Lulu Bliss

I Spy...

Turquoise and red, my two favorite colors.  Last week I decided that I need to get some exercise, so my goal is to a 45 minute to an hour brisk walk at least 4-5 days a week.  So far so good, I have been really enjoying my time out and about.  While seeing what is going on in my neighborhood, I have come across some interesting things that I wanted to take photos of.  So I thought I would post them here.  To kick things off I thought I would stay in the color theme of my blog and logo.  Not that these pictures will need a theme going forward, I am just going to take pictures of what catches my eye.  

First up is the cutest little trailer!  I actually squealed when I saw this (I know such a dork).  I have had many fantasies about buying a little trailer, fixing her up and taking to the road for vacations.   I don't think I will be able to afford an Airstream or one of those little teardrop trailers any time soon, but maybe someday I can buy one the of the lesser know trailers and fix her up like this one.  In searching for an interesting Airstream link I came across this group on Flickr, for all your vintage trailer porn needs.  

 

We live about 1 block from a creek that flows through San Jose, so there are little bridges on the streets that cross over the creek.  Some of these bridges are your standard plain jane painted concrete, but others have these fun tile mosaics on them.  All the mosaics are different and this was the one that caught my eye today.  I would love to know if there is some sort of back-story on the who and why of these mosaics, but for now we just get to enjoy.  I vaguely remember when I first moved to SJ, that I saw an older gentleman working on some of these, but I am not 100% sure.  They definitely someones labor of love.  

Some Finished Items!

Despite the lack of new Lulu Bliss Patterns lately, I have been working on a few personal items and have a couple to show you.  The first one up is just perfect for the warm weather we have been having, my second Sorbetto top.  If you haven't guessed by now, my favorite color combo is aqua and red (must be 'cause I got married in it)!  So I wanted to make a fun summer top with those colors:

I do fill out the top a bit more than my dress form, so the bust doesn't look weird on me.  The only change to the pattern I made was to pivot the bust dart down, so it starts at the waist and ends just under the bust (I have heard that this type of dart is called a french dart).  If you have never pivoted a dart, don't be scared... It is a fun and easy way to change the look of a garment.  I think Gertie does a great job explaining how to do this in her tutorial.   This top will go great with the package I received today:

My birthday clogs have arrived!  I was so excited to get them and they fit great, so please ignore the pasty legs and lack of pedicure.  I seem to be in between Lotta from Stockholm's sizes, so I ordered a size 38.  If I ever order a closed toe pair of clogs from Lotta, then I think I would go up to a size 39.  I do think there will be more clogs purchased from Lotta.  

I also have been doing a bit of knitting.  When I am working on something for myself and not writing a pattern, I love me some mindless knitting.  The Phiaro Scarf fit the bill, I didn't follow the pattern really, even though I own it.  But I read what others have to say about the scarf on Ravelry and sort of did my own thing.  Biggest difference is that mine is a cowl and not a scarf or wrap, it is a lot narrower too.  I had some random balls of yarn in my stash that I thought looked good together so there you go.  You can't really tell, but I alternated between two different yarns for each round, so it is technically striped.  If you would like more notes about yarn and modifications made check out this project in my notebook on Ravelry.  

 

Lovely Birthday Weekend!

- At Harley Farms getting to hold a week old baby goat!

I am one lucky lady!  I had such a fantastic birthday weekend and wanted to share the highlights.  It started off with a lazy Saturday morning and breakfast made by my hubby.  Later that day, off to my sister in-laws house and a lovely walk to their gift for me, a wonderful dinner at Paesaneo.  This place didn't disappoint.  I have heard good things about this restaurant and was very excited to try it.  All of the dishes we had were oh so good and I would go back there in a heartbeat.  The fried calamari appetizer is amazing, the calamari melts in your mouth and even though it is fried it doesn't taste greasy or heavy.  Yum!  Give it a try if you ever find yourself in San Jose and want great Italian.  After dinner we walked back to R and K's (sister  in-law and her husband) house for margaritas in the backyard and to admire the amazing full moon.  

 

- Two week old kids.

Sunday morning we drove to Pescadero for our 1pm tour of Harley Farms Goat Dairy.  We have been wanting to do this for so long and I am so glad it happened on my birthday.  What a great place and so worth checking out.  I am sure it is great all year, but late April to Mid May is the best time to go because of all the goat babies!   Talk about cute overload.  While we were on our tour a nanny gave birth to a little boy goat and a couple hours earlier another nanny gave birth to twin little girl goats.  So I now share a birthday with at least 3 of the goats at Harley Farms!  Once the tour  was over we did the goat cheese tasting in the store and I brought home a few tasty treats.  After Harley Farms we drove north to Half Moon Bay and had an early dinner at Sam's Chowder House, where I just had to have a birthday lobster roll.  It was such a great time and I can't wait to go back to visit the goats.  Here are some more pictures of the farm tour:

-This lovely lady had a thing for my hubby or maybe the buttons on his jacket.

 

- One of the twins that was born a couple hours before our tour and one of the guard llama in the background.

 

- Nanny and her newborn, about a half hour after he was born.

 

- Hubby trying to make friends with one of the guard llamas, the llama wasn't interested.

 

- Blurry shot of hubby holding one of the babies.

Happy Birthday to me...

Well almost!  Sunday is the big day and this coming year will mark the last year of my thirties.  Still not exactly sure how I feel about this, but I do tend to love my birthday, so I am pretty okay with getting older.  One thing I do every year is buy myself a little something to celebrate.  This year I bought these:

I love me some red shoes and had to get these Lotta from Stockholm clogs.  I have a a few pairs of red sandals, but none of them this bright red.  On the Lotta from Stockhom site, I saw a few other styles that I really like, this may become my go to clog brand.  They are being shipped from the UK so I won't have them by my birthday.  Hopefully, I will get them in time for my trip to Austin at the end of the month.

Finding Balance

Been MIA lately and feeling guiltly about it.  I have been busy with other projects and not working on my own stuff for the last few weeks.  When I have other jobs/projects to do I tend to just focus on them and leave my own personal projects (writing pattterns, blogging, making samples) on the back burner, which isn't so great when you are trying to build a business.  I think I need more structure to my days and really devote time to my projects (no matter how little) when I do have other jobs to do.  It will be an ongoing process, but hopefully one that I will become better at.  

So what have I been up to?  Well, I have been doing some sewing for private clients (mostly home dec items), drafting and grading a pattern for Jennifer Paganelli and Carla Crim, and doing all the work associated for the monthly Bobbin's Nest Pattern.  So as of last week there is a new crochet pattern available on the Bobbin's Nest site, the Petit Four Scarf:

This is a fun and quick project to make, that would be suitable for a beginner crocheter that can chain, single crochet and double crochet.  For the sample I used The Fibre Company's Canopy in Quetzal and Cat's Claw.  It's a great project for the warmer months, since it is so lightweight.  I want to see it made up in a solid color and also try doing one with scraps in multiple colors with added fringe.  So check it out at Bobbin's Nest, this month the entire site is having a great moving sale, so now is the time to get it.

Want to see what is going to be part of our dinner tonight?

Home grown artichokes!  That big one (bottom center) is going to taste delish tonight with dinner.  Yum!