Dorky Homemade Quilts

Christmas Shopping on Kauai

2009-12-04T15:15:00.006-10:00

I just love visiting your blogs and seeing all the Christmas decorations where you live! So I thought you might like to see some from my corner of the world. I took these pictures when Clayton and I did a little Christmas shopping last week. Enjoy!

Ukuleles, gourds, and other hula implements decorate the above tree. Can you see them?

Below, Hawaiian quilt motifs are embedded in the garlands.

Below, the Hyatt hotel in Koloa has some elegant, understated decorations.

Not really a Winter Wonderland...but at least it's warm.

Below is the new Kukui'ula Shopping Center.

Do you have bananas in your Christmas garlands?

Forever Spring, Darn It

2009-11-27T16:04:00.009-10:00

See this sock?

I'm mad at it. No....wait...I'm not mad at this sock specifically....I'm mad at its other half:

This is the sock that never ends. I've been half-heartedly trying to work on this sock now for four months. This is "Spring Forward," a free sock pattern I downloaded from Ravelry. I'm not sure why I'm not finishing it. Perhaps because I'm not fond of this Shibui yarn, or perhaps I don't like the length of the completed sock. Whatever it is, I am stuck, stuck, stuck, motivationally speaking, just past the heel of this sock.

But being stuck alone is not enough to make me mad at this sock. No. Something far worse has happened.

I'm a one-project-at-a-time woman. I've always figured that if I didn't love a project enough to work on it--if I had to go traipsing off onto another project just to get un-bored--that I should figure out what was wrong with the one that had stalled me and fix it. Make it exciting enough to work on again. Sort of like marriage, you know? You just can't go calling up Brad Pitt or Gerard Butler because you're sick of your own husband! Even if he does generate too much laundry or leave wadded-up paper towels on the kitchen counter every hour on the hour. Ahem.

But being promised to a duplicate of a project that barely entertained me the first time is agony! (Imagine having your husband's identical twin come to live with you on laundry day. He's also brought his spare roll of paper towels.)

So...for the first time in my knitting life...I'm thinking of being unfaithful. Why? Because Daniel Craig showed up my mailbox today:

Swoon. Mittens...Mostly Mittens (with a few adorable hats thrown it) by Charlotte Schurch. Charlotte has already stolen my heart with her fantastic sensational sock books; now she's tempting me with mouth-watering mittens!

I don't know if I can stand it. Temptation, thy name is Mitten #11.

Or maybe Mitten #20.

Nope. Mitten #24 has stolen my heart. Sorry, Spring Forward socks. It wasn't you; it was me. I tried, but I couldn't resist the call of Charlotte's beautiful mitten patterns. Her instructions and techniques are clear and concise, and her projects are divine. You couldn't help it, red socks; you were just plain red. Right now in my life, I need a rainbow:

Sigh. What will my friends and family say?

I know! I can distract them with this uber-adorable fez!! How could they be mad at me if I'm wearing this???

My FAVORITE Hawaiian Song EVER

2009-11-23T17:41:00.004-10:00

I've been meaning to post this for a while now--my favorite Hawaiian song EVER. Truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of Hawaiian music, but this song gives me goosebumps every time. The song was written by a woman and the words have something to do with the beauty of ocean life. I was very happy to find an accompanying video on You Tube! I think the song and the video are very beautiful. Enjoy!

Goodbye Ol' Girl

2009-11-20T10:03:00.008-10:00

See this? This is not good. These are computer guts. Although I certainly marvel at the complexity of their anatomy and appreciate all they do, I can't say that I'm ever happy to see them.

I took a computer hardware class once. On the first day, the teacher handed us a screwdriver and told us to take one of his computers completely apart. I actually zipped through that day, de-gutting mine in record time, as unscrewing things is a lot like seam ripping. Believe me, I know my way around a seam ripper and I am FAST.

On the second day, he told us to put his computer back together. I guess I should have expected this, but I sincerely thought he was going to TEACH us something in between the taking apart and putting back together. He obviously was under the mistaken impression that I had paid attention when I had taken it apart, and somehow remembered where all those pieces went. Well, this was the part that wasn't a bit like seam ripping at all. When you rip out something, you don't care how it WAS (since it was wrong), you want to put it back differently, hopefully better than it was.

After several grueling hours, I did finish this nearly impossible task. And I do have to say that to my credit, mine looked a whole lot better inside than when I took it apart! All my wires were bundled neatly and my screws were aligned much more tidily. All the dusty parts got a good cleaning, and the ports got de-fuzzed. The CD drive had been a little bit crooked in its bay, but now it was held tight in perfect position, aligned at a perfect 90 degrees with the side seam of the processor.

Of course, the computer didn't work any more after that. The Grim Computer Reaper had appeared sometime during my trial and condemned my patient to the eternal ethernet with his mighty Blue Screen of Death. Not even the teacher could figure out what was wrong, which actually was a little bit comforting to me. Not because it may have been a mechanical problem beyond both our expertise...but because I had wreaked some sort of vengeance for his torture of me. I could only hope he spent as many anguished hours fixing it as I had un-fixing it.

So why this topic today? Well...I couldn't stand to talk about it before now, but my beloved computer's guts were a part of my post-vacation/real life re-entry process. The first time I turned my computer on after arriving home, she crashed spectacularly--with noise and lights and fizzle and pfffffts!, no less. I opened her up, and I saw the problem immediately: me. I love computers--but I'm more like a benvolent computer zookeeper than a computer neurosurgeon.

Courtesy of Costco, I now have a new HP PC with a 25" monitor!!! I love it. Windows 7, 750 GB hard drive, 8 GB RAM and a 2 Quad Processor!

Sorry ol' gutsy girl; we shared some great times, but I'm in love with my new hunky HP. Let's hope I never ever have to see what he's made of...

A Nine Patch Mystery

2009-11-19T00:01:00.002-10:00

I wish I'd taken more pictures of this little quilt before I donated it. I didn't like it very much at the time, but now that it's gone, I'm liking it much better!

I was inspired by a book I saw at Border's. A full-sized quilt that looked very much like this one was on the cover. I thought about the book for a couple of days, went back to purchase it, but it was gone. I didn't even get the author's name or the name of the book! So here is my attempt at reproducing her quilt from memory:

My apologies for not being able to give credit to the wonderful person who designed this quilt! I like the pattern; I think I just fell out of love with the quilt during the making because I'm not used to staring at these intense colors. My eyes needed a vacation before I could appreciate it again.

Does this quilt ring a bell with anyone? Remind you of any quilt books you have?

I'm in a crafting lull right now. I think it's Post-Wonderful Vacation Syndrome. You know how it is...you go on vacation and it's really really great, then you come home and have to do this re-entry into your life. There are bills to pay, messages to answer, groceries to shop for, pattern orders to fill--it takes me at least three weeks to get back into some sort of routine. Unfortunately, I feel like my brain is moving too fast to sit down and quietly sew pieces of fabric together, or work string into doilies, or knit yarn into socks.

Oh...and part of the life re-entry is to get sick, too. You have to have the re-entry flu--you know the one you actually contracted at the first airport before you even got on the departing plane--but refused to get sick on vacation? Yeah, that one. Fortunately, I'm over that one, but now I'm onto the second illness--the cold I got from being so busy and not sleeping and eating right when I got home because I was too busy catching up and suffering from the first flu. Yeah, that one.

I think, all in all, vacation recovery time for me is about three months. But since Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are in that three month period...I'd say...oh...I should be feeling caught up and healthy around February? Yeah, February. Looking forward to it.

2009-11-18T10:58:00.003-10:00

It's been quite stormy lately here on Kauai. This past Saturday, my friends braved the weather and came to my house for a day of sewing. We chatted through the heavy rain, thunder and lightning--even through the power outage we had during the storm. But alas, by early afternoon, there was talk of closing our road due to flooding, so my friends high-tailed it out of Kapaa and headed for their homes on the south and west sides of the island. This news report shows what happened on our street that day.

Our north and east shores got 14 inches of rain in 12 hours that day. The amazing thing? When my friends got home, they reported that the sun was shining where they live, probably only 10 to 15 miles away! The skies cleared by Monday, and today, we are enjoying sunshine as usual.

Lightning Storm on its Way!

2009-11-12T21:50:00.003-10:00

It's 9:52 on Thursday night and I'm just about to turn off my computer and enjoy our first lightning and thunderstorm of the season. See those little yellow and red dots between Kauai (second island on the left) and Oahu? On the radar loop, they're coming this way, bringing lots of light and noise.

Oh, how I LOVE thunder and lightning! So much drama...so much power! It's just thrilling to me. Of course, our electricity will go the first thing, so I better turn off my computer so I don't get any unwanted surges. Yay!

Nitey!

Slightly Better than No Post at All

2009-09-29T17:45:00.008-10:00

Have you noticed that there is a dearth of bloggery in Blogdom lately? I think I'm noticing it because I'm missing some of you and your wonderful daily posts. Perhaps it's Facebook to blame...or Twitter...or just our busy lives catching up with us; I'm not sure.

But I can hardly complain, can I, as I myself have been responsible for a portion of the dearth! I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. So I thought I'd better post something...anything...so...

How about pictures of my pretty Rainbow Shower tree?

This was taken about a month ago. August and September are the months that these trees go off all over the island. They're gorgeous!

Look at all those blooms! And they aren't small blooms, either:

There is my hand on just one of the giant brachts. There are pink shower trees, yellow shower trees, and a mix of pink, peach and yellow like mine. I just love my tree. Now that it's fall, there are only a few blooms left.

One of the reasons I haven't been blogging much is this:

I'm learning to use my new machine. Here, I'm trying my first pantograph on a couple of baby donation quilts I made. All I have to do is follow that black line with the red laser light on the machine.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hee hee hoo hoo. Follow the line...whoo hoo! It SOUNDS easy, doesn't it? NOT!

Oh well, they didn't come out too badly when you don't look closely. These were my first two pantos--I've done six baby quilts now, and I think I'm getting better. I had to learn to slow down, believe it or not...I was trying to quilt too fast! The problem was that my old machine-on-a-stick went very fast and it trained me to go like a bat out of...well, you know...just to get my stitching even. My new Gammill has a stitch regulator, so I can go any speed I want and there will be even stitches. But my brain doesn't quite know that yet. The machine goes on and I feel like I'm a horse out of a starting gate. Zoom!

Well, if they ever give awards for speed quilting, bet on me. Accuracy? Not so much.

Not too bad, now that they're all bound and donated.

So that's what I've been working on lately. Pretty snore-y, huh?

My wonderful son had his birthday recently. Here is a really sweet picture of him and Mr. Bigglesworth, taken when he was home for the summer:

I can just tell by the way he treats his little cat brother that he's going to be a great father one day.

Feather Challenged

2009-08-24T09:11:00.003-10:00

Remember these blocks? The ones you've been staring at on my neglected blog for over a month?
At long last, I bring you....closure. Or should I say "clothes"-ure?

The "Better than Laundry" quilt is done. Here it is on my bed:

I lost track of how many shirts, dresses and skirts I used to make this quilt. I even used a pair of men's pajamas! I had a ball.

While my son was home for summer, we watched the "Twin Peaks" series from Netflix. I think that's how this quilt ended up so "mountain-cabin-in-Snowhomish" looking. I certainly doesn't look like it belongs in Kauai, but that's okay. Change is fun.

The only fabric I purchased was for the black border. The rest of this quilt was made from my last-chance stash (destined for rag rugs) and old clothing.

I had fun with the quilting. Sunbursts, spirals, leaves, flames, feathers...yikes.

I'm okay with leaves and swirls, but feathers defeat me. This quilt is an oversized KING comforter (!), so I thought I would tackle feathers on the gigantic black border with black fine thread. I thought by the time I feathered FOUR large, wide borders, I'd be great at feathers!

Nope. I guess my next few quilts will have to stay plucked for now.

Can you see the feathers in the black border below? No? Good.

Okay...how about this...can you spot the fur in the next picture?

Mr. Bigglesworth inspects my latest. Oh...and as long as we're playing "I Spy"....did you spot my new quilt hanger?

It's quite big for a quilt hanger, yes?

Yep...I'm surprised, too. My husband bought me this for my 51st birthday. I told him that my friend Joe was selling his Gammill, and the next thing you know, the Gammill was parked in our living room. Well...not exactly "the next thing you know." It required six people and a twelve-foot trailer, plus lots of noises like, "oof" and "ow," not to mention some major bruises and back pain.

I'm floored. For as long as I can remember, I've dreamed about owning one of these machines. I can hardly believe it when I see it in my very own sewing room. Pinch me.

Better Than Laundry

2009-07-05T15:36:00.003-10:00

I present here for your viewing pleasure....today's laundry.

There are several shirts and dresses in here, along with some pieces of fabric I dug out of my fabric recycle bin. My "fabric recycle bin" is where fabrics go that I haven't used in ten to twenty years--my fabric graveyard.

I had to soak a few of these pieces in Biz to get the yellow and mold spots out. I guess you could call some of these "zombie" fabrics since they arose from the dead...ha! (You can tell my son is home for the summer. I've watched more than a few zombie films since we put him in charge of the Netflix queue.)

Yep...just a big pile of laundry. But wait!

What is far, far better than folding laundry???

Making a quilt is far, far, far better than folding laundry!

This dress was always too short. Unflattering, too.

It looks so much better as a quilt, don't you think?

So far, I've incorporated six old shirts and two dresses, along with various fabric zombies to make it interesting. I'm having so much fun! This is, by far, my favorite kind of quilt.

Stay tuned. More blocks and sashing to follow....

Update: I'm still waiting for an appointment with a gastroenterologist, so I don't know anything much yet. (I stumped the G.P.) But my lab blood tests were incredibly excellent! So that's good news. Trouble is, we only have one gastroenterologist on the whole island, so I think there's a bit of a wait to see him. Meanwhile, I'm off grains, dairy, starchy vegetables, sugar, and chocolate. Yes, chocolate. If I eat chocolate, my eyes swell shut and I get big itchy lumps all over my head. It would be really quite funny if we weren't talking about CHOCOLATE...which happens to be my FAVORITE THING in the WHOLE WORLD. Sigh....

A Quickie Post

2009-06-02T18:03:00.009-10:00

May was spectacularly busy for my family and I. I hope June eases up a bit! It's been Crazyville.

I haven't had much time for crafting, but I did want to pop in and say hello.

I finished a scarf:

This is the "Spring Ripple Scarf," and it's crocheted with Noro Sock Yarn. Sure is colorful, eh? Springy. I'm not exactly sure if I'll ever wear it...actually...with those colors, I think it would wear me. But working on it was fun and it looks pretty hanging in my closet.

We picked up Grayson and Angela from the airport on May 9th, and it sure has been great having them around. One of the first things Angela said to me (I think we were still at the airport!) was that she wanted to learn how to knit.

YESSSSSS!

That made me VERY happy, of course. So here she is with her first project, the "One Row Handspun Scarf." She's finished quite a bit more of it since this picture:

I think she likes knitting! Yay!

I had a day to do a little sewing:

I made four summer lightweight cotton elastic waist skirts. I absolutely lived in the two I made last summer, so I added to my summer collection. Easy as pie, washable, cool...they're great, even if they are a little dorky grandma farm-woman-looking. I love them.

These farm lady skirts will probably look great with my screaming Spring scarf, eh? And maybe some galoshes. Totally dig the crazy ol' lady look. People give you wide berth at the post office.

You haven't seen Mr. Bigglesworth lately, but he sends a big kitty hug:

He loves you all as much as I do.

I am really really really so very sorry that I have not answered hardly any email lately. Besides having visitors and deadlines, I'm having some health issues that I'm researching. No, I don't think it's serious, just sort of a puzzle. Giving up gluten, sugar and dairy seemed to solve many of my mysterious issues, but some remain. For instance, I suddenly seem to be allergic and/or intolerant to so many foods and substances! It's all so strange, because I've never been allergic to anything at all before now. So I've been reading every book and visiting every website I can in search of some answers. I'll hope I'll know more after my doctor visit next week. Wish me luck!

Kauai's 2009 North Shore Quilt & Fiber Show

2009-05-17T08:15:00.004-10:00

Would you like to go to a quilt show with me? I hope you don't mind if my brain doesn't come along; it's still missing. (No, it hasn't even sent me a postcard. I'm getting worried...)

We're going to have to do some backward time travel....I hope you don't mind. This quilt show, the brainchild of quilter Jeni Hardy and the result of hard work of the No Nene Quilt Group, is just a couple years old, but growing every year. It was held this year on March 27th and 28th, 2009, at the Church of the Pacific in Princeville, Kauai.

I'm estimating there were approximately 90 quilts, which is a pretty great showing for our tiny island. This first quilt is by M. Lea Ingram, who never fails to blow me away with her talent:

"Hanalei Moon," M. Lea Ingram, 2008

This is the show as you walk in; the quilts filled a number of rooms in the small church:

Of course, I wish I could show you all the quilts. I'm so proud of our quilters here on Kauai.

These Hawaiian quilts were a special display. These are the work of Pua Miriam Kaona.

Her family graciously lent these quilts to the show. Amazing. All hand-appliqued and quilted. Gee...and I whine when I have to sew block rows together....

I wish I had a long shot of this next quilt by Eileen Sanders. This is the farthest away I could get from the quilt because frankly, I am so in awe of her hand quilting skills that couldn't back away. I was hypnotized by her tiny, perfect, regular stitches:

"Baskets" by Elieen Sanders, 2009, voted Best in Show 2009

Eileen is a stab-stitcher. She makes those stitches ONE AT A TIME. One year at Quilt Hawaii, Eileen's work was almost dismissed by the judges in the hand-quilting category because the judges initially thought her quilt was machine quilted--it's that perfect.

Can you imagine? Stab stitching all these stitches one stitch at a time??? Mind boggling. And Eileen is a prolific quilter! She turns out one of these huge hand appliqued, hand pieced, hand quilted quilts about one every two months or so.

I am humbled by her awesomeness.

This quilt is pretty humbling, too:

"Iz" by Paula Jimenez, 2002

This quilt is a picture of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, a beloved singer here in Hawaii, now deceased. He's sitting under a mango tree, strumming his ukulele. This quilt took Paula five years to complete. The quilt includes many native Kauaian birds. It's spectacular. The quilt is large...possibly queen size?...not that you'd ever put in on a bed. That's just to give you a size idea.

