Bee Vintage- August Blocks for Jen

Oh my hexagon. That is my new swear phrase! I didn't think that these would be so hard, but for me, they were.

Jen asked for shabby chic colors and she loves pink. I like this one the best!

I am part of a quilting bee called Bee Vintage.  Each month a new "Queen Bee" is the head of the quilting bee and lets all the others know what quilt block to make for them. When we are finished, we send them through the mail to the Queen Bee.  The Queen Bee makes a quilt from all the blocks we send.  Our bee uses vintage sheets for our quilt blocks. 

Jen was our Queen Bee for August, and she asked for hexagon blocks. The tutorial we all used was this one by Julie of Jaybird Quilts. The cutting instructions were here. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the moving of my ruler (brain cells, come back! I miss you!) but once I got it, it was easy. At one point I had to call in my math-minded hubby and he even cut some of the triangles for me. Sewing on the other hand...I need to figure out the pressing and matching of seams a little better. My seam ripper and I bonded quite a bit during this project.

Here is it's mate.

I couldn't take any cute clothesline pictures this time. It was raining. And dark outside. And I needed to get these in the mail the next day. My pictures are a bit dark as a result, sorry!

It really is quite brilliant how these work- take a look at the tutorial if you haven't already!

And the last one!

Book Review: Sewing in No Time

I have a shelf of very inspirational craft books, and instead of just looking at them for ideas (like normal!) I've been making projects to spruce up my craft room. Today I am reviewing one of them, Sewing in No Time: 50 Step-by-Step Weekend Projects Made Easy. I bought this one from Joann's with my 40% off coupon. Yay coupons!


This book was written by Emma Hardy. She is a contributor to both the british magazine Marie Claire, and the french magazine Marie Claire Idees.The french magazine is a super fun but spendy magazine to get here in the United States. It is full of crafty ideas and just lovely eye candy! I have only ever seen issues online. Someday when I go to France I will haunt newsstands to find one to bring home with me. See the Eiffel Tower? Notre Dame? No thanks, I just want a magazine. Hee hee.

Whimsical print circa a long time ago from Joann's home dec section.

I chose the project "Ironing Board Cover" on pages 114-115. I had thrifted a small tabletop ironing board from Salvation Army for about two dollars. I already had the batting, the home decorator weight cotton, muslin, and the cording in my stash. It's fun when I have almost everything I need to start and finish a project.

Here is the very nice looking back, if I do say so myself.

I thought the directions were very good. Emma Hardy gives approximations on measurements for this particular project, not exact sizes. This is due to the nature of this project- all ironing boards are not the same size. (Other projects do include exact measurements.) The pictures are clear and easy to follow. I would consider myself a beginner sewist, so I think most people could follow the directions for the projects in this book.

Instructions on Ironing Board Cover in the book.

I was even able to have Molly help me with this project! Normally you would find me saying, "Oooh put the scissors down! No, don't touch the iron! Oh dear, no that fabric can't be your cape, it's the ironing board cover! Come back! AGH!" For a change, we were able to do this together. I won't say it went perfectly, but it wasn't super frustrating. (This means I didn't have to think too hard about the directions- I could pay attention to a 3 year old, a 4 month old, AND we could create and sew something! Not so easy these days for me...and a good thing about this book!)

Judy loves hearts, she was born on Valentine's Day!

I also made a variation on the laundry bag project. This was made for my MIL Judy back in February. I thought she needed something to carry her knitting in, and a roll for her knitting needles. I shrunk the dimensions for this project so she could carry a medium sized knitting project in the bag along with her knitting roll.

Instructions on the Laundry Bag from the book.

I don't know if I can call this an official book review as I have only made two of the projects in this book. There are several other projects that I have looked at and would like to make. That counts, right? Most craft books have a higher ratio of things I won't make versus what I would like to make, this seems to be the opposite. There are a lot of wonderful ideas in here, and I plan on making more from Sewing in No Time. Here are a few more pictures of fun projects from the book!

