Indulgence - Friday Fave Five Version

Man, what a great day!!!  What a great week!  If you don't regularly follow my blog (welcome FFFers!), check out the two or so posts previous to this one...if you're not smiling by the end, you need a hug!

On with it!

1. I can't believe it was earlier this week, but Mom was here! She helped me get a lot of wedding work done, and was in town especially for my shower...

2. ...which is number 2 because I had 2 showers this week!!  One was a complete and utter surprise!  My coworkers, Lisa and Maryrita, organized the office (mostly boys, so this was a feat!) and had them turn the August birthday party into a birthday party/shower!  I was completely caught off guard!  The first shower was on Saturday, which was also amazing...you can see the rundown here.  Suffice it to say, I have some pretty covetously awesome friends and family.  You should be jealous.

3.  Indulgence!

At lunch I ran out and got MOTU and my marriage license!  That's right folks, the state of VT is letting us get hitched just 4 weeks from tomorrow!  And wouldn't you know it, but between the library (where I'm working today) and the town clerk, there was a quilt shop!  If that's not divine inspiration, I don't know what is!  They had all their fall fabrics out in front, just waiting for me to rub up on them and hold them in stink-eye-inducing ways.  The four on the right are for the tables at the wedding...I'm going to cut them into 18x18 blocks and hem them, so now I don't need to collect leaves for that.  I still need leaves for the flower girl to throw though.  The one on the left is for the wedding rings quilt I'll eventually make from all the fabrics people gave at the shower. I got enough to make a border, to tie the whole thing together (it's going to be VERY colorful...)  After the wedding, the 18x18 blocks will magically turn into napkins.

4. How could it get better than that?  It's just a glorious day out.  I went to a deli in town and got a freshly made sandwich with good quality meats and local veggies on it.  I sat outside the library and soaked up the sun until I had to resign myself to coming back in to work.  It's maybe low 70s out, not a cloud in the sky (except the pretty white puffy ones but those don't count), and I'm in small-town VT.  It is a damn good day.

5. Foreshadowing: tomorrow I'm going to get my hair and makeup trial done for the wedding, then we're meeting up with some friends at the fair.  Then, we're having a second engagement shoot done, at the fair!  I cannot express how much I'm looking forward to that!  MOTU has been tolerant of this whole thing, and I know he'll do his best to grin and bear it like last time.

What the heck, it's been such a good week, let's throw in an extra:

I finished and shipped out two quilts this week, got all my thank you notes for Saturday's shower done and sent, and had my first etsy sale! Nothing can stop me today!  Nothing!

Mai's Ugly Quilt

My friend Mai is going off to college on Saturday, so I got this thing done just in time.  It's called "Mai's Ugly Quilt" in reference to an inside joke between the two of us.  I don't think it's ugly at all though.  :-)

Grisgris doesn't either.

Apparently my mom left to have lunch with me and came back to this guy shamelessly catting up Mai's quilt.  Fortunately, it still needed washing anyway.  He stayed that way for most of the night...I feel like that's a good sign.  He was just infusing it with some of his kitty love so she won't be homesick. 

I think what makes that picture even better is that he's laying on Mai's college quilt, which is resting on the quilt my mom made for ME when I went off to school!  It's nearly a decade old, but it's still my favorite rainy day quilt!!

Design Stuff Monday

All things considered, it was a productive weekend.  MOTU got back from his 2-week long roadtrip around 4 AM on Sunday morning, which meant I had a few extra hours in the name of "waiting up until my man gets home" to do stuff besides clean.  Here's the rundown:

 Hooray eBay!  I got a whole slew of vintage buttons to make flowers with...now if someone would kindly buy one of my etsy listings, I can use them!  I'm debating learning to make button bouquets after the wedding, since those seem to be what's hot right now.  Ick, but it if it's your thing, it's your thing.

 The successful crayon project.  Kaleidoscope mini-muffin crayons.  They're pretty, but I'm not sure what I'll do with them since it seems crayons are a discouraged item to have in close proximity to the linens at the wedding.  Hum.

 The unsuccessful crayon project.  This went as you'd expect...the whole thing is a giant red glob and isn't nearly as pretty as I'd hoped. Let's not speak of this ever again.

 A finish! Ish! This is the top for Mai's quilt.  I even got it quilted this weekend!  All I need now is to trim the borders and put on some binding, and that baby's ready to go off to college! (Mai, if you're reading this, sorry to ruin the surprise...)

The pink quilt (which I'm calling "Valentine's Day Blues", putting a blue flannel pieced backing on, and selling on etsy as soon as it's done) is still up on the wall.

 Kini seems to think this bed is hers now.  My mom made me this quilt a few years ago when I was redecorating after a particularly nasty breakup.  She's awesome like that.  Whipped this up inside a week.  My mom rocks.

 Shelby has been getting ever more adventurous - this was last night, the windows from the kitchen to the screened-in porch.

