Pattern: Easy Lap Quilt from Bend The Rules
Fabric: 1/2 yard cuts of 6 different fabrics
Size: 50"x64"
I love the blanket in the book so much that I decided to recreate it for myself. I did not prewash my fabrics so it puckered quite nicely when finally washed.

January SewConnected Fabrics

January SewConnected Fabrics, originally uploaded by tellen24.

Here they are!! I went for the fun and funky. I have included two silk dupionis and I am really so excited to see what the group can come up with!!  Click on the photo to see it all.

November Block - Buffy

Whew! I barely made it in time! I had four days for the holiday and I took full advantage of them. I spent Friday afternoon and Saturday morning starching and cutting fabrics. Um, whoever invented starch? Right up there with the guy who invented sliced bread. I normally Hate cutting fabric and the starch just made my life so much easier. In the spirit of taking full advantage of days off, I spent Sunday afternoon sewing all my starched fabrics. :) I only have this one photo as one of the other items is a gift and the other (quilting the Pink Lemonade), well, I was just too lazy to get a good photo of it. I am using this SewConnected group as a way to learn different quilt techniques. Obviously, this month, I chose to do a Log Cabin. And I could Log Cabin all day, I loved the block so much. In doing my practice square though, I learned how important the 1/4" seam really is (you would think I would have known already but no) so I finally marked it on my machine with masking tape and it made such a difference! Now, I just need to get over to the post office and mail it...

The practice block:

Luscious cashmere

If you are a knitter and you haven't heard of Colourmart, you need to stop reading, get yourself over there, order up some of their 100% Cashmere yarn, then come back to finish reading.  And if you know a knitter, follow the above instructions but send the purchased yarn to your knitter as they will consider your gift the best ever.  Chaun and I discovered this yarn a few years ago and absolutely love it.  It looks expensive online but for what it is, it is such a bargain.  The yarn is oiled for machine knitting so while knitting it isn't nearly as soft as you expect it.  But as soon as you wash it...it fluffs up and becomes the cashmere it really wants to be.  

I just knit myself a KeyHole scarf using the My So Called Scarf pattern.  It's currently drying but I can't wait for some cold weather so I can wear it!!

Unwashed:

Washed:

Pattern: My So Called Scarf
Yarn: Colourmart 2/7nm DK 100% Cashmere
Color: Meadow
Needles: 10.5
Modifications: I cast on 30sts and knit the pattern for 26". On the next RS row I knit 9sts then cast off the next 12sts. I turned the work and cast on 12 stitches then followed the pattern to the end of the row. I knit for another 7". I bound off with a knit bind off on a purl side row. I did this to prevent the upcurl at the end of the scarf. I then washed it with dishsoap to remove the oil and to fluff up the yarn.

It's November 22.

And I have no idea how it got to be that date already! This month has just flown by. I did my sample block for the SewConnected group but completely forgot that I have to do the real one too! I did buy all my fabrics (I got really fun fabrics!! I can't wait for everyone to see them!) for my month, January, and I am SO excited to get those cut and sent out. And after seeing Rita's top in progress, I cannot wait to start seeing what the group will make. I have some Christmas gifts that need to be sewn so I think this weekend and the following will be Christmas gift weekends. I am also knitting up some hats for family members.

And so everyone knows, me and all my peoples survived the Tea Fire, no problems. I do know people who were evacuated but no one's home burned. I did have a few clients lose their houses though. And I do have one bitch about the news coverage on our fire. Montecito has a reputation for being a 'hidden celebrity enclave' or so I learned while reading online. The bulk of the houses that burned were regular people. Not celebrities. That's all!!

Sorry, I have no photos to share currently. I am hoping with time off at Thanksgiving I will be able to update, document, share everything I've been working on.

Have a great weekend!

A giveaway!

Nono, I am not giving away, I would like to win one!  Katie Jean has reached her two year blogiversary and is celebrating by giving away fabric.  I know, who gives away fabric??  Katie Jean does!!  Go enter for your chance!

Sweet Treats

I wrote about this quilt back in this post.  I left it in Idaho so Chaun's mom could quilt it for me on her long arm.  Soon after, her machine broke.  But!  She bought herself a brand new HQ16 and pulled out my quilt to finish it up.  I decided to have it backed with polar fleece (I don't really know why seeing as how I live in SB) and the quilt design shows up fantastically on the back.  I, of course, didn't get a photo of the back but here are pictures of the front.  Lois used a variegated thread and I absolutely love how it lookes!  The binding still needs to be finished but overall, it's a wonderful quilt.

