Quick and slow crafting

When I decide to make a gift, sometimes it can go really quickly. For example, I decided to make a quilt for my friend Anna's newborn daughter. I was inspired by the Nani Iro fabric at work (I bought some of a different color while in Japan), threw in some Shot Cotton, and this is what I came up with.


I think it came out very nice, considering I made it in a day. I really, really love the inspiration fabric.


I quilted each of the colors a different direction.


The back is the same color as the binding - watermelon!


Now, for slow crafting. A few months ago, Anna told me that a Bobbi Bear I made for her son was lost. So sad! A couple weeks after he lost it, he got sick and asked for "Snoopy Bear". I immediately cast on for the bear, but I couldn't get it finished before the holiday crafting bonanza. I finally finished the bear today.


I hope everyone will like their presents - fingers crossed!

Color Wheel Quilt - completed!

The sun managed to peek out a little bit yesterday, enough for me to take a few photos of the color wheel quilt. Apologies in advance, this an image heavy post with cats and bad lighting - you have been warned!



Pattern - Color Wheel Quilt from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts

I can only say that I am thrilled with the quilt! It was a complete joy from start to finish. I learned lots of new techniques like chain piecing and hand sewing the binding.

When I first saw the quilt, I knew I had to make it. But the first sentence in the description really threw me: "This quilt is really simple to make." What?!?!? How could it be? But trust me - it is! Between the templates and the clear instructions, the main part of the quilt was really fun and quick.

Most of the color pieces were from the Color Wheel bundle from purl. But I switched out a few sentimental pieces.

I got these as gifts from our trip to Japan.


Both of these I used in previous projects.

Some of you may be wondering what mods I made to increase the size. The only change I made from the original pattern was to increase the sides to make it a queen size quilt. The quilt as written measures 56" by 56". I used the dimensions in Denyse Schmidt's quilting book to get a queen size quilt - 86" by 93". After my original muslin cutting debacle, I was lucky enough to have some extra wide muslin (108") in my stash, so I ended up cutting two 15.5" by 56" inch pieces, putting them on the sides, and then cutting two 19.75" by 86" inch pieces and attaching them to the top and bottom. I then quilted down the sides three inches apart, and the corners have a square pattern to them.


Here's where the original pattern and my additions meet.


The longest part of the quilt was sewing the binding on. It took me about 6 hours (or seven episodes of Nodame Cantabile) to finish it. The finished result (to me) is well worth the time.

Pretty!

Ok, now for the bad parts. They all have to do with my addition of the panels. I did three things very badly. First, I didn't cut the long strips very straight. This created some biasing. Next, I didn't sew them onto the original quilt very well. The corners of the original quilt end at a bias, and I should have been more careful sewing a somewhat straight piece to a bias piece. Lastly, I didn't hand baste the sides, I pinned them. All of this created a quilt that has lots and lots of puckering (which you can see in the top photo). I thought it would get better after washing, but instead it's just more obvious. Yipes! So I've ended up with a quilt that may not be up to some people's standards, but it's totally fine for me.

Of course, in the middle of the photo shoot, who had to come and sit right in the exact center of the quilt?


And who had to point out my messy quilting? (I've bought a ditch foot for my next project)


And who just had to turn and pose when I moved to the other side of the bed?


Unki is so in love with this quilt that he got tangled up when I was taking the detail photos and wouldn't let go!

I wonder if there will be a day when Unki doesn't pose for the camera?

Birthday indulgences

Yesterday was my birthday... Happy Birthday to me! Rob is unfortunately out of town, but I had a very nice lunch with two of my friends and had a quiet dinner at home, which was promptly followed up with me falling asleep on the couch with Unki and Maggie. Good times!

I did start my birthday a little early last weekend with some indulgence purchases from the Mitsuwa in Torrance.


A tonkatsu (pork cutlet) sandwich and a pastry described as a "whole baked apple". Which it was! So tasty.


From one of the fancy stalls, I bought a monaka, which is red bean anko inside of a crisp rice wafer. I was wondering how the outside would stay crispy... but how could I even doubt the ingenuity of the Japanese?


It was separated into two parts - a pouch with the anko and the wafer.


I open up the pouch and smushed the anko inside.


Super crispy and super delicious!

I also went by the bookstore and bought two magazines.

The November issue of Cotton Time, which is the Christmas issue. I thought all of the Christmas projects were beautifully restrained, and I think that it'll be a great inspiration for future holidays. (Sorry the photos are blurry - it's very overcast today!)





The other magazine I bought is a brand new one called "Home Sweet Craft".

