Airports

Monday we were delayed 2 hours in Chicago due to weather (video to come).

Today I'm delayed in Albuquerque 3 hours due to mechanical issues. Frustrating. Good thing I dreamt up my new logo last night (and a tattoo!!). So I'm just sittin' here cross stitching in Illustrator.

Apparently my "logo" has some meaning in Electrical Engineering. Something about waves and stuff. Yup, we're dorks.

A few thoughts

1) Justin Bieber is a little girl


2) "Amigo" does not translate well to English. Example: When a waiter/guide says amigo in Spanish, it is nowhere near as creepy as when he says friend in the same context. Funnier, but no better, when they call you buddy. I never got called chief sadly. 


3) Cipro and Immodium are my new besties


4) In 24 hours I will be somewhere with 15% humidity, compared to 100% humidity now.


5) Telling me "pretty things for pretty girl" will NOT make me shop in you store. Does that ever work?


6) It is sad that I can't stream Netflix outside the US.

Fail AND Success!! Stash Sunday Costa Rica Edition

Before coming to Costa Rica, I looked up LQS, of course! I found Jardin Abuela and wrote to the owner to get directions. 


There's something you should know about San Jose. Well, a few things. One, there aren't really lanes on the road, you just kind of flow with traffic. If you know traffic in Rome, think worse. Two, roads are one way a lot, or turn into one ways without much notice. But most importantly, three, THEY DON'T LABEL THE ROADS. Seriously, downtown they named the roads, but if you're lucky they put a sign up every 6 blocks. A mostly hidden sign.


Outside San Jose, there are streets, but no names. This fabric store was 75m north of the MegaSuper (a grocery store). So we drove to the general area (with much stress) but never found the MegaSuper or the fabric store. Booo. 


FAIL


So you want to hear about the success?


We went into a store called Pague Menos to get a Football (Soccer) jersey for Josh's brother. As he was paying, I wandered. Oh, look, bolts of towel fabric. And a little further... ALGODON! (cotton). It was huge back there! They had everything, including some bolts of Vera Bradley fabric (ubiquitous quilted luggage, not my thing). Oh, heaven. I bought about 13.5 meters. For $36. And I held back knowing that I have to pack it. 

They sold bolts of fabric for sheets, which was neat, but not 100% cotton. Shirting, also not 100% cotton. Home Dec weight fabric, rolls of comforters that just need to be cut to size & bound. No linen though. :(

Anyways, I could go on for much longer about all they had, but I'm sure you want to see the goods. Sorry about the quality, I am at the mercy of the hotel room lighting.

The stash (1/2 meters). Notice the red & aqua stripes, those are full meters. Awesome!

Vintage Sheets

Bunnies (only 1/2 meter, I will use sparingly!)

My favorites (again, only 1/2 meter. Orange and aqua is definitely my next quilt)

New pillowcases! (2 meters)

Grey dots. To go with my stash of larger grey dots at home. 2 meters. What?! I think it's a good versatile print for as much grey as I use.

Alphabet flannel. Quilt back probably. 2 meters.

Mission Accomplished

Monkeys!

Please excuse that I look a mess. It was literally 100% humidity yesterday (it was raining). And we were hiking. In a rain forest. On the beach.

To leave the park we had to wade into the ocean, take a tiny boat that was filling with water, and hope we didn't sink in crocodile water before getting to the other side. 

Waiting for us back at the hotel was a hot tub and flowers. And a LONG nap.

Green

More on Flickr

Honeymoon Day 1

Pattern Maker

Has everyone seen this?!

You can use this website to turn a picture into a quilt pattern!! I think I might do this with a picture from our wedding or honeymoon. Wouldn't that be a cute keepsake?


You can choose how many colors and how complex the pattern is too! Big squares, little squares, or squares & triangles.

Inspiration

Lately I've been inspired. Having the time to sew and not having to worry about work, my mind is opening.


Like these bathing suits at Target. I love the stripe/check/dot mix. And while red and aqua is so common, hot pink and aqua needs to become the new "it" combo. In fact, aqua is so "in" right now. (Do I sound like I watched too much Clueless growing up??). Last year I couldn't find aqua ANYWHERE, this year it's taking over. I predict orange will be the "it" color next year. 

Tonight we went to Applebee's for dinner. The space was divided with stained glass. It reminded me that quilt inspiration can come from so many places. So while the pictures wouldn't come out (dark restaurant, glass reflecting light, people everywhere - not a good picture situation). I sketched it (because yes, I have graph paper in my purse). I might scan it once I rework the design with color, but I will leave you with some other neat stained glass pieces. Great COLOR and design! A lot of craftsman/arts & crafts style pieces would translate especially well. 

!!!

I went back to Hip Stitch today to take picture of my handiwork. All nicely organized by weight and color. 

Anyway, Suzanne (the owner) had a surprise for me...

Are you ready??

And lest you think that I spend all my time in fabric stores, here is my Pixel Quilt progress (on the design wall).

FABRIC!!

I spent the day yesterday at my LQS (Hip Stitch). I went in innocently. I was just looking for some pink/red fabric. But they were reorganizing, and I CAN'T pass up organizing. So I took down all of their fabric and organized it by color. And set up the books.


Then then told me the Moda rep was coming by and said I could stay. WHAT?! Not quite as good as being at Market, but OMG yes. I didn't get to take pictures, but here are some previews that are out on the internets.


Favorite upcoming Moda lines (a PDF of all new collections is available here):


1. It's a Hoot by Momo. I can't get my hands on some fast enough!! The fabrics are of a really nice weight and drape. I might need the $100 fat quarter bundle...

2. Dream on by Urban Chicks. Think reproduction 70's floral sheets.

3. City Weekend by Oliver & S. Soooo cute. Again, these fabrics have a nice weight to them too. I like the more vibrant color collections (at the top of the stack) more than the bla pastels.