Project Life

So last year, there was this new trend in the scrapbooking world called "Project Life" which is described as a "back-to-basics approach to memory-keeping". I read lots of paper crafting blogs and I enjoyed stumbling on random people's Project Life pages so I decided to start doing it this year. Basically, you take a week at a time and document the itty bitty parts of life (and the big ones of course) and continue throughout the year. Most of the stuff you'd document are minor things no one else would care about besides you, but it'd be fun to reminisce about one day in the future.

So this is my first Project Life week, Jan. 1-5th.
Each "page" has space for 6-7 photos, memories, quotes, receipts, just enough for a week.

I really haven't scrapbooked in a couple of years. I still make a lot of cards and do a few random scrapbook projects but nothing on a regular basis in quite a while. So I'm excited to start this project. In the end, I'll have 52 'pages' and a whole year of memories documented.

I also finished (finally) my very first real quilt.
I finished most of it last summer but was stalled by the binding.

But thanks to the advice from a few quilting friends and youtube videos, I finally mustered up the courage to finish it. More than likely, this will be my last quilt. I'm very happy with it, but it's a lot of work and paper crafts are still my calling. I have enough paper to fill up an entire room so I don't have any space for fabric. But it was a fun, enjoyable project and I can cross that craft off my never ending crafts-to-try list.

Quilting While Caffeinated

Jimmy's on a work trip so I took advantage of my solo evening by finishing up a quick quilt. I had that flannel fabric for close to 4 years with the intent to make another rag edge quilt, but finally gave up on that and just sewed the strips that I had cut years ago.

Also, enjoyed my 1st 'red cup' coffee for the season. Starbucks is very crafty in their marketing. They bring them out right after halloween and they know suckers like myself get excited over a silly red cup simply because it's nostalgic for the season. I'm not trying to rush Christmas by any means, but there is something special about getting a hot drink in that silly red cup.

I've been meaning to try Mondo Caffe since we moved here, and since Jimmy's not home, I took the opportunity to try it. Had a delicious warm pear, gorgonzola and walnut panini, served with a side salad. I'll be back and I'm sure they have something Jimmy would enjoy, too.

The 1st Quilted Quilt

4 months ago I started working on my 1st quilted quilt. Yes, I've made a couple of rag edged quilts, but this was the 1st time I've attempted a quilt with sandwiches and batting and binding and everything.

It's a super simple patchwork quilt made from charm packs.
I've been collecting charm packs for years. I think I bought my first one in 2006 and managed to find 5 more I couldn't live without. The quilt I wanted to make required 252 squares. I needed a few more squares than the charm packs had so I visited my local fabric store and bought a handful of fat quarters to fill in. That's the pile on the left.

Believe it or not, I actually set each square out on the floor to make sure that the randomness actually looked random. Does that make any sense? I didn't want a bunch of blues bunched up together, or a bunch with the same pattern together, plus I wanted to make sure the patterns were facing the right direction. Oh, and have I ever mentioned that I hate ironing? I didn't realize how much ironing you need to do when you quilt.

Putting the quilt top together went pretty fast. Aside from the ironing. Since this was my 1st quilt, I tried not to get to crazy on being precise, otherwise I would have driven myself crazy. That's why I chose to do a simple 5" square patchwork for my 1st quilt rather than a complicated pattern where my points and edges had to match up exactly. As it was, making sure my corners were together was hard enough and I had to let go of some of my OCD and just go with the imperfection.

Now pinning everything and then trying to quilt all 3 layers of the sandwich was a Challenge with a capital C. How do you quilters squeeze all that material through that tiny space between the needle and the main part of your machine? Man was that tedious! I had to stand to quilt them all together because the biggest counter space I had was my kitchen counter.

Anyhoo...I finally finished quilting all of it together.

But...that's where I've stopped.

I haven't touched it since the beginning of June.
That's because I need to do the binding.
And I'm skerd. Very skerd.
I've watched lots of videos online, but still haven't made the attempt.
I will someday though. Hopefully soon.
Maybe when the temperatures cool off and I don't mind having a big quilt on my lap again.
I'll keep you posted.

And So It Begins! {December Daily 1}

Ah...another daily challenge...this one I'm sure I will stick to. I've done this a few years in the past and it's a good way for me to keep track of what's happening during this month of holiday madness.

