The Waiting Game

*Tick tock*

Baby can arrive any day now. I’m 38 weeks and super excited to meet the wee mister. But I have to admit that there’s still a bit to do so I’d appreciate it if he arrives any time after the last week in February.

So what’s a girl to do while she waits?

Make the baby some crib sheets and a sling.

Explore the coast, Half Moon Bay.

Hunt down the perfect macaron. Success!

Unpack the stash, even if not in an orderly fashion.

I’ll be honest, I’m not great at waiting (I’m the person that arrives to places early). But luckily there’s quite a bit of distractions in these parts. That reminds me, I must distract myself with more macarons!:)

**Instagram friends, sorry these pics are repeats from my feed. A camera phone is so much easier to use these days.

My Going-ons

Let me begin with admitting that there hasn’t been much sewing going on around here; a refashion here and a baby blanket there. It was hard to get inspired in a mostly bare sewing room. And today we received our sea shipment made up of 60 boxes. Half has been unpacked and nothing organized. So now with most of my sewing stuff here, I find it hard to sew because everything is out of place. Gah! Send me a fairy godmother quick! Sooo, I decided to share my going-ons of late as a way to procrastinate the inevitable. I mean, why not? It’s been a while.

Last week I had a great visit with my best friend. We headed into San Francisco (I’m living in the burbs, y’all) a few times and did quite a bit of sight-seeing.

No visit to SF can go without visiting Britex. Quite pricey but quite inspiring. I don’t see myself shopping here unless I had a very specific, fine project I was working on. Maybe best to go during one of their big sales?

During another visit to the city we walked along Fisherman’s Wharf, nipping into stores here and there. It was a gorgeous day so the walk was quite pleasant.

My friend Linds is a barista so stopping into some of SF’s best coffee shops was a must. We hit Blue Bottle Coffee. The constant long queue reminded me of Monmouth Coffee. But sadly Blue Bottle Coffee didn’t hold a flame to it (Monmouth forever!).

We nipped into a Tcho chocolate factory. It smelled gorgeous. I resisted buying any but I did get to try a bite of some dark chocolate and it was delicious. Must go again! Maybe even give the factory tour a go? Hmm…

We carried on until Pier 39, home of a colony of sea lions. So so cute, and so so smelly.

I knew another 2 mile walk would take it out of me so we headed back on the light rail. The tram was super cute and quite a nice way to get around in the city.

Over the weekend we decided to be adventurous and drive to an overlook and see the Golden Gate Bridge. Quite the adventure when you (well, my husband) are driving a manual car on steep hills. Greg grew some grey hairs on that trip. But we made it!

And that pretty much sums up what I’ve been up to in my neck of the woods. I really enjoyed having my best friend around. You can probably imagine how boring it can be, moving to a new city with no friends. Linds saved my sanity last week (come back!).

I guess I should go tidy up the place. Maybe…

Until next time! Hopefully I’ll have something cute to share (other than a baby!).

OWOP: Day 7 with Stripey Ginger

Yesterday was the last day of OWOP. I really had a great time doing this challenge. It forced me to think outside of the jeans-and-t-shirt box and spruce up my look a bit. I definitely felt extra special every day because I knew I actually spent time deciding what to wear.

A group of us celebrated the end of the challenge with a few cocktails and friendly chatter. Meeting up with fellow stitchers never gets old. On the contrary. I look forward to meeting up more and more. It’s nice to chat about your hobby with someone who understands what you’re on about. Poor hubby just grins and nods when I explain what I’m trying to do with a garment. Bless.

A great night is always guaranteed when you mix three things together:

1. Alcohol

2. Chocolate (Find my tutorial on how to make these lovely macarons/macaroons here).

3. Great company.

Stitch and Witter and House of Pinhiero

Pimp My Curtains

Did You Make That, Auxetically and Lazy Stitching

Pimp My Curtains and Claire

Tilly and the Buttons and Did You Make That

What fun!

Thanks to Tilly for thinking up an awesome challenge that got my creative juices flowing. Thanks to Karen for organizing another fab meet-up. And thanks to y’all who humored me by listening to me go on and on about The Tube. I am obsessed with that show!

Liebster Blog Award

Evie form Pendle Stitches has awarded me a Liebster Award. Many thanks, Evie!

“This Award is given by bloggers to other new bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to help spread the word about their blogs and to help them gain wider recognition. 

