my finds at the Pendleton sale
September 30, 2011 at 8:39 am | Posted in chatty, craft to wear, I love to make things..., oregon, sewing | 5 CommentsQuick PSA for anyone around here: the huge September Pendleton Woolen Mill sale ends today! I went yesterday morning with Michelle, Daniela and Everett, and snapped up some pretty amazing things. Everett loves it there and crawled all around while I trailed him, looking at beautiful things. He has an eye for the most colorful blanket fabrics!
I ended up choosing some yardage for fall sewing – I want to make some Western shirts and a-line skirts. My 13th anniversary with Andrew is coming up in October, and the first year we were going out, I sewed him a dark brown corduroy Western shirt with a 1974 Simplicity pattern. I made him close his eyes when I tried it on him for fit, and I was so excited to give it to him once I set the last pearl snap. This year, I want to make him another one in the soft reddish-brown plaid fabric, a reissue from the 1960s Beach Boys era. I saw this beautifully sewn sample shirt in the Pendleton booth at the Expo and fell in love…
So this is what I picked out. The plaid yardage is mostly 60″ wide (or even wider) so you can make a nicely detailed shirt, even if your husband is 6’6″, with just a couple of yards. I’m going to use the inexpensive soft brown cotton for a muslin/sample shirt to get the sleeve length and details just right before I cut into that gorgeous wool. So Andrew will hopefully end up with a few anniversary shirts after all!
So, my fall craft dream is to make a few simple a-line skirts for myself and Pearl, and a little Western shirt for Everett (probably in cotton for now while he’s growing so fast). This is going to be fun! Michelle picked out a bright turquoise and white wool to make some pillows, and Daniela bought a fantastic blanket fabric to make herself a duffel coat. I am super excited to see it all come to life!
If you go:
Pendleton Woolen Mill Store sale
Ends at 5:30 today! (9/30)
8500 SE McLoughlin Blvd, Portland
503-535-5786
quilts and mai tais
September 28, 2011 at 3:45 pm | Posted in chatty, cooking is crafty too, crafting with kids, geek crafts, I love to make things..., oregon, quilting, world of geekcraft | Leave a commentThe last week has been a busy one and I just finally had the chance to sit down and write about a few things I’ve been up to lately…
First, a super thrilling Quilts for Quake Survivors update! After beautiful contributions from many, many generous quilters jumping in to quilt and bind as the last leg of our collective bee, Daniela has been tirelessly taking photos of the gorgeous finished quilts.
Check the QfQ blog every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for new quilts for sale. All you have to do is make a $150 donation to Mercy Corps (for their work in Japan or designated for any other disaster relief that speaks to you),
email us at quiltsforquakesurvivors@gmail.com with a copy of your receipt, and the number of the quilt you want to buy! We will ship it to you via USPS with our deep gratitude. Special thanks to Nancy, who not only donated the lovely quilt top for Pretty in Aqua (below) but also bought it AND Lawn Chair (above), generously supporting Mercy Corps’ crucial work in Somalia.
Thank you Nancy!!! And thank you Daniela for the luminous quilt photographs.
Back to my house, I slow-roasted another 10 pounds of tomatoes from our garden and really wished I had one more oven rack. Wow, those are amazing (and so easy – I followed the recipe I linked, but with herbs of provence instead of coriander, which I don’t like).
Then I taught my wool baby quilt class at the Expo on Saturday (and visited Renee’s lovely Dressing the Part quilt again!). Thanks to Michelle who helped from start to finish, and the lovely folks at the Woolen Mill Store who had made the best kits ever, it went great. My version of the quilt pattern I designed is above,
there’s my class (a sell-out of 20 very nice people!),
and here are just a few of the quilt tops people made with the beautiful wool colors and patterns. I loved how individual everyone’s projects were – whether they were meant for a grandchild, a wall hanging, or a car quilt for chilly months.
It was super fun and I am excited to teach the class again at the Woolen Mill Store on Saturday (October 1 from 1-3:30, $40 includes all fabrics you need, and 2.5 hours means you should walk out the door with a finished quilt!). Speaking of the WMS, their amazing 30-80% off sale goes through Friday and I am so excited to buy some good things there tomorrow.
Then we drove down to Oregon City with Pearl and Everett for a (half) day trip. It was beautiful, a perfect late-summer-early-fall day on the river, and I took a bunch of photos. I think Oregon City deserves its own post but for now I’ll just share this one of the Willamette River from the bluff over the old Blue Heron mill, and this Western shirt pattern I bought at the library used-book sale for Everett. Can’t wait to sew this one.
On Sunday Andrew and I got a babysitter and I wore my favorite vintage Lilly Pulitzer dress out to the new Trader Vic’s! I can highly recommend the 1944 mai tai (they also make a virgin version if you don’t drink) – it’s divine. We also got crab rangoon and fried shrimp and it was pretty killer all the way around.
