The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas is fun, but Halloween is the most wonderful time of the year. There's nothing like the first crisp fall day to make me want to quit my job and do nothing but craft, particularly costume-related objects (this is my costume from last year, and it's entirely hand-sewn except for the wig - apparently I wasn't all that busy last October).

Unfortunately, it hasn't been terribly crisp these last few days (soggy and muggy would be more accurate). To top it off, I had to stay home today with a cold (presenteeism in the workplace is NOT a good thing - don't be a hero people, just stay home if you're sick!). My wedding is in just a few days, and I'd prefer to not be hacking my way through the ceremony, but que sera, sera. I'm also afraid of getting Marc sick, so I've pretty much disinfected everything I've touched, and take it from me, you don't realize how many things you touch in the space of even five minutes until you have to disinfect them.

The Underground Studio

Jill came over to sew today. After enjoying some homemade eggs and birthday cake courtesy of Caroline (and after Caroline was safe in her bed for a nap), we adjourned to the "underground studio" (aka, my basement) to work on our latest projects. The underground is quite cozy! Here's me:

And here's Jill:

Jill put the final touches on her wedding favors--a set of four coasters for each person/couple--and also put the outer border on a birthday quilt for her Grammie. I worked on my Bella bag and tested a pattern that I might use for the Moda Jelly Roll that I picked up recently. It's the Heritage collection by Howard Marcus (reproduction fabric--love them!).

For Jill's bachelorette party last weekend, the theme was "Isle of Belisle," so I made a set of tropical-theme coasters in honor of her coaster-making frenzy. I used a pattern given on the blog Allsorts. (Jill, there's the link for you!)

Blogs I like

It's comforting to know that there are other non-"krafty" crafters out there. Heather Ross is a graphic designer with her own line of really cool, fun fabrics. She's also got her own pajama company and a really interesting blog too. Check out Weekend by Heather Ross. Many of her posts include her amusing sketches.


Liesl Gibson's blog is called Disdressed. This one's kind of funky too. And wasn't Liesl the name of one of the children in The Sound of Music ("I Am Sixteen Going on Seventeen")?



Finally, I've been enjoing Yarnstorm by Jane Brocket. She's oh-so-wonderfully British, and her blog reflects that (think china cups and saucers and cottage gardens, with a certain chicness). She recently published "The Gentle Art of Domesticity," which is what I like to think happens at my house. Her photography is beautiful and really adds a lot to her posts.

Portsmouth Fun

Yesterday, Jon was racing in Portsmouth, NH, a town I love and have fond memories of, so we all went. Part of my motivation to go was so I could visit the most wonderful fabric store, Portsmouth Fabric Company. Oh, I love that place! I loved it before, when Mom and I used to meet in Portsmouth for the day when they lived in Maine. Now it's even better! They have tons of the gorgeous, large-scale, modern prints I’m so attracted to, like Amy Butler, etc.

I could spend hours there, but unfortunately Caroline was with me and she showed zero interest in the box of kids’ books they had. All she wanted to do was hop around on her hands and knees, loudly proclaiming that she was a frog. And begging, “Mommy, pick me up!” And get into things. I did manage to pick up a gorgeous pack of fat quarters and a book of free-motion quilting ideas. But I must go back when I have more time!

I also took a quick run around a store (can’t remember the name) that sold what appeared to be hand-made bags in all kinds of interesting fabric combinations. They had a few basic designs, and you could even buy a custom-made bag by choosing from one of the bag designs and then choosing fabric from a wall of swatches. What a cool idea!

What have I done to deserve this?

Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken, I mean. I was fortunate enough to learn of its deliciousness from my dear friends Leslie and Julie, my fellow Trader Joe's adventurers. After a busy night of "wedding registry management" at Target (yes I just registered today, and yes the wedding's in two weeks) and then a home yoga session, I was craving Chinese food, but didn't want to go out at 10 p.m. for it.

The solution? Trader Joe's chicken goes in the skillet for 8-10 minutes, sauce defrosts in the microwave for 1-2 minutes and TJ's frozen brown rice is a mere 3 microwaveable minutes away. Toss and serve. Yum! It's actually way better than the orange chicken I get at my local Chinese restaurant. Try it - you won't be sorry!

Wedding Crafts-a-go-go

If you think about it, weddings are a crafter's dream! There's so much stuff that you can make yourself, with very little time and money. For example, my wedding is two weeks from tomorrow and I've made quite a few of the accessories myself. Check out this ring-bearer pillow. I made this for less than $3 (the rings are sterling silver hoop earrings just for show - the ring bearer is 18 months old and likes to throw things when he gets bored with them). You can't buy one for less than $15, and that's if you don't care if it falls apart on its way down the aisle. And speaking of things to carry down the aisle, I also decided that "wedding floral packages starting at $499" weren't going to cut it for me. How insane is that? My dress, shoes and wedding ring didn't even cost that much together!

