Oh, yeah!

I used my new Gingher rotary cutter yesterday. Nice! It sliced through fabric like melted butter. So, I changed the blade on my 28mm cutter, too. And guess what? It also sliced through fabric with the greatest of ease! I've got PLENTY of replacement blades because I stock up everytime they're half off at Joann's so I don't know why I don't change them out more frequently.

But guess what else?! Instead of using my new Gingher cutter, I went back to using my favorite 28mm cutter! I just really like that size!

The Saturday after Black Friday, etc.

I headed back to Joann's at 7:00 this morning. I was 6th in line, but there was no rush to get in (big difference from yesterday!). I got several bags of batting (Queen, Full and Crib Size; they were out of twin) and I picked up three bolts of Pelon interfacing (what a steal at $2.99 for 10 yards!). And, I DID buy those Legacy Studio fat quarters that I'd talked myself out of (because I don't NEED anymore fabric!).

Now, I'm trying to find a quilt pattern that I can do to use of all those fat quarters (it's a set of 24), and I'm not having any luck! I guess I need to add a solid Kona cotton, and that may help me pick a design.

Next, Brian and I went to the gym for BodyCombat. That was fun, though I couldn't understand anything the instructor was saying. The music was too loud plus and she has an accent. Fortunately I was able to follow along pretty well without accidently kicking anybody because I was out of sequence!

I may run on the treadmill later this afternoon, too. I wish I had my music which helps me keep a beat and run longer. My MP3 player is crapped out. It won't hold a charge, and it gets stuck at the "Welcome" window. We opened it up, but there's no way to replace the battery. I was able to hook it up to the computer and copy all of the music that was on it back to the computer so I can pitch the stinking thing in the trash. Last week, I ordered a new MP3 player from Overstock.com, but it won't get here until Monday. It's a SanDisk Sansa 8MB player. It's refurbished, but it's over half off the retail price of a new unit, and it still has a 90-day warranty. I just hope it works, and I don't have to go through the hassle of returning it.

I asked Brian for an armband to go with it for Christmas. That way I can run on the treadmill with it. Until then, I guess I'll tuck it in the waistband of my pants and hope I don't jerk it off of myself.

Black Friday Shopping

This morning, I braved Black Friday crowds and went shopping at Joann's. This was my first time ever attempting the sales. I got there at 5:50, and the line was wrapped around the side of the store! Most people already had their carts, but I didn't realize that until I was already at the back of the line, and I didn't want to lose my place to go get one. I didn't want anything big anyway so I stopped by the front door and grabbed a hand basket (and almost got trampled in the process because the lady with a cart behind me almost ran over me!).

I totally didn't need one, but I bought a Gingher 45mm rotary cutter for $29.99 (it was one of the doorbusters for today--regularly $74.99). It feels sooooo nice in my hand. It's a light-weight metal. I can't wait to use it. I also bought some 50% off sewing machine needles and a 50% off 12x12 rotating self-healing mat. I was happy to get that little jewel since I've had my eye on one of those for quite awhile.

Fortunately for me, everybody else was making a mad dash for the $1.49 flannel, and they had to stand in line to have it cut. When I was ready to go, I didn't even have to wait in line to check out. I was home by 6:20! Not bad at all.

The bad news is that I have to go back tomorrow because they're having DIFFERENT doorbusters tomorrow. I want a set of Legacy Studio fat quarters for $34.99 and a couple of bolts of interfacing for my purses. The interfacing is a steal at $2.99 for a 10-yard bolt!

Just call me "Inspector Gadget..."

I am just ITCHING to write about this, but I CAN'T so I'll just give a little teaser: I've come up with a little gadget for the quilting industry. Can't say more about it than that because I haven't met with the patent attorney yet. But, it's a WONDERFUL idea, and I can't wait to have it manufacturered. My biggest concerns:
1. cost of the patent
2. length of time to get the patent
3. cost to manufacture
4. length of time to manufacture

There's a local quilt show during the last weekend of March. I'd love to be ready to have something together to be able to sell by then, but I don't know if that's a reasonable amount of time or not...???

Christmas Book List

Every year for Christmas, I ask Brian to get me books to read for the rest of the year. Even though I'm still behind on my reading for this year, I just made my Christmas list:

I always ask for the newest pop-up book, and this year it's called ABC3D. I can't wait to get my hands on that one!

