Month: September 2019

head west part 2.

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I participated in my first Head West Marketplace; this time as a vendor! The market is largely vintage and second-hand. There were also jewelry merchants, painters, plant people, homewares shops, and then there was me! I’m pretty sure I had the cutest shoppers. And the best booth neighbors! Say hello to Ruth Tillman Designs, S for Sparkle, and Akshu and Ing! It was a beautiful day for an outdoor shop! Thank you to the Berkeley community for coming out to support small businesses and to Jimmy of Head West for inviting me to join the event! Join me at all my Feed the Fish co pop up shops. Follow along at http://www.feedthefishco.com. Post cover photo credit: @eboniewj

i like ’em chunky.

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Comment below if you know the movie reference! 🙂 I’m all about chunky yarn always, but it’s especially appropriate for Fall. It’s so cozy looking. I saw these giant yarn balls in the sale section at Michaels and had to resist buying the whole shelf. (They were $10 versus $30 each!) I decided to practice some hand crochet and found a project online for a cat bed. I don’t have a cat, but it’s such a cute project. I used two pounds of chunky yarn, a pair of scissors, and a clip to mark my stitches. Here’s the tutorial I used by Be Cozi. I’m in no way a crocheter, but this tutorial is super easy to follow. Note: Since I used less yarn than in the video my cat bed ended up with less height. How to: Create slip knot. Make a chain stitch of three stitches. Crochet the first ‘row’ of the base: Create six single crochet stitches into the first chain stitch. Mark the sixth stitch with a clip. Crochet the second …

yarn wrap.

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A cozy yarn craft for Fall! Materials: Wood ornament wreath – You can also wrap letter ornaments. Assorted yarn – Try a variety of colors and textures. Scissors Craft needle I removed the hanging string so I could wrap the entire ornament. Begin by tying a double knot. Trim the tail to less than an inch. Begin wrapping, keeping the wraps close together. I wrapped over the yarn tail to hide it. Overlap yarn to completely cover the ornament. Once you’re ready to switch colors, tie the first and second yarn ends to each other with an overhand knot. Continue wrapping, again wrapping over the yarn tails. You can “go back” and overlap the wraps to cover any gaps. Shortcut/style choice: double up the yarn and wrap two strands at the same time. Once you’ve wrapped the entire ornament (you can also partially wrap the ornament – it’s up to you!) use a craft needle to assist with tying a double knot. Then sew in the loose tail into a few of the yarn wraps …

summer weavings.

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I’ve been trying to weave more, but like watercolor, it’s something I find challenging to do at home because home priorities and other craft distractions. So I’m trying this thing where I bring crafts on the go. Plus I’ve got this super cute bag from Rennie that I’ve deemed my weaving project bag. I’ve been going to many tennis events this summer (yay Hubby!), so I’ve been bringing my weavings on the road and all of these weavings are named after the tennis match. Last Regular Season Match. The last regular season match was held at Alameda City College. It was so cold and windy (#bayareasummer) so I had my blanket (also woven!) and my weaving in hand. This is a nice place to watch tennis because they actually have spectator seating not blocked by a fence. I use this as a sample for my Weaving Basics class because it demonstrates all the things I teach in the workshop: tabby stitch, rya (tassels), interlocking weave, and tips for adding texture. This piece measures 5.25 inches …

lake loop.

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Another 24 Lake Tahoe vacay! My parents drove up for their annual Tahoe trip; Hubby and I met them over the weekend. Here’s a peek at our whirlwind adventure! En route we stopped at Rosemary’s Farm to Fork Cafe for avocado toast, chicken and waffles, lemonade, and tea. We also stopped for treats at Mahoroba Japanese Bakery. And when we got to Tahoe, a homecooked dinner was waiting for us! And we found snacks in the pantry. QT ensued! We woke up early to enjoy sunrise at our Tahoe home, but whoopsies, we didn’t realize the sun would rise more to the north so we couldn’t really see it break through from our vantage point. It was still pretty. We suited up and headed to breakfast before the crowds at The Old Post Office Cafe. I’ m a sucker for biscuits and gravy. And then for the first time, we looped the lake in one day. We weren’t planning to, but we just kept going. 🙂 We stopped every so often for nature views… Fancy …

flower power.

