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.
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.
I can't tell you how many pairs of sunglasses I've ruined because I throw them in my bag or on the car seat and the lens get scratched so badly I can't see out of them. Because of this, I've resorted to buying very cheap sunglasses. But once in a while, I'll actually really love a pair, and I'm a little bit heartbroken that I've ruined them. Besides, even buying cheap sunglasses twice a year is a waste of money and resources.
But I realized that even my novice sewing skills could fashion a simple pouch. Especially with youtube videos at my fingertips. I fashioned this little sunglass pouch with the help of this video.
A friend is celebrating her 92nd birthday on Monday and I almost forgot to send her a card. So last night, I referred to my saved pins on Pinterest and drew my inspiration from this beautiful card. I also made a similar one for Mother's Day...shhh...don't tell my MIL and spoil the surprise.
Then tonight, Doris and I went to Elizabeth's for her monthly card making project. She always shows us the prettiest cards and is super generous with her supplies and shares her ideas so openly.
This one is super fun because it's a new technique for me. Notice how the butterflies are punched out and have the appearance of being cut out of the little panel of paper below it, yet the paper is a different pattern. It's super simple, but any new technique is fun to play with. I'm gonna try this with flowers the next time I make it.
If I had to define Elizbeth's style, I'd probably call it shabby chic. This definitely is an "Elizabeth" piece. I love working dark colors. I never would have thought to add the brown accents with the grays and blues, but it works in this card.
I always love how many layers her cards have. This one has a black base, with the blue with the scalloped bottom layered on top of it. Then the focal off white piece with the main image of the fleur de lis with a little bit of glitter plus the text. Then the added layer of pleated ribbon. The layer of the 3 banner flags, that have pink flowers and crystal gems as another layer. Don't forget the "ransom note" layered pieces over the word "love". As a final touch, there's just a little extra shimmer on the entire card from a little bit of shimmer spritz. So many small details really give her cards a lot of charm.
While cooking and sewing are fun and are a creative outlet for me, paper crafting is my passion. I've tried just about every craft you can imagine, from knitting and jewelry making to soldering and clay, but anything related to the paper arts holds near and dear to my heart.
I'm not good at sewing. It's a skill I'd like to improve, but I easily get intimidated whenever it's something more than a straight line. But when my cousin asked for some help with a project that just needed a few straight lines sewed together, I knew I could help out. cutting the pieces.
We wanted to spend some time with the parentals today so we headed over there after lunch.
Jimmy and I collaborated on making this laptop cozy for his mom.
We brought my sewing machine and some scrap flannel fabric. Jimmy helped figure out the dimensions and I sewed it all together. The aluminium case can get pretty cold so we're hoping the cozy will keep the chill off her hands.
A little more Christmas related, here's a quick snapshot of the work-in-progress on my desk right now:
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. _
I'm feeling like my old self and I have a spring in my step again. At least this week, ha!
It feels good to be silly, to laugh, to not feel drained and overwhelmed. Much of it has to do with Tuesday's events. But more of it just has to do with the people who surround me. Blessings being counted.
A boost in spirit gives me a boost in energy and a boost in creativity. I'm creating, crafting, imagining, sewing and dreaming.
Yesterday morning I took a mini-class with KB at a local scrapbook store. We made this super cute, super easy magnet clipboard notepad holder.
Later that evening, I got together with a few more friends and they taught me how to sew the cutest bear towels. I shouldn't show the pics of these because they are going to my cousin's kids (surprise V!!), but they are so freaking adorable that I couldn't keep them to myself till after I mailed them. I'm the worst mailer. She might not get these for a month. Or more. (Sorry V!)
I've done a bit of scrapbooking, too.This is me.
And... me, too. Yup. Dork. Not just dorky enough to take a self-deprecating photo like this, but uberdorky by actually putting it in a scrapbook. And then post it for all to see.
_
Couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather. It rained Friday night into Saturday then the sun peeked out in the afternoon. Sunday the air was clear and crisp thanks to the previous day's rain and the cool breeze.
Saw Nights in Rodanthe with my MIL and SIL. It was good. Not great, but better than just ok. At the very least, entertaining and a workout on tear ducts. If you're susceptible to that. Did you see Diane Lane and Richard Gere in Unfaithful? So different from this one.
I've been learning how to make a basic potholder.I got the instructions here. I didn't know how to do a blind stitch but I easily learned after watching a tutorial on youtube. I love the internet.
Since the weather is cooler, I felt like making comfort food. Have you had heard of Mulligatawny soup? The first time we had it was at the Spaghetti Factory. It's served every Thursday at lunch. I needed to find a recipe and the one I finally ended up with is a combination from one I found on allrecipes.com, one I found in Cooking Light magazine and making substitutions that suit our tastes. If you like chicken & rice soup and curry doesn't turn your stomach, I recommend it. At the very least, try it the next time you see it on the menu at a restaurant. It's fun to try something different. Here's how I make it: Chicken Mulligatawny
3/4 cup white or brown rice
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast half - cut into cubes
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup milk - nf is fine and what I usually use but use whatever you want including 1/2 and 1/2 if it suits you.
Directions
-Puree all vegetables
-heat oil in large stock pot and add veggie puree, cook for a few minutes.
-add curry powder and chicken stock. Mix well and bring to a boil. Simmer about 1/2 an hour.
-Add rice, chicken, salt, pepper and thyme. Simmer another 1/2 hr or until rice is done. -or- Simmer 2 hours for rice to thicken and become more 'hearty'.
-Add milk and apples, simmer 5 minutes. Serve.
Our couch has seen plenty of naps. In fact, I woke up from one about 2 hours ago. I'm happy to report that these new pillows: cradled my dozy head quite nicely. The cool thing about them? I made them. Me, the non-sewer! Perhaps to those of you who sew, a simple square pillow can be done blindfolded, but I had to concentrate to make these. It wasn't hard, but getting to know a sewing machine is different than any other craft I've done.
I learned how to make this basic pillowcase in the class I took Wednesday night. But the one I made in class was smaller and the material I used doesn't match my couch, so I made these today. It took me about 3 hours to do the 2 pillows. But my favorite part is the teeny tiny bit of extra that I added that we didn't learn in class. I added a couple of snaps to keep the pillow case closed in the back. They're the subtle shiny objects in the center of the pillow. I know how to attach snaps because of scrapbooking. It's not surprising that every craft is linked in some way or another.
I'm not sure yet if sewing will grab me like other crafts have in the past. I'm not a very precise person when it comes to measuring and it seems like sewing requires quite a bit of precision. And so far my least favorite part of it is the ironing. Ironing. No sir, I don't like it.
I'm fairly certain I won't get into sewing clothes. I'm planning on taking another class to learn a few more details. And I'm planning on taking a quilting class someday. This weekend I'm hoping to make a few potholders.
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.
