jenn of all trades

mini quilt progress

2012-01-31T07:32:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-29T13:29:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-26T13:52:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-20T11:14:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-18T13:57:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-17T06:42:00.000-08:00

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.

something serious

2012-01-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

Today, I'd like to post pictures of the new dresses I've made. Or perhaps the painting I'm working on. Or the pretty cake I'm baking for my niece's birthday party.

But I'm not going to.

Instead I'd like to take up your valuable time by sharing he awesomest name I've ever heard with you all:

Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop

Who, if you don't watch the news, is a real person who at some point legally changed his name to that. On purpose. If he wasn't such a psychotic low-life I think I'd want to be friends with him just so I could say his name over and over in public.

That is all.

Lightning strikes; resolutions

2012-01-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

Lately I see lightning quilts popping up everywhere. On flickr, on blogs, and when I did one of those searches to see what pictures of mine are on Pinterest (which, sadly, I've still not been able to join because I refuse on principle to have a Facebook account. Period.) the pictures that have been pinned the most are of my lightning quilts.

It's nice, and slightly funny to me. The funniness is mostly from how easy they are to make; so easy, in fact, that I almost feel guilty at how quickly they come together. As if a quilt so hastily made must have come about by some sort of cheating. But still. It's a very fun quilt. I particularly like this block arrangement I came across the other day by velvetdog76:

Anyway, all this to say that my first lightning quilt (made for my DQS11 partner) has been featured today over at Generation Q Magazine. Woot! Check it out (and all the other goodies on there, of which there are plenty).

Life around here is slowly settling back into the non-holiday groove, and I find myself getting more and more in the mood to create things for the sake of creating--no deadlines, no worrying if someone else will like or appreciate it--I just want to MAKE and DO and ENJOY. Which goes for a lot of things actually. I want to enjoy time with my kids. I want my workouts to be something fun and not just work. I want to look forward to each week rather than to count down the days till the next weekend. I'm not one for New Year's resolutions, but this is something that I think is a good thing to resolve to do: enjoy life, even on the hard days, even doing mundane chores or cleaning up the fiftieth mess off the kitchen floor. I want my life to be full of joy but that's something that requires work. Work and quite possibly an attitude adjustment. Ha.

Oh, and if all goes according to plan, I will be participating in my first sprint triathlon in June. So there.

What about you all? Any resolutions this year?

raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

2012-01-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

I'm back! Today I'm posting about a few of my favorite things from the past month.

First up, meet Mr. Angry Pig.

I saw this tutorial in the beginning of December and knew I wanted to make some angry birds. We are not iPhone people, in fact, the only apple product in our whole house is one really old iPod nano. But every time we're around our extremely apple-happy relatives, my boys latch onto someone's phone to play angry birds. I thought it would be fun for them to throw them at each other. So I made three pigs, and a red, yellow, and blue bird for them. The pig is my favorite.

Next up, the superhero cape!

I tried to make as many gifts as possible this year, especially for kids. My friend's little boy likes to dress up in costumes, and she told me that he would love a superhero cape. After looking at a few tutorials I decided it couldn't be THAT difficult so I just made up my own pattern. I used some thick satiny fabric and then some metallic pleather for the appliqued "A". I loved how nice it came out, and my kids are now requesting that I make some for them, too. I'm pretty sure the recipient liked it too since he was wearing it Christmas Eve and Christmas day as well. :)

Some of my other faves are ones you've seen, like the plum velvet clutch I made for a friend and my fabric map (which is languishing on the wall for lack of attention).

I wanted to show you my new dress, but it's currently at the bottom of a big pile of laundry that needs me to do something about it. Ha.

Today we started school again, and the reality of holidays being over is slowly sinking in. I still have Christmas decorations to take down, and probably 20 pounds of deer sausage and jerky to make.

Stinking reality. :)

times long past; Christmasy stuff

2012-01-02T05:22:00.000-08:00

It's January.

The air is back in my lungs, the house (after today) will be free of cookies and gifts not yet given, and tomorrow my kids will be starting school again.

For the first time in a month the prospect of blogging doesn't feel overwhelming, so here I am. There will not, however, be a backlog of pictures of every last thing I made this month, because that would include:

1) six pairs of pajamas

2) one tiny bathrobe

3) a big purple gumdrop pillow

4) six "pillow fight" pillows (designed specifically so the guys would stop using my nice ones every night)

5) number beanbags

6) three angry pigs and four angry birds

7) two extravagant costumes

8) two Christmas pillows

9) a Christmas kitchen rug

10) my finished Christmas hoops

11) a superhero cape

12) one knit washcloth and one sewn one

13) four jars of sugar scrub

14) eight necklaces and four rings

15) at least 300 cookies

16) my first batch of homemade marshmallows

17) a new dress from my new Japanese pattern book

This list is the reason that blogging has been...intimidating, but I've decided to just take a deep breath and jump back in. So for the next couple of days I'll just show you a few of my favorite things from December, and then we can move on. Sound good?

Every year I try to make at least one new Christmasy thing for the house before the mad dash to make presents begin. This year I made four! So I was happy about that. The first one I finished was my embroidered hoops you may recall that I started on our epic fail camping trip.

I also wanted a cute little rug to replace my usual kitchen rug. This was my first experience making a quilted rug and I have to admit to being a little freaked out by the idea of standing on it. With my feet. But I got over it. I used an old towel for the backing which worked out great and helped me get over my standing phobia.

Items # 3 and #4 were the pillows I finally got done.

All this stuff cracks me up because you probably noticed that it's all the same fabric. I bought half-yards of these fabrics a few years ago and it's like the gift that keeps on giving...I've made all this plus last years tree-skirt and I still have plenty for the stockings I still haven't finished and probably a few more projects as well. That's a lot of mileage from a few half-yards!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T07:24:00.000-08:00

After nearly a month of unprecedented busyness, I'm breaking the silence to wish you all a Merry Christmas. I am so thankful for my family, for time spent together, for presents and parties and a sewing room gloriously free of stacks of boxes and shreds of fabric. But most of all I am so very thankful for the incredible gift of Jesus. The idea of God giving us such a mind-boggling gift is beyond me and I am beyond grateful to Him for loving us enough to do that.

I pray that you all have a safe, happy Christmas and I look forward to getting back on here soon!

xoxo, Jenn

a few things

2011-12-02T12:28:00.000-08:00

Yay! I got my camera back!

I've got so many things to show you all, but I figured I'd just post about a few so as not to overwhelm. First of all, I finished my oldest's first "mom made" quilt. I used the Lightning pattern, but instead of doing the patterned fabric for the lightning bolts, I decided to switch things and up and use a solid instead.

Yeah. Not what I envisioned. It definitely works better the other way, but I know my son will love it because he really wanted to be able to see all the Space Invader fabric and you couldn't really if I'd used it for the zig zags. So alls well that ends well, but I certainly don't love it.

I started a fabric map of the U.S. using my scraps, and I have to say I really enjoy the process and how it's looking.

What I'm not excited about is all those teeny tiny East Coast states. Which is why this is 3/4 of the way finished and not 100% finished.

Next up, an uninspiring but certainly satisfying stack of pj's for my boys. Because Christmas isn't Christmas unless you get pajamas.

I've also started working on some little felt bean bags with numbers for my one-year-old niece. I figure she can chew on them or throw them at her cats or something. That's all one-year-old kids really do with their toys anyway, right?

Lastly, I've been experimenting with different ways to get my super straight hair into nice, Rita Skeeter-esque ringlets for the Harry Potter Christmas party (more on that later), and for the past two days I tried different types of rag-curlers. Which meant that for two straight days I walked around looking like Aunt Jemima, followed by some hilarious, very un-Rita-like afros when I pulled the rags out.

I hope you are all having a lovely Friday. Yesterday we put up our Christmas decorations and had a fire. This weekend starts the crazy Christmas party season for us (literally this is the most insane my calendar has looked. Ever.) and I'm so excited. I think you should all be excited, too!

xoxo

The dog ate my camera

2011-11-30T13:11:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I actually do realize that I ended my last post with "I promise to do better" and then proceeded to post nothing for almost two weeks. But I have an excuse! Really!

Actually I have several. First of all, I was in the home stretch of detoxing and not feeling particularly crafty, but then that went away and I got hyper and productive and basically too busy a-makin' stuff to sit down and take pictures. And then when I realized that I hadn't posted in too long I resolved to do a massive photo-shoot but then...I couldn't find my camera! I looked high and low and tried like mad to figure out where I could have put it. I suspected Malcolm immediately. You see, my youngest is a total klepto--anything small and not-nailed-down ends up in his pockets--or in his "stash" as we call it (the stash has been searched for but never found; after weeks of searching for the tv remote or the computer mouse he'll walk into the room and hand it over as nonchalantly as a toddler can to the bewilderment of us all). Well anyway, after an hour of looking I called my husband to give him the bad news: yet another electronic object disappeared into the black hole of Malcolm's cache. But then he told me he'd taken it--he put it in his backpack before he went hunting and it's been in his truck this whole time. Well it's been four days and I keep forgetting to get it out of his truck. It's like a recurring brainfart. As soon as he's away I think, "Dangit! I forgot again!" and as soon as he comes home I'm up to my eyeballs in dinner and getting the kids fed and kitchen cleaned and jammies on that the camera is the last thing on my mind.

*sigh*

I'm hoping that by taking the time to acquit myself of the crime of negligence I will imprint the need to get the camera out of the stinkin' truck tonight.

Wish me luck.

welllll...hellllloooooo

2011-11-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

I have been so busy lately that I feel like I don't know whether I'm coming or going. I would love to say that all the busyness is sewing related but alas. Allow me to sum up the last month for you with handy dandy bullets, would you?

Epic fail vacation
Husband going out of town while starving myself intentionally
Kids getting majorly behind with homeschooling and the consequential catching up
Kids joining Cub Scouts
My husband and I both being ~~coerced into~~ asked to help leadership of said scouts
Christmas sewing (yay)
Piecing and quilting my oldest's first quilt made by mom
Trying to figure out what is left to eat when you can't have dairy, eggs, gluten, coffee, soy, condiments...etc....
You'd really be surprised how much effort figuring that out takes
Pool deck scrubbing
Bathroom painting
Feverish hacking snotting child caretaking
Harry Potter costume planning
Garden extending

I really could go on. But I won't.

With all this craziness (added on top of everyday craziness) I haven't felt much like blogging. And honestly I feel like 90% of what I'm in the middle of sewing is stuff I either can't take pictures of for fear of spoiling things, or it's just half-finished because I ran out of supplies. But I do have a few things to show you. Like this little clutch I'm totally in love with:

And this little mug rug I made for a friend:

I'll leave you with this: a promise to try to do better with this blogging thing, and a picture of my baby conked out with a fever because it's just so dang cute. Until it wakes up.

ain't no sunshine when he's gone...but there is dressing up

2011-11-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

So. About that lack of blogging.

I have an excuse. Really. TWO excuses that are interrelated actually. It's stupendous. You're gonna like it. Ready?

I'm starving.

Well okay not to death or anything. My doctor recommended I do a liver detox (I hate the way that sounds, like I'm some sick junkie laying off the smack for awhile or something) so this week I've only been allowed to drink these horrible baby-formula smelling shakes, and one type of organic vegetable a day. It actually hasn't been that bad (I'm on day five now so the food withdrawal is pretty much over) but let's just say it's left me less that excited about life. Add to that the fact that my man has been out of town all week, my homeschooled (i.e., home all the time giving me no break ever EVER EVER!!) children are in their best brat modes, and you have a recipe for grumpy brain-fogged Jenn. I miss my husband. I want food. Etc.

I have, however, been sewing. Strangely I can still do that even though I can't concentrate on anything else, or make sense verbally, or function as a responsible, dinner-cooking adult. It's like sewing is one of those autonomic functions that require no actual thinking for me. Awesome, eh? One of the things I made this week is this tunic.

I used Simplicity pattern 2363 to make a long dress. Then I put it on. ICK. Oh my. All that peanut butter brown fabric in a shapeless sack on my big-busted not-slim body was absolutely atrocious. So I chopped it off and made it a tunic. Oh and I had to take the sleeves in as well because with arms at my sides they stuck straight out and looked hilarious. Anyway, I like the way it came out even if what I really wanted was a dress, and it's not the most flattering shape on me. It's comfy. So that's a bonus.

I also started my son's Christmas quilt, finished hand-stitching my niece's stuffed bat, and made a few other odds and ends that can't really be photographed just yet.

We also had some friends over on Saturday and spent a little time carving pumpkins and roasting pumpkin seeds and watching old movies, which was nice. Mines the one about to barf over there. My oldest made one with one with multiple personalities on the left, so there were a variety of faces to choose from. Ha.

And now onto the next bit of, um... dorkiness.

Something about being at home alone with no real motivation to do anything productive makes me want to dress up. Y'know. Try weird makeup. Try on strange combinations of clothing. I was doing a little research for a dress-up party I'm going to next month, and one youtube video led to another, and, well...I got the wild hair to try a little 40's style hairdo and makeup. And then take pictures of it. And then put it on here just because I nearly never have pics of myself on here. So here you go with some grown up silliness:

Oh my. The urge to delete those is nearly unbearable, but what the heck.

Hope you all are having a good week, and enjoying eating food.

Copy-bat

2011-10-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

So the other day I was browsing Flickr, when I came across the stinking cutest thing ever: Evil Emil the bat.

Okay, I said, originality be danged--I have to make this. I wanted to make it for my niece who is turning one, but first I had to ask her mom if it was okay. I think some people might balk at the idea of their baby getting a bat for a present. But it's so cute!

Strangely enough I had everything I needed already so I whipped it up lickety split and I love how it came out. I opted not to include the super-cute monocle and chain because really, that just seemed like a choking hazard for a baby. I'm still going to do the hand quilting on the wings this week. And I haven't decided if I'm going to put the snaps on the wings or not.