I'm also asking for:

The Breathtaker, Alice Blanchards

The Road, Cormac McCarthy

Cane River, Lilita Tademy

The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Dìaz

My Horizontal Life, Chelsea Handler

Shadow Country, Pater Matthiessen

Foul Play, Janet Evanovich

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, Joshilyn Jackson

Promise Not to Tell, Jennifer McMahon

Empire Falls, Richard Russo

Nobody's Fool, Richard Russo

The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living, Martin Clark

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See

I usually select my books based on the how many stars they got on Amazon.com, however, I've also bought a few Oprah's Book Club books and a few Today Show Book Club books.

Most of Oprah's books, though, I find to be too depressing to read. As a matter of fact, I thought She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb (which got 4 stars) to be one of the saddest, most depressing books I've ever read. I was almost too depressed to move after I finished that silly book.

Alex Anderson's Super Simple Quilts (1 and 2)

So... I also bought Alex Anderson and Liz Aneloski's books, Super Simple Quilts (1 and 2). The first book has arrived already. There are only 3 quilts in the book, but I LOVE IT! The quilt on the cover makes it worth the $9 price of the book.

The second book was a pre-order and hasn't been released yet. I love the quilt on the cover of that book, too.

Foolproof Machine Quilting and Machine Quilting Solutions

I bought this book the other day from Overstock.com. I really like her attitude: "Free-motion quilting?! Who needs it!?" All of the machine quilting examples in this book are strictly done with the walking foot and/or decorative stitches.

She suggests using paper-folded-and-cut templates to create simple-to-sew-around quilting motifs. It all looks so easy to do. Plus, I love her use of embellishments. She uses lots of buttons and rick-rack trim--it's just something unexpected and very pretty.

I also bought this book: Machine Quilting Soutions. This one, on the other hand, is all about free-motion quilting. And, she's RIGHT. She says: "how many of you have walked over to your machine and actually attempted to quilt a flower with no prior knoledge of how to draw a flower?" Okay... I admit it, that's me! Instead, you're supposed to practice, practice, practice drawing until it becomes second nature to draw the flower you want to quilt. Muscle memory is key. HOWEVER... I don't understand how muscle memory works because I'll be holding a pencil with my right hand to practice making the shape. When it comes time to actually free-motion quilt, I'll be holding my hands flat... doesn't that require DIFFERENT muscle memory? I think it does... right...? I'm not sure.

Just in case...

I measured all of my quilt tops the other day so I can start work on the backings. Unfortunately, I've already misplaced my card with all of the measurements on it! So... to keep that from happening again, I'm going to post the quilt top measurements here so I can refer to them if I need to later on (actual backing sizes are in parenthesis after the measurement):

Brian's Quilt: 82 x 90
Marquee Quilt: 86-1/2 x 104-1/2
Hopscotch: 65-1/2 x 77 (70 x 84)
Urban Windowpanes: 48-1/2 x 61-1/2 (52-1/2 x 69-1/2)
Eco Breeze: 48-1/2 x 64-1/2 (53 x 71)
Hancock's Remnant: 48-1/2 x 64-1/2 (53-1/2 x 72)
Chris' Quilt: 81-1/2 x 90

I've finished all of my smaller-sized backings, and now I need to work on the larger quilts. The one I'm dreading the most is the marquee quilt. I think I have two 4-1/2 yard pieces of fabric that I'm going to have to piece together to make that backing. I hope I bought enough because that is a BIG quilt! If nothing else, I can piece together a bunch of the leftover strips I have from the front of the quilt.

Speaking of which... I have a TON of leftover strips from the front of the quilt. I probably have enough to make ANOTHER quilt.

Long Arm Lesson!

I'm so excited! I just signed up for my long arm lesson! It's not until December, but that's okay. It's $15 for a 2-hour lesson and then $15/hour after that! I seriously thought the lesson would be between $50-100 and then then rental was probably $30/hour so I am PLEASANTLY surprised to find the price is only $15! Lucky, lucky me! And, she says a queen-sized quilt can be done in about 4 hours. I've been paying $135+ per quilt to have them quilted across town. This will be a huge cost savings if I can do it myself!

