FNSI - Social Edition

Just a quickie picture post before I head to bed...it's nearly 12:30 AM and I have a TON to get done tomorrow. Daunting.

Anyway, here are the pictures I'm at liberty to show tonight:

 Our mascot, camped out in the tshirt scrap box. Anyone have ideas about what to do with tshirt scraps? I'm not really excited about sewing with them.

 We crammed 3 sewing stations, a cutting station, and an ironing station into my sewing room. Love it. Oh, and the design wall was still accessible too. Luxe.

 Carolyn's project...how cute is this???

My top finish for the night. I added a couple of borders and decided to dub this one "Funfetti".

Quick FNSI Update

Just a quick post to say I did get stuff done but my camera battery is dead so I'll have to get pics in the morning.  The superhero quilt top is done, so maybe sometime this weekend I'll get a chance to quilt and finish it.  And maybe I'll get a chance to baste the Valentine's day quilt so I can quilt that too.  And maybe I'll get a chance to sleep.

Tomorrow morning I get to spin with my new shoes!  I can't wait to try real cycling shoes!!!  Should be a trip.  Off to bed!!

Design Exhaustion Monday

What a weekend!  I accomplished the following:

* 16 blocks for the I Spy Log Cabin quilt (which I'm calling "The Fun Grandma's Quilt"...maybe) - they're 16x16 finished.

* All 20 blocks for ISLC sewn together - top finished! I don't have a picture of the finished top yet, but I'll get one later tonight.
* Backing bought for ISLC - waiting for space on the floor to clear up before moving forward with that one.
* 28 out of 30 blocks done for a man quilt...I have to say, I'm a little in love with this one.  It's all blues, and it's the 'friendship circle' block.

Lots of scraps used up this weekend.  Enough that there's a discernable hole in my stash, even!  I thought I wouldn't have enough blues to make this quilt, but it turns out...I still have a bunch left.  Yikes.  The recipient's birthday is the 31st, so I'm hoping to get it done in time to ship out this weekend, fingers crossed. 

I also got my room cleaned up enough that we can put the new printer my folks got us in there, to avoid any more kitty mishaps.  Nick wanted to get a copy of Kini's paws to send to my dad, but it's too high up.  Oh darn.  :-D 

I also finished the critters' gifts this weekend (everyone's getting their own fleece-covered pillow!). I had a great picture of Kini being oblivious to my awesome hiding place (on top of the TV), but apparently it didn't upload.  Oh well.  I'll post pics of those later. I'm also dying to post pictures of The One Gift (every year, there's One Gift that is perfect and will rock the socks off the recipient...every year I try to go for more than one, but invariably I run out of creative juices after just one), but I don't know if the recipient reads this so I won't post it yet.  Suffice it to say, I can't wait for Christmas.  :-D 

Friday Night Sew In

Since it's now technically Saturday morning, I should probably wrap up the night and go to bed.  Just a quick post to make sure I log what I did tonight in case I forget to post tomorrow. 

Tonight I made 4 more blocks for the log cabin quilt, including a crummy little tutorial on how to slice n dice the strips. I made a couple of Christmas gifts that I'm DYING to post but can't until after Christmas.  I made a little bib with a pocket that I'll probably post on etsy once I wash it and take some good pictures.  That doesn't sound like much but the gifts took up a LOT of time.  I had to make templates and such before I could even think about sewing, so...there ya have it. 

Now, off to bed for me!

Design Scrapbook Monday and Friday Night Sew In Report

So I just realized most of my FNSI pictures are actually on the camera that's at home right now, so for now these will have to suffice.  I got all the placemats finished, sewed and pressed all the triangle squares I had started (which is about a quarter of what I'll eventually need) for the colonial quilt, finished the Valentine's top, and basted the Christmas quilt.  Phew!  All that, and it was only a 3 hour night, since I also made cookies and chicken baked in fig sauce (see my cooking blog for yummy details). 

The colonial quilt squares.

The stack of everything completed.

