littleshika

This blog has moved!

2010-09-17T12:45:00.001-04:00

After lots of thought, I decided I needed a change. After nearly 9 years of online journaling, "Littleshika" isn't really who I want to be anymore. So, if you're interested in keeping up with me, may I introduce you to my new blog:

http://lifeunderquilts.blogspot.com/

I thought the change was timely, what with bloglines ending at the end of the month. I have also changed my email (jessunderquilts) address (at yahoo dot com) and I'm working on switching over some stuff to a new flickr account as well. Thanks for reading Littleshika, I hope you follow me to my new blog too!

challenge

2010-09-10T11:17:00.000-04:00

At the last meeting of the NYC MetroMod Quilters we had a scrap bag swap. Someone suggested we come to the next meeting with something made entirely from the bag of scraps we took home. intriguing...

but I'm a scrap hoarder and when I do use them, I need to mix it up, a lot. I felt trapped by the challenge to use only what was in that baggie and to make something new, not just follow my usual routine of receive-wash-sort into current scrappy project piles... But that's what "challenge" is all about, right?

Here's what I came up with.

In the end, i couldn't stop myself from pulling fabrics out of my own scrap bin and using them too. I tried really hard not to, but sometimes my eyes tell my brain what the block needs and my hands just reach out and grab it, you know? So there are 5 or 6 additions to the scrap baggie I received... and now that it's all together, they really stick out! OMG. But anyway, if I don't tell you, will you be able to find them? hope not.

This piece is small, the blocks finish at 7.5", making it 22.5"x 30". I stopped sewing because I was kind of at an impasse as to where to go from here. Add a large plain border and make it a wheelchair quilt for donation? Add a more interesting scrappy strip to that large plain border and then feel more attached to it and not want to give it away? (At the moment I don't feel much attachment at all, so I thought it's a good one to finish up and pass on.) Bring it back to the Mod Quilt meeting next month and see if someone else wants to add borders and/or finish it off in some new and interesting way? Suggestions welcome.

I love these blocks though, and I think I really need to keep making them and then turn them into something big and wonderful like my original inspiration quilt, here. This little piece would look good with a leafy appliqued border too, but then I'd never give it away...

Status Update

2010-09-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

So Jake's quilt is quilted and the binding is partially on (this has become my new project to work on while George is in the bathtub. Don't worry, I'm not a neglectful mother, the bathroom is very small). I also basted the spiderweb quilt after struggling for what seemed like weeks over what to do about the backing. It feels good to have that all sandwiched and folded up out of the way. Quilting will start eventually, but i feel like a huge weight is off the design wall/sewing room floor now that both of those projects are at a more advanced stage before school starts (tomorrow!). But now that I'm "done" with those two (well, not done, but you know what I mean) my fingers have been itching to piece something. and I really didn't want to start any new quilts, heck, I'm taking a full course load this semester! But that's just how my creative mind works.. so 2 nights ago I was pouring over pineapple photos and block patterns on the internet, and last night it was bear's paw.. I felt up for some intricate piecing. Still not wanting to tackle a full sized quilt, this afternoon I found myself making a mug rug. And then tonight I made another.

Cute. Satisfying.
Now let's see if I can focus on school for a little while..

I don't like cold babies

2010-08-27T15:08:00.002-04:00

Especially the babies of my dear friends. In fact, if it were up to me, little babies would always sleep under lovingly made quilts.

Scratch that. EVERYONE would always sleep under lovingly made quilts. But until my favorite pastime catches on with the masses like a new iPhone, I guess those of us who quilt will just have to keep stitching away to warm up those we love.

This is the quilt that's been at the top of my to-do list and hanging on my design wall ALL SUMMER. I am definitely happy to have the top together, and I'd love for it to be quilted by next week.. cross your fingers for me?

(many many thanks to Amy who sent all the colored squares!)

Three out of four ain't bad!

2010-08-24T09:44:00.001-04:00

She called me up out of the blue last week and asked me for 3 colors.

"blue, green & brown, that was easy"

not so easy actually as we proceded to have a discussion of exactly which green and what type of blue, as only quilt friends are clearly able to do over the phone.

It was a well-timed phone call actually, George was asleep and I was finishing stitching the binding down on my latest wall hanging, made spur of the moment and over 2 days. Inspired by the generocity of a friend that is often too good to me.

So I asked what her 3 colors would be.

"Lime green, magenta, orange & royal purple"

Totally glad she gave me 4 because I hadn't used lime green at all..

And unlike her thoughtfulness, I hadn't thought to call ahead and ask what colors she wanted.. but that really wasn't something to get worried about. It's easy to make something she likes when I'm sewing from her scraps already..