Liebster is a German word meaning dearest, favourite or beloved.

The Liebster award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:

1. Choose 5 up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers to award the Liebster to.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their site. Leave comments on their blog so they know about the award.
4. Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don’t know about you.”

And the nominees are some ladies that I recently found and started reading:

She was great fun when we met in Edinburgh and I look forward to meeting again. The Crafty Traveller
Her happiness is infectious. I love her happy approach to her posts. Struggle Sews a Straight Seam
I love her photos of sewing close-ups.The Secret Life of Seams
She picks the most darling fabrics for her makes. Darling Autodidact
She and her partner sew together! What, what? You’ll Find Me Whistling

So here’s where I share the five random facts about me. Nothing too embarrassing or silly, I promise.

1. Spanish is my first language. Originally form Puerto Rico, my grandparents migrated to Brooklyn in the 50s. We spoke Spanish at home and English at school. Sadly, my Spanish has gotten ridiculously horrible and I am too embarrassed to speak it when I go home to visit. I answer in English and accept the side-eye they might give me.

2. I graduated from an all-women’s university and I loved every single moment of it. It truly was four of the best years of my life. Uni provided me with the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, travel the States and go abroad. It was during my study abroad in London that made me decide I wanted to live here again.

3. The Imperial War Museum is my favorite London Museum. A close second is the V&A. I spent a bit of time in the IWM reading rooms. I read letters and diaries from WWII for my dissertation on women and the home front.

4. I can’t swim. I tried learning when I decided I’d love to participate in a triathlon. I just can’t tread water. Not to save my life. Literally. But I can happily float on my back.

5. My first car was named Harry because I bought him in Harrisonburg, VA. When Harry was replaced I named the second car William. Yeah. I think I was always destined to live in England.

So there’s just a bit about me. I enjoy reflective exercises like this. I love going back through memory lane.

Okay. I’m off to get ready for the final day of OWOP. Looking forward to meeting up with fellow OWOP participants tonight. Yay!

Bargain finds at Walthamstow Market

I’ve been anxious to visit Walthamstow Market after reading Karen’s posts (here and here) about the great sewing finds it has to offer. My friend recently moved to the area so I invited myself (cheeky, I know) over to check out her new place and the market. Luckily for me she didn’t mind showing me around and being patient as I ogled over all the great stuff I saw.

Fabric is the last thing I need (…for now) but I had to snatch up this blue eyelet at £1 a meter.

Only something sweet can come from this

I own quite a bit of fabric but I’ve found I don’t have enough notions. When I was making my sailboat skirt I had to nip out for a zip. I kept my eye out for some and bought these, 20 for 50P!

Zips! No concealed ones...but still...Zips!

So many great stalls for haberdashery. I felt like an overexcited puppy. Haberdashery galore!

I love a bargain

1. 30 Snaps, 50P
2. 5M of lace, 50P. (Hoping to use these for some cute undies)
3. 4M of lace, £2.00 (My first purchase at the beginning of the market. Didn’t know there cheaper options to come!)
4. 7M of stripey cotton twill, 50P
5. 30M Bias Binding, £2.35
6. 30M Bias Binding, £2.35
7, 30M Bias Binding, £2.35
8. 25M Bias Binding, £1.00
9. 10M navy lace, £1.00
10. 5M of elastic, 50P
11. 6 buttons, 40P
12. 35 buttons, 30P

All in all I think I did pretty well for myself. I walked away with a ton of notions and spent less than £20. Yowsers. Thanks for posting about Walthamstow Market, Karen. Great market, great finds.

Royal Ascot

Today I got to wear my handmade fascinator. I made it a month ago for the Royal Ascot and boy was it time consuming. Each piece was hand sewn and the whole construction took me four hours. But the time spent was totally worth it.

All dressed up and ready to hit the races

Birthday fabric finds!

My mister asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I instantly replied with, “Fabric, please.” Although I have quite the stash growing I still wanted to branch out and get something other than cotton or cotton blends. With Dibs along I knew fabric shopping would be twice the fun. And it was. I took her to my favourite fabric shop in Holloway, Rolls and Rems, not too far from my place. They have the most unbelievable remnants bin I have seen. It’s pretty big.

Rolls and Rems, Remnants Bin

I’m glad someone told me about this place because I would have never found it on my own. The best part, it’s a 15 minute bus ride away. I have yet to buy anything that isn’t a remnant. But maybe one day I’ll purchase something outside the bin. They have pretty and affordable options.

