Stitches West 2019

Last Saturday, I went to Stitches West 2019 with my quilting and crocheting friend Renée. It is geared more toward knitters than crocheters, but yarn is yarn is yarn is yarn and in the 90,015 square feet in the combined front and back halls of the Santa Clara Convention Center, there was a lot to look at.

Halls A and B were referred to as the FRONT HALL in the Stitches West 2019 brochure; Halls C and D were called the BACK HALL. They are shown in dark gray in the next diagram. Imagine walking around over two acres of yarn, notions, patterns, sample fashion items on display, buttons, trim, tools, bags, etc.. We began making our way through the FRONT HALL from left to right, breaking for lunch and wound down by making our way through the BACK HALL from right to left. I reviewed my purchases pretty much in the order I made them

In the leftmost aisle of the FRONT HALL, the first we went down, I managed to spend about $90 on three items. The booths I bought from – 107, 115, 117 – are outlined in a bold red. I realized at this rate I would be broke and I needed to pace myself. My purchases from the FRONT HALL were a fanny pack, some ruffled trim, and some discontinued yarn.

My first purchase after barely getting in the door was a fanny pack, for future show going of course. It came from booth 107 Tropic Treasure. Unlike many packs I have owned and rarely wear because they are too small to be useful, this is large enough and well designed. A pouch pocket on the front is thick enough that it can hold my glass cases; two zippered pockets on the front and back are large and deep enough to hold money, credit cards, tissues, and a cell phone. A sliding pouch along the belt portion will hold keys. It was $32 but I think well made and cleverly implemented, not to mention great looking.

Next up was a booth of vintage items called the 115 Peacock Collection. This ruffled edging from the 1970s with multicolored embroidery will be great on a dress or blouse for granddaughters. I got 3½ yards for $5.

My third impulse buy (as were the first two) was this lovely, coral-colored, flat ribbon-like cotton yarn by Lana Grossa called Primavera. The booth was 117 Discontinued Yarns.com and so it sold for half price. I got five skein at $11 each. 

Plus I was given a complimentary free pattern brochure with six options. I liked the front cover option but the Poncho (2), Pullover (5), and Shawl (6) were not my favorites. 

I want to make either the Jacket (3), a combination of knit and crochet, or the Pullover (4) which is knit sideways. I am short one skein of yarn for the jacket (my first choice) and have enough for the pullover but the booth vendor Craig graciously e-mailed me the very next day with alternate shops that might have more. I phoned the first one and success! I am having more sent to me.

I managed to wend my way through the remaining aisles of the FRONT HALL booths 103 through 1025 with no further purchases – other than a snack midway for sustenance. After a pause for lunch, and to get off our feet, Renée and I began to work our way down the BACK HALL starting at the high numbered booths on the right toward the lower numbered booths on the left  – booths 1143 through 628. I bought items at seven booths, those bordered in bold red.

  

This was probably my biggest splurge at the show – a Nantucket Diddy Bagg from the 1436 The Nantucket Bagg Co. My husband and I have some upcoming travel and this bag fascinated me.

It is made out of a sturdy duck canvas, has 36 storage pockets which can be either on the inside or the outside depending on how you zip up the bag. It can accessed from top or bottom or side, can be totally unzipped to lay out flat in a hotel room or for packing as an extra sack. It can be slung cross body, carried as a tote or worn as a back pack. You really need to watch the demo video at https://nantucketbagg.com/see-our-bag/. I was impressed watching the the vendor display it multi functions and multi configurations. Since I plan to use it for travel I do not really have to count its $99 cost as part of my knitting hobby, do I? Though it would great for carrying hanks of yarn in the main body and needles or instructions in some of those many pockets.

 At 1438 Knitting on the Fringe I bought three sets of adorable sheep stitch markers. One for  me and the other two as gifts.  The top card has half blue sheep and half white sheep. The other two cards are either all black sheep or all blue sheep. At $10 each they make a reasonably priced present. Before gifting, I may redistribute them as one white, two black, and three blue per card so everyone has a choice based on the yarn color of her current project.

I picked up this cute little $3 gadget at 1334 Hue Loco LLC. It is called a Needle Wrangler® and will be great for keeping stitches from slipping off the tips of a circular knitting needle when the project is set aside and not being worked on. There are many color choices; I picked purple because my circular and double pointed knitting needles cases are purple. You can check it out at https://www.tempestryproject.com/wholesale-needle-wranglers/.

A simple but cute sweater pattern for little girls caught my eye at 1239 YOTH Yarns. The Little Sister pattern designed by Kate Oates is garter stitch and ribbing only, but it is knit in all one piece so there are no pesky assembly seams to deal with after the fun part of knitting. With three granddaughters I had to have it. It comes in sizes 6 mos, 12 mos, 2 yrs, 4yrs, 6 yrs ,and 8 yrs all for the bargain price of $6. 