I really dig this magazine, it's kind of a lifestyle magazine with different crafts.


Crochet projects.


I'm not a big fan of yo-yos, but I think this curtain is a great idea.


Bags to sew.


Treats to bake.

There's a French theme to some of the projects.

A Paris bag...

... followed up with a Paris room!


There's a section with a map of a certain area and stores in that area to shop. Cute!


And I really had to post this photo because the girl is too cute! I feel like she's thinking she'd rather be doing ANYTHING else than pretend to be cooking for the photo.

And drumroll.... I'm finished with my quilt! Yay! I'll try to write a post about it this weekend, the overcast sky is not good for taking photos. This was how I got through the hours of hand-sewing the binding on.

I re-watched my beloved Nodame show. But what is that lump under the quilt?

Did you really think that Unki would let me sew on my own?

Relaxing in Boca Raton

Mama and I got back Thursday from her work function. We had a great time staying at the Boca Raton Resort, which was definitely a high-class hotel. Luckily, we had time to enjoy all of the amenities.


The view from our room.


Enjoying the beach.


Watching the sunrise.


The croquet lawn (!?!) with the hotel in the background.

When I got back, I was able to start on the final part of my quilt!

I'm hand sewing the binding on. Do you see my crazy looking thumbnail? That's a sewing related injury, I had cold clumsy hands one morning and accidentally cut my thumb with a rotary cutter. I am so excited to finish the quilt! The end is definitely in sight!

Things that make me happy

I had kind of a blah last week of October, so I decided to start November out with a smile. Here's a couple of things that made me happy the past four days!

Classical Music
I used to listen to classical music all the time, especially really melancholy stuff back in college. There's nothing that beats being depressed more than being depressed while listening to tortured Russian music. However, lately it's been making me happy, very happy to listen to it. I owe all to one really crazy Japanese show...

Nodame Cantabile

My mom, sister and I watched this the past spring on our computers (I was introduced to a whole new world of hardsubs, softsubs and raw video). It's one of my favorite TV shows ever. Funny, sad, super silly, it's not for the faint of heart (lots of weird stuff happens that you just have to go along with) but if you're interested in being entertained in a different language with lots of classical music, this is the ticket! It takes place at a music university and is based upon a Japanese manga. It's even on Wikipedia! If anyone is interested, you can watch it on veoh.com (here's the first episode) And I've been listening to lots of classical music while I'm...

Quilting my color wheel blanket

I've started quilting! I had to move to the dining room to have room for the huge quilt. I'm doing the center as per the pattern and I'll just do some straight lines around the edges.


What would I do without my assistant?

For me, it's important to be in the right frame of mind when I quilt. Classical music helps, as well as having small goals. My goal on Friday was to have half of the center portion quilted. Four loads of laundry later, I was finished with the entire center section.


I drew the lines on with pen versus using the hera marker because I just couldn't get neat creases (I think it's because I have carpet). But I really didn't follow them all the time. I was a little disappointed because I got some puckering towards the end, but then I looked at the back.

Doesn't it look cool? I'm sure I'll be finished in a couple of weeks, I can't work on it anymore this week because of...

Unexpected trips
I'm leaving for a four day trip to Boca Raton tomorrow to help my mom with a work-related function. I'll write more when I return!

Zeebee is fun to say (and knit!)

It's been an unproductive crafting week, mainly because of the fires that have been here in Southern California. The smoke and haze really do affect one's general well being, I think. But, I've managed to do a few fun things, like visiting the CSI set (again, knowing someone who actually is someone helps), having my mom come over and spend the night (and eating great food!), and going to a Boo Boo Q (a Halloween BBQ!).

But last week I did finish two projects. I saw the zeebee hat pattern on Carolyn's blog and she did such a fantastic job that I just had to make one.

I made it out of some Tanglewood Fibers yarn that I've had in my stash. I LOVE handspun yarn, but not enough to make some myself. I'm glad that there are a few ways to get some without having to learn to spin.

After I finished piecing my Color Wheel Quilt, I quickly made the pincushion from the same book, using some unused pieces from the quilt.

A great, quick project. The flower pins remind me of my grandmother, she always used them.

This morning the weather has vastly improved so I basted the Color Wheel Quilt together. I hand basted the inner portion and used safety pins for the outer portion. Unki tried to help so much, but in the end fell asleep playing with his balls. I only managed to get a photo of Maggie, who made a very good quilt-weight.


My goal is to start quilting (gulp!) next week. I really hope I'll be able to do it all myself!