The nerdiest way to spend a Friday night

I'm sure all of you loyal readers out there (all two of you... hi mom!) are dying to know how someone who leads as glamorous a life as I do (yeah, right) spends a typical Friday or Saturday evening. Never one to leave my fans unsatisfied, I now give you the answer to your question.

That's right, I crochet. Or stitch down a binding or possibly hand quilt if I'm feeling chilly & ambitious (see the stuff to the right of the basket). Usually by the time the weekend gets here, I'm too pooped to do anything but sit on the couch, and these projects flow seamlessly into my weekend routine. Typically I will do one of these three activities while watching a Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or Star Wars movie - I have a thing for movies (or books) that are part of a series. Love that. And depending on what kind of a day I've had, I might throw a nice adult beverage into the mix. Just one though... two seem to affect the results of my handiwork.

The crochet project I'm currently working I found here at Bella Dia, one of my fave blogs. It's fairly easy - just double crochet until your eyes cross. I did manage to screw it up - I didn't work on it for awhile, and when I picked it back up I couldn't remember exactly how to start a new row. So a few of my rows are a little short, but no worries, I just added stitches in the next couple of rows to even things out. It sort of looks like someone took a little bite out of the side, but I'll be damned if I was going to rip all of that out and start over. A couple of rows of edging crocheted around the whole thing will help camouflage my mistake. Yeah, sounds like a plan.This is my hand quilting project - my very first. I wanted to start with something simple so that I could concentrate on making my stitches even and not worry about quilting through thick seams. So I used a piece of cheater convenience fabric (this one's from Moda's Sanctuary collection by 3 Sisters), basted it together with a batt and backing, and went to town. I was pleasantly surprised that hand quilting is not nearly as time consuming as I thought it would be (atleast not the simple quilting I'm doing), but it definitely isn't quick either. However, as I said before, it's a perfect complement to my couch sitting time. And that's something I definitely don't want to rush.

Playing catch up

Well, keeping with the theme of only posting sporadically, here I am, over 2 weeks since my last post. Rest assured, it's been a busy 2 weeks or you would have heard from me before now. Alas, very little of it has been crafty, so I have very little to show you. Even so, I'll try to catch you up on what's been going on with me.

Longarm Quilting: Been doing quite a bit of this. Here's a particularly fun but time-consuming project that I finished last week. This is the Rosebud Lane block of the month that I did at the shop, and this busy customer was the first to finish the quilt. The original quilt (from the designers) had trees and animals and all sorts of cute little things quilted into it, so I tried to replicate that type of quilting as best as I could.

Taxes: I've been doing lots of that too, including my own. I'm so glad that April 15 is next week. (By the way, if you haven't done yours yet, I recommend this site. It's free if your income falls within a certain limit, but it's pretty inexpensive even if you fall outside the limit. I don't get a commission or anything for recommending them...I'm just a satisfied customer.)

American Idol: No matter how busy I am, I stop what I'm doing to watch American Idol. I was a little bored with last night's show...I didn't think anyone really picked a very good song. And my usual favorites (Carly, David C.) were just kind of okay. The people that I usually think are just "eh", I thought were a lot better last night. Including Syesha and even (it sort of hurts to say this) Kristy. And what was up with Randy & Simon last night? It was like a "Trading Places" moment. I wish Randy would go back to saying quasi-positive comments and leave the serious criticism to Simon.

Upcoming projects:

I'm working on this quilt for the local community college auction for scholarships. The auction is at the end of the month, so I've got to get going on this.

I've got lots of quilts to finish and several planned quilts that I haven't started yet, but I've been in the mood to crochet lately, so we'll see what happens. I've got a crochet project started already. I wasn't too sure about it, but then my aunt (who doesn't crochet or quilt or anything) came over last week and ooh-ed and aah-ed over it, so now I'm more in love with it. I guess I just needed someone else's stamp of approval (besides my husband's). I'll have pics tomorrow. And yes, I'm writing tomorrow in black and white so-to-speak so that I'll feel more obligated to actually take the d**n photos and post them.

