Pink Japanese Flower Scarf - Finished!

I took this off the blocking board a couple days ago.  All I needed was some great pictures.  Alas, it has been gray and rainy all week.  It looks like the kind of weather where a person might still need a warm scarf like this. 

All around town the purple leaved plums are blooming.  They come out before the cherry trees.  The blooms are pink, the new leaves starting to come out out a dark, dark, purple, and the sky in Seattle is gray.  Perhaps this is the perfect scarf for this time of year!

The little flower.  It's it sweet?

The larger flowers.

I think it turned out very nicely.  Very soft and snuggly. 

Gardening Day

I think today will be a day to get out into the garden.  Even if I need to dodge a few rain drops.  I have been thinking about it for some time. 

We had some lovely sunny afternoons this past week and I could have gone out in the early evening to catch up.  Especially now that it is light well into the evening.  But Tuesday evening I felt the tickle of a head cold.  And by Wednesday morning it had officially arrived.  My nose was running like a Midwestern river in the spring.  And sneezing.  And my throat hurt.  And my ears hurt.  Whiner.

I have a little mantra I tell myself when a cold arrives.  "10 to 14 days.  If it's not gone by then you can call the Dr.  You can survive most anything for 10 to 14 days."  It almost always works.  I seldom go to the Dr. with a head cold.  And frequently the worst part lasts less than 10 days.

I laid low for a couple of days and I think the worst part is behind me.  It's still there, but more in the background.

I had purchased some primroses a week or so ago and need to get them into the ground.  I love them.  They are like plant sunshine - so bright and cheerful.  They provide such high contrast to the dark, wet soil.  There is something wonderful about grocery store primroses.  10 for $10.  That's happiness that will last all spring.  Seems like a pretty darn good investment.



We had a bitter cold snap right around Thanksgiving last year and I think some of my shrubs did not survive.  I've snapped some of the twigs and the wood is brittle and dark, not flexible and green.  Not a good sign.  Some of them were original to the front garden installation so they were pretty good in size.  It will be a project to dig them up.  A muddy project.  I may be insane to think this is fun.

Ya know, I could fritter away the entire morning tweaking this post.  Adding pictures, taking more pictures.  I will never get outside at this rate.  Love you, but I gotta run... 

City Tracks Quilt - Finished!

I am so pleased to be able to share my finished City Tracks quilt with you.  This is based on a quilt of the same name in a book called City Quilts by Cherri House.  Stunning book.  Seriously.  Check out her blog and book here. 

Her version of the quilt was in reds and purples with black bands.  It was stunning.  I went in a different direction choosing blues and green with pops of yellow and black. 

There was a break in the rain this afternoon so the Sweetie and I head over to a place near the UW.  We met up with the Kidlet and one of his friends who is also on Spring Break.  They graciously agreed to help with the shoot.  (Seriously, two 20 year guys holding a quilt in a very public place.  They might be seen by someone they knew, doing something uncool.  I was unspeakably grateful for their assistance!)  The location used to be a hot tub place that has gone out of business.  Now it has become an ever changing canvas for spray can based art.  

On the front I used solids from Free Spirit.  They  were all lined up in a row at one of my favorite stores - The Quilting Loft.  I just had to have them.  These pictures were taken in a break from the rain so it was kind of a grey day.  In the sun, this baby glows.  Who'da thunk blue would be that bright?  I am in love with the colors. 

The pieced strip on the back is from left over ends from cutting the blocks for the front.  The quilting almost gives it a plaid flannel effect which from a distance is pretty cool.  I almost like the back better than the front.  There is something minimalist about it that speaks to me.

I quilted with two variegated threads.  One was blue based and the other was a bluish/green.  On the front, you can hardly tell I used variegated thread, much less two.  On the back it is high contrast, but I could have gotten away with only one.  You have to be really, really, really close to notice.  Hey, but if you never try anything new, you never learn anything new.  No biggie.

The quilting pattern is a little off balance on the front, which works for me.  It seems to balance out the stripe in each square.  It wasn't my original plan.  One the first pass, the unquilted area in the center seemed too big - even though the batting instructions indicated stitching could be 8" apart.   How would it hold up to many visits through the washing machine?   I added two more lines of quilting in each direction for each square.  Ahh, much better.

I used Kyoto bamboo blend for the batting.  My first time using this.  It is a 50/50 Bamboo Cotton blend  Super soft but I had fuzzies everywhere.  (Super dooper soft.  Super easy to work with.)  Even after a trip through the wash there were fuzzies.  I am hoping because it is encased in fabric the fuzzies are gone for good.  This is supposed to be naturally anti-bacterial.  For anyone with children or pets that's a good thing - and many of us have both.

