Silicon Valley, California

Well, it's been a crazy week in the smoldering pit others called "Silicon Valley". Not much to report on considering that I was cooped up in an office or hotel room all week. Except for this:
This is a super-stealthy bathroom shot I grabbed at work. It's not the first time I've risked embarrassment and ridicule to bring you good quality bathroom shots...remember this? Who the hell really considers feminine hygiene products to be in the "toy" category? Seriously. I understand that the basket may have been on sale, or some resourceful mother brought it into work hoping to recycle something her children have grown out of....but come on people....TAMPONS AND PADS????

Can you guys believe it? I FINALLY made my first sweater! With a bit of gentle nudging and encouragement from Stacey and Cynthia, I completed the top-down knit of Green Gable. Does this pattern pay homage to the one and only Ann of Green Gables?

So...here are my stats (for those of you who care):
Pattern: Green Gable and the KAL here.
Yarn: Brown Sheep Co. - Cotton Fleece in Candy Apple. Purchased at Lamb Shoppe in Denver from this trip.
Alterations: I did a couple of extra lace rows for an increased sexiness factor. I also added about 2 or 3 inches to the bottom. A little peep show at the top is cool...but no one needs to see my stomache.
Time to Knit: 2.5 weeks (well...really 2 weeks, but I frogged once).

In other news.....my obsession with all things vintage lives on. Old stuff....new stuff that looks old....and old people that...well...you get the picture.


The above dresses are from the Butterick pattern #6582. Think it's too adventerous? Especially for my first ever sewn garment (with the exception of the baby doll dress I made myself when I was 12 - someone asked me if I was pregnant - again, I was TWELVE....what is this world coming to?). Picture that teal number in the back in a satin-ny red...can anyone say VIXEN?...ooh ya baby!

The ladies of Sew Retro have got it goin' on...check out their projects & links - lots of great resources there! Oh oh oh and check out Harts Fabrics and Reproduction Fabrics (my favorites are the 1930's-50's designs!) and of course, everyones favorites Repro Depot.

That up there is Simplicity 4179 and you can see what cuteness Soule Mama turned it into here.

What the hell is "Craft Room Revival Sunday" you ask?

It's my attempt to document the progress of converting what essentially is a "throw-your-crap-there-if-you-don't-know-where-else-it-goes" room into my santuary of crafting crazitivity. My hope is that committing to documenting the progress - will actually force me to MAKE some progress. We'll see I guess.

At this point in the game....my crap is all over the house...the yarn...the fabric...the notions...EVERYTHING. This "sun room" (shall I be so bold as to call it a "sun room") is the perfect place to hide...er...I mean..."keep" my supplies.

Check out what it looks like now (feel free to judge me ~ I know it looks like HELL).

Check out these beautiful studios of some of our favorite crafty goddesses:
Posie Gets Cozy

All Sorts

Little Birds

Make It - collection of quite a few studios

After many many months of living vacariously though Bird In The Hand (flickr set here), I finally set out what I've been obsessing about....we'll call it the....QUILLO....a cheesy way to say "quilted-pillow". Since I'm showing it off:

It took a night to make the pattern and do all the cutting and another to actually put it all together....not bad considering I have a pattern now that I can use for future Quillos (do you feel silly reading that word - i feel silly typing it). As you may have noticed, I also snuck my latest Mason Dixon project in there, the Ballband Dishcloth...all pink....all girly...all being hand delivered next week to my gramma in Ventura, California.
What's up with the yellow tint of this photograph???
Next time....
1. I'll use thinner strips to add more color.
2. I won't be a cheap bastard and peice scraps of batting together instead of buying large enough peices to cover the entire area of the Quillo. Note: The whole "piece work" idea only applies to the outside...not the batting. I'm an idiot.

Tomorrow I'm off to Southern California where I'll be spending some much needed time with my grandparents. Pictures of gramma's super girly china collection & tricked out antique'd pad ("pad" meaning "house") to come.....

Also to come....pictures from Stitch N' Pitch at the Giants game....this Thursday....yeaaaahhhh baby!!

Well, our 2 week jaunt through the pacific northwest is coming to an end tomorrow and booooy has it been a trip! We started off in Seattle where I got to check out the one and ONLY 100 yen store in the US of A, called Daiso in Seattle. I first saw traces of it here at Wise Craft. I usually don't get THAT excited about dollar stores....but hello!! this was a JAPANESE dollar store!! Chock full of *japanese cute*....and I left with a big bag of ceramic bowls....cool chop sticks and colorful gifting/packing tape (amongst other crap I'll never use, but will look at often)!