And this was when I was eating pizza in the living room.  No joke. There's a shelf behind that door, and she just spies on me from there, thinking she's all sneaky. It makes me giggle every time.

And, rounding out the critter cam, Grisgris has found his place in my sewing room.  Right now, 2 of the 3 are passed out within arm's reach.  Life is good.  :-)

Breath of Life

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. 

Good to be back!!

Quick Picture Update

Just a quick pic fix for now.  Trust me, I'll have words later...hopefully today, but no promises.  It's barely 10:30 and today's already been an emotional rollercoaster.  Yikes.

First, the cakes we tried for the wedding:

 They were so good...sorry ladies, y'all just gained 3 lbs from looking at them.  My bad.

Kini making friends:

And enemies: 

She was barking at the waves

Not a fan:

I love my life:

 She climbed in the front seat with me, but wouldn't sit on my lap.  She drives, I steer.  Totally kidding.

Yeah yeah, pathetic, I know...

 Hey, um, can I come sit with you guys?

 Mai's quilt:

 It's sort of a loose interpretation of a quilt I saw a few weeks ago in another blog...I can't for the life of me find that picture though.  If this is your idea, please claim it.  Sorry about that.

We have a door!  And it closes!

Chewing on a frozen squeaky toy:

I love this man:

Bouquets!

Kini as of 3 hours ago: 

 She's so huge now:

K, more later I promise.  For now, gotta focus!

Design Coverup Monday

GASP!!!!

I've resurfaced!  Sorry for the long delay, all 3 of you who so kindly kept checking back (from multiple computers, even, to make me think there were more!).  It's been a couple of crazy crazy weeks.

Anyways, enough about that.  This weekend I got a LOT done.  Sadly, all the pictures I took are on my camera, which is at home.  For now, you'll have to deal with phone pictures:

Here are the first couple of strips of Mai's quilt sewn together.

And here are all of them.  I sewed the whole thing into a loop, then cut them into 3.5 inch strips, perpendicularly.  I'm now undoing the stitching and not having to resew onto the other end to make this thing work.  I'll show pictures later of what I'm actually trying to do with it, rather than attempting to explain it now.

I also got Alishia's quilt basted, finally.  Now I can start quilting that, quilting the QFK that's been collecting dust for a month, and hopefully quilting Mai's soon...she graduates in 2 weeks, so I've got a bit of a time crunch there.  Wish me luck.

And of course, the obligatory cute puppy pic:

"What's that stupid Netbook got that I don't have, huh?"

Kat's Draggin' In...

Lordy lordy what a week.  We started training this week for the new company, which has been unrelentingly fast paced and difficult to absorb.  It's also a pilot training course, which means the materials are in far from perfect shape, which adds to the difficulty.  So with bleary eyes and barely functioning brain cells, here's this week's fave five:

1. My number 1 cheerleader.  On top of all this training stuff, I'm trying desperately not to stress eat (fail) and to get to the gym more often (sort of fail).  Yesterday, I got my ever-expanding booty out of bed at (groan) 5 am.  MOTU, of course, kept right on sleeping.  However, as I was about to head out the door, from the bedroom I hear him sleepily yell, "You rock and I love you!" to keep my spirits up (which were also half asleep at that point).  He's too cute.  Every day this week I've come home mentally exhausted, physically drained, and nearly unable to function enough to even make dinner.  Every day he's told me how smart and beautiful and awesome I am.  He's my number 1 cheerleader, and I'm so glad I get to spend the rest of my life cheering him on too.  :-)

2. Getting it. This training is rough.   Everyone is struggling with it in a major way. I'm not going to claim that I'm not struggling, but I'm definitely getting it.  Wednesday I even felt *good* when I walked out of here.

3. Future families. Last weekend, MOTU and I went up to VT to book vendors and figure out wedding details. We had dinner with his extended family, and I realized at some point during that meal what I'm walking into...his family, while quirky like any other family, is amazing.  They are so supportive and happy and eager to help.  They make some sarcastic comments to each other, but overall they're never mean or snippy to each other.  They respect each other and care for each other...the amount of effort that goes into taking care of MOTU's grandmother, for example, is humbling.  Every one of her children (4) were there on Mother's Day, and they went out of their way to take lots of pictures with her and her sister (Aunt Margaret, who helped raise MOTU).  It was very sweet...even sweeter that they pulled me into the pictures like I was already family.  They're good people, and I'm really happy to be joining their ranks.  Having family like them so close (but just far enough that visiting is still special) makes MOTU leaving not so lonely.  It also makes me less stressed about the idea of someday having kids...there is so much support and love that I'm not afraid. 