Saturday, I got this in the mail.  That, folks, is 350 4x6 prints from our wedding.  Note it's almost as tall as the base of my sewing machine.  Gulp.  I've since organized them into several piles (friends, family, us, key moments, and misc - horizontal and vertical of each) and have started sorting those piles into a rough timeline (rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, morning of prep, pre ceremony, ceremony, post ceremony, formals, reception...yes, that took a long time).  And then I took a break and went to Micheal's, where I found this:

Feel free to add your own punchline.

3 trips to Micheal's, one trip to Joann's, and 2 trips to Target/Ritz Camera later, I exploded across the couch, in hopes of being less anti social.  This had the adverse effect, as Nick didn't want to touch anything (lest he mess up the system) so he and Kini went and watched TV in the bedroom.  I even put Firefly on to lure them back in, but to no avail.  I wallowed in lonely, nerdy scrapbooking for a solid 4 hours last night. 

I've gotten as far as the morning of prep, and only about a third of the way through that, but here's the progress.  The above picture is actually sideways, but I'm too lazy to fix it right now, sorry.  That's the front cover of the album.

First page.

Rehearsal.

More rehearsal. Love the pictures of my grandmother and her great grandson...too cute, huh?

Rehearsal dinner.

More dinner.

Morning of prep, bride and groom.  You'll notice that, while I was spending 4+ hours getting dolled up, about 3 hours in Nick came by to steal some food and try to get a sneak peek.  He was still in jeans and a t shirt.  Boys have it so easy.

My brother, without whom the wedding would have gone very differently...I may have walked down the aisle nekkid, and definitely without as big a smile.  He's the best brother ever.

While I was scrapbooking, Nick was out making the house pretty.  We have a new banister on the front porch now!  The next step is adding a little fencing to prevent Kini from bolting into the driveway (I predict confusion the first time she encounters it).  Didn't he do so good??  :-)

Facial Hair

Finally got back in the sewing room and made some headway on the mustache placemats from the giveaway...I'm sort of terrible at this blogging thing.  Sorry it's been so long, Keeley.  They'll be shipped this weekend though, I promise!  Tomorrow is Friday Night Sew-In, and that's top of the list (if I don't get them done tonight even). 

Best dog ever.

I digress.

On the docket for Friday night:
* Finishing what's to be finished of the placemats.
* Piecing the back and basting the sandwich of the Christmas quilt. 
* Making serious headway on our Ohio Stars quilt (hoping to get at least all the triangled squares sewn and pressed...that's the worst of it, the pressing.)
* If there's time, maybe I'll finish the top of the Valentine's quilt.  That's still in a box, and I have like 5 rows left to sew together to make it a finished top.  Really should just get that done.  Don't need to baste it or anything, I just want the top done.  Maybe I'll move that up the list some. 

I need to figure out a couple of Christmas gifts too...I want to do more handmade stuff this year, but I'll be honest...I'm a little nervous about making stuff for MOTU's family.  I don't know what kind of precedent to set and all that. 

Oh that reminds me...I should start on Christmas cards too.  I have ideas.  That's another precedent I need to set right.  Yikes.  No pressure. 

Quilt Therapy

Yesterday was a meltdown kinda day.  You know how it is.  Fortunately, I wasn't alone and what perked me up was partly reading a description of someone else's meltdown and partly making another quilt top.

I finally got around to using the charm pack of Verna I won months ago from Heidi for a Friday Night Sew-In.  It's pretty.  Not sure what I'd do with actual yardage, but it's pretty as a set.  This, I think, is going to be a lap quilt for someone for Christmas.  It's just the top for now, but I have big plans for doing some actual quilting along the border (as opposed to my usual stitching in the ditch approach, which is classic and simple but not terribly imaginative).

I also pulled out some fabrics from my stash last night for something I'm going to call "Slime & Snails & Puppydog Tails".  It's definitely going to be a boy's quilt.  Not sure how big or what design exactly, but it'll be an Etsy quilt when it's done.  I'm excited to start making stuff to sell once this wedding dust starts settling. I've added a few new things to the shop, but they're all custom work, nothing I could ship out tomorrow.  Well, not unless I stayed up all night to get it done.