Cute little toy bags.  I am not a fan of embellishments.  I think I'd leave off the flower. But I love the animals peeking out- so cute! Maybe I would just put googly eyes on each bag. Then they are always looking at you! That is either hilarious or creepy. I can't decide. (Okay, I am siding with hilarious. I love googly eyes!)

I have fantasies about making play tents for Molly and Jack.  Oooh, I revealed his name to the interwebs!
Yep, it's John Henry, nicknamed Jack. He is named for my grandfather.

Ahhh, a peg bag.  I still haven't decided what I want mine to look like on my lovely clothesline.

Bee Vintage- July Blocks for Emily

Crazy blue, pink, and green sheet that I found thrifting turns into a cute Sawtooth Star!

I am a part of a quilting bee called Bee Vintage.  Each month a new "Queen Bee" is the head of the quilting bee and lets all the others know what quilt block to make for them.  When we are finished, we send them through the mail to the Queen Bee.  The Queen Bee makes a quilt from all the blocks that we send.  Our bee uses vintage sheets for our quilt blocks.


I thought I would be on top of the whole bee thing- but here it is the end of July/beginning of August and I just finished the quilt blocks up.  Hmm...having a three year old and a three month old isn't very conducive to crafting!  It took me three days to do three Sawtooth Stars...yikes.  

I love this sweet little blue and green floral print.

Emily asked for Sawtooth Stars.  I think I have made these before, but...well, maybe it's just my imagination.  I love that in the process of making them, you make flying geese blocks.

I couldn't resist adding a little yellow!

In our bee, we use our thrifted sheets we have on hand.  If we want the group to add something specific to our blocks, we send it out ahead of time.  It's a lot of fun to dig through my sheets and fat quarters and find just the right print for each block.  I had a bit of a hard time deciding!  And one of the best parts of being in a bee each month is I get to make a new block I've never made before.  How fun!  


This is my first bee and I am not sure what to send with my bee blocks.  I sent a note and an extra vintage sheet fat quarter with this set for Emily.  Does anyone have any tips for me on bee etiquette?  

Thrifty Thursday Finds- Pyrex!

I am always looking for fun sets of pyrex when I go thrifting.  I found both of these sets at garage sales so far this summer.

Colonial Blue Pyrex

This set, called Colonial Blue, was two dollars at a church sale.  There was a lady digging through a box that hadn't yet been unpacked at this sale, and she found a whole set of this - marked one dollar.  Lucky!

Butterprint Cinderella Pyrex

This set, called Butterprint, was six dollars at a garage sale down the street.  I love this turquoise/aqua color!  It was so fun to find the whole set in one place.  These are called Cinderella bowls.  They have a pouring spout and a handle.

Whenever I go to Goodwill, Value Village, garage sales, and thrift stores I look for pieces of pyrex.  So far I have had the best luck at garage sales.  Jeni's blog is a wealth of information on pyrex.  She has a guide to common patterns, promotional patterns, guide to solids, numbering and sizes, and tips for cleaning pyrex.  Another fun blog is Pyrex Love.

I know I have enough collections going on (fabric, beads, fabric) so I am trying to be selective and only pick the pieces that have a pattern or color I love, or a shape I will use.  I am hoping to come across the Friendship bowls at some point.  My sister Elizabeth likes these a lot too.  So maybe we need two.  In nesting sets, please!

I Love Sesame Street

Molly on one of her favorite "rocas" (rocks)

We were taking a walk in our lovely neighborhood the other day.  There are three little rocks along the way that Molly loves to sit on, or jump from, or count on the walk.  As we came up to her "favorite rocks" this is what happened.

Molly: (pointing to first rock) Uno!

Angie: (turning to Marshall) Did she just say uno?

Marshall:  If she says dos I am going to freak out.

Molly: (pointing to second rock) Dos!

Angie and Marshall laugh uncontrollably.