Later, when I was reading the pattern, I noticed it said there was also a Big Sister option available. I went back to the booth and asked where it was. The clerk said, "Let me take you to it. She led me to another woman and introduced her saying, "This is Kate Oates the designer. She will help you." Wow! Such service! Kate talked me through the unique construction of the sweater and you could tell she was very proud of it. Naturally I bought the Big Sister version for $7. Maybe I will make mom and daughter matching ensembles. Oh my, I am getting very ambitious! What is that old saying? Perhaps "My eyes are bigger than my stomach."

Renée and I stopped at a book booth 932 XRX Books. We expected it to be more extensive than it was, but I did pick up this book about knitting for $11 - less than the Amazon price and I checked!

An excerpt from the front flap reads

• Good knitting writing evokes the dazed excitement of planning a project and choosing the yarn, the frustrations of struggling when something doesn't turn out right, the thrill of creation and completion – and also the emotional patterns and tangles that bind us as families. Be forewarned, then: this book contains no projects. It's just writing about knitting – about how it matters and why it matters and how it fits into life, fits into the times in which we live, connects the knitter with family and friends.

This concept meshed well with what my friend and I were discussing at the show. We are amazed  at how large the turnout of customers was and they were not only those who fit the stereotype of little old lady grandmas sitting in their rocking chair knitting. I lot of very young women were there all excited and inspired by what they saw.

I had been on a the lookout for an organizer for my crochet hooks. I had bought della Q organizers for my circular and double pointed knitting needles and they had worked out well. I wrote about them in my post for 1/28/2019.  I found the della Q booth but the vendor did not have the crochet hook organizer I wanted at the show. I found a perfectly good substitute at 928 Purrfectly Catchy Designs for $20. The case was made of a rough sturdy canvas, not the more aesthetically pleasing satiny fabric of the della Q cases, but it was also less expensive.

Hook numbers were printed on canvas and and did not have the fancy silky stitched in labels of the della Q designs but I am pleased. I put my crochet hooks in it when I got home. The mess of packaging above the hooks is what I can now toss. Also this method of organized storage reveals at a glance what sizes I do not have and the sizes for which I have duplicates and triplicates.

Then I found another snap case of crochet hooks that had been my mom's in all those itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny sizes. I added them to the canvas organizer (but did not take another photo). My mom crocheted entire lacy, pineapple-patterned tablecloths for our huge round dining room table in my childhood home with these sizes and fine cotton thread. I doubt I will ever have the patience or desire to do such meticulous, time consuming work, but I filed away the hooks none the less. They will make me think of her whenever I open the organizer; she would laugh that the organizing case is called The Hooker.

I discarded the clear covered hard case on the right. I had bought that set for myself many many years ago. The cover was cracked and it was alway difficult to extract the hooks. I also found a better use for the yellow snap case that had been my mom's. It is perfect for my rotary cutter and will get used often.

Also at the  booth I bought a roll of highlighter tape. I had never heard of this. Is is sort of a vinyl strip that works like sticky notes. I can place it on my instructions and move it down line by line or paragraph by paragraph as I am working. It is transparent. I am guessing it will work as well for marking my place in recipes or for marking a repetitive cutting line on quilting rulers. Since it is reusable I think the $4 I spent on it will go a long, long way. It sells on Amazon for $6.89 and you can read reviews about it at this link.

My final stop of the day was at a booth that sold vintage buttons, 727 Buttons! I bought the large pink ones that are all the same color but different shapes for $3. The red firework ones were a bit pricier at $14 but I can just picture them setting off a yellow or orange knit cardigan.

The show ran from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm and I think we were there approximately 10:30 am - 5:30.pm. We tuckered ourselves out, but Renée was still smiling as we left.

When I left home in the morning for this show I had said to my husband, "This is not a quilt show so I will not be spending a lot and coming home with a ton of fabric. The yarn will be really expensive (and most of it was) and how fast can I knit anyway? I am just really curious how much hype you can have about yarn. I will probably pick up a few notions and merely enjoy the day's outing socializing." I did buy only one batch of yarn and it was really unique and half price.

If you are nerdy enough to be adding up my expenditures I will save you the trouble. With the $10 admission it came to $300. But I do not think the fanny pack or the Nantucket Diddy Bagg should count since they are future travel expenses and were almost half the total. Don't you agree?