Then we went over to the Driftwood Room in the Hotel DeLuxe (Sunset‘s pick for best hotel in Portland!) and that was otherworldly. They’re running happy hour from 2 pm to close right now so all the delicious food and cocktails are on special. Really hoping to make it back soon…
I spotted this truly amazing Yoda-dinosaur terrarium at Powell’s for Cooks and Gardeners on Hawthorne (I was buying The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving for my Food In Jars class coming up, I can’t wait!) and got to talk to Megan and her co-workers about it. It’s so awesome! I wrote it up for Geekcrafts today, if you are also fascinated by this convergence of so many good things at once.
And to come full circle right back to quilts, here is my Habitat challenge quilt block. I’m not completely happy with it, to be honest, but I think it will look really cool in our PMQG collective quilt pieced in with everyone else’s blocks (which I liked better!). I wanted to take the “challenge” part seriously and push myself to use just the prints given. Solids were allowed, but that’s so my default that I thought I’d make myself do something different, even if it kind of overwhelmed my eyes.
I used Christina’s excellent double disappearing 9-patch tutorial for the four mini-blocks at the corners, and then added the necessary width and height to bring it to 12.5″ with an impromptu 2.5″ cross in the center. Then I turned off the sewing machine, unplugged the iron, and ran out the door to the meeting!
See you next week (or hopefully even sooner!)
NW Quilting Expo report
September 22, 2011 at 9:21 pm | Posted in books and mags, chatty, crafty events, modern log cabin quilting, oregon, quilting | 7 CommentsMichelle and I got to check out the NW Quilting Expo today, which was cool! I had never been there before and it was great to get to see all the vendors’ booths and prize-winning quilts on display. I’m teaching a wool baby quilt class for Pendleton there bright and early (8:30 am! lots of coffee for sure!) on Saturday so I was happy to get a chance to visit for fun, too.
By the way – my class (#S300 in the booklet) still has 3 spots open out of 20, so if you happen to be interested you can register at the front desk there. This is the project (above), a very simple elongated coin quilt made from three Pendleton wools, and the class fees include a kit with all the fabrics in either pink or blue color families. I can’t believe I’ll be teaching 17 (possibly more!) students on Saturday and I am super looking forward to it. (If you’re not going to the Expo, I’m also teaching it again at the Woolen Mill Store on Saturday, October 1 from 1-3:30 pm, $40 includes all three fabrics in a kit.)
Back to the Expo… Michelle and I saw this amazing quilt (one of dozens, maybe hundreds on display) and both stopped in our tracks to love and admire it. I adored the kids’ book The Hundred Dresses and these beautiful rows of vintage-fabric-pieced dress blocks, each with tiny hand-stitched coat hangers, amazed me. Renee Newstrum (who I would love to meet!) designed, pieced and quilted it:
Oh, the little dresses!!!
We also stopped by the Pendleton booth and among many awesome things, they had a nice display of my books and my Winter Woolens Quilt (made with their wool, I bought everything for it at the Woolen Mill Store). So cool.
And the tempting pick-any-8 wool FQ sets were going fast.
I also saw Diane‘s marvelous book with the Clover Kanzashi kits at the Fabric Depot booth. (She’ll be there Friday from 11-2 demoing the Kanzashi makers!)
Speaking of books, I was happy to see all three of Terri Thayer‘s quilting mysteries at the Expo! She came to my event at the Bobbin’s Nest in May and brought me a signed copy of her first one in the series, Wild Goose Chase.
I’ve bought the other two at Murder By The Book, my favorite mystery bookstore (right in my neighborhood here in SE Portland). By the way, if you are interested, they have a new Crafty Crimes section with all the knitting, sewing, needlework, and scrapbooking mysteries in one place, which I personally love. I’m going to bring some vintage craft supplies by so they can decorate the shelf, actually!
Anyway, Jean at MBTB recommended a mystery called Quilt as Desired, which is at the top of my stack of books to read next, and I met the author, Arlene Sachitano at Expo this morning! So I bought the second one in the series, Quilter’s Knot, and she signed it to me.
Ok, see you super-early Saturday morning if you’d like to make a wool baby quilt, and if you’re in Seattle please save the date for Saturday, October 22 from 1-3 pm – I’m so happy that we’ve just set up a MLCQ book event at The Quilting Loft in Ballard! More details soon…
sewing for boys
September 15, 2011 at 10:44 am | Posted in books and mags, craft to wear, crafting with kids, oregon, projects to do, reviews and interviews | 77 CommentsI’m so happy to be today’s stop on the Sewing for Boys blog tour with a review and giveaway (read on!). Shelly and Karen have created a fun collection of 24 projects to make for the boys – or girls – in your life, from newborn to age 7, from pants and shirts to hats, belts, and Lego bags. There are full-sized paper patterns included for all the clothes projects, and thorough instructions and diagrams throughout. Be sure to check out the Sewing for Boys flickr group for tons of inspiring photos of reader-made projects!
