baby quilt

since this was made for a baby with an Icelandic name i embroidered the Icelandic flag on the flannel side of the quilt.

 embroidery and quilt ties are linen thread

i love this sweet critter fabric from Drygoods Design, Seattle

Roma

i bought one meter of this yummy fabric at Fratelli Bassetti Tessuti in Roma.  The person that cut the fabric asked what will i be making with only one meter, as if it was a ridiculous amount.  i told him a skirt, but when i failed to find a pattern in my stash that seemed appropriate for the material i settled on a simple dress pattern (Japanese) that utilized nearly all of the fabric.  i made the hem out of another fabric.  the fabric was quite challenging to sew since it is a very large loose weave.  i used bias tape on all of the seams to help prevent fraying. it looks quite nice on the wrong side with all of the taped seams. the fabric is made in Italy but it looks as if it could be for a Chanel jacket.

i also bought this silk fabric from Fratelli Bassetti to make 

a huge square hand rolled edge scarf. 

the selection of silks at FB was quite extensive, but once i saw this one i thought the fabric pattern was quintessentially Italian.

i can't wait to go back to Roma to shop there again.

2 weeks of paving in Italia

svensk flicka

since my grandfather's family was from Sweden 

I was so very excited to visit.  

I could easily get used to eating 

beautifully crafted smörgas 

(that were so very reasonably priced, by the way).

i couldn't stop thinking about this book when I returned home, so i went ahead and ordered it from the same town that i visited, Malmö. here it was simply background to the display of wood turned objects in the store... 

i loved the pattern of this sign.  

it might be the inspiration for a quilt.

Köbenhavn

i fell in love with hyldeblomst!

my sketch in Nyhavn

a knitter gal in the Glyptotek museum

yum!

Ísland

last week we were in Iceland, Denmark and Sweden!

I picked up these lovely horn buttons at the Àlafoss Lopi yarn store 

I loved the Lopi waterfall display at the Reykjavik airport.

textures were expressive of indigenous materials everywhere.

we ate lunch at the Aalto cafe.  

love the cutting board in the shape of his iconic vases.

the landscape is so raw in Iceland, and remarkable for the lack of trees. 

Missoni

simplicity pattern dress, yet lengthened significantly 

with a wonky irregular hem

missoni fabric from Atex, Vancouver

today I'm working on a custom pattern: 

combining a Burda pattern plus tracing a

hand-me-down vintage Donna Karan jacket.

I'm inspired by the Marieta jacket by OSKA,

and a jacket in Kana's Standard.

all the while listening to the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack!

machiko kayaki

i love this new pattern book that i picked up at Uwagimaya.

sewing secret source

Daiso is a favorite place to shop for all sorts of sewing goodies!

i'm going to crochet some jewelry with the colored string.

even the background fabrics came from Daiso, woo...

vancouver has GREAT fabric stores!

silk, wool, Missoni... all from Vancouver BC

can't wait to get these to the sewing table

i'm just having a hard time deciding on what patterns to use

crocheting with raffia

my mother gave me some ribbon yarn left over from one of her projects so I knit until I ran out and then added a gauzy fabric to finish it off.

fabric from District Fabrics, Seattle

pattern from Kana's Standard

national measuring tape day was a while ago,

better late than never, eh?