buzzville

return from Quilt Market!

Mariko and I just returned from the spring Quilt Market in Salt Lake City. It was a lot of fun, although both of us had an ailment of some kind while we were there. I came down with a rotten cold on day 2, which was less than perfect timing. Despite this, we had some fun, saw lots of fabric, and got to meet great people! It's been a while since I was last in Salt Lake City, but we enjoyed ourselves and the little reminders of where we were...

Bright orange flags are available to pedestrians on either side of the street so that you can hold one and (hopefully!) cross in safety!

Although I didn't get to meet Denyse Schmidt, I did see the new line of fabric for Free Spirit (recently acquired by Westminster), and the quilt for the new line, Katie Jump Rope (apologies for the pictures - they have horrible, bright shop lights on all of the quilts that make for terrible pictures!):

I did, however, get to meet both Heather Bailey and Anna Maria Horner and see both of their lines in person. Both were sweet and bubbly, which is particularly wonderful given that I talked to them on the last day of the show. They looked much better than I did, with my runny, pink nose and in my drugged (on Dayquil!) mental state! Here is the quilt for Anna Maria's new line:

 

I also chatted briefly with Joel Dewberry next to the gorgeous booth (it won a prize!) displaying his new line. I overheard him describing some of his inspiration for the line as a recent trip to Tuscany... here's a sneak peek:

Many of the displays were quite creative and fun, and it would seem that several (although not all!) of the fabric manufacturers are starting to pay some attention to the growing new generation of crafters. Here are some fun displays I snapped at Robert Kaufman:

I forgot to snap a picture, but Michael Miller was showing a great ironing themed fabric (not yet on the site) and they made a great display with an ironing board covered in the fabric - very cute!

Although Quilt Market is geared as a shopping spree for the trade they also have a small display of quilts and "wearable art" at the show. I took some quick shots of a few of the quilts and added them to my flickr page and the Quilt Festivals flickr group. Enjoy!

But, what news of superbuzzy fabrics?!? We met with many of our friends from Japan, did quite a bit of shopping, and came up with all sorts of grand schemes for the next year. There are too many pictures to post here, but check out the superbuzzy flickr group to see pictures of what is in the shop now, or soon to come! 

brought to you by...

What a busy week! As some of you may already know, superbuzzy is featured in issue 3 of Craft magazine (the Bazaar section). We couldn't be more thrilled, especially since the theme of the issue is Japan Style! I'm a huge fan of the magazine (a charter subscriber!), and I was so excited when we were contacted about this particular issue. Go snatch up your own copy to see all of the great projects! (Issues are always so diverse in content... it's a fantastic way to try out something completely new!) Here's a scan of Natalie's awesome write-up:

In other superbuzzy news, Mariko and I are gearing up for a trip to Salt Lake City for International Quilt Market May 4-6. It will be our first time to attend this monster of all fabric trade shows, so we are quite excited! If anyone has suggestions for food/shopping close to downtown, we'd love your recommendations. We won't have a car, so we'll be limited to places within walking distance. Most companies don't allow photos to be taken of the new lines, but we'll keep asking just in case! Once we get back from Utah, we'll be getting ready to launch our biggest update yet. It's pretty crazy - these latest shipments have our heart rates elevated for all the right reasons!

Catching up...

Geesh - it's been an incredibly long time since I've been able to sit down a write a post. Things over at superbuzzy are literally buzzing, and it's been keeping us on our toes. We completed a major upgrade to the site last weekend, and we now accept Paypal! More new things are in the works for the shop, and we're getting stuff done as quickly as our 2-woman show can!

I was so excited to see everyone's valentine's day crafts and activities. For the first time this year, we had a preschool party to prepare for. There's nothing quite as cute as a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds passing out valentines to their classmates. I think that the day is much more fun now that we can celebrate with Brynne. Just look at these cuties!

I finally got my crochet hook out again and made this little cutie for my sweetie:

 

He came complete with a vintage "jump hour" watch around his waist as a gift for my valentine. I snatched up the pattern for this cute bear from anapaulaoli, and the pattern worked out perfectly. He has a female counterpart, so I need to find some time to make her as well... Check out all of her great patterns and finished amigurumi!

I made a trip down to Los Angeles to meet with a superbuzzy distributor (more great fabric coming soon!), and Brynne came along with me for the first time. After our meeting, I made my traditional stop at the Torrance Mitsuwa for lunch, and Brynne was thrilled to have her own child's bento, complete with Miffy plate!

Yes, life is definitely better with Miffy and jello!

Otherwise, life goes on as usual, just a bit more hectic! The balance in my life has completely disappeared, but a possible solution may be on the horizon. Change is a bit scary, but I'm gearing up to make a big leap... wish me luck!

huge superbuzzy update tomorrow!