Nathanael's baby blanket

PA052683, originally uploaded by tellen24.

I am finally able to blog about this! I made this blanket for my friend Cristy and her new baby, Nathanael. She made the baby room in a celestial theme so I chose my version of celestial fabric. Basically, I didn't want cutesy fabric, I wanted powerful colors. Cristy is a powerful woman with a strong, positive attitude. I just love her and I really did make this blanket for her. :) It's final size is 32"x44", and I used the ZigZag Quilt pattern from Purl Bee.

Nathanael's baby blanket

The whole thing.

Hi!

After a few busybusy weeks (root canals, termite tenting, travels), I was finally able to sit down and work on my SewConnected block for Rita.  I put a lot of contemplation into this first block as I have Never done a block quilt before.  I also bought a bunch of books for ideas (well, and just because I love quilt books), I wandered around Flickr looking at a bunch of blocks.  The idea came from bubbles.  I wanted to make a block that had bubbles.  I did do a practice block.  I will probably do one for each block I do.  Which means I will end up with two quilts once it's all said and done!  As you can see, my first block is pretty basic.  It was a definite lesson in applique!  I started out with a blanket stitch but it didn't give me the look I wanted so that was ripped and replaced with a tight zigzag.  Much better!  

My second block needed much more dimension as the linen made the bubbles just flat. So, I layered them. Popped 'em with some bright orange thread and we have bubbles!

On the knitting front, I am still doing it!  I am currently working on the Julia.  Again.  But this time I am bound and determined to actually finish her.  I have two sleeves and the back done.  Other than that?  Not much else going on in that front.  :)

Hello? Anyone still here?

Let me start off by saying I moved and it took a month for me to get internet. Hence, no posting. But that aside, the move happened, I am now more centrally located here in SB and I love it! I didn't like the idea of leaving a place where I had been quite settled for 4 years but I am very very pleased to be in my new place. For one, it's bigger and two, it's closer to Chaun! Okay, and third, it's right across the street from Ross. I confess, that was a big bonus.

Due to my prolonged move (never never ever make a move last longer than 2 weeks, trust me!), I didn't do much crafting. I put away all quilting accoutrements and my knitting consisted of the AMS. I am actually at the edging. Which is going to take a darned long time. I did set the Mystery Shawl aside for about two weeks while I worked on my Olympics Knitting (Olympics! I didn't even blog about the Olympics!). I knit the February Lady Sweater for that and almost finished it. I believe I finished it two days after the closing ceremonies. I love this sweater! I used Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (4 skeins total) on size 8's. Take a look!



Let's back up a second to the Olympics. I grew up loving every moment of the Olympics. My mom was a huge fan. I think even this year she would have complained about there not being enough on tv even though there was over 30 hours of viewing time each 24 hour period. It was a little tough to watch the Opening Ceremonies knowing I couldn't call her up to discuss the outfits of the athletes but I still watched every second I possibly could. I was able to see Michael Phelps' 8'th gold medal race, Misty May and Kerri Walsh win their fifteenth hundredth win in a row (okay, slight exaggeration but those girls are serious about their volleyball!), Jason Lezak kick ass over the French (they really deserved a good ass kicking too, for their trash talk), Mary Carillo's . I was truly sad when they were over. Partly for the Olympics but partly because that's another thing I had to adjust to without my mom around.

But! In another two years we get the winter Olympics then the summer ones again. It's another reason to love them!

In the meantime, I will be working on many projects. I have my Asian Quilt, the Pink Lemonade needs to be quilted, another secret project needs to be finished, etc etc etc.

Whew! Thanks for hanging in there. I am glad to be back!

I most proudly present... The Curlicue!

In her unblocked, blurry glory, I give you The Curlicue. She was started way back on February 29 when I found a similar blanket on Ravelry. I wasn't sure how I was going to make myself pay for 15 balls of Silk Garden but I decided to go for it anyway. I bought one ball at a time there for awhile and then I discovered WEBS and their discount. :) It made it a little more palatable and I ordered my little heart away (and wallet). I finally finished up on July 6. I used 15 balls in 14 colors. Each inner section of the star takes just about one full ball (I only ran short on one point) and each outer petal takes about 2/3rds of a ball. So I am left with probably 2-3 balls of leftovers. The numbers on the picture indicate the color number of the yarn.



Started: 02/29/08
Finished: 07/06/08
Needles: Size 8
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden (15 balls)
Pattern: Curlicue Coverlet by Oat Couture
Here it is in Ravelry.

