Argentinian Adventures

Hello again! I am back from an amazing trip to Argentina. It was really better than I imagined. And true to my word, I went immediately to the Once, the garment district in Buenos Aires. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, although deep down, I was hoping it was something like New York's garment district. It was in the fact that once you are in it, there is shop after shop of fabric stores. The presentation was very different though, with giant rolls of fabric. I was a little overwhelmed to say the least, but the adventure was a lot of fun.

Adios Muchachos!

I am off to Argentina for an exciting, adventure-filled vacation. I have already researched the Buenos Aires garment district and it is on the top of my list of things to do. And ice trekking; I will definitely be doing some ice trekking in Patagonia. And wine tasting; there will be a lot of that as well.

There won't be any posts for a while but I can hint that something very craftciting is brewing in the Internet. Once things are finalized, I will be sure to post more. And if my new friends are reading this, you know what I am talking about.

The Lovely Lady Lap Quilt

So here is the lap quilt I made for my co-worker's mother. It has been confirmed by several independent sources that is quite lovely, which makes me very happy. It also made me so happy to do this for my co-worker, mostly because this quilt should guarantee him "Favorite Son of the Year" status over his brothers, and who doesn't love that?

I picked five solid colors and put them together in 11" x 11" squares. Each square was repeated twice. My favorite part of the quilt is the binding on the back, tying in the modern, geometric pattern with the fun, whimsical My Folklore pattern.

Too Many Fish In the Sea

There are twin girls due in June that are in line for baby quilts. I picked up this lovely fabric for one of the quilts. The twins' mother casually mentioned that she prefers colors that aren't pink, so I went with the bright primary colors. It is so fun and bright; I can't wait to put it together for the little lady.

A Quilt In Progress

Today was my first day in a long while that I could dedicate to sewing. My to-do list is getting pretty long so I needed to get a move on. I set aside all of today to work on my co-worker's quilt.

As I mentioned, my coworker picked out the My Folklore pattern for the quilt back. I then picked out five solid fabrics, a white, a cream, a light pink, a mauve and a chocolate brown for the quilt top.

A Pile of Goodness

I took this picture this afternoon, interrupting the Weekend Craftbonanza to capture this beautiful shot of the sun shining in on some of my new fabric.

(And yes, I am still quite smitten with the new camera.)

It's Not A Craft Exactly

It burns me that I haven't had a good craft post for a while but the whole rest of my life is keeping me rather busy. But It Is On this weekend. I have a long list of things to make and I won't stop until I get them done. I am even bringing in the reinforcements (under the guise of hemming her jeans - ha ha).

To compensate for my lack of crafting, I did a little internet shopping, including investing in a fancy new camera. I took the new baby out for a test ride last night and took this lovely shot. So here is a little eye candy until this weekend's craft explosion gets documented.

I Got the Tag!

By Amy the DINK

A: Attached or Single? Attached
B: Best Friend? There are a couple of special ladies out there that get that title. You know who you are.
C: Cake or Pie? cake cake cake cake
D: Day of Choice? Lazy Sundays
E; Essential Item? My sewing machine
F: Favorite Color? It is impossible for me to pick favorites
G: Gummy Bears or Worms? Bears, especially the pineapple ones. Mmmmmm
H: Hometown? Uptight, small, suburban town in Connecticut
I: Indulgence? A fancy new camera
J: January or July? July 'cause it's my birthday
K: Kids? Does a ten year-old gray cat count?
L: Life isn't complete without? Good friends sharing good food and great wine
M: Marriage date? November 3, 2007
N: Number of brothers and sisters? One super sister
O: Oranges or apples? Pink Lady Apples - all the way
P: Phobias and fears? I am desperately afraid of the vacuum cleaner running over my toes
Q: Quote? "Why don't you just tell me what movie you want to see" Kramer
R: Reason to smile? I work about 5 blocks from NYC's Garment District
S: Season of choice? Fall in New York
T: Tag three people? Nadia and Jess, it's your turn.
U: Unknown fact about me? I secretly love reading science fiction
V: Vegetable? Steamed brussel spouts forever
W: Worst habit? Biting off more than I can chew
X: X-ray or Ultrasound? I have only had an x-ray so I guess I will go with that.
Y: Your favorite food? Caravan of Dream's tempeh reuben. It is how my husband wooed me to move to New York.
Z: Zodiac sign? Cancer Moon Child

Quilt Action Shots - Part III

So I got to see the Quilt for A Grown Up Gal in action on Sunday when I was invited over for way too much wine and some very tasty fondue. There was a lovely soup and salad, but really, the fondue was quite the winner. Why am I not eating fondue every night? I digress.

