A couple months ago I bought myself some of this Nani Iro Fuccra print because I had really loved it for a year, and I thought that if I waited any longer, the fabric wouldn't be available anymore. I bought enough (just) to make a top, but I had a bit of a time deciding which pattern to use. I wanted flowy and drapey, like the nani iro pattern book cover, but not so flowy and drapey that it didn't have shape. No tailored button-up shirts. I found the pattern I used on yoshimi the flying squirrel's flickr pages, and it seemed just right. It's Burda 7834, and my first Burda pattern. I think I would have like the nani iro pattern book too, but I didn't want to order a whole book and then wait for the order and then have it maybe not be quite right. I'd like to see more of what people have done with the patterns in this book. I guess I'll have to keep my eye on the nani iro flickr group.

A word about double gauze: This was my first time working with double gauze, and I didn't realize that it was actually two layers of gauze until I cut it. I though double gause was a term for a fancy-thick double weave. Now I know!

Quilting again. Thanks goodness! I am still surprised (although at this point I probably shouldn't be) at how therapeutic quilting is for me. Ahhhh.

I've been behind on my one quilt blocks, and it's given me that nagging feeling of owing, even though I know that the whole one quilt project is rather relaxed and that no one is up-to-date. Really we're all just a bunch of sweet, talented, and very busy people working in what we can into a combined project. Anyway, I decided to do a one-for-you, two-for-me on the blocks to get me back into it, while still allowing me to be excited about some spring projects.

This particular blocks is Nanette's genius. Flour sacks and Japanese navy—how awesome is that? My quilt blocks are usually geometric or follow a pattern of some sort, so trying this freehand style was new (and fun) for me. No wonky seams though. I couldn't quite get it right in my head, and there was something funny about trying to get wonkyness and failing.

And, I'm back to making border on my medallion quilt. I am bound and determined to be not too far off when the quilt a-long ends in May.

Color decisions can be so hard to make. It's especially difficult when buying online, but even right up close, the perfect color is not always obvious. I spent a bit of last weekend thinking about color choices, and I plan to spend a bit of this weekend implementing them. I'm dragging my feet.

Hancocks of Paducah carries the whole line of kona cottons, which is awesome, but I'll be darned if I can tell what the color will look like from the little online swatch. You know what they have for that very reason? A color card! It's so cool. I feel like I have the key to all colors ever of fabric. Sorta. I think the kona is missing some subtle blues, greens, and grays, but I hear Amy Butler is going to do solids and that should fill in the gaps.

This last bit o'color is for the little glass-front cabinet where I'm going to keep my yarn. I hope it works out. I was going for mustard-marigold, and I hope I don't end up with something too sunshine.

It's been a week since my little girl headed out for some time on her own with her grandparents. From what I hear, they are having a lovely time with continued plans for fun.

The photo was taken before she left. She was playing the role of the bored model—being made to try clothes on repeatedly for fit, sick of it but acquiescent. The flower patch pocket is the same one that I used in this apron a year ago. (Still a favorite apron for me.) It looks so cheery and kid-like in these pinks and cutsy prints. There is a bit of fabric from my most recent shirt in the petals, so yes we could do coordinating mother-daughter outfits if we wanted to. Scared of that. The flower is that little bit of quilting that I was working on during the plane ride from San Francisco. I really liked having that work to do on the plane, and since I'm taking off again tomorrow, I think I'd better get some pieces cut.

So, I'm happy to share that the dress above will be featured in a book published by Lark. Absolutely A-line (the title) takes a simple a-line dress pattern (Simplicity 5284) and shows you different ways to change it up with embellishments, shortened bits, added ruffles, etc. My contribution is the patchwork pocket. The book is due out in about a year—I think it will be a pretty cute book!

So you know the Virtual Quilting Bee, that wonderful communal-ish quilting project started by Mama Urchin and completed by 11 talented others? I loved that idea. So did Meg. Together, Meg and I decided to start a similar project, which we're calling one quilt.

It's the same premise—12 talented quilting women make one quilt block each month. Each woman is in charge of sending the starter fabrics out for one month, and she then receives the fruits of that month's labors. So each woman receives 12 quilt blocks, enough for one quilt.

See the participants and follow our progress in our flickr group.

It's going to be fun.

And what fun we had there.

My sister lives in San Francisco, and we finally saved up enough airline miles to go out and see her. It was great! We got to meet her boyfriend, Brian, who is awesome, and we stayed in cute her place with windows that latch and a living room with a picture rail. (I love old places!) My dad was out there too so we got to see him and my stepmom. We had a day of nature stuff (Mt. Tam), a day of sightseeing (Alcatraz and Chinatown) and a day of shopping (just my sister and I).