I love this colorful strippy quilt:

"Rainbow Quilt," Jeni Hardy, 2009

I loved this next quilt, but I cannot find the maker's name in the program! No Nene's...anyone...help? I'll edit the maker's name in later. But I just had to show it to you because...wow...isn't it great? Look at those colors!!

"Unknown," by Unknown, Unknown Year. Anyone??

There were demos, too:

And this cute Hawaiian shirt quilt by Happy Parks, who comes up with the greatest ideas! I wish I could take a tour of her brain:

"Reyn Spooner Family Quilt," by Happy Parks

This quilt was made from a collection of Reyn Spooner Hawaiian shirts that belonged to her son, husband, father, and brother-in-law.

She used the collar, plaquet, and pocket of 12 shirts, then used the rest for the sashing. Isn't this clever?

Happy made one of my "Keiki Hula" patterns once and set it in such an imaginative way that I had to ask her if I could copy it. I love her work.

Back at the home front, I am busy being a mom again. All's right with the world.

I guess having a brain is overrated.

I am content.

Oh! and P.S. Be sure to look for me in the latest Quilter's Newsletter Magazine. I haven't seen the "Meeting Place" article yet, but thanks for your nice comments about it! I always worry about how I'm going to come off in an interview...I can be a little irreverent, you know. I hope it's okay...

More Spring Fever Randomness

2009-05-05T11:13:00.006-10:00

No, I haven't got all my mental marbles back yet. My mind is still off wandering somewhere and shows no signs of returning. I wish it had left a note. Am I going to be like this until Summer?

Meanwhile, some more Spring Fever randomness:

I made a skirt. It's fitted and has a zipper.

Of course, since I don't have a brain right now, I made mistake on the waistline. I made the waistline a little too big, but that's better than too small...right? More room for strawberries.

I made the skirt from this book:

Sew What! Skirts. Fantastic book. You can make custom fitted skirts easily, even if you don't have a brain!

Uh oh....mind wandering alert. Do you have this problem:

Piglets overrunning your yard? We do. These are wild piglets and they're soooo cute...but they're accompanied by their very agressive mama, who storms out of the bushes to charge anyone who walks into the yard. It's a problem.

This is what the adult pigs look like:

These are the neighbor's pigs, but they're quite tame. I can't get a good picture of the wild mama that's charging me because I'm usually too busy screaming and running back toward my house. It's a problem.

This is a horse that visits us occasionally. He keeps the pigs away.

Speaking of visitors, we have a pigeon that started visiting us recently. I don't think we had pigeons before Wal Mart came to our island. Now they're at Wal Mart, Kukui Grove Mall, and Lihue McDonald's. They're spreading to all the people-y places. I don't think we should be feeding him, but look at that cute birdie face! We're keeping him in captivity so he doesn't breed. Don't want to displace any endangered Hawaii birds! He seems happy enough in his cage.

This one's name is Mr. Pidgy. He growls when you get close to him--it's really funny. Have you heard a pigeon do that hiss-growl thing....or is that just our Kauai WalMart variety? Maybe he learned it from the pig.

Here's another project I've finished lately, which has nothing much to do with anything else I've written here...

Mr. Wise Owl. Made from an old Aunt Martha transfer pack.

More animal pictures:

Mr. Bigglesworth is wondering why all the animals that come live with us have the prefix "Mr." or "Mrs." I guess it's because I respect animals. And also...they have their secrets, don't they? I don't really think you can ever really name an animal. They have their own name for themselves that you can never know. So I leave their secret first name up to them.

Of course, when they're not big enough to be a Mr. or Mrs.:

Awwwwwwww. Mr. Bigglesworth, just a few days after we got him from the Humane Society. His name was just "kitty" here. What a lovely little creature he is.

For the life of me, I can't think of a segue into this next picture:

My chocolate chip cookies. My favorite recipe is the Tollhouse recipe which is printed on the back of the chocolate chips. But why do my cookies always come out looking like this:

Flat and wrinkly. They taste good, of course, but why flat and wrinkly? My cookies used to come out puffy...do any of you know what the problem could be? Thanks in advance for any insight, and also thanks in advance for not telling me that my cookies are just going through menopause. They're very sensitive these days...

Yay! The last topic change....I think. Maybe.

My husband and I will be celebrating our 24th anniversary this Sunday. I'm the luckiest woman on earth. I love being married to him and love him with all my heart. Happy Anniversary, Honey.

And more good news...my son Grayson will be home from college for the summer on May 9th! This will be one wonderful weekend. With any luck, my brain will check in briefly in order to enjoy it.

Spring Fever?

2009-04-28T16:46:00.006-10:00

I think I have Spring Fever. Does anyone know what the symptoms are? I'm busy, but I just feel so...hmmm....unfocused. I'm not doing anything I SHOULD be doing...I just feel like wandering around, doing a little bit of everything.

For instance, I have this incredibly lovely stack of fabric that I got for Christmas last year:

And this perfectly wonderful pattern to make it into:

But I don't feel like tackling a big project right now! My attention span is too short. So I do silly things like this:

I made a thrifted pillowcase into an apron. I think it came out pretty...but still...

I have an entire stack of perfectly wonderful new crisp fabric waiting for me...and I'm sewing together old sheets again. What is wrong with me??

I did finish a useful pair of socks:

These are my "Jury Duty" socks. I started them as a mindless, chartless project when I was called for jury duty...but my case got cancelled (yay!) and I was stuck with finishing the world's most boring sock pattern. I like the yarn--it's Misti Alpaca. Very warm and soft, which are my two favorite qualities in a sock.

But then I went back to sewing old dishtowels:

Can you guess what this is? Here it is, unrolled:

And unflapped:

My dpn's now have a cozy little bed to sleep in. I used two Martha Stewart dishtowels, some batting, and a bit of fabric to make the flap. Don't they look cute all tucked in?

Spring fever, I tell you.

As long as my mind is wandering, I'll tell you about my new favorite cereal:

I'm on a gluten-free diet now, just to see what happens. It's been two weeks and so far, I don't feel much different. Maybe gluten was responsible for my former longer attention span...you think? Nah. Anyway, this stuff is yummy! I think the box is happy, too. Can't you just see a quilt in all those colors?

Speaking of yummy, it's lychee time of year again:

These are so sweet and tasty. Have you ever had lychee? You peel back the red skin and eat the flesh, which tastes a bit like a grape, but more floral-tasting. These are not quite ready; they'll get redder and sweeter.

My orchids are showing off right now:

Hello, my pretties. Do you have Spring Fever, too?

While I'm wandering around the yard, this new little family crosses my path:

The yard is so lovely, I just may stay out here and wander a bit.

Is there any cure for this?

No More Haunted Mansion

2009-04-19T13:54:00.011-10:00

Remember my morgue-like sewing room?

NO MORE FUNERAL PARLOR DRAPES!! WHOO HOOOOO!

Gee, it's about time, isn't it? I've only been staring at those horrible depressing drapes--courtesy of our home's previous owner--for ten years now. Yay! We now have nice white faux wood blinds, courtesy of our local Home Depot.

And did you notice the color? We painted, too! (Thanks for all your color suggestions on this post.) This was my inspiration palette:

Obviously, a color scheme selected by a perimenopausal woman living in Hawaii. Summer is so dang hot! I'd rather fantasize that I'm living atop that iceberg there.

Here were the iceberg-inspired swatches that I agonized over:

As you can see, icy, cool, ice cube colors. I had actually decided on "Tide Pools," which is on the card furthest to your left--middle swatch. But the day we purchased the paint, I forgot my paint swatches at home, and had to remember what color I had decided upon. The remembering part didn't go so well--I picked out a new group of aqua swatches and "Delicate Mist" looked and sounded more familiar, so I bought a gallon of that one. ("Delicate Mist" is the middle card, middle color.)

I remembered wrong. Oh well, it's kind of close. It looked closer under the lighting at Home Depot, anyway.

It's difficult to capture the color in this room! There is too much light to be able to see it very well.

We actually finished painting a couple weeks ago, but I didn't post pictures because I couldn't get good pictures of the paint color (I still can't). The window light burns out the camera, so the color is hard to photograph.

It's a very delicate color. I like it a lot. I think if it were any darker, I'd tire of it easily.

It feels very serene and peaceful in here atop my imaginary iceberg.

I picked up this sconce at my favorite thrift store. It's perfect for my knitting needles.

The light aqua is a little easier to see on this wall--but still, you don't see the whole large cumulative blue/green/gray space. It's a large room, so there is plenty of blue.

My sewing room will never be a "pretty" room. It's my work room. My quilt factory. I love my sewing table (ugly) and my machine-on-a-stick (12 feet of bare wood and sprinkler pipe), and all the yarn storage beneath. I suppose I could drape everything in fabric...but ugh...I'd rather be quilting. Besides, with all the bright natural light, decorator fabric fades in six months. Not worth it.

I like my room to be practical and rearrangeable. I also like to store my bulky, unattractive items so they are easy to get to. I think if I made it a really "pretty" room, I'd never want to get it messy!

I love my space. It feels very restful, without feeling very "Rest in Peace"-full, if you know what I mean.

I Survived the Shawl

2009-04-14T11:01:00.007-10:00

I survived the shawl.

I am soooo glad this project is done. Here is "Ishbel:"

The Shawl of Pure Evil.

Grrrrrr. Oh sure...in this picture, it's laying here all innocent and soft, but don't be deceived. It's a vicious little thing. Fuzz, billions of yarnovers, dropped stitches, more fuzz, multiple charts, boring stockinette with teeny tiny FUZZY yarn--it's just plain mean. See the points? Think of them as fangs with my blood dripping from them.

I only finished this shawl because it taunted me. It lay in wait for me on my recliner every night, quietly plotting how it was going to break me. And it almost succeeded! I almost gave up at least once a night.

But I survived.

And...I kind of like it! I may make another one. (Slow learner.)

Next time, I would definitely use a different yarn. This is Malabrigo Lace in "Carrot." I love the color, but oh oh oh the fuzz! The Malabrigo would be good for someone making this shawl for the second time--when one already knows what one is doing--because mistakes are impossible to fix. The more you linger over a mistake, the more fuzz is produced--kind of like trying to pet a rabid dog.

But it sure is soft on my neck! And practically weightless. Just a little whisper of a thing, really. It's lovely to wear.

Perhaps on my next attempted shawl pattern, I'll consult a shawl expert regarding suitable yarn types before I nearly commit shawlicide.

Here is the lace edge. The edges did not turn out like I thought. I think I may have bound off too tightly (I think I was trying to strangle the thing....). In addition, I don't think this yarn blocks very well. I pinned out the points, but they're just not as pointy as they should be.

See? No points at all. Smooth edges. Not enough drama for an evil shawl, I think.

This is what the edges are supposed to look like:

This is sammysmith's Ishbel. I hope she doesn't mind me using this picture; I cut and pasted it from Ravelry. Her points are lovely and stayed pointy after blocking. I can see that her bind-off was looser than mine, too.

Here is the front of my shawl:

I need a shawl pin or something. I don't think I'd ever wear it this way, though. It feels too good up against my neck. I think I'll probably wear it more like this:

Perhaps I'll try to reblock it the next time I wash it to see if I can coax some points out of the infernal thing. I just worry about more fuzz when I wash it. I do love the color though! It's exactly the color of fresh carrot juice.

In other news, my new lavender quilt won a prestigious award! It's been designated by Mr. Bigglesworth as the most desirable sleeping spot of the week.

Quite an honor.

Just a Bed Quilt

2009-04-07T13:43:00.004-10:00

My lavender bed quilt is done.

There's not really much to say about it; it's just a bed quilt. Just a humble bed quilt made from my lavender, seafoam green, aqua, and purple stash pile.

The soft kind of bed quilt that I like so much.

Scrappy and full of memories...

with blocks that Angela and I worked on together...

and my friend Cindy (Angela's mom) sent over some pretty scraps for...

with lots of quilting in soft green cotton thread.

Yep, just a humble bed quilt.
My favorite kind of quilt.
We slept under it last night and we both slept well. I think that's a good sign.

Here's the pattern if you want to make one yourself:

Very simple. Just assemble like you would a nine patch.

Knitted Stuff

2009-03-31T15:40:00.009-10:00

Wow. Spring is here. I am so busy. You are too, I think, huh? I thought so. But thanks for stopping by anyway! I'm trying to go visit all of you, but argh! Busy! I miss my bloggy friends and I'm sooo behind on my blog-reading. What are you all up to?

I've been able to knit a little bit while watching the "Deep Space Nine" series in the evenings. I love anything Star Trek, but I missed that series somehow. I don't think I had a television when it played originally, so I'm finally watching it via Netflix. No commercials and I can see every episode in order. Netflix is great.

Here are some hats I finished for Angela and Grayson:

This little cutie is called "Center Square." It's by London Nelson and the pattern is free on Ravelry. I made it using two strands of Cascade 220 in two different colors.

Grayson's hat is the "Skull Hat" pattern by Gina Doherty. It's also free on Ravelry.

Single strand, easy chart, very fun pattern. I think it's easy enough for beginning colorworkers. I used Cascade 220 for this one, too.

Unfortunately, Grayson and Angela have run out of room in their tiny dorms (and both have too much winter clothing already), so I have to find someone else to gift these hats to. That's okay, I just wanted to make them.

Here are some socks:

Aren't the colors in this yarn GORGEOUS?? Yes, it IS Wollmeise. THEEEE legendary Wollmeise. The hundred-dollar-a-skein-on-ebay Wollmeise. I'll pause for you to catch your breath before I continue.

No, I didn't get my hands on any myself, I'm not that good of a yarn huntress. Nor am I willing to pay a hundred dollars a skein for it. My intrepid yarn stalker friend Jo Anne got into the Wollmeise sock club and she KNOWS people. Who know people. Who know when the Wollmeise is available. So now YOU know someone who knows someone who can get Wollmeise.

But I can't get you any, so don't even ask. Sorry. I'm not THAT special.

Anyway, I traded Jo Anne a pan I wasn't using for this skein of Wollmeise.

Wool is much nicer than a pan, I think.

Look at how pretty that heel came out! This is the "Basketweave Rib" sock pattern from "Sensational Knitted Socks" by Charlene Schurch. Oh boy, is that ever a good book. My favorite socks are from that book--they're all so well-constructed and the patterns are so clear and excellent! I made my very first sock from that book and I keep going back to it for patterns. Definitely my favorite sock book of all time.

At present, I'm working on this:

This is my "Shawl of Torture, Misery and Despair." It's original name was "Ishbel," but it earned the name change. When this shawl is not boring me with stockinette stitch, it's torturing me with charts, yarnovers, misplaced stitches, dropped stitches, sheer NUMBER of stitches, and impossible fuzziness. I'm using Malabrigo laceweight yarn in "Carrot." It's soft and the color is pretty, but that's all I have nice to say about it. The other things I have to say about it would involve cursing, which I try to avoid. Sometimes I curse in keyboard symbols. But I don't think they make enough keyboard symbols for my feelings about this yarn and project. But dang it, I'm gonna finish this thing. I'm stubborn and I'm not going to let a pattern or yarn beat me. I may end up at Happy Acres talking to the garden fairies, but I'm not going to let a sissy shawl make me give up.

Next post, I'll finally show you my new lavender quilt. I need to think of a name for it and take some good pictures.

Sue's House, Part Three

2009-03-23T16:17:00.008-10:00

Last time, I gave you a glimpse of Jenny's undersea kaleidoscope quilt. Here's Jenny holding up her quilt top:

She did such a beautiful job on the kaleidoscopes!
Synchronized swimming mermaids.

Neat, huh? Beautiful job, Jenny.

And here's a cutie quilt top by Carol, who is standing behind the quilt holding it up so you can't see her:

I love the boney border!

After the quilt show and tell, I wandered upstairs to find Sue's sewing room. Here is the stair landing:

Look at all that storage! I love the curvy lines.

A peek at the view in her bedroom. How would you like to wake up to this view every morning?

I eventually found the sewing room. It was marvelous. Stunning. As a matter of fact, I think I was so stunned that I forgot to take good pictures. Has that ever happened to you? There's so much to see that you just can't seem to put the camera between your eyes and what you're gawking at? That was me. So believe me, this sewing room was soooo much more than my slightly crummy pictures. I wish you could've seen it in person!

Of course, I kept getting stunned by the view. Deer in headlights, you know?

Built-ins everywhere. A sink. Miles of counter space. Acres of room to create in.

Uh oh. Someone please take the camera away from me. I'm fixated on the view. I didn't even take a picture of the sewing area. Or all the storage! Or the thousands of drawers and cupboards.

Oh well, maybe next time I'll be more immune to the view and I'll be able to get better sewing room pictures. Man. Did you see that sewing room view???

Back at home, I finally finished quilting the thread-eating quilt. I'm not going to even talk about all the thread blobs on the back. Meh.

I also have been knitting a lot in between thread break tantrums. I've finished socks, two hats, a scarf, and started a shawl! Here's the scarf:

Yummy yummy Cascade Baby Alpaca. The color of strawberry ice cream.

A close up of the pattern. The pattern is Stephanie Pearl McPhee's "One Row Scarf," available on Ravelry. Here's the link for all you Ravelers:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/one-row-handspun-scarf

More knitting and quilt pix soon.

Sue's House, Part Two

2009-03-19T16:36:00.008-10:00

So sorry to leave you at Sue's house for so long! But really, there are worse places to be stuck for a week, aren't there? Like being stuck in your office working on taxes for your appointment with your accountant?

Like being stuck tying 362,098 little *&^% bows on a mountain of pattern orders?

Like being stuck with a king-sized quilt on your frame that no matter WHAT thread, tension, batting, needle size, silicone goo, tautness, and a thousand other variables that believe me, I've tried, keeps breaking your &^%$# quilting thread every two feet of sewing??

Like being stuck nursing a very torn-up kitty that got in a terrible fight a few nights ago and whose face is swollen twice it's normal size from an abcess? Like trying to administer pink amoxicillin to said kitty and subsequently having to wash pink spray off everything within a four foot radius of said kitty?

I digress. I also am using a lot of symbol keys, which is never a good sign of my mood.

On the other hand, I'm happy and in a VERY good mood because my new "Postcards from Hawaii" quilt pattern is selling like hot poi cakes! I've been so busy making and delivering patterns that I can't even get the new pattern posted on my website. Besides, my fingers are very sore from tying bows (Why oh why oh why did I ever think those bows were cute?)

