Blue Green Napkins

 

I really am attracted to these beautiful toweling fabrics from Ruby Star Society that have been out in the stores lately the texture is just so lovely. I bought a yard of a different color way than the rainbow one I worked with last year or the blue/brown stripes in 2022. Those napkins from four years ago are really holding up well to a lot of use and washing.

I stitched along the raw edge with the triple zig-zag stitch.

I also cut the one yard fabric length in half with pinking sheers to limit the fraying as I sewed.

I also stitched around the pre-stitched edges as some of the existing stitching wasn't regular, quite long in some spots.

And then I went around again a second time just for fun.

Now to pull threads and make a little fringe

And there they are, two completed napkins. Turns out I should have bought 2 yards to make the usual four. Maybe next time I make it to Hart's Fabrics again.

Shopping Local

 

I haven't been to a quit shop in a while, but I needed some more Best Press and a certain type of elastic. Imagine my surprise when I was handed this lovely gift bag at checkout of Santa Cruz Vac & Sew. They had just celebrated their 7th anniversary, and had gift bags for customers. Which was super nice! Shopping local is so necessary.

The three FQs on the right are called Cotton Shantung, they have that lovely slubby texture and almost have the weight and drape of a silk shantung. I thought the patterns were lovely and they had many color combinations available at Hart's Fabrics. Some smiley face wooden buttons, more needles (always more needles just in case of an apocalypse), very wide elastic and a big bottle of Best Press. 

Adding these onto the fabric tracker, and also updating with my recent finishes, I've found that my

 Net Total Fabric for 2026 so far this year is: -11.5 yards 

Yes, you read that right, I'm in the red, I've used up more fabric than I've brought in. Yay, me! We'll see how this holds up through the year.

The Smoothest Grey

As I talked about last month, I've been on the hunt for the correct grey to use to finish my City Sampler quilt top. After my in-person search of the two fabric stores in Santa Cruz turned up nothing, I bought these online.  Unfortunately, I found that none of these were even close. I really thought Dove was going to be it. It really truly doesn't work to color match on your computer screen. Grey is one of those really contextual colors, you just don't see how green or purple or yellow it is until it's next to something else.

These are the Ruby+Bee solids for the MQG challenge. That raincloud grey color is a nice grey, but also not it.

I had a re-check post-op appointment last week so I headed over to Golden State Quilting, and bought up the last of the bolt of the Painter's Palette in the color: Mist. This is an in the car picture to check that my in the store eyeballing was right, the sample has a white index card behind it.

But here in a sunny window, without the white index card, I really think this might be the match for me. 

It's the mist, I think this is the one! I think I'll cut a couple strips after I was it and see how it matches on the almost done quilt top. Fingers crossed...🤞🤞🤞

Hunt For Gray

I'm on the hunt for the right gray to finish off the sashing for my City Sampler. This was the closest Kona gray (Haze 94580) that they had at my LQS, Hart's Fabric. I thought it would be worthwhile to try it out in my workroom and see if it was close enough. Nope. Much too light.

I used a Fabric marker to write the solid info on the selvedge before washing it. Also one FQ ended up coming home from Harts. I also received my order of another fusible batting roll and a new roll of Scrap Tape, just in time to finish off my 100 Days.

I'm glad I kept the fabric marker in the package so that I could find my highlighted note.

The fabric marker did fade a slight bit, but not much. So washing didn't help matters as far as matching up grays. I'll take another swing at finding the right gray at Golden State next week. Luckily I have lots of other projects to work on. But I'm so close to getting the top assembled.

Miyako Bag

I bought this cool red leather handle from Miyako Design at Golden State Quilting last year and it's been hanging around. I'll admit that I was a little confused by the spare directions that it came with it. I happened to find this more expansive and better illustrated "sewing booklet" at Santa Cruz Vac n' Sew. Hooray for LQS's having interesting products!

Furoshiki handles with a French touch is how they're described. Furoshiki is the traditional Japanese art of folding fabric for gift wrap or transport of goods.

The handle I bought is the 31.5" one, it seems like it would be long enough to go over my shoulder.