Hancock's Remnant Quilt Backing

I just finished the backing for the Hancock's Remnant quilt. I wrote earlier that the Eco Breeze backing was my first attempt at random piecing. Well it was, BUT... that was controlled randomness. This Hancock's quilt was the first time I've just thrown the fabric on the floor and attempted to get it to align.

My final measurement is 53-1/2 x 72"--just perfect.

Eco Breeze Backing

Here's the backing for the Eco Breeze quilt kit I bought at Joann's. I bought 3 yards of fabric as the directions said I'd need. However, instead of 108" of fabric, the lady only cut me 104"! That totally messed up my nice pretty in-the-middle seam that I was planning on doing.

So... this was my first attempt at random piecing a backing. I did not bad, though I REALLY had to think hard to do it.

The top part in the picture is two pieces; the bottom part is three. I laser-cut my leftover fabric and added it to the middle just for the heck of it, and I really like how that turned out!

Now I'm worried about the Urban Windowpanes backing. I don't have any leftover pieces from the front to add to the backing so if it's not big enough, I'm up the creek (I bought it on a different day, but the same lady cut it for me). I mean I can always buy more, but that really aggravates me if that's what I end up having to do!

2-Hour Quilt Kit

The Eco Breeze quilt kit I bought at Joann's the other day has been assembled! Easy, Easy, Easy. So easy, I should be ashamed! But I'm NOT!

I like that these little kits go together so fast. There's certainly that element of immediate satisfication.

And, I like that I got them on sale.

And, I like that I have practice quilts for all the little techniques I want to try (long-arming for the first time, sewing on the binding, quilting on my machine, etc.). I didn't spend alot of money or time on them, but they look nice, and they'll look even nicer when they're quilted and finished.

Marti Mitchell's Book

Yesterday, Marti Mitchell's book, Machine Quilting in Sections, arrived. Hmmmm... big disappointment, I think. There are six techniques discussed in the book, and I don't like any of them! I need to re-read the five-, six- and eight-layer techniques again and see if these are techniques I think I can use. I scanned them, but I don't think they'll work.

I know I don't want to cut my batting in thirds and then have to sew it back together (which is one of the techniques to eliminate bulk); and I know I don't want to hand-sew any of the parts together. I also don't want to add sashing pieces...

All of that is why I'm not sure anything from this book is going to work for me.

Practice Quilt

So yesterday I played around with free-motion quilting the Hi-Ho Cherry-O mini quilt I made for the Craftster.org quilt challenge. Actually, I practiced a couple of different things: #1. free-motion quilting, #2. walking foot quilting and #3. sewing on the binding.

It's too hard to see in the picture, but I did pretty good! Besides stippling, I also tried the "banana" and "headband" patterns out of Diane Gaudynski book (Quilt Saavy: Gaudynski's Guide to Machine Quilting). I did better at random stippling, though I got a couple of my bananas to actually look like bananas.

Anyway, I did the sky part first, and by the time I got down to the grass, I was able to calibrate my hands with the machine speed, and I got some nice, evenly-spaced stitches. In the sky part, the stitches are way too close together.

Next, I practiced sewing on the binding. I used Sharon Schamber's glue technique (check out her "Binding the Angel" videos on You Tube). Well... I found out I LOVE that technique. It's a little time consuming, but the effort is well worth the results. And, I had to remind myself that pinning is also time consuming so I'd rather glue than pin! I also found out that I really need to find one of those tips she puts on the glue bottle. Her website says you can find them at any craft store, but I doubt it around here.

Anyway, you're NOT gluing on the binding to hold forever, you're simply using the glue (instead of pins) to hold the binding to the quilt until you sew it down. You put a little bead of glue down and then heat set it. Oh, yeah, and it HAS to be Elmer's glue. First, that glue washes out and second, she says it's strictly a starch product so it heat sets nicely.

AND... I also gleaned another great tip from her videos: to use heavy starch on the reverse side of the binding so when it's folded in half, it sticks together and you don't have to fight with flimsy, loose binding. What a great idea, and it worked beautifully!

After the binding is glued down, you sew it on to the front as you would if it was pinned. Next, you IRON IT up (duh! another great tip--why didn't I think of that?) and then flip it over to the back side. Once again, you glue it down and heat set it. At this point, you can handsew it (she suggests a ladder stitch--one stitch in the binding; one stitch in the quilt) or sew the binding on.