I still need to get the programs done, but the direction signs, at least, are done.  3 lefts and a right. I also need to get more core board to make a display to encourage people to sign the guest scrapbook and use pictures from the photo booth.  I probably need to collect supplies to let people decorate it and a box to let people put their contributions in if they don't feel like putting them in the book themselves. 

Anyway, that's the news from Lake Woebegone. 

Friday Night Sew In - March Edition

Last night wasn't quite as productive as February, but it was a good night.  I only got in about 3 hours of sewing, but I managed to make a second bag (this one we're calling a purse because I have no need for diapers, thankyouverymuch) and got about a quarter of Fencing Matilda done.

Here's the setup.  Sorry for the odd angle...it was hard to get the whole mess in.  What's that?  Why yes, that is a copy of Titanic ready to be played on my computer while I sew.  No, I haven't seen it in years.  No, it did not escape MOTU's notice or ridicule.  No, MOTU and I do not watch chick flicks together for that exact reason ("have they crashed yet? have they had sex in someone's car yet? she's wearing a dress, that means sexy time is soon, right?").  The one good thing about him leaving for 14 months is that I'll get to watch SO many chick flicks when he's gone.  It's a guilty pleasure of mine, don't judge.

Here are the two bags, finished and hanging for artistry.  I haven't decided which one is "better" so I can send it to Faith yet.

Like I said, 1/4th done with Fencing Matilda.  I'm hoping it doesn't look too much like an Italian flag lol.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do for quilting.  I'm definitely going to stitch between blocks, but I'm thinking of doing something pretty along the fences as well.  I'm nervous though because that means machine freemotion, which I'm not terribly good at yet.  We'll see, maybe I'll turn out to be a natural (last time I did it, I had my machine set up wrong).

I ended up with about 2 1/2 inches leftover on each strip of strips, so I played around with doing some disappearing 9-square stuff.

Here they are all in a real block.  I think it looks kinda nifty.

That got me to thinking.  I've been playing around a lot with little mini blocks from the scraps of real stuff I'm doing.  I think I'm going to start a collection of them and make a misfit blocks quilt when I have enough.  I have a few leftover 4-square blocks from the QFK quilts, a couple of 16-square blocks from Paddington, and some misc other attempts at creativity as well.  Maybe it'll turn out cool, maybe it'll be a trainwreck, who knows.

And since it's Saturday, and a sunny one at that, I've gotten a lot done today.  Here's my little indoor garden:

That's since become my window garden:

It's just not up in a window yet.  They all still look a little sad since they haven't realized where the sun's coming from yet, but they'll perk up.  Some of them are starting to look like the real thing...there are some textured sage leaves and some prickly cilantro and parsley leaves...I can't wait for them to really get going!

Of course, Grisgris knew it was nice out as well and was just BEGGING to get outside.

We might have tormented him just a little bit.  This is the kitchen window.  Eventually, he got out.

Later on, he was back inside and Shelby went outside.  I let him out again thinking that they could avoid each other just fine in that big ol' yard.  Next thing I know, I go outside to start my garden and what is that little brat doing??  He's STALKING SHELBY!  She has no idea and he's just creeping up on her!  I picked him up and he hissed at me!  I threw him (yes, he was airborne) back into the house and closed the door and Shelby ran under the neighbors' porch.  What a punk.

Now he's just chilling out on the plaid couch quilt we all love.

In addition to the garden, I also washed 3 cars, including Helen:

Phew!  All that, and we even slept in pretty late this morning, too!  What a day!

Friday Fave Five!!! #5

Phew, another week gone by already??  The days are getting longer, so how can these weeks keep getting shorter??  It's been a great week though.  I'm pretty sure it rained Monday, but the past couple of days the weather has been so great that I honestly don't remember if it did or not.

