I Can See Everything From Up Here

 We recently made it up to San Francisco to see a Giants game.  It was a beautiful day, alas we lost the game, but it was still a fun trip.  AT&T park is so beautiful, even if the game gets boring there is still lots to look at out on the bay.  Our seats were one row away from the very top of the stadium, but a good view of the game.

 McCovey Cove had a lot of ships coming in and out during the game.  At one point they had dueling/jousting paddleboarders up on the big screen which was hilairious.

I had to take a picture of one of the strangest batting stances I've ever seen, Aaron Rowand.  I guess it works for him though!  Once our tv Giants announcers said he looked like a constipated penguin, which I thought was pretty accurate.

 The boys in their borrowed t-shirts with my mom.  Going to see the game with everyone was her birthday present from us this year.  She taught me to love the Giants and baseball as a kid, so it is really fun to get to go see a game in person now and then with her!  Zach was really impressed with how into it Grandma was, he's not too into following baseball unfortunately. One of my failures as a mother, oh well...

Yes it was a chance to wear my orange hat!

Back To School = New Pens

My version of buying back-to-school supplies for myself these days consists of acquiring New Pens.  Specifically ones for mark-making on fabric (at least this time around).  Some of these will work on paper and other surfaces too.
I decided I'd test them out all in one place to compare and contrast how each type looks when actually used on fabric.  The fabric is a pretty tight woven cotton without a lot of surface texture.  I like how this looks and it will be useful to me in deciding which pen to use in what situation.  My plan is to keep this piece of fabric and add to it when I find a new type of pen.
Out of these new pens I think I like the look of the fine point Tee Juice. Also, the feel of using the pen was easier than the Zig, maybe the tip material is different somehow?  The Tee Juice pens come in lots of yummy colors, so these may become a new addiction, we shall see...

Finally A Chance To Letterpress

 I forgot to post about the letterpress experience I had at Maker Faire this year.  I had always wanted to try it every time we went but the booth was always mobbed, this time I lucked out.  It was so fun to get to try the machine out, and then they had it all set up so you could make a little book with a simple stab signature binding.  How do you like the awesome mix of fonts on that one little print?
Anyways, it was super fun, and now I see what the big deal is, what a handy little machine a letterpress really is. (puts on the exceedingly long and out-of-hand *someday wants list*).  Thank you San Francisco Center for the Book for having this fun project to do.

 I added to my alphabet stamps collection recently with this lovely set of upper-case cursive.

I tried them out in my newly-made, letter-pressed book.  In case you can't read it, I stamped: Do It Anyways and Art Comes To Those Who Wait.  Not my best stamping job ever (I need to remember to check the corners of stamps to wipe off the ink), but I like the look of the font a whole lot.  Above it you can see the paper I put down to avoid getting ink on my Olfa cutting mat,  after using it for a while, this paper looks super cool with all kinds of stamps and paint all over it.  Yes of course I save it to use in collage and altered books projects.

Autumn Is In The Air Fabrics

It must be getting nearer to fall, because these are the recent fat quarters I picked up when stopping in at Sue Dee's (my closest LQS-Local Quilt Shop formerly Judy's) to buy sewing machine needles. Because you can't just buy the needles right?   Those tempting fat quarters, they know how irresistible they really are....

 Also the iridescent fall colored silky bit at the top is from Bron who assured me I would know what to do with it...So far it is hanging out looking very pretty in my studio.  I'm tempted just to hem it with spiky fibery yarn and sparkly glass beads and make a pretty scarf, but I hardly ever end up wearing stuff like that.  I suppose I could do that and gift it to someone or maybe something else entirely,  suggestions?

 I  bought the top leafy print fabric to make myself a skirt.  The second fabric is a matching border print with birds on phone wires.  I bought enough to make into a border for the skirt, but I've changed my mind completely on that now.  So what to do with the bird print?  It will probably end up as a quilt back since now that I look at it closely, I really don't want to look at it.

