So, I just threw the corners in with some much-too-large tan pieces, basted and marked with a hera marker. That hera marker... now that's an awesome invention.

I started quilting with whatever it was I bought for the class. Some cheap stuff I bought at Joann's on sale. Well, I'm here to tell you it makes a difference. Get some good waxed cotton, because the thread will break. And get some good needles. I broke, more like snapped violently, 3 needles within the first two rows before getting online and doing some google searches on "best hand quilting needles". I found some Jean S. Lyle needles on Rose Rushbrooke's site and am still using the first one I pulled out. They are brilliant. I bought the size 10's and 11's with the big eye.

Then, after a little frustration with my basic quilting hoop, I decided to invest in a lap hoop from Hinterberg Design and it's been sitting on my lap every night since.

I highly recommend this whole process. It's like getting back to your roots.

The Diamond Life on a Rhinestone Budget

I caught a Martha Stewart Living show where she made Dog Diamond Necklaces for her cute little Frenchies, Francesca and Sharkey. I couldn't leave my Brigitte out of all the fun. I went to straight to the Martha Stewart site and checked out what I needed.

I was excited to see M&J Trimming as the source, so I hot-footed it over there and was SHOCKED at the prices on their rhinestone dangle trim. The first few boxes I picked up were around $60-$80 a yard. I love Brigitte, but seriously?

I quickly re-thought the supplies I would need and settled on half a yard of $10 rhinestone dangle trim, and some 1/2 inch pink grosgrain ribbon. I rummaged through my junk drawer and found some of those snaps... the Final Damage, only $22.



I followed Martha's instructions on folding the ends of the ribbon, and attaching the snaps. I sewed the rhinestone dangle trim to some soft cotton flannel, I already had, cut to the same size as the ribbon. I figured that's what would be touching her, so I wanted to make sure it would be soft and to also give the necklace a little body.

Then, I sewed that piece to the ribbon using a decorative stitch. I picked a doggy stitch since it would be showing on the outside of the ribbon. Skipping the whole rhinestone trim on the ribbon saved a lot of money.

More snapshots here.

Unfortunately, I went onto the M&J Trimming site and I couldn't find the exact trim I got. But, the beaded dangle trim would probably be just as glamorous.

Bernina, The Exhibitionist

My beautiful Bernina has been naked since I brought her home. She came with a carrying case, but no simple cover. She's been bare through this cold winter. So I thought I'd make her a nice little outfit.

Though Swiss, I thought something more simple in design... more Japanese would suit her best. She's not a complicated female; she does her one and only job very well.

My very first sewing original :) No pattern used. Just measured, cut, embroidered and sewed.

I used 100% cotton canvas, and wasn't planning on anything decorative. But after cutting out all the pieces it looked a bit plain. Simple, I like. Plain, not so much. So I thought about applique, then settled on embroidery since I didn't want anything too fussy.

After sifting through my jars of embroidery thread and crewel wool, my Habu jar peeked out from behind and beckoned me. I had forgotten I had all these goodies from their last year's sale! I used the peach 100% silk, the cement linen/wool, and grey 100% wool. I don't embroider very much, and enjoyed it even though it's a bit time consuming. Whipped out my compass, drew some circles randomly and voila.



After I had sewn the pieces together, I had forgotten about the raw edges that would be left at the bottom. I had some Nani Iro binding tucked away from a reprodepot.com sale and sewed that onto the bottom.



Yay - she's fully clothed now.

Size Queen

I'm a size queen, what can I say? I started out making quilts of more humble size. But now I wanted something more substantial. Something that would actually cover my bed. Something I could really sleep under. Well, this quilt isn't even as big as I had originally planned... and thank God. Top 5 reasons why I shouldn't make quilts larger than throw/lap size:

1. No room to baste it. Open floor space in apartment isn't as big as a queen size.
2. Basting large quilt on hardwood floor leaves bumps and bruises on the knees. Yes, I need to ice them now.
3. Run out of safety pins. I swear I have thousand's. I could use that quiltak gun I wanted to try, but can't bear the thought on anymore time spent on basting or learning a new basting technique.
4. The quilt back has to be pieced. Unless you buy extra wide fabric, it's not big enough. That was annoying.
5. (TBD)

I'm just being proactive about #5 - I'm leaving it blank for the actual quilting part, which I haven't started yet.