The star centers, most of the background (except for the purple above), the sashing and all but one of the star points came from the accumulated scrap stash of 3 or 4 huge envelopes she has been sending me since this time last year. The binding was left over from this quilt, with a bit of green thrown in. The backing (and i had to really dig in the stash for a magenta backing) is from waaaaay back in ATL in '02, from Joann's, I think. The quilting is my first attempt at freemotion meanders and while I'm not proud to show it off, I am proud to have overcome my fear of freemotion and actually try it. I hope my novice stitches don't stand out too bad among the other beauties on her Mini Quilt wall..
(btw, we need a pic of that mini quilt wall.)

Hex Crazy

2010-08-23T16:23:00.001-04:00

It's been years now that hexagons have been all the rage in quilt-blogland. There seem to be hundreds of tutorials, flickr groups, quilt-alongs. People are fussy cutting their fabric into swiss cheese! And all the while I was patiently stitching diamond to diamond, wondering what all the fuss was about.
Until this spring, when i decided to give it a try...
And you know what? I don't like it.

They go together quickly and in a short amount of time you can have a fairly large section pieced, but I don't like the actual piecing them together.. my diamonds always came together into little units of 3, 5, 8, or 12, and then fit together like puzzle pieces. This hex business is just -add one, -add one, -add one...
I know it would be different if I were using paper templates that bend, or if I chose some type of pretty pattern, but you know me-- Scrappy, Using what I have -- and so this is how I feel.

I piece 6 petals onto a center hexagon before popping out the center one and folding to stitch the petals together. This is necessary because the Quilt Patis templates don't bend like paper and awkwardly holding the 2 petals and doing a less-than-perfect stab stitch got old back with this project (when i used to join 3 diamonds to make a hexagon). I love English paper piecing for its simple rhythmic motions and its ability to relax and calm me. I don't have much patience for awkward routines and so I try to adjust where I can to eliminate them. I think when I tire of diamonds I should buy some paper templates and make something like this one Bonnie is working on. Until then, I don't think I'll be calling myself a hex fan. If this project gets done it will sit to remind me of my short ride on the bandwagon and then how I jumped off, content to let the insanity go on without me. I'm not sure I want to party with all those hex crazy people anyway..

Travel Quilt #2 has 276 stars!

2010-08-22T11:36:00.000-04:00

This is not the post I had in mind for today, but I just left a comment on Julie's blog sharing my knowledge and love of Quilt Patis templates and thought that it was about time to show the progress on Travel Quilt #2.
I actually worked on it for a few minutes yesterday-- basting one edge so I could pop out the hexagon templates for another English paper piecing project, but the task of appliqueing the center to the border is still a little daunting (in how much time it will take, not it the actual sewing involved) and I haven't been ready to tackle that just yet.

Anyway, earlier this month I was invited to demonstrate my EPP technique at the local library's quilt group. Connie was nice enough to take pictures of me, but I wish I would have staged them a bit better to show more of the quilt.

I showed off Travel Quilts #2 & 3, and then had the ladies each take a template, 2 paper clips, and a piece of fabric and then taught them how to baste with just 5 backstitches. A lot of them had done EPP in the past and tried to do running stitches or looked puzzled that they couldn't stitch through the plastic. Connie nicely referred them to the video on my blog sidebar, which I sent along to Julie this morning. It's not perfect, but it has helped some people, so why not share?

It was nice to get out for an evening of quilting, I hadn't done that it a long time. It seems my time as the president of the Silver City guild is such a loooong time in the past.. I think it would be nice to join a local guild again. Maybe I can try again now that George is a bit older... wish me luck~

August 20th

2010-08-20T18:39:00.000-04:00

I made something, but it's not ready to go public just yet, so here's a sneak peek..

more pics and the whole story next week, I promise!

just the 3 of us

2010-08-16T10:30:00.000-04:00

I also did a little cutting for this project.

I bought this panel on my trip to Japan in 2007. We didn't have kids then, but we were trying, hard. I thought I'd make this wall hanging for our old house once we succeeded. We did succeed eventually, but we combined "new baby" with "new house" and I even made a "new quilt" for the house to keep myself busy in a stressful summer of pregnancy and house selling/buying. I read Texas Freckles' post today about all the stuff she's going through and commented on how I try to enjoy the slow moments in preparation for the hectic ones. It seems like I've had a lot of hectic moments between finding this panel and deciding what to do with it. I hope I've got enough quiet ones to piece and quilt it before things get too hectic again.