And on yet another hand, I'm nervous because we've spent all morning under a tsunami watch because of a 7.9 earthquake somewhere out in the Pacific ocean. Nothing puts things into perspective like waiting to be washed out to sea--taxes, sick kitty, bows, thread-eating quilt and all.

So overall, it's been a good week...relatively. I didn't get washed out to sea.

Hard to believe that this innocent-looking ocean wants to climb up out of its bed and come eat all my stuff:

Gooood ocean. Just stay right there. Staaaaayyy....

So here we are, back at Sue's house, looking at her fabulous kitchen!

Curvy.

This one's a little blurry. It's a very long hallway, but I didn't go down it. I didn't want to seem too nosy.

More quilters are arriving and gathering in the living room. Notice all the windows and sliders!

Sue has a nice big table for entertaining! Since this was late February, she decorated for Valentine's Day AND St. Patrick's Day with a pink and green theme.

We always have a nice potluck lunch--we have many great cooks in our No Nene group!

Uh oh, another view picture. I never get tired of looking at it:

These quilters gathered on the lanai to eat their lunch.

Here's another scenic view: the dessert table.

Did I mention the view out the lanai?

Yes, we did do more than just eat and enjoy the view. Here's a peek of the quilt I'll show you next time:

Jenny's beautiful kaleidoscopic undersea quilt. And next time, we'll finally see the sewing room!

Over the River and Through the Woods, Part One

2009-03-11T09:52:00.009-10:00

...to Sue's house we go!

I promised you a little tour of Sue's fabulous house on Hanalei Bay, so we'll start our trip today. I took lots of pictures that day, so we'll have to do this in parts. Let's start with the drive to the North Shore.

A nice late February drive on Kauai:

I took these pictures with the camera sitting atop the steering wheel while I was driving. I do not recommend trying this at home, unless your roads are as unpopulated as ours.

That pointy rock below is affectionately known as "Kong." The angle isn't right here, but from some angles, it looks like King Kong's head.

I love this part of the trip!

This forest on the way to the North Shore is so beautiful. The north shore of our island is the greenest and rainiest shore. It's very lush and beautiful, even in February.

I showed you the front of Sue's house in my last post, so I'll skip the duplicate. Here's how I know I've arrived at the right house:

Lots of quilters' shoes! We always take our shoes off before entering someone's home. It's the polite thing to do, especially since our red dirt is so terrible to try to get out of carpeting. Besides, it's pretty great to be barefoot in February, especially when you've got the ocean right outside your door!

I'm not going to try to arrange these pictures in any type of order. I started snapping pictures when I came through the front door; I'll just list them as I took them:

From the kitchen, looking to the dining room. The view to the oceanfront burnt out on this picture, unfortunately. The side of the house facing the ocean is all windows and sliders. Amazing.

The kitchen:

Two sinks, a warming oven, a built-in oversize fridge (can you find it?), and miles of counter space. I love all the swoopy design curves in this house!

And this view from the slider between the dining area and living room:

Ahhh....can you imagine? I took lots of pictures of this view, so you'll be seeing it again. It was breathtaking.

I forgot to take a picture of the whole bathroom, but here are some details:

Flipper awaits your handwashing needs. This is the "Dolphin Bathroom." (Dang...or are they porpoises? How come I never look up this stuff before I blog? Oh well, too late now...)

If they WERE porpoises, this could be called her "All Porpoise Room." Heh heh...

Drawer and cabinet pull...uh...mammals.

So there are the first nine pictures. More to follow. Meanwhile, here's a peek at what's going on back at home:

It's a huge quilt, so I'll be working on it while you're touring Sue's house.

And yes, there will be pictures of her sewing room!

No Nene's Kauai Humane Society Quilt

2009-03-06T11:57:00.008-10:00

I belong to a large quilt group called the "No Nene" group. We meet once a month on the North Shore of our island. It isn't an official guild, but we do manage quite a few fund-raising activities throughout the year. We don't have a facility at which we regularly meet; we usually meet at member's homes.

Recently, we met at Sue's house, which has several jaw-dropping features:

An oceanfront acre of Hanalei Bay. No kidding. Can you imagine? I'm giving you a peek at the front of the house as you walk up to it. On my next post, I'll show you more of the inside of the house and the views from her lanai. You will DEFINITELY want to come back for that, but today, we're going to talk about No Nene's fabulous quilt!

Continuing along with the "awesome" theme, this is the quilt that the No Nene group made for the annual Kauai Humane Society fundraiser:

Click to enlarge any of these pictures (it's worth it!). This quilt was a group effort. Many wonderful quilters worked hard on this quilt (sadly, I didn't attend much last year, so I can't take any credit at all). But I must mention Jeni Hardy as one of big contributors, as she set all the blocks together with the small mosaic sashing blocks, and also machine-quilted the quilt.

Fiber artist Lea Ingram designed the reef portion, hand-painted seabirds, and I'm sure was responsible for many more aspects of the quilt.

Various members made the creature blocks.

Many of these creatures were from commercial patterns. Barbara Bieraugel from the Big Island designed many of these blocks and her patterns are available through Kapaia Stitchery at 808-245-2281.

Some of these other blocks were from McKenna Ryan's Sea Breeze pattern series. I'm sure you can google that name and find a local source.

Fantastic machine-quilting, Jeni. You can't really tell in this picture, but the thread Jeni used was metallic sparkly thread and it gives the quilt a gorgeous shimmer.

I love the jellyfish! Well, I love the quilted version of the jellyfish. The real ones are not so great up close. My son and I had a run-in with a jellyfish when he was three and it was not pleasant for either of us. But they are quite beautiful from a distance!

I love the jumping dolphins! I can't figure out how they did that one. Broderie perse? Or Lea's amazing painting? I must ask next time.

Eileen Sanders embroidered the seahorses. Eileen does most everything by hand, so you can imagine what these look like up close.

I know some of the other No Nenes designed original blocks, but I don't have a listing of individual efforts. Besides, one of the meanings of "No Nene" is "No Name," so I guess that's appropriate. The group effort is what made this quilt so amazing.

Another view of the quilt, held by volunteers on Sue's lanai. I just love the colors in this quilt!

This quilt will be up for auction/ticket sales in May (I'm not sure exactly how they will be doing it this year.) For more information, you can call our Kauai Humane Society at 808-632-0610 Tuesday-Saturday. I don't think they know I'll be posting this, so early callers may get conflicting information. Our Humane Society is wonderful but small, so please be patient.

On my next blog post, I'll show you some more pictures of our meeting. You will not believe the view from the lanai. You just won't. I still can't....

Edited on 3/6/09 to add: Dr. Becky of the Kauai Humane society left this comment: "Aloha No Nene Quilters, Lisa Boyer and all, Absolutely stunning quilt and thank you so very much from all of us at Kauai Humane Society. Our annual dinner and silent auction is scheduled for May 9th at the Marriott with this year's theme, WOOFSTOCK. Go to kauaihumane.org for more details coming soon. Mahalo, Dr. Becky & the gang" Thanks for the info, Dr. Becky!

Economic Stimulus

2009-03-02T08:39:00.006-10:00

This week, I've done my part for the economy. I'm not usually prone to the temptations of retail therapy, but something happened to my willpower this week. Perhaps these little Dutchboys and their cute little doggies had something to do with it:

My knees still go week when I look at this fabric. Look at those polite little doggies! Or how about this little animal party on pink gingham:

Agggh! Look at that elephant sleeping on his little rug. Irresistable. Don't they remind you of Little Golden Book characters? I got these two pieces (plus four others) from Superbuzzy. I LOVE Superbuzzy. I showed remarkable restraint. But someday, I'll have grandkids to sew for and all bets are off. Meanwhile, I'm slowly stockpiling. Stash stealth--that's my strategy. (It's also very hard to say ten times fast.)

Here is another purchase I made:

An adorable purse kit from Nanette at Freda's Hive. She supplied the instructions, outer panel fabrics, matching rick rack and fabric button (I LOVE that button!), and I supplied the handles and lining. The instructions were excellent and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

LOVE the button. Love the prints she picked out for this kit!

The instructions included this optional feature--slitted sides to make getting in and out of the bag easier. From now on, I'm giving all my bags this clever feature.

A peek at the inside. Don't you just love that yellow kitchen fabric??? Sigh.

The reverse--more wonderful prints.

I don't often buy kits because I feel like I want to make my "own" quilt or purse. But I love Nanette's taste so much! I wanted to work with what she picked out--and hopefully learn from her. I don't think I would have had the courage to mix these prints, but I did, and I lived! I LOVE this bag!

After I put Nanette's bag together, I had to have more. So I ordered this charm squares and trim kit from her:

It's a collection of lovely little prints and sweet trims. Some are vintage, some are Japanese imports, some are new fabrics. She also included a little precious pile of snippets, which I am still drooling over:

These are just a few of the snippets. Sigh. Thanks, Nanette. The kit is wonderful.

More excitement this week: I found a cigar box full of buttons and rick rack at a rummage sale:

These are just a few of my favorites. It's very hard to find anything old or antique here on the island; the weather, mold, mildew, bugs, etc. ad infinitum, are very hard on old things. People live a long life, but their stuff...not so much. So I'm always amazed when I run across things like this. It's very rare!

I also found a cutter cotton shirt that I couldn't pass up. The shirt was too small, but look at the fabric:

Happy frogs and mushrooms. I hope your day is as happy as these froggies.

Care Package

2009-02-24T13:05:00.007-10:00

My son and his lovely girlfriend are away at college, currently in their junior year. My son Grayson has lived on Kauai most of his life and his girlfriend was born and raised on Kauai. They've known each other since they were very young and started dating when they were sophmores in high school.

It was a big surprise to us when they announced to us (as high school seniors) that their college of choice was not on nearby Oahu, but in the cold, cold Northwest! Where it snows! But they've lasted and thrived and LOVE their school, even though it's taken some effort to get used to the cold.

I occasionally send them care packages like the one below:

(Oh, how I love Flat Rate boxes, don't you?) Hot drink packets, ramen, dorm food, silly toys and games, socks, hats, scarves, etc., to keep them warm and mildly amused. My son's favorite color is green, so that's a frequent theme.

Recently, it was Angela's birthday, so I knitted her a hat. This one looked super warm:

The pattern was in Paton's "Street Smart" booklet, the same pattern book as my "Must Have Cardigan." I knitted it using two strands of super-soft Malabrigo.

This hat took almost two skeins of Malabrigo! It's quite a thick hat...and very long!

The long part folds up over ears for extra warmth.

Let me tell you, I am so in love with Malabrigo! This was my first experience with it--I mail ordered it after I heard other people extol the virtues of this stuff. I was not disappointed. I think it's my favorite yarn EVER.

See? It's so thick and lovely, it stands up by itself. I hope she likes it!

This is sweet Angela, helping me make a quilt last year:

I think it will look nice on her, don't you? She's such a lovely girl. I couldn't have chosen a better friend and girlfriend for my son. And she helps me quilt!!! I know it's a cliche, but it's like I gained a daughter. One who likes to sew! I am very lucky...oh...and I guess my son is, too.

Angela is not only a very smart girl, she's a talented one, too. She has a wonderful imagination and is an amazing artist. Here is a portrait she did of Mr. Bigglesworth:

He looks handsome in his Japanese setting and garb, don't you think?

Happy Birthday, Angie!

Hawaiian Vacay, Day Four

2009-02-19T17:04:00.003-10:00

That was a nice quilty break. Did you get your postcards mailed?

Let's continue our trip, shall we? We've arrived at Poipu on the south side of our island, and we're watching Spouting Horn blow. I wish I could insert an image for scale here, because this thing is BIG, although it's hard to tell from this picture. Several stories, high, I'd guess. It spouts every few minutes, depending on the wave action from below--sort of like our version of Old Faithful! There's always a rainbow in it, at least when I'm here.

An occasional whale swims by in the background, and it is awe-inspiring to watch. This is February, so there are lots of whales out there today. Sorry, I couldn't get a good picture of one...you never know when they're going to breach or spout. They don't come when you call, either.

There is a lot of new building going on down here in Poipu. Well...that is, there WAS a lot of new building. With the economy slowing down, many new developments have halted. Here's the site of a new development that didn't quite catch on:

Nice new roads. There's a lovely sidewalk and a little sales office...but nothing else for miles around!

a 360 degree view. You've got mountains, ocean, sky...

See the ocean peeking out up there on the horizon? You should move here. Here are the cross streets so you can tell your realtor:

We're on the corner of....uh...Ala Kalanikaumaka and Ala Kukia...no...Kukui'uu....um....maybe it wouldn't be such a great place to live. You'd never be able to fit your address on a standard size mailing envelope.

Let's continue down these new roads and work our way down to the beach.

Here it is! The beautiful warm ocean at Poipu.

Ready for a swim? There are only a few people out today enjoying the waves.

Swimming makes me hungry! Time to break into my bento from the Koloa Fish Market. I have seared ahi, spring rolls, and seaweed salad. Gahhhhh.....so delicious....mouth...watering....

My lunches are a little too exotic for my husband. He prefers to have it more "his way:"

He's not a big fan of fish and seaweed and other things he can't identify. I think it's the Nebraskan in him. He'll sip his strawberry shake as we head home.

Back home again, where Mr. Bigglesworth is waiting for me to get to work making patterns and tying bows. I have quite a few pattern orders to go out--I better get busy!

My "Baby Honu" quilt appeared in the latest issue of McCall's quilting magazine and I've been busy with orders for a couple weeks now!

It makes me smile to think of my little Honu swimming all over the world.

Back to work for me. I hope you enjoyed your Hawaiian vacation; let's do it again soon.

And the Winner Is....

2009-02-18T12:05:00.003-10:00

Simply This, That, and the Other's Jodi! Congratulations, Jodi. You were selected by a random number generator out of 124 entries (after eliminating duplicates and adding email entries).

Thanks so much to all those who entered--I wish I could send a prize to each and every one of you! It was fascinating to see where you all live (brrrr! and ahhhhh....) and what the day was like for you. I loved hearing about what you were cooking (or where you were going out to dinner), what you were sewing, and what your job was like, etc. Everyday life is fascinating, don't you think? I enjoyed all your comments so much!

We'll do this again soon.

Postcards from Hawaii...and a Giveaway!

2009-02-14T13:18:00.009-10:00

We've been on vacation now for a few days. Are you missing your friends at home? We should send out some postcards, eh? Postcards from Hawaii!

"Postcards from Hawaii," Lisa Boyer 2009

I'd like you to meet my latest quilt, "Postcards from Hawaii." I wanted to make something very simple and modern-looking with lots of white and lots of quilting. I already had these colorful Hawaiian print 4X6" scraps leftover from a fabric postcard class I taught, so I thought I would sash them up and see what happened.

The texture shot. I wanted lots of simple texture, so I machine-meandered with my Bernina using white Bottom Line thread on top and bobbin. I haven't stippled in a long time! It was relaxing not to have to worry about elaborate quilted daisies, chicken heads or vines.

I love how these postcards all work together. I didn't fussy cut a single one! They're not all centered and fussy--I like that.

Such pretty colors in these prints.

The sashing fabric is Kona Cotton "Snow." It's not exactly white--it's a creamy white. I think it makes the white-white in the postcards sparkle.

Plumeria, surfboards, Birds of Paradise, fish...everything you'd find on a postcard from Hawaii.

The binding.

Even though I didn't fussy cut any fabric, I'm amazed to find that this guy ended up in a perfect little scene:

Forever surfing on a purple wave. I love him!

I suppose you noticed that word "Giveaway" in the title, huh? How about a half-yard of one of my favorite Hawaiian prints ever?:

I love this print! Do you like it?

And I'll throw in these charm squares, too, for a little MORE color.

Leave me a comment on this post telling me who you are (your web name is fine), where you are, and what you are doing today. Something like: "My name is Lisa, I live on Kauai, and today I'm knitting a green and red sock, making chicken chow mein for dinner, and writing a blog post about my new quilt." Make sure I have a way of replying to your email.

I'll draw a winner's name on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at noonish, Hawaiian time. Remember it's a lot earlier here than where you are...it may be Thursday for my friend Anne in Finland, for instance! (Hi Anne! Happy Day-after-Valentine's Day to you!)

Our trip to Poipu resumes on the next post. Good luck!

Edited on February 18th, 2009 to add: The drawing is now closed. Thanks for all your comments!

Hawaiian Vacay, Day Three

2009-02-11T15:24:00.009-10:00

Whaaa??? Did I doze off, sitting on the porch in the warm sun? Where the....oh yes...we're in Koloa Town, aren't we? Let's continue our walk.

Of course, I have to show you a chicken picture so you'll know it's a genuine Lisa Boyer Kauai tour:
Yep. It's a chicken. Walking into a restaurant--and waiting to be "seeded." Ha! A little chicken humor for you. Actually, that's a pretty brave little hen--they serve chicken here!

A peek inside. This is Tomkat's Grill and I love their indoorsy/outdoorsy feel. (Just don't order the chicken because it may be a friend of mine, okay? Thanks.)

The large monkeypod trees are what gives Koloa its distinctive look. These trees are old and seriously BIG. Tragically, a developer cut down many of them last year to put in some sort of building development. As you can imagine, there was a huge public outcry. It makes me sad to think about it. Fortunately, they left a number of them for us to enjoy.

One of my favorite things in Koloa town are these kitschy grocery store signs:

They're so cute! What do you think, fifties or sixties vintage? I love them.

These wonderful signs are in the front windows of Sueoka's grocery store. The stone building is very cool.

We'll run in and get some ice cold drinks. It's about 75 degrees now and very comfortable outside.

Koloa was the site of the first first sugar plantation in the Hawaiian Islands. King Kamehameha III leased the land to Duncan McBryde in 1835 for his sugar operation. Many of these buildings are original plantation buildings.

We pass over a bridge on our way to the rest of the town. See how red our dirt is? You have to use rust remover to get red dirt stains out of your clothing.

The Koloa History Center. A tiny little museum, but there is an old sewing machine in it!

Continuing down the street and around the corner, there are lots of shops and shave ice stands. Oh look! Bikinis upstairs.

Should I try on a bikini? Hmmm....let's ask Uncle Kimo.

Looks like the thought of me in a bikini turned Uncle Kimo to stone. Harumph! Poor Uncle Kimo. He could use a bath. And an eyeball. (Do I look disgusted?) At least his dog loves him.

