Rowan thread collections inspired by Amy Butler’s “Love” and “Soul Blossoms” fabric sets

They look good enough to eat!

And you, Girl Who Gets To Pretend-Hand-Sew That Awesome Amy Butler Quilt, I kind of hate you. Haha.

Have a lovely weekend!

It was a weekend of firsts!

I tasted a Hostess Snoball for the first time in my life. (Cream-filled chocolate cake, covered with marshmallow and rolled in coconut. I liked it. A lot. Don’t judge me.)

Took a lovely drive along Pacific Coast Highway with friends to Malibu Seafood. We ate on a patio right across the shoreline, and it was a beautiful day. It was first time there, and my calamari and fries were so yummy I’m still dreaming about them.

Also, I tried working with circular knitting needles for the first time.

Which promptly became a knitting FAIL.

Haha. I need more practice! Maybe next weekend?

Hope yours was lovely!

You guys, I’m knitting again!

The last time I knit anything I was in high school. To give you an idea of how long ago that was, Boyz II Men’s “End Of The Road” was on repeat on the radio. I wanted to marry Eddie Vedder and had a pair of chocolate brown Birkenstocks. (What? Those things have really good arch support!)

What made me take up my needles again? My friend Bona asked me to teach her how to crochet or knit for a charity that she’s interested in. I’m pretty comfortable with crochet, but I wanted to see if I had my knits and purls on straight before I could teach Bona. After a quick trip to Michael’s for some yarn, I was on the couch casting my first stitches on, my brows furrowed in concentration. After a couple of tries (and a lot of YouTube tutorials!), I was knitting and purling away! Just like riding a bike, I tell you. And it was actually the perfect thing to do while recuperating from the flu. (It’s even more awesome if you have the Stanley Cup finals on in the background!)

I chose this awesome, simple “Magic Scarf” pattern from Crazy Aunt Purl to practice with. I love the alternating textures, and the fact that it’s all just knits and purls, which are really the only two stitches I know. (But don’t tell Bona that! Haha!)

I’m enjoying myself, even if I tend to be nitpicky about my stitches and want to rip everything up and start again (which I actually did, several times, until I just gave up and let everything go!). Taking up this form of needlework again makes me remember my Lola Pin, the grandma I lost a couple of months ago, because she was the one who taught me how to knit. I got the nitpickiness from her, so I’m sure she approves of the obsession to get things just right!

So, this is what’s kept my hands busy these days. I’m hoping to get better at this so I can make scarves for some people at Christmas. But this first one goes to me—a gift to myself for learning to knit again.

By the way, the charity the Bona is learning to crochet for (she decided after all she preferred it over knitting) is Knit A Square. The group encourages crafters to send crocheted or knitted squares (size details are on the site HERE), which volunteers then all sew together to create wonderful, warm patchworked blankets for abandoned children and AIDS orphans in South Africa.

If you’re in the Los Angeles area and would like to learn how to knit or crochet, leave me a comment. We can meet for tea and I’ll be happy to show you what I know. The only payment I ask is for you to make a square to send to this charity. Knit A Square’s goal for 2010 is 105,000 squares! After this scarf, I’m going to practice my stockinette for some squares of my own. (I can see my Lola smiling!)

In the meantime, it’s all about the knit-5-purl-5 for me!

Sometimes, a girl just wants to stitch some neat little x’s on cloth, you know?

And sometimes, the timing’s perfect: Her friends Ross and Sara are getting married in June, and she wants to give them a handmade wedding gift.

And even more, she just happens to find the cutest Etsy cross-stitch pattern maker, who has a pattern for a bride and groom who look just like her friends! (This is one time I hope Ross and Sara don’t actually read my blog, haha.)

I’m reacquainting myself with cross stitching again. In all honesty, I haven’t stitched an X since God knows when. It was one of the very first needlepoint techniques taught to us in school, but I was taught way before that by my mom (thank you, Mama!).

I’m having a blast putting this together, because it’s bringing me back to my childhood. Just like riding a bike, I tell you! Some things I remembered from when Mama first taught me:

1) Organize your thread.

