Babywale!

Nooooo, not baby whale (although isn't this baby Beluga whale from the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago adorable?)



I'm actually excited about a bolt of luscious, scrumptious, incredibly soft ModBlooms Earth in 21-wale corduroy that arrived at my doorstep last week:



Let's take closer look...



Gorgeous, isn't it? Wish you could feel the velvety softness. I immediately had to cut into it and make a version of the Sophie 3-Way Pants in it. These pictures will appear in the pattern instruction booklets, since I took very detailed pics of every step of construction as I was making these.



I love pairing up corduroy with other fabrics, like quilting cottons for example. The contrast in textures is so interesting! Check out how cool it looks with the Kiwi Tiny Dots!



Oh, and for all of you who have been emailing me about the Sophie 3-Way Pants pattern, I'm happy to report that it is off to the testers as I write this, which means it is near completion. As soon as I get those notes from my dear testers, I will put it into editing mode and send to print.



OK, so since this post has such a random feel to it already, I'll tell you about our weekend. I thought it was such a coincidence that when I Googled "baby whale" for the image on top of this post, the first photo I found was of that adorable baby beluga from the Shedd Aquarium because we just spent an entire day there on Saturday! Yup! We met up with my cousin Olga and her hubby Jorge, who were here all the way from Puerto Rico to attend the Neocon conference in Chicago. It was a lovely day (a little cool for June, but we were indoors most of the day so it didn't matter.)

We saw a 4-D movie called "Planet Earth"...



Hung out and gossiped about family (of course!)



Played in "underwater caves"...



Posed for photos outside the Beluga exhibit...



I was mesmerized by the beautiful jellyfish...



and all those creepy spiky things that live at the bottom of the ocean...



But what really got my attention were these amazing octopus-wrapped Art Deco lamps we spotted in the lobby. Jeez, how can I get one of these for my studio?!?



Have I ever mentioned my obsession with octopi? One of these days I'll have to scan in some of the dozens & dozens of octopus drawings I've done that I hope will someday find a home in some kind of printed medium, whether it is textiles or paper...

Alrighty... stay tuned for a wickedly cool giveaway I'm putting together! Coming up soon!!! :)