On my next post, we leave Koloa and head for Poipu. Uncle Kimo stays behind.

On our way to Poipu!

P.S. To all our Australian friends, our sincerest heartfelt sympathies for your terrible tragedy. To all the friends of our Aussie friends, please visit my sidebar where you will find a link to the Australian Red Cross. The Red Cross was so very good to us after Hurricane Iniki in 1992! I was able to see first hand all the good that this wonderful organization does in this kind of situation. Any donation, even a small one, helps. Mahalo Nui Loa.

Hawaiian Vacay, Day Two

2009-02-08T13:11:00.008-10:00

Welcome back! It's time to leave Kapaa and head toward Koloa. You ready? Good!

I hope you don't mind, but we have to stop at the post office to mail some pattern orders out. You've been to the post office before, so we won't take any more pictures there for your photo album. However--right next to the post office is Burger King where we can grab a quick cup of coffee for the road. Whaaa? You're hungry again? Well...I think you should wait until we get to Koloa because I'm sure you're not tempted by:

The Spam with rice platter? How about Portugese Sausage with rice? No? We have some local favorites that you might not find at Mainland Burger Kings. Our McDonald's here even has saimin! And taro pie!

I'm just mentioning this. This is not an endorsement of said food. Don't come to Hawaii with false Spam expectations. It's still Spam, whether it's Hawaii Spam or not. Did you know that Hawaii is the biggest consumer of Spam? People buy it by the flat here. They even make a kind of Spam sushi--a piece of Spam rolled up in rice and seaweed. I'm sure you'll want to try that...NOT!

Enough Spam talk. We're going through Wailua, Hanamaulu, Lihue, and Puhi. Past Puhi, we've turned south off the highway and onto the Tree Tunnel road. This "tunnel" is so named because the trees used to be so large and lush that they came together overhead and formed a dark tunnel for miles:

Unfortunately, Hurricane Iniki devastated the tunnel in 1992 and it's STILL growing back, even after all these years. The branches are just starting to touch in the middle again--I'm not sure how many decades more it will take to restore it to its former glory. I rolled down the window and stuck my arm out with my camera to take this picture. There's no good place to stop in the Tree Tunnel. Sorry about the motion blur!

Here we are at Koloa Town! Old Koloa Town, that is.

Let me see...it was established in 1935? 1885? 1924?

Apparently, there is some debate about this. It looks like they let anyone with an opinion and a paintbrush have a go at it. Anyway...it's old.

I know we just ate, but since I'm ALWAYS thinking about food, I want to go into my favorite little place to get a bento for later:

I LOVE this place. Holy cow, I love their seared ahi. If I lived closer to Koloa, I would eat it every day. You can order from the deli window, or they'll prepare a fresh plate lunch on the grill back there. I love the color of that marlin back there! I don't know what color marlins really are (or is that a big tuna??), but "Marly" back there is one pretty fishy.

I would like to paint my living room the color of that marlin/tuna/fishy. Okay...what would you like? They have all kinds of squiggly squirmy food in this deli case:

I get lots of Mainland people who used to live in Hawaii emailing me that they crave these foods so much! So...this picture is for you, ex-Hawaiians that now live in faraway places. Enlarge the picture so you can see your pokes, sashimis, smoked marlin, tako. Happy drooling.

For those of you who dislike seafood, proceed to the next picture.

Well, maybe skip this one too. I meant to take a nice picture of these two as they are really nice people...but something happened to their faces when I whipped out my camera. See this? This is called "Stink Eye." Meaning that they didn't probably want their picture taken...but oh well, too late. When I told them why I was taking their picture, they smiled again...sort of. Maybe if I buy one of those coconut turnovers, they'll forgive me.

We've got our bento for later, let's look around Koloa a bit. Let's look UP the street:

Lots of shops! And DOWN the street: cafe, realtors, public library.

UP the street we go. There are some nice shops and museums this way. Clayton sees a ukulele store and MUST go in. It's sort of like a fabric shop for men, I guess. Except there's no fabric. Just a lot of different ukes.

He can spend some time in here--I'll go out and sit on the porch with these happy people. Here it is, mid-winter, and they're in shorts eating Lappert's ice cream outside! They probably flew in from somewhere really, really cold--and this is heaven for them.

Sitting on the porch and eating ice cream is nice, but my idea of heaven is a little bit different.

I dream of home, and my latest project under construction:

Paradise.

Next up, more of Koloa town, then Poipu. If I can pry Clayton away from the ukes, that is...

A Little Hawaiian Vacation, Anyone?

2009-02-05T18:10:00.006-10:00

Ready for a field trip? I think you poor cold mid-westerners deserve a little Hawaiian sunshine. Today, we'll start on a multi-blog entry vacay to Kauai. We'll start off in sleepy old downtown Kapaa and make our way to the South Shore where sunny Poipu is our destination.

It's a chilly 71 degrees fahrenheit this morning, so we better don our heavy winter gear!

There! It's hard to take a picture of yourself in the mirror, but there I am, complete with head, after only six tries. (My left arm looks just like my right, so you're not missing much there.) Do I look warm enough? My knitted Noro scarf finally gets to go on an outing today. I'll probably be able to stand this on my neck only for another couple of hours, so we better get going.

Downtown Kapaa is light on traffic today. February is not a big time of year for tourism, especially this year, in this economy. It's sad for businesses around here that depend on tourism, but looking on the bright side, it's nice to have the island to ourselves. Here's looking sort of northeast:

And here's looking sort of southwest. We only have one highway that partially encircles the whole island, and you're looking at it.

We'll stop for breakfast in Kapaa town. We love this little hole-in-the-wall Mexican cafe, "Shakka Taco." They have fantastic breakfasts--chorizo, machaca, huevos rancheros...yum! I get some huevos con chorizo, and Clayton gets his usual breakfast Ranchero Burrito with papas fritas. Their fresh salsa is amazing! Tomatoes, onions, cilantro, fresh jalapenos...my mouth waters just contemplating it. What are you going to have?

This little cafe, like most in Hawaii, is open to the elements all around for lots of tradewind action. This is the dining room (below), but we like to sit outside on the patio. There's a bakery next door and it smells heavenly out there.

No heaters, no air conditioning. Energy costs are very expensive on Kauai, so if you can depend on breezes instead of electricity, it's mo' bettah.

After a lovely breakfast, we'll take a walk on the beach. It's nice to have your town built along a beach. As you can see, crowds are not a problem.

My husband is wearing his heavy winter gear, which consists of pants, socks, and shoes. He gets colder than I do (isn't that always the case, ladies?). By now, it's warmed up to 75 degrees F, so he's managed to lose his jacket. The shoes will be next.

Hmmmm...looks like he's finding something in the sand there while I take pictures.

What could it be?

Awww, sweet little opihi shells! They look like little volcanoes from the top. These make nice jewelry.

On my next post, we're off to Koloa town.

Saggy Baggy

2009-02-02T10:45:00.005-10:00

Remember this mail bag that I made last year from Amy Karol's "Bend the Rules Sewing" book?

It's been a great workhorse for almost a year now. But we have a growing problem at our house:

This is a typical day's mail run to the post office. This stack includes quilt pattern orders, clock pattern orders, a quilt shop pattern order, and a couple of Netflix videos. I've overflowed and strained the handles on my mail bag, and I've seriously abused my back-up pillowcase bag. Look at what a year's worth of post office runs have done to my poor, poor baggies:

Pretty droopy, I'd say. Poor little saggy baggies. We need a new mailbag around here!

It is for this reason that I made ***SUPERBAG!!!*** (Insert theme music here.)

It's HEFTY! It's STURDY! It's BIGGER THAN A SOUP CAN! It's able to carry large postal loads without sagging hopelessly out it's reinforced-with-tagboard bottom!!

Here is its backside:

You know...I deserve a special reward today for not making the obvious puns about age, saggy bottoms, baggage, being an old bag, wishing to reinforce my droopy bottom--a veritable gold mine of age-related puns! I hope you all appreciate the self control it took.

And speaking of self-control, here's what happens when you run out of the self-control required to make an entire shaggy knitted rug:

Pulling all those knots through this cotton rug-to-be was not fun. I didn't feel like fighting with it any longer. So I seamed what I had knitted into a tube, sewed up the bottom, rolled over the top, added a fabric inside, a snazzy i-cord strap, and a few buttons. Et voila!

Monster Bag. He's watching you. Even Superbag can't help you now....

Feel like going on an outing? Next post, we'll journey to Kauai's south shore. A hui hou!

Forgot to Say

2009-01-29T13:13:00.004-10:00

On my last post, I forgot to say THANK YOU to all of you who left paint color suggestions on my recent post. Many of you put a lot of thought into your answer--I really appreciate that! (As a matter of fact, I would like you all to go clothes shopping with me, okay? I LOVE your color and design advice...do you decorate people, too?)

I picked out some paint color chips and I'll post them soon. I know the computer won't get the colors right, but you'll be able to get an idea. Now, I just have to decide between the colors and pin down a "painting date" with hubby. I can't wait! Thanks so much for your help. You're the best!!

Sewing Day

2009-01-29T12:00:00.006-10:00

Its a beautiful day outside on Kauai today, but then again, most days look like this. Even in mid-winter. We don't have snow day excuses to stay inside and sew all day--we just have to do it anyway, in spite of the weather. Tough life, eh?

Here's Anne, hard at work on her project:

Here's Mary at her Featherweight, and Roberta's blurry hand:

We made Pink Penguin's fabulous baskets! My friends really liked the one I made from this tutorial, and they wanted to make some, too. I love how different they all came out.

Mr. Bigglesworth supervised from his spot in front of the slider:

After Paige made her basket, she worked on her UFO--a half-square log cabin project that I taught at Kapaia Stitchery...what...a couple years, ago, Paige? But we're not keeping track. Ahem.

Besides...why would you want to rush this?:

Neat, huh? I love the colors...the turquoise really "pops" this one. Jo and Paige played with layouts on the design wall. I think they decided on this layout (I have NO idea what the layout "rule" was on this one...), so Paige needed to make more blocks.

A group basket shot. Say "cheese"!:

They're all so happy! These are so adorable--you just HAVE to make one. Baskets by me, Roberta, Paige, Mary and Anne.

Jo had a different basket plan:

She embiggened her basic basket plan and put handles and a flap on. Nice, huh? Her fabric selections are always so elegant.

Since I had already made two baskets the previous week, I worked on something else, too:

I didn't know I could doodle/quilt daisies! These aren't too bad. Funny what you can accomplish when you just dive in and do it. It's not perfect, but that's how I like things (as you know). I got this much done:

Is is a basket? A tote? A trash can? A feed bag? A pillow? I'll show you the finished project in my next post.

We all decided that we need to do more sewing this year. We let other activities get in the way of getting together--and that isn't good. Our next sewing day will be in a couple of weeks...right, ladies? 2009 is the Year of Sewing, right? We promised. Sounds great to me.

Fresh Paint

2009-01-26T16:50:00.012-10:00

I love new paint! I'm getting bold with colors now. This is my computer room and the paint is called "Corn Husk" by Behr. I was terrified when we first started rolling it on because I was in a "mood" when I picked it out one Saturday. I went looking for a nice turquoise, but after looking at one too many turquoises, this funky green caught my eye.

I love it! Especially with the red lamp. Don't ask me what kind of mood I was in when I bought that red lamp...

If you've noticed that my interiors are rather "spare," you're right. Kauai, although a lovely place to live, is full of red dirt, humidity, bugs, pooping geckoes, and sticky sea air when the surf is high. Our windows are open all year round because air conditioning is too expensive and we don't have heating in our homes. It is hell on furniture, draperies, and don't even talk to me about knick-knacks! Can you imagine having to wash every decorative item in your house at least once a month? So most everything is put away and kept off off the floor. Clutter attracts bugs and more mold. Nice furniture fades in the sun and the veneers bubble and crack. The pulls, mirrors, and drawer hardware rust within a year's time. Hawaii is very hard on your stuff!

Nice furniture is very expensive here. We don't have any chain furniture stores, and our department stores do not carry furniture. Shipping charges added to large items make them outrageously expensive, as you can imagine, and why pay for nice furniture that will look terrible in a year or so?

It is for this reason that most of us furnish our houses with disposable furniture a la Wal Mart. I decorate for cool air flow to minimize bug-attracting clutter. The more minimal my interiors, the less cleaning I have to do, the less bugs build homes in my stuff, and the more the air can circulate and keep us cool. It took me several years of living here to give up on lush decorating styles--but now, I know what works.

I also try to keep a minimal stash because fabric molds pretty quickly. This is a peek into the walk-in closet in my sewing room:

This is it. The sum total of my stash...and this is even too much! I'm working on reducing it.

This closet is perfect for my stash. It's in my sewing room (shown below), but it's dark and I can open up the doors and let the air flow through on dry days.

I'm having a sewing day tomorrow with my dear friends. Here is what my "work room" looks like the night before my friends arrive:

I have six fold-away tables, three of which are set up for tomorrow. We have lots of room and plenty of light. Windows open all around and overhead fans keep the air circulating on hot days.

When I don't have guests, I store all those fold-away tables and have LOTS of floor space. My homemade long-arm quilting machine acts as a cutting table for two mats with plenty of room to spare.

This is my sewing station. My Bernina is for quilting and my Pfaff is for piecing.

One of the reasons I'm showing you these pictures of my sewing room is that I'm about to give it a little face lift. These are "before" pictures. I've always considered my sewing room a "workroom" and never decorated in here. Can you believe those horrible morgue curtains (courtesy of the house's previous owners) are still up?? I've been gazing at those horrible curtains for TEN YEARS, people! Enough!! New curtains...or at least shades...are imminent.

Okay...so here's where YOU, dear reader, come in. I need your opinion. What color would you paint this room? I'm going to leave all the trim white because I would have to spend five years painting those windows and baseboards and moldings. It takes me days just to clean all that woodwork!! So they stay white.

Think of a cooler color. It's hot here most of the year, and even when it's not, I'm still having those 50-something "personal summers." So even though dark red would be fabulous, it would feel like the fiery furnace of hell in here to me. I'm just sayin'...

The curtain question is a poser. Look at all that yardage it would take! Expensive fabric...or even colored curtains are out...they would fade within a year. So it's blinds, shutters, lace, or something...ugh. See why the morgue look has persisted? It's a problem.

So there is a peek into my minimalist interior. As you can see, I am not a collector of "stuff." I get rid of everything I don't use very quickly. I am not overly fond of gifts (I know...gasp!!) because I only want a few things that I actually want and will use. Right now, my foyer is filled with my latest purge of stuff--ready to be hauled off to the thrift store (or perhaps I'll have a garage sale). I'm a hopeless non-collector--my house gets emptier of stuff every year! But it also gets easier to keep clean. More time for sewing!

Currently Inspiring

2009-01-22T13:10:00.005-10:00

I'm in love with this fabric. It's so happy! It's also very Seventies, don't you think? My first inclination was to make an apron from it, but that's my first impulse with all the fabric I buy. Aprons, tablecloths, or kitchen curtains. I wonder what that means?

But I resisted the kitchen-y urge and made these:

I LOVE THEM!! I can't stop playing with them. They're so fun to toss around. I found the tutorial on how to make them at a wonderful blog called, "Pink Penguin." The link to the tutorial is here: Fabric Basket Tutorial by Pink Penguin She has some other great tutorials on her site, as well as some adorable things for sale on Etsy.

I've seen some of these baskets made up on other crafter's blogs, but I never could tell how big they were. So, I thought I'd give you an idea of size:

Cute basket and soup can for scale. As a matter of fact, look how cute the soup looks IN the basket!:

Hello little soup! Are you stalking me? Are you wanting to come out for lunch?

This basket would make an excellent two-can soup can holder. I'm not sure why you'd want to make fabric baskets for your soup cans, but hey...after thirty years of sewing, I'm running out of reasons to make little baskets. So soup today...maybe green bean cans tomorrow. Gotta sew.

This is the pallette that's currently inspiring me. Two years ago, I NEVER would have paired pink and orange! And after living through the seventies, I didn't think I'd ever be attracted to that dark chocolate brown, either. And yet...here they are and I love them! I don't think I want to put this assortment away yet--perhaps I need to make another tote bag or something. Yeah...a grocery store soup tote. I don't have one of those. All my other totes are for other things, like crackers and tea. I don't have a tote for soup. Well, I know what I'll be doing today!

I would love it in this colorway, too:

This green colorway would make a good broccoli tote, yes? I need a broccoli tote.

And how about this colorway for donuts?:

Funny how I keep ending up in the kitchen with my fabric choices. Maybe I'm just hungry.

Okay, This One Got to Me

2009-01-18T17:48:00.006-10:00

I opened up my email to find this little note today:

lorrwill has left a new comment on your post "Still Alive!":

are u gonna update your poor bloggy?

I can't stop giggling. Yes..."lorrwill"...I have been neglecting my poor, poor bloggy something awful, haven't I? Thanks to all of you who have sent emails of concern. And thanks to "lorwill" for making me laugh and making me finally post something! I'm doing fine, and I think I'll be explaining my absence a bit if you stay with me and be patient. I can't blog every day like I used to, but perhaps I can tell you what's been going on in my life.

But first, I have to show you what I finished today!!

My first sweater!! This is the "Must Have Cardigan." It's from a Patons booklet called "Street Smart." The yarn is Patons Classic Wool Merino.

Yes, I said WOOL sweater. In Hawaii. Okay, I'll wait until you stop laughing.

I love the cables that go down the arms. You can find the specs on Ravelry--I followed the instructions exactly, right down to the color and type of yarn. I made a medium and it fits me perfectly!

It was quite a coincidence that I happened to finish it completely on the coldest day EVER in our backyard. The temperature gauge read 51 degrees and boy, is my husband ever playing it up. He's got fleece-lined jeans on, a black fleece jacket, fur lined slippers, wool socks, and a watch cap.

Me? I think the cold feels good. It must be menopause.

A sassy pose in my cozy sweater. My FIRST sweater...EVER. I'm very proud I finished this!

Well...you knew this was gonna happen.

An action shot.

See you again...soon? I hope? My poor bloggy....

Still Alive!

2008-08-10T11:00:00.004-10:00

Yes, it's me. I'm still alive! See?

Sorry about the extended vacation--I didn't plan to be away so long, but life intervened in a really good way. My son came home for summer and I wanted to enjoy every single precious moment with my family. How could I be sitting in front of my computer when moments like this were happening out in my husband's office?

