Quilted postcard

It's Max's last week of school, and we wanted to give his teacher a thank-you gift. Monetary things aren't allowed, and we couldn't think of anything she needed for the classroom, so I was stuck for a while. But then, brainstorming with a pal at work, I suddenly realized, what about a thank-you quilted postcard? Yeah, I could do that! Here's what I did with some fabrics, thread, and beads from my stash, plus some photos I printed onto fabric with our Ink Jet printer. Not bad, eh? Recognize the picture? Just couldn't resist, it was so darn cute!

I'm really pleased with how the trees above blend into the fabric. Lucky I had this gorgeous green stuff in the stash. And I like the contrast with the blue on the back. Like the "stamp"? It's a picture from Max's first day at school, in front of his new cubby.

The fun rainbow variegated thread really pulled it all together. And it only took about 3 hours to assemble! Printed the photos and text, cut the fabrics, stitched the photos and text onto each piece of fabric individually (with some interfacing underneath to stabilize) added some stitching to highlight the arches in the picture on the front, sandwiched with some batting, and stitched around the edge. That was 2 hours, then quick random loopy quilting around the border from the top side for a little interest, plus machine-beading with as little help from Max as I could manage, and it was done (1 more hour, he watched some video about firefighters for the first half hour, then tried to "help" for the second).

Hmm. I think I should make all my quilts this size from now on. It's a very satisfying process - zip, bam, done. Just the design work and a little assembly, not all that repetition that you need for something meant to actually cover a bed. Very fun. I highly recommend the postcard quilt for a quick hit of quilting when the need strikes.

Kite House - Longbeach

We had a great time at the Kite House in Longbeach. Can't say enough great things about the house - beautiful house, beautiful views, and the kids adored it - had some fun kid-friendly furnishings in addition to the elegant ones. Anna called it "Max's house" and Max wants to go back this Friday ;-). Took us two days to figure out the iPod they had as a stereo system, but that's just 'cause none of the four of us have one (yikes, how uncool of us!).

Typically for the WA coast, 'twas overcast & windy when we arrived, only warming up the day before we left. Here's what it looked like most of the time. Max didn't seem to mind.

Brr!

We enjoyed a little wading (cold and sandy made that not Max's favorite, especially after the rash & blisters he got from one too many splashdowns plus too much sand in the beach shoes) and a whole lot of kite flying. And we all shared Kris' book from the library, since Colin and I had forgotten to bring any reading material and the Vogue and Coastal Living issues lying around the house could only last us so long.

Plenty of downtime while working on kite assembly...

Here's Max exploring the dunes around the boardwalk the day we headed out of town. Much sunnier! (Note that all pictures feature Max in one jammie top or another - still his favorite attire. Anna favors pink dresses. To each their own!)

All in all, great place to stay, and going with another family made it loads of fun.

Jo Jo done, ballgame

First, the finishing! Got Jo Jo all put together, and washed it a bunch more (maybe too much! It got a wee bit stretched out) and wore it! I think it's okay, but I definitely need to work on fit. The straps are too long (even after I frogged back and shortened them before blocking) and the body is a little loose. Funny thing about cotton/silk. No give while you're working with it, but the fabric sure stretches when you wear it. Hmm. Still love the color, and still love the cables. Not sure this was worth the price tag if you just go by the finished product, but I enjoyed working on it. Not too bad for a learning project, I suppose. Maybe it'll grow on me. It has potential for over a top, under a jacket wear. Definitely can't be on its own.

Specs:

• Yarn: Rowan's Summer Tweed: Smoulder
• Pattern: Rowan's JoJo
• Needles: US size 8
• Modifications: yarn substitution, some short row shaping for the bust, adjustments to length & width given that the pattern didn't come in my size.

Next on the needles, one of those felted bags. Oh, and I made two little rice packs for boo-boos, and sewed one more circle for my circle quilt. Been busy!

In other news, this weekend Max went to his first Mariner's game. Here he is with Dad.