So... since I'm so intrigued by sewing on the binding, I thought I'd attempt that. I dug out my stitch-in-the-ditch foot and fired it up! It worked BEAUTIFULLY! Wow! I swore I'd never sew on another binding after I made such a complete mess out of that cute little ClothWorks quilt I made. However, this foot makes sewing on the binding a breeze!

Now... I cut my biding at 2.75 inches because I wanted to make sure the stitches would "catch" on the backside. Well, they caught with no problems because that's TOO BIG! That size leaves an awfully big over-hang that I don't like at all. I'll try another practice quilt with 2.5" and see if that leaves enough room.

And, finally, the only part I really had trouble with yesterday was joining the ends of the binding, and I had to try a good 10-15 attempts (no joking) before I finally figured it out. I have notes from my quilt class, but I can't understand the drawing. So, I made notes on my notes, and I hope I can decipher them the next time I need them!

The Missing Fabric

BTW: I found the missing M'Liss fabric I thought I bought the other day. It was stuck to the side of the washing machine!

Speedo Bathing Suits

We switched gyms last month from Keene Fitness back to Kia Ora (formerly known as World's Gym). We missed the pool and the classes.

So far, though, I haven't been able to drag myself to the pool that I thought I missed so much! However, yesterday, I dug through my drawers until I found the stack of bathing suits I used to wear on Johnston Island when I was swimming regularly. I tried them on this morning. There is NO WAY those stinking things don't fit! I have lost so much weight that I have to wear a belt with size 4 jeans to keep them from falling around my ankles. And yet a size 10 Speedo is almost too small for me! I don't remember them being so tight when I was on JI, and I weighed 15 or 20 pounds more then... Or maybe I was in denial about needing a bigger size and squeezed myself into them even though they're too small? Maybe I was more toned since I was swimming and running all the time? Who knows... I just know they're uncomfortably tight now. Do they stretch out in the water? I don't remember?

So... I decided to order a couple more suits from SwimOutlet.com. I bought some Club Swim suits in size 10 in hopes that don't run as small as Speedos. One is this:

How cute is that? Who'da thunk I'd like CAMO?! But I love it!


I like these 2-piece suits for two reasons. #1. I don't have a necessarily long torso, but one-piece suits tend to shrink up and make me have to hunch over to prevent the suit from crawling up my crotch and crack (crude, but oh so true). And #2 they have tie waists to keep them from slipping off (very convenient).

Now if I can just get over this crud that I have so I can get back in the pool... Buying more suits is definitely a big motivator!

Hancock's Remnant Quilt

The Hancock's Remnants Quilt is finished! It's supposed to have borders around it, but I don't like it well enough to add them!

This is a pattern from the book, Modern Art with Fabric. I like the pattern alot, I'm just not thrilled with the Amy Butler fabrics I used--and actually, I don't mind the brown print, it's the yellow with the circles that I don't like (it's too "straight"). That fabric is hard to see in the picture, but trust me, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

I'm not sure what I was doing wrong, but there are only four seams that should have lined up, and I didn't get a single one of them to align! And I'm talking about being WAY off! Ugh! I hate it when that happens!

So... what am I going to do with this top. I have lots of experiementing I intend to do, and this is a good candidate for all of that. I want to TRY basting and machine quilting on my machine (and I'm just talking about machine quilting with my walking foot--not free-motion quilting which I already know is too far out of my reach from having taken that class). Or... I could use this for the long arm class I intend to take. And, finally, I want to try sewing on the binding again.

The first time I tried sewing on binding was a total fiasco and I swore I would never ruin a quilt by doing that again. However, since then, I've bought a stitch-in-the-ditch foot, and I've picked up a few tips from the Sharon Schamber You Tube videos for GLUING on the binding first before sewing it down (no pins necessary!). I'm definitely intrigued and can't wait to try it out.

Hancock's Remnants Quilt

So... yesterday, I started on my Hancock's Remnant quilt (yes, that's what I'm REALLY going to name it).

I'm using a pattern from the book Modern Art with Fabric. Unfortunately, I'm not real thrilled with the Amy Butler fabrics (the two on the left-hand side). Those two are too tame or too symetrical for this quilt. I've already cut out my pieces and started assembling them so there's nothing I can do at this point except chalk it up to inexperience in selecting fabrics.

