Quilted Library of Babel

Here's a sneak peek at what I've been working on for the last week and a half:

from this:

to this:

and finally, this:

Just a few more touches before I can reveal the whole project. Stay tuned!

Temporary Upgrade?

I really wanted to update this week with a new Therefore I am, but unfortunately I was busy with jury duty this week, and have started another project that is a bit time consuming. So instead, let's talk about my temporary upgrade!

Left: the Mini Ultra sewing machine I bought nearly 6 years ago. It's a total trooper.

Right: My Mom's "fancy" brother sewing machine.

When I was down in Los Angeles visiting my folks, I took full advantage of the sewing machine my Mom bought a few months ago, and sewed with it nearly every night. It was amazing. I couldn't believe how smooth and quiet it sewed.

My Mini ultra has a mere 10 different stitches. In the past, these were enough as I mainly did very basic sewing. My Mom's machine? It has 70, yes 70 different stitches! It also comes with 10 different feet. Who knew you would need that many? Not to mention all sort of other features that make this a dream to sew with. I'm very sad that I have to return the machine to my Mom when I see her in August! Ahh...but until then, imagine all the wonderful things I can and plan to sew? This makes me happy.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Happy Father's Day!

I made this banner in honor of my Dad, who really is the #1 Dad:


I am so grateful for all of his love and support; for everything he sacrificed so that my siblings and I had everything we needed growing up. I love you, Dad!

Fabric fun!

I recently spent a couple of weeks visiting my family in Los Angeles, and came back with some new fabrics. I'm lucky that my parents live very close to Los Angeles' fashion district, where there's tons of fabric stores. I only checked out Michael Levine's, which is amazing, but not very cheap. Had I planned better, I would have had cash on hand and spent the morning checking out other stores, but that's okay. So what did I bring back to Oakland?

Fabrics 1, 4, 5 and 9 were stashed away in a sewing bin I left in my old room. I bought these years ago, when I was exploring sewing. I know I had more, but I donated a bunch of scraps to Inner-City Arts, an arts education non-profit that I worked for.

Fabrics 2 and 3 I found at Saint Vincent de Paul thrift store. It's the first time I've picked up fabric from a thrift store; I normally buy vintage dresses, shirts or furniture. Unfortunately for me, the clothes selection was just so-so.

Fabrics 6, 7 and 8 I bought at Michael Levine's and I already know exactly what I'm going to make with them.

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited that my stash is growing and growing. I also have a few coupons to Joann's, which I'm hoping to use this weekend (before they expire!) and a gift card for Stonemountain & Daughter, a local fabric store in Berkeley. This makes me very happy.

therefore I am: Love

Today is my Mom's birthday, and as a gift I embroidered the following:

My Mom is such a loving and amazing woman. I feel so blessed to have her as a role model. So, this gift is just a small token of my gratitude for everything she's done for me and my siblings. Happy Birthday, Mom!

1, 2, 3 Sew

Ellen Luckett Baker from The Long Thread has a neat book out called 1, 2, 3 Sew. Below is a trailer for her book. I can't wait to check out a copy of it, where she presents projects in groups of three, and each projects build on skills learned in the one before.

Check out the super cute trailer!

Patchwork Star hanging

For my birthday a few months back, I used some of my birthday gift money to buy myself the Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and fabrics (Thank you, family!), which is full of basic techniques for sewing by machine or hand, and lots of other craft techniques and tips. The second half of the book is full of wonderful projects with detailed (and sometimes very confusing) instructions. I already bookmarked a ton of projects, but have decided to start with the Star pattern patchwork.

The instructions in the book are for a 24in finished star, but I thought that was a bit large (imagine the size of frame you'd need to buy for it?) and decided on making a 12in star. I used scraps from 4 different fabrics and interfacing I had left over from the gathered clutch.

The very first step is to apply the interfacing to the back of the fabrics. Here's a helpful tip for ironing on your interfacing: make sure you have the textured side DOWN. It's the adhesive side, and I made the mistake of ironing the interfacing to my damp towel. No worries though, I peeled it off, and ironed it textured side down to the fabric. Phew.

Next, comes the math and ruler part. The instructions call for drawing vertical lines 2 inches apart, and then another set of lines at 45 degrees, two inches apart. I have a hard time wrapping my head around this sort of stuff, so I enlisted Joel's help to mark up the back of the fabrics (the side with the interfacing). You may notice in the photo below that the interfacing is not one solid piece. I made use of all the scraps I had, and just made sure the seams were overlapped when ironing it on.

I carefully began cutting the diamonds with my rotary cutter.

Once your diamond pieces are all cut out, play around with them until you decide on a pattern you like. Below is the one I chose. You can always use more fabrics, but I thought I'd keep it simple and use an even number of fabrics (plus, these are the ones I had handy). I ended up changing the pattern around because I unknowingly flipped a couple of pieces when sewing, but that's okay -- you're allowed to change your mind along the way!

When sewing the individual pieces together, make sure that the right sides are facing each other (IE: the sides of the fabric without the interfacing).

I began by sewing the center pieces together, and then working outwards.

Initially, I sewed an entire star out of 8 diamonds, but I was having a difficult time sewing the additional diamonds to the core star. I ended up taking apart the center seam that joined the two halves together. Once I did this, I quickly basted diamonds to each of the halves and then ran the whole thing through the machine.

And when I was done, I had this:

I still need to sew the Patchwork Star to another piece of fabric before I frame it. Another option is to float it in a frame as is. Now that I've got this first version under my belt, I'm thinking of how to modify, modernize and personalize it. Look out for a different version soon!

therefore I am: Was

This week, I embroidered the following for my dear friend, V.

I was, therefore I am pays homage to a fad where we were obsessed with existential paradoxes. One evening my husband asked, "If you buy something at IKEA in the 'As-IS' section, do you then go home and tell your wife you bought it 'As-WAS'?" This was like Pandora's box being flung wide open. Fun times!

Zucchini Bread Cakes

I baked these Zucchini Bread Cakes to encourage my sister, and for her to munch on while preparing for finals. Go Michi!

Shredded zucchini...

everything in the bowl...

and done!