Quick photo update on last night's progress, then back to work.
My brother's boutonniere...with a little hidden surprise!
Surprise! :-)
The ring box. The middle section is the same fabric, just turned 90 degrees so the flash caught it differently.
Doing its job nicely.
Patrick's box
Different angle.
Also made some progress on the basket and the corsages (I need 7 of those I think...2 mothers, 2 grandmothers, 1 great aunt, 2 readers, 1 flower girl...8 then), but I don't have pics of those yet.
Also, if you're a momma who wants to get rid of old crayons, I'm taking donations of reds, yellows, oranges, and browns for a completely selfish, wedding-related project. It won't be going to sick kids, but kids will enjoy it. Let me know if you have some you want to get rid of. I'd need them within the next couple of weeks or so.
In usual form, I've got about half a dozen things going on in "the lab" tonight. I took a personal day from work today...after all the chaos of the past few days (long story short, I've been to the vet 4 times in 3 days, and I'm writing this post to avoid the 8 o'clock critter med rodeo) I needed a day to decompress and regroup. So today I did some dishes, went to Michael's, and got inspired.
I've got one more boutonniere (I DID IT!! I SPELLED IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!!!) to make...these are kinda growing on me - they've taken some getting used to, and there's definitely a "right ribbon" and a "wrong ribbon" to use for them, but I really like how they've turned out.
Here's the group against a black background:
There are definitely a couple I like less than others...there's a small but non-trivial chance I'll redo them. We'll see.
Here's a close up of MOTU's boutonniere:
I used some of the white satiny stuff I used in my bouquet, and some of the sparkly stuff I used in my throwing bouquet - I like that they're all tied together like that. If you look closely at the previous picture, there's one boutonniere that has satiny mustard-colored fabric in it. That's also in my throwing bouquet, and that's going to be my dad's boutonniere (ok that time I didn't spell it right the first 3 times).
I wandered Michael's for a good long time today, picking up and putting back. I eventually came on this for my flower girl's basket:
I'm going to line the whole rim with these flowers - they're sturdier than the boutonniere ones, but maybe I'll throw in a couple of those style as well just for kicks. We'll see. This is just the first flower of many.
This is the box I got for our rings. After seeing this:
I decided that, though my cousin's kid (Patrick, he'll be 3) is adorable and probably much better at this than this kid was, I'm not really willing to risk it. So I'm going with a little treasure box.
I've got some spare foam from the headboard and I'm going to use some of the spare fabric from that as well to cover the foam inside to hold the rings.
As his ring bearer gift, I got a box that's one size up from the one for the rings (admittedly, they came as a set, and the smaller box wouldn't fit his name on it) and am painting it and adding letters in the wedding colors so he can have a little treasure box. I'll post pics once they're both painted, but here's the raw idea:
Here are the letters painted the wedding colors (the box will be dark brown):
So to recap, I'm working on one more boutonniere, the throwing bouquet, the flower girl basket, the ring bearer boxes, and a partridge in a pear tree. Busy busy, but relaxing night.
In other news, I'm considering opening an Etsy shop for this wedding stuff (specifically the flower stuff) once the chaos is over. Thoughts?
I think I forgot to post this picture when Emily sent it to me a few weeks ago. Matilda has been using her quilt as a playmat, since it's been in the triple digits in NC.
It's also maybe just a little bit big for her. :-)
I LOVE seeing my handiwork being used! Thanks for the ego boost, Emily!
Today was a lot of things. Not all of them good, but not all of them bad. I think I'm deciding to call today "empowering".
I could go into detail about how miserable a day it was (and trust me, it was pretty awful), but you know what? It's the end of the day and I'm alive to tell. I took care of some serious business today that I'm not sure I would've said I could handle on my own. I did it. Alone.
At one point, I was driving home sobbing and I thought about bungee jumping. Days like today are the reason why that was so important. I did that. By myself. I did today. By myself. I am capable of handling scary, nasty, awful, miserable situations by myself. (OK, I may have called my mom and brother for support at a couple points, but the actual doing of what needed to be done was all me.) MOTU was incommunicado today, so I was the only person I could rely on. And I. DID. IT.
I know this is enigmatic and completely unrelated to quilting, but today was a day I can be proud of, in spite of a few tears. I did good. I did the best I could, and it's enough.
Sorry, these are a bit out of order, but here's what we got:
In an effort to cool the room off, I kept the fan in the window last night. Directed at the design wall. Sigh.
The fan did not do this. It's better now, I promise.
I feel like these need to be a quilt for something spectacular...like maybe MOTU's friend's vintage store (James, need a quilt to go with those coolots??)
