San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival

I saw *so* much cherry blossom in Tokyo and loved every minute of it. I was looking forward to seeing some more in Japantown at this event but seem to have been optimistic - this was cherry blossom in spirit rather than in person. Not that that held back the festivities. Japanese festivals have a specific type of food known as "B food" and this was similar.

Pooch was very disturbed to find that the Takoyaki (octopus balls) were largely made of beef - although he did eventually manage to track down some genuine ones. Me? I went for the Moffle - a waffle made of Mochi (pounded rice paste). The cream was vegan and made with coconut milk.

I hardly need to mention how delicious it was. The picture tells the tale.

As well as dancing and drumming and other japanese activities, there were a lot of people in Cosplay outfits. This is when people dress up as anime cartoon characters. First up, Power Rangers.

Followed by...who knows?

And of course the SF Giants (baseball team) made an appearance.

Kind of.

It was absolutely boiling hot in the sunshine so we didn't stay too long but it continues next weekend so I might go back... for another Moffle!

Fussy Cut Squares

I joined Instagram purely in order to find swaps. I'm happy reading blogs and using facebook and Pinterest - I don't need another outlet. Having said that I have been posting occasionally and am @lixieyarnover if you'd like to link up. One of the swaps I found recently was the Fussy Cut Square one which has been going for a year already. I signed up for April and the theme was "Sewing". A few hours later and I had my twelve blocks.

The blocks don't have to be the same so you can use up scraps. You also get a template which you use for paper piecing. This was just as well as my accuracy left a lot to be desired and on several blocks I had to redo the outer triangles several times to get to the right finished shape (4.5").

This is what Flickr user Amanda Kattner has done with her blocks.

Isn't it amazing!? It is this image that inspired me to join.

A Lot of English Paper Piecing and a New Home!

I am back from the UK and have gone straight into the process of moving into our permanent rental. I'll share a few pictures but first, here is one of the projects I took with me to sew while I was away.

It is in three pieces at the moment and it is the top right piece I am currently working on, working vertical strips and joining them to grow it from right to left. This is the quilt I am making for my Mum and she chose a lot of the fabrics, which were all fat eighths at most in size. The pieces have 3" sides and I made all the pieces while I was in Tokyo last year. This is my design...

...so I'm getting there gradually.

My EPP "Feels Like Spring" swap also got underway while I was away so I have made these since getting back using 1" hexagons.

The pouch is going to be a very simple zip up one but I hope my Partner likes it!

Our new flat is only 20 minutes walk from our current one so we popped over there yesterday to put our 13 (!) signatures on the lease. That's 13 signatures each - there are only the two of us living there. We had each forgotten quite how spacious the place was but I know it will quickly fill up with furniture.

There is lots of light and sun comes in throughout the morning. The unusual L shape of the living area means that one bit will always be quite dark but I am planning lots of lamps for it. Pooch will have a desk and chair there so it will be his little hidey hole plus my shelving area.

We have a huge IKEA shipment and another from Amazon due on Wednesday next week so I will be doing an awful lot of flat pack assembly and arranging. But once it's all done I'll have a proper place for my craft stash - hooray!

SkipNorth 2015

For the 11th year running we were in Haworth, Yorkshire, for the annual spinning and knitting holiday. I had a wonderful time and met several new people as well as catching up with old friends. Here is a taste of what went on.

I found it really hard to resist Wingham's weaving looms and can see one joining me at home before another year is out. 

If you are interested in coming along another time then simply join the SkipNorth Group on Ravelry.

Nice Niece

I have been back in England this week - for the SkipNorth knitting holiday and for some niece action. And we have been very active. She started off wearing one of the three 'My Aunt Rocks' top I got her (in 2Y, 3Y and 4Y sizes).

Then she helped me brush my hair.

This was quickly followed by her 'helping' her Mum brush her hair, and hitting her on the head with the flat wooden side of my hairbrush. (Fnah fnah). There has been lots of shuffling around in my shoes.

This isn't something she'd done before but she was even more excited when a pair of silver ballet flats arrived yesterday and has been 'wearing' those a lot. All that activity tired her out, so she snuggled up with Mum.

Then this morning she insisted we go out while Mummy was having a lie in, and we found a (non-muddy) puddle!

That is a reference to her beloved Peppa Pig who jumps in muddy puddles. It is also who is on her top. While we were out a lady gave us three red balloons!

I was amazed they survived being dragged around so much but she was loving it.

So lovely to spend time with her (and my sister of course).

Making a Costume

I was invited to a "Leprekhaaaaan!" party and my first thought was "Yippeee! Star Trek!".

I am a real Trekkie. I love the films and the TV series up to and including Deep Space Nine. Voyager and Enterprise I am pretty "meh" about and although I love the reboots (hello Benedict) the true Khan for me is still Ricardo Montalban. With this in mind I decided to make myself a uniform that would look at home on DS9 or earlier. Where else to look for inspiration but Pinterest? This pin seemed to fit the bill.