Isn't he the cutest?

vacation recovery

2011-10-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

Howdy people. I know it's been ages since I posted, and that's mostly because we went on "vacation". I won't bore those of you who aren't interested in the comedy of errors that was our family camping trip, but needless to say it was rough and funny and disappointing. If you want to read about it, you can HERE.

On the drive up to Tennessee I was able to do some embroidery for a Christmas hoop garland I'm working on. Let me just say--embroidery is the best road trip pastime EVER. The time just flew by while I happily stitched and knotted.

Since we got back we've been in recovery mode. Although I did manage to finish up my kid's costumes for Harvest Festival at our church. I have to say I'm super proud of their costumes this year. I'll be getting pics of those later today hopefully. I'm also working on a cute little stuffy for my niece's first birthday next week, pictures to follow once it's done!

Just didn't want anyone to think I was dead. I'm not. I'm very much undead. So you can relax now. Wipe away those tears and get happy!

xoxo,

The Undead.

Moldy oldies

2011-10-13T03:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the clouds of my funkdom seemed to be parting, so I took full advantage. I sewed those X string blocks, made two pairs of pj's, started embroidering the center part of my Christmas pillow, and finished binding this atrocity:

I don't know how many of you remember when I first put this mug rug together ages ago, but this thing is, in my opinion, the absolute ugliest thing ever. I was so excited about those teeny tiny cross-stitched bits from Super Mario Bros., and then I went and ruined it with grosstastic pinks and maroons. Blech! Still, though, I felt like it needed to be done and possibly given to someone who doesn't share my disgust. Anyone? Ha.

Also, I just realized that I forgot to post about a few things that by now feel so last year. Ha ha ha. Like for example, some of the other glass fused thingies I brought back from class a few weeks ago. Now keep in mind I was entirely unenthusiastic about that class, and didn't want to spend loads of money on glass, so I really went out of my way to use up all, and I mean ALL the glass I bought initially. Which is why nearly everything I made is orange, white, turquoise, and green.

I made a buttload of pendants, figuring some of them could be Christmas presents. Unfortunately the women at the studio took in upon themselves to edit my firing instructions because, "We just didn't think you were going to like the way they looked." !!!! I tried as...diplomatically...as I am capable to explain that I knew exactly what I wanted and what it would look like and I didn't appreciate them taking it upon themselves to change that. ANYWAY, I still don't have 80% of the things I made because they all had to be re-fired. Ugh. I did, however, get this one back, and honestly I think it's my favorite of all the things I made.

I also realized that I forgot to blog about the lovely gift I received from Rachel of Stitched in Color as a thank-you for leading a do.Good Stitches circle this past year. For awhile now she'd been posting about all these fun, improv-pieced composition book covers she was making, and a little while back I was fortunate enough to receive one of them! Now, I LOVE comp books so this was perfect for me. Also, I got a sample pack of some Aurifill thread which I keep hearing about but had yet to try. It's all very exciting!

Anyway, that's all for today. Dosvidanya.

quit yer whinin', will ya?

2011-10-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

Okay so I just realized that I posted two whiney posts in a row. Sorry about that, people! I'm resolving to be in a better mood. And I'm resolving not to blog when I have a migraine and my kids are sick and whiney. Ha. Lesson learned!

Today I realized that this month is flying by, and I needed to do my October blocks for do.Good Stitches. Laura is our quilter this month and she chose to do the X string block which, coincidentally, has been on my short list of blocks I really really wanted to try for the last two years. She asked for brights on a grey background, and here's what I came up with from the ole scrap bin.

Generally speaking I have not loved making string blocks. I thought this one would be the same but awesomely, it was really fun to do and I love the way it looks. This one is definitely going to stay on my "one day" list. (I won't even bother calling it a to-do list because honestly, it might never happen. :)

This month also marks the end of my leadership of the Comfort Circle for do.Good Stitches. It's very bittersweet for me to be stepping down--we've had a great year and I love what this group does for needy families. However, I was feeling way too overloaded and when the work you do out of love becomes a stressful duty it's time to step back and reorganize. I hope that sometime I'll be able to rejoin a circle when my schedule is less hectic. A big fat HUGE thank you to all my quilters and stitchers who have helped produce some truly beautiful quilts for others this year. Also, thank you to Rachel of Stitched in Color for being the most mulit-talented multi-tasker ever and organizing this amazing group of quilters.

Less pathetically than yesterday,

Jenn

jenny jenn and funky funk

2011-10-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

Well, hi.

I am here to confess that I have been in severe funk lately.

Nothing inspires me.

The sight of my sewing room makes me feel vaguel nauseated.

Before, seeing pictures of people having a grand ole time at the Sewing Summit would have left me green with envy. But all I feel is a vague sense of, "Well isn't that nice for them."

In an effort to just, y'know, muscle through it, I decided today was going to be the day I finished my embroidery for Celebrate Color. I sat on the couch and stitched away, and at last it was done! The only thing was, I changed my mind about fifteen times as to what this was going to end up being. In the end I decided that I wanted it to stay a hoop, but with some improv piecing surrounding it.

Maybe it's just this funk, but I am not in love with the result. I can't even say why. It's just...meh.

I do like the embroidery, though. And I really enjoyed the process of working on this. It was my first time working with some different stitches, and it was nice to sort of broaden my horizons in that area.

One thing I know for sure: I should have gone with a grey background fabric. I am not a brown person but I guess I had it in my head that if there's no brown, it can't be fallish. Wrong. Wrong, wrong, WRONG. Gray is just me. Period. Regardless of season. I should have stuck to my guns but I let online peer pressure sway me. Never again.

Anyway, I've got my fingers crossed that this malaise leaves me soon, otherwise...(cue doomsday music)

the blahs

2011-09-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

This past week has been pretty uninspiring for me. It's really really stupidly hot outside so I just couldn't bring myself to make anything fall-ish. And, I don't know, I'm just going through one of those phases where I don't even want to LOOK at my sewing room. Do any of you ever get like that? I'll be insanely creative for a few weeks, then get a week of the blahs and I look at my to-do list and I just can't make myself care.

Plus I've kind of been pouting about my sugar allergy. I hate to admit that, but there it is.

ANYWAY, I think I'm emerging from the funk because yesterday I busted out a few fallish things that make me smile. I've had a stack of pretty colored felt sitting in my closet for months now, and coincidentally they just happened to be the exact colors I've been getting into for fall. So I made a leaf garland that was based on a split second glance at a picture I saw over at Stitched in Color. You can tell it's split second because I did it weird and mine isn't nearly as cool as the lady who did it first. But I still like it. I just couldn't get a good picture.

I also used that felt to make this Felt Rosette Wreath, which I totally adore and I'm so excited that I actually made myself something like this. Sometimes I get so into fabric that I forget there are other materials to try, and I really love the way felt looks in this kind of piece.

Plus I feel like it makes my front door look so dressed up and nice.

What do you think of these colors? I've been on an orange, gray, green and aqua kick for so long that these richer, deeper colors are really calling to me right now. Every year for three years I've said to myself that I want to get or make some more fall decorations, but here's the thing: I ABHOR orange and brown together. I mean, I really really hate that combination, and let's face it--all fall decorations are orange and brown. Bleh. So I feel like you know what, I'm going to pick colors I like that make me feel nice and fallish, and if nobody gets it oh well. I'm the one who has to live in it.

Don't these flowers just feel so cozy to you? It almost makes me want to make a whole bed of roses out of felt to snuggle up in. If only felt weren't so insanely itchy.

Anyway, here's to saying goodbye to the blahs...for now. :)

The Most Disappointing Day of my LIFE

2011-09-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

My oldest can be so overdramatic sometimes, and lately everything he experiences is the best or worst day of his LIFE. You really have to put the emphasis on that last word to get the full effect of what he means by it I guess. Last Friday after our homeschool co-op we had to go get new tires. Thankfully there was a Chik-fil-a nearby so they spent that hour and a half playing on the playground and drinking milkshakes instead of bouncing off the walls in a tiny waiting area that smelled like tires. Once we got done and we were driving home, he announced, "Wow. Co-op AND milkshakes AND the Chik-fil-a playground? That was the best day of my LIFE."

Well this morning I had to go get an allergy test which I was kinda not looking forward to. The prospect of 48 needles was not appealing, and while it didn't hurt that bad it was still not my favorite thing ever. I don't quite know what I was expecting--maybe a gluten sensitivity at the most. I knew I didn't have any real serious allergies but they were testing me for sensitivities. So they poke me a million times and immediately one area starts itching like crazy. Two bumpies right next to each other in particular. When she came back and looked at it she started laughing and shaking her head.

"What?" I asked.

"Well," she said, "This one right here is histamine, which you should be reacting to. So that's normal. But this one here...well we all know it's the root of all evil but I've never seen anyone react like this to it."

"Which one is it?" I ask, wondering if I'm going to have to start eating soy or something awful because I'm allergic to meat.

She points to the sheet of allergens and guess what is written there?

Sugar.

Freaking SUGAR. Are you kidding me? Sugar? Really? For the person who loves to bake this is like...I don't even know how to explain my feelings. It is just...ugh. I mean I don't have that big of a sweet tooth but sugar is in everything. How do you avoid it?

When I told my oldest his response was, "Wow. This must be the most disappointing day of your LIFE."

Indeed. :)

pillows and plates

2011-09-21T07:50:00.000-07:00

For the last three weekends I have been taking a glass fusing class with my good friend Heather. It was something I bought from Groupon a year ago thinking it would be something fun and creative for us to do together, so back in August we decided that September was going to be our month to try it out.

I have to admit--it's not really my thing. I enjoy the creative atmosphere but for some strange reason I thought we would be learning glass blowing, which involves fire and danger and excitement. Finding out we were just going to be cutting out pieces of glass and sticking them on another piece of glass to have it melted down into a plate or a bowl was sort of a disappointment. But still, I made a few things and I think they'll turn out okay. So far the only thing I've gotten back is this, and it just makes me laugh looking at it.

It's super shiny so I couldn't get a glare-less picture, but you get the gist. I could tell that all the old people who work there were like, "huh?" because in general most of what they produce looks like this:

Erm. Yeah. Not my thing.

This week I'm also FINALLY finishing binding my do. Good Stitches quilt which I am terribly late on and it's just been like this millstone around my neck for ages. I'm happy I could finally afford batting and got it all quilted up and the binding machine-sewn on this Monday. Now I'm in the process of hand-stitching the rest in place. Also, I finished my pillow for the Pillow Talk Swap.

Most of this was new territory for me. Raw edge applique, swirly quilts, a lot of improv patchwork...none of those are things I do regularly. So I hope it looks okay. Here it is all stuffed.

And a little detail shot of my extremely amateurish swirly quilting. That was just...hard.

All in all I like it though, even if it's not something I would normally make that, for me, is part of the fun of doing swaps. How about you all? Made anything outside your comfort zone lately?

Giveaway winner!

2011-09-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! So, you want to know who the winner of the Joel Dewberry giveaway is?

I mean, I know I said I'd announce it tomorrow but...I've just got way too much on my plate the next few days so I figured I would do it today.

Sooooo.....drumroll....the winner, chosen by random lot, IS....

Congrats, Felicity! Send me your address and I'll make sure that gets out to you!

In other news, last week we had our first day of homeschool co-op. I have to admit I was pretty nervous, particularly because I'm teaching drawing to the high school students. I've never done anything like this before and high schoolers are scary. Not to mention I have all the quiet, stylish kids in the class. But I'm really enjoying it. Today was our first day of actual drawing in class and I loved doing it. I'm pretty excited about watching them grow as artists--even the ones who are taking it "because they have to."

Back in B.C. days (before children) I was vacillating between becoming a physician's assistant or getting my Masters in fine arts so I could teach college art classes. Later on I started thinking I would suck as a teacher because I am proven to be super impatient with little kids. I figured the same thing could apply to older ones. But really I think it's just that I'm an older kid person because I like being able to explain myself without dumbing it down or pausing every few seconds to make everyone shut up and pay attention.

Anyway, all this to say that art is becoming more a part of my life again and I'm really excited about that. Not that I don't love sewing, but art has always been my first love and I've kind of wandered away from that the last few years. Buying art supplies and writing the syllabus and thinking about how to grade things has me in a mode I haven't been in in ten years, and I'm pretty stoked about it.

Of course, I still have eighty billion sewing projects hanging over my head as well, sooo.....yeah.

The end.

geek chic gifts

2011-09-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

This Saturday my boys will be going to the birthday party of a little four-year-old friend of theirs, and since we are low on funds (and really, buying plastic junk that will last a week holds no charm for me) I decided to make gifts instead. His mom told me he's really into Star Wars (my kinda kid) and that he's recently gotten more into drawing. Enter the presents:

My friend Heather gave me some vintage Star Wars sheets to cut a small piece off and this was what I came up with. Two birds, one stone. Of course, I had to make a pencil pouch to go with it.

All in all it took me about an hour for both, which is pretty good I think. I'm getting much faster at putting in zippers that's for sure. In fact it took so little time that I got kinda bored and curled my hair. My kids wonder where I think I'm going but y'know, sometimes a girl just wants to look pretty, even if she's wearing pajama bottoms.

beauty is only skin deep

2011-09-13T05:33:00.000-07:00

The other day I was grocery shopping, and they just happened to have figs on sale--by one get one free. Since I had never eaten a fresh fig in my life, I thought heck, I may as well give it a go. So I bought two tubs of black mission figs and went my merry way home.

I cut one open. I smelled it. I ate it. I was...underwhelmed.

"But it's so pretty!" my mind exclaimed, as if prettiness equals yumminess. Upwards of ten horrific Martha Stewart recipes should have taught me that lesson already. But I was determined. I had to make something of these figs OR ELSE. So I browsed and I Googled and I came across a site with a recipe for fig tart that sounded delicious and guaranteed that even the staunchest fig-hater would be won over by this sumptuous dessert. It also guaranteed that the pie-dough recipe would turn even the most proven pie-ruiner into a pie-crust master. I proceeded with optimism.

