Elation! & Orcas Island

It's been forever! Unfortunately, not much has changed. We are still wrought with construction and obstruction of our apartment space. Crafts have been on a standstill.

Don't worry! This is no gloom and doom post. The hubby and I just celebrated our 1st Wedding Anniversary! To celebrate we treated ourselves to a weekend on Orcas Island. First off, this is a picture heavy post, and secondly, this is one of the most serene and beautiful places I have ever been.

A 2.5 hour drive north from Seattle takes you to Anacortes, WA where you hop on a ferry for just over an hour of winding between tiny islands before you arrive on Orcas. It feels incredibly secluded. Orcas Island is one of the islands in the grouping called the San Juan Islands. I've lived in Seattle for four years now and JUST got up here. It's a chore to get there, but the ferry ride alone is well worth it.

Our first morning on the island we drove up to Moran State Park.

And hiked up to the top of Mt. Constitution.

This was my favorite place visited. Look at this view! We could even see Canada.

Me & the hubby on top of Mt. Constitution's watch tower

The exersion of the trip (haha!) demanded a relaxing afternoon at the Rosario Mansion sitting out by the pool. Couldn't you just live here?! 

The backside of the mansion

And of course, the ferry ride home to Seattle was all too soon but oh so beautiful. We made the ferry ride on Friday night before and missed a lot of the homes tucked away within the islands. It was just breathtaking.

We came home rested (sunburned) and back to construction. One of my favorite things to do while traveling is visiting the local fabric and knit shops. Orcas has NONE! Can you believe it? I spoke with an avid knitter on the island, who also happened to be our B&B owner, and she said that the community just doesn't support those specialized of shops and so most of their shopping is done online or on the mainland, Bellingham and such. So sad!

Well, once back home I had the itch to sew (and quite the time crunch). This weekend I'm headed to Yakima, WA to visit some friends who are expecting their first! You may remember Baby K&K being mentioned in this post. Well, you may also remember that I have her quilt completely basted and sent my feet away to storage while our apartment is being destroyed.

I took my sister's advice and went digging.

You were right, Devon. I found it in under an hour. First column from the left, second box down. Elation!!!! I'm now off to buy some thread and get started! I'll find a spot to quilt... somewhere.

Happy Crafting!

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!

Quilt Envy

When recently showing off the car seat quilt at work to coworkers, it was greeted with quilt envy from a recent new mom. "What a clever idea! He's always kicking off his blanket!" Well, I heard only one thing, "Can I have one please?" EASY!

I set to work! The coworker even picked out a pattern from a smattering I pulled up at work and showed her. Color was her only request. Something bright and cheerful. I kind of followed that rule. I found "Summersville" quilt line from Moda and fell in love! Little cars, the alphabet, perfect for a little growing boy, especially for one in the car.

I text the fabric to his mom and got the go ahead! Apparently, I was itching to quilt. Fabric purchased Friday afternoon 2:00 pm. Fabric cut Friday evening. Piecing begins.

Saturday morning, piecing finished. Saturday afternoon, quilting begins.

I chose another new free motion pattern called River Rock. It's super organic in nature and allows for "mess-up's" to look intentional. Warning: this pattern will EAT thread. Glad I had a 500 m roll on hand.

I love the look! Saturday evening, quilting finished. A quick break for dinner was in order.

The large white border I quilted with a straight line to offset all of the circles. There was so much empty space on this quilt it needed a lot of quilting to show it off. I had a blast filling in every inch.

Neti helped trim the edges and prep for binding.

Warning! Gratuitous cat photos.

Saturday night, midnight, I put the finishing touches on the quilt, which included the name tag for the little guy receiving this awesomely colorful, crazily quilted, squishy quilt.

I LOVE how it turned out. The alphabet print is a new favorite. I have a pinch left over so I'll end up working it in to something, I'm sure. It was a LONG day and a half quilting but I'm getting faster and faster. Plus, I finially made a quilt that I could baste on my kitchen floor! No apartment lobby necessary! Hurrah! I've got fabric at home for (another) baby quilt. I also have fabric coming for a king size Swoon quilt! Can't wait!

Happy Crafting!



A Sneak Sweater Peak

A sneak peak at the sweater for Baby Cousin. It's a lot of progress! But... in the grand scheme of things, is it really? The pattern at first was daunting and the picture doesn't show it very well. After that great eyelet yoke there there is a leaf pattern below it. I have since got a great "mental pause" system going that has made it mistake free. It's looking great! 



I am totally in love with the yarn. I went way overboard on the pink for Baby Cousin. I just found out that Baby K&K is a girl! I'm not really feeling the pink anymore, though, due to my previous binge. I may go purple or yellow. Maybe green. Plus, that little baby's mama isn't what you'd call a fainting lady. I've seen her pin full grown men to the wall before (she works in the penal system). That's going to be one tough baby!

I also just bought gobs of fabric for an enlarged Swoon Quilt. I've been dying to make one of these and finally just broke down and purchased fabric. So excited!! Since that purchase I am now on a spending hiatus. I have plenty of projects to finish and get started. No more fabric! For awhile anyways.

Happy Crafting!

"Filing" Away Some Tools

The Problem: A lot of tools, a little space, and some fancy metal files (not the paper kind) that were hard to tuck away.

The Solution: A fancy carrying bag made by yours-truly to "file" away the tools (haha, bad pun).

I set to work by asking the hubby to gather all of his files and hand them over. He had zero input on what it should look like or how handy it should be, so I went with my gut and started drafting. I started by laying out the files in a pattern I felt was pleasing to the eye; which to my eye, is height order.

I then measured them to see how big of pockets I would need, on average, to make them all fit. I also measured how far down I would want the pockets to rise up (which created a need for a separate pocket for those teeni-tiny files), how far down I wanted the flap to cover the top, and how many extra pockets to add in case of future file purchases.

The hubby did ask that the fabric be durable, so I went with a really sturdy linen that I had random scraps of. I also had to throw in some scraps of robots because I will not be blamed for making a boring item! 100% Scrap-made! Yahoo!

Neti helped test the durability of the fabric as I pieced it.

I must have gotten carried away in putting it together because I have no piecing photos! All of a sudden, it was just done.

(Inside, flap open)

 

(Outside, flap open)

 

Rolled up tight


I then called the hubby over to fill the bag with his goodies. I think it turned out awesome! (Sidenote: You may notice that the strings to tie it shut are on the same side of the bag, whereas in a previous picture there was one on either side. That was a mistake on my part, which I quickly fixed, the hubby none the wiser. Below is correct.)

He loves it! That's one happy hubby and that's one happy tool bag. He immediately started taking pictures and sending them to his buddies, bragging about his cool file holder that no one else had.



The hubby was also mortified that the files made it dirty. I told him to get over it. Tools are dirty and it's washable.

More baby quilts soon to come. My dear friends K&K are pregnant with a girl- their first! They live just on the other side of the mountains and I need to visit... and bring a quilt. I have the pattern all picked out, now I have to find the fabric. Also, Baby Cousin was born on Saturday night! How exciting! I have decided to hold on to the gifts until they make it back to the USA. I hope to meet Baby Cousin in August or September and present her with her gifts. Update on that sweater coming soon!

Happy Crafting!