Remember the love/hate thing?  I love it. I hope you do too.

Pluggin' Away

I am pluggin' away again on the City Tracks (with a link to the blog) quilt.  I have taken over the dining room while the Kidlet is home. 

I pieced together a back.  The primary color is black.  The batting is a bamboo/cotton blend.  (More on the materials when I finish the project.)  And of course the pieced top.  I am doing straight line quilting this time using two variegated threads.  I thought they might look cool on the back.  I haven't decided if I like it or not.

Perhaps I should caveat a few things.  I have love/hate relationships with my projects. 

I love the project that lives in my minds eye.  It is perfect. 

I love the pattern - if I draw one out.  My projects frequently never make it that far. 

I love the fabric once selected.  Stacked together I think they are gorgeous. 

Things are generally good in the piecing process. 

Laying out the quilt can go either way - love or, well not usually hate, but often less in love. 

Sewing the blocks together  - not love.  At this point I begin to have serious doubts. 

I love pieced backs.  They are made from left over pieces or fabrics from the front.  The pattern is much simpler, usually high contrast. 

Quilting - again, I love the picture in my mind's eye.  The process, not so much as this is a point where doubt begins to creep in again. 

I enjoy binding.  Don't ask me why, it makes no sense, I just do. 

Then a little bit of clean up - stray threads, burying start/stop points.  Finally, the finished project and I am back in love.

So this current project is right on target in the love/hate cycle.  I adjusted the quilting pattern a bit as the un-quilted center of each block seemed too large.  I wasn't sure how well it would hold up to wear and washings in the long term.  Added additional rows a bit off center.  I'm not certain I'm finished with this idea yet.



I love the high contrast of the back but I'm not going to reveal all of my secrets just yet. The thread color is showing off the quilting pattern nicely, but I'm not sure about it being variegated.  The trying new things part of this is fun though. 

I may have also reached the limits of my point and shoot camera.  This may also be factoring into the love/hate quotient.  Even after fussing with the settings this image is not accurately reflecting the depth of color in the backing fabric.  It is a rich, deep black.  Flash on.  Flash off.  Natural light. Overhead light.  Low light setting.  Indoor light setting.  Auto setting.  Nothing seems to capture it just right.  I even read the manual. Of course, the grey Northwest day would not be a contributing factor.  Of course not.

 
The batting is creating fuzzies everywhere.  Perhaps this always happens and I am only noticing it on dark, solid colored fabrics.  I ran the lint roller over this before I snapped my pic.  This is not a quilt for a home with a cat named Snowball.  Just sayin'.

Pluggin' away...  I hope to have it finished yet this weekend so I can photograph it.  This is a two person quilt - too big for just the Sweetie.  I have checked with the Kidlet and he is willing to help hold the quilt for it's big reveal and he helped with some location ideas.  There is a deadline as he needs to head back to school no later than Sunday.  Monday, the new quarter begins.  It has been nice to have him around.  We might not see him again until June.  That seems like such a long time.

Trip Around the World - Finished Quilt

I was super excited this week when I received a call that the free motion foot I ordered had arrived.  I had quilted about 75% of the quilt when the foot broke.  I have an older sewing machine and no one had the foot in stock.  It was a huge relief to receive the call. 

The quilt came out of hibernation and I finished quilting yesterday and applied the binding this morning.  Then the best surprise was that the weather has turned out better than forecast.  On a Saturday!  That meant I could take photos outside!!

This shot is in front of one of the old remaining structures from the Sand Point Naval Base in Seattle.  It was turned over to the city a number of years ago.  This can be found in Magnuson Park on the shores of Lake Washington.

The back of the quilt.  I think it's super cute with the single row of pinwheels at the bottom.  I love how bright the orange is.

The orange back is Aboriginal Dots by Kaffe Fassett.  The location:  the shore of Lake Washington in Magnuson Park.

I used three Moda Punctuation Charm Packs by Moda on the front.  And a muslin colored fabric - whose name escapes me.

The Sweetie's arms were nearly ready to fall off at this point... I can't even tell you the number of shots I deleted.

The binding is a cute yellow fabric by Liesl Gibson of Oliver +S, and ties nicely to the center yellow diamond on the front.  This was not my usual color palette - I trend toward the darker side, but this is so bright and cheery I might need to explore the bright side again.

