Friday Favourites - Japanese Tailors Scissors

There is a guy here in town, the Knife Nerd. He has an unnatural love for Japanese steel, so he opened a knife shop called Knifewear. It's a drool worthy place for anyone who even marginally enjoys cooking. Indeed, Hubby treated me to a great knife for Christmas this past year. One of the perks of the Knife Nerd's job is research and buying trips to Japan.

One of the perks of knowing the Knife Nerd is asking him to buy something for you specifically on one of those trips.

Enter my new favourite scissors. I'm not a collector or anything. For years I've very happily used the Gingher's that technically belong to my husband. But when I started using these Japanese Tailors' Scissors a new level of fabric peace was achieved. So smooth, so sharp, so comfortable.

Perfect for trimming scraps.

100 Days

She went through my snippets jar, picking out 100 unique pieces of fabric.

She trimmed them into relative squares and rectangles.

She sat on my lap in front of the machine.

She learned how to line up the edges of the fabric, place them, and drop the needle.

She guided them through the machine while I worked the pedal. Or we switched jobs and played Red Light. Green Light.

She placed the rows and sewed some more.

She celebrated 100 Days of school.

She celebrates her craft. Here it covers her, but more often she covers her baby brother in this special quilt.

Or,

She fights with her sister over it.

To a T quilt

To a T Quilt

72'' by 72''

Block designed for 99 Modern Blocks.

Repeating the T design for the back. With some very, very girly floral fabric and a shot cotton.

Pink binding. Just for fun.

My sunshiny quilting design. Shows up great on the back. Really happy using the Aurifil 50 wt thread for quilting. First time of many to come.

This quilt is in heavy rotation already. Keeping me cozy as I steal the girls' bed for a quick nap just days before baby boy arrived. Keeping me warm as I ward off the chills of a fever from a bad cold. Keeping the Evil Genius snuggled as she works through the stress of having of a new brother.

Now that's a successful quilt.

10

On a snowy day ten years ago we danced to "Let's Stay Together." A private memory whispered in my ear as he quietly sang along and held me close. Friends and family from across the country with us, champagne pyramids, men with ties as headbands dancing to Rage Against the Machine, heckling during our vows, a geisha delivering sake, mountains of cupcakes, and lots of polka. Now wasn't that a party?!

Today we mark our Tenth Anniversary. Much to my surprise my Hubby is quite keen to celebrate and has been telling the girls all about it all week. For the first time he seems keen to share that marriage is about more than having kids that will grab him a beer when he asks. No matter what he says to the kids, I'm still standing beside him with a laugh.

Today we also mark the birthday of a special girl. She joined us on the day of our wedding. One of my dear friends, a bridesmaid even, ended up having her baby that night. It was terribly early for baby and very, very scary for mom, who was quite sick. After some stressful and frightening months both Mom and Baby emerged healthy. So we wish sweet Rachel a very happy 10th birthday!

This is the quilt I made Rachel for her christening, not quite 10 years ago. We've all come a long way! Her nickname was Bug, so it was all about the ladybugs on this one.

This weekend we are quietly celebrating. It isn't often that our anniversary meshes with Easter, but those two days combining create a confluence of bad luck. Between our anniversary and Easter something always happens. It started with Rachel's untimely arrival at our wedding. Then this happened:

2003 - All quiet...

2004 - Someone lit Hubby's TR-6 parked behind our garage on fire. Destroyed.

2005 - Another quiet year....

2006 - I went into pre-term labour and nearly had The Monster at 29 weeks, the same gestation as Rachel.

2007 - The Monster ended up in the hospital with pneumonia.

2008 - The Monster was back in the ER with a respiratory infection.

2009 - I broke my nose by walking into a door.

2010 - A shockingly quiet year, at least on those weekends.

2011 - My Dad died.

So this year, we can't find a babysitter to go out for dinner. Oh well. With a new baby and an already sick Evil Genius maybe that's a good thing. The days of ties becoming headbands and champagne pyramids are behind us. Taking it easy and relishing all the good things that have happened in 10 years might be a better plan. Especially because there have been a lot of good things in those 10 years. A lot of good things.

PS I decided to wrap up the quilt top, back, batting, and thread and present it to Hubby that way. Thanks for all the advice.