Anniversary

Today is a good day. First, it's my anniversary! Not my blogiversary or whatever, but my actual wedding anniversary (4 years... that's always the next question). Second, it's the first day of spring (Yeah! And not a moment too soon if you ask me). And last but not least, it's my 1/2 birthday! I know it's silly, but I love pointing that out. It's sort of like an Alice in Wonderland un-birthday. Not my real birthday, but still worth celebrating.

My wedding was also on the first day of spring (it's not always March 20, btw), and I loved wedding flowers. This is possibly my favorite wedding picture, even though there aren't any people in it.


The all red bouquet in the middle was mine, and the mulit-colored ones were the bridesmaids'. If gerbera daises don't say "spring" then I don't what does.

Here's another one of my favorites...my hubby looks like a jack rabbit! When the photographer said "jump", he took that to mean, "Jump as high as you can. Your football coach is hiding in the bushes to meaure your vertical." Men. He hates this picture, so feel free to tease him about it if you ever see him.

Here we are, the happy couple. It always amazes me how young we look. I guess we were, even though it didn't feel like it then. We are high school sweethearts (although I don't really care for that term), so we dated over 6 years before we took the plunge. So for those keeping track, that's over 10 years that we've been together.


If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.

This and that

Sorry about the hold up on the pics. I said I would post some during the commercials of American Idol last week, but I chose to eat instead. Sorry. I love blogging, but if I have to choose between blogging and food, food wins hands down.

I was telling you last week that the mail had been good to me, and it has. For instance here's a pic of me and my new bag, purchased from Artsy-Crafty Babe.

Please ignore the dirty mirror and the lotion bottles. I didn't realize the mirror was that dirty. Guess what, it's still like that. Oh well. Anyway, I immediately transferred purses when this little beauty came in the mail, and I love it. Love. A lot. So cute, and just the right size. And did you notice the button pin on the handle? Love these. They are so much cuter in real life than they are in pics. I'm going to have to try some. Check her blog for more info.

And just because I didn't have anything better to do (yeah, right), I started a new quilt. I was straightening up in the shop the other day, and I ran across this pattern from Calico Printworks. I think the pattern has been here literally since the first day I opened the shop, but all of a sudden I was inspired by it. What do you think?

The paisley in the side-setting triangles is a bit overwhelming, but I think once the whole quilt it done it will be good. The quilt is big, queen-sized I think, so there are a lot more blocks than this picture shows. It's coming along rather quickly, and I'm excited to finish it. I have a million other things I should be doing (and other quilts to finish for that matter), but sometimes you just have to sew, ya know? I seriously think I have quilting ADD or something, because I can't stick with one project for too long.

Well, I think that's enough for now...we'll see what tomorrow brings.

My favorite people...

There isn't a lot of sewing going on at my house lately...I spent last weekend out of town with family. Otherwise, I've been working quite a bit. However, the mail has been very good to me lately, so I'll catch you up on that the next time I have a chance to snap some pictures. I ran the batteries dead on my camera this weekend taking pictures of my adorable niece and nephew (above), but the batteries are on the charger was we speak. American Idol is tonight, and I'm watching it come hell or high water, but maybe I'll take some pictures during the commercials.

So...I'll be back soon.

Bring on Spring!

It's finally finished! I don't remember when I started piecing this one, and I don't want to know. It's finished, and after a brief tour at the shop, it's going home to be showcased in the guestroom (the only bedroom that visitors at our house get to see).

This quilt is rather large (75" x 93", I think), so it took me several nights to get the binding done. Most quilting books will tell you to use a whip-stitch or blind-stitch to hand sew a binding on a quilt, but I tried out a new stitch on this quilt that I think works much better for really hiding your stitches. It's called the ladder stitch, and I discovered it through Sharon Schamber's video on youtube. I've tried gluing down my binding like she does, but I didn't have my glue bottle rigged up properly, so I wasn't very successful. I think if I took the time to actually do it like she says, it think it would have worked. However, since I don't do that many show quilts, I'm okay with just using binding clips or pins to hold my binding in place while I stitch it down. I'm just not that picky.

I've got more binding to do this evening while I watch Idol. I've been doing lots of machine quilting lately (for customers, not myself) so not much to show on that front. I broke down and made the dreaded trip to Walmart on Monday night. Along with all the shampoo and t.p. and other mundane stuff, some Easter candy found its way into my basket. It was a happy accident that my afternoon snack matched a piece of fabric that was laying around.