Saw this at Petsmart last night and couldn't stop giggling.
Came home to this scene...sorry Shelby...
A finish! QFK #7, Kitty in the Mirror (take a close look, you'll see why). I was sober, I swear.
SQUEE! I got this gem for $5 at a yard sale today! Can you say "steal"??? It now houses my DVDs, batting, batting scraps, and utility (duck cloth, fleece, etc) scraps. The drawers are unfinished, but they'll get a nice coat of paint maybe next weekend. Something to match the new bedroom.
And finally, the latest crime scene. Seriously, this is just disturbing. It looks like piggy took a bullet to the head, but really it was just Kini. I guess I should feel better knowing that, if any burglar ever came in and let her out, then laid on the ground for a while, she'd make quick work of his ears, nose, and maybe fingers. But only if he was full of fluff. Fat burglars, you've been warned.
Tonight I'm back in the sewing room, but I'm not sure what I'm doing...the design wall is a wreck and I'm feeling lazy so I'm not sure I want to clean it up enough to work on that. Mai's quilt needs to be laid out again before I can work on it. Maybe I'll do some more boutonnieres (one of these days I'll spell that right on the first try). Oh, I guess I can show those off too:
I think I like the first better than the second (the ribbon doesn't do much for me), but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to make the back not look like crap.
Took one of the successful ones and tried wrapping the wire around the flower...well duh! It holds better, but I need to make the stem shorter next time.
Anyway, that's the update. Hope everyone else had a productive night!!
I've got Kini occupied with a new toy (read: she's occupied for maybe 20 minutes until she figures out how to completely destroy it...it's a dragon. Those wings are toast. Shame too, it's kinda cute.) I've got the kitties fed and locked out of the sewing room. And I've got projects:
The "me quilt" that will go on Etsy as soon as it's done. Maybe tomorrow, but since I don't have any backing material right now, I'll either need to piece the back or buy some. We'll see how the night goes.
Quilts for Kids #7 - more cats, this time with mice on their heads. Should be an easy finish.
Boutonnieres and corsages...I don't really want to make these part of the sew-in, but they need to get done. As soon as I'm done doing this wedding junk for myself, I'm going to start posting custom listings on Etsy to see if I can make a buck off this whole creative streak I've got going.
Our quilt - MOTU wants Ohio Stars. I found a recipe for a zig zag Ohio Star quilt that I think I can get done this week, provided I find some backing. Wish me luck.
I have big plans for the rest of the weekend too...the whole house really needs a good overhaul organizing, so hopefully it'll stop raining tomorrow and I can haul some stuff out of/into the shed. We'll see how that goes too.
In any case, good luck to all the ladies (and gents) joining me for the sew-in tonight! Feel free to comment so I can see your work too!
Forgive the poor picture quality - I left my camera at work, so I was using my phone for these. All the blocks for my quilt have been sliced and diced, and now I'm working on sewing together the rows. It's a slow process, so I actually took a break and started on the last QFK that I have in my pile...think I won't be requesting more from them for a while, as every time I do it seems to take me MONTHS instead of the weeks they request. Maybe next year I'll be more active.
In any case, regarding this "me quilt". I won't lie...I'm not completely in love with it. There's too much red I think. I think at best it'll end up being a couch quilt or maybe a guest bed quilt for people who come visit in February. I'm sort of a little considering selling it...anyone interested? It's 4x6 blocks, and blocks are roughly 15 inches to a side (probably closer to 14 by the time hacking is done)...so what's that, 56x84, give or take? It'll fit a full-sized bed nicely I think. I haven't done anything even close to quilting yet (in fact, I don't even know that I've got batting for it right now), and the backing is up in the air. If you're interested, shoot me an email or leave a comment and we can discuss. Otherwise, come visit next February and enjoy it yourself! :-P
This weekend turned out to be pretty great. MOTU and I had a little tussle on Friday night, but mostly that's because I hadn't really realized how *real* this USMC thing is getting, now that he's going through MEPS (he went Wednesday). I keep saying I've come to terms with it, and that I'm supporting him...I have and I am, but the fact is I don't want him to go. Like, seriously. If I could live with myself telling him to forgo his passions because I'm too selfish to want to see him hurt or killed or worse, I would. But as the woman who's 2.5 months shy of promising to love, honor, and cherish him for the rest of our lives, I simply can't take this away from him. My God I wish he'd pick anything else in the world to be passionate about though.