And every sewing room needs iron fabric.  Shoot, I should have bought more so I could have recovered my nasty and ripped ironing board cover with it.  Guess I'll have to go back to SueDee's to see if they still have it in stock.

Really, I Don't Buy Souvenirs

 I really don't buy too many souvenirs when I travel.  There are only so many t-shirts or coffee mugs one can use when you get back home.  Sometimes I'll buy a fridge magnet, but that's about it.
So I wanted to share some pictures of  what I did buy on my recent trip to Washington.  First is these two antique clay mold dolls that I picked up in Olympia, Washington.  They are about 3 inches high and pretty lightweight. Not in the best of shape, a little rough around the edges, but I thought they were interesting and had character.  They feel really nice in my hand too, maybe the coolness of the clay?
There were only two of them left, so of course I had to buy both, couldn't leave one lonely you know.  Yes, yes, I know they are maybe a little on the creepy side. (Okay maybe a lot!)   But they called to me in a shop full of sparkly crystal doorknobs and crystal balls.  Who knows maybe they'll be worked into something for Halloween?

One of them even stands up all by herself, as long as one doesn't jiggle the table too much.  Pretty good since she's missing part of her foot....

And one fat quarter to add to my skull fabric collection.  This one cracked me up for some reason.  Must be all the crowns or maybe the pink background..  I found this in the Victorian Square building in Port Townsend, there was a bead shop, a yarn shop and a fabric arts shop all in one spot.  It was hard to leave with only buying this one thing...Wish I'd gotten the name of the place because it was really cool having those three businesses in one spot.  I tried looking it up for you, but my google-fu wasn't working.

Gotta Start Somewhere

Not terribly exciting, but the first thing I've sewn since my hand surgery at the end of May. Gotta start somewhere right?  That was a long time to go without sewing (for me anyways!).
This is a block for a lovey quilt that is being made for an online friend.  The instructions were to make something bright and cheery.  I think this qualifies don't you?  No planned pattern just half-square triangles sewn together and then arranged until I liked how it looked.

Doors & Windows

 Here's a whole bunch of pictures from the Fort I talked about yesterday,these are the last ones from vacation I swear!  I was obsessed with all the interestingly rusted doors and windows. Not a new thing, I've always had a thing for taking pictures of doors, but there were so many there, all in one place, and each one differently shaped and colored than the next one.  So a bit of an overload in this one post, but rather than dragging it out, I thought I'd inflict All of The Doors on you at once.

A Ramble In Fort Worden

 One of my favorite things we did in Port Townsend was to go for a long ramble in Fort Worden State Park.  This is a late 19th century fort which was designed to protect the nautical entrance from the Pacific Ocean into where all the shipyards were located further in up the sound from an invading navy.  Which navy? I'm not sure at that point in history, but anyways, they left behind a pretty cool place to walk around.  This first picture is taken from downhill of one of the bunker/gunsite complexes. In this picture it looks like a modern art piece to me somehow.
And, Yes, that is indeed a perfect lawn to roll down, guess how I know?  I have the incriminating video to prove it, but I promised I wouldn't upload it.

Here's what was at the top of that hill, it is where one of the guns was attached.  I think this might make a cool rubber stamp image (puts in reminder-to-self file).

Alex and I decided this would be one helluva place for an enormous game of hide-and-go-seek.

Here's the view from the top of the fort, there was about a 240 degree vista.  Pretty handy for a fort I suppose.

I noticed these beautiful thistles growing all over the place.  They deserved a picture since they're different than the ones I struggle with in my garden at home.

See what I mean about a good hide-and-seek place?

At one point we found this tunnel that went uphill.

I wish I'd taken a movie while I was in it because the sound was just amazing.  It was the most sonorous tunnel I've ever been in, such beautiful tones just from us walking.

A rust stalactite! Or something, I don't know what you'd call it.

Walking through some of these tunnels in the old underground living spaces was slightly creepy.  There was one like this, but it was dark and closed off but there were open rooms off to one side, completely dark, ooooh  that was scary.

Some of the buildings left behind are being reclaimed by the forest.

Beautiful decay.