This quilt was about trying new things:  Triangles, brighter colors, and free motion quilting.  Free motion quilting was fun!  I am very pleased with the result.

And just because... even the weeds found in the spring grass are cute!

Japanese Flower Scarf - Finished!

I am so happy!  I finally have pictures of the finished scarf!  I posted them to Ravelry - which is an awesome site for all sorts of yarney people - but, alas, not here, yet.

The colors remind me of the water in Puget Sound, reflecting the grayish overtones of our winter skies in the Northwest.  Not like the bright colors of the ocean in Hawaii, but lovely nonetheless.

I took it off the blocking board yesterday.

More about the blocking board...  People use all sorts of methods to block finished yarney projects.  I was one of them.  I have pinned items to the carpet - not really carpet - area rugs.  To towels on on the carpet.  Lots of ways. Yarney projects take up a lot of real estate on the floor.  For a long time.  There's the walking around them.  Vacuuming beforehand (y'all know of my love affair with vacuuming - not!). 

The Sweetie is very particular about our hardwood floors which live under the area rugs.  It was going to be a matter of time, before he saw me spraying water on a rug and give me the raised eyebrow whammy.  Now, he is not in charge of me.  Although he thinks he is.  But I know when I am treading on a hot button point.  We have been together for a long time and I have discovered a few along the way.  We all have them (my list is long).  And the floor, for whatever reason, is one of his.  For me, it's cats on the kitchen counters - yuck!  Love 'em, but not on the counters.

Enough ramblin'...

So, I broke down and bought a real blocking board.  Yes, I know... they are not inexpensive.  Quite the opposite is true.  But I gotta tell you, I love it.  It has grid lines (which is great for the mohair granny square project currently on the board.  Pins stay put.  It's portable.  I can put the board, complete with attached project on a bed (not when people are in bed, of course), so it's up, off the floor.  It folds away into a closet when not it use.  I love it.  I picked it up at my favorite yarn store with a gift certificate I received for my birthday.  Super duper happy.

Oops, more rambling... The kidlet comes home for Spring Break this evening.  That means I lose my office/project room and it becomes a guest room for a week.  But it will be very nice to see him again.  It's been since Christmas break.  He's not a great communicator, so we have only heard from him a couple times since he's been back to school.  We've loaded up the fridge so I think we are ready (I can hear the floor joists groaning under the weight).  Now if he would only tell us if we need to pick him up at the train station or if he has a ride... 

Spring Magic

For me there are several signs to indicate spring is on the way.

When the garden starts so show signs of life.  This includes when the witch hazel blooms.  But that's so early that I don't really consider it spring.  It's just heralding that winter may be on it's way out - in six weeks or so.  But when the forsythia blooms, now that's a sign that spring is on its way here in the Northwest.  The shot of bright yellow on a mature bush covered in blooms, feels like sunshine on even the most gray and rainy days.  I even saw two evergreen clematis in bloom yesterday - their creamy white flowers gracefully draping a fence.  Gorgeous.

When you can begin to smell things again.  I grew up in the Midwest.  C O L D winters.  I noticed outside smells disappear when it's cold.  In the spring, the rain has a different smell, the earth has a smell, and the first spring blooms have a smell.  To me it's the smell of hope and new things.

When the birds wake you rather than the alarm clock.  This is one of my favorites.  We are not quite there yet, but it's only a matter of a couple weeks.

When the neighbor kids come out of hibernation.  This is my favorite.  There is one magic day each spring when you see kids again.  A day where parents didn't send them outside, they went out on their own.  Here, that magic day was yesterday.  The time change means that it's light until 7 pm - not dark already by late afternoon.  It was forecast to rain, complete with thunder, but didn't.  The sun was in and out of the clouds instead.  And in the late afternoon, before dinner, there were a half dozen kids outside playing.  (Dinner, here, means the evening meal.  Not lunch. But I digress...)

When the kidlet was little, this was a boys neighborhood.  All boys and only one girl.  Spring games usually involved some sort of made up ball game in the street.  It's become a girls neighborhood over the past few years, with only two very young boys.  Now, its sidewalk chalk and hopscotch.  Yes.  Hopscotch.

It doesn't really matter the type of games.  Or if it's a boy neighborhood or a girl neighborhood.  The sound of them playing again - outside - is like having the birds rather than the alarm clock wake you up.

New Japanese Flower Scarf

I've blogged about finishing my Japanese Flower Scarf while I was away.  I could have taken pictures of it while we were in Maui but alpaca and sandy beaches just didn't seem to go together very well.