Thanks to Bitter Betty and Futuregirl, I knew some good places to hit for crafty purchases. I went to Britex. Holy crap that place is amazing! So much nice fabric, and a wall of Liberty. I had to ask one of the Britex people if it was really Liberty, like it looked, and she was so funny and understanding. "Oh, yes that's real Liberty. You may feel the Liberty...you may caress and admire it." "Can I take photos?" "Yes, if you'd like, I'll take your photo with the Liberty." Really, they are so nice there. I think six different people asked if they could help me, and the store was quite busy.

Then to Japantown, which has so much stuff, but you'd never know it because it is all inside! I bought some Japanese craft books, including the popular Girly Style Wardrobe. I want to make Eva a little linen jacket and then force her to wear it. (Impossible! My child doesn't like layers.)

I also ate all the delicious food that I could. Oh, man. I have a new food love--Burmese! It's like blending the best of Thai with the best of Indian. My sister took us to Burma Superstar and I am forever grateful. Their food is the best, and their logo is also really cute, which never hurt anybody.

Ah, it made me miss city life. A little. Not too much. Actually it made me want to travel more, but I guess travel does that.

We are officially chicken people. This is our first farm animal experiment. Previously all the animals in our household have been cats. The chicks are here with a job to do: in about five months they will lay eggs. (It would be unfair to say that the cats are not as useful. They may not produce food, but they manage to fulfill their roles as lap warmers and comic relief.)

The chicks are funny. The red one (a Rhode Island Red) is sweet and friendly, the black one (a Barred Rock) is a little stern, and the brown one with fluffy cheeks (an Ameraucana) is worried. I did not expect them to really have personalities, but they do. When they get big enough, we are going to tractor them around the yard. They can find delicious bugs that way.

I didn't think I would have chickens. I though I might have any one of a number of other farm-type animals, but not chickens. I think it's because my BFF is chicken phobic and I love her. But Elie was really down with the idea of chickens and they're a pretty practical animal to keep, so here we are. (Plus, said BFF lives halfway across the country.)

It's been a weekend of food for thought, much of it thanks to Lisa, our local food diva. She had chickens and demonstrated how not hard or weird it was, and she also posted links to all the local CSAs, which was so nice because I thought there was only one and it was sold out. I joined up and am now thrilled about the idea of my veggies arriving once a week in a box, not in the least because this means that I won't have to think about what to buy. It is lessening my domestic thought burden. Back to this weekend. So then to top that all off, my friend Joe got me into the sold out Ebertfest showing of Farmer John, which was just oh so good.

Also this weekend, a tiny bit of crafting for another tiny person. Bibs for baby showers. I swear, there are as many babies as bunnies this year!

Actually, that's a fairly good-natured face-making. The quilt is moving along, and it's nice to have someone to hold up the chained strip flags for a little photo as I go.

The above helper also lost a front tooth today. It has given her a lisp, which is funny because she's always had really good diction for her age. It's also funny because it brings up questions about whether or not the Easter Bunny will meet the Tooth Fairy in the middle of the night. Who can say? I suspect that at this point it's more of a funny idea than an actual wonder.

I have been loving all of moonstitches' in-progress shots of her quilt-to-be. The progress of quilts, particularly block quilts, is so interesting because while the beginning might be simply beautiful by itself, the mystery of the placement, arrangement, and size of the growing and final quilt is fabulous. I guess I love a reveal.

I'm starting a quilt. (See?) I've also been working on Beebs' quilt enough that I have sore hands. I don't think I will ever hand quilt another bed quilt, but I am glad I am hand quilting this one.

This picture is just so I can show how how much Beebs' cat loves her. She likes to sleep on her neck, especially when Beebs hasn't been feeling well. Oh, terrible cuteness.

My friend Lisa shrunk a sweater and was nice enough to give it to me. Accidental felting is not nearly as much fun as purposeful felting. Even though I was glad to have some new material, it really sucks when you wash yourself out of a sweater. I wanted to make Lisa a bag from her sweater. Here it is!

Lisa likes yellow, so I decided to do the the fabric accents in fabulous Denise Schmidt yellow. The wise craft flower is on a pin so it's removable, just in case Lisa isn't feeling quite so frou-frou. (I think I am often feeling more frou-frou than my friends.) This fabric pattern makes good flowers--Erin has a pretty one using the same pattern but in blue. I put a zipper in this bag because it's smaller than the other felt bags I've made and it seemed like there was a good chance that stuff would fall out of it otherwise.

Lisa is the same friend who got the kettle pot holder from a few posts back, and really I have to share some of the design credit with her there. She wanted something that looped around and tied on a button or something, and kindly suggested two of my favorite colors to work with. There will be more of these potholders in the future!