Oh, so pretty

And affordable notions and haberdashery.

Buttons

A bit of haberdashery

After spending quite a bit of time stalking the bin and walking about the store we finally made our purchases. It was quite the successful venture!

A happy Dibs with her fabric finds

Two very satisfied customers

I walked away with 24 yards, or 22 meters, of beautiful fabrics for £32! Not bad. Not bad at all.

When I picked this sheer pink polka dot fabric I was channeling Marie, from A Sewing Odyssey. I loved the look of her Sorbetto top. So feminine, so sweet. I want those things! Hope I can accomplish that with my polka dot choice.

Sheer pink polka dot fabric

This black taffeta has such great details. It will make a lovely dress and skirt. Yes, I got that much of it. I am hoping to make Gertie’s Full Gathered Skirt with it. Do you think it’ll work? Or will I need something with less details?

Black taffeta

This cotton lawn will make a sweet skirt or blouse. Once I get my order of patterns I’ll decide which one I will make.

Cotton lawn

Dibs kept laughing at me when I pointed out which fabrics would make great napkins. I can’t help it. I love napkins. It’s the hostess in me. I love throwing dinner parties and setting a gorgeous tables. Every year, around Thanksgiving, I go crazy looking for vibrant, sophisticated napkins and always come out empty. They are either overpriced or dull, dull, dull. Why did I take up sewing? To make napkins. Yes. True story.

Floral cotton

I see a great springy dress or skirt in this green floral linen.

Green floral linen

This is my ace. I knew I was in for a challenge when Dibs walked away from this one. She explained it was due to how costly and/or time consuming pre-shrinking wool could be. I love a challenge so I snapped it up as soon I saw a woman put it down. When I become an amazing sewist I will make a jacket with this one. So this one will be put in the back of my stash cabinet. See you eventually, my pretty.

Pink, navy and black checkered wool

These pretty squares I bought from eBay. They are part of my birthday gift from G as well. They are 62 4″x4″ vintage Liberty squares. When I saw them I instantly thought: patch skirt! Sadly I will need a billion more to make one. Wish I had done the math before bidding and winning them. So dear reader, what shall I make with these little treasures?

Liberty Vintage fabric squares, 4"x4"

Feeling crafty

I’ve been feeling crafty but lazy as well. I’m not in the mood to commit to a possibly time consuming project. So I worked on some cute picnic napkins that I mailed to my friends as an apartment-warming gift. Like me, they love food and cooking lovely dinners. These napkins will fancy up any table setting. And they are so soft. I found this fabric in a shop by Liverpool Street.

And I got to use my new woven labels.  Hope they like them. And I hope they don’t read this blog entry any time soon. If they do…SURPRISE!

The encouragement I needed

Came in the mail today and really cheered me up. Off to show Dorothy and that tunic who is boss!

Wipe ‘Yo Face!

The need to learn to sew came from my failure to find amazing napkins. Yes, napkins. Last November was my first Thanksgiving abroad and I offered to host the event. Ever heard of the saying, “Hostess with the Mostest?” Yeah, that’s me. Nothing gets me more pumped than preparing a menu, cocktails and ‘Blasts From the Past’ playlists to take the guests back in the day. Officially a grownup now (not sure when this happened) I decided that our table could not be set without proper cloth napkins. Paper napkins were not allowed. I searched and searched and never found anything that screamed ‘bringing the fun to the dinner table and leaving your dignity intact.’ Get me? Everything was either plain or gaudy and a bit…um…cheap looking. Unfortunately, with no sewing machine (yet!) and time running out I ended up buying craptastic* cream ones.

But this year I am prepared. I am totally giving my guests pretty, soft and fun napkins to wipe their delicate faces and fingers with.

Purple Hawaiian

Sunkist

I made these for my bestie (Hi Lindsay!) and experimented with two fabrics and mitered corners. Whoa.

Purple Haze

I’m looking forward to getting a bit more flamboyant by adding trims: pom poms, ruffles, ric rac…So many choices. I think that’s why I love working with fabric and trims: all the possible combinations. And the sizes: picnic/lunch napkins, dinner napkins, cocktail napkins!

I do love me some napkins. I will have to conqueror the table runner next.

*They looked good from far but upon investigation…yeah…it was another story.