Trying New Things

Here's my very first machine-quilted quilt (er... baby mat). It was just for practice, and I learned a lot. My binding is fatter on the back than the front, the quilting lines aren't that straight, and the design was just thrown together, but I think it came out pretty well anyway.


It'll be a handy thing to take along next month on our trip to Wisconsin and Ontario. I won't mind if it gets dirty and it's pretty small, about 34"x34".

Something else I learned about this week: you can't freeze prune juice - not the kind I bought, apparently. Just tuck that little tidbit away in your memory for future reference :)

Dress is Done

Don't look too closely! I think the dress turned out pretty cute, even if it's a bit rough in some spots. Attaching the bias strips around the insides of the armholes and neck was tougher than expected, but it's alright for a first try. It's a little big for Bea still, so we'll save it for the end of the summer.

My favorite part is the print - the perfect thing for a little girl dress :)

No Future as a Dressmaker

I took the plunge and got a new sewing machine on Friday. The thing is amazing, and I was so eager to start playing with it that I started making a little dress for Bea from "Simple Sewing for Baby" - the same book I got the drool bib from. Well... I got off to a bad start as you can see.

I guess I was so excited about getting to the sewing part that I goofed on the cutting. But I re-cut, and now I'm working away on it and having fun, and learning a lot about my new Bernina, woo hoo!!

ps: The little grammar nazi inside of me made me edit the previous post to fix the excessive use of the words "this" and "awesome." I'm sure no one noticed :)

Mystery Bea

Some cute shots of our anonymous little lady...

Check out Bea's awesome hairdo:
We went hiking Memorial Day weekend up near Mount Tamalpais and we used the kid carrier that our neighbor gave us. Bea must have liked it because she slept for most of the hike.

There's the old Pacific Ocean in the background.

Random Stuff - Ohlone 50K

Last week it hailed here!! Weird! It only lasted a few minutes and then the rain melted it away.


Another random thing - these are the boxes our pizza place uses for takeout. What does it mean: "Enjoy Your Delicious Moments?" And why is one dude a cartoon guy and one semi-realistic? It makes me laugh.

On the quilting front: Here's what I'm making from a bunch of half-square triangle batiks I got from a quilting exchange at my local quilt shop like a year or more ago. They've been sitting in a paper bag forever. I saw this exact thing on Fons & Porter on TV recently and decided to dig them out. The colors aren't really my thing, but that just means I don't feel bad just doing whatever with them. I've got 84 2" squares. Here you can see 16 of them. If I use them all, it'll still be a pretty small thing. Oh well... just for fun. I put away the hand quilting of the monster quilt for now.

And... This weekend Scott did the Ohlone Wilderness 50K Trail Run, from Fremont to Livermore. It was pretty scenery from what I could tell as a spectator, but I only saw the start, the finish, and one aid station. Bea and I got to see some new parks and relaxed while we waited. Apparently it was a pretty tough course - at least two very significant peaks. Scott was bummed to have had the stomach flu the week leading up to the race, but he still did well. 4th overall and 1st in his age group! Now he's hobbling around, but at least he doesn't have to get up at 6:00 for his morning run for a while :)

Baby Model

Thanks for modeling the drool bib, Beatrice!

Now I'm on the hunt for an affordable but not crappy sewing machine so I can make more fun stuff!!!

In the meantime... maybe I can weave a blanket or something out of all the hair that's falling out of my head. So gross!! When will the shedding end?

A Little Bit of Sewing

I've been doing better at squeezing in time to sew here and there. Bea takes a pretty reliable nap in the morning now, and I can also get a little done when she goes to bed, usually around 9pm.


I tossed the quilting hoop aside right away since this quilt is so huge and there are so many pins. The pins get in the way of placing the hoop, and I was having to move it too often. I'm finding it a lot easier to quilt without it. I'm also using "tiger tape" but I decided I won't get more when it runs out. I can make smaller stitches than the 1/9" they print on the tape (but should I?). Really the point is just to keep 1/4" from the seams, and my local quilt shop didn't have plain 1/4" tape. Sometimes I just mark it with a chalk pencil instead. It really burns me that I can only use each piece of tape twice before it's not sticky enough to stay put as I quilt. Am I being too much of a cheap-o?

Sorry Beatrice, this was supposed to be your room, but it belongs to big orange for now :)

Here's a little drool bib I made from Lotta Jansdotter's book: Simple Sewing for Baby. It can be a bib that looks like a little kerchief (so cute!) or a headscarf thingie when she's bigger! I think Bea is still too small for this, and she's only super-drooly once in a while anyway. We tried to try it on her but we couldn't find her neck ;) I was inspired by Sew This is my Life - she's amazing!

Sorry for the lack of baby pics. We decided we didn't really want to spread our little muffin all over the internet (as if anyone really visits my little blog anyway). Maybe once in a while. I can always send you an email!!