the art of being precise. ish.

My husband is the kind of guy for whom precision is a must. If something needs to be sanded, he will very likely sand it into oblivion trying to achieve the perfect level of sandedness. If something has two edges that need to match up, you can pretty much bet that you could put a laser micrometer on that bad boy and it would be nearly perfect. Which means the things he makes look amazing, and take ten years to be finished.

Not so with me.

I mean, I love the way precise things look, but I just can't seem to be able to achieve perfection in my projects. Ever.

Partially I think it's because I lack the patience to go as slowly as I should, and partially it's because I'm too lazy to redo a thing over and over and OVER until it's perfectly precise. I just want to be done, y'know? I want to stand back after a good coupla hours and go, "Tada! Look what I made!!"

Which is why a lot of my projects look like this.

It's fine. I like it. But it's certainly not precise. Forget a micrometer--this sucker doesn't even have matching edges when you look at it from ten feet away. But I don't mind.

I bet you anything when my husband comes home he's gonna say, "Jenn, you know those edges don't match up, right?" He'll probably have that pained expression that I, as a mom, get when my kids do a really bad job at something and then stand back all proud of themselves. You don't want to burst their bubble. But you do have to resist the urge to go behind their back and do it right. That's what I would do...if I were a precise instead of precise-ish.

purging

Not the throwing up purging.

I've still got a bit of leftover conquer mode in my system, so I've been doing some cleaning and purging today. Ever been so lazy that you'd rather paint your baseboards than clean them? It's weird I know, but seriously--a cursory wipe with a wet paper towel and a fresh coat of paint and things look instantly better. I'm just saying.

Also, I'm getting rid of some things that I either am not overly fond of, or just don't have a place/use for. Like the second option for my swap partner here:

The first person to leave their address can have it. I really liked this one, but I have way too many mini quilts around here as it is.

There may be a few more freebies popping up on here while I'm purging, so keep an eye out. In the meantime, I'm going to go take a toothbrush and look for gunk-filled crevices. Wish me luck.

conquer mode

When we were kids, my mom would occasionally get in these crazy moods where she would blast music we hated (like Carol King, who I actually grew to love over the years) and spend the whole day in psychotic cleaning/reorganizing/rearranging mode. We called it Conquer Mode. It was a time to be feared and avoided at all costs, as any appearance of having nothing to do was immediately met with the gift of extra chores.

I'm happy to say that now that I am an adult, and have my own indentured servants children, I too suffer from occasional bouts of Conquer Mode. It is a time to be cherished, and utilized to its utmost potential, as it's very likely I'll be back in lazy "ugh" mode at any moment. I, too, force my free slave labor kids to clean and organize while I blast music and work myself silly. Only I let them pick the music, just to offset any hatred.

They invariably pick the sountrack to Tron Legacy, which is totally fine by me.

Today was Conquer Mode day for me. I woke up after a lousy night where I only slept three hours, and I prayed that God would help me to be in a good mood and not use my yucky night and exhaustion as an excuse to be irritable and complaining. I got up, and decided to start checking off my to-do list. So, I:

Transplanted seedlings.

Took care of my weird animals.

Cleaned the kitchen, my bedroom, the fireplace, the air mattress, and did all the laundry. That was satisfying but certainly not picture-worthy.

Got a nice start on my back room renovations, which included varnishing the giant ruler I made as a growth chart for my boys, painting a bunch of frames in various shades of turquoise, and painting a dresser yellow.

I also painted the coffee table a pale gray, and topped it with some chalkboard paint just for fun.

I cut a piece of masonite to fit a cheap Ikea frame, painted it with chalkboard paint, and now I will be using it to make a rotating chore chart for the family.

Helped my oldest put together a Tie Fighter kite that doesn't work but makes an annoying awesome mobile for their room. It's a yucky picture but their room is a cave.

