NYC "Love" Wedding Quilt

My friend Emily got married back in September, and I wanted to make her and her new husband a quilt.

My inspiration: the "Love" sculpture, by Robert Indiana.

I liked this quilt, but I wanted to go for something a bit bigger and a bit more graphic.

This was my initial layout design:

Emily is a librarian, so when I saw that Lucie Summers' "Summersville" fabric had a library in the city pattern, I knew that I had to make a feature of it in the quilt. My embroidery skills aren't going to win any awards, but I LOVE how it came out!

Then, I found the perfect backing fabric - "To Work" from the Commute collection by Jay Cyn Organics. Shut up, New York.

Here it is, all completed on the back.

Oh, ok, I'll show you the picture of the Library again. Surrounded by Big Apples, of course.

Here's the completed quilt top. I used the bicycle fabric that I bought because it reminded me of a dress Emily has, and I used some of the leftover red bicycles from Ed's Rangers Quilt for the bottom of the L.

One New York quilt, now with its happy new owners!

Baby quilts and a recipe

One of my friends from college just became a dad on Friday. Twins, even! And what do twin babies need? Quilts!

I used some of the seemingly endless Moda Verna jelly roll that I bought a few years ago (and have used in a few other quilts), and made improvised stacked-coins quilts with the same fabric in both quilts. I used off-white cotton from Halfpenny Home for the sashing, and a brown print with blue circles for the binding. I used a little bit of one of the blue strips for the corner of binding on one of the quilts, so that they'd be easy to tell apart (and because I ran out of the brown)!

The backing, which you can't see in any of these pictures, is blue polka dot flannel. Soft and warm for February babies!

I finished these just before leaving for NY, so I got to wash them and dry them in New Rochelle (we don't have a dryer at home), and deliver them in person.

LOVE!

While I was there, the then-almost-parents made a wintry salad that was so delicious that I asked for the recipe.

Barlow Salad (adapted from Food & Wine Magazine, March 2012)

Salad:

1/2 head red cabbage, thinly sliced

1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced

3 small oranges, peeled and sectioned

large handful cilantro leaves (that's coriander, for the Brits)

large handful tamari almonds, crushed [I'd never heard of these - apparently tamari is similar to soy sauce but stronger)

zest of 1 lime

zest of 2 lemons

Dressing:

juice of 1-2 limes

juice of 3-4 lemons

1/4 cup of good olive oil

salt & cracked pepper to taste

It was delicious, and wintry, and healthy. Make it!

Adventure in London

Evan, a friend from New Ro, was in town for work last weekend. He stayed an extra day in London after his meetings finished, and we had Grand Adventures in town.

Here he is, reading the paper (with a croissant and a cuppa). How very European!

We went an a walking tour, the Notting Hill walk, and it was excellent. We saw the remnants of the Potteries, and then Robbie Williams' house:

And we saw super-suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst's house:

This was our tour guide. He was funny, witty, full of good stories, and generally excellent.

And then, because we were on the Notting Hill tour, we saw Richard Curtis and his wife! We actually encountered his wife first - our tour guide had said "Now, Richard Curtis does still live in Notting Hill, quite near here, actually."

Then, our enormous tour (30-odd people) were crossing a quiet street while a woman in a car made a u-turn. She got somewhat stuck behind us all. So she rolled down the window, pointed to her house, and asked the guide, "Are you talking about our house?"

"No," replied our guide, "I didn't think you'd want me to!"

"Oh, no, it's fine - we figured you would. Carry on!"

And drove off.

Our guide turned to the assembled and said, "Well, that's Richard Curtis' wife (and son). And that is his house (gesturing across the road)." At which point, Richard Curtis opened his front door, looked at us, and closed it again. "And that was Richard Curtis!"

Srsly. Can't make this stuff up.

So we then went to the Famous Notting Hill Bookshop (which has since gone out of business, because all the tourists took pictures of the bookshop but nobody ever bought anything).

And then we had a lovely lunch (panini!)

And then, we got ourselves some BORIS BIKES! Love. We picked them up in Notting Hill, wove our way across to Hyde Park, then rode down through the parks to Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square, where we dropped the bikes and went in search of a pub. I, naturally, steered us rather close to Liberty where we then had to make a quick visit. Who, me? Naw!

And took this picture while we were both riding. Yes, I am that clever. And no, we didn't fall off. There were a few shouts of "Evan! Keep LEFT!" Otherwise, uneventful. The whole "grab a bike when you need it, then give it back later" is an excellent idea.

HRH was not in residence but we said "hi" anyway.

Then we picked up another set of bikes and rode them across town from Bloomsbury to Paddington, where I picked up my bags, and then we walked to dinner and the tube and then home to Suffolk (or New York).

At dinner (Wagamama, of course!) we both kind of sat there, contemplating our warm bowls of noodles and our aching feet. I had been instructed to provide a fun London day out - I think I succeeded!

Mini-manu for Gabi

Oh my. I first added this project to my Ravelry in October 2010. And then I cast it on in July. The actual knitting went pretty fast (and I loved the pleats at the top and the icord edging). I'm notorious for finishing a project to 95% and then not weaving in the ends. Evil Rowan sweater, I'm looking at you.

Since I bought the yarn about a year ago, I was aiming for the 2 1/2 year old size. Since, you know, Gabi was 18 months old at the time. Yeah. So by the time I actually got around to knitting, I decided to go with the 4 year old size. For which I had very nearly enough yarn but not quite enough to do the pockets. This is a girl who has stuff to carry, mostly acorns, leaves, and other assorted treasures. Pockets, then. In grey. I also edged the sleeves in the same grey so it would look a little bit more I did it on purpose. I actually quite like the way it turned out.