Eclectic Block

This block is from blondiespeaks. I have NO IDEA how in the heck she figured this one out, but I love it!

I read her blog, and it's NOT paper pieced! I can't believe it! I could NEVER do something like this unless it was paper pieced.

Eclectic Blocks

Here are two blocks that the SewConnected ladies have made for me. The first one is from luckyduckday. The second is from jacquieg. I love both of them. I thought my fabrics were kind of icky, but I'm SOOOO pleased with what everyone is making out of them.

Fabric Shopping at Joann's

So yesterday, I went fabric shopping at Joann's. All of their quilting fabric is 30% off, and then I had an extra 10% off coupon that I could use. I bought the M'Liss Rae and Heidi Grace fabrics that I scoped out last week. Plus, the Quilts with Style kits like I bought last week WEREN'T on sale this week so I used my 40% of coupon on another one of those.

Then I got home and checked out my receipt. Well guess what? Only one of the M'Liss Rae fabrics rang up at the sale price, and the other 7 I bought didn't! And, there was another $6.99 black and white fabric I bought that also didn't show up on sale.

I called the store, and the girl there was absolutely NO help at all--not that she was rude, but that she simply didn't know (so why do they have people who can't answer questions answering the phone?). She just kept saying, "there isn't a sign that says it's on sale..."

So... I went back today and caught the manager dude as he was walking in the door. I told him my problem, and he used me as a guinnea pig to show his assistant manager how to do a price adjustment. He didn't even double check that the fabric was on sale--he just trusted me. However, I was right because they #1. had to return the fabric at the price I paid for it and then #2. re-ring the sale at the sale price--only today it showed up with the sale price so they didn't have to override the price like they thought they were going to have to do.

They ALMOST forgot my additional 10% off, but we caught that at the last minute.

And BTW, there IS a sign that says the fabrics are on sale. It's very prominently displayed above the bolts.

So... it's sad but true: I spent another $30 on fabric today. This time I bought 3 yards of backing fabric for the kit I bought yesterday. And, I bought some Asian fabric to use on Cynthia's purse, and finally, I bought one more M'Liss Rae black and white that I thought I bought yesterday, but when I got home, realized I'd skipped it somehow.

The Card Party

Yesterday was the Christmas Card Party, and I'm SOOOO happy that it was a smashing success!

I put all the card parts in clear plastic envelopes and then bundled all of those in clear cellophane bags along with red acrylic ornaments of their names that I cut out on the laser. I topped the cellophane bags with red toppers that had big white snowflake die cuts on them. I handed out Christmas gift bags at the end of the afternoon for everyone to put their cards in. That was just a nice little finishing touch. Everybody loved the presentation (and I'm glad because it was alot of effort!).

Judy is ready to have another party like RIGHT NOW! She didn't get enough yesterday afternoon! She ordered the least amount of cards, and got finished before everyone else. She kept saying, "I should have ordered more! I should have ordered more!"

Anyway, both Judy and Laura finished all of their cards (they ordered 16 and 25 respectively). Amy and Cynthia both ordered 50+ cards so they didn't quite get done. Judy and I helped them some, but they still didn't get finished, and they'll have to finish up at home. They each made a sample card of the ones they had left to complete so they'll know how to put them together when they get home.

And out of all of the card parts I put together, I only missed one Christmas tree in Cynthia's set of cards. I'll have to mail it to her.

Oh, yay!

The only bad part about yesterday is that I started feeling really crappy at the end of the afternoon, and now today, I'm SICK with the crud that Brian had last week. Ugh.

M'Liss Rae E-mail!

Yesterday, I made a very brief comment that I thought the M'Liss Rae and Heidi Grace fabric at Joann's is REALLY NICE! Well guess what? M'Liss Rae READ that, and sent me a little e-mail to thank me for the nice words on this blog! I'm a little in awe considering she's a stinking nationally known fabric designer, and she e-mailed ME! Wow!

Well... that is simply the most perfect form of advertising, and I will definitely be buying her fabric for my next quilt (which I've already picked out--it's the black and white one from the Modern Art with Fabric book that I like so much).

I also need some backing fabric for the Urban Windowpanes quilt I threw together yesterday. I'm sure I can find a pattern of hers that will go with that quilt.