Now it's pouring rain and all I want is to snuggle up on the couch and watch re-runs of something that likely involves unbelievable characters and alien spaceships. I'm very glad I got this all out of my system because I can already feel my motivation winding back down.

What about you all? Ever get in conquer mode?

life intervenes.

So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around?

--Kathleen Kelly, "You've Got Mail"

Lately it seems like I can't get caught up with this blogging thing--it's like life is getting out of control and I can't contain it within the little box of blogland. And I am okay with that. Sometimes I go through these phases where I live to browse and favorite and bookmark and pin. I can't separate my brain from the abstract ether of the internet, and find myself looking blearily away from my screen and being jolted by the revelation that rather than living my life, I just frittered away hours looking at the lives of others and thinking how I could make mine more like theirs. 

That ain't right. But anyhoo. 

I am now on Pinterest. Thank you all for all your suggestions and offers to invite me--it was actually my friend's suggestion that I set up a dummy Twitter account (I don't even have a working cell phone, ha) and use that to log in that finally worked. At first I was worried that it would turn into yet another life-sucking internet activity for me, but it's actually been a good thing so far. I've already put some ideas to use, like making cheap, DIY laundry soap:

I used this recipe (and added the Downy Unstoppables for some smellums), making only a third of the recipe to test it out. So far so good, and you can't beat a gallon of laundry soap for about a buck fifty. 

I also made some DIY handsoap out of glycerin and a bar of Tom's Lavender soap. It has a vaguely gooey, snotlike consistency, but it works and smells great so I'm happy.

I've also started making placemats to protect our awesome new table. Finished painting my bathroom. Planted all my seeds for this year's garden. And finished my "Fab Little Quilt" partner's quiltie:

I absolutely love how this came out. I love the colors, the patterns, the quilting--all of it. I really hope my partner loves this because I feel like I'm gonna have a real hard time parting with it. I mean not just because those are my last scraps of Mendocino.

I also love the quilting. I wanted to do something a little different for me, so I tried a bit of everything--stitch in the ditch, free motion quilting, wavy lines, echo quilting. I feel like it really works with the design and all. 

Anyway, I just need to finish hand sewing the binding, and make the label, and then I'm done!

mini quilt progress

After a lot of hemming and hawing, I finally decided that my original idea for the Fab Little Quilt swap was kind of lame. I was getting too boxed in by ideas and styles that are just. not. me. So I said to heck with it, I'm going to pick weird colors that I like and do some improv work and see how it comes out. Here's what I did today:

What do you think? Meh? Awesome? Personally I love it, although YET AGAIN I've gotten a mute partner so I have no idea what she'll think. I don't know how I feel about parting with my last scraps of Mendocino for a partner who isn't into this, so I really hope she'll let me know either way. I, as some of you might know, have no problem keeping a quilt I love and sending off one that I don't care too much about if my partner doesn't let me know what they think. :)

hanging hearts

Today is a beautiful day. That, and this garland/mobile thingy are making me smile. What's not making me smile is that the picture behind my chair is crooked. Ha.

What's making you smile today??

i heart hearts

So my sewing has come to a bit of a standstill while I wait for money for fabric. Ah, the story of my life. In the meantime, I've been typing away at my "book" and making hearts.

I've never been a big fan of Valentines day, seeing it mainly as an excuse for stores to sell candy and flowers and cards. I want my husband to say he loves me because he does, not because it's the required day for it. And I have to admit, the super saturation of pink and red hasn't traditionally been my favorite thing ever. But for some reason this year I've just gotten into hearts. 

Ever since I saw this quiltie on Flickr last year, I've been wanting to do a drawing like it. The other day I did, and it was fun.

I'm also piddling around with making these heart garlands for my house/my friend's V-day party. 

Seven down, thirteen to go, ha.

On a Valentine's Day-related note, I made these little bow ties for the aforementioned party. There's going to be a little photo area, and I never seem to be able to dress my boys cute for pictures so I'm totally taking advantage of this opportunity. My younger two wanted bow ties, and I also made a skinny red tie for my oldest since he's too cool for school now.