After the pie-dough had been beat into submission and rolled into an acceptably thin crust, and I'd spread the frangiapane over the dough, I started cutting up the figs.

See? They just look so yummy.

After they were cut I started lining them up on the tart crust in a circular pattern, which gave me this pretty but slightly alien looking tart.

Then this bizarre creation was popped into the oven for 45 minutes, and came out a beautiful rich purple and brown. It only exacerbated my desire for it to just be fall already.

Doesn't it look amazing? I mean really, I think I might have done a happy dance when this came out of the oven.

And then I tried a piece. And then that piece was swallowed against my better judgment. I did not repeat that mistake. Talk about a beautiful disaster. This was quite possibly the grossest dessert I've ever had the misfortune to attempt to eat. Even my kids wouldn't eat it, which is saying something because I've heard them say on many occasions "I just LOVE sugar!!!"

To the guarantor of this recipe I would like to say: Ew. Also: I want my two hours back, thank you very much.

On a positive note, I have to say this was the first time in my life I've ever made a successful pie-crust, so it wasn't a total loss. I'll definitely be using that one again.

So how about you? Ever made something that looked impressive but tasted terrible? (If you work for Martha Stewart, you can't answer because I'm afraid that would be cheating.)

Giveaway time!

2011-09-12T05:22:00.000-07:00

Remember a few weeks back when I was so excited about my 100 followers, and I mentioned a little celebration being in order? Well here it is.

I've joined up with Aubrey of Southern Fabric, who has generously offered to sponsor this giveaway for me. What's the prize? Drumroll please.....

Some lovely Heirloom by Joel Dewberry! The prize includes 30 six-inch squares of this yummy line for you to play with. Aren't they so pretty? Mmmmm...and I don't usually like purple, either. Of course, there's quite a bit of orange in there which I LOVE so maybe that's what's balancing things out for me. Now, if only I could be in the drawing! Alas, that fun is all for you, dear readers.

How to enter:

1. Leave a comment and let me know that you're already a follower.

2. For a second entry, please visit Aubrey's shop and tell me what fabric you'd most love to have right now.

That's it! I'll do a random drawing on Friday and post the winner on Saturday. Good luck!!

{stuff}

2011-09-11T12:17:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been purely crazy, but I actually have made a few things. Like this Christmas pillow (top) here:

And I've worked some more on my fall embroidery project.

And I made my September blocks for do.Good Stitches.

And lastly, I'm in round six of the Pillow Talk Swap on flickr, and these are some fabrics I've pulled to go with the idea that is taking shape in my brain:

August Round Up

2011-09-02T04:12:00.000-07:00

I feel like I made way more than nine things last month, but apparently not. I blame life for getting in the way.

What about all of you? Productive month?

hand stitching and fun mail

2011-09-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

I've discovered that no matter how much I want them to be, quilting and homeschooling are not really compatible occupations.

School started for us this week and I have had zero time to work on my unfinished quilts. Between first week whining and crying and shouts of, "But I don't remember how to add two plus two!!" and a lovely migraine I've been experiencing, I have felt ever so slightly unmotivated to even LOOK at my sewing room.

But...embroidery is a thing that lends itself well to schooling. I can sit right next to the complaining children and answer their questions without running back and forth from one room to another. I can keep them on track and pay attention while also doing something more appealing than staring at the wall and waiting for the next meltdown. Here's what I started working on today:

I was inspired by the whole Celebrate Color thing, and the fact that I love Anna Maria Horner's style of flowers. So I used my color palette for fall and ideas from a swatch of fabric and drew up an embroidery design. I'm not saying just yet what this will be when it's finished, but I like the way it's going. And I think the folk-art effect of the felt lends itself well to autumny things. Yes, I know autumny is not a word. Get over it.

Then once I finally peeled my flattened behind out of my chair to be done for the day, I went to check the mail and found this in my mailbox!

It's my weeks late but nevertheless awesome package from the "I Heart the 80's" swap. Yay! I love everything about it. Especially the quilt! My boys really liked the Pop Rocks, although the midget seemed a bit perplexed by the cacophony of crackles emitting from his open-hanging mouth.

Hope you're having a swell day, all.

in which I wax eloquent about fall

2011-08-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

Rachel Hauser of the lovely Stitched in Color is throwing a little party, and you're invited! It's all about fall, and sewing, and inspiration, and, well...color. Check out the Celebrate Color page to see what it is and to get inspired.

I've been thinking about fall all day. About the colors I associate with it, yes, but also about what it is to me.

Fall, for me, is about a feeling. Living in Florida (aka the land of one season) means that we don't get fall colors. Or chilly grey days. Or big piles of leaves to kick through. So one has to be...imaginative...when getting into that fall spirit.

For me it all starts right about this time. It's the end of August. It's hotter than I think is humane, school is about to start, and the boredom of hiding in an air-conditioned box all summer long has pushed me nearly over the edge. And then, one morning, I open my blinds and something has changed. The angle of the sun is slightly different. The light filtering through my window is not the intense glare of white summer sunshine, but the mellow golden light of fall. The shadows are softened, grey-edged and blurred. This is when I get my first urge (which I will, for now, resist) to pull out my pumpkin spice candles and light them. I tell myself, "Self. It's not even September. Get over it." But the golden light is still winking at me from between the blinds. It's calling me. Promising...something. But that something is going to be good, I can tell.

Soon the sweltering sticky humidity begins to fade somewhat, and I start feeling like there's an end in sight. Soon I will want to go outside and do outside things. The giant swing in the front yard is swaying in the breeze, and I'm already thinking about buying some pumpkins to put on the front porch. Maybe this year I'll spring for some of the pretty ones like Cinderella, Long Island Cheese, Full Moon, or Fairytale. I love how they look together: off-white, pale green, and of course--every shade of orange.

Something about fall feels rich to me. Plums. A glass of good red wine. Deep red cranberries peeking out of the crust of orange scones. My stand mixer is running non-stop and I begin to feel like I live in my kitchen. The air has, through the alchemy of autumn, turned from a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen to a fog of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Everyone in my house gains five pounds just from breathing it all in.

Sure, there are lot of things going on--costumes to be sewn, schoolwork to be graded, crafts to be crafted, and Thanksgiving to be planned for. But that's all just icing on the cake for me. Take away my candles, take away my turkey and stuffing, I don't care. That golden sunlight will still be there, teasing me from behind the blinds, inviting me to breathe it all in--every last cinnamon-filled lungful.

a few firsts

2011-08-26T06:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I wanted to sew something quick and fun and sort of outside-the-box (for me). So I raided my scrap bin and went to town on this little potholder.

Now it may not seem like much to all you, but I rarely make myself pretty things for use around the house. I usually give those things away and stick with my ugly but functional household objects. So I'm pretty happy about this little potholder because it represents a shift in my thinking. Lately I've really been feeling that while it's super awesome to give away most of what I make, I should make pretty things for my house, too. I want my kids to be generous and to think about others and how they can bless them. But I also want them to know that the same consideration is given to them and the environment they live in. So here's to turning over a new leaf!

Also, if you look on the sidebar over there you might notice that I have 100 followers. For some people that's so not a big deal, and I know that really popular blogs can have thousands. But for little ole me, it's kinda cool. I've never done anything to promote people becoming followers so I feel like if they (or you) did it's because you like something here and that makes me smile. SO. I've got a little celebration in the works over here in honor of all of you. Stay tuned for that!

Altogether Amazingly Awesome

2011-08-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

That's been my day today.

First of all, I drove out to Clearwater to visit my old college and meet up with a former teacher of mine. This fall I'm going to be teaching an introductory drawing class to high school students in our homeschool co-op, and I wanted to talk with my drawing professor to make sure I was planning the year out right. It was so weird to be traipsing about my old school after nearly 12 years, with three kids in tow. But at the same time it was pretty cool and really made me miss my studio art days. My teacher Mr. Grass was the best teacher I ever had and he was so helpful to me. He even gave me some props from the art department to use in my class. And he played with my kids and showed them all the skeletons and skulls and animal bones so they had a blast. When we left my oldest said, "Wow, I can't wait to go to college so I can learn about science and art." A boy after my own heart. Ha.

Then I got home and guess what was in my mailbox? Yep! My doll quilt!

I think I displayed quite amazing self-control by NOT ripping right into the package before taking pictures.

Check out all this loot!! Oh my gosh. I got TWO quilts. TWO! And a pretty little comp-book cover that I adore. I literally jumped up and down when I opened my package.

This little quilt was at the top of my list of ones I wanted, and I especially love the little pointy border because it's so unusual. And you know me and gray and bright colors....yum.

And the bonus quiltie is every bit as awesome! Heather Ross, wonky geese, green and orange and pink...AWESOME.

While my partner Anna was stalking me she found out I was a fellow Christian and decided to make me this book cover with crosses on it. It's so adorable. I feel so blessed and lucky to have received such a lovely and generous package!

Lastly I leave you with a picture of my growing collection:

bun-bun's bid for freedom and lightning 2.0

2011-08-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

Things have been pretty hectic around here lately, and there hasn't been a lot of time for sewing or making things. Plus there was something else that was bothering me and making me in a not-so-crafty mood.

Monday morning I went outside to let out the chickens, feed the bunny, etc., when I noticed something odd. The screen door to the pool deck was wide open. And the bunny was nowhere to be found. The sound of hawks screeching filled the air. I burst into tears. It was just a bad morning. The day before we'd been playing with her inside, and she was being so funny...all I could think about was this as I searched the yard for any sign of her:

She lounged like this on the gumdrop pillow for ages, half upside down and looking like some kind of bad taxidermy experiment. It was hysterical.

Needless to say everyone was upset by the awol bunny. My husband (who left the door open) felt guilty. The middlest made his usual comment of "Well, we can just buy another one" (always pragmatic, that one).

And then last night at about 8pm, a knock sounded on our door. Our neighbor was standing there holding a VERY muddy, hideous looking Guinevere. We were so happy! She got a bath (and a lot of junk picked out of her fur) and seemed none the worse for the wear. Although...maybe some mongrel bunnies will be born next month? There are a LOT of manly little bunnies in our woods. Maybe she left cause she was just lookin' for love in all the wrong places.

Anyway, with the bunny back safely I felt like sewing again, so this morning I finished up Lightning 2.0. Yay!

I opted for multi-colored hand quilting, and bound it up in some green Farmdale fabric. Love! I'm so glad that the tutorial gave me an excuse to make one for myself. :)

Hope you're all have a good week! We're starting homeschooling next week so things will likely be pretty crazy around here. But I'm SO ready for fall.

Lightning Zigzags {tutorial}

2011-08-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

Okay so here it is--my very first tutorial. Try not to judge me too harshly.

Ever since I made my round 11 quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap I've had quite a few people as me for a tutorial or pattern for it. Well I didn't have one--I just figured it out on the fly. But I thought this might be a good way for me to cut my teeth as far as tutorials go, so here you have it.

First of all some notes. All seams are 1/4". This tutorial is for a doll-sized quilt since most inquiries were about that size, but it could easily be translated into bigger blocks for a real quilt. Okay, here we go!

Okay, now you need to cut your fabric. You will need to cut your background fabric into 42 3.5" squares. Next, cut the zig-zag fabric into 2" strips. I used Kona Ash for the background and some Good Folks scraps I've been hoarding for awhile now. The strips were various lengths but I found I didn't need much--a fat quarter of each fabric will leave you with LOTS of extra fabric.

All cut out? Good. You're ready to sew. Lay a strip of patterned fabric across the background fabric at a diagonal. The exact angle isn't important, especially if you're going for a wonky look.

Set your machine for a quarter inch stitch, and line your presser foot up with the edge of the patterned fabric. Sew, sew, sew.

Flip the fabric over and press. Note--you will need to press the seams so that the strip is folded over, not the backing. You will need the square to stay square for a little while longer.

See what I mean about the square? Okay good. Now keep it flipped over.

Now it's time to trim the excess strip fabric away. Using the square as the template, cut along the edges.

Flip it over and check it out!!

Sorry. I feel like such a tease now. But you're really almost done! Flip the strip back over so it's like it was when you first sewed it on...

...and do what the picture tells you to.

Now, repeat the process 41 more times. This doesn't take as long as you'd think, especially if you chain piece.

All done? Good. You should have some nice little stacks that you can proceed to play with until you find a good layout. Here's mine:

Now, about that layout. I'm sure you can figure it out by trial and error, but here's the pattern I used to get that lightning effect:

Got it? Now you're ready to sew it all together, and you end up with this:

Tada! You're done! Now you're ready to quilt and bind, baby.

Hope you like this, let me know if you all have any suggestions!

blah blah blah

2011-08-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

Hey guys.

Whatcha been up to?

Me? Well...not much. At least not much I can show you. UFO week stalled out when I realized that I am still lacking fabric, batting, etc. and have no money with which to procure said supplies. A few projects I am working on (that don't require a trip to Joann's or a visit to Etsy) are for...um...I hate to admit it but....Christmas. I know I know!! But see, last year I really wanted to be working on a Christmas quilt during December, and I was so burnt out from sewing presents that I never got around to it. This year I'm determined to finish as many gifts as I can throughout the fall so I can spend more time in December making crafts with the kids and hopefully, starting the aforementioned quilt.

Sneaky peeky of one of the things I made this week? Okay. You twisted my arm.

Sorry for the blurry pic but my camera is being an idiot. Anyway, this week has been busy busy with cleaning and gift-sewing and more cleaning (ugh). My brother is coming to town tomorrow, Saturday we have our church sewing day to make shorts and dresses for orphans, and Sunday me and my peeps from church are working on a little something that I can't discuss here because it's classified. For now.