Fabric, fabric and more fabric!!

I have so much to share. New fabrics, ideas, pictures. For now, I give you a new etsy shop, Fresh Squeezed Fabric, with my new favorite fabric. Wouldn't that be great as a picnic blanket?

I promise, I will be back soon... :)

Random

We have a local store that is named Random. And it's just that, a bunch of random stuff from mirrors, to wool rugs, to lamp shades, to medical supplies, to flooring, to nuts and bolts. I mean, completely random. I found some fabric in there for the back of the Blue Asian quilt. I got almost 4 yards for only $6!!

30%!!

That's what fabric was on sale for at our local craft store. Of course, I had to take advantage of that! I did not go buckwild but I was able to get two needed quilt backings, two fat quarters, and a jelly roll of Flutterby by Tula Pink. I was stoked (yes, stoked, I am a total 80's girl) to get that jelly roll! I am contemplating a log cabin with this fabric.

Color coordination

Ever since I received Amy Butler's In Stitches, I have wanted to make the quilt, Patchwork Decorative Throw. I have had the idea of doing it in one color scheme instead of crazy patchwork type colors. I chose to do it in a dark blue. I have 9 fabrics so far for the quilt, they all arrived today in the mail. :) I am not sure about all of them though. I see these colors and realize that I need a middle blue, that it can't be all dark blues. I love the fabric with the red flowers, I think that definitely works. I also see that I have a lot of fabric with circles. I am not sure about the two light colored ones, only because they are SO light. Also, the white with diamonds is actually a sage green diamond instead of pale blue. So, I have some work to do with the fabrics but so far I have a good start.

Sweet Treats

Back in January, my Aunt Karen invited Chauntel and I to attend a quilt show in Ontario, The Road to California. I had no idea that the quilt show would inspire me to start quilting. At the quilt show, both of us purchased a quilt kit called a Sweet Treat. Each quilt takes 8 fat quarters plus fabric for the backing and borders. I cut and sewed mine together a few months ago when I was still flying high from piecing together my Chocolate and Blue quilt. And after only one quilt, I was the bomb when it came to cutting, sewing, just a total badass. Go ahead. You can laugh. I learned my lesson hard. When I went to square up my Sweet Treat top, turns out it wasn't square to start out. It was a trapezoid. A pretty strong trapezoid. I was devastated. I had no idea how to fix it. I took it to Idaho with me to talk with Lois, Chaun's mom. She said, "Consider this your learning quilt. You learned you need to be a better cutter and sewer!" So, with that in my head, it got put aside for, well, months. I finally pulled it out and assessed the damage. It wasn't as bad as I had it in my head of course, but it's definitely a trapezoid. So, I just sewed on the borders, adjusting where needed and ended up with this:


I love the colors and pattern of this quilt. It makes me feel calm when I look at it. I am going to send it off to Lois to quilt it for me. It's going to get polar fleece on the back and become one very warm quilt.

Charming!

P5222292, originally uploaded by tellen24.

It's a charm pack of fabric by Tula Pink. It contains 40 5"x5" squares. I bought it because it was on sale. And I love it! She designs her fabric in a Where's Waldo style. Each fabric in this line contains a bug. Moths, caterpillars, snails, butterflies, dragonflies.

Pink Lemonade

Pink Lemonade, originally uploaded by tellen24.

I love my little red and white quilt so much, I decided to make another one. This next one will be bigger and the colors, less bold. I have always loved the one shown in the book, Bend-The-Rules Sewing, so I am recreating it. I am going a little outside my box this time and not planning ahead. I am just going to cut the fabric into the strips and see what happens! I am a tad nervous... I will keep you updated.

On your marks, get set...

Twice a year, my company has a clearance sale. And it's always based around a theme, which involves us salespeople wearing t-shirts we wouldn't normally be caught dead in. We are all women in my office and tend to wear very nice clothes to work. This years event, "Final Floors Event!" started today. Before I get to today's outfit, let me just give you the slogans from our fliers:

"Hoop it up during the PSSB Final Floors Event!"
"Slam-dunk savings exclusively for members!"
"Make a fast break to incredible savings!"
"Get in on the PSSB Final Floors Madness!"
"The Sweet Six! It's down to these great offers that can't be beat!"

Do you get it yet? The whole basketball theme? Let's ignore the fact that in reality, it's March Madness for college basketball. And it's currently...May. Aside from that though, do you see where I am going? Let me give you another hint (accompanied with a photo made by my OhSoWonderful friend, Laura): All day long we have been getting this comment, "Oh, so do you guys work at FootLocker?" That's right!! We are Referee's!!! I even have a whistle. I am so lucky, I get to wear this shirt for the next 3 days. Life is good, isn't it!