This is the album I'll be collecting each of my daily momentos and blatherings. Debby Schuh showed us how to make this album in November. I love when she comes to town in the fall and shares a Christmas album. It's like having a friend come to visit and share her creativity. It's hard to believe that I've known her for over 5 years already.

Every other Thursday, I have appointments in the south bay. Today, I also spent some time crafting with my friend Julie. She worked on her Christmas cards and I worked on a rag edged quilt. It's almost done, just need to rag the edges and toss it in the washer and dryer. I'm glad I worked on this at Julie's because I haven't made one in 2 years so she helped me remember how to put it all together.

I also dropped off some cards I made for a card exchange I participate in at the local scrapbook store in San Jose. I made 7 of these for the exchange and I'll get 7 different ones back.

Lastly, a fun and silly photo: Probably the cheapest gas I've gotten this year!

"All Things Seem Possible In May"

I love the month of May. The weather is perfection with lots of stuff to fill the spring days and nights.

Last Sunday, Jimmy and I went to the city for dinner at Pacific Catch in the Marina.

After dinner we walked to Crissy Field to watch the beautiful sunset under the Golden Gate Bridge.



Watching the sunset brings out a bit of silliness in us. :-P
We watched till the sun disappeared behind the mountains.


We enjoyed the beautiful city sites and captured a few more photos while it was still dusk.

I went back to the city with Julie on Wednesday to see the Amish Quilt Exhibit at the de Young Museum.
Jimmy and I bought this Amish Quilt in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1996. The exhibit was very nice with almost 50 Amish quilts from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois.

"This exhibition features approximately 48 full-size and crib quilts dating from the 1880s to the 1940s. Quilts made by girls and women of various Amish communities in Pennsylvania and the Midwest are visual distillations of their way of life. The Amish faith embodies the principles of simplicity, humility, discipline, and community, but their quilts are anything but humble. Using a rich color palette and bold patterns, these quilts are truly a unique contribution to American textile history. The quilts highlight the beauty and complexity of the abstract patterns."

No photos of the special exhibit, but the museum has an observation deck on the 9th floor.

The Academy of Sciences is across the street from the de Young so we popped in there for an hour or so.
Of course, we had to say hello to the Academy's most famous resident, Claude the albino alligator.
Teeny tiny Bromeliad Frogs in the 4-story rainforest dome.
You might miss spotting them if you blink.

Also this week,
they finished taking the tree out. A sad day, we'll miss that tree and the birds and squirrels that lived and played in it. Now we have keep the blinds closed because it's too bright and it gets too hot on that side of the duplex.

Friday was a very special day.My friend June celebrated her 90th birthday! Doris and I spent the afternoon with her and took her to lunch.

What a great way to start a beautiful month.

"The world's favorite season is the spring.
All things seem possible in May."
-Edwin Way Teale

I Made My 1st Quilt!

Last fall, I was browsing in a quilt store near our hideaway and saw a super cute baby quilt made of flannel. I asked about it and they said it was a rag edge quilt.

I was intimidated because all I'd even sewn were a couple of pillow cases and some pot holders. But I have a friend who is an advanced quilter extraordinaire and I asked her about it.

Turns out that she's known for her hand-dyed rag edge quilts, (JB, sorry if i got all the terminology wrong, newbie sewer/quilter here bound to make major faux pas). In fact, several years ago she had made a quilt for a mutual friend at the time, but I had no idea it was a rag edge quilt. I'm oblivious like that till I become obsessed with the craft myself. Kinda like wall texture.

Anyhoo, in January or February I told JB that I'd try a rag edge quilt in the spring. I thought that if I said it out loud and someone was listening, I might actually keep my resolution. I donno why I thought this because it's never worked in the past. But this time it did! She helped me every step of the way and I got so excited about it, I finished it within 2 nights. I just need to wash it so the rag edges become more raggy and not look so stiff.

The finished size is for a baby's blanket. Here it is on our king sized bed.

This is the back of the quilt. No rag edges. For those not familiar with rag edge quilts, the rags are just on one side.

I'm officially obsessed. I'll be making a lot more of these. I just need occasions to make them.
_