In the old days, we would take a piece of cardboard, punch holes in them with a hole punch, mark thread colors in each hole and thread the corresponding embroidery floss color through each. I found out that there are premade plastic bobbins that you can fill up with thread, mark and arrange by number to loop through a giant ring. Maybe these have been around for a while, but I certainly had no neat little plastic bobbins like these growing up! I love the obsessive-compulsiveness of it all, haha. I even made E. wind some thread for me.

2) X marks the spot.

Mama told me to always start with a stitched cross that intersects right through the middle of your Aida cloth, and right through the middle of your design. This is a handy reference point for when you’re first starting to count your stitches and place them where you want on your fabric.

3) Be mindful of your thread length.

Too short, and you’ll need to change threads more often (which is a pain in the patootie), but too long and you run into the risk of tangles. The perfect length is that from your fingers to the inside of your elbow. I usually work with two skeins, so I double up this length to work on one set of two skeins at a time.

4) Stitch in the same direction.

The first “leg” of your x’s should go in one direction, and the second leg that completes the x should all go the other. I know it seems like that shouldn’t matter, because they’re all x’s and when they’re all grouped together you can’t really tell which is going where. But when you step back, you’ll notice the difference in how the thread catches the light. Mama and I had arguments to high heavens about this—I didn’t believe her at first, but trust me, she’s right!

I’ll be sure to post the finished project—especially when I get the chance to frame it. So excited!

I think your next crafty project should be a cross stitched one, don’t you? Even if you’ve never done it before, I’ll tell you a line from a print ad I remember seeing in a magazine when I was little: If you’ve sewn a button, you can cross stitch! (I don’t know why I’ll never forget that, haha!)

Via here.

Xoxo! 

—

Further Reading Into The Art Of X-Stitching (Because nerds are awesome!)

* ANDWABISABI has the cutest cross-stitch patterns for sale on Etsy. I’m not even kidding about this cuteness. Here is solid evidence proving I do not lie about this cuteness!

…ok, seriously now. Cross-stitched punctuation marks? I’m all over THAT! Get your x-in on HERE.

* Here’s an A to Z Of Cross Stitching. Because I love A’s and Z’s and all the letters in between.

* Whaaaattt?!?! A cross-stitch pattern generator for captions? These people are geniuses!

* Subversive cross-stitch patterns. Because deep down inside, you’re a rebel. With a needle.

It’s been a while since my last post, and here’s where I’ve been.

Behind my new toy

I saved up for this MacBook for a while. A long while. Too long, if you ask me. Now that I have it, I don’t know how I survived all those years without my own laptop. I’ve spent the past two weeks organizing my digital life, which meant transferring files, contacts, music, pictures; syncing all to my phone; downloading applications and trying not to be too crazy organizing all the digital “furniture” in it. It’s kind of felt like I moved homes.

On page 132 of this book

Vickie Howell’s new book on the different personalities that make up the crafting movement across the world, Craft Corps, hit bookshelves today. I had responded to a call for entries about a year ago to submit my profile as a crafter for this project. I thought nothing of it until I got an e-mail later in the year saying the publishers were including my profile. I found out at lunch today that the book was available at Barnes & Noble and I half-skipped to the store the minute I got off work. I was nervous because I know text gets cut in final manuscripts, but E. and I leafed through the pages, and there I was, on page 132! (I wanted to twirl across the book aisles in sheer elation, but I didn’t want to be kicked out of there!)

What’s even more awesome is that my profile comes right after the feature on Denyse Schmidt, who’s my modern quilting heroine. I know she doesn’t know who I am, but following her in a book on crafting feels like we’re sitting next to each other on a park bench.

This book couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve been in the crafting doldrums lately, but reading it has reminded me of something: All I’ve ever really wanted to do is make the most of this chance to live a creative life, be it through something I make in the kitchen or something I put together on my craft table. I’m looking forward to slowly reacquainting myself with my sewing machine, my crochet needles, my jewelry pliers and my yarn and threads. And while I’m at it, my rolling pin, my piping bag, my electric mixer, my cookie cutters! There’s just too much awesome creative energy out there to ignore. I have to celebrate it by joining this big, creative, cool club.

And how have you been, World?

The National Food Bloggers Bake Sale is TWO DAYS AWAY! Woot!