Here are some great action shots of the quilt in the OLDM's newly painted apartment. It looks terrific with her artwork and her eyes. ; ) The OLDM was nice enough to take some self portraits that are just wonderful. She even tried to emulate some of the other babies on the blog by chewing on the corner of the quilt and striking a happy baby pose, but because she might have a career in politics one day, I am keeping those lovelies to myself. For now.

A New Trick

So I figured out how to make make up bags this weekend. I don't know where the deep rooted fear came from but I had been resisting this idea for a long long time. I found a great tutorial on Craftster.org that calmed my fears and by yesterday afternoon, I was in business.


The dimensions for the makeup bag in the tutorial were smaller than what I wanted so I swallowed my fear of math and adjusted the pattern to make a larger bag. The smaller one is 7" x 4" and the larger one is 8" x 5". The smaller one is perfect for going in a purse, while the bigger one is just right for holding your daily make up.

Another Quilt In the Queue

After listening to me chatter on and on about quilts for the past 5 months, all of my subliminal messages to my coworker finally worked! He commissioned me to make a lap quilt for his mother for Mother's Day, and of course, I said yes. What a good son.

Within days, I found my coworker (who will remain anonymous to preserve his privacy as I am about to reveal somewhat embarrassing information here) cruising the Internet for fabrics and quilt pattern ideas. Usually you can find this guy reading about politics and moving to Canada, so you can imagine my surprise when he started showing me the styles he liked. It warmed my heart.

So, with a lot of conversation and sharing of ideas, we designed the perfect quilt for his mom. The back of the quilt is going to be this print from My Folklore. I will save the details for the quilt top for later, but all I am going to say is that it is going to be just lovely, and perfect for a mom.

** Update - the fabric has arrived. I am heading down to Purl tomorrow to pick out the fabric for the quilt top and some additional fabric for two more baby quilts. It's raining babies!

I Have My Eye On You

I read about this pattern last week and haven't stopped thinking about it since. I have so many little girls in my life right now that could use a little dress like this. And I am just the woman to make it for them.

Fabric Shopping With Charlotte

Charlotte had her first visit to the Big Apple this past weekend. Although her older brother is more into the outdoors, Charlotte is a city girl at heart. She smiled and laughed and broke hearts all over Manhattan. We cruised the Garment District and I picked these two pieces of loveliness. I cannot wait to get my hands on this material. I am picturing dresses for little girls, robes, skirts and using the scraps in an orange themed quilt. The possibilities are endless. Now if I could just do something about my day job getting in the way.

I Think I'm Turning Japanese, I Really Think So

On a blissful afternoon walk, I stopped into this wonderful Japanese book store a couple of blocks from my office. I have read about Japanese crafting and sewing books online and decided to see for myself if they are really that great.

Oh yes, Japanese sewing books are amazing. I came out of the store clutching this little book to my chest, my heart pounding with excitement. The book is gorgeous, it comes with SIX patterns and detailed picture instructions. I have read that if you know how to sew, you can follow along without needing a translator, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

So here are some pictures of my lovely new book. I will be sure to post updates of my attempts at sewing by picture alone.

One Step Closer To A Streak-Free Life

As I mentioned before, I live in a fishbowl with a lot of windows and to my husband's chagrin, I tend to do some good streaking between the bathroom and the bedroom when I am at home. Rather than make him run ahead of me all the time, closing the blinds as he goes to maintain a semblance of my privacy, I decided to make a bathrobe. I picked up some lovely Armani shirt material at Parson's West in the Garment District last week. It is a very light weight cotton, which will be perfect for the hot New York City summer that is just around the corner.