Sometimes you cut, and sometimes you sew

2010-08-14T14:48:00.001-04:00

After what's turning out to be a very productive month in my sewing room, I was quite content to spend today's naptime just cutting fabric.

This morning I sorted through a pile of scraps from Shannon and made little sub-piles to be cut down and put into 3 projects I've got in the works-- Travel Quilt #3, a leaders & enders with 2.5" squares, and then I set aside some bright centers and tiny triangles for my new obsession-- maverick stars.
I have been so inspired by the creative energy on display over at 15minutesplay that the other night I handed Costas a small clock and asked him to tell me when 15 minutes had passed. It turned out that these stars take 20 minutes start to finish (including finding, pressing & cutting fabric), but once I started I just couldn't stop.

I don't have any plans for these right now, but it's so fun to use the teensy tiny scraps in my triangle box for the star points. I like having this project waiting on a corner of my cutting table so I can whip one up when i know I only have 20 minutes.

Oldies but goodies

2010-08-12T20:09:00.000-04:00

While I was at home in Chicago, I had the chance to take some better photos of the quilts I made for my dad and sister in 2007. I love going home at taking the time to pour over them again, studying, remembering, reliving the making of both quilts. It's different then seeing the quilts I have around my house that are just part of the backdrop of my daily life. I miss these quilts, but I'm happy they provide color for the backdrop of my parents' house.

Crosses - front:

Crosses - back:

I loved this fabric and I'm so glad I used it here because if not, it would probably still be in the stash..

Comfort Star for Lori:

This was my first attempt at crumb blocks, and "making" fabric for the 9 patch center:

a close up. I could stare at this quilt for hours:

Whenever I go home my sister patiently listens as I retell her about every patch in her quilt. Where it came from, how long I had it, if I used it anywhere else. She is so patient with me. I guess she has the patience of a quilter, but she has the gift to spend it on people instead of fabric and stitches.

the tedious part

2010-08-11T15:16:00.000-04:00

With a toddler in the house (or is he a preschooler now? he sure does talk a lot..), aside from when he's asleep, we pretty much do everything together. I try to split the day between stuff he wants to do and stuff I want to do.

thankfully he was patient with me yesterday, and I definitely appreciated his meticulous nature and attention to detail.

the borders are on but i still have about a million more papers to rip off the back.

I think I'll do the rest on my own though because he has gotten a lot stronger since the last time we did this.

I'll throw the backing fabric in the wash today and buy batting by the end of the week. So, basting this weekend? I can hope..

Random quilt of Kindness

2010-08-10T08:57:00.000-04:00

Sometimes friends can surprise you with overly generous random quilts of kindness. This came from Shannon earlier in the summer (and I'm sorry I didn't post it until now!). Aren't I lucky?

The magenta quilting shows up really nicely on the soft salmon pink of the back. I currently have it hanging with this side showing to gear myself up for upcoming freemotion quilting..

I wonder if I'll have the courage to tackle pebble quilting in the next year?

It's good to be home

2010-08-09T19:37:00.000-04:00

so good it seems, that I'd rather be cleaning, sorting, playing, sewing, cooking or just enjoying my home and my family than playing catch-up in blogland. you know I haven't even signed into facebook in weeks? Some times real life is just too much fun..

The munchkin and I have been working towards finishing another quilt, one for George this time. It's adorable when he walks into the sewing room and says, "It's a quilt, for ME!"

The end is in sight

2010-06-21T16:02:00.001-04:00

The end of our Greek summer, and of piecing the stars of Travel Quilt #2.

Today I basted the last of the star patches onto the plastic templates. I have 7 stars to piece, and then a bunch of light blue background pieces to work in. It won't be done before we leave Wednesday, but I'm really happy with the progress I've made. I thought I'd take the time to upload a few pictures taken over the life of this quilt..

This was the beginning-- fall 2007. Ahh, the good old days, when Costas would play his guitar while I sewed. (this was his facebook profile picture for a long time.. until we had George, i think.)

Even though I had a lot of random fabrics from the beginning, my hopes were for this quilt to be mostly blues and greens.

That didn't exactly happen. Looks like I'm a more "use what you have" type girl than I realized.

I keep these two photos in my sewing kit-- the one above shows the part that's finished already-- what I left in NY just before we came to Athens. The one below shows the color placement of what needed to be done. I had never laid out an entire section like this before-- I always just pieced stars and then arranged them as I liked once I had 4 or 6 ready. But now that I was so close to the end, I wanted to take exactly what I needed with me on this trip because I had hoped to finish it. It was kind of strange working from this photo-pattern. I kept having to look at it and lay it out so I wouldn't mess it up. Very unlike me... usually I leave room for a little "fate" in my block placement :)

And the last pic is a close up of how I started burying my knot at the start of piecing-- I take 2 or 3 teensy stitches and end at the corner I want to start sewing. I have also started backstitching a few times at the end of my thread. I really hope this quilt holds together for a long time...