Do you see this ridiculous basting job?!

I had to start out from one corner and move to the other because I couldn't lay the back flat. I had to start using LARGE safety pins because I ran out of the larger ones. And I'm totally going to have a batting-less corner since my quilt top moved along as I was flattening it out. And yes. Yes. I had to start basting on top of a rug because my knees were killing. I can't wait to see how totally f'ed up this back is going to look after I quilt this. It's going to have so many puckers and folds.

I feel driven to madness. I started telling myself to "LEAVE IT! LEAVE IT!" when I wanted to fix that last pucker in the batting.

Interweave Madness

I finished! I finished!! I shouldn't be so surprised, but let's not fool ourselves. There is always a high probability that when we start a project, it turns into a UFO. But, I finished the Tangled Yoke Cardigan and Cobblestone Pullover from Interweave Knits' Fall 2007 issue. Big thanks to Eunny and Jared for beautifully written patterns with no mistakes (that I could spy).

The Tangled Yoke Cardigan is for myself. It's a little on the baggy side, but it's comfortable and doesn't look too shabby if I do say so myself. It's a pretty big achievement for me. And it was a nice project to close out 2007. The pattern taught me a lot, and it kind of feels like a culmination of all the knitting I've learned since I picked up those needles for the first time a year and a half ago.


I'll eventually have to figure out how to do a little shaping myself as I'm kind of disproportionately busty. And no, it's nothing to be envious about. I've come to accept what I've been given, but it's been a long road that started with adolescent torment and now still dealing with fitting room debacles.

I loved picking out buttons for the sweater. I almost went with the basic shell button, but I found these great laser-cut floral motif shell buttons at M&J Trimming awhile back and they surprisingly matched very well!


The Cobblestone Pullover is for The Migglesworth. It was one of his Christmas presents so I was excited, and a little shocked I finished it on time. It was a little snug on him (around the chest), but I bought him the iPhone just in case I didn't finished or in this case too tight, so I wasn't too concerned.

But, I've blocked it out a little and it's hanging much better. I ran some hot steam over it, hung it up in the bathroom for a couple of days... tugged on it occasionally to loosen it up. I used Cascade 220 and it was soft while knitting, but the fabric it created was a little dense. In hindsight I should have used size 8's, instead of 7's. The design is simplistic beauty. It is such a blindingly clear pattern, with such cleverness, it reminded me of Elizabeth Zimmermann's designs.

The Migglesworth isn't one for modeling, so I'll have to sneak some shots of him in the sweater.

I've still got a few more days to eek out more 2007 things. Let's see if I can make this vacation truly productive - back to the Log Cabin Quilt!

Letting go... a little

Months ago, I started on a long-term project. A king-sized quilt that would have the same layout as the Log Cabin Quilt in the Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts book.

Well, I just realized I was making the blocks "wrong". The finished blocks were supposed to be square and mine were coming out rectangular. Not even worth explaining, but trust me - I'm stoopid.

So, I worked with the blocks I had pieced so far and reconfigured them. My second realization in this odyssey was that the fabric I was using was so light and whimsical and I was creating this very serious, very linear, very geometric log cabin quilt top. Theoretically, I thought it was going to be a nice juxtaposition. But, I was starting to lose sight of the big picture.

I laid out the blocks in a very symmetrical way, but wanted to let the "chips fall where they may". I put them out randomly only making sure it wasn't UGLY, and sewed them together as is.


I really like how the top turned out. Traditional blocks and layout design. Untraditional fabric and color placement. Yay.

Now for the quilt back, and quilting. Hm.