Max enjoyed the hot dogs, red vines, fries, and cotton candy (my oh my!) and covered his ears whenever people cheered a hit or run. His favorite part might have been watching the trains in the train yard on the way there & back though. We'll work on the game comprehension too - not sure he understood anything that was going on. Ah well, fun for all!

Jo Jo is Blocking

I'm so excited! Jo Jo is finally blocking. I was knitting so quickly when I started, and then I slowed way down, so this took 5 hours to knit 1/3 of the front and a month and a half to knit the rest. Ah well, life gets in the way of the knitting sometimes. Here's Jo Jo blocking with a little help from Max.


And here's a closeup of the cables. This yarn (Rowan Summer Tweed) is fun, and I didn't have trouble working with it, although as others have reported it really doesn't have much give and definitely is full of straw and other vegetable matter. I fell in love the over-saturated color, but after doing the swatch I knew I'd better wash it out well before attempting to wear anything knitted with it. I put the knitted piece into the sink to wash and the water turned majenta! I think I rinsed it about a dozen times, and finally got down to a very pale rose color. Since I'm planning to wear this with a white shirt underneath, I think it was worth the trouble.

And just an aside - Max loves his PJs so much lately that that's all he'll wear. I can talk him into adding overalls, socks, and boots when we go outside, but inside, it's all PJs all the time. Here he is mid-morning today in the dino-jams that cousins Ethan & Fiona sent when Max had his tonsils and adenoids out.

Herb Garden

We're making room in the garden space for a play structure for Max. Consequently, the herbs from the garden are on the move. All the thyme, half the chives, all the rosemary (behind the chives, the rosemary was new last year and not very big), and one of the many clumps of mint are now gracing the deck in some nice big pots. I like it! We also got some new basil (since it doesn't winter over around here) and planted that in the red pot. Max and I had a fun time transplanting from the garden to the pots. I hope they all survive and thrive!

Color and Joy

We had fun at the Art Festival at Max's school this weekend. A quick snap, thanks to my friend Stacia:

All I wanna do...

Is start new projects! And, I'm pretty sure this falls under the obsession theme...I want to start working on them and have them done. NOW!

Project obsession: A felted bag. Not just any, although the cute ruffly ones are fun. But I want a big kahuna of a bag I can put my knitting stuff into, natch. Like this KnitPicks Farmer's Market Tote with Needle Felting (gosh, have to learn both felting AND needle-felting) or the Oregon tote (love the orange version). I'd probably better start with something smaller, but I really want a great big bag! I ordered some brown, blue, and cinnamony wool from KnitPicks for one of these. And while I wait, I used leftover yarn from my wool scarves to knit up a little square that could maybe be a coaster after felting. We'll see. I have yet to get it into the washer, even though I knit it up on Wednesday.

Project requests: Max wants me to knit him a sweater now. He wants to knit one for himself too. His fingers aren't quite coordinated enough yet to knit though (we tried a bit, with me holding his hands in position) and he certainly doesn't have the ability to stick to a project yet, so I think that'll wait a few years, eh? I'd better find something cute to make for him.

Projects waiting: Also, I got my 24 balls of Debblie Bliss Alpaca Silk in Berry, and now they're sitting, waiting for Jo Jo to complete, and probably for a felted bag too, because it's not the right season for a cable cardigan now.

Other ideas:

• Maybe I should just sew up some little ice packs like my friend Kris had - just little squares of fabric with dried corn or beans in them - throw them in the freezer to have on hand for bumps & bruises - cold, but soft and not too bumpy.
• Or how about a needle case for all of my needles? There's a ton of fun patterns, like this one.
• Or I could get busy and finish up my circle quilt. It's the right time to work with pink and orange fabrics again. Just wish I could find some lightweight blue ticking fabric for the back. It won't be right unless I have that.

I guess that's how you collect a stash (or stashes!), because when I am I going to get to all of this? I still haven't finished Jo Jo, even though I'm getting much closer. Almost at the armholes for the back. Sigh.