I'm pretty excited about the upcoming soiree. I think it will be nice to have a cute little party for the kids, even if my older boys do find the whole idea of pink and hearts "icky" and "girly". Ha ha ha. Oh, you stinky boys.

like an orange on a toothpeck

Not too long ago, I was sitting around, browsing through all the dormant Flickr swap groups, and wondering when the next rounds of the Doll Quilt Swap, Pillow Talk Swap, or Scrappy Mug Rug swaps were going to start. Christmas was over, my sewing room was clean, and I felt the itch to start making things again. Literally that same day, I got a head-inflating email from one of the top swap mamas on Flickr asking me to join an exclusive mini-quilt swap that was for invited people only.

Well who can resist an offer like that? A personal invitation? The prospect of making a quiltie for some of the super talented people on Flickr--and, even better, to receive one??

I deliberated for a nanosecond. And then I was in. 

I'm super excited about this, not to mention honored to be included in such an amazing group of quilters. Here are my inspiration mosaics:

The other day we recieved our partner info, and I immediately went and did some blog and Flickr faves stalking. And today I pulled a cheery rainbow of patterns and solids that makes me smile. I hope it makes my partner smile, too.

In reference to my now enlarged head, I'll leave you with this, one of my favorite scenes from "So I Married an Axe Murderer": 

a loose ends kind of day

Today I felt inspired to work on unfinished things. For example: the story I've been working on haphazardly for a few years now. I rearranged some ideas, edited some pages and wrote five new ones. Slow going, I know, but cut me some slack--I am surrounded almost constantly by noise and it makes concentrating difficult. That being said it was perfect writing weather today: cold, gray, and briefly stormy.

Once I felt like I'd reached the point of diminishing returns with the writing thing I decided today was the day to finish my ginormous painting. This sucker is 4 feet by 5 feet--the biggest canvas I've used yet. When my husband bought the canvas for me for Christmas a few years ago I immediately knew I wanted to paint a giant magnolia. And then somehow I convinced myself that I should do something else. And I hated the result. I've been meaning to paint over it for ages, and the last few weeks I decided it was time. So here it is, the original (and much more satisfactory--always go with your gut when it comes to creativity!) idea, all finished and making me happy.

"Unfurl"

Oil on canvas

48 x 60

let them eat cake

A little while back, my sister-in-law Rachel sent me a picture of a pretty cake and asked me how I could help her make one like it for my niece's third birthday. I took one look at the prettiness and volunteered. I don't particularly care for eating cake, but I sure do like making them. Especially pretty ones.

The next day I was off to Michael's in search of silk flowers, which I have never before purchased outside the occasional 70% off stem or two. After an hour of deliberating on colors, sizes, etc., I went to the register feeling pretty good about my choices. Then the cashier rang me up and I about swallowed my tongue. 

People, there is NO WAY that fake flowers can possibly be worth that much. Seriously.

But all my grumbling about unethical silk flower extortion evaporated once I started putting the cake together: one 8 inch and one 6 inch round of strawberry cake, frosted with an illegal amount of cream cheese frosting, topped with these-may-as-well-be-made-of-gold-for-how-much-they-cost silk flowers.
 

I was so giddy putting this thing together that I'm pretty sure I jumped up and down and few times. It's possible I even clapped my hands and giggled a bit, but you didn't hear that from me. 

It wasn't a terribly difficult cake to make--Wilton cake decorators and people who use fondant will probably roll their eyes at the simplicity but I don't care. I like it. It made me smile. 

I can definitively say that I certainly never had a cake this pretty...um...ever...so I'm glad I at least got to make one. I know my niece could have probably cared less what this cake looked like--I mean, who cares about cake when you've got a floor-length Rapunzel wig? But I enjoyed it anyway.