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Yay! Flower crown workshop fun at Mischief! Even shop dog Toto was in on the fun! I had three lovelies in class today. We shared favorite flower stories and created beautiful felt blooms together. Tahdah! Gill D’s art was the perfect backdrop for this photoshoot. Thank you to Mischief for hosting and congratulations to this new class of felt floral gardeners. Can’t wait for my next workshop in the shop!

everybody gets a pennant.

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I was invited to lead a community group social at Square HQ! Everyone got to decorate a pennant with their community group name and extra goodies like gems and tassels. I precut all the letters and mini Square logos, and matched them up with a coordinating pennant. At the event, I laid out the pennants and envelopes with phrases on a welcome table. It made it feel like a fancy dinner party with name cards. I set up each table with all the things to get crafty – hot glue, gems, felt, yarn, scissors, tassel makers, fabric markers, and safety pins. Everything they needed to create their pennant was in the envelope, but if they were feeling extra, they could create tassels, cut out felt (some made mini flowers!), color their pennants, decorate the back, anything! All the fun creations and all the fun people! Yay! Thank you to Kelly of Square for inviting me and organizing the event, and to all the community group reps for getting crafty with me!

monterey munchies.

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Hubby’s tennis team made it to Sectional Championships this year. They represented the East Bay Area in Monterey. All of the matches were held at Chamisal Tennis and Fitness club (like last year!). We didn’t get to explore much in between matches, but when we did, it involved food. Here’s a short guide to Monterey munchies. Day 1. On Day 1, Hubby’s team had back to back matches. I’m not sure how they all survive off of protein bars and sports drinks, but here’s what we ate afterwards. Culturas Hidaldo y Oaxaca Restaurant: pinwheels, seven tacos, shrimp diablo, and cucumber lime aguas frescas. The star of the meal was the aguas frescas! Day 2. On Day 2 they had one morning match which meant we had a whole afternoon to explore. We grabbed burgers at Bagel Kitchen (they ran out of bagels by the time we showed up) and headed to Lover’s Point Park for a picnic. Bagel Kitchen had already turned off the fryers, too, so we picked up fries at the beach snack …

succulent wreaths.

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I debuted a new class at Rare Bird this year: felt succulent wreaths! I gotta say, this has got to be my favorite iteration of my felt succulent class. Here are some recaps from the first two workshops Set up: each station gets a grapevine wreath, a stack of practice felt, instructions to keep, a pair of scissors, a hot glue gun, and a surprise goodie envelope (it’s got a lil Feed the Fish co keychain!). Plus there’s community felt, stencils, fabric markers, and samples. Inaugural class! Such beautiful creations! While they made their wreaths, I made a special request miniature wreath. In class two I had a sister trio join, and then it turned out that they knew the fourth student, too. It’s a small crafty world! So many gorgeous succulents! In this class, while students were busy crafting, I made a sample wreath for a quicker (smaller) version of the workshop. I’m obsessed! I’m hoping to teach this workshop again in the Fall/Winter. I’m also planning to create a few smaller wreaths to …

we be stampin’.

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My friend Laura B. (of laurabsewin) and I had a stamping night. We carved out stamps and hand stamped some fabric for future sewing projects. But first she whipped us up a meal from Hello Fresh. Craft energy! Then crafts! It had been four and half years since I picked up my block printing supplies. I really should do this more often. Carving out the stamps is super satisfying (like picking a scab!) and I enjoy seeing patterns and designs come to life. Here’s my materials list: carving blocks fabric ink linoleum cutters foam brushes paper plates paper pencil fabric, pre-washed brayer and printing plates (optional) First we drew designs for our stamps. I was initially thinking gingko leaf but that got hard real fast. I ended up carving out a monstera leaf and a trio of half circles – one solid, one striped, and one rainbow. Laura cut out a sea lard, a triangle, and a 3D cube. You can draw directly on the carving block, or you can draw on a piece of …