25 August 2009

holy crap!

So, uh, yeah. It seems that I won this giveaway. I will get a maxi dress pattern & fabric, and in return I will write at least four blog posts. These two lovely ladies [sisters! awesome!] have this sewing group blog called Presserfoot. They pick projects each month, people sew along, and they post about the process of sewing the monthly pattern and also about other fun sewing things. Of particular note: Rian posted this amazing tutorial about altering jeans to get a better fit around the butt [butt fit?], which I am pretty psyched to try. And yeah, now I get to be part of it! Honestly, I am kind of nervous (I'm not really used to this whole "more than two people actually reading things that I write" thing) but I think it will be okay. And hey, if all goes well, I will have an awesome dress to wear in a month or so!

20 August 2009

1. I couldn't get to sleep last night, and I couldn't sleep past 8 this morning. Curious. Wait, no, I meant to type So Very Annoying.

2. Did you hear there was a tornado yesterday in downtown Minneapolis? Well, near--it touched down south of downtown, skipped downtown directly [though a few buildings lost windows due to wind], and then touched down again to the... north or something. Scary stuff!

3. I'm probably going to canvass on Saturday. I'm really not a fan of canvassing at all, but Senator Feingold wants his campaign to run canvasses throughout the state on Saturday, and I just finished his biography [Feingold: A New Democratic Party, so so amazing], and I'm kind of convinced that he is the best hope for the Democratic Party to stop sucking so much.

4. Though really, after Barney Frank's performance at his last town hall, I realized I may have underestimated him. Some crazy protester lady asked why he was supporting Obama's "Nazi policies" and Senator Frank responded by pointing out that he is Jewish and then asking what planet the woman is living on. Amazing! Oh, why am I trying to describe it, you should just watch the segment from The Daily Show, though if you can find a full version online, it is worth the effort. It's so nice to see a Senator not pander to ridiculous people who believe ridiculous things.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Barney Frank's Town Hall Snaps
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political HumorHealthcare Protests


5. Alright, that is enough for now! More later, probably!

19 August 2009

today will be better

GUESS WHAT I BOUGHT

No work, no obligations, nothing to do but sew all day.

[Can't wait until I can pay to renew my Flickr membership; pickings were slim when I was looking for a photo to post this morning. Today is seriously going to be better than yesterday, though, whether or not I could find a good photo.]

18 August 2009

today is not my day

pink clouds

Oh, goodness. Today is just gross. I'm not going to complain about that; I've done enough of that already [sorry, Mom!]. Plus, how boring! So instead, here is a photo of the sky. Pink and blue clouds, yeah.

And here are three things that do not suck:

1. Possibly close to finished with a quilt top, at least with the design part; my new quilt design wall is really pretty great.
2. My mom will listen to me complain for hours upon hours and emails upon emails, and then she will come up with the most reasonable, insightful... insights? Solutions? You get the picture.
3. English paper piecing is pretty awesome.

Alright, that is all for now.

16 August 2009

sunday stash part dva

Apparently it has been a week since I last posted! Woops. Perhaps if I keep up this Sunday Stash thing, it will remind me to post on a more regular basis. Especially once school starts.

Anyway! Here is some fabric that I own!

vintage florals

Part of my ever-growing collection of vintage fabric, most [all, actually] of which I am far too scared to cut into. Someday, when I feel better about my quilting skillz, I'm going to make an amazing quilt entirely out of vintage fabric.

Also, like a jerk, I forgot to mention this last week, but here is the Flickr group for this Sunday Stash thing, and this is the lovely blog of the woman who started the Sunday Stash thing. There's usually a list of participants posted each week. Craft bloggers, yeah!

Also last night, as long as I'm on the topic of projects that may or may not ever be finished, I worked on paper piecing last night, for the first time in months.

hex

I found all of my completed blocks (I'm at five) last week, as well as two half-done blocks. I basted some hexagons last night, and I started sewing them to the block today. I'm kind of hoping to finish the block today. I think with a hexagon border between the blocks [green hexagons from scraps is the plan] and a border around the entire thing, I could get away with 36 flower blocks. I'm going to hand quilt this thing whenever it's eventually together, so I don't really want to make it bigger than a lap quilt. Most of the time I'm okay with machine quilting--I am an impatient person--but it's nice to work on something that will be entirely made by hand.

09 August 2009

sunday stash

So this is a new thing that I'm doing.

striking

I have a ridiculous amount of fabric, so much that I have decided that I really cannot justify buying anything new for at least six months. Exceptions would be for anything I buy with profits from selling handmade things or anything that I absolutely need for a project that I'm either giving away or selling. That seems strict when I read it, but last time I organized the pile in the corner of my craft room (I really need to buy some storage containers & shelves), I found fabric I didn't remember buying with the price tags still on. Most of my fabric was either purchased on sale or at thrift stores, so it's really honestly not entirely a money issue--it's more of an "early warning signs of a [fabric] shopping addiction" issue.

Okay, anyway, the point is, I cannot buy anymore fabric for awhile, so instead I will start photographing everything so that I'll have a better idea of what I have. And a bunch of my favorite craft/sewing bloggers participate in this Sunday Stash thing, so I decided to join that and have a reason to post something every Sunday. Fun, probably!

delicious!

DSCN7539

garlic!