It's already 11 p.m. so I should probably skip stitching tonight and just head to bed. Tomorrow will be full of packing, sorting, and laundry. I think we have a million people to say good-bye to as well. But it was a good trip, such a good trip. I'm actually leaving this time thinking it might not be so bad if we came to live here someday.. (mom, don't cry..)

Pictures of Greece, part 2

2010-06-19T11:31:00.001-04:00

Last weekend we spent 3 days in Kymi, on the island of Evoia. People, I swear, this has got to be one of the most beautiful places I have seen in my life. Costas commented to one friend about how beautiful it was, and the friend said, "it's not beautiful, it's paradise."

We stayed at a really nice hotel overlooking the Aegean sea, you know, the kind where the pool kind of melts into the sea? (in appearance only, there's actually a 2 story drop and a road, but those aren't in my picture..)

And what did I do at the pool? Quilt, of course.

This is a shot from the restaurant's terrace, you can see the road (which doesn't have a guard rail in some parts..)

I wanted to take so many other photos of this place, but the car was moving too fast. I was also preoccupied with George's potential carsickness. I hope I only have to hand wash the carseat cover once this summer..
It was sooo beautiful though and that weekend, we all relaxed. The perfect getaway to recharge your batteries.

Vay-Cay

2010-06-18T14:16:00.000-04:00

Dee said she wanted to see some pics from our "vacation" (funny to call it that, 5 weeks is a long time to be on vacation), and I was caught a little off guard, I hadn't been planning to post any. I guess in my head I'm so wrapped up in quilty thoughts that it didn't occur to me to share the scenery from this corner of the world.

But, I guess it wouldn't hurt..

George at the beach in Nea Makris

An evening stroll

The view from the car as we drive from the house to the beach (little winding mountain roads; this year we discovered that George gets carsick..)

Is he too young to appreciate the sunset? That's why I take pictures..

ok, that's all for the first installment. I'd love to promise I'll post them all on flickr, but honestly, I don't think I'll have the time. All free time must be spent sewing to preserve sanity. Sometimes 5 weeks with the inlaws can really focus a girl on her quilting...

heat

2010-06-16T04:04:00.000-04:00

I said to Costas in the car on the way back from Kymi, this has probably been my best trip to Greece. And it has, until this week when we're stuck in the house with a 38 degree + heatwave. The heat is my only real complaint though. Surprizingly, I'm stitching right through it. I have made tremendous progress on Travel Quilt #2 and I really thought I might finish the piecing before we go home next week, but I probably have 20 more stars to piece, and that's just not going to happen without a babysitter, hehe.
So we're hot, but happy. I would like to update more, but real life needs me more than the internet does. I'll try to check in again soon..

midnight snack

2010-05-29T15:45:00.000-04:00

it's 10:45p.m. but I'm seriously considering baking these tonight...
don't worry, they're not for me. we've got an invitation for a luncheon tomorrow and I thought I'd bring something American..

public crafting

2010-05-27T15:17:00.000-04:00

years ago, Whip up (does anyone still read whip up?) had a month of posts on public crafting.. and well, i'm still at it.

Today I put George down for a nap and scurried off to the salon down the street for one of the best pedicures I've ever had. I swear, Greek pedicures have Long Island pedicures beat, hands down! First of all, they take about an hour, compared to the 20 minute Korean-American version. And my feet are soooo soft afterwords! but back to my story...

George was asleep, I needed to quilt. But, I also needed a pedicure. Obvious solution, quilt at the salon. I haven't ever done this in the States, but I've quilted in loads of other public places (starbucks, airports, you get the idea) so I figured I'd give it a shot. Thankfully, the salon employees were too stylish to show their shock too openly, but the owner's husband who lead me to the waiting area and offered me a coffee looked a little confused when I pulled out my stars... I just smiled and said I was fine.

The girl who did my pedicure was polite about the quilting, but no one here ever shows any real interest. No matter, I pieced a bunch of stars together and this section is growing pretty fast, which makes me happy.
I left the salon with cute toes and tons of self confidence, feeling refreshed and pampered. It was fun, let me know if you try it too.