Father and son jamming on their various ukes built by my husband. Angela was playing too (she's over to the left, just out of this picture), while I was soaking it all in.

Grayson and I also had a teeny tiny fruit/vegetable/herb stand for the summer. We made Grayson a little pocket change for college this way.

Even Mr. Bigglesworth couldn't help but soak in every single precious moment with his big brother home:
Obviously, all of us wanted to relax and live in the moment.

Grayson goes back to college in a couple of weeks, so I'll probably have more time to blog once I get caught up on things. Actually, it was Grayson that fervently suggested I update my blog today--he didn't like that you were all concerned about me. I wrote a few of you individually and tried to explain, but as always, I got overwhelmed by email and had to give up for a while! Somehow, I have to try and find some balance. Please bear with me while I re-group and figure out how to participate in Blogland again.

I do have some wonderful "What I Did on my Summer Vacation" pictures to share with you! Perhaps in a couple of weeks, I can start posting again with some regularity. In the meanwhile, I'm going to enjoy my son's last couple of weeks at home and try very hard not to get too sad when we have to put him on the plane again.

Aloha and A Hui Hou for now.

Box Jellies Quilt

2008-04-30T08:36:00.003-10:00

"Box Jellies" made by Lisa Boyer, pattern designed by Marsha at Threadbender, 2008

This quilt was such a pleasure to make. What a fabulous pattern, Marsha! I love it. Thank you for making it available on your website, and thank you for your fabulous tutorial.

The only modification I made to Marsha's pattern was to leave off one row at the bottom, due to size/hanging considerations.

Some detail:

The quilt just glows, doesn't it? For drama, nothing beats batiks on black.

I'm not crazy about the thread I used to quilt this quilt, I would've rather used a thicker thread, but my machine-on-a-stick does NOT like quilting through batiks. It took me longer to quilt this quilt than I would've liked because I could only quilt a few feet before the thread would break! I spent lots of time with the seam ripper before I switched to a thin poly thread--but even then, lots of breakage. I left a few more black gnarly balls on the back than I care to admit. Argh.

I quilted squiggly vertical lines on the squiggle block, and horizontal wavy lines with little eyebally-looking things on the box blocks. Sort of like how the water would flow around swimming jellyfish .

I got stung by a real box jellyfish once. It stings for hours! But I don't hold it against them. I think they're beautiful.
Here's a confession: every time I quilt a quilt, I think to myself, "this is the WORST quilting I've ever done. Look at all these mistakes. I give up--I just want to get it done and over with! Perhaps I'll hang it so you can only see it far away..." No lie. Every time I quilt something. But then I step back instead of being right on top of it....and it's okay! Not brilliant...but okay! And DONE--which adds to its appeal. DONE and FINISHED is good when it comes to quilting. Mistakes are secondary.
Marsha suggested a colorful binding and I agreed! But instead of using a colorful fabric, I just sewed together my leftover squiggle strips and used them as my binding.
Off they swim! Bye bye Box Jellies! Don't tell anyone who quilted you!!!!

I've been SO busy. I know I've been a bad blogger, but that's how it'll probably be until Fall, unfortunately. Right now, I have lots of pattern orders, visitors, teaching requests, my son will be home soon (yay!), and I have some home improvement projects that I want to get done. I'm also trying to squeeze in some extra exercise and reading time, because that helps me deal with the stress of being so busy.

Some people thrive on being busy; I am not one of those people. I do not like being busy at all. I like time to dream and think and read and create. Time to drift around the yard and enjoy the flowers. Time to clean out drawers, time to play with my cat, time to enjoy my family. So sometimes, I have to withdraw and purposefully slow down!

It's a funny thing, this slowing down business. I just have to consciously apply myself to it periodically! Without noticing it, I speed up slowly every day--obligations creep into my schedule, new projects vie for my attention, new ideas pop into my head that want to be explored, to-do lists are generated...and pretty soon, I'm overwhelmed. It grows exponentially. And then I find myself neglecting the basics: my home, my health, and my joy.

So please excuse my infrequent blogging while I re-focus. Blogging and visiting blogs is definitely part of my joy (I love all you guys!), but my posts will be occasional, since my ability to sew and craft something to show you will be occasional also during these very busy Spring/Summers. Today, for instance, will be spent printing, folding, and tying patterns, going to the post office, writing up class plans, delivering teaching materials to Kapaia Stitchery, grocery shopping, and picking up an new DVR box from the cable company. A thrilling day, no? Life in Paradise.

Tropical, Sort Of

2008-04-20T11:33:00.005-10:00

My Green Monkeys are finished!I loooooove them. The yarn is Lorna's Laces "Carol Green" and they're from Cookie A.'s free and extremely popular "Monkey" pattern. I made two mods: one was to add an extra repeat in the leg section to make them longer, and I did 2X2 ribbing instead of 1X1. They're funny and bunchy when they're not stretched out like this, but put them on, and they're gorgeous! I would need to change the ankle next time, though, as I have to stretch them a bit to get them over my ankles. Cookie A. must have tiny little ankles...I don't have tiny little ankles. I have tree trunks for ankles. And I don't need sock patterns to remind me of that fact, thank you very much, Cookie A. Let's you and I go walking in a hurricane one day and see whose ankles keep them from blowing away, shall we? Harumphh.

But I'll forgive you, Cookie A., and your winky little ankles because you gave us this:

Bee-yooo-tee-ful pattern. Thanks, Cookie. You're amazing.

Green Monkeys...sounds very rainforesty, doesn't it? Yes, I'm thinking we need to visit some tropical flowers right now:

I love anthuriums. The red color is amazing. Here are some flowers we saw at the Kauai Farm Bureau garden fair yesterday:
I love that salmon-y pink orchid! Gotta have that one. And look at these gingers!
That fuzzy one on the left kills me. It looks like some sort of alien that pops dramatically out of human stomachs occasionally. It hasn't happened to me personally yet, of course, I've just heard.

Above is a torch ginger. It's huge! You can see why it's called "torch" ginger, huh? It looks just like a lit torch.

Ah...tropical flowers. What else reminds me of the tropics? Hmmmm....

Why mittens, of course! I'm not going to wear them, I just want to make them! These are Elliphantom's Herringbone Mittens, available on her website for free (thank you, Elliphantom.) I think the fascination with mittens is the intricate patterns and colorwork in such a small project. This is my first stranded project and I'm hooked. It's fun watching colorful patterns develop under your knitting needles as you knit. Addictive.

I have my Squiggles quilt basted and today, I'll start quilting on it. I have no idea how I'm going to quilt it yet....but I'm so excited! I'll be back to show you soon...

Fifty-four Forty or Fight

2008-04-15T18:58:00.007-10:00

I'm still Squiggling, so I thought I would pull a quilt out of my trunk to show you. This is my Fifty-four Forty or Fight block quilt, which doesn't have a real name except for maybe, "Little Spaceboy Star" or something like that. I just wanted to play with the block when I started this quilt, but then I had a border idea, so I was compelled to finish it. I made it with a little boy in mind, can you tell? The background fabric has silvery shooting stars. The silvery gray color reminds me of spaceships and robots.

Do you see how I did the border? I just inserted nine-patch blocks at key places in the border to continue the some of the diagonal squares.
I quilted diagonal lines in the colored blocks to emphasize the diagonal feeling of the quilt. The rest of the quilting is just a bunch of little spirals. It's "tacked" between the diagonal lines with tiny spirals.
I really, really like my binding. I used up all the leftover colored squares I cut for the top and alternated them with with black squares to make the binding. It looks a little like a board game, doesn't it? I'm sure a little boy would invent all sorts of games and stories while he jumped his little Lego spacemen from one star to another, being careful not to fall off the colored squares and into the gray void.

Do you know the history behind the Fifty-four forty or Fight block? It has to do with an Oregon Boundary dispute in 1844. You can read about it here: Fifty-four Forty or Fight

On another note, my schedule is picking up tremendously now that Spring has arrived. I'll be teaching more, having Mainland houseguests, my son is coming home for the summer in a couple of weeks, and my email is...oh, gosh, I can't even face my Mt. Everest of email! I don't think I'll be able to keep posting every day anymore, but I will post occasionally when I have something crafty to show you. You'll definitely see my Squiggle quilt finished and posted soon. Thank you to all my visitors and my frequent commenters (I love you guys!), and I'll see you soon....just not every day...so don't worry about me, okay? I'll be here squiggling, quilting, knitting, crocheting, thrifting, and taking pictures of Mr. Squigglesworth....uh...I mean Bigglesworth...

Aloha and A Hui Hou!

A Short One

2008-04-14T22:31:00.006-10:00

Just a short post tonight--for some reason, I am falling asleep at the computer keyboard. I did errands today and worked a little bit on my Squiggles quilt, so I don't have anything new to show you, either. A day late and a dollar short as the expression goes.

I guess I could always display a couple more of my zippered pouches...

I love this fabric! It's so happy! And what did Mr. Pouchy eat for breakfast???
My eyeglasses! Well, one of my many pairs of glasses, that is. I have to keep a couple of pairs of eyeglasses in my sewing drawer. I also have to keep a pair in my knitting caddy, a pair by my easy chair, a pair on my nightstand, and...well, you get the picture. I'm obviously over forty.

This next pouch was a challenge to figure out. I saw something like this in a store and wanted to try a two-zippered pouch with different lined compartments. I like to torture my brain by figuring out how to do stuff like this:

I like all the different fabrics together. I figured out how to engineer this thing so that both linings were finished inside--no raw edges. It was an origami puzzle!
By the way, there are many zippered pouch tutorials on the web if you would like to try. Here are some of my favorites:

Twelve22's zipped pouch tutorial

Mari's Bias Tape Purse at Purl Bee

At Sew, Mama, Sew a zippered pocket tutorial

At Craftster: Make a Lined Zippered Pouch

Zippers are not all that difficult, especially if you're not setting them in a dress or skirt. You basically just sew fabric to each side of the zipper and sew across the ends! Nothing to it. Easy.

Which reminds me, the Knitting Contessa tagged me to write a six-word memoir. This required many days of thought on my part, but I finally came up with this:

"It's Easy Once You Know How."

Life is about learning. I truly believe I can do anything I set my mind to if I think and try hard enough. Knowing this in my heart keeps me going every day. Some learning curves are steeper than others, but nothing is impossible.

If you are reading this, consider yourself tagged and try to think of a six-word memoir on your blog. It's an interesting exercise.

Okay...off to bed for me. I'll leave you with a short film of one of my husband's wonderful kinetic sculpture designs in action:

Nitey!

Some Picture Tips

2008-04-13T22:22:00.011-10:00

Here's a picture of my favorite sewing room companion, Mr. Bigglesworth. Doesn't he look soft? He is. He's such a sweetie. Nice picture of him too, eh?

The reason I wanted to show you this picture of Mr. Bigglesworth today (other than the fact that I think he's incredibly handsome) is that I wanted to offer you some picture-taking tips. First of all, a disclaimer: I am NOT a good photographer. I've never taken a class, read a full book on picture-taking, know what an ISO is, or what constitutes a "good" lens. I have an inexpensive point-and-shoot camera that is always set on "auto."

That disclaimer out in the open, I want share some of the things I've learned that have helped me take some passable blog pictures. Take or leave any advice, and consider the source. You've been warned.

That disclaimer disclosed, my first piece of advice to you is NOT that you should go out and buy a fancy camera. This is my camera, an inexpensive 5 megapixel Kodak Easyshare Z730. (I grabbed this photo from Amazon because obviously, I can't take a picture of my own camera!)

I LOVE my camera. Our family has owned three Kodak Easyshares, and they've all been fantastic for our skill level. I previously owned an expensive and complicated Canon A70 camera, but I could only manage blurry pictures with it and it died a horrible death after only one year! (It stayed alive only long enough for the warranty to expire.) I'm glad it died. I hated that thing.

My Z730 camera is a couple of years old now, so there are newer, more megapixel versions of my camera, like the Z1285. If I lost or broke my camera, I would get the Z1285 to replace it.

Whichever camera you choose, make sure it has a close-up feature on it. See the picture of my camera below? See the flower and the mountain? The mountain is for far-away pictures, and the flower is for close-ups. When I turn my camera on, the focus is set somewhere in between "flower" and "mountain," so if I want to take a close-up, I push the flower button. Everything else stays on auto! On your camera, it may say, "close-up" or "macro." Find it. It's soooo important.

The close-up feature lets you get up close and personal with your subject. Look at this close-up of my pouch. I love close-up pictures; they really draw you in. So often, people stand too far back and you can't see any detail! When you go shopping or look at a quilt in a show, don't you like to get really, really close? I know I do. The next thing you should do is turn off your flash. Leave your camera on the auto setting, but just turn off the flash feature. Flash is horrible. It burns out color, startles the subject, turns eyes red, wrecks the background by making it too dark in the distance, and "flattens" the subject. Of course, if it's too dark, you have to use flash...but try turning it off if you can. Natural light is softer, the colors are truer, and the subject has so much more depth.

Here are two pictures of my pouch. The first is using natural light only:

And below is the flash version. I didn't turn on the flash on purpose, it came on automatically. I have to turn my flash off on purpose in even in slightly diminished light--it wants to flash even though there is sufficient light!) See the shadows? The washed-out fabric? The "flat" look of the whole picture? I'll admit, this is not the greatest example, but I think you'll see what I mean if you really start looking at great pictures and see how natural light gives them much more life.

The problem, of course, with turning off your flash in low light, is that your pictures can come out blurry. The lens has to stay open longer to compensate and even slight shaking of the camera will blur the picture. That's why you need one of these:
Tripods are not just for professionals. I have two tripods and I use them both. They're essential! It's so hard for me to hold the camera still when I take a picture, especially in low light. A tripod steadies the camera so you can use natural light more, even in low light situations. I have two tripods and use them all the time. The little one is a gem! You can use it on tabletops, put it on shelves or stacks of books, or even steady the camera on your chest while taking a picture.

Another essential item is white foam core board. I have two pieces of foam core that I use as backdrops. On all my pictures with white backgrounds (like the pouch and the tripod pictures above), I set the item on one piece and use the other piece behind the subject. The white reflects the light softly and makes a very nice background. Some people tape four pieces of foam core together in an open box shape and use that as a little photo studio for small items. The white sides help reflect more light on the subject so that you don't have to use flash.

I also drape fabrics on my foam core boards and set the items on the draped fabric. It makes a nice little photo "booth."

So get a decent camera with a close-up setting, turn off your flash and get a tripod, then go buy some foam core board. And if you really want to do it right, you need this:

Photoshop Elements. Amazing. It corrects hue, lighting, skin tone, distortion, blur, crookedness...downright amazing. There is a steep learning curve, though, so be prepared to read a manual or something. It's the "lite" version of Photoshop, but I can't imagine that they left anything out...it's so fantastic! I learn something new every day. I correct EVERY picture on Photoshop Elements before you see it, usually using the "autofix" feature. Oh yeah, and the tool straightens out crooked pictures because I can't seem to take a level picture for anything.

And it also helps to have some great things around to take pictures of! Here are my Squiggle blocks so far:

I'm in love with these blocks. I've got half the blocks made, and I love making them!

And with Photoshop Elements, I can make one quilt, but see it in all different colors:
Photoshop Elements: amazing. Marsha's Squiggle design: genius.

Look Marsha, I'm Squiggling!

2008-04-11T22:40:00.004-10:00

A few weeks ago, I visited Marsha at her blog "Threadbender" and saw her fabulous quilt, "Squiggles at Night." It was love at first sight. Her quilt is so whimsical and colorful and full of life--I just had to make one like it. I emailed her and asked her if I could use her design to make a squiggle quilt of my own, and she kindly gave her permission. Thanks, Marsha! I am SO enjoying making your wonderful design. I'm squiggling with joy!! These are my first squiggles. Not bad, eh? Let me tell you, squiggling is addictive! All these beautiful colors on black are fun right now. I haven't made a bright quilt in quite some time. Once I started squiggling, I just couldn't stop!
I was squiggling only four squiggles per block, but I decided that more was merrier. Here are the squiggle blocks I've made so far on my design wall:

The alternating blocks are Marsha's design, too. They're sort of wonky and free-pieced using Marsha's formula.

I think I'll name my Squiggles quilt, "Box Jellys" because to me, the squiggles look just like iridescent jellyfish tendrils streaming down from glowing box jellyfish. The "box" part is a little joke because the blocks are square like a box, see? Hee hee. I crack myself up.

I spent the day totally blissed out in my sewing room, wading through my stacks of batiks. I started out with nice color-coordinated stacks, but a few hours in, total chaos ensued: Gosh, they're even beautiful in a big tangle. I haven't worked with batiks in a while; I think I was sick of them for a time. So dragging them out again for a project--and setting them against black--whoo hoo! I'm appreciating how beautiful they are all over again.

And what does one wear if one is planning on spending an entire blissful day immersed in one's sewing room, playing with gorgeous fabric?
Bedsheets, of course! This sheet skirt is the most comfortable thing EVER. As soon as I can get to Wal Mart to buy some more 1/2" non-roll elastic, I'm going to have a whole week's worth of these puppies. I may even make some lounge pants, too.
Mr. Bigglesworth watched me all day from his curtain vantage point. He's probably wondering why I'm wearing my bed.

The Road to Hanalei, There and Back Again

2008-04-10T22:13:00.003-10:00

We're here! Let's see if there's anything new today, shall we?
My, oh my...I think we're going to be here a while.
Yes, dear, just go to sleep and let the ladies do the shopping. We'll wake you up in a couple of hours.
This is what the other two-thirds of Strings and Things looks like. Musical instruments and some swifts and ball winders. Ukuleles and knitting equipment living in perfect harmony together. At least they don't sell bait.

I remember the very first yarn I bought here over a year ago. I didn't know how to knit then, so I bought some Cascade Fixation and made these:
Crocheted socks! Well, they're pretty heavy as socks go, so I would really call them more of a house sock. The Cascade Fixation is a very stretchy yarn, so unlike most socks, these socks have a ton of stretchiness to them.

They fit really well. I made them from the patterns in here: Learn to Crochet Socks book It's a good book--inexpensive with clear instructions and fun patterns using sportweight and worsted weight yarn. I like the Fixation yarn because it has elastic built into the yarn. Great stuff for crocheting items that you would like to make a little stretchier.