Oh yeah, AAAAANNNNND...I'm working on my very first tutorial! Yeah! I'm super excited about it, not because it's anything all that special but I've been meaning to try my hand at this for ages and never seem to get around to it. Hopefully it will be up within the week with all the craziness going on around here. Woot!

UFO week--Mal's big boy bed

2011-08-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

Remember this?

Yeah. It's been sitting in my husbands shop, taking up space, having things dropped on it--it even had chicks roosting on it at one point. Mostly because once it was built I couldn't decide how to finish it. Paint? Stain? Plain with some varnish?

Eventually I decided to use some Ikea "antique" stain. I applied some to a piece of wood to test it and was not impressed. I didn't know what to do next. I stalled. I ignored. Eventually, in a combination of trying to be helpful and trying to get this thing OUT, my husband stained it for me. Which just left the varnishing. I did a coat yesterday and sanded it this morning. Since it's a toddler bed and will only be used for a little while, I opted against multiple layers of varnish and left good enough alone. Tada!

As you can see he's really enjoying this. The first thing he did when I put the mattress on was to flop on it and yell, "SLEEEP!!!!" at the top of his lungs. Then he went and got every single blanket from all over the house, piled it on, and burrowed in, and said, "Cool mama." Ha ha ha.

I also put the Charley Harper quilt up there because it seemed to fit so well, plus my boys asked for it to be in their room. I think because the nerve cell looks vaguely alien and they're obsessed with aliens and monsters. I have no idea who they got that from. Wink wink. Nod nod.

On a side note, look at his face in this picture. This cracks me up--every time I say smile he does this face. I like that in his mind, "smile" means squint your eyes and look mischievous.

Anyway, UFO #2--Check. Next, the crazy flare jeans I had all but finished except the waistband. Off I go!

UFO week(s)

2011-08-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

I'm bound and determined that by the end of August, all of my unfinished projects WILL be finished. I feel mentally like I can't take starting school with all these half-done things hanging over my head, so...rather than enjoy my last few weeks of summer vacation (it's too hot to enjoy anyway) I'm going to crack down on myself and get stuff DONE.

First on my list: The Charley Harper Quilt. Started in...uh...March. Finished quilting it last night and bound it up this morning. Check!

I love how it came out with that thin black binding. For a long time this hung unfinished on my wall because I wasn't sure I liked it, but now that it's done I really truly love it. I especially love all the weird puffy parts because it adds to the "organic" charm.

Next on my list: varnish Mal's bed. I built it in April and am just now getting it finished. No pictures because it's between coats, but hey! I'm getting there!

Never again. EVER.

2011-08-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

It's pouring buckets outside. Generally this is my favorite kind of weather, especially when I've got a good book and and thick blanket to burrow under.

But when I've got a dreaded project to finish, a downpour is downright depressing.

Wait--don't go and think I don't enjoy my do.Good Stitches sewing. I've really enjoyed trying new blocks and styles I wouldn't have otherwise gotten around to auditioning. But. The triangle block. Stinks. I'll tell you why:

1. It's a triangle. Which means that you're missing a ton of the space that that a 12.5" block would take up. So when you ask your circle to make two triangles, they are basically making 1 and a half squares. So your quilt comes up woefully short.

2. While my team made a brave effort, equilateral triangles ain't easy to pull off. Every single triangle I received was off by margins either small or large (including mine!!) which made putting it together a literal nightmare.

3. I wrote "triangle" and "top" in the same title, and now all I see are skimpy bikinis all over this thing.

However--I do like the way it came out, even with all it's...quirks...and despite my not particularly enjoying the process. I think my circle did a good job with my lame idea and I know that the boy this is going to is not going to see all the faults and wonkiness. So I'm just going to tell myself to shut up now, and go read a book and enjoy the rest of this deluge before it's over and done!

Coming up roses

2011-08-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I am having one of those weeks. Or few weeks to be more exact. The only thing keeping me mentally afloat is the ability to distract myself. And you all know how I go about that!

This past week I spent some time working on my do.Good Stitches quilt (that thing is quite literally taking me forever) and getting two half-yards of what I was missing to finish up my Summer Sampler blocks. I also turned that cute cross-stitching I was working on into this hideous mug rug:

Ugh right? I don't know what I was thinking with these colors. It reminds me of a how a two-bit salon from the 80's might have decorated. Just throw in a little teal. Yuck. Unfortunately, there's not that can be done to salvage the Super Mario cuteness. So I'm throwing in the towel with this one. Grrr.

I also wanted to try my hand at a clutch with a flap and loop handle. I didn't really think I needed to pay 8 dollars to download a pattern for what couldn't possible be that hard, so I drafted my own pattern. I used magnetic snaps for the first time, and was pleased at how easy they were to install, although I did put them too high up on the flap. Oh well. Live and learn.

I'd wanted to put a cute decorative button on the front flap, but couldn't find anything I liked. Then I saw this pendant at JoAnn's and thought, "hmmm." A little heavy duty glue, a few hours to dry, and sure enough it was just the little addition I was hoping for, and the turquoise is the same color as the zipper. Happy accidents!

I've had this little purse frame for quite awhile, and yesterday in the midst of a very obnoxious day I just had to sit down and try out a framed pouch. I used this very popular tutorial to draft the pattern, and although I definitely did not get quite the result I was hoping for, I have a much better idea of how to go about it next time.

I keep telling myself I'm going to finish up all my UFO's before the kids start school again, but that doesn't seem likely to happen. I can't stop adding new little projects every five minutes...I think I have a problem. :)

Counting days, counting stitches

2011-08-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

Only a few more days till my husband comes home, and I find myself keeping busy to make the time pass more quickly.

Today I felt the need to put in some old Stargate dvd's, park on the couch, and hand-stitch.

This is my first time doing cross-stitch...pretty much ever. I mean I had one or two attempts when I was 9 years old or so, but I was too impatient for anything that wasn't quick. Cross-stitch is not quick. At. All.

Working on such tiny stitches with nothing but a printout of some pixelated images was definitely not as relaxing as, say, a nice back-stitch or some hand quilting. But I find cross stitch lends itself particularly well to this kind of image, and the end result is very satisfying.

I can't say yet what this is for, but I can already say that I won't be keeping it. Which is a little sad for me, but I'll get over it. Most of what I make I give away anyway.

Happy Wednesday!

Maintaining sanity

2011-07-31T12:11:00.000-07:00

So yeah. All week long I've been frozen up with neck pain, and the only thing that has given me any kind of relief is the relief of distraction. Which is why I've been busily sewing up my doll quilt, extras, pj's for my oldest, and more Summer Sampler blocks. It definitely doesn't help me to chill out, but it takes my mind off the pain.

My first order of business after the doll quilt and pj's was to fix the two sampler blocks that I didn't like. The Greek cross was bugging me, but I got the brainwave to add colored triangles to the corners and voila! I suddenly like it much better.

Secondly I put a border around the block that came out 3 inches too small. I made up a semi-fussy border to keep with the theme here, and again, I'm content with the result.

Yesterday I made the Lucky Pieces block, and today I did the Minnesota block. Which, again, came out too small and needed a border.

This quilt-along has taught me a few things, namely that a) I actually CAN follow a real bonafide quilt pattern, b) quilting solely from your stash can leave you high and dry at some point, and c) I don't really like paper piecing except for pulling the paper off when I'm done. That part is so bizarrely satisfying. Like picking a scab except not as painful or bloody. How'd you like that analogy?

Here are all my blocks so far:

I'm looking forward to snuggling up under this one for sure!

DQS done, plus Geek rules

2011-07-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

Finished! The quilting is done, it's bound, label on--check. Now it's time to put together the extras.

But that will come later. For now, here's some geekery:

Star Trek comm badge needle holder. Yeah, you read that right. Think that's nerdy? That's okay.

You see, I walk a fine line between normal, semi-cool person and outright freak, a precarious position that is made easier only by following these cardinal rules of conduct:

1) Know your audience. Don't talk about whether Kirk was better than Picard, or how George Lucas became senile somewhere between the 80's and now, or whether the Wheel of Time really is the new Lord of the Rings, etc., unless you're sure you aren't going to get a blank, fixed-smile stare.

2) Do not attend nerd conventions. Don't even think, for a millisecond, in the darkness and privacy of your own toolshed, about how maybe if you were slightly less cool you might, maybe, kind of enjoy going to a convention.

3) Do not admit to speaking Klingon. Ever.

4) Do not show people the dress you made from Lord of the Rings, lest they think you are into LARPing.

5) Do not get into LARPing.

6) Never, under any circumstances, engage a Hipster in nerd talk. If in doubt about whether they are really a Hipster, read this, or defer to rule #1.

That's it! Consider yourself armed, fellow nerds, with the secret rules of my success. And successful I am. Because the Force is strong with me.

Progress report

2011-07-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

I feel just about fully recovered from VBS week here, and as a result I've been working on a few things. First of all, a few more blocks for the Summer Sampler Series:

The Garden Path block.

The Arkansas Traveler.

The Star block. Very creative name I thought. Ha ha.

I've also made a bit of progress quilting my doll quilt for the DQS.

Hmmm. Let's see. Zig zags. Bright colors on a neutral background. Colorful hand quilting. Ring any bells? It's so funny because I originally was going to go with some horridly complex and nerve-wracking blocks, but decided that sometimes simple is just as good. And I LOVE the way this is coming out, it's just funny (and totally unintentional) how much it looks like last round's quilt. Although that one was a way bigger pain in the butt as far as piecing went. This one came together like a dream.

Anyway, I hope this is cool with my partner because two hours of handquilting later has me feeling very invested in this sucker.

playing hooky. robots. hot air balloons.

2011-07-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of VBS, but with my youngest's snotty nose developing into a hoarse croupy cough, and my middlest son complaining of a headache and stomachache, we decided to forgo the final crazy day and stay home instead. My duties as lunchlady were taken over by my kind and brave friend Heather, who no doubt will get all the credit for finally giving the kids something yummy since that's what I had planned for today. Ha.

Anyway, so I'm washing dishes this morning when over the noise of the water running I hear this strange, drawn-out WHOOOOSH. Then a few seconds later I hear it again. I turn off the sink to hear it better. My son says, "Did you hear that? Whatever it is it's scaring the bunn----AGGHH!!!" And he flies back from the window. I look out and right above our house, like I'm not kidding practically scraping the roof, is a huge hot air balloon! I rushed to get the camera, turned it on, and the dang memory stick was not inside (curse my bad habit of leaving it in the laptop!). So I didn't get a picture of the one that practically landed on us. But a minute or so later a whole flock of them is floating over our neighbors house, and I got a few pics of those.

There's something so surreal and neat about hot air balloons over your house at sunrise.

Later on the boys started regretting missing that last day of VBS, so we decided to try and have some cheap (read: free) crafty fun at home. Of all the ideas I suggested, they got excited about the one I wanted to do, too. Which was building robots out of junk. Here's mine (I'll post theirs later as they are still sticky with spray paint and they haven't finished embellishing yet).

Anyway, hope you're all having a great Friday.

Vital

2011-07-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

Day three of VBS. The halfway point. My friend took my older boys home for the night which gave me a quiet opportunity to finish this bizarre drawing I've been playing with for awhile. I know, it's weird. My husband said, "That's...interesting." My oldest said it was kind of "gross and creepy." My middle son said, "Huh, huh. I like it."

I can't decide if I want it with color or just black and white. Sometimes I add color and end up annoyed I didn't stick with simple. Other times I feel like black and white is so stark and boring. I dunno. Thoughts?

Feelin' good

2011-07-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

So as you may recall I mentioned before what a crazy to-do list I've got going on over here. Well as of today I got every last thing for the week checked off.

#1: Make the last apron.

A few weeks ago my friend Brooke asked me if I could sew some practical yet pretty aprons for her and two other girls who are opening a little coffee shop in our church. I whipped up the first two lickety-split, but for some reason the last one had me dragging my feet. This week I had to get it done.

#2: Yucky outdoor chores, including (but not limited to) sweeping the pool, building a ramp for my now outdoor bunny hutch, weeding, edging, and putting a border around some of my formerly raised garden beds.

#3: Start doll quilt. Well shoot, I'm almost done already, which is crazy. Just gotta quilt and bind, and wham! Done!

#4: Work on do.Good Stitches quilt. I am currently having a love/hate relationship with this quilt, and I feel terribly guilty for inflicting such time-consuming blocks on my poor circle. I mean it's great in theory but in practice....gah. I don't even have decent pictures of my triangles to show so I'll just show you Jacey's, which are my favorites:

#5: Buy Thingummy 2.0. Sadly, a hawk smote the original Thingummy, which made me cry, Ilya get a wiggly chin, and Xander say, "Ha ha! We should buy ten more so that hawk will be all like, 'What?! I can't eat that many Thingummies!'" Erm. Yeah. That's my middlest son for you. Bob was despondent without her Thingummy, so we had to get a new one. There was a considerable size difference between the two but my concern was unfounded. Thingummy 2.0 and Bob are like peas and carrots now.

#6: Shop for food for 70+ kids. Ugh. Nuff said. Actually it went well and considering that I'm evil snack lady who makes kids eat real food, it didn't cost that much money. Yay!

#7: Make blocks 2 and 3 for Summer Sampler. I enjoyed these, except for the part where I put the Mosaic block together the wrong way. But then I decided I don't care, it's fine as is.

That was it. I mean on top of running a billion errands, having company, making and delivering food to a family with a new baby, and working on a new drawing...

And this was supposed to be my week to relax.

Summer Sampler

2011-07-15T08:11:00.000-07:00

So there's this huge quilt along on flickr right now called the Farmer's Wife quilt along. You make 80 billion traditional squares and at the end you have a big quilt with lots of patterns. I am probably the only person not in this quilt along because it hurts my head just thinking about it. But still...I felt left out.