4. Wedding stuff coming together like woah. Here's the latest, as of last night:

• We have the following vendors booked, with deposits either cashed or in their hands: 
• Reception - Snow Farm Winery
• Ceremony - Immaculate Conception Cathedral
• Photographer - Margaret Michael
• DJ - Digital DJ
• Photo Booth Rental - VT Photo booth company
• Paper for the invitations is on my doorstep, from paperandmore.com
• We have the following vendors tentatively lined up, with contracts/deposits pending: 
• Pie people - Allenholm Farm
• Cake maker - Cosmic Bakery, St. Albans (no website yet)
• Caterer - Chow Bella

I've decided not to get a florist, since the flowers I've made have worked out pretty well: 

It's slightly more filled out than yesterday, and the pieces are actually glued together.

I think I've also decided that, in addition to the bouquets that the bridesmaids will obviously get to keep, I'm going to make them all some kind of carrying case that can double as a purse. I'll need to figure something out for Jimmy. 

5. Training is almost over.  For this week. Honestly folks, my brain is completely fried.  I haven't absorbed anything since about 2 pm. We have another week of this next week (keep in mind that by "a week of this" I mean "start the day by driving in to Cambridge from Nashua".  Google maps that.  It ain't pretty.) but you know what?  I'm getting it.  For the most part, I'm actually understanding this stuff at least to a point.  After next week, I'll have ANOTHER week of training in June, which will be really interesting...because that training (actually it's only 3 days, not 5) is the stuff that I'm going to be in charge of rewriting.  It feels really good to have a solid direction, and even better to know how much responsibility I'm going to have.  I am the sole writer for this product, and it's the second biggest product the company has.  Yowzah. 

Anyways, that's my week.  Tonight, I'm going to hole up with my honey in our favorite local beer joint, have some yummy food and beer, go for a run (not in that order), and rock my jammies until I fall asleep.  Tomorrow, hopefully I'll get some work done on Mai's quilt...maybe even Alishia's if I can commandeer some floor space someplace.

Design Pile Monday

Oh, I am just dreaming of the day that title says "wall" again.  Wendy, I might do as you suggested eventually, but for right now the space is still too cramped and the main purpose of this room *is* still sleeping.  Also, there's a much bigger open wall on the other side of the room I plan to repurpose for my own quilting needs.

Anyways.

Here's the pile:

Left -> Right -> Bottom:
Gabby the Gremlin, who we all know and love. Orange/yellow fat quarters for this flower project, and the first flower. Quilts for kids. On bottom, a finished one, on top a finished top.  The backing for the top is the same as the 1 inch border.  Next, Paddington.  Still haven't done anything with him. Next, Ride a Cowboy.  Haven't had space or time to get that basted.  On the bottom, a finish!  Fencing Matilda is done and will be shipped today.  I'll have a close up of that in just a second.

My goal for today is to get Paddington, the skater QFK, and Ride a Cowboy basted.  If I can do that, it will be a successful quilting day. Oh, and Fencing Matilda, gotta get that mailed.  Anyone out there have a good source for boxes?  I'm finding that the Flat Rate thing isn't as good a deal for shipping quilts as it is for shipping, say, bowling balls.

So some close ups.

I don't think I was supposed to see this.  She's usually very secretive, but I *have* been up at all hours of the night lately, so I think she just didn't expect me.

Of course, once she knew I knew, I had to ask her to take a picture with her masterpiece.  She obliged, but hid her face. 

A little bit better of a close up of the flower.  I originally tried this with a smaller button and stitching the pedals through the middle then the bottom.  Going through the top corners then the bottom corners worked like a charm.  I like the pearled button too. I haven't figured out exactly how many of these I'm going to make, but it's entirely possible there might be 50+ by the end of it.  If you have orange/yellow fat quarters you don't want anymore, feel free to donate.  It's not a good cause (hopefully I can tell you exactly what the cause is in a couple of posts...I know what it is, but it's secret for now), but your fabrics will be well-loved if you need a new home for them.

And of course, the reason I've been up at all hours:

She's so smart!  We had a puppy play n learn on Saturday, and she just went NUTS!  She's super good at sitting though, and is getting the hang of sitting and being calm for her food too.  Not so much at sitting at the open door, but most of the time that's probably because she really has to pee.  I think she's also figured out that if she squats like she's peeing, even if she doesn't actually pee, she gets praise.  We've been setting alarms to take her out proactively, but in the end she still ends up crying to be let out at some unholy hour anyways. Thank God for my evolutionary womanhood, I can hear her before she pees in her crate.  Doesn't always register, but I can hear her anyways.  We'll get there.

So that's that.  I'm hoping to have 3 quilts basted tonight and the same 3 quilts quilted by the end of the week.

I've also decided to go a different direction with Mai's quilt...something simpler since I just don't have the tools or the time to do the hunter's star the way it should be done.  I'll post pictures when it's ready to be shown.  :-)

And, of course, once I get all 4 of those settled (Mai's might get pushed back since I still have until June to finish hers), I need to get cracking on both the Wrapped in Hope quilt (due in like 2 weeks) and Arman's play mat.  I may never sleep again.