I know you can order M&M's in any color you want all year long, but I can never resist buying them on holidays. Easter is definitely my favorite candy-buying holiday.

7 random things

I've seen these things all over the blogs I read, and at the end the blogger says, "I'm not going to tag anyone, but anyone who wants to join, feel free." So I've never done it, because I sort of thought to myself, no one starts reads blogs to just to read about random people and their quirks. They want to see some friggin' sewing. Or knitting. Or whatever.

However, I was recently tagged by Misplaced Country Girl at Syotha Would Be Proud, and I decided to step up to the meme plate, so to speak. So for MCG and anyone else that might care, here are 7 random things about me. For everyone else, I threw in some pictures.

1. I can't stand to watch the toilet flush. Doesn't matter what's being flushed. Even if it's just the flush to wash down the blue water after you clean the toilet, it just grosses me out. The swirling just makes me want to upchuck. However, I am fascinated by the fact that in the Southern hemisphere, the water swirls in the opposite direction. Weird.

(The quilt that I finally got the borders on and quilted.)

2. I say "weird" a lot. Like something will happen, or I'll read a story on the internet or something, and I say (usually to my husband), "Isn't that weird?" Sometime he agrees, but usually not. A good example of something I might say is, "Isn't it weird that we've lived here for 4 years?" It's not really weird to live somewhere for 4 years. What I mean is that it doesn't seem like it's been 4 years...time flies and all that...but instead, I say that it's weird.

3. My earlobes are different (from each other, not from everyone else's). One is attached and the other is unattached. I never noticed until I was about 9 or 10 years old when my aunt pointed it out. It really made 10th grade biology fun... when we were studying genetics, one of my friends pointed out to the teacher my freakish deformity unique attribute, and she proceeded to point it out to the rest of the class. Word quickly spread throughout the school, and I'll never live it down. My younger sister said she even used me as an example in her biology class, 2 years later. That teacher still teaches, so it's quite possible she's still telling people. I have an odd feeling it could come up at my class reunion (10 years next year...aaaahhhh!).

(back of the quilt, freehand quilted with flowers from the Pajama Quilter Reloaded dvd)

4. I like green vegetables more than any other color vegetable. I don't care much for corn, carrots, or cauliflower, but I love peas, brussel sprounts, okra... just about anything green.

5. I like change. I've painted every room in my house at least twice (we've only lived there 3 years). I've had two different jobs in the last 4 years (tax accountant to quilt shop owner). And we're about to move to a different state. I don't like to eat the same meal twice in a row. That sort of thing.

6. I love to read and watch movies. I love to read pretty much anything. I really like adventure/fantasy type books and movies, not weird ones like on the sci-fi channel, but more mainstream ones like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Especially those two. One of my favorite things to do is put in one of those movies (I own all three LOTR and all five Harry Potters), and do some handwork, like crocheting, embroidery, or hand sewing a binding. I'm currently re-reading the Harry Potter books... I just started #4, Goblet of Fire. I wanted to go a Halloween party as Harry Potter characters last year, in part so I could crochet us some scarves, but my husband wasn't up for it.

(binding for the quilt, cut on the bias)

7. This may come as a shock to some of you, but I don't like cats. I know as a quilter I'm supposed to have 2 or 3 crawling all over my fabric stash, but I just don't like them. They're sort of creepy and slithery, like furry little snakes. Their litter boxes stink up your house, and they seem to spend all day watching you, pretending not to care but secretly forming some sort of plot to take over the house. Everything they do seems premeditated. Remember the movie Cats and Dogs with Jeff Goldblum as the dad? Enough said. Give me a nice, dumb dog any day.

I'm not going to tag anyone, because I think I'm the last person on the planet to do this meme.

It's a gorgeous day here...wish I was outside enjoying it. My husband and I are going to dinner tonight, to a pancake feed in the morning, and ordering pizza to watch the KSU/KU game tomorrow night, which means I don't have to cook for the next 36 hours at least. Add to that some time for sewing and shopping, and it's shaping up to be a pretty good weekend.