Bee Blocks

Our hostess for Cheer circle of do. Good Stitches this month is Amber. She asked for two spiderweb blocks out of red, turquoise and gray fabric scraps. For our assignment, she referred us to this tutorial, which was quite easy to follow.

The blocks were quick to sew together though cutting the strips took some time. I guess some folks save their "strings" for such projects but I didn't have any around. It is great to try making some blocks in small numbers like this because it gives me an idea of whether I might want to make an entire quilt out of a particular design. This spiderweb is a good example of a block that is perfect for a group project, because it will look so pretty with a big mix of scraps - and each person only makes one or two. This also seems like a nice choice for a child's quilt - high contrast and happy colors. 

I failed to post my August bee block to the blog a couple of months ago. It was requested by Tamiko of Patchwork Notes. The tutorial we used for this block, a Sawtooth Star with 16 Patch Center, is here. I only made the one block; it was hard for me to find fabrics in these colors that looked good together.

Doll Clothes

Bucket hat

 
Oh, dear, I am making doll clothes. They are not for me - wow, that would be bad. A friend from work has a 10 year old daughter who has several American Girl dolls. She let me borrow one to use as a model and I've been making clothes for her.

Sundress and skates

This is an Oliver and S pattern sized for 18" dolls. It also comes in sizes 2-8 for real girls. The link is here.

This little cutie is called the Katie Dress. I found the tutorial on a blog called Sew Like My Mom. 

The bucket hat up top and the rest of the clothes below were all made from a book I bought when I went to Portland a couple of weeks ago. There are a lot of patterns available online and in the stores and it seems pretty easy to make up your own, once you have a feel for the sizing and some of the techniques for working at this scale.

Shorts and top

A recycled linen blouse

This last outfit was the most fun to create. I used an old scrub jacket from the back of the closet to make her pants and to cut some bias trim for the top. These are the approved colors worn by the nursing staff at our clinic so she is dressed just like most of the women I work with! Adorable!

Portland

The Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival was held last weekend down near Portland, in the small town of Canby. Arriving from different directions, my sister and I met in the parking lot and wandered around the various booths and exhibition areas together for most of a day. It was such an easy and perfect day to look at animals and fiber products and enjoy visiting and hanging out. 

It is a five hour drive to get there so I wanted to take a few days for the trip. I had some time before the Festival to wander around and relax in Portland, and was able to check out a couple of yarn and fabric stores that I hadn't been to before. I guess I am not a very ambitious shopper, though, because I did not hit all of the places I had on my list. These are worth checking out and are easily found on the internet.

Fabric stores:

Fabric Depot

Bolt

The Whole Nine Yards

Josephine's Dry Goods

Cool Cottons

Yarn stores:

Twisted

Knit Purl

Close Knits

Happy Knits

Anita and I also joined a friend, Luanne, and her sister, Joanne, for a lovely dinner at Nel Centro and a night at the Oregon Symphony where Luanne performed as a percussionist. Great job, Luanne!

Knitting Project Bags

I have been carrying my knitting projects around in plastic bags for decades. I like to have a certain number of supplies with me and years ago found a leather make-up case with a zipper (and a mirror) that is the perfect size for my scissors, needles and other tools.

I used this tutorial but enlarged it to accommodate my needle case, a pattern and a couple of balls of yarn. It is the perfect size - I love it!

It was so easy that I make a couple of more for fellow knitters. These are made from Denyse Schmidt Quilter's Quarters from Joann's Fabrics. One yard of fabric is printed with four coordinating fat quarters, so even choosing fabrics for these two bags was super simple. 

Another bag I made turned out perfectly, but doesn't work well for knitting. I just wanted to try this tutorial which is very well written and nicely photographed. This is the largest size pouch and will likely be useful for something - I just don't know what it is yet!

Husky Band Day

Band Dad

It was a long day but a lot of fun. Dave and I were chaperones on a bus trip to Seattle, tagging along with 50 some high school kids participating in Husky Band Day. The University of Washington invites area high school bands to join them in a half time show at a Husky football game each year. Ray went last year and had a great time. We wanted to see what it was like; each year there seems to be some uncertainty about whether this will be the last time.

Husky Stadium is being rebuilt so games are being played at Century Link Field downtown, which is where the Seahawks play. It was cool to stand in the end zone and see the stadium when it was empty. It gradually filled up with high school students and event organizers, with all sorts of rehearsals and equipment checks going on at once. Eventually, there were 55,000 people in the stands.

Practice, practice

Practice

A performance in the Plaza

"It would be SO cool to play in the Husky Band."

The Star Spangled Banner

The half time show, with high school bands

Smash Book

We have a new Smash book for the camper. 

It is a scrapbook variation of journals and log books we have kept separately and together over the years, books that have recorded boat trips and flights and the construction of our cabin at Chilkat Lake. I know we don't have all of these old books - I lost custody of the rowing log books and the book we used to record all of our trips on our liveaboard boat, Inchmaree, must have been with all the charts when we sold the boat. Dave still has his flight logs, though, from the airplanes he has owned and the two journals we have from the cabin are here at home. It's good to look through them every now and then - it really helps to recall details, good and bad, and sort out some particulars from the general mush of memory.

The Smash Books are popular and readily available. I first saw them online but was happy to find a display at Michael's and also saw some at a small scrap booking store right here in town. The accessories aren't really necessary - any pen or glue stick would work - but it is a nice little package deal and seems just the right size for a journal. Now we just need to get the camper out on the road a bit more!

Drawstring Bag

Scraps turned into hexagons, which were perfect to decorate the front of a lunch-sized drawstring bag. This popular tutorial is well written and easy to follow.