I found the dpn's I wanted, but I think I'll go easy on the yarn today. Let's do a little bit more sight-seeing in Hanalei and then head home, shall we?

I love this church in Hanalei. So pretty. It's the Wai`oli Hui`ia Church and it was built in 1912. I don't really know all the history, but I'm sure it's seen some hurricane damage in all those years, especially from Hurricane Iwa in 1982 and Hurricane Iniki in 1992. Looks like it's well-maintained, though, doesn't it? So peaceful.
Some pretty tropical gingers at Chin Young Village.
View of Hanalei Bay as we depart the North Shore and head back to the East Side.

Heading home, some fun moss monsters in someone's yard:

These have nothing to do with anything, but I think they're great!

That was a fun day; I hope you enjoyed our little trip to the North Shore. It sure is nice to get out of the house for a while. Tomorrow, we'll start a new quilting project.

On the Road to Hanalei, Almost There

2008-04-09T22:08:00.004-10:00

Are you done with you lunch? Great! Do you want some of my Kombucha juice? No? Can't imagine why not. It's so yummy. Let's get going again.

Look--the Poinciana trees still have a few blooms on them.

I like Poinciana trees. I was going to tell you that it was our state tree, but I'm glad I didn't because I just looked it up and it's not.

Funny thing about living in Hawaii. When you move here, you instantly become a tour guide for all your Mainland friends. You're responsible for knowing the names of every tree, building, mountain, stream, fish, bird...well, you get the picture. Me? I usually just make things up that I don't know. Really. Who's going to check? Why, if I told you that our state fish was the Rhinecanthus rectangulus, would you know I was making it up? Well, I'm not. But if you think "Rhinecanthus rectangulus" is hard to say, try calling it by its common name, "Humuhumunukunuku apua'a."

But writing these tour-y things down in my blog is a different story altogether. I can't just make things up here. My island friends may check my accuracy, so I should be truthful...uh...I mean accurate. But that sure requires a lot of research on my part if I can't just make things up! I'll make a deal with you, eh? Everything I'm not really sure about accuracy-wise (i.e. I'm making stuff up), I'll write in italics, like this. That way, if you really want accuracy, you can look all that italicized stuff up yourself. It'll be a do-it-yourself tour, eh?

While we're still in Kilauea, let's see the bird sanctuary! Hmmm...not too many birds out today, but there's a really nice lighthouse which was built in 1910. It's the one most like itself in the whole world. Amazing, huh?
I suppose I should put things in perspective here. Let's back out a bit. Can you spot the lighthouse we were just standing in front of? The lighthouse stands on this long peninsula, known as Kilauea Point. I think if I were to put together a must-see list of Kauai, this bird sanctuary would definitely be in my top ten. It's breathtaking and you can usually see all kinds of sea turtles when you look down off these cliffs into the water. Gorgeous!

Back into the car--fasten your seatbelt! We'll be seeing a beautiful roadside waterfall along the way, and we'll also get a glimpse of Hanalei Valley:

The vista as you go over the Hanalei bridge is magnificent. Those are all taro patches down there. It's so green and sparkly! So pretty.

Now we're in Hanalei town, at the Hanalei Dolphin Center. At least that's what the sign says...I hope they're sure, because I didn't use italics. Hey! There's my WH across the street! How did he get here? Do you mind if he comes with us?
Right next to the Dolphin Center is Ola's, one of my favorite shops. I love their colorful glass display in the window:

Out this front window you can see taro growing in a farmer's field:
Taro grows in the water like that. Taro is used to make poi, which is a light purple starchy gooey goo that tastes just like that paste you weren't supposed to eat in elementary school. (Okay, I didn't EAT the paste, I just tasted it once. It tasted like poi.)
Out the other window, we can see more of the Blue Danube. In the Spring, my husband and I often kayak in this river. (Hee hee...this italic thing is fun....)
Why, look at all those Palmiflora palmitises growing next to the Swanee River. And look at all those peeblefish jumping about. I think the ancient Hawaiians used to do something here, right on this very spot. It's historic. They probably had picnics. Yeah...historic picnics.

Okay...the strain of all this fabrication is getting to me. I really just come here for the yarn:

Whoo hoo! We're here! My local yarn shop--Hanalei Music's Strings and Things. It used to be only a music shop, but now part of the store is a yarn shop. So it's a music and yarn shop! Don't laugh....Kauai is small. (I hear there's a combination fabric shop/bait store on the Big Island!) We just make do. And make up things we don't know occasionally. Okay, maybe it's just me that makes things up. But we're having fun, right?

Tomorrow, we go INSIDE and fondle some yarny goodness!

On the Road to Hanalei

2008-04-08T22:57:00.003-10:00

Here we go on another field trip! Today, I'm taking you to a surprise destination on the north shore of Kauai. We'll make a few stops along the way, of course. (It may take a couple virtual days to get there, though. I like lots of stops...) Our first stop is Banana Joe's in Kilauea because it's warm outside and we need a cold tropical frosty to sip on while we make our way up north.

We can pick up some fresh fruits and vegetables for dinner tonight, too. Banana Joe always has something interesting to try.
Mmmmm...fresh baked local bread.

It looks like they only have pineapple frosties today...but that's okay because pineapple is my favorite! Banana Joes makes amazing frosties--they're 100% frozen ground fruit, no sugar added. The consistency is just like ice cream! Yummy. My second favorite is banana. We'll have to come back another day to try the banana, eh?

You're my guest, so your ice cold sweet pineapple frosty is on me. We'll pay Cindy at the register. Cindy is Mrs. Banana Joe and Cindy is a quilter! Cindy also happens to be the mother of Angela, my son's sweet and adorable girlfriend. Kauai is a small island. Oh hey...before we pay for these, we ought to grab a bag of fresh roasted macadamia nuts. They go good with frosties.
Well...lookie here. Banana Joe himself. Hi Joe! He's still got his frosty-making uniform on.
Let's sit a minute and enjoy the view. It's a lovely day, isn't it?

That was a nice snack. Wha? You're still hungry? Then let's stop by this new little restaurant I've just heard about in Kilauea town. Here we are! This is the "stone building" in Kilauea. I know it has another name, but everyone just calls it the "stone building." There are a few other "stone buildings" in Kilauea, but they're called something else. Nice little crowd today. What did you order?
MMmmmmm. I got the ahi soft tacos, my favorite. I thought I'd try some of this Kombucha juice that Cindy just told me about, too.

Yum-O! The tacos are delish. The Kombucha juice...not so much. Ah well, it's fun to try new things. Preferably not new yucky things, though. Yuck. Sorry. Ick. Okay...enough of that. But...ewwww....yuck. This stuff HAS to be healthy. Bleah!

I've already used up my picture allotment for today's post! Looks like I used up most of my pictures on food. That's okay, we'll need the energy for all the shopping we'll do....

A Pouchy Day

2008-04-07T22:14:00.003-10:00

It's Spring and I think I have Spring fever. Oh, not the kind you get when you're twenty--the kind you get when you're nearly fifty. No, not the Mrs. Robinson kind, the crafty kind...you know, when you just can't seem to settle on one project to make? I have to decide between starting one of two quilts, one of three knitting projects, one of a dozen crochet projects, and heaven only knows what I'll come up with for dinner. I'm a crafty deer in project headlights!

So what do I do when I need to make a decision? Why, avoid it all costs, of course. So today, instead of choosing between long term quilting projects, I made short term pouches.

I know you're getting sick hearing about my current love affair with zippers, but I just can't help myself. I want to put everything I own in a pouch and zip it up all cozy and snug and out of view. It must be some kind of psychological disease--Zipaholia? Pouchamania? Zippopouchitis?

I think I have a case of Buttonophilia, too. I layered three on this pouch:
And look what fits perfectly in my pouch! All my double point needles that I'm acquiring without having made a single hat or mitten yet because I'm too busy making pouches.

Here's a cute red one I made with mouse fabric! And a cat button, of course. This is one of the buttons my friend Anne sent me from Finland. He looks like he's playing coy with those mousies.
And why looka here. This pouch holds all my circulars.
Hmmm. Perhaps I was a kangaroo in a former life.

Actually, I think I may be done with my series of knitting pouches. I think I've already made some small pouches for my stitch markers and my cable needles. Yep, this could be it. NO....WAIT! What about these poor exposed babies????
These can wait. I bought almost all of these at my local thrift shop (yes...the pairs are matched correctly...I checked...sigh....). I bought them when I first started knitting, but quickly decided that I like knitting on circulars so much better than knitting on straights. Straights and I don't fit in my easy chair at night...circulars and I fit so much better. So these will wait. Besides, I like the little bouquet arrangement of these, don't you?

Tomorrow, I think we should get out of the house. Let's go on a field trip, eh? Here's a sneak preview:

See you tomorrow!

Missing Things

2008-04-06T21:36:00.015-10:00

Well, duh. Now that you all have pointed it out, it seems so obvious! The lid on my thrifted sugar bowl does not go with the bowl at all. I guess I'll never get an appraiser's job on Antique Roadshow, eh? The lid fit on the bowl so well that it didn't occur to me that something was amiss. I did get this bowl at the same thrift shop as I got Fifi and her pitcher "partner"...so I probably should have suspected that there was someone doing some creative pairing. Hee hee...I think it's funny...and definitely worth two dollars!

Thanks to an intrepid commenter (thanks, janddj!), I now have a picture of the sugar bowl lid and the creamer I'm missing:

Picture grabbed from http://www.ioffer.com/i/HOTTA-YU-SHOTEN-lusterware-blue-Sugar-bowl-creamer--43473176

You know, I think I actually like my mismatched lid better! More character. Funnier story, anyway.

I think the most amazing thing about this adventure is the string of circumstances that had to occur before my little mismatched sugar bowl came to me. First, someone had to break the lid of the original lusterware sugar bowl, right? Then someone had to own another sugar and creamer set and break the bowl of that set, leaving just the lid. Then someone had to probably break the old lusterware creamer, too, because it wasn't at the thrift store alongside its partner (and why would they have given up just the bowl after so many years of keeping it, lid or no?). Also, someone had to notice that the spare lid fit the old sugar bowl that someone miraculously kept even though it didn't have a lid (until they broke the creamer). So was this all the same person? Two people? Three people? Or one little rambunctions tyke hoping that granny wouldn't notice?? Ah...a sugar bowl mystery! Did you catch all that? Good for you. You can have that job I didn't get at Antiques Roadshow.

Anyway..."janddj," thanks for the sleuthing and let me know if you run across a lone female poodle, huh? Fifi is lonely.

Last Sunday was a bittersweet occasion for our local quilt shop, Kapaia Stitchery. Some of you who have visited our island may remember the owner of Kapaia Stitchery, Julie Yukimura:

Julie was a hands-on fabric shop owner. If you had ever visited Kapaia Stitchery, you probably would've spoke to her about where you were from, or perhaps she would have taught you how to applique a Hawaiian pattern, or even give you a quick lesson on how to hand quilt. For nearly thirty-five years, she owned and operated Kapaia Stitchery, creating a thriving quilt shop and tourist destination waaaaay out in the middle of the Pacific ocean. She gave it her all and did it with aloha spirit.

Julie died suddenly and unexpectedly this past November. Ours is a small quilting community, and Julie was a very active member of our group; we're still in shock. Last Tuesday, April 1st, would have been Kapaia Stitchery's 35th Anniversary. Julie celebrated her anniversary every year with a sale, so her family decided to keep that tradition alive:

Julie's sister Lisa served up cake. There was ukulele-playing, hula dancing, hot dog eating, and lots of memories.
Her family, quilt family, and friends milled about and "talked story" on the lanai:

There was lots of fabric buying:

And chatting with quilters and visitors:
This is Julie's brother, wearing a custom-made Kapaia Stitchery shirt. Julie's brothers and sister are working hard to keep the shop open. The Yukimura family and Julie's employees are carrying on the way Julie would have wanted.
How did I celebrate Julie's memory? I bought fabric, of course. I have two projects in mind, and some or all of these may find their way in.
In any event, I'll always remember Julie and her kind and generous heart. Rest in peace, Julie. We miss you.

A Really Sheety Skirt

2008-04-04T22:10:00.007-10:00

Today was soooo much fun! I got to play with my pinking shears, some drafting paper and a pencil, my measuring tape and my straightpins. I felt like I was in Junior High School all over again! You see, I never learned how to make an A-line skirt in Jr. High. Somehow, I went from a crummy gym bag at age 13 to quilting at age 29 with only some unwilling car upholstery experience in between. But it's never too late, right?

I was especially excited by this little skirt book because it tells you how to draft your own skirt using your own measurements. Commercial clothing and patterns have never fit me, so the prospect of something fitting me is....frankly...quite thrilling. (What can I say? I lead a simple life....) After the initial trauma of having to take my own measurements, I drew up my own pattern according to my own exact waist and exact hip size, and made it exactly the length I wanted. I used an old sheet from the thrift store, and here is the resulting prototype:
Whooooo Hoooo!!!! I made a skirt that fits ME. No one else!! It's mine, all mine! Actually, I'm quite sure that no one else in their right mind besides me would want it, but that's okay. It's mine and fits me exactly right. Oh yes, right off the bat, I would do one thing differently. It's a little too flare-y in the A-line part (folk dancing, anyone?), but I can fix that on my paper pattern. I made a skirt that fits!

There's only one problem. This dorky sheet skirt prototype is very, very comfortable. There's a real danger here. I might be tempted to actually WEAR this skirt made out of a circa 1970 sheet around the house because it's made out of comfy, cozy sheets. The elastic waistband looks like something my Imaginary Grandma would wear, too. And you know what wearing something around the house leads to...yes...going out to the mailbox one day because I think no one is looking. THEN comes being too lazy to change out of it when friends drop by! Next thing you know, I'll be wearing it to the post office...and the grocery store! OH NO! Someone stop me!

The upside of wearing sheety clothes is that I won't have to make up my bed any more. I'll just make a really sheety blouse to go with my sheety skirt...and I'll actually BE the bedsheets! I can sleep right on the matttress! If I make a pillow hat, think of how much time I'll save.

Help me.

Okay, change of topic. You want to see what my thrifting adventures netted me this week?

Lusterware! I bought this sugar bowl for two dollars. It's so shiny that you can hardly take a picture of it. I don't know much about lusterware, but I think this sugar bowl must have been made in the early sixties, I'd guess, just because the little wheat motif looks sixty-ish. It was made in Japan. And just like Fifi, it's missing its partner. I'm sure the creamer got broken and may be at the same dump as Fifi's long-lost partner...but I'll keep looking for both.

Fifi tries it on for size. I think the color, shape, and size of it is so pretty! I love how it reflects my handmade doily, too.

I must have been in a turquoise mood that day, because this was my haul:

Some wool/nylon sock yarn from the U.K. and some fabric came home with me too.
I just love the little berry thingies on this fabric. I have no idea how old this fabric is either...I just like it.

And while we're rapidly changing topics, look what was in my magical mailbox today!!

I'm such a lucky woman! No, seriously, I am. I won another blog drawing, this time at Crafty Bits 'n Bobs. This package came all the way from Australia, which made it extra-special. There's an adorable little wristlet, some cute little buttons sewn onto creature-decorated paper, some lurvely chocolate, and this pretty pin:
The green bead has butterflies all around it...so pretty! I'll use this to pin my knitted Clapotis shawl together around my neck. Thank you, Crafty Bits. I love everything. And I promise not to wear any of it with my sheety clothing. You're welcome.

Kisses, At Last

2008-04-03T19:10:00.014-10:00

"Little Boy Kisses" by Lisa Boyer, 2008

I finally finished my "Kisses" quilt. Remember that little boy quilt I needed to go with that little girl quilt? I'm so prepared now!

The fabrics in this one make me so happy. There are a lot of Piece O' Cake fabrics in here, I think. I don't really follow the designers, but I seem to end up with lots of Piece O' Cake's wonderful fabrics on my shelf. What isn't Piece O' Cake in this quilt is stash fabric and vintage, including an old apron. I LOVE string quilts. They're so exciting.

I rely heavily on my imaginary Grandma when I made scrap quilts. My imaginary Grandma quilted in the 1930's during the Great Depression, so she had to make do with what she had. I consult her a lot: "What Would Imaginary Quilt Grandma Do?" She tells me to use up what I already have, don't be too fussy, but don't be lazy either. She cringes when I hand quilt with a length of quilting thread that's longer than 18 inches, for instance (lazy!). She hates when I throw any kind of scrap away, no matter how small (wasteful!). But she loves it when I'm inventive--and of course, she's my biggest fan, no matter what I make.

I used two different fabrics for borders in this quilt. This is because I couldn't decide between them, so I used them both. My imaginary Grandma said it would be okay.

In a planned quilt, I often use the same strategy. If I can't decide between two or three fabrics that are similar and read only slightly differently, I alternate and use them all in the same position in the quilt. I think it gives the quilt more dimension and makes it more interesting. Besides, it saves me having to make a decision. I like that.

Here's the viney berry border I like to doodle:
I make berries when I don't leave myself enough room to make a leaf. Berries are just a little swirl ball. If I have a wide border, I make bigger swirl balls and call them rosettes.
See? You don't have to be an artist, you just have to be inventive with the skills you have. I can't make a rosette, but I can make a swirl ball.

Here's how I make my vine:

I put the quilt in my regular sewing machine and make one irregular wavy line around the whole quilt. This is my "vine" skeleton.
When I get back to the start of the vine "circle", I start up one side making leaves and berries.
I quilt leaves and berries/rosettes all around the quilt on one side of the vine. (This quilt has been rotated--I feed the quilt toward me and over my left shoulder while I quilt. The rest of the quilt is rolled up to the left of my machine.) When I get to the beginning of the vine circle again, I repeat on the other side of the vine, all around the quilt. It doesn't take very long at all, and the leaves can be big, small, short, long...nature is like that, so you can be too. Every leaf does not have to be perfect and uniform. At least, that's what Imaginary Quilt Grandma says.

That was going to be all for today, but I can't stand it when my posts are only one set of colors! So here is (yet another) box bag I made this week as a gift. I tell you, there is something addictive about zippers. They make me feel like a real seamstress.
Zipperific, eh? Oh yeah, and this:

Sweet dreams, kitty.

From Finland, With Love

2008-04-02T19:30:00.009-10:00

I sniffled and snuffled all the way out to the mailbox today to find a wonderful surprise waiting for me! My sweet friend Anne in Finland sent me a "Happy Easter" package. It took almost a month to get here, so it didn't quite arrive by Easter, but that's okay by me. Look at all the lovely things she sent!