Until I discovered something right up my alley--the Summer Sampler Series quilt along. It's just like Farmer's Wife, only for people with a.d.d. It's only 12 squares! Me likey.

Today I made block number one, a "Star of Virginia" block. I used Kona solids and Farmdale for the center.

This thing is flippin' huge! A three by four quilt seemed too tiny to have a point (I'm practical after all) so I enlarged the pattern by multiplying all measurements by 0.75. So this block is 22.5" square. I figure at least I'll have a quilt big enough to use now. Plus I kind of like making mondo blocks, especially after doing tiny things like mug rugs and doll quilts. It's a nice break.

If you felt scared to try the Farmer's Wife quilt along, you should consider joining us for the Summer Sampler one. C'mon. You know you want to.

More pink

2011-07-14T15:01:00.001-07:00

Here's what I worked on today for my Doll Quilt Swap partner. In retrospect, I think there should have been more pink. Eh?

the sweetness

2011-07-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

This weekend Art pulled a couple of frames from his hives to extract some honey. Step one is to carefully cut the caps off the cells. These are the wax lids the bees put on to keep the honey in. By doing this the bees will be able to reuse this frame without having to start from scratch.

Here you can see where he's cut a section from the top.

After he finished that side he left it overnight to drain. This morning I had to decapitate the other side and flip it over. I also squeezed all the honey out of the caps I cut off as well.

As you might imagine, using gravity to do the work takes FOREVER. So far there's 1.5 cups in the beaker, but there has got to be at least twice that still left in the combs. The impatient part of me wants to just attack it and squeeze it all out. Which is probably why it's a good thing my husband is the beekeeper and not me.

I have to say, I find it really exciting to be collecting eggs and honey and veggies from my own little homestead. Every time I see an egg in Henrietta's nest it's like a little gift she's left just for me. Every time I eat a sun-warmed tomato from my garden I feel joy bubbling up inside me. Scraping honey out of a honeycomb leaves me with a sense of wonderful rightness.

Even though there are pests and nematodes and chicken poop and stings the fact remains that this is the life I've wanted for ever, and I feel so blessed by God that I am able to live it now. And that's sweeter than 1.5 cups of honey. :)

takin' care of bizness

2011-07-09T12:55:00.000-07:00

My July to-do list is insane. Stupidly insane. And given that all of next week will be taken up with me playing cafeteria lady for our church's VBS, I've got a lot to get done this coming week. I decided to get a "head start" by whipping up my blocks for this month's do.Good Stitches quilt. Our quilter for the month asked for red, pink, and aqua spiderweb blocks.

I have to say that I'm not a big fan of the way spiderweb quilts look. I know lots of people are into them but, as with dresdens, I'm gonna have to count myself out of that fan club. Sewing these blocks made me realize that I don't like MAKING spiderweb quilts either. (editor's note: I never blame my quilters for picking blocks I don't like. Other people in our circle were ecstatic about these! I'm just saying.) These two blocks took me FOUR HOURS. I'm a fast sewer usually, so for me this was the equivalent of fabric torture.

I really did like the colors together, though--gave me lots of ideas for future projects.

Anyway, one thing of a hundred checked off my list. YES!! Ha.

I know I said I wouldn't...

2011-07-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

...but since I thought there was no chance of getting in, I signed up for doll quilt swap 11. I know, I know!

But...I got in...and my partner...TOTALLY RULES. I am so excited to make something for her because I know I will be able to have fun, and I know she won't be quiet. Two very important things in my book.

This round we're not allowed to do any "art quilt" kind of things, so video game stuff is out. Here are my picks for regular old quilty stuff, but shrunk down.

Now I should probably go get in the mood to sew, eh?

I think I'll go draw instead.

Ribbons in her hair

2011-07-07T13:55:00.000-07:00

I needed to do some art today. I just did. So here it is.

I know I already posted today but this can count as tomorrows since I'll be soaking up some rain at the beach all day. :)

Clarification, and flounces

2011-07-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I guess that last post of mine sounded like I was whining about people not liking my blog. That wasn't my intention!! I think it's great if you like my blog because like I said, there's not much going on here most of the time and I'm not working my tail off to attract readers. Every time I see a new follower I'm like, "Oh wow!" followed by a puzzled, "really?"

I think the point I was trying to make in a somewhat facetious manner is that I did something I would normally NOT do--issuing a sort of sew-along-ish challenge--and got two responses. I thought it was funny. "Hey, let me feature you on my virtually unknown blog! Don't you two feel honored??"

Anyway, nothing creative to post today. It's been gray and dreary and muggy and summertime seems to drive all creativity from my overheated humidified soul. Really. Then as soon as September hits and the windup of homeschooling/harvest festival/thanksgiving/christmas gets rolling, of course THAT is when I get hit with fifty billion ideas that have to happen right now.

It's a cruel irony.

But I have been dying to make some pretty dresses. Soon I'm going to have my friend help me make a custom dressform so I can be less irritated trying to make clothes that fit. I don't even have a long mirror so every time I want to fit something I'm making I have to change into it, go back to my bedroom, and stand on an ottoman to see what it looks like. Aggravating. And dressforms from JoAnn's are just way too much money. While I wait for payday I'm dreaming of flounces:

This is a dress made by Sweetie Pie Bakery and I looooooveee it. I want to make it. But not strapless. Strapless does not look kindly upon the top-heavy.

Happy Thursday.

For the two people who read this blog

2011-07-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

I started this little blog here about four years ago, as a way to separate my family blog from my crafty bits. I mostly intended it to be a way for my friends and family to see what I was up to, especially when we thought we were going to be in Russia for a really long time. Look, here's me in Russia! With a giant snowball!

Ahem. Anyway.

Over the years I've gained a few little followers, which never ceases to surprise me because really, I don't think any of this stuff is all that interesting. I don't do giveaways to boost my numbers. I don't post tutorials or do quilt-alongs or include links to my blog in comments I leave elsewhere. I'm a lame photographer. But it doesn't really bother me because I'm not in this for money, or so I can sleep soundly knowing I have 11 billion followers. I don't even really know why I do it to be perfectly honest.

That being said, I felt kind silly going out on a limb and trying to challenge you few readers to do a tiny project and blog about it. Well, TWO of you did it. Just two. And thus ends my brief experiment in interactive blogging. :)

So here are the little spruce ups posted by Rachel from Stitched in Color, and by Lyndsey from Domestic Light and Magic, posted way late because it was my anniversary and my kid's birthday and, well, I forgot.

First off Rachel crocheted a tissue cozy to go with her beautiful Bottled Rainbows quilt. I love how fun and crazy this is! I'm still kinda wondering if her husband let her keep it there...

Lyndsey made this cute garland to give her kitchen hutch a wee face lift. I love how summery and happy this is. Also, totally jealous of the gorgeous hutch. Just sayin!

Anyway, there they are. I'm kinda glad they're the only ones because I like them both a lot and this made it way easier to narrow down the choices of who I put on my blog. Ha ha.

Cheers!

Meet Thingummy and Bob

2011-07-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

Chickens # 2 and 3. Thingummy is a Barred Rocks (left) and Bob is a Black Orphington. You would think they were blood sisters the way they stick together, snuggle, and let out big loud distressed PEEEEEEPs if you dare to separate them.

Henrietta is going through phases. At first she was like, "Who cares that there are new chicks around. I'm depressed." I had to kick her out of the coop every morning and shut it to keep her from going back in immediately to sulk. Slowly she started acting more normal. Then she noticed the new girls. Once that happened, the game of "how can we avoid this big bossy mean chicken at all costs" began. Now Thingummy and Bob are getting bigger, I keep telling her she'd better watch out. Her little runty bantam chicken butt is going to be in big trouble once these babies are all grown up.

Somehow, though, the presence of these little targets has seemed to light a fire under her butt to be a real chicken again. Last night my husband came to the back door and called me and told me to hold out my hand. After much reassuring that it wasn't anything disgusting, I held out my hand and he put this in it:

The runt's first runty egg!

It probably sounds so dorky and ridiculous, but I was super excited. I made tons of ciabatta yesterday and used the leftovers for french toast this morning, including her egg in the mix. Sure it was tiny and didn't contribute much, but it's like eating your first homegrown tomato. It's just so dang exciting!

On a completely unrelated note, I had to get a picture of this crazy thing in front of my door.

Not even a year ago I dug up a tiny baby elephant ear plant from the side of the road and put it by my front porch. I hardly ever enter my house through the front door so I never noticed how insanely big it was getting. I'm 5'6" to give you a good idea of just how crazy this is. It's like something from Alice in Wonderland or Jurassic Park or something. One of the other leaves is actually bigger but that one has a wasp's nest on it so I opted for the "smaller" one. Isn't this crazy?! The whole thing is actually growing taller than the eaves of my roof now.

Anyhoo. Good Saturday. Going on an ice skating date for our anniversary (12 years!!) tonight so I'm pretty stoked about that. Fourth of July/middle son's 6th birthday Monday. Busy Busy.

Family tree

2011-06-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

When I finally got that frame for Justin's print the other day, it reminded me of the portraits I drew for him and his wife Abby. And that reminded me how I've been wanting to re-do the ones I did of me and Art a few years ago. And how I wanted to do some of the kids as well and have us all on a wall together. So I did. And here they are.

Art. This one is my favorite--like I literally laugh every time I see it. For those of you who don't know, Art is not a very expressive person normally. Which makes this funny and slightly scary.

Me. My face is fatter than this in real life. But hey, it's an approximation, not a photo, right? Right.

Ilya. He's still mad at me for giving him a pink shirt. It was supposed to be a washed out red, I swear!

Sashka. Very serious.

Mal-mal. This is his full-of-mischief face.

I'm glad I finally go around to doing these. I'm really terrible about taking pictures and we have hardly any recent pics of the kids around the house (and NONE of me or Art) so this is a nice addition.

Especially that one of Art. Ha ha ha.

Waste not want not

2011-06-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

All the other halves of the triangles I cut up yesterday were just sitting there, looking at me with that sad, "You're just going to toss us out, aren't you" look. I couldn't in good conscious let them suffer the ignominy of such a prodigal end, so they became another pillow. I had just enough medium-dark gray to finish it, too, which gave me a double-dose of satisfied frugality.

This wasn't one of my original designs but I figure hey, better than what I had. Next week I'll get to some of the other designs I planned on.

Cheers.

Operation: Spruce Up {a challenge}

2011-06-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I tend to get bogged down with projects. Most of those projects end up being for other people, whether for charity, baby showers, birthdays, etc. Every once in awhile I might make myself a dress or something, but for the most part I don't sew for myself or my house. I guess a part of me feels like it's too selfish.

But lately I realized that it's just plain weird to not sew the occasional pretty thing for my house. Or to take the time to fix up some stuff and make it look more appealing. So I've started a little project I'm calling Spruce Up.

As I said last week, I started with the mantle over my fireplace. Here it is before.

Mismatched frames. Random doodads. A painting that my husband detests. I decided to simplify and make everything white, and to clear most of the clutter. Here it is after:

I decided to gather up all my weird bottles (I have an obsession with saving all kinds of glass objects. I didn't even notice till my husband pointed it out) and put them on display.

I spray painted that weird ceramic thing with horns and all my frames white so it would all go together, and used all the chunks of old candles I had in a ziploc and turned that bowl with legs into a new candle.

It makes me happy anyway.

I also started working on some new pillows for my couch. My old ones were hideous, drab, solid piece of fabric affairs. I decided to do a sort of medley of different designs I like in greens, blues, oranges and yellows, with shades of gray binding it all together. So far I've made these two:

I've got plans for at least two more on my to-do list.

So here's where you come in: I challenge you to fix or create on easy thing for your house this week. It doesn't have to be anything spectacular as long as it makes you happy. Post about it on your blog, and put a link to your post in the comments section. Next week I'll pick some of my favorites to feature on here. Sound good? Good. Now get to it!!!

Mixtape Mini {finito}

2011-06-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

Done.

Yesterday I embroidered the title, quilted it, and machine-sewed the front of the binding on. Today I put on my Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire DVD and hand-sewed the back of the binding.

I just love the name of the "mix". It was an idea from Pinkbrain and Mr. Chicken, and I fell instantly in love with it.

Anyhoo, now that it's finished I should probably get cracking on my do.Good Stitches quilt. I'm the quilter this month and I chose orange, blue, and white equilateral triangles, inspired by this quilt from Lynne of Lily's Quilts. I just got my fabric yesterday (who knew I had exactly ZERO true blues in my stash? Kinda weird) so I'll be gettin' started on that soon. Today. Maybe.

Hope your week is going well!!

cross that one off...

2011-06-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

...of my never-ending "to do" list.

Today I checked a couple things off my list, and boy it feels good. Especially some things that have been on my to do list for like, a year. Like getting a big frame for this print by Justin Nelson I traded portraits for last year:

I also got some stain for Mal's bed so I can get that thing done and put it to use. I bought some chicks on impulse at the feed store. And I finished my Pacman mini quilt, which may or may not be for my recalcitrant 80's swap partner :

Now I'm in the process of "remodeling" my mantle, getting rid of mismatched picture frames and random chotchkies, possibly putting some of the funky bottles I've been accumulating on display or something. I would love to be re-doing my bathroom or kitchen, but since that's not in my budget...well...at least doing SOMETHING will make me feel better. :)

How about you? Any plans for finishing something up this weekend?

The Zoo

2011-06-10T06:23:00.000-07:00

Say hello to Henrietta. The newest addition to our growing family.

I admit this week has been sort of overwhelming. My whole life we had dogs and the occasional cat, and now suddenly I'm doing crash courses on bunny and chicken care. I like it, but it's sort of exhausting.

Of course, that could also be the lack of sleep due to feverish baby. Did I mention the overwhelming week?

On a side note, my five year old pointed out that "Henrietta" has the word "Hen" in it, which he found absolutely hysterical. He started calling her "Chickenrietta" and then laughing even harder. He's so weird. I have no idea where he gets it from.

bunnies and chickens and singing, oh my!

