Yesterday Sciarrino and I drove up to the first meeting of the Portland chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild. I didn’t really know what to expect, having never been in a guild of any kind before. I was hoping that I would meet some like minded fabric lovers, and guess what I did!
We did a show and tell, although I didn’t bring anything. This quilt in particular got me thinking. I don’t have any white on white fabric and very few light colored fabrics of any kind (hello Life In Color?). But I really loved this “low volume” idea. And the quilting was so so beautiful:
This picture just does not do it justice. The quilter is Rachel (aka 2ndAveStudio). I hope she brings this back in washed up because it looks like it is going to do some amazing things. If you have a guild in your area I would recommend going. Here is a link to the national blog that has a sidebar list of specific guilds – new ones are being started all the time!
In other sewing joining news I am going to join Sew Take a Hike‘s quilt as you go along (starts tomorrow). It sounds really interesting, and would be a good fit, I think, if you are a beginner or someone who doesn’t normally quilt your own tops because you are only quilting smallish squares at a time. Check it out here.
I’m hoping one of you will want to join in as well. I have tons of awesome (I think) scraps, but practically nothing in the light colored/white background section, which you need for these quilts. If anyone has a lot of that type of scraps and wants to trade for a bag of colorful stuff let me know!
Here is my big bin of scraps to hopefully entice you. And Penny has a few pictures up of what the less bright scraps should look like on her post explaining the quilt along. So, anyone in?
Celebrating crafts, kids and the everyday through photographs.
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9 comments on Be a Joiner
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I could also title this post My Friend and Next Door Neighbor Opened a YARN SHOP and I am The Luckiest Girl in The World, but I'm never really sure what letters to capitalize with a long title like that. So yes, my neighbor Tracy (who is also my friend but I have another friend named Tracy so I call her my neighbor Tracy) opened a yarn shop in town! Let's see I just googled it and it is 1.5 miles away by walking. Hello! Is this not awesome. Rhetorical, it is totally awesome. The only other yarn shop here (in Salem, Oregon in case you're wondering) closed last year. Yarn is one of the only things I hardly ever buy online (besides that Sundara craziness I hoarded while pregnant). I love feeling yarn, being inspired by the samples and books in a yarn shop, and talking with the shop workers and patrons. So ya, I'm psyched. I thought I blogged about it before but I can't seem to find any reference. I happened to check my stats the other day (which I never do) and it showed 40 people searching for yarn shops and getting to my blog in a week. I don't know how that happened or what they were searching for: shops in Salem, Oregon? Portland? The Willamette Valley? Online? Or just plain Awesome Yarn Shops (hehehe how's that for some keywords :), but they come here. Soon I'll have a little badge over there (if I knew how to make arrows one would be pointing to the right), but for now here is a link to her blog: Teaselwick Wools.
The first time I visited a month ago (see above – I was posing with a sling to show Ceara that they can be classy – Yes Emily I got the Sakura Bloom) I disgraced myself by having Tuesday wear this not handknit hat and you know what when I came back yesterday:
I freaking did it again! So that must mean I need more yarn. Plus St. Patrick's day all green yarn on sale. I am so there!
The shop is really filling up. Tracy has excellent taste, which is a good thing, but can have drawbacks, like me buying way too many books because she has tons of great ones that I haven't seen anywhere (I'm still loving this one that I made Ceara's hat from).
This is wool from Oregon – some kind of lovely unspun stuff that looks (and fills) so yummy! The shop is in an old Wool Mill (Mission Mill) so very fitting. Please check it out if you are in town and so inclined.
Of course I had to congratulate Tracy on her new venture and when I saw this fabric I knew I wanted to sew her up something. So I made her a bag to carry knitting and stuff to and from her shop.
and the inside:
We were trying to get more pictures outside, but someone wasn't a fan:
Imagine a better shot of the inside where I made a pocket with a contrasting lining and added one of my labels (my birthdate printed on this twill).
Up close of the fabric.