*The head in the photo is from my 5k run a few weeks ago. Don't I look like I am scared out of my life??

Up and Coming!

P5102275, originally uploaded by tellen24.

Squares. Lots of squares.

Downtime

When I am hanging out at home, I like to wear comfortable clothing. I have been wanting to make the lounge pants out of In Stitches by Amy Butler for awhile now. I saw a photo on Flickr of someone's capri version and I thought, "That's it! That's what I need." So, I whipped out (and I use that term loosely. Very loosely) a pair of capris for myself AND a pair of shorts for Chauntel (she will need to show you, as I didn't take a photo of them) in two weekend sittings. For never having made anything wearable in my life, they turned out pretty decent!

Red and White

I made another quilt. This time, I did it all on my machine. I got the pattern from Bend The Rules Sewing by Amy Karol. It's a very simple, easy to put together pattern. My reason to make this quilt was to use a bit of my fabric stash (without having to buy any more) and to use my new walking foot. :)

I planned out my pattern on paper before I started:

Then I sewed it all together (need to work on cutting, it was about an inch off on one side) and pinned it to be quilted:


I went the easy route and used predone binding. I didn't like the backing I used for the quilt as a binding so solid red it was! The size of the quilt is 39"x41". I really, really like this pattern for a nice simple quilt.

Chauntel

She's done it again. I don't know how I ended up with such a wonderful friend. If you want to read more about my baptism, she wrote the most wonderful, loving, detailed essay on her website this morning.

Thank you, Chaun. :)

Busy Weekend!

This weekend I ran my first 5K and I got baptized. I don't know that it gets much bigger. Okay, maybe if I were getting married or maybe my first child was being born but other than that, it was huge. The 5K was a test to see where I was at in my running progress. And considering 3 months ago, I thought running for 2 minutes straight would certainly send me to my death, I've come pretty far. I was convinced to do this by none other than my cohort, Chauntel. I am so glad I did this race with her! I was VERY against doing any sort of race but Chaun was able to show me that it isn't much more than what we are already doing three times a week. So, we did it!!

After the race, I picked up my dad at the airport as he came down to see me get baptized. Also, my Aunt Karen and Uncle Bill were able to make it up for the weekend. It was so wonderful to have my friends and family there to witness, as much as I didn't want to give my testimony. Yes, I had to get up in front of everyone and explain my spiritual journey. And seeing as how it alllll started with my mom's cancer diagnosis, I was nervous to explain such an emotional event. And I almost lost it. I started speaking and whooosh, here come the tears. I was able to pull it together and finish up. I understand now why they have us do that, it's so rewarding to be able to be in a roomful of people that 'get it'. And a friend of mine was kind enough to take pictures for me because, let me tell ya!, I don't remember it much. :)

So, I am pooped. Ready to just hang out and relax the rest of my night away. I hope you enjoy yours!

R2D2

P4031154, originally uploaded by tellen24.

Pattern: R2D2 Beanie by CarissaKnits
Yarn: KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, Winter Night & Fog, one skein of each
Made for my friend Tiffany because she is nerdy like that! I knit this in the round using Fair Isle techniques for the basic hat. So all large blue areas were knit in Fair Isle, the black and red circles were done in duplicate stitch.

Bound!

P4161198, originally uploaded by tellen24.

Laminaria Beauty

P4151181, originally uploaded by tellen24. Photo taken by Chauntel (firebrunette).

Slightly less than one month after starting, I've finished. And I absolutely love it! It was a well written pattern, I chose a lovely yarn, and it turned out to be a well matched set.

Pattern: Laminaria by Elizabeth Freeman
Started: March 15, 2008
Finished: April 12, 2008
Yarn: MiniMaiden from HandMaiden Fine Yarn
Color: Smoke
I used slightly less than two skeins of yarn. While blocking, I realized how much I love the ruffly edge that was created during bindoff, so I left it.

Details!

P3281121, originally uploaded by tellen24.

The quilted pattern is called a meander. Because...you just meander the machine along! :)

A mostly finished quilt!

P3281106, originally uploaded by tellen24.