February Block of the Month for My Guild

My quilt guild, Amador Valley Quilters, holds a monthly activity titled Block of the Month. A BOM packet consists of a one-page set of directions and the fabric to make a block. Generally the fabric needs to be sub-cut but that part is minimal. Members can buy one or more packets. After making the block, the member turns each in the next month and names of the participants are drawn to see who wins all the blocks. I do not always participate, but when I do I like to buy several so I can see how  the blocks go together. This month I bought four packets because it looked like the blocks when assembled would form a secondary pattern. Once home I discovered each zip lock bag contained enough fabric to make two blocks. There was a light and a dark option and I bought two packets of each. I never did take any in-process photos because I was on a roll, but here is what the completed blocks look like. They measure 9½" and, when assembled in a quilt each, will be 9" square. I arranged my eight blocks in one configuration that I found pleasing and will finish at 36" wide.

They were fun and easy to stitch together, assembly line style. The HST squares were made from 4" squares and then trimmed afterward to 3½". I got lots of practice with my Precision Trimmer 6™ - a great ruler to add to your collection if you do not have one. It was copyright in 2001 by Marsha McCloskey. I used it to square up my HSTs once I had pressed them open; it helped assure that the diagonal seam is spot on at the corners.

In googling for an image of this ruler I came across this photo. Apparently if I had squared up the block before pressing it open I would have reduced my number of slices from four to two.  I will have to try this alternate method next time. Although, by making fewer cuts because of trimming before pressing the HST open, any inaccuracies at the diagonal seam after pressing HST open will not be accounted for. Hmm... food for thought. See, even the simplest BOM can teach something new!

Quilt for Baby Boy

I have had this kit for a Vibrations quilt, designed by Nancy Mahoney, waiting patiently in my stash for nearly a decade. Purchased back on the east coast in North Carolina while visiting my sister – I am a west coaster, living in California – the quilt had a modern look to it which was not as prevalent then as it is in today's market. The kit caught my eye as being different, both in look and technique. I promised myself I would make it some day, when conditions were appropriate, and when the mood struck me.

A few years later I saw this melamine tray in a discount department store (Ross I believe) that reminded me I had that kit. I thought the tray and quilt would make a serendipitous pairing.

Conditions became appropriate and the mood struck me. My daughter's sister-in-law is expecting a baby boy mid-February. Her tastes run to cleaner, straighter lines and she is not a fan of cutesy baby prints. My daughter saw this kit in my stash and said it would fit the bill perfectly, even matching the colors of the nursery. It was kismet.

Nuances fabric by P&B textiles has been discontinued. I found a blog mentioning this fabric and it dates back to March 28, 2011 (http://athreadfromtheedge.blogspot.com/2011/03/jacksons-quilt-join-me.html) There are six solid tones of turquoise on one width of fabric. Similarly there is a six-toned taupe fabric colorway.

By cutting on either side of the color transition lines, I got two tone triangles that are joined to make a pattern. The two palest turquoises are shown on my design wall as the four corners, made of two triangles each, eight triangles in total. Fussy cutting each of these 64 triangles individually was the most time consuming portion of making this kit, even more so than the assembly. But with careful cutting, I knew that the color lines would align well for joining, and they did.

In the center are triangles of the darker blue from the corners and an additional four hues. The fabric had six color stripes but I chose to omit the darkest. Since this was destined to be a baby quilt, I thought the deepest tone was too heavy.

These are the darks I omitted from the taupe and the turquoise fabrics.

I had lots of leftovers. These are the turquoise leftovers...

... and these are the taupe leftovers.

These are the skinny strips from within the colors bands.

When I joined triangles to form right triangle half blocks then full square blocks I pressed my seams in a consist direction and the seams nested almost effortlessly. I used numbered pins that I bought at the 2018 Road to California quilt show to keep track of the block placement. The pin orientation helped me know which direction to press.

This is the layout of 16 blocks in a four by four array. Each block consisted of four right triangles. Keeping the placement and orientation was challenging because the blue tones and taupe tones in some cut triangles were so similar that being viewed horizontal on a counter or displayed vertical on a wall affected the darkness they appeared to be. But I was careful and won the battle only having to take out one seam I goofed on.

It was time to select the binding. The binding fabric that came with the kit was a very deep solid turquoise that I rejected as too dark and oppressive, especially against the light-colored corner edge blocks. I needed something more in the medium toned family.

I went to my stash to explore other  options. I was hoping for a subtle print in tones of both taupe and turquoise. Displayed on the left side, I found a beige two-tone stripe, a line grid, and a turquoise two-tone stripe. I rejected the aqua and taupe grid, because the aqua lines were not quite close enough to the turquoise shades. Also the grid lines could wobble in the binding and look off-kilter. Looking on the right column, the kit default binding fabric is at the top. It was too dark. The whimsical feel of the next print down print seemed to fight the contemporary mood of the quilt. I liked the beige and white polka dots, at the bottom – I always do and they are sort of my signature; but the white splotches were a bit too stark.