WHAT: National Food Bloggers Bake Sale
WHEN: Saturday, April 17, 10:30 am to 1 pm
WHO: ME! I’ll be there from 11:30 am to help sell my Cakes In A Jar, along with baked goods from over 40 other food bloggers in Los Angeles.
WHERE: Morel’s French Bistro at The Grove, 189 The Grove Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90036
WHY: 100% of proceeds from the bake sale will go to Share Our Strength, whose main focus is ending child hunger in America.

IF YOU CAN GO:
Look for my uber cute Jar Cakes! I’m making Swirled Nutella Cupcakes and Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cakes. Yum!

IF YOU CAN’T GO:
You can donate online at The Girl With A Curl’s page HERE.

Tell people about it by sending them the link above or pointing them to this blog post!

The first annual National Food Bloggers Bake Sale, part of the Great American Bake Sale, will be held on April 17. Organized by Gaby Dalkin of WhatsGabyCooking.com, food bloggers from across the country will unite to support the cause by holding bake sales in their states. Readers will have the opportunity to taste the baked goods from their favorite food blogs at each state’s bake sale location.

Funds raised through Great American Bake Sale support Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger in America. Nearly 17 million—almost one in four—children in America face hunger. Despite the good efforts of governments, private-sector institutions and everyday Americans, millions of our children still don’t have daily access to the nutritious meals they need to live active, healthy lives.

Food bloggers are holding bake sales in locations across the U.S. this weekend. To find one in your area, go HERE.

I’ve lost my crafting mojo!

I don’t know where it’s gone. I suspect it’s enjoying a mai tai on a beach in Aruba while getting its nails done. Wherever it is, I’m ticked off that I wasn’t invited! I haven’t had the creative energy to sew, crochet or make jewelry in the past weeks. My stash of new fabric given to me as Christmas gifts over the holidays sits forlornly in a bin. My sewing machine is dying to make something that I get the feeling it runs itself during the day when I’m not at home, just for the heck of it.

I’m amazed professional crafters who do creative work everyday. I suppose if I were immersed in it, it would be easier. I know this because when I’m on a roll, ideas come hurtling at me and I have to duck sometimes so they don’t whack me on the head! But stopping and starting these periods of crafty creativity is challenging, especially with a full-time job and people to cook for. I’m just hoping I get a chance to start crafting again—and soon—because I miss building quilt blocks and just working with my hands and making stuff.

To parch the dry valley of creativity that I’m faced with, I’m constantly looking through photos of old projects. I came across my Flickr set of photos taken at the Road To California Quilt Show a couple of months ago. I realized I haven’t shared these inspiring photos, and now taking the time to do so to try and get the creative rivers flowing again. And if you have a tip or two about getting over Quilter’s Block, do let me know! (I’ve just decided that “Quilter’s Block” is now my all-time favorite pun!)

I went to the Quilt Show with my mom (who was giddy with excitement and running around like it was a big birthday party). While there, I got the chance to meet the talented Latifah of the LA Modern Quilt Guild and we had fun ogling all the insanely beautiful handiwork on display. While most of the designs were more traditional, I still admired all the hard work that went into them, and even spied a modern quilt or two among them.

I hope you’re inspired by these, as much as I want to be inspired by them!

Is this redundant, or is this redundant? Someone made a brilliant quilt of mini quilts on display at a quilt show, with people looking at them. I waited for the two women in front of it for more funny redundance. Haha.

Wow. Alfred Hitchcock and The Birds immortalized in cloth and thread. My goodness, this lady had lots of time on her hands.

Well, applique me! I’ve always wanted to try this, but I’m horrible at needle-turning. My mom’s a pro. I try it and fail miserably. My flowers become stars or unidentifiable blobs! Obviously, I didn’t inherit the needle-turning gene.

This quilt gets my stamp of approval for cuteness. Pun intended.

The first thought I had when I saw this ice-creamy wonder was one word: “Really?” Quilters are craaaazzzy!

I’m in love with these modernesque reverse-appliqued circles and squares, all done in solids. I hope to work with organic cotton solids on a quilt I’m making as a gift to some friends who are getting married.Wish me luck!

Life is sad without buttons. You can never have too many!

There’s more awesome handiwork on my Flickr set for the Quilt Show HERE.

I’m crossing my fingers that I get back to crafting soon—you’ll be the first to know when the drought ends! In the meantime, I hope you’re sipping cosmos with your creativity and having a blast.