modern quilt guild of tampa

so, guess what? there's a modern quilt guild of tampa.
what? you didn't know??

well that's probably because i'm the only person in the guild. so far. anybody else want to join me?

i read about the guild on flickr, in one of the pools my quilts are in, and it sounds like fun to me. i love the idea of workshops and get-togethers that involve sewing machines, and i'm sure there have to be other like-minded people in tampa. and since there wasn't a branch in tampa i decided to bite the bullet and just start one myself. who knows what (if anything) will happen with this, but that's the fun of it!

basically, if you like sewing and like quilts, you should join. you don't have to be some veteran quilter or anything. i'm certainly not. ;)

mini art quilts!!

so rather than continue to beat myself up for constantly returning to my sewing machine (instead of doing "real" art) i decided to just throw in the towel and try to be both crafty and artistic. i don't know why the two are supposedly mutually exclusive anyway. the result was, i must say, extremely satisfying. i got the warm fuzzy comfort of sewing mixed with a little abstract creative weirdness. i used my sewing machine like a pen and just drew what i wanted onto the quilt. i like it! i think i'm going to make more of these.

i like how this one looks like a contour map. this is a theme i've messed with for years now, in many different media, but this is the first time i've sewn it. i gotta say, i'm liking the sewn version best so far.

THIS was really fun. i sewed the whole thing on my machine, then hand sewed on the abelone (or whatever kind of shell this is) beads.

more to come later...

tagged!

my friend susan over at whatsoever things are beautiful tagged me. i'm it!

i guess i'm supposed to write seven things people might not know about me. hmmm. i'll try. some things i think people are bound to know. most things are from long ago. still, i'll try.

1) i have a black belt in taekowndo. i used to be part of a demonstration team, too. we would go to schools and stuff and break boards and smack each other with nunchuks. it was pretty fun. kind useless, because i'd probably get beat up in a fight now, but still.

2) i used to be the president of my college's speech and debate team. nerdy, i know. i enjoyed it, though. my last year competing i won third place in the national competition. there were like 700 people competing so it was no small feat. but a nerdy feat.

3) most people know this already, but i had my first baby (who is now almost SEVEN--i can't believe it!) at home. it was great. the best part was not having a nurse barge in every fifteen minutes to check my vitals, so i actually got some sleep the first night. also, spending my first morning with a baby sitting on my own couch looking out at the ocean was pretty rad. it was just such a nice, relaxing experience. i mean, as relaxing as giving birth to a giant baby with no drugs can be.

4) like susan, i don't wear deoderant. i switched to baking soda a year ago and haven't looked back since. so far, no stink, so i'm happy. and my breasts are happy, too, because they didn't like the idea of aluminum filled tumors residing within then. TMI, right? oh well.

5) i have a subconscious need to organize things according to the color spectrum. like my fabric, and thread, skittles, etc.

and if it's candy we're talking about, first i separate them by color, then i eat however many i need to to make the piles of equal number, then i line them up according to color. THEN i eat the rest. it has been suggested that i have a little obsessive compulsive disorder in there somewhere. i just like to think that i'm highly organized. ha.

6) i have a few major pet peeves: banana noise, use of the word "moist" in any context, the song "friends are friends forever", and when you're talking to someone and that have that white gunk in the corners of their mouth and you can't really let them know without embarrassing them or throwing up.

gah! chocolate MOIST cake! disgusting!!!!

7) the most nervous i've ever been about anything, EVER, was this one time i had to sing "friends are friends forever" (please see #6) at a funeral for a kid i didn't know and his whole high school was there and there were tv cameras and everything. oh, and they told me at the last minute that they didn't have a tape player, so i had to do it a capella. AND they made me sit in the front pew with his whole family which felt so super weird because i didn't even know the guy. then, for some inconceivable reason, i decided it would be a good idea to say something while i was up there. i have no idea what i said i was so terrified, but i saw his mom nodding and bawling so i don't think it was too bad. still. i had the shakes for hours afterward. it was by far the weirdest, scariest, most surreal experience i think i've ever had.

okay, i think that's it. it's kind of hard to think of interesting tidbits of info about myself. which is why these are all pretty boring. :)

some finished projects

at last! my mermaid quilt is DONE!

i'm not posting any pictures of the front, because i took them and they looked exactly like this, only with a thin blue border of pink. and i'm too lazy for that.

here's the back:

and here it is in situ, or at least where i like it. i love how it gives that extra something special to my little reading/laptop using nook.

and here is a little birthday crown i made for my niece's birthday. one of these days, xander is really going to be annoyed at me for making him model girl stuff. ilya watched me taking the pictures and said, "ugh! why is sashka wearing a GIRL hat?" (the word GIRL infused with all the disgust a six-year-old can muster)

i can't wait to see her wearing it with her little party dress! hey, i gotta get my girlie kicks somehow...

where has my motivation gone?

i have to admit, i haven't been very motivated to blog lately. i'd rather be DOING things, y'know? and with a limited number of hours between homeschooling, nursing, dinner plans, exercise, etc., i find i'd rather spend those hour(s) making things rather than in front of the computer.

that being said, i AM going to try to post pictures of stuff. here are some experimental cupcakes i baked today for my niece's first b-day party this weekend. i think they turned out pretty cute. and they taste loooovely. lemon sour cream cakes with cream cheese frosting...need i say more?

i promise to post pictures of my other works in progress soon. i've been working on a present for my friend susan, finishing up my mermaid quilt (just the binding left--my favorite part, ugh), and a GIANT painting. i am promising. hold me to it. in the meantime, you can always check out my other blog, where i've been playing with my little point-and-shoot camera.

oh yeah, and i am so excited, i actually WON something on a giveaway at the aforementioned susan's blog! i never win anything! i could have been an extension cord and i'd still be excited but it's better than that and i'm just thrilled. yay!