the coastal scene

Just a couple of photos from yesterday's wanderings...

We were lucky enough to be in town for Rockaway's annual Kite Festival. In addition to choreographed kite-flying exhibitions (who knew? kite-flying with music!) there was a section of single-string giants:

Then down the coast to Newport, where we found these lazy guys sunning themselves:

in rapid succession

After getting pretty much nothing done for quite a while, I managed to rally myself to finish (and start!) a few things in the last couple of weeks.

First, I quilted up this  baby quilt from last year's rainbow challenge -- it's about 36" square and will go to the guild's collection to be donated to a local charity

Then I finished this little one called "Midnight Moths" -- most of the blocks came from a birthday swap this February and I'm so happy to have finished it up so quickly!

 This is called a Wingspan Scarf -- pattern on Ravelry, of course -- that was a really quick knit out of some very cool sock yarn

 Here's a close-up of the yarn.  It's knit in decreasing triangles and the pattern is very easy.

 And for something new -- the son of one of my business partners is graduating high school this year, and all my (real or imagined) nieces and nephews get a quilt when they graduate.  Since this kid is an athlete, I'm actually making a quilt in his college colors. It doesn't have a lot of contrast, but I think that's fine for an 18-year-old male!

 The pattern is "A Charming Maze" from the Moda Bakeshop blog.  The photo is the first two sections out of nine.  I'm using up a ton of blue scraps and small ends on this one!  (it really is square at the corners, it's just that I can't take a square photo...)

Off to Portland and the Oregon coast for a while.  We're expecting some rainy weather and a lot of reading and handwork in between the times when it's reasonable to venture outdoors.

A-Mazed

I finally finished something.  For some reason I'm just not doing a lot of sewing recently -- although you couldn't tell that by the huge mess in the sewing room (aka guest bedroom)!  There's a futon/sofa in there with barely room for the cat right now, and the cat is quite thin. 

must. get. motivated.

Anyway -- here's my finish:

This is from a pattern called "A-Mazed" by A Quilter's Dream. It's supposed to be bigger but 4 blocks was as much as I could handle -- I'm calling it Red Maze and it measures about 35" square.

for the birds

I think I've dropped off the face of the blogosphere lately -- not sure why, exactly!  Not much sewing, little to say, I guess... 

I've been plugging away at my day job, and doing some freelance technical editing on the side for a craft-book publisher. It's fun, and I thought it would be pretty much a piece of cake given what a stickler I am for proper instructions and all... but holy cow! it's a workout!  Every time I re-read something I find things to tweak, and then the second editor and the copy editor and the production editor  all have comments, too! I haven't had any prior experience in the publishing world before, and was surprised to find out how long it takes a book to go from idea to publication, and how many people are involved in the process.  I'm working on my third book now -- the first is due to be in the stores in June, and I'm sworn to secrecy until then.  I will say there are some cool patterns in it, though!

The little sewing I've done recently was this:

You still have a few days to get in on this month's block lotto -- but fair warning: I am definitely going to win a set of these birds this month! (and if for some reason I don't win -- but I WILL! -- then I foresee a marathon bird-making session in the sewing room sometime soon.

the demise of google reader

it really frosts me that google is pulling the plug on something used by a ton of people, that probably is costing them next to nothing to maintain (in the grand, google scheme of things), and for which there doesn't seem to be any substitute that works as well...   I want a service that keeps track of what I've read from one computer/tablet/phone to another!

so I'm trying out a couple of the options.  Bloglovin' (stupid name) which I haven't really gotten past first base with, requires me to post this in order to "claim my blog" but I don't really understand why:
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
And I'm concerned that they seem to want to send me an email every time someone publishes a new post on their blog -- just what I need is more email!

Feedly (another stupid name) was easy to sign up for but I don't really like the way it presents things -- it has a list called "featured blogs" but I haven't figured out what that means and where are the rest of my blogs if they're not "featured"?

Bloglines -- I think that what I used before google -- for some reason does not support blogs anymore, despite their name.

If you've tried another service that you like, or  if you can explain the mysteries of any of the ones I've mentioned, please write!

not just for quilts...

Patchwork -- it's not just for quilts!

Last fall I ran across a small, crafty store that had adorable bathrobes made from multiple cotton prints. Cool idea! and something I could "borrow" to use up some of the small stash of flannels on my shelf.

Of course I ended up buying a couple of additional pieces... but I did use some from the shelf as well, honest.  The inspiration robe was a different style with a round collar and buttons, as I recall, but always preferred robe that wrap. These are not at all my usual colors, but I'm enjoying it!

This next piece is from a birthday block swap from my tiny yahoo group -- currently only 5 members! The block is "midnight moths" from quilters' cache. I hope to get it quilted up this weekend and hang it in the sewing room.

Bits and Pieces

I seem to have dropped off the face of the earth for a couple of weeks... my sister was visiting from Tasmania -- that's my excuse!  Very little sewing but a lot of knitting and bad television.  ("The IT Crowd" from Netflix, for instance -- hilarious!)

Here's a potpourri of projects I've finished up recently:

First up is round one of the Cotton Robin.  I've blocked out the center square to preserve the secrecy of the project -- it's going in the mail tomorrow to have another border added, and I'll start playing with the next round myself.

 I started these socks months ago -- they're called "Chain Drive" and I found the pattern and the yarn a bit boring. I was halfway through the second sock a couple of days before my sister was to leave, and she decided she liked them, so I knit like a madwoman to finish them up in time. Looks like they need a good blocking...

 One of my little local quilt groups did a 12" quilt swap recently and this was the one I made -- it's the God's Eye block from Quilters' Cache -- going back to my Berkeley in the 70's hippie roots, I guess -- and I think I need to make one for myself now.

 And more yarn stuff! Around Thanksgiving, I decided to make sweaters for the great niece and nephew, and found this cute "Jelli Beenz" yarn at a shop in Pacific Grove. Mia's sweater was mostly done by Christmas, but not quite.  I finished it in time for her birthday, and then whipped up Bane's blue sweater within a week.  That's DH Al providing the lap.

Last but not least, my first UFO finish of the year (pathetic, really...) is a table runner made from a Moda Martinique charm back, fashioned after this Bella table runner I ran across.

 More quilty content soon!