There are vintage buttons, a pincushion, a candle, some wonderful handmade ceramic buttons, a potholder, some chocolate candy, and a couple of adorable ornaments that deserve a close-up!

Aren't those cat face buttons the cutest thing ever??? This is a little Easter Witch:

Anne tells about the witch in her letter:

"When it is Good Friday night all the Easter witches take their brooms, coffeepans, and black cats and fly to the Blue hill to dance around the bonfire. This happens in Scandinavia, of course.

Usually in the Spring, little fairies return to Finland with migrant birds like finches, swallows and nightengales and they dance among all meadow flowers all the summer long."

Ann's English is beautiful, isn't it? Here's one of the little fairies now!

Is that charming, or what? I think if I lived in Finland, I'd like Easter and Spring a whole lot more. I like witches, black cats, coffeepans, and fairies quite a bit more than I like egg-laying rabbits, ham, and silly hats. Witches are waaaay cooler. Just sayin'.

Okay...now for one of the most wonderful things in the package:

This chicken was hand-sewn by one of Anne's students named Anna-Liisa, and she made me this pretty card, too. I love them so much. She worked hard on this (look at all those stitches!), and I am very proud to own it. Well...actually...Anne says that she made it as a cushion for my cat, Mr. Bigglesworth...so I guess I will share.

Thanks so much for this treasure Anna-Liisa. I wish I had two i's in my name like you do! Let's see how Mr. Bigglesworth likes his new cushion:

(Video here)

He loves it, Anna-Liisa! Luckily, I got it back before he loved it too much and put it in his regular sleeping spot for when he's feeling a little less frisky. I don't want him to tear any of those beautiful stitches you made.

Aloha and a belated Easter to my friends in Finland.

Stay tuned...I'm finishing up the binding on my quilt tonight! Quilt pictures are imminent...

Sniffles and Roosters

2008-04-01T22:44:00.006-10:00

Whew. How long was I asleep in that beach chair? I successfully recovered from a busy pattern flurry, but woke up with a head cold this morning. It was probably all those post office germs. I'm going to take time for a short post, and then I'm going back to my beach chair for a while with some hot tea and lemon.

Happily, your pattern orders are starting to be received all across the country (yay! and thank you all again!!). Many of you have emailed me to thank me for the Hawaiian fabric charm squares that I enclosed with your order--you're welcome!--and to ask me the best way to buy more Hawaiian fabric.

Believe it or not, I am one of the WORST people to ask where to buy Hawaiian fabric! Okay, maybe not the worst, but I'm not a very good person to ask. I always buy it here in Hawaii! Our stores are stuffed with the stuff. As a matter of fact, Hawaiian prints, Asian prints and batiks are just about ALL I can get. I would love to be able to fondle some of those neat Civil War repros I keep seeing online, or drool over a rack of pastel thirties prints...or even catch a glimpse of what a Thimbleberry looks like! But noooooooo. Even our local Wal Mart is a veritable Hawaiian fabric shrine!

So here are my suggestions on how YOU can find Hawaiian fabric, short of hopping on a plane:

1. Call Kapaia Stitchery at 808-245-2281 and describe what you want. They don't have a website, but they do have mail order and they are very, very nice. Closed on Sundays, open 9 to 5 Hawaiian time. (Update 4/2--I corrected the phone number...sorry!)

2. I often send people to http://www.hawaiianfabric.com/ Be sure to click on the "cotton" tab, because they have lots of polyesters and it's easy to get lost amidst all the prints and end up with polyester. There are several pages of cotton fabric to scroll through, and you can click on prints to enlarge. It's a pretty good site! I don't often hear back from people I send there, but when I do, it's a positive report.

3. eQuilter has got some great Hawaiian prints! This link here will take you right to the Hawaiian prints section.

4. Read the comments section of this post. Hopefully, others will chime in with their favorite sources. Anyone?? Feel free!

5. Google "Hawaiian fabric" and see if there is someone in your state or nearby that sells it. You'll save some money on shipping. There are lots of suprising little niches in stores that have devoted a little corner to Hawaii--probably because the shop owner is a frequent visitor.

Okay, I'm going back to my beach chair and try to stop sneezing. I'll leave you with a picture of our friendly back yard chickens. These were wild, but my husband has since trained them to eat out of our hands and they're pretty friendly now. They come to my back door every morning to get leftovers from the cat's dish; they stand and watch me until I come out with a bowl for them.

This rooster is very brave. His girlfriend hangs back a little with her dainty foot up in the air:
She won't come any closer until I set the bowl down and turn around. They're such a cute couple!

G'night...

I Need a Hawaiian Vacation

2008-03-28T21:58:00.004-10:00

It's four o'clock and I've just spent another entire day tying bows and dropping off a ton of orders at the post office. I'm toast. I need a Hawaiian vacation. Let's take one, eh? We'll park at the Outrigger Waipoli since we're so close. We'll walk through the lobby...and take the beach access path. I can see by all the people by the pool that tourist season has begun. Oh look, there's a little girl studying the colorful koi swimming in the pond. She looks like a statue, doesn't she?

Wow, look at all the colorful flowers. This is why Hawaiian print fabrics are so bright! Can you imagine hanging a grey toned fabric in your house with all this competing for your attention?
The pool looks inviting. The new style in pools is to build them in long ribbons like a river. They meander through the gardens, under waterfalls, and down to the main pool. They even have a current you can float downstream in! No need to heat the pools in Hawaii, they are warm enough to swim in all year long. Well, they do get a little chilly in January, but not enough to keep determined people out...
You can float by--or even under--this waterfall...
and check out the pretty flowers along the way...
Hmmm...that looks like a nice table. You feel like something with an umbrella in it? No, they don't have Hula Pie here.

At last, here's what we were looking for:
Peace and quiet. Is there anyone to the left of us? Hmmmm...a few people, but they're far away.
How about to the right of us?
A lone fisherman on the jetty. This looks like a great spot.
Ah...yes. Peace and quiet. My sore fingers feel better already.

What IS that blue thing you're drinking? And look at all those little paper umbrellas in your hair! I think you were ready for this; I know I was. I'm exhausted. I was just...uh...just thinking....uh....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Nope.

2008-03-27T20:15:00.002-10:00

No sewing today, either. It's been a craaaazy couple of days, but I love it. Thanks for all the pattern orders, everyone!

The Best Laid Plans

2008-03-26T22:35:00.009-10:00

I'd been trying to get into my sewing room for days now. But errands, appointments, oil changes, groceries, cleaning projects--the list is endless, as you know--had all conspired against me. So it was with great determination that I called my friend Anne on Tuesday night and asked her to come over and sew with me the next day. I knew that if Anne was here, I would be committed to sewing the entire day! We would do an all-day sew-a-thon! I wouldn't answer the phone or clean anything--I would sit down with Anne and sew for eight hours straight. It was gonna be great. Anne would be over by 9 a.m. Wednesday morning and we would sew straight through until 5:00 p.m. Whoo hoo! I would finish quilting the border on my Kisses quilt! I would finish quilting my UFO Friday flower wallhangings! Perhaps I could start on one of those skirts in my new skirt book!

On the set of Simply Quilts, with Alex and producers

Alas. It was not meant to be. Unbeknownst to me, while I was sleeping, my Simply Quilts episode re-ran. I didn't know it was going to re-run (no, no one lets you know) and it aired across the U.S.A. during my middle-of-the-night. This morning, right before my sew-a-thon was to commence--I opened my inbox to an avalanche of pattern orders!

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE pattern orders. Well, except for the bow part, as you know. But I LOVE pattern orders! It's so exciting that someone is actually reproducing something I designed in Australia or Germany or Tilden, Nebraska! Thank you all so much for your orders--I'll tie bows for you any day! And thanks for all the pictures you send of your completed quilts. They make my day.

Unfortunately, though, instead of working on my quilts or a skirt during my sew-a-thon day, I worked on this:

These were just the orders that came in before noon! Afternoon brought a whole new batch of orders. And as quilters across the USA finally manage to watch the Simply Quilts episodes they taped during the week, more orders will be rolling in, especially this weekend.

The Simply Quilts show is phenomenal. Even though they stopped producing it, the reruns are still being watched and loved by quilters everywhere. We filmed that episode five long years ago, even before I wrote my second book! And yet every time it airs, I get a walloping batch of orders from all over the U.S.

If you haven't seen my slideshow of the filming, you really should click here or on the Flickr link on my sidebar and see some of the behind-the-scenes stuff. All the pictures were taken by my sister, Jane Ann Munroe.

The experience itself? I'm still recovering. When I left the studio that day, I felt like I had been run over by a train. It was all very intense and I felt entirely out of my league, quilt-wise. But I survived, and I'm glad I did it, even though I can't watch it without cringing! Alex Anderson was such a sweetheart--I think the world of that woman.

So my sewing day with Anne didn't exactly turn out like I had envisioned it, but that's okay. Anne got some sewing done while I tied bows and stuffed envelopes. Remember this picture from last week of Anne trying to figure out her Japanese Puzzle quilt?

I'm happy to say that she got it together and added a border:
and she'll be quilting it any day. I, on the other hand, might be tying bows all week. But that's okay. You're totally worth it. But TOMORROW, I am DEFINITELY going to SEW. And tie some bows. But mostly sew. I hope.

Better Than Laundry

2008-03-24T23:09:00.006-10:00

Today, I did laundry and some gardening. I don't think you'd care to see my laundry, so I'll take you out into the garden with me instead. This, for my dear friends still covered in snow, is what Spring looks like:A zinnia seedling. My husband plants a zinnia cutting garden for me every year.
I'll take another picture of this row in a few weeks. You'll be amazed at the riot of color.

Speaking of color riots, this is a curious flowering bush we have in the yard:

I don't know the name of it, but it's got two different colors of flowers on it. There are silvery pink flowers and coraly red flowers. This bush is a puzzle to me. I've never seen nature get colors wrong, but this one just doesn't seem right. These colors clash! Would you ever make a quilt using those two colors together? But it's still pretty. Perhaps it's some type of Thumbergia? It's upright, but aspires to be a vine. It's got coily tendrils. Anyone?

Mmmmm...the mint is looking fine. We have many kinds of herbs in the garden. Basil grows huge here. Oh look, the horse next door is watching us:

Hello sweetie! Want an apple? My husband feeds the neighbor horse treats over the fence. He's a pushover for a pretty face.

Plumeria blossoms are popping out all over. This is the flower I usually make leis from for visitors. The smell is jasmine-like, but not overpowering. In a few weeks, this bare tree will be full of flowers.
The lettuce is almost ready. And look, we have tomatoes in the greenhouse!
Roma tomatoes pretty much grow all year. In the summer, one bush overwhelms us with tomatoes. I started out with more in this colander, but I had to eat a few while I was taking their picture. They taste like summer.

Speaking of Spring and Summer, here's something that I won't be wearing for a while:

I finished my Merino Lace socks from the Favorite Socks book. I'm really happy with the pattern and fit. I finished these socks a few nights ago and immediately cast on some more socks:
No, this is funny little green blob is NOT the beginnings of a Grinch sculpture, it's the beginning of a Monkey sock! I wanted to see what all the fuss was about this pattern. I like it already! It's all lumpy and funky, but when it's stretched out on a leg, it's really pretty! This yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock in Carol Green.

Hopefully, I'll get back into my sewing room tomorrow.

Mini-Group Fun

2008-03-23T23:23:00.010-10:00

I had a lovely Easter weekend. On Saturday, some of our mini-group got together and sewed all day. It rained a little bit in the morning, so we could only open the doors to the lanai part way. By afternoon, it was gorgeous again and we could open the doors and enjoy the breezes and this view:

Paige finished her Flying Geese circle. By afternoon, she was adding another blue print border after she trimmed the beige down a little. She was so happy with her compass!

I can't wait to see how she quilts it!

I must've had a really good time because I forgot to take pictures most of the day. We had a nice lunch at Nawiliwili Harbor (forgot the camera), Anne worked on a Pinwheel Wallhanging (forgot to take a picture), Roberta made a box bag because she missed the group last Saturday (oops again) and I made a four grocery totes (dang!). I'm sorry...baaaaaad blogger. Baaaaad.

The cat supervised. He sat near my left shoulder like this all day. When I looked at him, he would meow at me. I think he was saying: "Get back to work." That's what supervisors do, you know.

"At least you remembered to take a picture of me. Get back to work...NOW!"

What a wonderful day. I love my friends...even the bossy ones. Meee-ow!

Postscript: Kauai made international news today (!) with this story: http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpDxicG6Du5pjb8aUnH2aSJZ5U3g

A Wedding and a Wedding Quilt

2008-03-21T21:36:00.006-10:00

You know what this is, don't you?This is a BRIDE! This bride happens to be my very lovely stepdaughter, Jennifer. Last June, she married the man of her dreams in Houston, Texas. And you know what a wedding in the family means, don't you? Of course! A wedding quilt!

Here she is with the wedding quilt I made for the newlyweds. (This picture was taken at their cute little house in Houston.) I chose to make the quilt in holiday-themed thirties fabrics, because I suspect (and hope) that there will be grandchildren one day who would like to play "I Spy" with it. I guess that was a little devious on my part, making a wedding quilt with grandchildren in mind, but what can I say? I'm enthusiastic about the possibility. And available for babysitting, by the way. Just so you know, Jen...but no pressure. Ahem.

I think she liked it! You can't see it very well in this picture, but it's the teary-eyed thank-you photo shot. I live for these. She did it well, didn't she? Gorgeous girl, and very, very sweet! I'm so glad she liked it.

I enjoyed making this pattern. The block is called "Vintage Propellers" is available as a free download at Connecting Threads. Here is the link: click here

I modified the pattern by setting the blocks with alternate plain print blocks, as it was a little too busy with all the propellers smooshed together. I wouldn't want to strain the childrens'....uh...I mean bride and groom's...eyesight. No, that wouldn't be good.

Just thought you might like to see the groom, too. Isn't he a handsome guy? It was a lovely wedding.

(Jennifer and Michael--you know I'm only making jokes. No pressure, really. Only when you're ready. Because I am!!!!)

Giveaway Alert: Amanda at Busy Little Quilter is having a giveaway. Leave a comment on her blog and you'll have a chance to win a twenty-five dollar gift certificate to The Fat Quarter Shop. Sweeeeeeeet!

Yarn Giveaway at Happy Handwork

2008-03-21T08:50:00.001-10:00

Want to win some yummy Malabrigo yarn? My friend Cinnamon Girl at Happy Handwork is having a giveaway! Click here to enter. I would reeeeeaaallly like to win me some Malabrigo because it's causing quite a stir in the knitting world! We don't have it here in Hawaii, so I'm very curious to see what all the commotion is about. Oh, and Cinnamon Girl? My favorite flower is a fuschia. We don't have those here either. Sob. But I could be comforted by some Mmmmmmmalabrigo....

UFO Friday

2008-03-20T17:36:00.011-10:00

It's UFO Friday, I've got another easy one for you. (Lest you think that all my UFO's are easy, let me assure you that I've got some real doozies currently in hiding. I'm just having a hard time facing them--which is why they became UFO's in the first place! Don't worry, I'll run out of easy ones eventually and have to drag out the real problems. Ugh.)

Obviously, the little wall quilt above is finished, not a UFO. I'm showing you this little quilt in its usual spot, which is above one of my old sewing machines in my dining room. My original idea was to make seasonal wallhangings for this spot. I wanted to do the same flower in all four seasonal colors and rotate them according to time of year. The quilt above is my "Fall."

This paper-pieced flower block is a Shirley Liby design, on the "Sew Precise" Collection 3 disc. (I modified the pattern to suit my vision.) Here is a close-up picture of it:

For Summer, I wanted something really really jazzy and modern art-like:

Summer got finished, too. I like this one a lot, even though it's really wild.

Now for the UFO part. I present Winter:

Winter is still unquilted. I have no excuse. I like Winter, but I sure am afraid of washing Winter after I'm done. I just know those white petals laundered with that dark blue batik...well...is there such thing as a blue daffodil? Probably not. But there will be once I wash it.

I think another reason I'm hesitant about Winter is that after I finish quilting Winter...I'll have to face Spring:

UGH!! I don't like this quilt at all. It gives me a headache just to look at it.

I'm not one for a pure pastel quilt. I need to "ground" pastels with other colors. But I don't know if it's just the pastels that make me dislike this quilt so much. Could it be a deeper underlying problem? Hmmmh. I'm going to go all Freudian on you here and wonder if I don't like this quilt because I don't like Spring all that much!

My mother and I dressed in our Easter outfits, circa 1964 in La Mirada, CA. My feet hurt in this picture and I did not like that hat at all.

Why don't I like Spring? I never have. It's too bright, and mornings start too early. For many years, I resented that time change thing that happens with Spring. It's still too cold outside, and Easter...ugh. My least favorite holiday. I don't like breakfast, eggs, ham, brunch, getting up early, putting on silly pastel dresses with stupid hats, uncomfortable white shoes that make your feet look gigantic, looking for eggs in cold wet grass, disgusting little marshmallow chickens, and giant rabbits at the mall. The whole thing makes me a little nauseous. The only thing good about Spring is the leafing and flowering of trees, bursting bulbs and all the beautiful flowers, which I adore, so I'll tolerate the rest of it.

So perhaps it not the quilt itself I don't like, perhaps it's the reminder of Spring that makes it so icky. It's not the poor sickening pastel quilt's fault. I should just stop whining and finish Spring and get it over with. I think dreading Spring has kept me from finishing Winter, so I should just do it, huh?

Wow. Another great quilt psychology breakthrough. I can't blame a quilt for Spring and I have a hanging sleeve hang-up. What do your UFO's reveal about you? (And "I'm lazy" is not a deep enough answer. We all have that....)

Places to Go, Bows to Tie

2008-03-19T22:31:00.007-10:00

Tonight's post will be brief. I had a large shop order to prepare and deliver (*&^% little bows!) and a two page errand list that returned me home just before dinnertime. It was too late to take any blog pictures, so I'll reach into my archives for a nice Kauai picture.

Pictured above is the Na Pali coast on the North Shore of Kauai. It is inaccessible by car, so the only way you can get a view like this is by helicopter or boat. I've been on a helicopter tour of Kauai, and although it was spectacular, I was too busy trying not to toss my cookies all over the pilot to take any pictures. A cruise ship was much better!