I made vegetarian meatballs last night, and they were amazing. I'd been thinking about them for awhile, and yesterday I needed to use up some [fake] sausage that had been open in the fridge for a few days. I made up the recipe, based loosely on my mom's advice and a few recipes that I found online. [Fake] ground beef, [fake] sausage, breadcrumbs [that I've been saving for the past couple months!], 1 egg [probably could do 2 next time], minced onions, minced garlic, basil, oregano, thyme. Possibly something else? I made a simple tomato sauce to go with it, and we ate it with a mix of fettuccine and the last of the spaghetti. Nathan ate a ton of the meatballs, which I take as a good sign when it comes to vegetarian things I cook.

DSCN7451

Also, I went to the Wisconsin State Fair on Friday with Frank and Katie. Wait, let me rephrase that--Frank and Katie mentioned going to the State Fair at the bar on Thursday night, and I immediately invited myself along, because I wanted to go to the Fair, dammit! I took a ridiculous amount of photos, I saw cattle, chicken, rabbits, award-winning jam, and a bunch of quilts also. And oh, did I eat a lot. Cream puffs are just... overwhelming. I was halfway through it before I realized I should've taken a photo. It was amazing and very very sweet. The day was pretty great overall, though the intermittent rain got more and more annoying as the day went on.

DSCN7505

DSCN7491

Fun stuff! It's been fairly hot here this weekend, so we turned the AC on for the first time this summer. Best birthday present ever. Definitely planning to keep it on all day again; two days of AC all summer isn't so bad for the environment, right?

07 August 2009

it's going to rain today

I keep promising [to all 2 of you...] to include more photos, so here is something that I made.

my first quilt

Look, it's a blurry photo of the quilt I made for my cousin's new baby! Also, there's a cat. It turned out quite well, though I really need to work on cutting & sewing straight. The entire process (aside from my inability to use a rotary cutter correctly) was very fun, and I have discovered that I love hand-sewing quilt bindings. What a very specific thing to love... anyway! I had an awesome time making this, and I have I think two more quilt tops that are ready to assemble and a third that's nearly done. My parents gave me a quilt design wall hanging thing for my birthday, so I'm thinking I'll put that up this weekend and design a few more quilts. I'm planning a trip to Hancock next weekend--notions are 50% off on Saturday--and I think that I will buy a ridiculous amount of quilting thread. I'm going to try making a few more baby quilts to sell. People pay money for baby quilts, right?

I have so many plans, don't I? I think that I am starting to realize that I'm very good at making plans but not always as good with the follow-through. So that is what I'm going to work on from now on--actually doing all of the things that I say that I'm going to do. I'll start on that later though, because this afternoon I'm going to the State Fair with Frank and Katie.

04 August 2009

success!!!

I just closed my Bank of America credit card. You remember, the card that I had for three years when suddenly they raised my interest rate from 9.9% to 24.9%? Yeah, that one. My favorite part was when he asked why I was closing it--oh, I gave him an earful--and my second favorite part was when he was like "well, I see it's at 18.9% right now" and I was like "well, yes, but my two other cards* are at 9.9% and oh, also, I don't really want to wait around and see how long it takes you to suddenly raise my rate again." And that was when he said, "Okay, ma'am, it'll be closed within 24 hours."

Oh, today is starting out well. And I finished my first quilt last night! I hand sewed the quilt binding, and it looks awesome. No time for photos now, but there will be one tonight, I swear. I work until 4, and then I'm sewing all night. Fuck yeah!

*Yes, I know, I shouldn't have that many cards; I'm working on it.

02 August 2009

croaky

Still not completely done with the aforementioned quilt. My sister and her boyfriend were in town for a short visit so they could drop off Tracey's cat. Tracey is doing a semester in California, so we're watching Jonesy until she's back. Our cat is about as happy about this as you'd expect, though they're both adjusting fairly well. Werner follows Jonesy around (at a very safe distance) and acts like he's getting ready to attack, but really he is a total wuss and runs away whenever Jonesy gets too close. Tracey made me promise to take photos of Jonesy all semester, so get ready for that.

What else? Cannot update blog solely with cat news. The plan for today mostly involves sewing all day. I spent last night helping my friend Beret cut out pattern pieces and such for some costumes she's making, which was pretty fun except for the part where I was too tired to stay longer. I had stayed up until ridiculous o'clock the previous night (talking to Tracey, which was awesome), so right around 9 o'clock, we were finally getting to the interesting parts (i.e. actually sewing) and I just hit a wall and was falling asleep as I stood at the cutting table. Not fun. Beret is a much better seamstress than I am (i.e. she is actually a seamstress), so I was pretty psyched about observing someone who actually knows what she's doing. I did get an impromptu lesson on pattern alteration, so hopefully I will retain some of that information.

So yes, helped Beret yesterday, definitely want to do some of my own sewing today. Finishing the quilt first, and then I really want to cut out some skirts for myself. I wear the last one that I made basically every day, so I'm thinking I should probably make a few more. The first one I made is so loose that I don't need to unzip it to take it off (combination of stretch twill & biking everyday, I think), so will probably make an adjustment to the pattern. I also want to try making a tote bag with an interior zipper pocket, and I need to make a few things that my dad requested. Oh, and I have a few ideas for aprons. Exciting stuff!

Next time, there will be photos, I promise.