The unofficial Quilt Guild of Greater Athens

2010-05-25T09:51:00.001-04:00

I had started a post a few weeks ago, planning to finish it and post from Athens once we got here, but alas, I totally forgot to upload the coordinating photos (which are stored on our home computer) so that post will have to wait til the next cross-atlantic trip. Instead, I bring to you news from the second spring meeting of the Unofficial Quilt Guild of Greater Athens. Pictured below are the two founding members (read: the two only members):

What do you think, Constantina? Can we call ourselves a guild yet? hehehe. We meet twice a year if we're lucky, usually in coffee shops, but we've been know to meet in bowling alleys as well. Show and tell involves new pieces of the same quilt I've been working on for the last 3 years, and any new notions I've been able to stash in my suitcase for Constantina. Lots of good deep, quilty conversation though. The stuff blog posts should be written about, if I ever find the time. We discuss quilt-blogland, online quilting trends, taking time for ourselves, finding meaning in fabrics, why it seems greeks don't love quilting as much as we do, quiltstories, and I try to explain about real life (as compared to online) quilting in the States. It's difficult to explain though, so we're tentatively planning our first fieldtrip to New York (hehehe).

At our next meeting we may try to get in some actual sewing time, (which should be fun since we're both working on Eng. paper pieced diamonds) wish us luck, and if you're in the neighborhood and would like to come sew with us, please let us know~

Bloggers' Quilt Festival~

2010-05-24T11:46:00.000-04:00

Yay, the bloggers quilt festival is here!

I'll tell ya, I've been waiting for this round. I finished this quilt at the beginning of May and it's been hard to keep it a secret since then..

This is my T-shirt quilt, started in January of 2007, mostly assembled at the 2008 Silver City Guild retreat, quilted last fall, and I finally finished the binding a few weeks ago. Like most of my quilts, the process was long, I learned a lot, and enjoyed just about every minute.
There are t-shirts from 1990-2005, 15 years of my life! Most are shirts I wore in college, and I included one that Costas was wearing when we first started dating. I used fusible interfacing on the backs of the shirts and then just stitched them to strips of my favorite fabrics, sometimes working in log cabin fashion, sometimes just putting pieces together as they fit until I had blocks big enough. I made 5 or 6 complete patchwork blocks (no t-shirt fabric) from the crumbs left from the other blocks. I used up a lot of my favorite fabrics in this quilt, and for the years that it sat as a UFO I sometimes found myself saying "dude, where is that ____?!" and searching the stash for it, only to find it later in this quilt. Yeah, that's how it goes around my sewing room sometimes...
We've been using it on our bed since I finished it and George loves it.
(He pays attention to each detail..)

He wakes up in the morning and tells me what's in each picture. There's one hypercolor shirt with animals that he is particularly fond of and it keeps him busy for a long time... and the Mr. Bubble on the bottom, dad got me that shirt in high school when I hadn't used Mr. Bubble for years.. and now George just started using it so he gets excited about that one too.

These were the T-shirts I just couldn't throw away, even when they got worn and stretched out. I mean, check out this Engrish:

This shirt was in my apartment in Hokkaido when I moved in. LOVED it!

This came from a Japanese thrift store. Never fit very well, but I needed to have it, you know?

From my time in the traveling drama troupe (it says "Hokkaido Players" "Let's Musical"):

And one of the crumb pieced blocks:

I like this quilt because it captures so much of my life in one nice 104"x104" frame. I think it'll have to be our winter bed quilt though because the polyester interfacing makes it really warm. If you're thinking about making this type of t-shirt quilt I'm happy to answer any questions, but if you think I'm still saving t-shirts for the next one, you're nuts. It was a labor of love, and one is enough.

Better pictures, finally~

2010-05-11T14:45:00.001-04:00

I finished the paper, and I finished a quilt last week. I'm saving it for the Blogger's Quilt Festival though so you'll have to wait 10 days to see it.
Trying to get a good photo (using Bonnie's pics as an example) before we pack up and go to Greece, I threw these two on the fence as well because I didn't have enough pics of them (yeah, because not only do I need fabric, and need to make quilts, but i also need countless photos of the process and finished textile. Sometimes I really do love what quilt-blogland has done to me..)

This is my SR quilt, an adaptation of Kaffe Fassett's Bird Boxes:

I made this quilt for our new house and it has been on our bed since Sept. 2008. I loved waking up to it every morning but recently I was itching for a change, so I finally stitched the binding on to my T-shirt quilt which I will reveal (and tell the whole story, of course) for the festival...

(ETA: terrible confession-- this morning i changed my rotary cutter blade.. the last time I put in a new blade was when I was making this top..)