If all goes as planned, I will be in a new robe this weekend. I will be sure to give my neighbors a good finale!

Okay Jess, peek all you want!

I received a quilt order right around the time I committed to the fabric for Baby Brielle's quilt, so with a little tweaking and a lot of thought on the design, I actually made two quilts at the same time. The quilts are pretty much the same with the only real difference being the binding. On this first one, I used the pale yellow pinstripes with the dragonflies and butterflies for the binding but I have something else in mind for the second one.

I delivered this quilt to Lauren last week to be given at a baby shower this past weekend. I already received a report that the mother-to-be "LOVED" (with all capitals) the quilt. Hearing that response makes me so happy and just fuels the quilting fire inside of me. (Have I gone over to the dark side yet?)

It has been tough to hold on to these quilt pictures and not post them. My intention was to hold out until I finished the second quilt, but it is taking a bit longer than I anticipated and these pictures are burning a hole in my pocket. And after consulting with Jess this morning and hearing that she has been cruising the blog hoping for a sneak peek, I figured I would end the torture for the both of us.

So, here you go Jess! I hope you like it.

Spools of Sunshine

I bought this thread on an afternoon field trip two weeks ago and couldn't wait to use it. The yellows range from a light butter yellow to a deep daffodil shade. It is so lovely and versatile. I used it for the birthday bag tote for Charlie but I am already envisioning so many other possibilities besides embroidery. There were several different shades to choose from so I am pretty sure I will be going back for more. Soon. Real soon.

Summertime in the City

Well, sort of. It is only March but I am already plotting and planning for the summer. Spring is wonderful in New York, filled with temperate weather with is neither too hot or too cold. But it doesn't last long and I can see the steamy days ahead of me.

After a quick internet search, I found this Kwik pattern and can't wait to make some cute summertime sleepwear with a little matching robe. So cute and it will put an end to my days of streaking through the apartment.

Rulers of Engagement

It seems like it took me way too long to really embrace the magic of good rulers. I think it is because I am mostly self-taught that I flailed around so long without a good ruler. What was I thinking?

A couple of weeks ago, I learned the hard way that some plastic rulers melt when you use them with an iron. Whoopsies. But it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened. It made me go down to Purl Soho and pick up a new, amazing ruler. It is as wide as my cutting mat and is designed so it doesn't slide across the fabric, meaning straighter cuts and more control.

Other wonderful features that I never even knew existed were all the different cutting marks. There are one inch and half inch cutting lines, making it cutting easier, more accurate, and uniform. There are also plenty of other small marks on the ruler for lining up patterns and working with a cutting mat. I never knew it could be this good.

What a beauty.

Somebody Is Turning Four Today

One of my favorite little friends is turning four years old today. I did a lot of good thinking and decided that what every little girl needs is her own tote bag for carrying very important stuff. I was also inspired by some amazing thread I picked up on a lunch time field trip to the Garment District. The yellow thread is painted so it changes from very light butter yellow to a deep daffodil color. I kept thinking about how it would look on chocolate brown fabric and then the light bulb went off.

Since I have no sense of proportion for young bodies, I have a sneaking feeling that the bag is probably a little too long and deep, but heck, that just means more stuff that will fit in it. The straps seem fine but the body of the bag is a little long. We are on our way over to the birthday party today so I won't have to wait too long to see the fit.

For the flowers, I mostly free styled their design. My new sewing machine has some very cute embroidery templates so I was able to work in the little leaves, making the flowers even cuter. I also picked up some cute orange flowered ribbon that I used for an accent along the top.

Although the tote is pretty cute on its own, I wanted to put some special presents inside. I went to Papyrus yesterday and picked up some adorable stickers and a little chick ring. There are three little pads tied up with ribbon and some crayons. The girl is good to go.

There was another special request for a pineapple raspberry upside down cake. The timer just went off and the whole house smells delicious. Hopefully there will be some good action shots of the presents this afternoon.