For those of you already signed up for the superbuzzy newsletter, you should already have received our email. But, just in case anyone missed it, we are posting an enormous update tomorrow at 1pm PST. I was ready to post some teaser pics, but my intrepid partner has already done so. I'll be lazy and just send you over there to see some incredible sneak peeks. Otherwise, I hope you have a chance to check out the new goods - there's some crazy good stuff in there!

points north

Wow - I guess I inadvertently took a blog break, didn't I?!? Things here have been even crazier than normal, and I also got a bit of bad news which has been quite the blow, so I guess I've been completely preoccupied with everything else...

We went up north to visit with my family this past weekend (holidays, part 2!), and it was good to get away for a bit. We spent Saturday with family, and then went up to the Bay Area on Sunday (grandma was babysitting!) Jerry was interested in checking out a synth/electronics swap meet of sorts in Berkeley, and I was taken down memory lane when I realized it was held at Gilman Street - a dingy, old club I used to frequent. Then we went to find my favorite Ethiopian restaurant in town, The Blue Nile, only to find it gone. But, we did find *another* Ethiopian restaurant, just down the street from where The Blue Nile had been, and we had an amazing lunch! Someone really needs to open and Ethiopian restaurant here in Ventura! I always enjoy being back in Berkeley. As someone said when I first moved there in 1990, in Berkeley, you'll see one of everything you know, plus a bunch of things you never knew existed. So true!

The clock was ticking as we had to get back to my mom's house for dinner, but we had just enough time to check out the Daiso that recently opened in Daly City. (It's located in the Serramonte Mall - take the Serramonte exit from 280 - it's right next to the freeway.) Now, I'm probably biased since I had the opportunity to visit a few 100 yen shops in Japan, but I wasn't as impressed with Daiso as I had hoped. It was certainly huge, and it was definitely crowded, but I didn't find all the "cute" I was hoping for. They had a few cute things that I snatched up (stationery, a couple of Christmas ornaments, kid's toys), but most of the shop was pretty utilitarian. Some sections had promise, like the dishware section, but there wasn't anything particularly amazing when I went. However, I get the impression that the product turnover is pretty quick, so I would definitely check it out again to see if it gets better. I was especially disappointed that they didn't have any Japanese candy! I guess that's probably for the best...

A quilt a day?

Ok, I know that most of you probably won't believe me, but I've been crafting up a storm here at chez buzzville, and I have 3 (yes, 3!) finished quilts to share with you. I know, I know... I probably should have suggested you sit down before you read that outlandish claim! My plan is to post a quilt a day for 3 days in a row, and get all caught up with what I've been working on lately. Without further ado, I'll share the first of 3 quilts:

You may remember me posting about the quilt that I've been calling the pixelated quilt. It seems like ages since I started it, and it really didn't take all that long. The delay was that my quilting teacher actually started expecting us to try something different... can you imagine?!? So, instead of working away on the pixelated quilt, I had to put it aside to learn some other techniques. But, I'm thrilled to say that this long overdue gift is finally en route to it's tiny recipient (and her mom!). Even though I know it hasn't arrived yet, I'm going to post it here because it might not happen otherwise!

The concept of the quilt is from this book by Yoshiko Jinzenji. Here is a picture of her version:

 

Her quilt was constructed using reverse applique, but I didn't think that reverse applique would hold up well as a baby quilt. So, I decided to approach it from a piecing perspective. I pulled out a piece of graph paper and a red pen, and I just began coloring in squares (pixels) to achieve a similar effect. I didn't want to copy hers exactly, but I did like the way the red was basically a border around the white. After a couple of tries, I came up with something I was happy with. I selected the fabric and pre-washed the white and red together to make sure there wasn't any bleeding. Can you believe that the wonderful, red Kona cotton didn't bleed onto the white at all?!? I then rotary cut the fabric into 1.5" strips, since my grid was based on 1" finished pixels.

I divided the overall quilt into 9 unequal "blocks", and proceeded to assemble the blocks one at a time. As the quilters out there can imagine, this quilt involves a *lot* of seam matching. The block assembly didn't take too long, but once the blocks were finished and it was time to join blocks, that's when the real headaches began! Trying to achieve perfection by joining 2 adjacent blocks and matching the seams every inch was incredibly tough. I ripped and stitched, ripped and stitched. Invariably, I would rip to fix one junction, and then the next time a different one would be off! I got to a point where I was relatively satisfied, and then moved on.

The recipient's mom helped to select the fabric for the backing, so that helped with the decision making. I decided that the only way to quilt this would be in the ditch, and I also decided to use the knife-edge technique rather than adding binding. (This is quickly becoming a favorite technique of mine!) The in-the-ditch quilting went quickly, and then I hand-sewed the knife-edge closing. Here is the finished quilt:

You can see that mine has more red than the original, but I also think that the original was a much larger quilt. It does hang pretty square, despite what the photo is showing... I always find it so hard to take pictures of quilts! I realized after I had started on the quilt that the color scheme (red/white/black) is perfect for a little baby and her developing eyes. The design is also a bit of a Rorschach test - folks in my quilting class were seeing all sorts of things! Here is a detail of the front to show how each seam had to be matched:

The back doesn't really photograph well from a distance - the pattern gets lost - but here is a detail showing the fabric and quilting:

Even though I pre-washed all of the fabrics, the quilt still got a nice, puckered look because I didn't pre-wash the batting.

