hmm

Maybe I should start a tumblr? They seem easy to update, and totally the "in thing" among the young people. Well, I actually already have a tumblr that I started when I was bored [http://marinatina.tumblr.com of course!!!]. I was going to post a photo a day; I lasted like three days. So--maybe I'm an idiot? Never mind, I don't need another blog to not update.

hi hi HELLO

Wow, why am I so bad at this? I used to have to stop myself from writing more than twice a day. Oh, that's right, that's when I had a Livejournal and no friends or life. Ugh, damn friends, getting in the way of my blogging.

Well, that's not really true, I haven't seen my friends in weeks, at least my non-UWM friends. Grad school is consuming my life! Weird. I think I would be less annoyed if I were being challenged; mostly though, everything is just so damn time-consuming.

I did make time to go to Craftacular though. More on that later; I don't have photos, but I do have many things to say about the experience. It was definitely positive overall, though mostly it was a learning experience more than it was a super profitable experience.

Oh, and also, Thanksgiving happened. My mom and I made a ridiculous amount of food, and there were like 20 or 30 people at my parents' house over the course of the day. It was so, so fun; I'm a big fan of our family and friends. I have two super-adorable... second cousins? What do you call your cousins' kids? Whatever, they are adorable, and they looooove me. I already made a quilt for Noah (photo on this blog somewhere, I'm too lazy to find it right now), and now I need to make one for Jase. Who knows my name! And asks for me! And is probably the smartest, best 2 year old EVER! Holy shit, I'm glad other people are having kids, because they are so much fun to hang out with for the day.

Okay, shit, I have a 15-20 page paper to finish today, so I should get moving. More later! Must save something for tomorrow, right?

sunday stash

Super late, super low-quality, but I wanted to participate, dammit.



I did so much sewing this weekend. Not as much as I wanted, but more than I expected. I have so much more to do before Craftacular, but I am kind of psyched that I've actually been working pretty steadily. Especially since it's dark by 5 now; I cannot wait for the winter solstice.

and breathe

I am a lucky person. I'm referring to Monkey, of course. Kidding! Obviously spam, but it looks so cool! Spam is allowed in my comments section, as long as it's written in something that's not the Latin alphabet. Thai, perhaps, or Cyrillic.



I quilted this yesterday. I was worried about bringing this to Craftacular next week; I thought I wouldn't be able to part with it, as I am very into the grey/yellow thing. After quilting it though, I am considering paying someone to take it off my hands. I have a new-found understanding of why people pay other people to quilt their quilts. This one is a lap quilt, probably 60x60" or so; I think I will stick to baby quilts for awhile, at least until I get better at quilting. Oh, and spray baste is more trouble than it's worth, I think. I'm going back to safety pins.

What else? Nothing, I guess. School is exhausting in ways that are either boring or not appropriate for sharing in a public forum. Which sounds very mysterious, but really it's just that it's not a good idea to talk about work on the internet. And honestly, nothing is going on in my life except school and sewing. I wanted to go out last night, but I didn't finish sewing until 12:30am. It's probably better that I didn't go out, really, because I am broke. Again! Being a grad student is just awesome.

I should stop here, so I can get back to sewing. One week exactly until Craftacular. I'm preparing myself to sell nothing, but there is a tiny but real possibility that people might actually like my style, so I'm going to sew as much as I can before then.

hello!

I am still alive! Just ridiculously busy. There will be words and photos sometime soon, probably Friday when I have time to breathe. I hope you are having a good, less busy week. You should tell me what you've been up to! That's fair, right? "I don't have time to write my ridiculous blog entries, WRITE SOME FOR ME." Good deal. In the comments, tell me (a) what did you have for breakfast today, (b) what your favorite [non-meat based] Thanksgiving-type side dish is and (c) ten reasons that I am awesome. Kidding! I don't care what you ate for breakfast.

[Kidding! I really do want to know, I am tired of scrambled eggs and toast.]

sewing is fun

WIP - completed quilt top, originally uploaded by marinatina.

I woke up early today to finish this quilt top. I don't have a backing fabric for it yet, but I'm going to the fabric store tonight or tomorrow. Probably tomorrow. It's kind of wonky; I cut huge, randomly-sized strips of fabric and then sewed it together in basically random order, so it's not entirely proper in terms of technique, but I kind of like it. With any luck, it will be a completed baby quilt by the time I have to go to Craftacular. Which is a craft show in Madison on November 28, have I mentioned that I will be there? I am semi-terrified, as this is my first craft show in a year and a half. Maybe longer? Shoot.

Whatever, it will be fine. The point is that waking up early to sew is totally awesome.

btw

1. I have not had a cigarette since last Tuesday.

2. I meant to do some sewing today.

3. I'm feeling a bit sleepy, but I'm still going to Nathan's show. Busybodies is playing a basement show. I've somehow not seen this band yet, so it should be fun!

4. What is it with me and lists?

spicy

Instead of grading exams this afternoon, I talked my friend Laura into going to Asian Mart & the Spice House with me. Bought a ridiculous amount of spices, obviously, and tons of delicious things at Asian Mart. Masaman curry paste! What?! I have some delicious meals ahead of me.

And because I skipped out on work this afternoon, I only finished everything for tomorrow about half an hour ago. And by "finished," I mean did enough so that I can go to sleep immediately and wake up at 6am tomorrow and actually finish what I need to do for tomorrow. Grad school is kind of lame sometimes.

(Nathan decided to make cookies, and after he mixed everything together (with my stand mixer, embarrassingly nerve-wracking letting someone else use it), he tried to trick me into finishing the cookies for him. I was too quick for him though!)

(Also, the cat just knocked over a plant.)

non-smoker

1. Six full days without a cigarette. Yes.

2. I had to pay my library fines today, or at least get my balance under $10, to check out books related to my new thesis topic.

3. What kind of respectable university doesn't let students (grad students, even) check out books because of fines? Okay, yes, put a hold on my account so I can't graduate or whatever, but I need to check out books to be in school, and I am too poor to afford library fines BECAUSE I'M IN SCHOOL.

4. UGH.

5. The amount that I paid is actually just about what I'll save once I've gone a month without smoking. So much for buying myself something nice to celebrate.

sunday stash, resumed

I don't know why I stopped doing Sunday Stash*, but it is time to start back up again. I haven't been great about posting regularly lately (the busyness, oh the business of my life), so maybe this way I will at least post on Sundays. So, today, apparel fabric. There was a point a few months ago when I wanted to sew up some shirts, but I didn't have any shirting fabric. It is very dangerous when I have even a semi-reasonable reason to buy more fabric. I ended up with enough fabric for at least 10 shirts, and at least that many shirt patterns, and the grand total of shirts I've actually sewn is maybe 3, none of which I'd want to wear outside the house. But! This is not a space for negativity; not anymore, at least. Sewing is a learning process, etc, etc, and here are three kinds of plaids that will one day be shirts. Or possibly a skirt, for that one on the right.

*Yes I do. Busyness/laziness/lameness.