So maybe next year will see a shift in my patterns and causes. Maybe I'll find a VA hospital to volunteer at and donate to. Maybe Kini will be calm enough to be a therapy puppy (HA!) for the veterans there. Maybe it'll all work out like it does in the movies. Or maybe it'll work out better because we're stronger than those silly 2-D movie personalities. At least we don't have real kids yet. Just strange 4-legged ones.
Speaking of, the balance in the house has once again shifted. Kini is back in the kitchen, but so is Shelby. She's moved out from under the sink in the bathroom and now sleeps on a towel on the floor by the fridge. I think we did this to ourselves...we've been getting food for her from the fridge to reward her for being 'brave' and coming out of whatever room she's haunting at the time. Now, you can't even open the door without her stepping into the darn thing. Last night I was the most loved person in the world. I was in the kitchen, making a PB&J for MOTU, and every last one of the critters (MOTU included) was arranged around me, staring expectantly at what I was doing up on the counter. I had the sad job of informing all but one that they were not to be eating what I was making. Shelby didn't even hiss at the other two! I wonder if peanut butter could solve that whole fiasco in the Middle East...maybe I'll send MOTU with a few jars when he (inevitably) gets deployed. It'll help him make friends with the locals, I'm sure of it. :-D
In any case, I need lunch. If you're curious what I'm eating, check out my cooking blog!
Just a couple of quick pictures. I got a few more blocks "done" (and by "done" I mean in their unsliced, 9-square form) last night.
Here's the more traditional version of disappearing 9-square, which I hadn't tried before:
Here's 4 blocks in this traditional version:
Here's the progress as of bedtime last night:
Here's another option for layout...I think I want to see how this looks on the design wall, because it might be more my favorite, I dunno. I'll post when I have more pics.
That's right folks, I'm finally taking some Me Time. No seriously, this time it's not even "me time that's really working on a project for someone else". It's "me time and this time I get to keep the damn quilt".
In February, I found some VDay fabrics that weren't too horribly Valentinesy, and bought myself a couple yards worth. I'm finally getting around to doing something with that. I've been dying to try a disappearing 9-patch, so that's what I'll be doing with it.
I put together the first block but can't decide how to arrange the pieces:
I think I like this one best.
I didn't try the traditional way (turning two pieces 180 degrees and leaving the other two alone), but I'll try that tonight and take a picture. This one doesn't even have my totally absolute favorite of the fabrics in it either, so I'll get pics of that too.
In other "me" news, I'm in another blog! Natalie has this fantastic weekly thing where she posts definitions of "beautiful", as defined by her readers. It's really cool to see what others think (a lot has to do with child-rearing, I'm noticing) and has been inspiring for me to come up with how I define beautiful. Swing on over and check her out! She's an inspiration to me personally because she is so independent, strong, and convicted in her faith. She's an LDS woman, and as the prevailing stereotype would lead you to assume, that's not always easy to find. I'm glad that she's a leader of young women and that she uses her independence for good to inspire other women to be, well, better women! I've never given much thought to my gender, but reading her blog makes me proud to be a woman on a daily basis.
In any case, back to me. :-D I had another finish the other night, but I don't know who reads this so I won't post pics until the person in question gets the finish. It might be a while.
Another project I want to work on for myself is making grocery bags. I've found all kinds of cool remnants of upholstery and sturdy apparel fabrics that just scream "make me a tote!" I have a stack in my stash, and I'm hoping to just go to town one of these nights and make a whole bunch. If you have a nifty (and quick) pattern to try, I'm open to suggestion.
Last night, I finally got to revive my sewing machine and get some work done!! I even finished a quilt!
Quilts for Kids number...what, 6? It's called "Half Pipe Dreams".
Here it is in the box with the other finish...I have one more to go, and I actually need to wash HPD anyway, so it's not ready to be sent...just close.
I also got some quilting done on Ride a Cowboy last night. I stitched in the ditch down the blue lines, with variegated blue on the top and light blue on the bottom. Tonight I'll do down the brown lines with reddish brown on the top and tan on the bottom. I'm thinking I'll do something down the centers after that, for good measure - probably freemotion, but we'll see.
Here's the current setup. The door stays closed, so no critters allowed in this space. Kini might be allowed in later, if she can learn to stay in her spot. We'll see.
And last but not least, the design wall!!! This is Mai's quilt, so far. It's smaller than it looks in the picture, but the effect is there. I need to sew the strips together, then do some hacking and slashing (and praying) to get it to its final look. I hope it turns out like I'm thinking, but I'm not sure...I suppose we'll see.
I'm so excited to be able to join this month's Friday Night Sew In! MOTU will be heading on his boys' trip that weekend, so I'll have the house to myself...ish. The kitties will have to sit outside the door and Kini will just have to be good for a few hours.