Ok, full disclosure. The sweater wasn't quite finished in this picture - the second pocket wasn't sewn on, I had a few assorted ends to weave in, and the buttons hadn't been added. Also, I'm not sure what I did differently on the left and the right pocket (I followed the pattern both times, or so I thought), but one is an "innie" right at the bottom where it joins the edging and one is an "outie." Who knows. Something tells me it won't be noticed as the wearer is running around in it.

It's all done now, though, and will be in the mail as soon as I remember to bring it to the post office!

Thanks again to the ever-amazing Kate Davies of needled. Another excellent pattern!

Ravelled, here.

Oliver & S: Jump Rope Dress

When I was in New York, Gabi's mom mentioned that Gabi was going to be Annie for Halloween. You know, red curls and all.

So I volunteered to make her dress. And then at a number of points thought I had bitten off more than I could chew.

I went to Purl Soho. I could have spent days there. Easily. So much color, so many beautiful fabrics. And I didn't even buy any yarn!

Gorgeous.

Anyway, I managed to find the now-discontinued Oliver & S Jump Rope Dress pattern. SO cute.

I'm not an experienced seamstress. This dress involved my first collar, my first sleeves, my first placket, my first buttonholes, and my first pockets. Um, this could have gone REALLY badly. 

Thank you, Oliver & S, for writing a completely idiot-proof pattern. I loved making it, and it only took me a weekend plus a little bit.

Please pardon the picture - I finished it on a Tuesday night and wanted to get it in the mail so didn't wait for a weekend to take a picture in "real" light. I can't wait to see (pictures of) Gabi-Annie all dressed up!

Pasta for Christy

I wasn't sure if I should write about this on the blog or not; it's not really my story. I decided to, because it's something that so many people have gone through, and also because I just really need to write it out.

My friend's mom lost a long and extremely spirited battle with brain cancer on Tuesday. She was given 3 months to live, shortly before this picture was taken, when we were in New York, nearly four years ago.



My friend and I met on the first day of high school - we had both competed in the same regatta during the summer and she was wearing the regatta t-shirt (which I had begged to wear to school that day; my mom had set a "no shirts with writing on them for the first day of school" rule). We started talking ("Hey, where'd you get that shirt?!") and that was that. We were friends all through high school, taking part in musicals (she with the lead, me in the pit orchestra), then kept in touch through college, and then moved to New York City around the same time after college. She was living on the Upper East Side when I was living in Tudor City, and we'd randomly meet up for lunch or brunch or drinks (fabulous 20-somethings that we were).

[As a side note, our dads worked together for nearly a year before realising that we were such good friends. "Oh, you live in New Rochelle, too?" "Yep, I do. My daughter is a sophomore at NRHS." "Really? Mine too!" Then, later, to me, "Do you know a girl called Liz? Her dad and I work together!" "Dad, that's Lizzie. She was here for supper yesterday." (I have since been told a similar conversation happened at their house.)]

My parents were living in Florida when we were both in college, and Lizzie's parents decided that I really shouldn't be left to fend for myself in the Big Wide World on Sunday nights. So we'd take Metro North out together for pasta dinner at her parents' house. I don't really remember specific evenings - they all blended together into one long comforting pasta session with parents who weren't exactly mine but were just as loving and caring.

When I was home last month, we knew that the end wasn't far off, so we spent as much time as possible with them. Mostly brief visits, since we didn't want to wear Christy out, but the day before I flew back to the UK, we spent the whole afternoon together. It was heartbreaking, to see her in such bad shape, but also restoring to see the love surrounding her - whenever we were there, there were family and friends either just leaving or about to arrive.

After she passed away this week, I had an overwhelming urge to go and make pasta. With meatballs. For Christy. Because of all the times that she fed and nourished and loved me, the least I could do from the wrong side of the Atlantic was try and feed and nourish and love my family just a little bit extra. So here they are.

Christy, thank you for everything. For being a wonderful mom, a wonderful not-mom-but-helping-out, a fighter against the horribleness that is brain cancer, and an inspiration to us all. We're going to miss you.

All the way from New Zealand!

One of my college roomies lives in New Zealand (the other two from our senior-year Mod Quad live in Connecticut and Alaska). I last saw NZ roomie when we were both in New York, back in 2009.

She was in England for a wedding (her boyfriend was the best man), and came and visited us in Suffolk for two days. WOOT!

I took a day and a half off from work - I picked her up at the Bury station, we St Edmunds-ed ourselves, then we went to Ickworth and romped through the gardens and parkland, and then came home and made veggie shepherd's pie. Yum!

The following day, which was the first properly cold and autumnal day we've had, we adventured coast-ward.

We visited Framlingham castle (as windy as I've ever been there - it was tempting to cling to the railings!), and then revived ourselves with tea in Framlingham. A cream tea, even. See? It was excellent.

We then went to the seaside, Mr. Todd, down by the sea! Liz may or may not have serenaded the seagulls and me with this.



We took lots of pictures, including this one, of four seagulls pointing into the wind:

And this rock, which I liked. These were all taken with my new S95, by the way. Look at that blurry background!

And then we met John in Ipswich and went out for a curry at Indian Palace in Ipswich, after a recommendation from our veg box guy. Excellent.

Too bad she lives so far away - we had a blast!