I decided to try out a non-lined version first and chose this printed linen/cotton blend that was in my stash. It's Anna Graham for Robert Kaufman, Forage in the color Charcoal.  I folded over the raw edge twice and basted it down, I also folded in the sides and basted them down to make a square instead of a rectangle (instead of cutting it to size).  In theory this is meant to be a no-sew thing, just ironing over the double fold of the raw edge. This is a temporary/transitory sort of purse situation where I'll likely take it apart and use the piece of fabric for something else.

I really really like this fabric design and I think it looks great with the vivid red handle.

I also found the Miyako YouTube explanation which helped when I tied my first two knots.

The hardest part was figuring out how to put the fabric through the slots on the end of the leather strap.

Nope! The knots are going the wrong way. I watched the video one more time.

That's much better!

Using the new light-filtering curtain as a backdrop, here's a picture of the "finished" bag. It's not secure, so it won't work for carrying my wallet, etc. but it will be an easy bag to carry projects or larger things around.

 

Appointments to Shopping

I had some time to kill between appointments yesterday so I ended up at Golden State Quilting. It is located dangerously close to my doctor's office. Was that a subconscious reason I chose that particular doctor? Perhaps. Here's a group shot of what I bought on steering wheel. How do you like that kinda wild-eyed cartoon/caricature of Eleanor Burns? 

And here's a more spread-out version of my haul at home in better lighting. Five FQ's,  three of which will end up in the Bohemian Wife quilt as they are Kaffe Fassett Collective prints, a new quilt marking pen from Quilters Select, A smaller wool pressing mat to use at Sew Day and retreats. I bought a Jaybird Quilts pattern, Northern Lights to use with the mini Hex-n-More ruler, mostly based on the fact that they have one made up and displayed and I really want to make one with my own hand-dyes.

Oxbow Tote

 I'm going to try and make the new Noodlehead bag pattern The Oxbow Tote along with other members of BAM. It comes in two sizes and I'm making the larger, overnight size. This is to replace my red (now pale red) overnight bag with leather handles that I've had for more than thirty years. Seems time for a new one. At Hart's Fabrics I bought the two exterior fabrics in a mid-weight canvas, the main one is the blue clouds, and the accent is the barn owls, the odd yellow is the lining. Also got three polyester threads in pretty close to matching colors.

I also ordered the hardware kit directly from Noodlehead, the color of the webbing and the zippers is called: Monster Snot which really really cracked me up. 

Now to get cutting!

LQS and Good Mail

A nice mail day today, received my Trinket Sew-A-Long finisher pin from Alison Glass . com... So Cute!

I had an elastic+chlorine=failure to solve, so I hit up the LQS for some replacement that still has some stretch. Of course I couldn't resist the FQ stand on my way out.

I really love the selvedges of these three FQ's. I especially like that H.G. Wells quote on the selvedge: "There is...a sense of infinite peace and protection in the glittering hosts of heaven." I was just talking with DS about this book and the movie adaptations this weekend, what a coincidence. 

This is part of a larger quote that ends The Island of Dr. Moreau:

This is a mood, however, that comes to me now, I thank God, more rarely. I have withdrawn myself from the confusion of cities and multitudes, and spend my days surrounded by wise books,-- bright windows in this life of ours, lit by the shining souls of men. I see few strangers, and have but a small household. My days I devote to reading and to experiments in chemistry, and I spend many of the clear nights in the study of astronomy. There is--though I do not know how there is or why there is--a sense of infinite peace and protection in the glittering hosts of heaven. There it must be, I think, in the vast and eternal laws of matter, and not in the daily cares and sins and troubles of men, that whatever is more than animal within us must find its solace and its hope. I hope, or I could not live.

And so, in hope and solitude, my story ends.

EDWARD PRENDICK.

My mouth is watering thinking about orange push-ups now. Although these are probably mango instead (if those exist!)
 

Wandering Wednesday: Bridges of The Bay

 

Last week I got the chance to hang out with friend Jaye for a couple days. These are some of the pictures I took on our journeys around the Bay Area. First up a stormy morning drive over the Golden Gate. Not so golden looking in the overcast. You can still see the orange-nesss of the closest to the viewer verticals. The history of the specific paint color: GGB International Orange is so interesting. And there's even an equivalent Pantone color: Pantone 180 (CYMK 19.4%, 77.9%, 79.6%, 3.6%). Sadly, this wasn't included in our Pantone postcard box.