I could have taken pictures over the weekend, but it poured rain and the lighting seemed dark.  Today while it was raining, I took a quick break and decided to block it.  Even with all the pins it looks so much better.

So what do you think happens?  The clouds clear late afternoon, early evening and the sun comes out.  I mean the real sun.  The kind that leaves shadows.  The kind that feels warm on your skin.  D'oh!  I could have blocked it over the weekend when it was yucky and I would've been ready to capture the perfect pic when the sun peaked out.  We will all just have to wait I guess.

When I finished the blue one, I started another.  This time in grey, dusty pink, and dusty purple.  Same delish alpaca yarn.  It is a super fun pattern and comes together so quickly.

I decided on a different layout for this one.  Instead of nesting the flowers together I placed them side by side.  Which leaves a good sized hole in the center of each 4 flower grouping.  I filled the hole with another smaller, layered flower.  And if I don't say so myself, I think it's pretty darn cute.

Here's a close up of the little flower.   Pretty and sweet.

And the bigger flower.  This will definitely need to be blocked, but right now it is relaxed, drapey goodness.  I have been much better about weaving in the tails as I go.  It looks much cleaner as I work on it and the task at the end is only a few ends rather than what feels like a gazillion.

And the Unusually Helpful Helper - Max.  Helping.

Max thinks yarn is the best thing... ever.  See how helpful he is?

With all of this help I decided to wrap up the photo session a little early.  I went into my office/guest room/project room to download my new pics.  And my Unusually Helpful Helper decides to lie on the un-pinned portion of the blue scarf! 

Dude!  You've already had loads of pets and snuggles today. 

Thank goodness I am not paying for this kind of assistance.

Last Maui Sunset

Tsunami

I had gone to bed early Thursday evening.  You know, a rough day in the sun wears you out.  The Sweetie had gone for a walk along the path that runs along the Kaanapali Beach south of Black Rock.  He came back and woke me saying there had been a massive earthquake in Japan and there was a Tsunami Warning in effect for all of the Hawaiian Islands. 

We turned on the news and watched images of the earthquake and the tsunami as it swept across the Japanese countryside.  It was horrible.

Hotels in Hawaii are required to have contingency plans in the event of tsunamis (hurricanes too).  For our hotel, folks could go to the 5th or 6th floors, the highest in the complex.  Our room was on the 5th floor, so life should be good.  We had a direct view of the ocean. 

Hmmm.  Wait a minute - we had a direct view of the ocean! There was less than 50 yards between us and an unknown quantity of water with 3 palm trees to slow it's progress.  The only thing between us and the water were the 4 floors below us and the sliding glass door at 3:07 a.m. when it was forecast to hit.  It was the sliding glass doors that gave us pause.

We watched the news some more and decided to move to one of the neighborhoods just to be safe.  We packed our bags, bottled water, borrowed a couple of pillows from the hotel and drove to a residential neighborhood uphill from the hotel for the night.  Not the most comfortable evening we've ever spent together.  The pillows were the smartest thing I've done in awhile.  There were other tourists parked along the same street.

The tsunami warning sirens sounded every hour.  Not the most comforting sound.  They sound for a long time.  The emergency broadcast system went into effect on television and radio.  Comfort stations - schools mostly, were opened for folks who lived in low lying areas.  The Red Cross was careful not to call them shelters as there had been no disaster yet.  Low lying roads and highways were closed as many run right along the coast.  The Sweetie followed events on Twitter.  I was sending text messages to one of my brothers and sister.  They were texting back information they were seeing on the news.

The tsunami hit a little later than forecast.  In Maui the sea rose 7 feet - but not in all areas.    We didn't see anything because of our location and it was dark, dark, dark.  The stars were magnificent.  At 5 a.m. Friday morning we decided to head back to the hotel.  The all-clear was posted around 8 a.m.  Vacationing families were coming back to the hotel, throughout the morning, looking like zombies, carrying sleeping children and all of their belongings.  I don't think many folks on the islands had a good nights sleep.

Friday morning was our scheduled checkout.  Rumors were everywhere.  The hotel staff, while very helpful was short staffed.  The airport was closed.  The airport was open.  Highway 30 - really the only route out of west Maui - was closed.  No, it was open.  There were traffic jams in Kahului where the airport is located.  Generally, a lot of confusion.

From our room we could see the high water mark in the sand.  It was higher than usual, but not much higher.  There were few people walking and jogging along the path that's usually crowded with people.  There were only a few people on the beach.  There was this one woman who had set up a beach chair facing the sun - with her back to the ocean.  Wow.  Really?

