What's Up?

I had a great time in SF last Saturday. I met up with some internet pals from patternreview. Neefer posted a picture of most of the gang as we were headed out to Satin Moon and Fabrix. Satin Moon was just for browsing - the fabrics are gorgeous but the prices are high. Fabrix was more our style...BARGAINS! Most of the fabric is $1.99. Most of it is also either "yuck" or nothing special but there are good finds here and there. At first I thought I might be the only one not buying anything (yeah, right!), but then I spied some teeny tiny black piping that I couldn't pass up at 25 cents/yard. Browsing through the fabrics I did find some good stuff: white corduroy, from which I plan to make a zippered, princess-seam jacket; some gray sport shirt-type polyester with mesh backing that would be good for trying out a shirt pattern for my husband; an orangey striped cotton from which I'll make either summer lounging pants or a tunic top; and a white cotton with a smattering of colorful, nautical images - I'm thinking summer skirt.

My husband drove me up to the city (what a sweetie!) and while I had my girl-time he walked and roller-bladed in Golden Gate Park. It was a gorgeous day, so after the get-together he picked me up and we went on a walking tour of the Haight district. Beautiful Victorian houses! One had the coolest front gate I've ever seen - I wish I'd had a camera. Haight Street is a combination of old-hippy, trendy, and tourist. Can you believe that there is a Gap store at the corner of Haight and Ashbury? We had dinner at a Thai restaurant on Haight and then headed over to the piers to watch the KFOG Kaboom fireworks. We learned the hard way that the odd numbered piers are north of the Bay Bridge and the even numbered piers are south of the bridge...and quite a walk from the more touristy north piers. We weren't alone in our mistake, however, and we had a lot of company on our walk south. However it was more of a walk than we were up to so we (and lots of other people) found a pier that offered good viewing and camped out there instead. The fireworks display was worth staying later in the city. We don't get up there as much as we'd like.

On Sunday I'd planned to go to the Sunset magazine open house. The Sunset headquarters are only about 30 miles from here and every year I seem to miss it. So this year I decided to go, but we were too pooped from our adventures on Saturday. Oh well. There's always next year. So Sunday was a day of relaxing instead. I finished Twisty Top II and worked on the kitchen valances (finally!). I finished one valance and only need to hem the second.

Vacation plans are being finalized. We're off to Amsterdam, Belgium, and France next month. Woohoo! First stop is Amsterdam. I have a list of fabric stores to visit there but think I may just visit the Albert Cuypstraat market, which is supposed to have fabric vendors as well as lots of other stuff. But if we just happen to be near one of the fabric stores while we're out walking the canals or visiting museums...well, maybe I'll stop in. Although Belgium is known for its lace, most of the lace they sell is made by machine some place else (mostly Asia) and sold for the tourists, so I'm not on a lace-buying trip. Besides, I don't even sew with a lot of lace. I bought some beautiful French lace a few months ago at a sewing expo and I don't even know what to do with it. Our trip into France is pretty much limited to Le Mans for the big race. I'm looking forward to the race but will definitely bring a knitting project (and earplugs) along! I wish I had more vacation time - there's just so much I want to see and do over there!