A nice but very cloudy and windy view of the northern part of the San Francisco Bay from the Marin Rod and Gun Club building. Very nice location, which is literally right off the same freeway exit as San Quentin prison. We were meeting with the long arm quilter that friend Jaye works with. She's now the first female president of this 92 year old outdoor sporting club. Not many quilters can claim this sort of day job, very interesting!  Looking at this picture I always forget about all the little teeny island bits scattered about in the bay. It's amazing that they're not all inhabited. Some of the bigger ones are of course, like say, Alcatraz, another famous prison. 

The half mile long fishing pier that the club members get to fish off of. I've never tried pier fishing, I bet it's really fun.

A view of the Richmond San Rafael bridge that we were about to drive over. On a blue sky day, this would be a really gorgeous picture/view, but I like the drama of the sky about to open up with much-needed rain. As a native Californian, I always need to remind my self that to stay out of drought conditions, we almost always need the rain, however inconvenient it might be in the moment.

I've always loved the linear designs made by the trusses and supports of different types of bridges. Also, it's worth mentioning that it's very nice that someone else is driving so that I can safely take a picture. It might be fun to pull out all the bridge pictures I've taken over the years and do an abstract quilt series based on them.  Putting this is in the quilt series ideas bucket. It's probably already in there, so here it is again.

As mentioned previously, we visited Bay Quilts, they had a very famous Hollis Chatelain quilt from 2000 installed about the thread choices, Blue Man. It was very fun to see this one in person, it's hand-dye painted and really gorgeously stitched. There was also an installation of a great group of quilts by Ileana Soto, which are up through the end of January. I honestly wish Bay Quilts was my LQS, could I convince DH that we need to move to the East Bay for that reason? Probably not.

And then finally, after a great BAM meeting, we went and had some dinner in downtown Redwood City I took this picture across an intersection because I love the frescoes, or maybe they're just painted or tiled. I have no idea how old they are, or if they have a story, but it's such a great and striking design. Guess that means I'm putting this in the maybe someday quilt design bucket and the inspired by building motifs quilt series bucket as well.

To Be Used And To Be Dyed

Keeping track of various purchases that I've made lately. Some more WonderClips as so many of mine are being used in the Temperature Quilt piecing process. And some of the colorful bobbin thread keepers that friend Jaye recommended. Help me keep it together please. Some emery sand and ground walnut shell stuffing for the pincushion I'm working on for the BAM pincushion swap. Also a couple of yards of bright white Cotton Couture, all ripped into 1/2 yard pieces edge machine embroidered and ready to pre-wash and then dye.

Some fabric and tank tops and bamboo shortie socks to be dyed from Dharma Trading. I got one each of all the tank tops they have on offer, they're all jerseys of various weights and fabric contents. Some black Pimatex I bought by accident (it was supposed to be the white version, whoops!). And some very on sale rayon/linen striped fabric to be dyed grey and used for the lining for my YES coat.

This fabric has a really lovely silky hand which will work well for a coat lining. It has a nice weight too, I think it will stand up well to all the pieced cottons on the outside of the coat. Hopefully it will take dye well.

I need some help with my EPP methods so I bought the new gizmo that SewTites recently came out with. I'll let you know whether it works for me once I try it out.

And in the preview of coming attractions section, I'm now moving onto the next unit in the Dye Mastery class that I'm taking. These three are in the first dye baths right now, but here's how they looked before I dunked them. Two are flag-folded, with steam pressed in folds. The other is covered with rubber banded circles.

I think these are going to be pretty cool patterns when they're unfolded. Fingers crossed!

Then there will likely be at least one more dye baths before they're done. More on the outcome later..
 

Two Quilts in PIQF

 

I got the excuse to go to Golden State Quilting this week because I was dropping off my quilt, Lone Round Robin. It will be in at the New Quilts of Northern California exhibit at PIQF. That's right, after applying many times, I finally made it into this exhibit. 

Also in the NorCal SAQA exhibit at PIQF you'll be able to see my quilt Grid Work Free.

While at Golden State, I bought a red Miyako leather handle to make a furoshiki bag out of a square of fabric, 

two fat quarters of a great Carrie Bloodstone print, Color Wheels, some more of the fishnet print from Tula Pink's Nightshade Deja Vu for the Set Sail quilt and some more of the Painter's Palette in blackberry to use in the finishing of the Trinket Quilt.