Whatever binding I chose needed to go with the backing as well. I had a muted squares fabric in my stash. I must have really liked it or else it has been really marked down and inexpensive because I had 5⅔ yards of it – more than enough for a quilt  48" x 48". It seemed to match the squareness and angularity of the front and the abstractness reinforced the contemporary vibe.

I narrowed my binding choices down to a two tone turquoise stripe...

... or a two tone beige stripe.

I looked at them against that backing and chose the turquoise stripe. I also reasoned that a light colored binding on a baby quilt would show dirt more readily.

The name for the stripe clinched it for me. It was called Caterwauling Tales by Sue Marsh © 2011.

I made my binding from a 2¼" strip, folded it in half. I cut my binding 2¼" wide so it will finish at ⅜". I feel a finished ½" binding is too wide and intrusive and yet a finished ¼" binding is too hard for me to control and keep even.

As I was sandwiching my top, bamboo batting, and backing for quilting I pondered what to name this quilt so I could make my signature, grosgrain ribbon labels. I typically attach the labels right after quilting so the ends are captured beneath the binding. The names I considered (and rejected) were Vibrations (given name), Taupe and Turquoise or Earth and Sky (descriptive but both unimaginative), Diamond in the Sky, (too long and pretentious) Oh, Boy! or Shades of Boy (both contenders). I decided on Oh Boy and made my labels on turquoise grosgrain ribbon. I left off the exclamation point after the "Y" because it looked like a blob without a definitive space between the bottom dot and the upright line. I also make a label with my initials and the year.

Here are the tools I used to help me make my quilting tidy. I laid down a piece of masking tape to help me evenly space the oscillating squiggles that progressed in size within a triangle.  I used a wavy ruler - Handi-Quilter F Wave -  to guide me in forming smooth waves. I quilted the blue areas in a variegated blue thread and the brown areas in a taupe thread. Switching thread colors back and forth was not a real issue. I had to do it only twice since I stitched the small central squiggles in blue, changed to do the small central squiggles in taupe and the outer waves in taupe, and last changed back to finish the outer waves in blue. Mine is a Handi-Quilter Sweet Sixteen sit down machine so I have the freedom of working on separate areas of the quilt at a time. It helps me to do all areas that require the same muscle memory at once.  I was much better at doing the squiggles and the waves in a certain direction, so I must admit that I kept changing the orientation of the quilt to suit the way I was able to produce the smoothest, least jagged results. 

I had to decide how to orient each wave - two bumps up or two bumps down relative to the center. I put down a plastic page protector and drew both options with a white board marker. I chose a central bump up (away from block center) and partial bumps up at either end because I could transition the wave to look more continuous at the corners with that option. 

  

I had to eyeball the corners where two waves met and guide it free hand but I managed to get away with it. This is the completed effect in one block. It has sort of a splat look. Perhaps I should have named the quilt SPLAT!

This is how two blocks side by side play off each other.

Then, as I was trimming my quilt edges in preparation to adding the binding, I found this deep fold on the back from where I had caught the backing underneath while quilting. I must have been concentrating too hard on holding the wave ruler just so. "Aargh!" 

At least it was near the edge and could be remedied without too much grief. It could even be called a good grief as Charlie brown might say.

I replaced the wave freehand without the ruler by following the path left by the previous wave stitches I ripped out. I was extremely lucky that I had not inadvertently over-trimmed the backing fabric. Good fortune prevailed since I did not tear a hole in the top when removing the stitches. Now I could finish the trimming, add the labels and bind it. Here is a view of the back with the labels down at the two lower corners

A closeup of the lower two corners of the back side of the quilt reveals the two labels, one identifying who made the quilt and when, and the other specifying the quilt name. I hand stitch the labels on at a 45° angle and tuck the ends under the binding which is subsequently hand stitched to the back.

Photographed in the outdoor sunshine, is a full front view view of Oh Boy, complete with the requisite fingers and legs of my holding husband peeking out above and below.

After I washed it twice, it crinkled up nicely and got softer. Here is Oh Boy draped over our deep navy velvet chair. Whether as a wall hanging in the nursery or as a play mat in other places, I hope Oh Boy is enjoyed and used often. May it get dragged around and become tattered in its recipient's chubby little hands in his toddler years. And chubby those little hands will be. Wyatt came into this world Monday, February 18th, weighing in at a whopping 10 lb even.

While the proud mom and dad are showing off their new baby, I will be sharing this quilt at MCM #149.