This was my first bag like this (I used this pattern – horrible cover art, I know, but the pattern is great) and I learned a lot. Like I should pre-read the whole pattern. I don't know how many times I have to be told this to get it into my head. It's a good idea with any project in any medium, and I still fail to do it. If I had I would have known to move this little patch further away from the edge of the outer panel so it wouldn't get caught in the corner. I gave Tracy a verbal lifetime repair coupon when I brought her the bag, so we'll see how soon I get it back. I think doing a few of these at once would be best, so you could press all at once, baste all at once, and sew all at once.
Now I just need to start knitting all of this yummines:
if I don't get distracted by this vintage barkcloth panel from Tracy's parent's house (she got it when her dad passed away – these were their curtains!!
):Like I've said before: project overload!!!
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GOOD JOB EMILY – YOU GOT IT ON THE NOSE. THE TREE WAS 97 YEARS OLD.
Remember when I said our power was out? This is why:
Dwarfs their house a bit huh?
This is my neighbor's tree AFTER a whole day of trimming, and it actually looks pretty good here. This giant cedar was neglected by the city (in our town those areas in front of sidewalks are managed by the city), so it got all wonky and out of control. My neighbor wanted a branch cut that was on his house, the city said no and ended up cutting down the whole tree. Um… logic? Anyway it's been quite a process, they've been at it for eight days now.
They come and cut and then in the afternoons/evenings the juvenile detention boys come and cut it up for fire wood and haul it off to give to needy families (when things go on in my neighborhood I like to talk to the workers, but I'm not that nosey, I swear!).
End of the week last week. Tuesday has been loving watching all of this from our little window upstairs. And by loving I mean fully body spasms of happiness. Today was the big day. They still had a few branches to get down.
They used a pulley system to get all of those down, it was actually pretty interesting, but I never got a picture of it. Once they got to this point they used wedges. This was about when the guy got his chainsaw stuck.
Which I found amusing. Until he started hitting it with an ax. I was sure I was going to see blood.
But he got it figured out. Here the tree is all wedged and ready to go.
I also didn't think this idea of using the power pole for a pulley set up was the best, but
it worked. And did this to the sidewalk.
And rumbled our house. But the big show was to come.
I thought it would be a while and all the sudden I look outside and it's like this so I run to grab my camera.
just in time.
boom
I happened to snap this:
The boss drove up just after it happened and the worker there is giving a thumbs up. Of course I had to go check this out myself (Tuesday was napping). I'm sure you want a good scale shot, well don't worry because I am the nerd who is going to fulfill your wishes.
The guy's response to taking my picture? "um, ok." You can't see the guy just out of frame who lit up a cigarette right after the tree came down. Hmm. Of course I had to ask how old the tree was (they weren't going to check!). The guy said as long as the boss wasn't looking, checked over his shoulder and counted for me. He told me his estimate and explained some tree growth stuff. Then he told me that my neighbors will probably have to wait to get new trees planted because he had already planted his allotment (only 250 trees) around town. Boo on that. I'm glad this is down for my neighbor's sake, it was so scary every time we had ice storms and our street was littered with the smaller branches. We all kind of felt like it was only a matter of time.
Oh and I asked what they were going to do with this big log. I thought they would sell it to a mill because it's beautiful cedar. The guy said that no one would come get it because it would cost a lot to get a self loading log truck in here. Plus he didn't think there were any more mills in the area that could take logs this big (forestry is a big industry here but it's a very managed thing so no old growth like this is being cut anymore). So this too will be cut up into firewood for the needy. Now, I'd like to know how heavy this this was! Isn't nature the coolest?
SO how old do you think this thing is? I'm 5'4" (what? I'm wearing clogs!). I don't have a specific prize in mind, it could be a bundle of fat quarters with a tree theme, or some handspun, or fiber or scrapbooking stuff… I have a lot of crafty goodness in here, so I'll quiz you and pick something good. Guess away, if two people guess the right age I'll put the names in a hat and pick one.
edited to add: closest either way wins, and I'll leave this open until Thursday 11:59 PM (pacific).
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