Aw, Well, I just can't help it -- the shopping experience in Victoria for me means to stop in at my favourite second hand stores....
And of course, I drag along my husband as chauffeur and "all around lift and carry guy" So, I bought him a present, first thing. He is a New York Yankees fan and his ball cap with the NY logo wore out a year or two back -- I spotted this one and knew it was just right -- and the price was in my budget for presents too. $2.99 -- don't want to spend too much on other people you know!
My other fun find was this BLOOM LOOM -- I have been watching out for one of these for a couple of months now. Something that popped into my head while reminicing... Complete with instruction sheet, this is another use for scrap yarn -- at least in my memory anyway. I will have to find some time to experiment and post results at a later date. Right now I seem to be on a RETRO kick and have a few projects on the burner so it may take a while til I get to actually making a start on making a bloom with the bloom loom -- I am hoping to accomplish a small afghan at least -- well, maybe just a retro cushion cover... Will get back to you on that.
Now this little sketch book and cover is not a Victoria find but is a little project I made up in order to journal my days and draw a few sketches as I go along, I used the selvedge of some imported african batik fabrics (pippa moore's website) I is as simple fabric cover with slots in the back page for carrying the pens and pencils, but it has one major drawback, when you want to write on the pages that are "on top" of the back cover the slots with pens etc, make it a too rough surface to write on. I will have to think a bit more about the design for this kind of thing. Again another one of those, WHEN I GET TO IT PROJECTS... not a UFO or a WIP though...
And Last, while in Victoria, there is always "downtime" evenings in the hotel where the activities of the day are complete and all the visiting is done til tomorrow -- so to fill my hours in the hotel room, I worked to put on the binding of one of those UFO CHALLENGE Projects that are on my list to get done.... Here is my Bento Box Variation. This started out as an experiment of how to put a half-log cabin block together, then I actually saw a picture online of a quilt called a Bento Box -- well, I can't say as I made this from a copy of the purchaseable pattern or from a design other than my thoughts on the half log cabin block -- but it is very much like the "official" Bento Box Pattern, so I shall concede that it could be a variation of Bento Box, though also, I do not know what the measurements of the officaal blocks are nor do I know the construction method used in the commercial pattern. I used 3 1/2" wide strips, so the beginning square or corner of the block is 3 1/2 inch square with two strips to build the block, in light dark or dark light combinations. They do look awfully alike and in my version it just worked out the best to make two blocks with each width of fabric so that each block was a mirror image of the other -- it is the mose economical way to use the scrappy strips. Now of course this method, has lead me to another variation which I am working on and may someday complete...I have not given this quilt a name, but it is a nice size for a youth or kid size bed or maybe just a couch throw...