All her e-mail said was "I really appreciate the kind comments you made in your blog!" (that's a cut and paste), but it's enough to make me a super-huge fan!

Urban Windowpanes

Okay... this quilt was too easy to put together! I cut out all the pieces last night and sewed them all together this morning. I need to find some backing fabric to go with it, and then I'll make this the practice quilt I use for the longarm machine class I want to take.

I thought I wouldn't finish until this weekend; however, it only took me 2-1/2 hours to finish!

New Quilt Kit

Yesterday, I stopped by Joann's to pick up a package of rhinestones for the card party this weekend. I checked out the on-sale fabric (30% off), and found some REALLY NICE M'Liss and Heidi Grace fabrics! I have an extra 10%-off-my-total-purchase coupon that I can use next week so I thought I'd wait until then to buy more fabric (that'll give me time to decide on a pattern, too, so I'm not just buying random cuts of fabric!).

While I was there, I also found the cutest quilt kit called "Urban Windowpanes." It is a very, very simple pattern, but I loved the fabrics so I bought it (like I need another project!). The kit included 7, 1/2-yard cuts of fabric. The directions specifically say NOT to wash the fabrics before starting, however I ALWAYS wash my fabrics first so I did. I wish I'd measured them before I washed them because, instead of being 18" wide, they were only 17.25"! I can't imagine they shrank up THAT MUCH (and if they did, then I'm super glad I washed them first because I wouldn't want the finished quilt to shrink up that much after I sewed it all together!). And, the package even brags of being "quality fabric." I can't believe quality fabric would shrink that much! However, instead of shrinking, I think they skimped on the cuts.

Anyway, I got the fabric washed, ironed, starched and cut yesterday. The directions say the quilt can be finished in one day (in 6-8 hours). I'll start work on it today, but I doubt I'll get it all finished. I'll bet by this weekend, though, I'll have this top done, too. I'm loading up on tops that need backs finished on them!

I'm going to keep my eyes open for the other quilt kits Joann's has. They're already on sale so I couldn't use my 40% off coupon. I'll wait until they're not on sale so I can use that coupon.

X Stripe Variation

Here's that other block that requires 45­° cuts. I think it's called "X Stripe Variation" in EQ6. It looks simple, but I'm very proud of it.

Tic Tac Toe and Twin Sisters

These are two blocks that I made yesterday. The first one is called "Twin Sisters" and it looks SO easy to do, however, it is the first block I've ever made using 45-degree cuts. I messed around with Corel Draw until I figured out how to draw the 45-degree angles so I could laser-cut the pieces. Once I figured out how to make the cuts, sewing the block together was a piece of cake. (And now I have another block with 45-degree cuts that I'm going to attempt.)

I'm calling the second block "Tic Tac Toe." It's a modified block from EQ6. I don't remember exactly what it looked like in EQ6, but I know I had to change it some to make it easier for me to sew. I don't know how to do partial seams, and I'm pretty sure that block had them in there somewhere. Anyway... more rick-rack! I hope these blocks aren't all looking too much alike. I need to work in more bone.

Today, besides the 45-degree angle block, I also want to attempt a block with circles--not sewn in circles (because I don't know how to do that either), but appliqué circles with zig-zag borders. I'm envisioning a bone background with the King's Road Eclectic print for the circles. Hmmmm.... we'll just have to see about that one...

Modified Contemporary Cross

Here's another block for the Eclectic quilt. It's a modified Contemporary Cross from EQ6. The original block has mitered corners, and I changed those to straight corners instead (becuase I don't know how to sew partial seams!).

One more Eclectic Block

This time, it's a 9" Rail Fence with a 1-1/2 border.

More Eclectic Blocks

Did I write that I'm calling my SewConnected quilt "Eclectic?" That's a good name, I think, because it is really wild.

I made three more blocks this morning. The predominantly brown block (the last one) with the little damask square is just a random block I made. I didn't send out that light brown fabric, and decided I needed a healthy dose of it in the quilt.

The scrappy one (the top block) is mostly Bubbachic's left over fabric. I had to add a few tidbits (the light brown and more bone).

The second block is from Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match by Susan Briscoe. It's called Yamato kasure igeta (translation: "Yamato well curb"--whatever that means?). The blocks in that book are only 9" so I had to add a thicker border to get it up to 12.5".