I have my heart set on making the Treasure Pocket Pants for Pearl (as a good hand-me-down for my little boy Everett), but when I saw the To-Go Artist, I knew that would have to be my first SFB project and the one to show over here with my book review. (It didn’t hurt that Daniela designed the airplane fabric for this one – love it.)
My nephew Julian turned 10 (!) this year and though he’s a little too big for the clothes size ranges here, I knew he would love a portable mini-art studio.
I did a few adaptations to make it more him – left off the shorter crayon holder in favor of a larger one just for colored pencils,
kept it to one main solid fabric with a bright peace-sign print instead of using three different ones, and added a 10 applique on the front.
I also did a few things that made it more me – made a quick handmade binding tape to edge the top of the notebook holder instead of top-stitching,
and used a snap (with a button cover) instead of Velcro since I didn’t have any handy. I also added this little tag, which resurfaced from 2000 or so when I moved my craft room. (This photo also shows the truest color of the solid green canvas I used, a home dec fabric from IKEA that I also sewed Pearl a set of curtains with.)
Here’s another look at the inside. The only thing I wanted to do, but didn’t, was top-stitch the whole perimeter to finish as the instructions mentioned – I love top-stitching, but with up to six layers of thick canvas layered in a few places, my universal needle was not happy. So I hand-stitched the opening with invisible thread and it worked very nicely, it’s not quite as defined but it works. It’s plenty sturdy with all that canvas, especially once I pick up a hard-covered sketchbook to add…
So, on to the giveaway! Wiley sent me my review copy and has generously donated another copy of the book for me to give away to a blog reader, and I’m adding a piece of the print I used (Alexander Henry’s “peace” from 2005, which I bought around then at Michael Levine in LA and just cut into for the first time for this project!). To enter to win the book and fabric, please leave a comment on this post by next Thursday, September 22 (midnight PST), mentioning your favorite craft project you’ve ever made for a kid, and I’ll let Shelly and Karen pick the winner then!
Even better, for locals: Shelly will be signing books at Modern Domestic tomorrow night, September 16, from 6-9, and at Powell’s Books on October 22. Don’t miss Wiley’s author blog and tomorrow’s stop on the blog tour, True Up!
Kansas City in 20 photos
September 14, 2011 at 4:01 pm | Posted in chatty, crafty to buy, midwest, modern log cabin quilting, quilting | 5 CommentsWell, I absolutely loved visiting Kansas City and have a new midwest category in honor of my trip. Thank you SO much to everyone who was so cool and welcoming! Everett and I had the most awesome time running around with Jaime, Jenny, and the other KCMQG folks, and I wanted to share some photos of my favorite things we did there, from start to finish.
Jaime picked me up from the airport and we started off with a trip to Urban Arts + Crafts as the first stop on my own personal Holiday Shop Hop (two months early in my case – but if you are anywhere near there, mark your calendars for November 5 and 6!).
Urban Arts + Crafts is a super cute and colorful store with beads, yarn, fabric and many other craft treasures (plus lots of books). I love shops like this, since I like to do so many different things myself… but my heart belonged to fabric on this trip.
I ended up with this nice zig-zag print and some Denyse Schmidt Katie Jump Rope and County Fair! Loved seeing these again and getting a second chance to buy some.
Then Jaime took us to lunch at the Bluebird which was lovely, and downtown to visit Hammer Press (no photos of my finds, since there is a secret Father’s Day gift for Andrew in there that has to stay hidden til next June… but I did find this for a certain 3-year-old I know). Loved seeing the TWA building – so beautiful!
She showed us some other beautiful neighborhoods and we crossed from Missouri into Kansas for the first of many times. I hadn’t realized, with my total ignorance of KC geography, that we’d get to hang out on both sides of the state line, a bunch of times even! Very cool and now Everett has been to five states total. After some time to chill at Jaime’s gorgeous 1950 house (same year as mine!), we headed over to Eden’s Alley for dinner with Jacquie and Jenny. It was so great to get to hang out and chat, and Jacquie and I even found out we are both UNC grads (plus, she and my dad went to the same high school – !). Then it was time to head over to the KCMQG meeting…
I was so excited to see my dear friend Rhonda, who came from Lawrence to see me!! We’ve known each other for ten or eleven years through crafty things online and it was awesome to get to give her a hug in person. The meeting was amazing – KCMQG got their 100th and 101st paid members (!!), and the show and tell ended with a teary surprise – Shea organized a beautiful collective gift for beloved outgoing president Jacquie, a quilt called Windy City.
photo by KCMQG
Then I gave my log cabin quilting presentation and showed book projects, and people were really wonderful about it – I got a lot of great compliments, and signed some books, thanks to Elaine from Harper’s, who sponsored the meeting with a fantastic mini-shop in the back! What a great evening.