I got two men's t-shirts from Thrift Town - a 2XL Black one and a XL red one. Next, making the pattern...

I was able to keep the collar of the black t-shirt but the rest all needed recutting, including the sleeves. Some sewing, a bit of fitting and a back combed beehive later and...

My badge was made out of felt.

I am so happy with how it turned out! And the party, which took place last night, was a great success!

Hands to Help Quilt Challenge - Sign Ups Open

I have got hold of so much free/cheap fabric recently, I am keen to make something good with it but I have a real hang up about the things I make being useful. I hate the idea of making endless quilts with no idea of a recipient. Solution? Make one for a charity! There are three charities benefiting from this challenge and I am aiming for one helping chemotherapy patients. To read all about each of them see this post on Confessions of a Fabric Addict. 

She is encouraging international participants and there are two options to deal with costly shipping. 

1. You post her just your front and back and she quilts it for you. 

2. You give to a local charity other than one of the three main ones - so a hospice or other charity close to you could benefit!

Reasons to take part? Apart from the general feeling of good will and the chance to show off your sewing skills, there will be lots of giveaways with great sponsors and discount codes for fabric shops. 

Click on the image above to read more and sign up!

Patchwork By Machine and Hand

The cover for my Japanese sewing machine ( a borrowed Janome) was quite pale and mellow.

I left that one with the machine so when my new Singer arrived I needed to whip up something new. I have been quite affected by the beige-y neutralness of the temporary flat so, with our boxes having arrived from the UK, I unearthed a pack of 20 Kaffe Fassett charm squares I'd had for a while.

The 20 squares were only enough for the top and front so for the sides I used "Dysfunctional Family" by Michael Miller.

For the back I used a similar black and white print, although it is about sewing!

There's a great thought bubble near the bottom:

"Look at the way she's dressed. She must be throwing Harry's money around."

Except of course it turns out she made her dress herself. Tsk!

My machine came with an embroidery foot so I decided to try a bit of machine embroidery again.

Pebbles have always been my favourite pattern so a stream of them go across the top and down the front. I also tried some writing on the top.

Not great but a useful bit of practice.

While digging around in the storage unit I found the quilt I started aaaaaaaages ago for my Mum. All the pieces - hexagons and diamonds - are ready so now it is a case of laying them out and sewing them together. I've started at the bottom which is just hexagons, and this is the biggest bit so far.

The challenge is going to be deciding the layout of the rest. There must easily be 50 different fabrics involved with low value neutrals as well as blues so I'll need to go back to my original drawings and see if I can work out what should go where.

Join a Pouch Swap

Come and join in!

Sign ups open until 1st April.

Aligning Edges and Corners

Getting points to match in patchwork tends to be something that happens to other people rather than myself. Give me EPP type stuff and I am excellent, but machine piece some patchwork and it all goes Pete Tong.

 

I did read about a way of getting it right about a year ago but didn't re-read it before I got started. Had I done I would have realised you precut the squares, not just the strips, before ironing and sewing them.

Doh.

Still, straighter than my usual efforts.

The reason for this strip sewing is that I am prototyping something to make for Etsy selling. I was hoping to get some regular income that way but as it turns out I've been sent the details of not one, but two jobs that sound ideal for me. I could yet end up working more or less full-time which will come as a bit of a shock after these 16 months of housewifery. My CV has been tweaked and hopefully I'll get something sorted out quite soon.

Free Fabric Fatigue

Can you believe such a thing as "free fabric fatigue" exists? Yesterday saw me at the fabmo.org building in Mountain View, the town where Google has its HQ, about 45 mins drive south of San Francisco. I was with Ambur, who does actual installation art pieces and exhibits them and everything but I had found it and suggested going after some google research consisting of "Fabric San Francisco" typed into the search engine. I therefore felt responsible for our presence and concerned it might disappoint.

It didn't disappoint. That is just part of one table and there were at least five, plus rolls of fabric in boxes and stands around the room. And then there was the room of wallpaper samples...

...and then the room of tile, marble and vinyl bits.

BUT...after half an hour of going through endless piles of silk, wool, cotton and the odd polester/viscose thing I was feeling like I'd had my fill. There was TOO MUCH free stuff. Much like my first visit to Scrap when I first got here. Still, I managed to pick some up.

Neutral linens - either for embroidery backgrounds or for ickle niece's height chart.

Interesting patterns - some embroidered.

Woven.

Dotty.

Wool (yes, that is a real Ralph Lauren label - this was high end stuff).

Pure silks and silk/cotton blends.

That's most of it but there is more, plus some slate tiles I'm making into coasters, some vinyl for carving and printing and some cotton fabric bits for patchwork.

There can't be many more free/discounted fabric places left for me to find...