Then we moved on to the awesome Bavarian village of Leavenworth, Washington.....up in the 95 degree woods of fun....frolick....and nuptual adventures. We married off our friends Kyle and Tasha and celebrated our 1 year anniversary!! It's crazy to think that we've been married an entire year already. It's been a very peaceful and fun newleywed year of marriage. We learned a lot about eachother....like the fact that my husband shuts the lid to the toilet. Who does that? Not that I'm complaining or anything....but my goodness....the lid?? Okay...so that's not the craziest thing I've learned about him...but we're not going to go there! I'm sure he has a few things to say about the piles of yarn and fabric he's forced to live amongst....all....over...the house!
Then we went on to Portland. Portland o' Portland o' how I love thee. How have I lived so long without you in my life? The button store lady put it best: "Portland feels like home the minute you drive into the city". I love San Francisco...the food....the scenery....the art can't be beat....but I've never felt like it's "home". I can't say the same for Portland. I felt comfortable the minute we got there, and I hope to actually live there some day.

Top 6 things I loved about Portland:
1. The warm people.
2. The food is soooo good and healthy.
3. The music scene (even the radio was good!)
4. The greenary & outdoor activities options.
5. The arts & crafts community.
6. The sunny weather.

Okay, just kidding about that last one...the over-cast-ness is probably the only thing that I'll have a problem with.

While there, we hit up all the hot spots with help from Sally and Alicia. Including....Ella Posie, Alicia's *gorgeous* little boutique that just makes you love being a girl and forces you to wear pink...even if you're not the type to.

(By the way, when I say "we", I'm referring to my husband and I - who I found out is, by far, the most patient man on the face of the planet earth). We also went to Portland craft supply hot spots....Fabric Depot - 70,000 square feet of fabric goodness....every print you can think of....all at 30% off (I got lucky - they were having a sale). I'm bringing home lots of oil-cloth for baby bibs.

Knittn Kitten - craft supply thrift store...which is soooo much more then that! It's actually a jackpot of vintage fabric, buttons, beads and ribbon. SCORE!! The woman who owns the shop is sooooo sweet and I hope that Portland crafters are generous with their donations so they can stay in business forever. It seems like it's more a "labor of love" then a serious money making venture.

Lint - yarn store - so cool, & sweet staff. Knit-Knot yarn store...which was a very cool hole in the wall yarn store with great prices. After doing a search for the store website, I came across this review of store.....too bad....I didn't have this experience. I hate snobby yarn store workers more then anything in the world. Dava Bead & Trade was a great store with lots of Thai silver findings and semi-precious stones for jewlery making. The Button Emporium & Ribbonry where I scored some cool 1970's vintage ribbon from Germany. The shop owners were very cool ex-hippies from Haight & Ashbury.

Portland was a magical place. We kept stumbling upon these spontaneous public gatherings.
It all started as we were driving into the city during Portland's 4th of July firework extraveganza. Check out these awesome photographs.

Then it was 1st Thursday's - which is an wine & art fair throughout the Pearl District....and then the pillow fight at Pioneer Square on Friday night:

Photo courtesy of Laughing Squid.
And thousands and thousands of fans spilling out of Pioneer Square to watch the the final game of the World Cup on a jumbotron on Sunday. Of course, I can't talk about the World Cup without mentioning Zidane's infamous dead-butt:
Photo courtesy of Mumbai Mirror.

What a way to just sock-it to a guy....I'll never grow tired of watching the clip. So awesome.

We also stumbled upon an outdoor play of Alice in Wonderland at International Test Rose Garden which was so beautiful and awesome to see all the kids running around and families laying around pic-nic-ing on the grass.

.....and Pittock Mansion at the top of a hill that we magically found by just driving around enjoying the trees.


Change of subject. Does it seem like everyone and their mothers (no pun intended) is preg's right now? I have like 6 friends that are all due on like August 2nd. Seriously. So I've been thinking of everything I can make for these future little crafting victims of mine...and I found Bitty Booties by Heather Bailey....and of course, here is the flickr group. Check out this great pattern for bib's too from Poop Pockets. Is that the cutest and grossest name ever?

What do you think of this sweater designed by Glampyre Knits? Or what about this one? Here's the free pattern!

Ooohh...I almost forgot...speaking of babies....I wanted to show off the "Robot Man" baby blankie I made for my co-workers tummy bump (please excuse the crappy picture and dirty kitchen counter....life's hectic these days. Not really, but what other excuse do I have?):

I made it using the cutest "Robot Man" and red corduroy fabric with help from Nikki Shell...check out her blankets....sooooo cute!!

Sorry about the MASSIVE posts lately....thats it for now.....