2011-06-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

I've had a lot of non-sewing things going on lately. Not the least of which is this newest addition to our household:

Meet Guinevere. You can read more about her at my family blog, The Grigoryevs.

Tomorrow I'm getting a chicken or possibly two from my friend's neighbor. Our little wanna-be farm is getting bigger every day it seems!

Tonight I'm leading worship at a women's night at church, which I'm looking forward to and also slightly nervous about. But I know God will bless our time--I just don't want to get in the way. And my poor unpracticed fingers are protesting at their lack of proper callouses. Ha.

Hope you're having a great Tuesday!

Moving. Rearranging. Sewing.

2011-05-31T07:01:00.000-07:00

For awhile now my husband and I have been talking about moving our youngest son into the room with his older brothers. Mostly we felt like they should all be together, especially since there's such a gap between my middle son and youngest.

So this weekend I decided it would probably be a good idea to move his crib in there so he could get used to being in there before we switched him over to the toddler bed I made him. All day Saturday I spent moving his stuff into the boys room, all the boys' toys into my sewing room, and all my sewing stuff into the former nursery. Boy, that took forever. I didn't realize how much sewing junk I had until I had to make fifty bazillion trips from one end of the house to the other.

But the result is that the boys are really excited to have him in their room. I am really excited to have my sewing room be the room with the best lighting (and air conditioning that works--our back room is not insulated) and it's SO AWESOME to have all the boys legos and toys in one specific area rather than all over the place. Everything feels so much cleaner! We'll see how long that lasts, though. Ha.

Anyway, with the "new" sewing area in place, I've been super inspired to sew. What am I making? Pillowcase dresses!

These are going to be for the little orphans in Siteki, Swaziland. Our church tries to do whatever we can to help them, whether with money for food or supplies, and simple dresses and shorts for the orphans are what we're working on now. I've never tried these before (three boys, remember?) but they are so satisfying. I didn't use a pattern or tutorial, I just forced my boys to try them on in different sizes to get a good template (evil grin) and went to work.

The girls in the hospital/orphanage range are between 3 and 5 years old so I've been making them similar in size. The first one I made with just the ribbon through the casing, the second two I made with with bias tape over the armholes extending up as ties.

I've got fabric laid out for at least 4 or 5 more. I'm pretty excited about this. Ever since I made quilts for the orphans and grandmas taking care of them I've been hoping for another project to help them out, so this is perfect.

Also, I had a ton of fabric my mom had given me that used to be Guatemalan skirts, and I never knew quite what to do with it. But it's the perfect weight and pattern for shorts for the orphan boys! So Sunday I cut into that and got about six pairs of shorts out of it. Yay! It makes me happy to know that I can make something so necessary and useful out of things I already have.

Flailing

2011-05-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

That's what I feel like I'm doing. I have never been so self-conscious about my swap items before EVER. I feel like I can't do anything right but maybe that's just me. Anyway, this made me laugh while I was making it, and things that make me laugh while I'm making them are always worthwhile for me. Even if my partner doesn't like it. Even if it didn't turn out quite the way I envisioned. It's still funny.

Anyway. Here's to hoping!

Fun Mail Day

2011-05-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

I love fun mail days. Today in the mail I got this totally awesome Frogger mug rug from my partner Leah in England. Which is really funny. But I can't say why just yet.

Anyway, isn't it cool! I love it. It went right onto my wall to keep the other video game quilts company. No way is this baby having a coffee mug anywhere NEAR it.

Happiness!

Your ultimate mix

2011-05-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

What would your ultimate mix be called? I wouldn't even know how to answer this because I'm supremely uncreative with naming things. Thankfully, it's not for me.

Or maybe it is. If my partner is too quiet, I've decided to keep this and make her something else. I'm going to have a little mini rant right now and say I'm very fed up with getting quiet partners. !!!!! Okay. Done.

So. Ahem. Any good mix tape names anyone??

Go big or go home

2011-05-17T07:04:00.000-07:00

My husband and I seem to suffer from the same malady: we can't do anything small to start with. Most people, when they want to try something new, they start small. Baby steps. Knit a few potholders before you move on to a sweater. Build a little spice rack before you frame a house. That sort of thing.

We just can't do it.

The first time my husband attempted any real woodworking, he built my dad a cigar humidor out of fancy wood with fairly complicated inlays. I wish I had a picture of that thing. It was so...smooth.

When I first started knitting, I knit about four inches of a scarf before I was bored, and then I made this.

Not the kid. The sweater. Although I made the kid, too. Ahem.

After a good month of watching me and my dad painting obsessively when we were staying up in North Carolina, Art decided he wanted to try painting, too. The only thing I'd ever seen him do artistically was drawing a really lame cartoon bunny, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Then he busts out this:

A few years ago, when we had just moved back to Florida, I somehow stumbled across Denyse Schmidt's website, and saw her Drunk Love in a Log Cabin quilt. I have never really liked quilts, and it had been years since I'd really sewn anything but this one really got my attention. As did the pricetag. I wondered: could I make a quilt? Did I have to take a class or something? I printed out a picture of the drunk love quilt, bought some JoAnn fat quarters (I know, try not to cringe) and made my first quilt.

And yeah, I free motion quilted my first quilt. I didn't know any better. Now I actually prefer it.

My husband hand-wove a hammock for my dad one year for Christmas. I reupholstered a wing back chair last year. Art built me a vintage-style guitar amp out of Brazilian rosewood. You can seen the trend here, I'm sure.

Well I've been thinking about building things lately. I have all these ideas of things to build, but not a great deal of experience. I mean I know how to use *most* power tools. I understand the basics. But the only thing I ever really built myself was a really ugly side table out of a giant empty cable spool from Home Depot. All I really did there was screw a table top onto the spool and cover the sides. Whoopdeedoo.

Anyway, my youngest has practically torn his crib to shreds, and is in need of a new bed. I don't have money for a real, twin sized bed (and he still seems way too small for that) and the cheapest toddler beds I could find (Ikea) were still upwards of a hundred bucks and not very cool looking. So I went to Home Depot, bought some cheap pine lumber, some screws, and made this:

How stinking cool is THAT?! It took me probably six hours from start to finish, and cost less than 40 bucks to build. I quite literally jumped up and down and clapped my hands when I was done, I was so excited.

I still need to fill the nail holes, sand, and finish it, and I still can't quite decide if I should paint it or stain it or just do a matte varnish so it keeps that Ikea-esque light wood look. All I know is...it rules! I'm so excited about this can you tell!!! I want to build more! More! MORE!!!

To help me in my new addiction, this site is quite possibly my favorite thing ever.

Mixtape Mini

2011-05-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

I got started on my swap item for the "I Heart the 80's Swap" the other day. I gotta say, I totally want to keep it already and I'm not even close to being done. I'm waiting to get some Kona Charcoal to make the final, outer edges, so it's just sort of hanging on my wall, looking bodacious, wanting to be finished.

I'm not quite sure this will be something my partner will like. The other option I'm thinking of is a nice unicorn hoop. Maybe. Perchance. We'll see if she says anything about it either way. In the meantime, I'll wait on pins and needles and sort of selfishly hope she HATES it so I can keep it all for myself....mine, all mine!! (cue maniacal evil laughter)

'Course, if she totally hates it my creative, eager-to-please side will likely be crushed. Oh, the dichotomy.

Heading out

2011-05-14T06:31:00.000-07:00

This little package will be winging its way to my partner soon! I really hope she likes it--there are some very specific things she liked and I tried to include as many as possible. The little hoop I worked on last night while watching reruns of Stargate SG-1. Ha ha. There's nothing like some really cheesy sci-fi to embroider to.

I've got some other things I've been working on, but those will have to come later--my husband is coming home today! After 10 days of single parenting with a head-cold I'm so ready. :)

Scrappy Mug Rug Swap {finished}

2011-05-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

At last, I'm done. All I was waiting on was some coordinating thread for sewing on the aliens.

I really like the way this came out. My partner is very VERY quiet, so I have no real idea if she'll be into this. I hope she is, because this is my very best favorite thing I've made this month.

Now I need to really think about that 80's swap...

a cure for cancer before lunch

2011-05-06T06:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, so your comments on my last post were funny and I just felt the need to clarify--getting that much done that early is DEFINITELY not a normal occurrence for me. I had to wake up at 3:45am to take my husband to the airport, and after that I couldn't just go back to bed. So dinner: throw roast in crock pot, add italian dressing and banana peppers=about 2 minutes. Cookies: whip up familiar recipe=5 minutes, followed by 1 minute intervals of putting more cookies on the sheet every 20 minutes or so. The sewing was maybe a half hour.

So really it's not like I'm Wonder Woman or something. And I didn't mean to come off like I was bragging about how amazingly fast I am. I just didn't know what to do with myself for the rest of the day having finished so early. Although...if I could pull off this outfit you can bet I'd be sewing, cooking, cleaning, and honey collecting in it.

And no, I didn't find the cure for cancer before lunch. I went to the water park with the kids instead. :)

7 a.m.

2011-05-05T04:15:00.000-07:00

It's 7a.m., and I've already driven for an hour, made cookies, started dinner (I love crockpots. Seriously) and made this:

A little bit ago I saw this cute take on windows on Flickr and my first thought was not "oh. lady parts," but, "Oh! It's like cathedral windows, only easier!" I filed it away on my mental to do list. Today I glanced at the tutorial, then figured I could just do it on my own, and whipped this baby up.

I know based on my perusal of the tutorial that I did not do anything the same except sewing down the folded strips. I wanted a rainbow effect, so I sewed four strips of fabric together to form the "peekaboo" background. I definitely did NOT hand sew all those little windows--gah! That's a little more self-torture than I'm into right now. The front and back of the outside and lining are one piece. I mitered (if that's the right term here) the bottom corners pretty deeply so the pouch could stand on it's own--making the base about two inches wide. And I used the same method used on Noodlehead's clutch for the zipper because I feel like it looks cleaner.

I have no idea why I felt the need to make this, but there you have it.

Now what to do with the rest of my day?

turn me right round baby right round

2011-05-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

So today is a very circular day.

First of all, I have to share with you an elegant solution to the problem of laziness. A little while ago I joined Lynne of Lily's Quilts dresden quilt along. I whipped up the circle in no time flat, intending it to be a one-block wall quilt. Then it came time to piece the circle into the border and my brain went, "Nyugghhhhh." I couldn't make myself do it. So it sat there. Dying for attention. Irritating me with it's not-doneness. Until I remembered: I have a ginormous embroidery hoop. Ha!

Done and done. Also, awesomely, all the colors match my youngest son's bedroom perfectly. Yay. Sorry about the crappy pic but I was being lazy about that, too.

Then today, since I was on a roll, I made a bunch of striped circles for this months do.Good Stitches quilt. We were supposed to make two, but I figured I'd make six. Why? I don't know. Because I could? Because I already had all the strips cut up and I hate wasting strips? Sure. Okay. Mostly I think it's because they were small, and I figured if someone flakes or sends ugly circles, our quilter can use my awesome ones instead. *snort*

Now, we were supposed to use Angela's tutorial on making these ready for appliqueing. Is that a word? It looks stupid. Anyway. So I did the circles using the prescribed method. And...I did not like it. Not that there's anything wrong with the concept, and I can see how it's supposed to be quick but the edges just bug me. No matter what I did I could not get the edges perfect, and nothing annoys me more than an imperfect circle. It's probably just that I'm not good at doing it right, but I think I much prefer Anna Maria's "Super Circles" method. Although if I do circles again I might combine the two in the sense of making the circle's AMH's way, and then ironing on a circle of interfacing afterward to keep the turned-under edges tacked down and ready to sew.

That being said these did come out nice and sunny and I look forward to seeing the finished quilt.

Peeks, and selfish sewing

2011-05-03T09:45:00.000-07:00

Today I did a little more work on my partner's mug rug. I made a rainbowy binding to go with it, but alas, I can't finish till have that matching thread. Drat. Also, I don't know if this is something she'll like or not. Somehow I always get the quiet partners when I do swaps, which leaves me biting my nails in anxiety.

So what's a girl to do? I finished my elephant skirt. Pics to come later, when I'm out of my sweaty workout clothes and can manage to not look too hideous. I also made myself another Noodlehead gathered clutch--this time it's all for me. I hardly ever make myself crafty things--clothes, yes; crafty stuff--no. So I felt it was time.

I used up some of my never-ending scraps of Mendocino, and some leftover FFA2 from my niece's quilt.

The only thing that irritated me is the fact that I really wanted to add a little loop to hang onto, and only remembered that desire AFTER I sewed the whole thing together. Poop. Oh yeah, and I sewed the mermaid lining in upside down. Double poop.

Still, I like it. And it's nice to have a shrinking to-do list, to the point where I can just bust out something like this in a hour or so.

Cheers!

invasion

2011-05-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

The other day I cut out and fused these little aliens for my partner's mug rug. I was going to hand stitch them originally but they're so small, I didn't want them fraying to pieces. So I opted to machine sew them with a tight zig-zag instead. Man, it's hard to sew tiny things with a sewing machine! But I think ultimately it will work out better.

Now I just need thread to match the rest of the rainbow of aliens. Alas, that trip to JoAnn's will have to wait...I hate the week when the mortgage is due. It's just so spectacularly unfair when BILLS get in the way of my craft supply hoarding. Ha.

swaps and {honey} bees

2011-05-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

This last week was a whirlwind of activity for me--finishing a baby quilt (which, coincidentally, I was so excited to get packaged and ready that I forgot to take pictures. I mean, I didn't even get ONE) working on a skirt I made big enough to fit an elephant (grrr), matching up partners for our "I Heart the 80's" swap, sending out five thousand flickr mails to said partners (double grr), planning my Scrappy Mug Rug swap partner's rug, and contracting a lovely, shrapnel-in-the-back-of-the-throat cold. FUN TIMES.

