Exploring Treasure Island

The Treasure Island Flea Market is a well known event here in SF and this weekend was the fourth anniversary one. I had been meaning to go since we arrived here so thought today was as good a time as any. Slightly better in fact - Pooch rather over exerted himself the previous night and was groaning in bed and there's only so long that remains amusing for.

Treasure Island is in the middle of the two halves of the Bay Bridge and a has a smattering of houses but during the last weekend of the month people and cars flock in in their thousands just for the Flea. The emphasis is on handmade things and twentieth century schmatter.

As well as the stalls there was a big food truck area with about twenty different trucks.

There was a lovely view while I scoffed down my whateveritwas.

Then back into the fray.

One of the things that did tempt me was a Virgin Mark bust.

But I was slightly put off when I realised that that is an ornate leather gun holster they are arranged among. Plus I didn't get "a feeling of joy" when I picked each one up - something not attributed to holy-poly but more to "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying-Up" which I have been listening to recently as an audio book. Very interesting stuff. The only things that did come back with me, which I do find very joyful, were some little succulents from this stall.

I have some crafty updates to share tomorrow and also some big news that will seriously curtail my crafting time. So I had better go and get on with it while I can!

And Now For Something Completely Different

I am not a cosplayer. Except for this one time a few months ago for a party...

However, I am known as a stitcher. The Burning Man's French Quarter Collective has me involved in their sewing group and various discussions have seen me turn this...

...into this.

I am not sure how much of the theme is being made public before time so suffice to say there is a Regency style to the clothing. I am busily finishing a tutorial on how to do it yourself including a no-sew option for those who prefer good ol'glue.

The original coat was $11 in a thrift shop plus about $6 for two packs of gold bias binding. I was wondering whether to do some more and sell them on Etsy but you never really know whether this stuff will sell. And how much should be charged? Being second hand the coat wasn't in A1 condition to start with - more like B2 - but it is definitely good enough for a couple of weeks in the desert. It gets very cold at night, so they tell me.

Machine Quilting Practice

I happened across this pin the other day:

It was one of those moments when you see something - especially something that would look fairly ridiculous to the uninitiated - and think "bugger me, that's a good idea". I had recently attempted to enter the world of freehand machine quilting and the results had not been stunning. It's all very well to practice doodling but the motion with your hands when you're machine quilting are those shown in the pin - it's not like you're holding the needle at all. That pin leads to this website which offers one of these gadgets for $39 which is not a bad price but I thought I could possibly do one with plumbing supplies. PVC pipe and two elbows, I thought, having just looked up what those things that aren't really called "pipe bends" are called. Not knowing where to get plumbing supplies from in person I set off for Scrap - confident they would be able to do me right.

It is a strange sensation, to be wandering around a warehouse of scrap, looking for something that either is or could be used as "bends". In the end I found these.

I *think* the fatal looking things are something to do with firing ceramics - holding the item up off the kiln shelf while it bakes. Those little spikes were certainly sharp. The tube is cardboard. A glue gun later and...

I added extra glue to the little spikes to make them less tetanus-y. Plus some more to the two feet of the ceramic things to give them some grip on the table top. I then taped a biro to the middle and ta da!

As you can see from the paper, there has been no instant improvement, although actually I have gained confidence and I have improved in my latest batch of squares.

Yeah, you can really see the quilting in that photo. You'll just have to take my word for it.

The quilt itself  is for the Hands2Help initiative and the deadline for the drive is rapidly approaching. I'm using the method covered in the Craftsy course I've taken where you make the units and them join them later with strips. It means you can go in for some heavy quilting without needing a Long Arm machine.