On that note, my Friday Fave Five:

1. Summer beer.  God bless the Germans, they know their beer and they know what to do with it.  This lovely little concoction is half UFO (Hefeweizen) and half lemonade.  That's right, lemonade.  Any white beer works, but the unfiltered kinds tend to work best I think.  It tastes like summer.  I had one glass last night and just wanted to jump in Helen and drive. (Wendy, Helen is the van.  Yes, that VW beauty is our van...she's our first child, for all intents and purposes.  She needs a lotta lovin' and some new tires, but she's pretty badass.  She made it all the way up to Newfoundland and back last summer, with only a few small mishaps along the way.  You'll hear plenty more about Helen in the coming weeks though, I'm sure.  I'm going to need to fix up her canvas by hand, so there will be reports.)

Anyways, don't judge me on the glass...MOTU doesn't have a dishwasher, so it's sort of the dish equivalent of laundry day right now.  Good thing he's working from home today and has sworn to do it before I get there...I HATE doing dishes by hand.  HATE IT.

2. Project success!  I decided to make my cousin (who just had a baby) a diaper bag instead of a stuffed animal of some sort, and it came out pretty nicely, if I do say so myself!

I won't lie though...I cut out double the pieces and plan on making one more of these.  I'll send her the better one and keep the other one for myself.  Maybe I'll get more fabrics and turn this into my giveaway prize. I love the colors on this though.  The butterflies is light courderoy (fine bumps) and the pink is coarse courderoy (big bumps).  The gray is just thick lineny material I found...I really dig it as the inside of the bag though, it's nice and heavy but still washable.  The whole thing is machine washable actually.

3. My kitty.  He is just so...special.  Thursday night, I was making dinner and heard him making the same noise he made when Shelby ate his food the first time...this long, low howl that kind of raises the hairs on the back of my neck.  It's eerie.  I went to find him, and he was looking out the storm door to the back yard.  It was after dark, so I figured he'd been conversing with another kitty outside.  I didn't see one run away, so I flipped the porch light on...nothing.  Grisgris stopped howling and started sniffing at the door, but didn't see his friend anymore so he started purring.  I turned the light back off and went to walk away, but as soon as I turned back around Grisgris started howling again.  I went over to see what he was looking at and realized...he was howling at his shadow on the ground outside!!!  It looked like a black kitty and kept moving around (because he did), so he thought there was an intruder who wouldn't talk to him!  I about fell on the floor I was laughing so hard.

He reminds me a lot of Alex the Lion from Madagascar. Pretty boy, kinda slow, goes completely wild sometimes, but all in all he means well.

He jumped out a window (first floor) yesterday to get outside, then hid under the trailer every time I tried to get him back in.  He's a little punk.  But I love him dearly.

4. One more week!  I have to say, every time I make the commute in or out now, I am a little more excited about not making it ever again.  Even on the good days, it still takes 45 minutes plus each way and I'm just so over that.  I can't wait until I can bike to work again too.  And have time in the evenings to run, cook, AND sew.

5. Spring skimpies!  This is what MOTU calls it.  At first, I was sort of offended (or at least annoyed) by both the term and the attention, but let's face it...it's a seasonal rite of passage.  What woman doesn't love that first day where it's technically still a little cool out, but darn it, it's been months since your shoulders have seen the sun so it's time for a tank top?  Apparently the boys love this time of year as well...the first day that women suddenly *aren't* wearing hoodies and parkas and jeans...some of us opt for the hoodie and shorts, some opt for tank top and jeans.  Personally, I know my legs glow in the dark so I'm all for jeans.  What's your spring skimpy style?


Addendum:

Another fave for this Friday?  The Friday Night Sew-In, of course!!




I'll have another post later to organize my thoughts for tonight.  I know I'm going to make another bag, and I'll probably put the top together for Emily's Matilda's baby blanket.  It's a pink/green/white rail fence, nothing spectacular.  I think I'll call it Fencing Matilda.

Also, I need to start doing labels for my quilts.  The QFK ones came with labels, but I didn't put one on Abby's Road.  I thought about it and sort of meant to, but then got excited about sending it to her and forgot entirely.