I am excited to get underway with my swaps--the mug rug swap is lots of fun because you get to experiment with different things and if it turns out looking like poop, you just toss it out and start again because hey, it's tiny! And the 80's swap should be fun just because it's so dang cheesy. I've already got several ideas for both, and my mug rug is already getting cut up and worked on. I stayed home from church today because of my snottyness, and spent some time doodling around with a hoop. It's probably too simplistic as a main swap item, but might make a fun extra.

I really feel like I should fix my elephant skirt, but right now all I want to do is play. Or cradle my snot-stuffed about-to-implode head in my hands and cry. Y'know, either one works.

I realized yesterday that I never got around to taking pictures of our new bees. Really, until yesterday there was nothing to see. Just some boxes on stands. They were getting acclimated to their new environment, so my husband wasn't really doing much with them. But yesterday was the first official day of smoking them, pulling out the frames, and checking them out. And it was really cool.

If you'd told me a year ago that someday I'd be okay with standing in a small cloud of bees without feeling any anxiety, I'd have laughed in your face. But I felt totally fine. It's weird because...I don't like honey. I don't like being stung. Not much of a bug person. So what's in it for me? Not much, but it's still cool and interesting. And it was so...heartwarming is the only word that comes to mind...to see my boys watching their Papa work with his bees.

I just have to say that the dorky beekeeper clothes crack me up. I couldn't get over the dress shirt paired with those light-colored jeans. And of course the hat. I was whistling and catcalling the whole time.

Look how close I got! I'm so proud of myself!!

This little turkey I'd left in the house so he wouldn't get stung, and he managed to sneak out anyway. When I caught him, this was the face he gave me. Oh my word. He's such a punk! Don't even get me started on the trouble this kid gets into. This morning I had my first experience calling poison control because he managed to climb onto the kitchen counter, get into the cabinets, and wolf down half a bottle of B12 vitamins. Thankfully they said the worst that would happen would that he would be extra energetic. Great. MORE energy for the already tireless tornado of mayhem. I was kind hoping I could get some of that crazy action on video, but I was too busy cleaning up messes and chasing him around. If you'd like my address so you can send me my "Mom of the Year" award, just email me.

Anyway, hopefully soon we will have some chickens, and then our idyllic pretend farm will be complete. (For full effect, please read that last line in Darth Vader's voice.)

And I'm out.

Happy Earth Day

2011-04-22T05:18:00.000-07:00

I am not a hippie. For example: I bathe regularly and shave my legs. I despise patchouli. I have no peace sign stickers anywhere.

But I do like growing things. And I really enjoy the earth that God created for us to live on. I'm happiest when I'm outside on a lovely day watching the trees sway in the wind or smelling pine needles baking in the sun. I love the aroma of all my herbs mingling together on a hot, humid day. So while I don't have dreds, or wear Birkenstocks, or (hopefully) smell like armpits, I do have a thing for nature.

So happy earth day, people! I'd give you some fresh snowpeas from my garden if you lived nearby...

Rubbish

2011-04-21T04:53:00.000-07:00

Lynne of Lily's Quilts started a hilarious new Flickr group called "The rubbishest thing I've made", a place where people from all walks of life can post pictures of the crappiest, ugliest things they've ever made.

I do have much uglier things in my past, but unfortunately I don't have pictures of them, so for now I've nominated these two as my most recent pieces of garbage:

Deformed stuffies for Swaziland. Poor orphans. It's not bad enough being an orphan, but then some chick from another country decides to freak you out with some amorphous stuffed blobs and alien mammalian life forms.

Poo poo brown stacked coins quilt. Why oh why would I think brown was a good color choice? I think it's cause I was pregnant at the time and, y'know, it's hard to make rational decisions when you're gestating. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

Go check out the group, it's certainly worth a laugh and makes you feel much better about your own epic fails.

The funny silly things I make

2011-04-20T04:19:00.000-07:00

This year was the first year my oldest had a "real" birthday party--one where he invited kids his age and had a sleepover, and a theme and everything. I'll be blogging about the actual party at my other blog soon, but for now I couldn't resist showing off some of the stupid stuff I made for it. Now I didn't know about the theme (space/aliens/monsters) until about five days beforehand, so I was scrambling to come up with cheap ideas of stuff to make that would go with his idea. There were a lot of balloons, glittery stars, and a green crepe paper "slobberfall" as we dubbed it, but my favorite part was the food.

{DISCLAIMER}

Some of the following is gross. I blame my sense of humor on my dad, who inducted me into the "gory dioramas are funny" school of thought at an early age.

He asked for a "moon cake". He got a lunar massacre cake instead.

Nothing I did came out quite the way I envisioned. The rice krispy treats were supposed to be moons, but I could not for anything make them perfectly round. So they became asteroids instead. Which still worked.

Chocolate dipped pretzels with white eyes became the sightless slugs. If you look closely you can see that they also suffered from some kind of disease. Probably some kind of extraterrestrial leprosy. Or extreme freckles.

These were the funniest to me. I had a ton of leftover cake from shaving the birthday cake into a moon, so I decided to turn the leftovers into cake pops. The coating did not want to behave and made those little puddles, so I decided they were going to be blobs. Hence, Lolli-blobs. Ha ha oh my aching sides.

When all else fails, and you can't come up with a way to make veggies look alien, blue food coloring in the ranch does the trick.

Originally I figured I'd have some blue punch and call it Romulan Ale, but Romulan Ale is an illegal substance and I didn't want to get into trouble so we went with green slime punch instead. I really wanted some dry ice to make it extra cool but the stupid dry ice place closed early and I couldn't make it. Regardless, it was a hit. Especially with my crap-food-starved kids who only drink water. This was like nectar of the gods to them. Ha ha.

My other favorite thing was the pinata. Originally, I wanted a paper-mache planet, but I didn't have time to make enough layers and when I went to paint it (at 7:30am the morning of the party) the whole thing caved in on itself. I told my son we might not have a pinata, and his little eyes started to well up. I knew I had to do something. So I went out to my husbands shop and pondered. When I saw the leftover lengths of septic tank pipe (unused, I promise) I hit upon the robot idea. A few hours later this guy came into being. Looking at the picture now I realize that the gold metallic spray paint made it look like....a shimmery cardboard box, but I promise it was still cool looking. The very first hit cost him his head, but it was still a good pinata I think. I was kind of sad to see it destroyed because I really got attached to it before it died.

The day after the party, my son came to me and said,
"Mom, I really like all those funny silly things you make."

Which is pretty much the best compliment I could ever get.

the bees flew down and wrapped themselves around me

2011-04-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

I feel like gardening has been my obsession lately.

Aside from even my own efforts on the home front, I've been having weekly dates with my sister-in-law to work on her yard (involving a LOT of dirt, sweat, and the removing of nasty stinky tropical plants) and helping out other friends with some email advice and the passing on of useful websites. Everywhere I go I find myself looking at plants, whispering their names under my breath, wondering if anyone would notice if I dug just one of those baby plants over there to add to my yard or garden...I've just got greenery on the brain, I guess.

I admit that over the winter I really missed my routine of waking up, reading my Bible, and then going out at dawn to check my plants and hand-pollinate my squashes and pumpkins. I've found myself falling back into the routine quite easily. I love walking between rows of dew-wet plants, seeing the babies growing or new flowers opening. I love the peace and quiet and cool humidity before the sun is fully up, waving aside new spider webs, listening to the birds...and then coming back into the house with the hems of my pajamas wet.

I have a few empty spaces in my beds that represent failed experiments, but my tomatoes, dakota squash, beans and peppers are all thriving. So are my cucumbers but I'm afraid to get too excited because I've never grown those before and I don't want to be too sad if they die.

Does anyone know what this shrub/tree is called? I can't figure it out. Whatever it is, it smells amazing and is a bee magnet, which will be nice when we get our bees...today! My husband has spent the last few weeks building his bee boxes, frames, and stands and today he actually gets to go pick up the fellas. And her royal majesty. I know it's weird, but I don't really like honey. But I'm excited about other things, like making beeswax candles and whatnot. Plus I could use the pollinators, because hand-pollinating squashes makes your hands smell DISGUSTING afterward.

Some prettiness. My first snow peas, and my first sunflower. *sigh*

The above is my idea of organic pest control/character building. Of course, I did tell them I'd pay them 10 cents per armyworm or grasshopper they caught. Bad idea--I think I owe them something like 15 bucks altogether now. Of course, it's better than pesticides or worse--having to pick off the worms myself.

Between gardening and birthdays (more on that later) I haven't had any time for sewing. But it's sort of nice to emerge from the fabric cave and feel the sun on my face again.

I have too much to do--I'll do something else instead.

2011-04-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

My "to-do" list this week/month is crazy big. It's so crazy, overwhelmingly, and annoyingly big that I feel unmotivated to do any of it. So today I decided (after working on some decorations for my oldest's b-day festivities this weekend--alas, some things cannot be put off) to make some shrooms.

A little sculpey, a little time, and some red Sharpie action is all I needed to feel better. I like how criminal they look lined up like this.

Look, they're taking a nap. I want a nap in some reindeer moss. It's so squishy.

Little toadstools at rest in a mossy home...a little cheery ridiculousness to make me smile.

At least until I have a look at my to-do list again. *sigh*

April blocks, and a mosaic

2011-04-06T05:34:00.000-07:00

This month's quilter for do. Good Stitches requested "shoo-fly" blocks in blue, green, and purple. I have to say these were my favorite blocks to make so far because they were easy peasy. I busted out four in about a half hour.

The 80's swap is going strong, we already have 20 something people signed up and I just started advertising yesterday! I made my mosaic today, it makes me laugh.

I'm excited to get started, but we've still got weeks for sign ups, partner selection, etc. In the meantime, I should probably finish up my fifty billion other projects. Yeah. Mmmhmmm.

I Heart the 80's

2011-04-05T04:43:00.000-07:00

After I posted the picture of my two video game quilts, there seemed to be a whole lot of 80's love going around. Inspired, me and Natalie (fellow swapper extraordinaire) decided to put together an 80's inspired swap!

We've got all sorts of fun and cheesy subcategories (Mullets and Mustaches, Mix Tape Madness, etc.) and all sorts of funny quizzes as we go. It's an "anything goes" sort of swap--mini quilts, hoops, kitchen stuff, totes, whatever you think your partner will HEART.

Personally, I'm hoping for some more Atari or Nintendo-inspired quilts to add to my collection. :)

Wanna like, totally join us? Sign ups start here, soon!!

Fresh Sewing Day, and Doll Quilts Recieved!!

2011-04-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

It's Fresh Sewing Day over at Lily's Quilts. We're showing off the things we most enjoyed making this last month, and for me it was definitely my Heartbreaker Quilt.

And....check out what I received in the mail the other day! My doll quilt!

Jen from Reanna Quilt Designs made me this awesome Pac Man ghostie quilt. In my preferences I said that I would love a quilt based on old Atari style video games, and this is what she came up with for me. I am in love! And look how great it looks next to Heartbreaker.

The Doll Quilt Swap was so much fun, I hope I make it in next round. If not, somebody needs to do a one-to-one swap with me. I still need a Pong, Space Invaders, and Frogger quilt for my wall. :)

A feature and an award

2011-03-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

I got some fun stuff in my email this morning.

First of all, I got a note saying that my doll quilt had been featured on a post about modern hand quilting at Falling for Pieces. Check out the other creations featured, they're pretty cool.

I also received a note from Leanne at she can quilt that she had awarded me the Stylish Blog Award. My blog is very happy to be considered stylish, even if the author isn't.

As per the rules, I'm supposed to share seven things about myself and pass the award along to six other blogs.

Okay here goes:

1) I'm really not stylish at all. If I could I'd wear my pj's 24/7, but I'm always paranoid the Jehovah's Witnesses are going to come knocking and find me wearing cut off pajama pants and a ratty t-shirt. Oh wait, that's already happened. Twice.

Let me just say It's really hard to argue theology when you're dressed like a homeless dude.

2) I like really nerdy things, like Star Trek and Star Wars and Stargate and other Star-related things.

3) The end of Toy Story 3 and Babe make me cry every SINGLE TIME I watch them. It's super embarassing.

4) I have exactly three quilts in my house that were made by me. If I watch tv at night, you can bet I'll be curled up under the cheap one I got out of the "as is" bin at Ikea. How wrong is that? But it's so fluffy!

5) Nearly every day of the week I subject myself to a lot of jumping, punching, and booty dancing to awful music. I have gotten a lot better at it, but not a lot skinnier. Drat.

6) Every single time I go anywhere, and I mean ANYWHERE, some person at some point will look at me and my kids and say, "Wow! Three boys, huh?" As if having three boys were some kind of bizarre anomaly. Or as if I should win some kind of special award for squeezing out three males.

7) If I could eat any food every day of the week it would be mangoes. Hands down.

Okay, now to pass out awards of my own. I award.....drum rolll......

.you remind me of home.

from the trees a great parade

Some of these you probably know, some maybe not, not all are quilting/crafting blogs but I find them stylish nonetheless. So there. Duly awarded.

And I'm out.

The Heartbreaker

2011-03-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

Anyone remember the old school Atari "Breakout" game? Well, for years now I've been wanting to make a quilt based on that game. I think it was the rainbow stripes that appealed to me the most. Anyway, at first I was planning on making a big one for my husband, but then I discovered that he wants me to make him something ridiculous and complicated that makes me want to curl into the fetal position and go night-night for a millennia or two. So the idea of a big one was scrapped. But after making my doll quilt I thought--why not just make a little one and get it out of my system?

So that's what I did. This took me a few days of leisurely putting around and gives me that happy, got-it-out-of-my-system, instant gratification feeling. Even with all the mistakes, miscalculations, and crooked quilting. I still love it. Plus I just think the heart is funny.