And then I took some more clear shots of the 1994 scrap quilt:

It is still kind of windy outside so I had to act fast before it blew off the fence. This quilt has lived on our living room couch since I finished it in December. It's long and narrow (66x90") and perfect for Costas to curl up with while watching TV. It's also the quilt George naps under, because most of the time he still naps on the couch (on the couch or in the car. I take what I can get..). More detailed shots will be over at flickr shortly.

Progress

2010-05-04T00:10:00.000-04:00

The paper is coming along. I am all set for the presentation portion on Wednesday and the last 3rd (the analysis section) is nearly complete (or, well, i only have 3 more pages on that part!). Tonight I'm treating myself with some wasted time spent reading my old blogposts, you know, clicking the little links at the bottom of the post there...
reading stuff I forgot I had written. You know I've had this blog now for 4 years. FOUR YEARS. And I didn't celebrate my blog-versary with a giveaway or anything trendy like that. Sometimes I really miss how blogging used to be back in 2006. So so much different than it is now. Less etsy. Less designer fabrics. More photos of people's kitchens... And on my own humble little blog here, more words. I used to write really long deep posts. Sometimes about quilting but a lot of times about life. I was still growing (I am still growing), still sorting things out. I've got a much better handle on a lot of those things now (for one thing, I found quilters in Athens!) but now I've got new stuff to sort out-- grad school and family, housework and guilt. Some of it I'm not so sure I want out here and open on the internet.. (I should mention that this is the subject of the paper I'm writing= the hell that insues when stuff you write online comes back to bite you in real life..) But I do miss pouring my heart into thoughtful blogposts. I like looking back and reading myself, revisiting how I saw the world at that particular time.
Ok, enough melancholy non-quilt-related posting for the moment. I should get to bed before the kid wakes up for his midnight snack. But wait, first I want your opinions...

1)   List 3 blogs you really love these days and why.
2)   What's your favorite aspect of the quiltblogland community at the moment?
3)   How long is too long to keep breastfeeding? (Loaded question, I know. I have my own opinion on this, but i'm curious to know how YOU feel about it..

ok, thanks.

April 30

2010-04-30T15:33:00.000-04:00

Stitch, stitch. If I keep going one stitch at a time I know the binding will be finished eventually.

Why can't writing the paper be so simple? Sure, it goes one word at a time, but I have to think about them..

where am i?

2010-04-16T21:20:00.000-04:00

You have no idea how many awesome photos I've taken or potential posts that got started and never finished, but then reality whacks me over the head-- I'm in grad school. This prof wants a 30 page paper by this time next month.
It's not that I don't want to be blogging, it's that I'm spending every free minute (and even some stolen ones) that I'm not working on the paper quilting to keep myself sane. (Bindng is going on the T-shirt quilt, and diamond stars are getting added as George plays in the yard. It is nice to sew in the sunshine again..)
So, I'll leave you with this pic, one of the many snails George befriended in our garden in Greece..

These suckers are huge man!

Video

2010-04-07T22:12:00.000-04:00

In case you were wondering what we do in Greece for Easter..

And our cousin said, "Just don't make him a real Greek, ok?" I guess he meant one who dances traditional dances? It's strange though, because I know a lot of very real Greeks that don't do that.. hmm.

Warmth, you're right on time.

2010-03-22T23:22:00.001-04:00

So I did finish this quilt, at the beginning of the month actually, just days before the first meeting of the NYC Metro Modern Quilt Guild.

This was a very interesting project for me. I learned a lot about myself in the process and as result I have strange feelings towards the finished quilt. So, let's review:

I started this quilt at the end of January and it consumed my thoughts for several days. It was the kind of project that I lie awake at night thinking about and couldn't start fast enough. I had just found the NYC ModQuilters and while updating "my page" I realized that I really didn't have any quilts "modern" enough to showcase. This was of course before the MQG discussion about what "modern" really means. So, personal revelation #1: I like how I quilt, no matter what anyone else says about it, and I don't have to change my style or interrupt my creative process to make things just to fit in with the crowd. Yeah, so that whole "what is modern" discussion resulted in me not liking that I was making this quilt..

But, back to the actual making of it... I used the fabrics I bought at Portsmouth Fabric Co. in NH last fall, so the fabrics are ultra-special for me. Several times as I was piecing I caught myself saying "this is my favorite fabric in the whole quilt!" (to a different fabric each time, of course). I also added a healthy dose of stash fabrics, one dating back to my time in Kyoto in '99, a few others from college, and even a few from the scrap bag Jude sent me before we moved to NY. Three of the fabrics on the back are from my stash (pink calico from the ATL guild ugly box, bunnies from my '07 trip to Japan, Erin McMorris wildwood trees that I got at Purl with Amber) and the heart batik came in a scrap bag from Shannon a few months ago. I had one tiny scrap of that fabric from my time in Atlanta and I was sooo happy to see it again, I knew I wanted it in this quilt.