Molly: (pointing to third rock) Place! (translation = tres)

Angie:  Molly, where did you learn that?

Molly: Sessa Street!  It's spanish!

Molly jumping off roca numero tres (rock number three)
(Did I say that right?  I don't know, I googled it.  So much for two years of high school spanish...)

I Love a Good Clothesline

I went a little crazy with the clothespins.  Stay duvet cover, stay!

I love the way these things smell:

My hubby cooking dinner (any dinner ha ha)

Freshly mown grass

My children's heads after they have had a bath (that sounds funny)

My Mom's roast beef cooking in the oven (a v. v. good childhood memory)

And clothes fresh from the clothesline.

Last year when we moved down to Washington (it's been a year now!) I asked my hubby Marshall for a clothesline.  I always wanted one when we lived in Anchorage, but it wasn't very practical- there is only a very short window of months you can use one.  And I always had this picture in my head of snagging moose (and their antlers) in a clothesline in the backyard.  Really.  But now, we live down in the Lower 48, and there is clothesline weather a great deal of the time!  And I haven't seen any moose.

I found a couple of tutorials online, and my handy hubby Marshall was able to put it together for under $25!

A few recommendations:

*Make sure your poles are a little less than 25 feet apart or you will end up buying two packages of nylon clothesline.  Not that we had to do this or anything.

*Pick a place where they ground is even.  Our backyard (we rent) is not even and is also slightly sloped.  When I am hanging out clothes I look up more than down and find myself stumbling about.  I probably picked the most uneven spot in the yard.  But it gets great sun!

*Look at where the sun is all day long, or at least most of the day, to find a good spot.

*Drill the holes for the clothesline before you put up the poles.

*Let the concrete cure for a few days before you hang up your first load of laundry.  If you don't, your poles might move or lean a bit.  Don't ask how I know this.

Now I am just looking for the perfect place to keep my clothespins.  I love this Etsy seller, her bags are gorgeous!  And she uses vintage sheets?  Sounds like a match made in clothesline heaven.

Real Japanese Craft Books (in a Real Japanese Book Store)

I used to order Japanese craft books from Etsy sellers when I lived in Alaska. I would examine the pages up close on the Etsy sites, just those four or five little pictures Etsy allowed for each book, and make a decision on whether or not those pages would be worth the price. Most of the books I bought always made me happy, but I longed for a time I could page through them myself and decide based on the whole book.

I had heard that there was a bookstore in the Portland/Beaverton area that carried the same books. My sister Johanna lives in the Portland/Beaverton area. I didn't investigate further. I already felt guilty about spending time in Target (Alaska didn't get a Target until fall of 2008) when I visited my family, how could I then spend hours in a Japanese bookstore looking at craft books?

So now that I live down in the Lower 48, I finally googled Kinokuniya.

It is 1.8 miles from my sister's house. ONE POINT EIGHT. Ugh.

So I went!  The following pictures are officially titled...

Japanese Book Store Eye Candy

For your enjoyment.

And I bought two adorable books.

I love them.

Here they are!  The big red one is here.  The small one is here.  The small book's projects are pretty much what you see on the cover.  Small bags for toting your lunch or your shoes.  Or paper.  But the big red book!  Variety!  Behold!

I love all the different bags in the big red book.  So many choices...

And more choices...

And more choices!

I especially liked how clear the directions seemed in this book.  More clear than usual anyway.  It's still Japanese.

How cute are these illustrations?!  These are the designs for embroidery.

If you don't live close to a Kinokuniya, but know which Japanese craft book you want to order, Alicia of Posy Gets Cosy has a post here that talks about the Beaverton store (the one I went to) and how to order your books through them.


And, if you want to purchase them through Etsy anyway, I loved getting them from this shop or this shop.


So, now I have lots of lovely Japanese craft books.  Have I sewn something from them? Uh...not yet.  I am dreaming of taking this class here to teach me how someday soon!


Do you have a favorite Japanese craft book?  Have you sewn something from one?