Now that I started and finished this little guy, I should probably get back to all the half-finished projects I've got laying around, dying for a lack of attention. But I don't wanna! I want more fast projects!!

Oh well.

Frankenstein, etc.

2011-03-24T09:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, so remember when I promised to post some pics of the Ceylon dress I made? Here's one I took before it was completely finished:

I still hadn't sewn on the last four or five buttons, but when I did...disaster! I think the interfacing I chose is too heavy because all those buttons make the whole front of the skirt stick out in this really weird, crooked, irritating way. Plus when I took a good look at the back, the skirt is cut in such a way that when you stand really, really straight, it sticks out in this little tent right above the butt crack. Not attractive. Nobody likes a butt-crack tent.

Needless to say, I was really bummed and annoyed about all this. I'm not really sure what to do about it just yet, and honestly I think I need some time away from it before I can even attempt to start altering it. :(

I also started (and finished) another dress. I really wanted to use some of the Innocent Crush voile to make a dress for Easter/just because. I picked this pattern to try it out:

Okay, don't ask me what I was thinking. Blousy, flowy, unstructured and lots of gathers does not go well on chubby chicks with big busts. Which I would have known had I not gotten lazy and opted not to make a muslin. Bad me! Oh well. After I lifted the waistline, chopped off the long cuffs on the sleeves, and attached an entirely different skirt to the bottom, it came out decent. And not even remotely resembling the original pattern. Which for my body is probably a good thing. I call the dress Frankenstein.

Please no comments on the horrible hair day I'm having, coupled with the fact that it's hard to get a good picture taken by a seven-year-old boy.

I've also been haphazardly working on my Charley Harper quilt--today I finished embroidering all the branches of the nerve cell and then fused all the pieces onto the white background fabric. I just need to get some thread to match all those colors so I can applique them on.

Humdeedoo. Hope you're all having a swell day.

Circular reasoning

2011-03-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

Last night my husband was off having some man time at church, so I figured hey--might as well start on yet another project so I can have even MORE half-finished things laying all over my sewing room. So I went ahead and cut out all the petals for the Dresden quilt along. Just now I pieced them all together, and I have to admit it was satisfyingly fast.

Then I had the chance to try it against some different backgrounds to see which one I like best. Someone on Flickr suggested yellow, so I busted out my yellow Nicey Jane to try it out. BLECH. It was awful! The yellow "Wash Day Ticking" is one of my favorite fabrics ever and it nearly ruined it for me. I can't even describe how horrid and sickly and just...well...nasty it looked. So I decided to go for my old standby--gray!

I didn't want to go with Kona Ash because that's what I always pick, but decided instead on some Patty Young that I really like. I think the pattern is not so crazy as to make the whole thing too busy, but that could just be me.

On a related note, I am really bad about "skimming" directions. Things I especially don't notice are finished dimensions. I cut out enough for two circles, thinking, "Oh! These will be cute pillows!" But alas, the finished circle is hugemongous so unless that pillow is a floor cushion....wait....hmmmmm....

Light bulb.

Something winging your way

2011-03-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

Today was the official earliest day to mail off the doll quilt I made for my partner. Naturally, I had to mail it today. I couldn't wait. And since I felt like a pincushion and quilt weren't enough, I made a little mug rug today to go with the package.

I like the way it came out, and while I am getting better at binding I didn't even notice that little pucker down there on the bottom left until AFTER I boxed the whole thing up. Arrgh.

I realized I never took a picture of the label I made for the back of the quilt, so I remedied that oversight today.

Here's the whole package, already winging it's way north! Wink wink, nod nod. What? You don't think that's a very good hint since I live in Florida? Oh well. That's the best you're gonna get.

My Ridiculous To-Do List

2011-03-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

I have no idea why I even make a to-do list, because as soon as I have the satisfaction of crossing off one thing, five more get added to the list. It's my own dang fault--I feel compelled to strike while the iron's hot when it comes to inspiration because who knows when it will come again.

I recently joined yet another quilt along--this one is a dresden QAL from Lily's Quilts. I'm opting for the small, wall-hanging sized quilt because, well...I want to. And because I currently have way too many sewing projects to finish. Anyway, here are my fabric choices.

Lynne from Lily's Quilts commented on her blog that she is scared of making quilts from different fabric lines. I have the opposite problem. I feel like all the fun is sucked right out of quilting if I can't put completely unrelated fabrics together to see how it comes out. So far I've made exactly ONE quilt out of a coordinated layer cake, and it was so boring that I never even put the rest of it together. The quilt top is sitting on a shelf crumbled into a ball. That's how much I liked it. So while I have no idea if my weird fabrics are going to make a cohesive quilt, that is part of the fun for me.

On a related note, I have a confession to make: I hate dresdens. I hate that they look like something my Granny would have had on her couch. I've been mentally and sometimes vocally hating on them for the past six months. But when I saw this quilt along I thought, wait! I didn't know they could be made sans pointy petals! I've been in love with the color wheel quilt on Purl for two years and that is basically a dresden that doesn't look like a flower. So of course I HAD to join this group, even if I already have too much on my plate, if for no reason than to prove to myself that maybe the hated dresden isn't so bad after all.

Charley Harper quilt along {a beginning}

2011-03-11T07:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I started up my Charley Harper quilt. After very little deliberation I decided to go with the cell illustration--the microbes in the water seemed too fussy, and the satellite looks too much like the Death Star from Star Wars.

I just happened to have all the Kona solids I wanted to match the picture (I still have no idea how THAT happened but I'll glad take the fortuitous fabric surplus) so all I had to do was fuse fabrics and arrange patterns. It was fun. And I have to say I LOOOOOVE where this is going--I have an obsession with cells and microbes, not to mention the mod, graphic style of the illustrations.

I hope the end result is as fun as the starting was!

He loves us

2011-03-11T06:44:00.000-08:00

I don't have TV, so I usually miss out on all the day to day news, things going on in the world, etc.

But this morning my sister-in-law emailed me about the earthquake in Japan, and it just makes me feel sick inside. It's hard not to feel sick watching fields, cars, houses, and airports being washed away by giant waves.

Part of the reason I feel so ill is that I don't know how to express my heartfelt desire that every person out there would come to know God as I have over the years. He is so good, He loves us so much. I know a lot of people would look at this disaster in Japan and say, "How could a God who loves us allow something like this to happen?" And the answer is that I don't exactly know. I won't pretend I understand Him completely. If I could then He probably wouldn't be God. But I do know, unequivocally and with no doubts, that He loves every one of us and wants us to love Him. He'll do whatever it takes to shake people out of their apathy. If you don't know God, then I ask--why not?

I am fully aware that loads of you are probably thinking, "Ewww...why did she have to bring all this religious stuff into it? I wanted a crafty blog!!" But for this very moment I'm gonna say too darn bad. I won't back down from this--I love God, I've seen over and over again in my life and in others' lives how much He loves us, and I won't be deterred from this opportunity to shout it out to my few little readers--God loves you! He loves all of you. He loves the people of Japan in the midst of this crisis. He loves the people of Haiti, and India, the people who lost homes in Tennessee. Bad events don't mean indifference or hatred on His part. Think of it as an intervention. It hurts, but if you accept it, it can heal.

Okay, I'm done.

Decision

2011-03-10T10:12:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you all, but the first thing I ever learned how to sew was a pillow. Two squares of fabric, four seams, and some stuffing followed by some inexpert stitching closed of the hole...practical, yet not thrilling. Thus in my mind pillows were always some boring, ho-hum thing I'd sew once every few years when I got tired of my old ones. But in the process of making this pillow I began to realize how creative you can get and how fabulous the result can be when making them. When my friend Elizabeth and I decided to do this little one-to-one swap, and she suggested pillows my first thought was, "Ughhhhhh...pillows." But now I'm so inspired I want to make fifty different designs and have my whole house overflowing with pillows!!

So anyway, the debate about wood vs. white raged on both here and on Flickr, but nothing was helping. In the end I decided to just go ahead and ask Elizabeth which she would prefer. She was just as conflicted but ultimately decided on wooden. So today I sewed on 12 wooden buttons and made the buttonholes for the back. I also made a pillow insert since this isn't a standard sized pillow, and the washed the cover to make sure that it didn't shrink so much the pillow wouldn't fit inside. It came out great!

Here it is, all finished and sitting pretty.

Here's the back. You can tell from the bursting buttons that I stuffed this sucker to capacity. Nothing annoys me more than a floppy, half-full pillow. Yuck.

And here it is looking all pretty in my chair. It's telling me it wants to stay here forever, but I told it, "Tough noogies, you have to get out." It cried for awhile but I think it will like its new home.

Here's to the happy dance that follows a successful finished product. Woohoo!

Indecision

2011-03-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

I'm befuddled.

I don't know which to pick. Help!!

I really do think I like white better, despite the fact that I love wooden buttons with bright white and colors. Here's where you offer up your opinions on the altar of my indecision. I will await them with much nail-biting and stomach-squirming.

Humdeedoo....

The Fruit of an Icky Day

2011-03-08T07:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was, for lack of a better word--ICKY.

Okay so nothing truly awful happened, and I know I have a lot to be grateful for...but still. It was one of those days where by the end of it you burst into tears for no apparent reason and it feels like you're wearing your shoulders as earrings cause you're so tense.

Part of it was being stuck in the back room for half the day with loud children because the carpets were getting cleaned. Part of it was one of those children went HOURS past naptime because the carpet cleaning guy was extremely late and the room with the crib needed to be cleaned. Another part was having an ice-cold house with wet carpets all day. Part of it was waiting in a doctors office for over an hour just to have that doctor come in and say, Oh, you came in for nothing. Which is something to be grateful for on the one hand, but it did nothing to improve my mood.

The whole day was like one long, tense, loud, uncomfortable mess. BUT.

Since I was stuck in the back room which also happens to be where I sew, I figured I might as well work on some stuff. First off I made my blocks for this months do. Good Stitches quilt.

Then I worked on this little project. Yes, I really did try cathedral windows again. I was wondering if maybe making big ones would make them more fun. The answer is no, not really, but this time I didn't burn my fingers with the iron as much so that's good. And I do LOVE this look, so it makes the irritation of the process fade quickly when you behold the finished product.

I want to add buttons to the intersections but I can't decide if it would look better with white or light wooden buttons. Thoughts?

Looking for some quiet time

2011-03-06T13:23:00.000-08:00

This last week has been nuts. Homeschooling, car buying, park day (my ability to go being thanks to the car buying--yay!!) women's conference at church, gardening, pressure washing...the list goes on.

With all this craziness going on I haven't even touched my sewing machine. I've got so many ideas floating around in the ether of my overly full brain but I can't seem to nail myself down to start any of them.

I did manage to come up with MORE inspiration, though. For that day, sometime soon I hope, when I feel like doing something other than laying around with a book or vegging in front of the computer.

I was recently invited to take part in the Charley Harper Quilt Along on Flickr, and it's something I'm pretty excited about. Not excited enough to, y'know, start sewing or anything, but definitely excited enough to go, "Ooooooh....I'm excited." Ahem. Anyway.

I've really gotten into his illustrations over the last few years, but I don't really feel like making anything with a bird on it, thanks to my sister-in-law emailing me that video. And Charley Harper did a lot of birds. Instead, I find myself inspired by biology and space. Which is so totally out of character for me. I'm just shaking things up a bit. Breaking out of my rut. Going out on a limb.

On a side note, I find it difficult to convey sarcasm when I'm typing. That's something I'll have to work on.

On another side note, having a car of one's own after 3.5 years of not having a car of ones own makes one feel very happy and liberated and relieved and did I say relieved already.

On a further, additional, exceedingly important side note, I'm really, stupendously, totally starving.

I think I should go before I think of another side note.

a change of pace

2011-02-25T13:54:00.000-08:00

Today after I finished the pincushion I still had loads of energy, but needed something non-sewing related to give my brain a break. So I worked in my garden, transplanting seedlings, weeding, etc., and observed all the butterflies. Inspired, I came inside, took a shower, and whipped up this little ink and watercolor one of my own. I've been wishing for one of those dead butterflies in a shadowbox things for awhile now, but they're expensive. Plus, they don't have rainbow butterflies like this. So I'm happy with my faux dead butterfly. And my brain is appreciative of the respite from sewing. As is my neck.

That being said, I've got more things to sew so it's not like the break will be long. Ha ha. Oh well.

Done.

2011-02-25T07:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I bound my doll quilt and sewed the label on the back. Finished! I love it! I want to keep it!!

*sigh*

I also turned that little flying geese block into a pincushion so cute that, again, I want to keep all for myself. Mine MINE MINE!! Okay, not mine. At least I know I can always make another.

Now I'm contemplating any other small goodies I can make to send to my partner...any ideas??

The end of procrastination

2011-02-23T09:53:00.000-08:00

January was my month to plan the quilt for the Comfort circle of Do. Good Stitches. I chose a green and brown, nature-based wonky nine patch block. I loved the way the blocks looked and was anxious to put it together. Which I did. And then it sat there. Waiting to be finished. Hoping that today would be the day it could finally be complete.

Well deadlines are a motivation when all else fails, and I had till the end of this month to get this baby finished. February being a weird short month means I could no longer put off the inevitable. So today, with much sighing and groaning and neck tension, I wrestled some binding onto our quilt and finished it already.

I'd chosen to use wavy intersecting lines for the quilting because it echoed the blocks and, in my opinion, gave the quilt a more masculine feel than say, loops or stippling would have. Yes, it's for a baby but I wanted it to be something a little boy could grow into--which is why it's big and doesn't have a babyish feel to it.

I was really impressed by all the blocks I received and couldn't be more pleased with the end result. I had so many extras that I had plenty to put on the improvised backing.

I know the person for whom this is intended will be completely blessed to receive it. Thanks to all my Comfort peeps who worked so hard to help the quilt I envisioned come to life!!