After a lovely end of the night back at Jaime’s, she took me over to the KC Bernina store in the morning and we had to say goodbye. I snapped up this Betz White hat pattern and some handy pre-wound bobbins,
and got to admire their beautiful collection of vintage and antique Bernina sewing machines.
Jenny picked me up (with her adorable 7-week-old son, Carter, who Everett was fascinated with!) and we headed over to Harper’s. I loved seeing the Kaffe Fassett shot cottons in person, and how cute is this orange sewing machine?!
I picked out two of the shot cottons, plus this cute deer print and a tiny rotary cutter I’ve been wanting forever. (The quilting ruler was a gift from Elaine!)
Then we headed to the Nelson-Atkins art museum to meet Kim. I absolutely loved the museum and I wish I could have spent a whole day there (next time for sure). Everett let me see most of a photography exhibit before his baby-timer went off, and then we went outside for a more mellow visit to the completely amazing sculpture garden.
We dodged a hailstorm nicely and went back downtown for lunch with Kim, where I got to set foot on the other end of the Oregon Trail,
and then our last stop was Bon Bon. I was so excited to look through these tempting bins full of rolls of vintage and new fabrics! I picked out a nice selection, including this blue and brown colorway of my favorite vintage sheet pattern (!!!!),
and I got some half-yard cuts of two Cloud 9 fabrics I’ve been wanting.
Here we are at Bon Bon with Jenny and a sleepy little Carter. Jaime and Jenny were the sweetest tour guides ever.
Then we had to head out to the airport again and say goodbye to Missouri (and Kansas)…
and Everett and I were on the way home with a suitcase full of awesome souvenirs! Here is everything I found on my mini-shop hop. Love it all.
Along with everything I bought, Jaime gave me one of Shea‘s quilt patterns (can’t wait to try it!) and Lauren gave me this beautiful stack of vintage fabrics. Thank you so much, ladies.
I just want to thank everyone in KCMQG for welcoming me so warmly and to Jenny and Jaime for showing me your beautiful city. It was a wonderful couple days and I loved it all! I was sad to leave, but I’m excited that we’re doing a log cabin potholder swap with the KC guild – I can’t wait to see what my partner has in store for me… photos of the whole swap coming in November. And if you’re here in Portland, hope to see you tomorrow night at our PMQG meeting, too.
Speaking of, I’ll see you tomorrow for my Sewing For Boys review and giveaway – I had a lot of fun with this one and will be sharing my project then!
Kansas City bound!
September 7, 2011 at 9:44 pm | Posted in chatty, craft to wear, I love to make things..., modern log cabin quilting | 9 CommentsSo, today I needed to rehearse my log cabin presentation, call a cab to the airport for dark-thirty tomorrow morning, pack, and track down Everett’s birth certificate… what better time to sew a new dress??
This was my recent score at JoAnn – 3 yards of my favorite print from Denyse Schmidt‘s Picnic line earlier this summer. I pre-washed yesterday and then started cutting around noon. I’ll post more about the Continental pattern if anyone’s interested, but it felt like it ran very big on me in my measurement size (18) and I ended up doing various pleats and tucks at the armholes and neckline (front and back), and bringing the sides in substantially. The length was perfect as-is, though.
My favorite change was skipping the tie belt (which is very cute in the pattern envelope photo) and making an improvised 4.5″ wide reversible obi sash instead. I really needed the definition and the wide, graphic sash turned it from billowy and indistinct on me, even after all the streamlining, to a more tailored waist and party-dress silhouette. LOVE the fabric – just love it. I did the sash in half Picnic, half County Fair (her 2007 home dec collection). I really love the contrast side out, and then the matching side is more subtle but also pretty.
Here’s what they look like together closer up… I’m calling the dress Picnic at the County Fair. By the way, I hadn’t had a chance to press it or even trim threads before I started losing the light, so forgive my super quick photos. Today flew past me!
My goal was to finish the dress before it got super gray and fall descended and it was time for jeans every day. Well, it was 95 degrees here today and summer is sticking around for now, so I’m hoping for several outings in my new dress! And the first one will be at the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild meeting tomorrow night… huge thank-you to everyone there for inviting me to come visit and speak. I am so excited, and I’m bringing a big stack of PMQG members’ cards for our log cabin potholder swap!
See you next week! Or if you’re in Kansas, tomorrow!
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
