Friday, January 13, 2012

Oh yeah, I'm also a letterpress printer.

I've been printing since 1999, but for some reason I didn't think it belonged on this blog. I've printed tons of stuff, mostly wedding invitations, and I can't possibly post it all. I can, however, post the calendar pages I've been doing since 2006. I belong to a group of letterpress printers called the Redwood Chappel. (Not religious, that's just what a group of printers is called. It's rather unfortunate these days, like a murder of crows.) Each of the members is assigned a page, we each design and print 400-500 copies, then we get together in October to collate them and talk about how our year went. I'm glad to be a part of it... until recently I've been the only printing female member, and only one of two under age 60 or so.
From top to bottom:
October 2006
November 2007
December 2008
cover 2009
March 2010
April 2011
May 2012
(Sorry about the formatting... this interface drives me batty and I can't get it to look how I would like it to.) You may notice that the most recent page, May 2012, was the inspiration for my Spoonflower tea towel calendar.





Thursday, January 12, 2012

Yet another baby quilt...

 I made this quilt for Morgan from a pair of my old corduroys (grey), some blue minky I had in my stash, the flannel bug print I bought as a remnant years ago, and the green and yellow flannel were part of a birthday gift from my friend, Julie. He didn't really need a quilt, but I was inspired by the fabrics. The back was a shot at a giant log cabin, but with only 3 fabrics, it turns out a little weird. Now looking at it, I wish I had done the last vertical strips on the sides in the green, but oh well. I was in "just-get-it-done" mode when I was piecing it together... very improvisational and quick. I quilted it in a spiral, mimicking the butt pocket shape from the pants on the front. The binding is just the back of the quilt wrapped around to the front and sewn down.

Something for me!


Kathryn got me two balls of fantastic raspberry-colored wool yarn for my birthday. Finally, between Christmas and New Year's Eve, I had a chance to make a hat with it. I found the pattern on ravelry.com, plunked down $5 and started crocheting. It took me one night to complete the cap, and a little over an hour to finish the brim the next day. I put it on and it was too small. Gah! But that's one of the things I love about crochet. It's easy to take out and fix your mistakes. So, I took out 75% of the finished hat, put in another round of increases, and finished the rest of the hat the same way I had done before. This time it fit perfectly. :) I get lots of compliments whenever I wear it, and it's comfortable and warm. Thanks, Kat!