I foundation pieced (not unlike this method) my blocks to a draft of one of Costas' economics papers, keeping my blocks 8.5"x11". I left all the papers on until I had stitched the blocks together and added the border because I was scared the bias edges would stretch and distort my rectangles. I enlisted George's help to finally remove the papers and the stitches did pull a bit as I ripped them off, but thankfully everything stayed intact and I didn't have much trouble quilting it. I based my quilting pattern off this quilt and revelation #2: I LOVE wavy-line quilting! I immediately wanted to quilt every other top I have with easy, carefree wavy lines. But I didn't. Maybe I will in the future..

So that's it. I love the quilt, I just don't like why I made it. And now I don't know what to do with it. As usual, Costas hated it during construction, claiming he doesn't like quilts that are "all one color," but after it was done he said it was nice. It totally doesn't go with anything in our house, and although it is cheerful and warm, it just looks out of place here. So I think I'll give it away, and I have in mind someone to give it to, but I'm not 100% convinced. I wish I knew if she liked it first, you know? This lead to revelation #3: I have a lot of special people in my life that I would like to give quilts (or quilted items) to, so I better get on that. And as I thought of each person, new quilt ideas started flowing. Unfortunately, this quilt isn't right for any of them, but nearly perfect for the one friend I've been thinking of.. but then, with all these special fabrics in it, it's kind of hard to part with, especially knowing that I may never see it again.

So that's the story. Glad I got the chance to write it all down.

(btw, this is not the post I eluded to in my last post, that one's still brewing..)

Home is the most important place in the world.

2010-03-22T15:35:00.000-04:00

thanks IKEA for reminding me.

Things have been different around here since my MIL came to stay with us at the start of February. I'm definitely appreciating the help, but I'm not in any sort of pattern or routine anymore and this makes me a bit insecure and uncomfortable. I just don't seem to be in control, and I'm not getting as much done as I used to. Oh well, we all have trade offs, no?
I was thinking about it a bit more today as I started packing for our trip to Greece and I realized that when I'm home alone with George, I have a lot of things going on in my mind, but they're all figured out and in some sort of order. When he's down for a nap (like now), I can run back and forth and mentally check things off my list, or sit down and physically check things off my paper to-do list (do you keep one? I have a big notebook and whenever most of the things are crossed off, i start a new list.). When I'm on my way here I'll drop that off, if I'm going upstairs, I'll take that with me. If I go to check my email, I'll bring these cans to the recycle bin in the office. If I'm paying bills I might as well sort some filing then too. But this system of home organization often means that there's piles of stuff in places until my daily movements give me the chance to shuttle them to where they belong. It works for me, but having someone else in the house has disrupted my balance a little. I do more chatting and less shuttling. The result- I bet she thinks my house is a mess! Anyway..

So, I had intended to write this post last week and I have another post floating around in my head that I hope I can get written down before we board the plane on Thursday. If not, maybe when I get back. I went to a quilt show over the weekend.. lots to see, do, and think about. I really want to share..

But George just got up and has come to find me, so I'll end now with a final house and thank Jen for turning me into a house-block addict. I made this one for her month of the Rosey Little Bee.

New York Beauty

2010-02-22T13:05:00.000-05:00

This month Jen asked for New York Beauty blocks for the Incredible Shrinking Quilters' Bee. Here's my test block:

And this is what I made for Jen:

The pattern is here, by Donna Duquette.
Read more about the fun we're having over at the flickr group.

And this one came from...

2010-02-13T21:46:00.000-05:00

Where did your fabric come from?
You know, your stash. Did it grow quickly, slowly? Are you one of those quilters that is proud of her stash, in love with her stash, content to just fold-unfold-refold or flip through it for hours?

Was it inherited, gifted, sought out or stumbled upon? If you quilt, it's hard not to love fabric. I don't know any quilters (well, except maybe long armers) who are in it for the thread.
So how do you grow your stash?
Jennifer made a good point in her comment on my last post, stating a feeling that some of the "modern" quilts lack something, possibly lacking soul. I will admit that I know that feeling. Although they are visually striking, some of the quilts I've seen on blogs just look a little... flat. Like, where is the story behind them?
I've written before that for me the story starts with the fabrics- where I got them, who I was shopping with, which other quilts I've used them in.

It continues with where I was and what was going on as I pieced and quilted that quilt. My life is stitched into my quilts. My memories, my family, my friends.

