Stitch 'N Pitch

With the apartment down for the count I've been trying to source new places for working on crafts. Being home is depressing. So this year was my first annual Stitch 'N Pitch!

Picture yourself, if you will, in your local major league baseball stadium. Three whole sections of the stadium have been sold out to knitters working on projects of all shapes, sizes, and species (found a lady working with some raw alpaca that was awesome!).

It was an epic experience. The Mariners played the KC Royals (that's a shout out to you, Auntie Lou!). We had hundreds of knitters working on projects. There were even some booths with all the food vendors selling yarn. Beautiful displays! I didn't buy anything, but I sure did gawk.



It was my very first time in Safeco field. I don't really have anyone who knits or anyone who loves baseball, so I struck out on my own. I called Dad on the way, an avid baseball fan, wishing he was there with me, knitting and all. It made me miss home and family and recall the days we used to go to Cardinals games together. I treated myself to a hot dog and soda for old times' sake. You may not believe this but you can actually get amazing sushi at this stadium. Seattle-ites do love their food and the stadium was gorgeous! It was the perfect day for a game.

This was the view from the yarn booths and food vendors. Man I love this city.

I worked diligently on that baby sweater I just can't seem to finish. I had to frog one of the sleeves but I just picked up where I left of. In between chants of "Charge!" and clapping I continued to work on that bumpy lace pattern. I think it's turned out super adorable. I got a good chunk done at the game.

Stitch 'N Pitch was a blast! Next year I'm gonna make sure the sister is out for it, or something! Games are way more fun with family and friends. I had a blast though, I will definitely be doing this again.

Happy Crafting!

Craft Hell

Forgive the long delay in blog posts. The hubby and I have been in a state of disarray due to THIS...

In case you can't tell, yes. That's our apartment. No, we have no living space. Yes, they took EVERYTHING from us. Yes, that bottom picture is where my sewing table used to be :(

Our apartment complex has decided it's time for constuction to replace all windows, update the patio, and generally ruin our summer, or at least the next 8 weeks of it (that's all of Seattle's summer). All of our windows are blocked out, meaning we can't see outside at all which has been incredibly eerie. Shucks.

Ok, enough complaining. This is the reason, however, for the sewing hiatus. I also did the stupidest thing ever and had the movers pack my feet! Sewing feet, that is. I thought I was being super smart by holding on to the Bernina and a basted quilt. I even held back the tea cup to hold the safety pins as I remove them while quilting, but alas, the feet slipped my mind. I think the hubby and I are going storage unit hunting. Wish us luck!

I do have some exciting events planned for Thursday that will post soon after. A crafty girl needs some outlets! I have just the one in store. More soon, the posts may just be a bit slower than usual.

I Don't Want to Put my Toys Away!!

Hi Everyone! I hope you all are enjoying the warm sunny weather. I'm sure everyone just crumbled at that. Seattle actually has some of the nicest weather right now in the country. I still stand by that it's "hot" here. For no air conditioning it's hot.

A lot has transpired here in my little craft haven over the past few days and I was hoping to share. First off, look at this quilt!

Also look at who thinks it's hers! Haha. This quilt was made for the hubby and I by my Grandmother. Amazing quilter, isn't she?! She's the one who got me started on all this and look at the constant inspiration she lends me. I only ever want to be as good as she is, and I have a ways to go.

We love the quilt, Grandma! We can't get the cat off of it. It even smells like home, so the cat and I have spent quite a lot of time this weekend rolling around and enjoying it on our bed. Perfect fit! Thanks so much. We love it.

Next up? My fabric for the swoon quilt came! I have just tucked it away for now but am using Moda's Quilt Blocks collection as my base. It's super geometric, which I love, and colorful without being overwhelming (a compromise for the hubby and my taste differences). This will be a king size swoon with 16 blocks as opposed to the 9 the pattern is built for. I have some math to do and figure this one will take ages to finish. Exciting!

But before I start the swoon quilt I had one more baby quilt to knock out so I can visit the parents prior to her birth. Baby K&K's quilt was put together over the weekend. As you can see below, I had to share a bit of space with a moped-enthusiast.

A typical weekend afternoon at our place. It left me plenty of room to get everything cut out and ready. This included my base as well as my circles. I would still be cutting these out if not for my rotary tool. I love this thing! Cannot live without it. Look at those perfect circles.

After all that hard work of cutting out the circles and applique-ing them on I just had to cut them in half! It was slightly painful at first, but quickly became fun as I warped all the angles for complete randomness in the final pattern. I used Moda's "Serenade" fabric.

Neti helped with the layout design. Thankfully she sat by until I finished and just helped me keep them in place.

Then I chained them together. She held these in place as well, though she may have been just sitting in front of the fan. It was pretty hot in that apartment between rare Seattle sun, a steaming iron, and a warm sewing machine. We were roasting!

I also triumphantly was able to baste on my tiny kitchen floor again. Yay!

Then things got bad.

We are having construction done on our building. New windows, new siding, a new wall. Tragedy! This means they will be taping off the hubby's project room and mine for up to four weeks with no access. They are also covering all of the windows so not a single view of the sound or sun. They are sending movers in this Friday to pack up and take our stuff so we have a bit of livable space during the whole thing. I am completely freaking out.

I got everything torn down. Neti helped organize. I kept all my knitting needles, two skeins of yarn, the basted quilt, my machine, and some pins and needles, plus my little baby scissors. That gives me three projects to do during the chaos. One of which will be quilting on the coffee table. I don't want to give it all up! I can feel the stress taking over.

To combat this stress I have piled all quilts together as a "site of sanity" in the living room. They can't touch these! 

It is a great site having all my quilts together (note: not all were made by me. Second from the bottom was made by my great great grandmother, the sky blue one by my cousin Carol, and the one on top by Grandma, it's the one that always hangs on my wall above my sewing machine).

It's going to be a long time before I get that swoon started. A month without sewing gives me chills. I guess this means I'll have to go outside this summer. Shucks.

Happy Crafting!