This was the deck of the "Pride of Hawaii," the cruise ship I taught quilt classes on in October 2006 for Quiltmaker Magazine. It was a brand new ship, and it was pretty spectacular.

Gosh. Looks like Disneyland, doesn't it? I love the picture below:

I took this photo when we were on "shore leave" in downtown Honolulu. It looks like the ship is just casually parked at the city mall or something. Like, "Oh! Dang! I forgot where I parked my ship...was it in the D or E section?" Ah well, maybe I'm the only one who thinks it's funny. Probably because I'm always forgetting where I parked my car. If I had a funny big ship, I wouldn't have that problem. Heh heh.

To see more of my Quiltmaker Hawaii cruise pictures, you can click here to see my Flickr photoset: click here

Off to put something cold on my sore fingertips. Grrrr...*&^%% little bows....

Puakenikeni Baby Quilt

2008-03-18T22:44:00.005-10:00

I made this little pink baby quilt to have on hand for baby emergencies. I'm feeling very proud of myself for making this one in advance. Now all I have to do is make a blue one and I'm all set for any non-multiple baby scenario. I feel so prepared!

This is a puakenikeni flower, the inspiration for my quilt:

It smells heavenly! "Puakenikeni" means "ten cent flower" because the locals used to sell them by the roadside for ten cents a piece. I'm told that was quite expensive at the time; I suppose the flower was rarer back then. This flower makes beautiful fragrant leis.

At the time I made my quilt, I thought the puakenikeni flower had only four petals, but as you can see, it has five. Ah well, babies can't count, thank goodness. I did look up other names of flowers that have four petals, but "Epilobium Angustifolium" didn't quite have the same ring to it. So Puakenikeni it is.

Let's get closer:

This quilt was very difficult to get a picture of. It's much softer in color than these pictures indicate, but I had to turn up the contrast for you to be able to see it! Cameras are fussy about quilts.
Here's a close-up of one of the blocks. Looking at this now, I can see where some of my seams on this block didn't exactly line up, but that's okay. Babies can't count OR see very well. She will love it anyway. I hope she loves it to shreds.

This little quilt would be honored to be someone's dear blankie.

The reverse, showing my leafy vine doodle. This picture is closer to the true color.

The flower block itself is made up of four traditional "Snowball" blocks. You just have to change the color of one of the corners and sew them together like this:

I used the following method so I didn't have to cut triangles: I cut a large white square and laid little squares on each corner right side down, then sewed diagonally as I have indicated in red. Trim seam, flip triangles, and press.

This is a very easy block to make and you can make it any size you want! For a 8" finished block, start with four 4 1/2 " cut white squares. (Mine is a 6" finished block--I started with four 3 1/2" squares.) Different sizes of little squares make different shapes of petals, so that's something to experiment with. 1 1/2" cut little colored squares is a good size to start with on a 4 1/2" white square.

Mid-Tuesday Half-Post

2008-03-18T12:21:00.004-10:00

Did you know about this quilt giveaway by the Old Red Barn Company? The quilt is made from the Jenny Jump Rope collection, which I love so much that I already have a few pieces...but an entire quilt would sure be nice. Check it out at http://www.oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/ There's still time to enter. I'd go NOW!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T18:31:00.009-10:00

Hawaiian Rainbow Basket Quilt, Red Version-tweaked to St. Patty's Day green with Photoshop. Hee hee...I never get tired of this trick!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! Yes, I know to YOU it's already the day after, but here in Hawaii, it's still St. Patrick's Day. It's a good thing that Hawaii sees the last of every day, because while I'm still waking up in the morning, I get to see how the rest of the world spent the holiday. As a work-at-home empty-nester, I find it very hard to keep track of what day of the week it is. Holidays are especially hard to keep track of. Reading the morning news is usually my first clue that I've forgotten it was a holiday. I have NO idea when Easter is this year, for instance. But it doesn't matter because for me....EASTER CAME TODAY!!!!

I was the lucky winner of Moonbeams in a Jar Mary Anne's Easter giveaway--and look what came for me, all the way from Pennsylvania!

Look at all these Easter-y delights! I could smell the box when my husband brought it into the house--there are French vegetable soaps in those yellow wrappers that smell heavenly.

The background fabric was in the box, too. I love the little lambs.
This little guy is great. He's like the Easter Bunny jester riding on a lamb. Love the ears and bunny suit.
In the bottom of the box were these wool felt pieces! I'm so excited, because I haven't been able to find wool felt anywhere on the island. I can now make this pattern that I downloaded ages ago from Connecting Threads:
This little needlecase is a free pattern from Connecting Threads. Follow this link to download the pattern, or visit their "Free Quilt Patterns" section--it's a really good one. I just love this case and now I can finally make it in real wool felt. Thank you, Mary Anne!

If you haven't been to Mary Anne's blog, you simply must go. I think you especially need to read this post because she looks so cute in her jammies and blue sparkly mask that I just wanted to fly across the country and join her quilting weekend party. She's such a hoot. Who else would send me this:

"Hey Little Girl, you want some candy?"

Mini-Group UFO Day

2008-03-16T22:05:00.009-10:00

There you are! Hey--you want to go to my mini-group UFO day with me? Great! Stow your stuff in my trunk here and let's get going! We need to stop by Starbuck's on the way, because I need some coffee! I can barely keep my eyes open in this picture....ugh...mornings...

No, Mr. Bigglesworth...you can't go today. And you're not fooling me by trying to disguise yourself as cargo. Give me a kitty hug and I'll see you later.

Here we are in the back room of Kapaia Stitchery (we got here fast!!! Must've been that triple latte I drank on the way...whoo hoo!). We usually meet at each other's houses, but today it was convenient to meet here.

Aren't these green and black Feathered Stars amazing? Guess who made them?

Herman! You've met Herman...he's my hair stylist! He's also an amazing quilter. He's making enough Feathered Stars for a king-sized quilt. That's a LOT of teeny-tiny half-square triangles. I think he said he already had twenty made--can you believe it? Look at his work...perfect. And I love his colors! I'm not really sure about this pose of his. I think I caught him in the middle of doing a Vanna White. He looks like his blocks are attacking him. Luckily, he survived.

This is Paige, who is working on her Mariner's Compass. Today, she's sewing the flying geese around the compass:
Wow...beautiful, huh? My friends are talented! This is Jo, who is working on a Japanese Jigsaw quilt. This quilt is a pattern by Tracey Brookshier, who just visited our island and taught the class.
Jo is a wizard with color. Isn't her quilt top beautiful? Her piecing is beautiful, too. So precise.

Anne is having a little trouble puzzling out her Japanese Jigsaw quilt. I guess the blocks didn't want to be transported. I hope Anne's blocks won't attack her like Herman's did. Believe it or not, she got her quilt top all sewn together today. Anne gets 'em done.

We'll work on our UFO's today, but we'll also take the time to make a few of these:
Box bags! My latest "I can't stop making these" item. I thought it would be fun to infect my friends with box fever. Looks like it worked.
Jo got some of her borders on today. This quilt is stunning! I hope we can take a picture of the finished quilt at the next meeting...but no pressure, Jo.

I hope you enjoyed meeting some of my mini-group friends. Sadly, Roberta was sick, so you didn't get to see her, but maybe you'll get to meet her next time. Feel better soon, Roberta!

Update 3/17 : Clicking on any light gray words above (links) will take you to any quilt pattern info or tutorial links. I've linked to pattern info on the Japanese Jigsaw quilt and a wonderful tutorial for the box bag by Dragon[knit]fly. I've made a few mods to the box bag pattern, but her tutorial is what I started with. Enjoy!

You Guessed It!

2008-03-15T22:36:00.007-10:00

It certainly isn't surprising that so many of you guessed the Mystery UFO quilt. Obviously, you've already been to Happy Zombie's fabulous blog (I totally LOVE Monica!) and seen her gorgeous work, and you've probably already taken advantage of her free pattern, the Jingle Jolly Tablerunner. I loved her tablerunner so much that I duplicated Monica's quilt using the same fabrics. I didn't make an EXACT duplicate-- i.e. using the same fabrics in the exact same spots--no, no, that would be weird...like being a quilt stalker or something. Although...with Monica's quilts, I'm sorely tempted to become one. Have you seen her her latest quilt? Or her sewing room? Or her bagels?

Ahem. Okay...perhaps I'm more than a casual observer of Monica. Perhaps I'm a Monica "voyeur," but not a stalker. Yet.

The Jingle Jolly Tablerunner, pattern by Monica Solorio-Snow; made by Lisa Boyer 2008

Sorry about the lumpy grass shot, but I had to take these pictures outside during a class break while it was still light enough. Aren't these fabrics wonderful? They're from the Holly Jolly Charm Pack by Sandy Gervais that I purchased online from the Fat Quarter Shop. So cheery!

Yes, those are my shoes in this shot. I'm too tired to crop them out tonight.
A closer view of some of the delightful fabrics.
This is my "Flaming Chicken Head" quilting doodle. I use it for fancy stuff.
Some of you asked to see my new earrings with my new haircut. Here's a still shot of my favorite pair:

But I like it when they sparkle and move!

I love shiny earrings that jiggle. I like hair that jiggles, too, so I'm not a big fan of hairspray. I don't like cleaning up after it, and besides, Hawaii laughs at hairspray. Between the tradewinds and humidity, Hawaii is hell on hair. As a matter of fact, I think they should warn people before they visit here. Make it the state motto or something. "Hawaii: The Bad Hair State. Bring Jiggly Earrings to Distract." Yeah. I think that would fit on a license plate, don't you?

Off to stalk...uh...I mean visit Zombie's blog...

UFO Friday, Mystery Edition

2008-03-13T17:29:00.015-10:00

I'm going to be very mysterious about today's UFO. It's a small piece and I just have to finish quilting and binding it, so I think I will wait until my next post to show you the entire quilt. For now, just a peek.

But here's the mystery: where might some of you have seen this same quilt before? Does anyone else's wonderful quilt blog come to mind????

Does it look familiar? Or do you need another clue? Here's a second peek:I've only made two quilts in my entire quilting life that copied the designer's quilt exactly. One was a kit when I was a beginner quilter, and this one, which I fell in love with so much after seeing it on her blog that I just had to possess it. I made it from her pattern, using the same fabrics she did. Ring any bells? Any Christmas-y bells? The game is afoot, Watson! The mystery will be solved on my next post, so stay tuned.

In other sewing news, I finally bought this book which I have been eyeing for some time:

This book is wonderful! It tells you how to design custom-fitted skirts by making your own patterns. Now that I have a little zipper experience under my belt (an unintentional pun, but apt...), I am going to make myself some comfy skirts from my stash. I thought I'd start with this one:
The fabric behind the book is what I'm planning on using for the skirt. I think it's a Kaffe Fassett(?) that someone gifted me (forgive me, I don't know fabric designers), but I love it. It looks like ornamental cabbages growing in wood chips! I love the rick rack on the bottom--I think I can find some jumbo minty green, but I'll have to see what Wal Mart actually has. When you live on a tiny island waaaaay out in the middle of nowhere, sometimes you just have to settle for what's available!

I don't know why I can sew Feathered Stars and Mariner's Compasses without hesitation, but the idea of making an article of clothing freaks me out. I think it's the non-flat factor. My mind works great in two dimensions, but goes all screwy in the third one. Covering a 3-D body with a flat piece of fabric seems impossible to me. We'll see.

A few of you wanted to see the earrings I bought yesterday after my haircut: As you can see, they are BIG and fun. I didn't buy really expensive ones, just in case I was in a "mood" that made me go all crazy over wild giant earrings. Temporary insanity, unfortunately, is sometimes only temporary. But I love them for now! I wore the pair on the far right to breakfast this morning and I felt so pretty and feminine. Some women are shoe people, I'm an earring girl. Nothing like a pretty pair of earrings to make me feel shiny and new.

And some of you were wondering what I was going to do with all those single skeins of yarn:This orange and yellow aspires to be these:

Herringbone Mittens by Eliphantom Knits

Mittens! I want to try two-color knitting, and I want to make mittens! The above are adorable, aren't they? I want to make them in the orange and yellow wool above. You can find the free pattern at Elliphantom Knits.

With this purple and pink, I may make these:

Bird in Hand Mittens, by Kate Gilbert

Or these:

Squirrely Swedish Mittens, a free pattern by Elliphantom Knits

I bought all the yarn in pairs--each color has a partner. I'd like to do a couple of two-stranded hats, too! Gee, I hope I like doing two-color knitting. I guess I was in sort of a "mood" that day...heh heh.

I won't be posting tomorrow as I have another class to teach on Saturday. But that'll also give me time to finish the "Mystery UFO" and it'll give YOU time to figure out where you've seen it before! Mwwaaahhh-ha-ha! Moriarty is in a mood, ladies!!

A Good Hair Day

2008-03-12T22:09:00.003-10:00

Thank you all so much for voting, and for the comments! Hairstyle Number One, the Dimensional Brunette, won the vote. I really like the Dimensional Brunette, but I'm nervous! Those spikey things on top are short! Here I am arriving at Herman's place, a.k.a. H.S. Ferreira Salon.Herman is a low key guy, sign-wise, isn't he? He has no sign at all except for that one on the door. Yes, the tiny print under the "OPEN" sign is his only sign. Herman is very popular, and as you can see, his fame is word-of-mouth only. Herman doesn't need to advertise. Herman is "da bomb," which means he's the best. He's very good at what he does, and he happens to be a sweetheart, plus one of the funniest guys I've ever met. And he quilts! Sigh...I adore Herman.

Here's Herman in our typical Hawaiian mid-winter clothing. He's wondering why I'm taking his picture.
Herman at work. He was surprised that I wanted to go short! I showed him the magazine pictures and told him that you chose Dimensional Brunette Number One for me...but I was still a little nervous. So Herman made the wise Solomon-like decision to do something halfway in between both pictures. He told me that if I still wanted the really short spikeys, we could do it next time when I was feeling more confident, but my hair is way wavier than hers, so it would require a lot more maintenance to get that look with the spikes. Ugh...maintenance...a bad thing. I opted for easy. (See why I love him? He knows I'm lazy, but he loves me anyway.)

I TOTALLY LOOOVE IT!!! I feel so young and perky! (Here I am at Macy's afterwards, trying to sneakily take my picture in the ladies' clothing section.) Wow...I can't believe how much cooler my neck is! Remember when you got your braces off and your teeth felt so smooth and funny that you couldn't stop smiling because your teeth felt so slippery and it felt so wonderful? No? Well, I remember. And that's how my neck felt today! Every breeze that ruffled past my neck made me happy. Now all I need is a hot flash to really give it a test drive!

I thought Macy's might not like me sneaking around taking pictures of myself, so I tried on these two blouses so I could take a picture in the dressing room! Now you can see all angles. I didn't buy this blouse because I think it was actually a maternity blouse--but I did manage later to buy a few new pairs of earrings, now that you can see part of my ears. I was inspired by the Dimensional Brunette (my new alter ego) to try some longer, flashier earrings. Do I look like the Dimensional Brunette at all? Okay...I heard that...who said "more like the Demented Redhead?"

After shopping, I had some more papers to drop by THE ACCOUNTANT'S. You remember her from my tax trauma a couple of days ago, huh? Well, here she is, looking over my fabric and yarn expenses. She's still smiling! Which means only ONE thing!!!

I didn't buy enough yarn last year!! So this is how I topped my day off:
I had to go back to get me some more of that yummy Cascade 220. I showed amazing self-control the other day, buying only the orange and yellow, but that was before my accountant didn't gasp out loud at my yarn totals. So I figure I can make up for it this year! Whoo hoo! 2008 is lookin' good! I'll see if I can make her gasp next year. A girl's gotta have goals, you know.

Back to quilting tomorrow, I promise.

I Need Some Advice!

2008-03-11T17:23:00.011-10:00

I have an appointment tomorrow to get my hair cut with my fabulous stylist, Herman. (Herman is a QUILTER, so of course he's fabulous!!!) Due to the recent onset of perpetual and relentless hot flashiness, I have decided that I cannot stand my hair on my neck one. more. day. or I will rip it all out by the roots myself. Ahem. So, ladies, I need your opinion...but I need it today, okay? Your morning is my middle of the night, so if you vote morning or midday, that'll probably be good.

Here is my "before" picture. I haven't had a hair cut in two months, so I'm feeling pretty shaggy. Since you are all my friends, I am counting on you NOT to notice my old lady arm, which is looking more and more like I remember my grandma's arm looking. A little flappy, if you know what I mean. Also disregard my clown blouse, as it is the most comfortable blouse I own for weathering said hot flashes. Thank you in advance for your selective vision.

I have never been a fan of short hair on me, but I'm thinking that now is the time. Here are the possibilities:

Someone from "the brunette dimension," wherever that is. She looks amazingly well for traipsing around interdimensionally--I myself look like crap when I just go by airplane. Anyway, I wish they had someone more my age in that brunette dimension that could show me what it would look like on a fifty-year old. ANYTHING looks good on a teenager--how can you tell anything by these magazines?

This one is sort of cute, too...but again, how would it look on an old lady with glasses and flappy arms? No, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of difference between the interdimensional brunette hairdo and this perky little earthling's hairdo, but her ears are covered much better in this one. I don't like looking at my ears. I don't have ugly ears, I just don't want to see them every day.

The advantage to this second haircut is that it can also do this:

But this is what my hair actually looks like when I get off a plane. Somehow it doesn't look nearly as cute on me as it does on this girl.

So what do you think? Haircut 1 or Haircut 2, with or without jet lag? Vote on the sidebar to the right. I'll let Herman know what you think!

Three "by the ways":

By the way, Calico Quilter, I'm having trouble emailing you. Is your email address correct on your profile? Let me know at lisa [at] lisaboyer [dot] com.

And by the way, didn't Chikezie steal the show on Idol tonight? I thought he was outstanding!! I still love Jason and David, too, but poor David had a bad night. Out of the girls, I liked Brooke tonight.

And also by the way, speaking of idols, did you see this in the news today?:

Dawn Wells aka Mary Anne, my Gilligan's Island idol, arrested for erratic driving, failing the breathalyzer test, and having marijuana in her car. See? That's what happens when you become a flappy-armed grandma and try to give up coconut cream pie. Ladies, let this be a lesson to you. This is what happens when you skip the pie. Never skip the pie.