So, I headed on down to Michael's and picked out some silk flowers in colors I liked and voila - for $53 I made bouquets for me and my maid of honor, as well as corsages for the moms, and boutonnieres for the guys. I am just absolutely astounded at what people pay for wedding stuff. Because you know that the same items for non-wedding events are usually half the cost. That's just wrong, especially when you can DIY! We're also taking advantage of all the talent we have in our collective families. My future father-in-law is an amateur photographer and takes lovely photos, so he's doing our pictures. My brother is a musician, so he was the natural choice for the wedding music. Total cost for these services? $0 We are going to hire a flute player to accompany Jay, but I believe that's the only thing we have to pay for aside from the church fee. Cool, eh?

And what would any good crafting session be without a trusty feline to hang out with? This is my cat Max, who loves to watch me sew and craft. His other interests include eating silk flowers, tormenting his sister Sealy and watching the stock market.

Yoga Gear

I have always liked activities that require some sort of "gear." For example, I tried golf, not so much for the sport itself, but because I really liked that there were special clothes and shoes. Ditto tennis (cute skirts!).

This is not, I admit, what attracted me to yoga, but I now realize that it too, offers opportunities for collecting gear. First, yoga pants are much more flattering than most workout clothes (especially in black). Second, yoga mats come in such lovely colors! Third, a fashion statement is just waiting to be made with a yoga mat carrier! There's a woman in my class that has a really cool one that was probably really expensive. The bags shown here are examples of some nice ones I found online. So, being the crafty person that I am, I have decided to make my own. A quick online search revealed a couple of patterns that might work.

1. Craftbits yoga carrier pattern

2. Pink of Perfection yoga mat carrier - this video blog is fun and covers lots of topics, from crafts, to entertaining, to cooking.

I will upload a photo when my bag is complete.

Big-girl Quilt

OK, I put that first entry up as a test to see what the blog looks like, and then I didn’t have time to go back an put in a real entry. So here goes…

I said I’ve done a lot more on what I said was my current project. It’s Caroline’s “big-girl bed” quilt. She doesn’t have her big-girl bed yet; we’re thinking we’ll get it for her around when she turns 3 in November. So the fact that it’s all done except for hemming the binding is truly amazing! I’m usually trying to finish things up after the fact. I never get projects done ahead of time.

Here’s a photo of the quilt (almost) done. Some history: the appliqué blocks were originally part of the bumpers I made for her crib, but we ended up barely using them because they didn’t stay up very well and she just got tangled in them. I couldn’t bear to just throw them away, so I cut them up and worked this quilt around them. Almost all of the fabrics in the quilt are from baby quilts I’ve made for friends and family over the years, and the wall quilt I made for Caroline (which has yet to be hung up!). The border and appliqué background fabrics are also on the window valance in her room.

Last weekend I got tons of sewing done! (I don’t have a lot of time with a 2-yr-old running around.) My goal was to get all the machine work done on Caroline’s quilt so I could have the hand hemming to do at Craft Night on the 18th. I did it!! I also got everything cut out for my next project—my first handbag. It’s black and red and the pattern (“Bella Bag” from Indygo Junction) looks very cute.

And a couple of weeks ago I finished these cute snowman door hangers to have as Christmas gifts. (One has already been claimed by Caroline, who loves snowmen.)

Update: Cornhuskers Quilt

I did it! I've finished the Nebraska quilt. I think it looks pretty nice, actually. I'll post a photo soon. The next quilt to tackle is for my grandmother's birthday, as well as a set of circus-themed quilts for a set of recently born twins.

Pain-lates and Cornhuskers

I decided tonight would be a good night to jump back into Pilates. I am now crawling back out of it. I think the last class I took was probably last winter, but hey, I work out regularly, I should've been able to get through it, which I did, but let's just say it wasn't pleasant. So on to the fun stuff - sewing! I've got a number of projects going at the moment, but the one that I most want to finish is Marc's Nebraska quilt. What is this, you ask? It's a rail fence quilt made with college football fabrics. University of Nebraska athletes are called the "Cornhuskers," or "Huskers" for short. I started this project probably 10 months ago, which isn't so bad as quilts go, but I have just had the worst time finding the motivation to finish it, I think because I'm just not a college football fan. Or maybe I'm not crazy about my design.

I'm also working on some coasters that I was inspired to make after reading "Bend the Rules Sewing," by Amy Karol. She had the (new to me) idea to use cotton flannel instead of interfacing in a number of her projects. So I've been making coasters like crazy (to give out as favors at my wedding), in addition to a couple of bags, which you can see here.

First Entry

This is Jill & Leslie's blog about sewing, quilting, and all things crafty (but not "kraft" with a K).

Here's an old photo of my current quilting project. I've done a lot more since this photo was taken. --Leslie