I really enjoyed making this quilt. Although the pattern was relatively simple, it is unusual and modern. And, the difficulty of the piecing added a challenge that I appreciated. I hope that mom and baby enjoy this quilt!

superbuzzy interview!

I feel so silly about all of this - maybe a bit giddy?!? But, sweet Mary Jo from Trust Your Style is featuring an interview with Mariko and me on her great blog today! So, if you've ever wanted to know more about how superbuzzy got going, or goofy tidbits about me and Mariko, check it out!

last minute gift ideas?!?

I hope no one thinks this is too sneaky, but we've just updated superbuzzy with some really fantastic goodies! Here are some of my faves:

house kit

Shinzi Katoh short bag

yarn!

Shinzi Katoh trim

matryoshka patches!

As always, please drop us a line if you have a suggestion for the shop!

International Quilt Week Yokohama 2006

I've opted not to go chronologically with my superbuzzy trip coverage, but thematically instead. I'm going to try to get everything all posted before everything gets too oldy-moldy. I see that Mariko is tackling the trip posts as well!

We had already walked most of Japan (or at least my feet were feeling like it!) by the time we got to Yokohama for the Quilt Show on Thursda, so I wasn't sure I was ready for the hordes of people and the large exhibit hall we discovered getting off the train in Yokohama. The women bound for the show had been quite easy to spot on the train: they were carrying quilted bags and totes, and wearing incredible pieces of wearable art - much more modern and sophisticated than the quilted clothing I see in the US. There were scores of women lined up waiting to get into the hall as soon as it opened at 10am. I was surprised at the rush to see the quilt exhibit; later I realized the rush was to do some serious shopping - not necessarily to see the quilts!

Although we were interested in seeing the quilts, our priority of the day was to take care of superbuzzy business. Stefana was such a gem - she stuck with us the entire day, helping me communicate when needed, and just being an overall good sport! Once business was taken care of, we wandered through the vendor booths and the quilt exhibits. Stefana and I dragged Mariko around while we admired the quilts (wow!), and we even found a super eggplant!

There were lots of amazing quilts there, and I probably didn't take as many photos as I should, but here is one I wanted to share:

I was completely amazed at how this quilter used these striped fabrics - such a cool effect and such a great pallette! I've uploaded more pictures of my favorite quilts and the quilt show on flickr (including a tiny glimpse of Mt. Fuji!).

Although the quilt show was not overwhelming in size, it was pretty overwhelming with the sheer number of people there. I did not see as many non-Japanese as I had expected to see, and, not suprisingly, I could probably count the male attendees (not including vendors) on my fingers and toes! The Japanese women were shopping with a purpose, snatching up all kinds of fabric, notions, kits, and gift items - including loads of vintage American fabric, buttons, and trims. I was impressed at the wide variety of cool crafty kits available - just more evidence that the craft scene in Japan is more geared toward the modern crafter than it is in the US. There were also vendors selling vintage kimonos and kimono scraps for premium prices; several of the quilts we saw on display were made entirely of silk.

After a few hours of this, we were thrilled to discover a corner with a bunch of foot massagers lined up! We all sat down for an extended period, and our feet thanked us again and again! In fact, Mariko and I returned to the show again on Friday and made a second stop at the foot massage station! Although we didn't buy one (!), I can definitely endorse them! If I were on my feet all day on a regular basis, one of these would be a necessity!

More superbuzzy trip news to come! Please let me know if this gets boring!

shopping, shopping, and more shopping!

Whew! It's been a whirlwind of activity over here... Since my last post, we took the Shinkansen to Nagoya where we met Anjali and Molly for a fantastic dinner, and then we all went out to Harb's for cake and tea/coffee. We spent the next day in Nagoya doing loads of superbuzzy business (more on all that when we get back!), and then took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo late that evening.

Yesterday was spent exploring and spending lots of money at Nippori Textile Town. We were incredibly lucky to be joined by Stefana, who is just as sweet and wonderful as you might imagine. She patiently guided us as we purchased bolt after bolt of fabric! Stefana has graciously agreed to join us again today as we head to our first day at Yokohama Quilt Week. We're not sure what to expect, but we're very excited to see what it's like. We've been snapping loads of photos, but haven't yet found a way to upload them for blogging - so we may have to wait until we get back to share all the goodness!

The US election results are exciting, and we're following the news as best we can from here. It will probably be another long day and late night tonight, but I'll try to get in another post when I can!