Okay!! Here it is! I took it all the way to Idaho to quilt on Lois' long arm machine. I still need to do the binding but I received lessons in that also. All in all, I love this quilt. :)

Traveling quilts

I am deliberately holding out on posting pics of progress on my quilt. For one very specific reason. I am traveling to Idaho with Chaun, George and the kids next week to visit her parents. (Cori, I SO wish you could come out too...) Chaun's mom owns a longarm quilting machine and is going to teach me how to quilt my own quilt! The longarm machine will make it so much easier than trying to deal with my sewing machine here at home. The quilt top is done and as a matter of fact, I am just about done with another one. :) I will have quilting-in-progress photos when I get back. I am so enamored with the idea of working my own quilt from start to finish. Any quilt tops I do after the trip will be sent to Idaho and Chaun's mom will do them up for me.

I sewed some more!

Just one more bag, folks. Once I tried it, I had to make the perfect bag for myself. The original was based off an actual plastic bag and I forgot to add seam allowances so it ended up a skinny tall bag. Second time around, I didn't use a template, I just measured and sketched on the fabric itself, the size of bag I wanted to end up with and then added in extra for seams. I made this bag wider, shorter, and gusseted. I also made one handle 1" shorter than the other so I can loop it over the tall handle and the bag will stay closed. Oh! And we added interfacing (Chaun's brilliant idea) to give it more structure. I forgot to measure the finished product but I will add those in once I remember to measure.
SIDE ONE:

SIDE TWO:

SIDE VIEW:

I sewed!

I found this tutorial recently on how to sew a lunch bag by using a plastic grocery sack as the pattern. I don't know much about sewing or my sewing machine but I figured this could be easy. And after a few rookie mistakes, I had myself a cute little lunch bag! I didn't take into account seam allowances (another rookie mistake) so it's smaller than I would like but having done it once, I know I can tailor the pattern to exactly what I want. I used a few fabrics from my stash (I find it extremely funny that I have a yarn stash AND a fabric stash) which made me quite happy.

Finished!!

P2240825, originally uploaded by tellen24.

Gathered Pullover from Interweave Knits Winter 2007
Started: January 17 2008
Completed: February 9 2008
Yarn: Brown Sheep Top of the Lamb Sport (cone)

Modifications: I knit the 36" size but I didn't want a boxy sweater so I decreased 3 stitches each side to give a little bit of shape. I also did not do the the decreases in the bust, I felt it unnecessary to emphasize that area more. :)

This was a quick, easy knit. I quite enjoyed all the stockinette! I still need to block it to relax the rolling a bit.

No more!

P2230814, originally uploaded by tellen24.

"Please, no more photos, one is enough. Move along, there are others people waiting..."

Chaun loves being my photo test subject. Okay, not really. Check out the Ravelry Avatar poster behind her! Somewhere up there, avatars for every Ravelry user...

Stitches West

Man what a time we had!! Chaun and I left around 7p on Friday night and drove up to Santa Clara for Stitches West. We stayed at a really cute hotel, Wild Palms Hotel which apparently is a Joie de Vivre hotel (not really sure what that means in the hotel industry but it sounds cute!). After a night of little sleep (only partially due to us talking, mostly due to a clock radio that turned on at 630a in the empty room next to us), we wandered in to the convention center around 1015a. The next 6 hours were very fun, very overwhelming and so exciting! We had a plan, to walk the entire market floor first and then buy. It was hard at times but I think that was a good decision. I got a skein of Socks That Rock Lightweight in Lover's Leap.
I also bought a skein of Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn, in color Toscana. I've only been eyeing it for a year, I figured it was time.
We also found a booth at the very back of the hall that just had mounds and mounds of yarn. As we stood there, staring at the sign, we asked ourselves, "Can it possibly be true??" The sign said "All Acrylic Yarns $2, Cashmere/Merino $8" The sign said other things but nothing nearly as important as Cashmere/Merino $8. $8??? Yep, we both grabbed 5 skeins (each skein contains 320yds in a DK weight, I think) each. I got navy, Chaun got red. And apparently there was a coupon in some booklet that advertised $2 off each cashmere/merino skein. I know!! So we paid $6 each for this yarn. It was just overwhelming.
And last but not least, my most surreal moment of the day. We had been seeing people walking around all day with these little purple passports. Once we found out that the Ravelry booth was passing them out, we scouted them out on the map and beelined for it. We got up there and were talking to this man and woman, and as they explained what the passport was, it dawned on me. The man...was Casey. Casey, the co-creator of Ravelry. !! And I am such a nerd when it comes to "famous" people that I blurt out, "Oh! You're Casey!" Cause he's only been called that his entire life... Anyway, he was kind and gracious, very fun to talk with and let us take a picture with him.