Happily we made it to the airport.  We could where waves had brought sand over the highway.  Maalaea Harbor was nearly empty as all of the boats had anchored out of the harbor.  The water was brown and muddy far beyond the harbor.   We heard there were more issues in the Kihea area with mud and sand on the roads.  Happily, we made it back home safe and sound.  Cold and rainy, but home.

I have not forgotten for a moment how fortunate we were.  It turned out to largely be a non-event.  I have second guessed our decision to leave the room, but the outcome could have been very different.  Hindsight is 20/20.  As more information and images come out of Japan, I count my blessings. 

More Maui

One of my favorite Maui beaches - Ho'okipa Beach Park.  Surfers in the morning, windsurfers and kite surfers in the afternoon.  This is reputed to be one of the best windsurfing spots in the world.  I don't know about that but it is great fun to watch these talented individuals.

My second favorite beach is Bonzia/Pipeline on the Norshore of Oahu in the winter months.  The surf can be so large that you can feel it in the sand at your feet when the waves crash. 

Looking into the crater at Haleakala.  We have hiked part of the Sliding Sands trail in the past.  Living at sea level we were sucking wind at 10,000 feet.  A bit chilly too.  The colors are absolutely stunning earlier in the morning.

Close up of the Silversword, which is unique to the upper elevations of Haleakala.  It grows only here and under extreme conditions.  It is a gorgeous plant in person.



And another awesome sunset.

What a great day.

Humpback Whales

So, you wouldn't think this blog would have anything to say about humpback whales.  Unless you saw them.  Live.  Not on an insurance company commercial.  They are just so cool 'in person'. 

A large portion of the humpback whale population winters in the Hawaiian islands.  Smart.  I mean, wouldn't you hang out here from late October until April if you could?

Here they do two things.  Give birth and mate.

They give birth to live young - baby whales the size of Ford Broncos. 

Right after that it's a booty call.  I can't believe I just typed that.  Seriously, they mate in the same season after giving birth.  The ladies slap their pectoral fins on the water in a "Hey Sailor, can I show you a good time" sort of way. 

And the boys come running.  They breach out of the water, perform tail slaps, head slaps, spy hops to attract the attention of a special lady.  There is an entire vocabulary of whale behaviors.  I'm told in the humpback world, bigger really is better.  Nope, I didn't just type that either. 

When they mate and the female determines she's pregnant it's off to Canada and Alaska, the summer feeding grounds.  While in the islands, they don't eat and may lose as much as a third of their body weight.  Funny, that never happens to me when I'm here. 

One of the boys - showing off.

One of the calfs clowning around.

"Look mom!  Mom, look at what I can do.  Are you looking?  Look!  Did you see that, mom?  Mom?  Mom!"

While still endangered, their numbers are improving from about 100 in the 1970's to around 12,000 in the Maui area in 2011.  There are so many you can easily watch them play right from the beach.  How cool is that?  Right?

Our little point and shoot camera was a bit overwhelmed trying to capture the images.  They were at a distance and moved more quickly than we were able to capture.  There are a lot of images in the delete pile - just a lot of water and a splash.  I suddenly had lens and rapid shutter envy.  Perhaps bigger is better.

Ma halo.

Maui

Life's a beach.

Several months ago the sweetie booked a trip to Maui.  The trip has finally arrived.  We have been to Hawaii several times visiting most islands (except Molokai and Lanai).  It's been a few years since we were last here and I can tell you it's as wonderful as always.

The first couple of days were rainy.  No worries, because there are a lot of things to do in the rain.  Besides 75 to 80 degrees in the rain is so much better than the weather on much of the northern mainland.  No complaints here.

View from just outside where we are staying looking over to Molokai.

The 'Magic Bus' at a swap meet.  It was more Farmers Market, Craft Fair than real Swap Meet. 

There are more and more 'wild' chickens and roosters on Maui.  Not nearly as many as on Kaui, but more than years past.  We even saw them at the rental car place.



I'll post the name of this location as soon as I find it.  Don't happen to have it at my finger tips as I sit in this deck chair.  Rough life. ('Iao Needle)  There was a famous battle fought here.

The clouds parted just long enough for this fabulous sunset taken from our room.

I finished the City Tracks quilt top before I left home, but I can post pics any time.  I also finished the Japanese Flower Scarf - yesterday.  Still need to take pictures.

I will post about all of the whales around the islands when I have some photos.  You can see them playing with their new babies and the boys showing off trying to attract girls right from the beach.  Pretty amazing.

Aloha!