Each fabric means something, and if it was a "not so special" fabric before I used it, any left over will be more special because it was incorporated in that quilt first.
When I travel I like to go to the local quilt shops. Hell, I even arrange trips specifically to go fabric shopping. I've bought fabric in Shipshewana, IN; Portsmouth, NH; New York, NY; Stephen's City, VA; Marietta, GA; Barnstable, MA; Kittery, ME; Lockport, IL and a bunch of other cities in the US. Then there's Sapporo, Muroran, Tomakomai, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nara Japan. And I remember each of those quilt shops.
Why is this important? Well, one of the topics brought up in the "modern" discussion this week was the role that the internet plays in modern quilting. On many occasions I have seen a quilt or someone's stash on a blog and I think, "where did they find that fabric?!" because it's awesome, current, or so perfect for that project. Of course I know, they buy stuff online, in any of the hundreds(?) of web based fabric shops where you can find exactly what you're looking for. And I think, "why don't I do that? (what a good idea!)" and this brings be to the point of this blogpost:
I can't bring myself to buy fabric online.
(Aside from a few early purchases on equilter.com and that terrible obsession I had with vintage fabric on ebay in college, I really haven't done it.) Somehow I feel that the fabric I bought online would lack the meaning and experience that a piece of my stash gets from buying it in a shop. I like being able to say, "I got this one in Japan." not, "I got this one from a Japanese fabric import shop on etsy." I'm crazy, I know. But part of the fabric history would be missing.
So I go, month after month, into my tiny LQS and come out with $50 of new stash, fabrics I'm not crazy about but I buy because I'll find a way to use them and I know I'm helping the shop keep its doors open. It would be great if she carried the new and trendy fabrics I was hoping to find (well, at this point I'd be really glad if she started carrying solids) but part of the joy of stash building/fabric shopping comes from going to see what they have and getting excited about an unexpected find. Then you take it home and make it work. I like the experience of hunting for and stumbling upon fabrics. I guess people do that online too, but you have to spend hours at the computer and you miss out on the personal interaction. I'm sure I'll end up buying fabric online eventually and come to love it like you all do, but I really hope it doesn't stop me from being able to add that extra layer of memory on to my stash. I guess that's just really important to me.

fear of quilting backlash

2010-02-10T22:00:00.001-05:00

surprizingly, it seems a lot of quilt bloggers that follow the "modern" trend are hesitant to answer the question posed by the Modern Quilt Guild. Is it too controvercial to take a stand, to choose a side? Why is it that some people are so uncomfortable with the notion of needing/wanting to define and discuss what is "modern"?

***************

You know, I thought quilters were generally nice people (well, don't remind me of the drama i dealt with while I was president of my last guild..), but when this discussion came up in the blogosphere this week, all the sudden people are either ignoring it or they got all prickly and shut up. Hmph.
It has been a good blogging excercise for me though, I have found tons of great new blogs through the comments here and on the MQG blog. Some people are making really edgy modern quilts! And you know, i'm not one of them. So, I don't really want to change the way I do things. I don't want to join a club that makes me forget about my old friends, you know? Those vintage florals.. all my tiny prints.. my scraps of everything.. I had plans for them. Ideas, inspiration. If what I make falls into the "modern" realm, then so be it, but I really can't choose sides. I'm a 30 year old quilter. I've been quilting obsessively for 1/3 of my life. I just wonder if these new "modern" quilters will stick with it, if they will still love the craft when it isn't so "fresh" and "modern" anymore.

You know who I like, who I really really like to read?
Libby, Jan, and Kathie. These have got to be my favorite quilt bloggers. When I see their blogs highlighted with a new post in my bloglines, I get excited and forget about whatever else I sat down at the computer to do. I like the way they see things, the way they use fabrics and plan projects, and I like what their blogs have to say.
As for professional quilters, I love Denyse Schmidt. She and Martha Stewart were my idols in college. But I don't know her. She doesn't have a blog, does she? All I remember from reading her book was the 30:70 ratio for prints to solids. She does offer wonderful workshop classes for what it would cost to send 2 queen size quilts out to the long armer, and maybe if I win the lottery (or get a really good paying job) I might try to take one. I would like the opportunity to get to know her better, but it's like trying to take a class with Kaffe Fassett. I don't know if I'll ever be that lucky.
I also really like the quilts that come out of Material Obsession. And Quilts Japan was my favorite quilt magazine for a long long time. My sources of inspiration are widely varied, and just now when I was watching The Civil War on PBS, I realized that I feel a connection with those quilters too. This reminded me of all the Jennifer Chiaverini books that I listened to when I was pregnant with George. Those were some of my happiest times as a quilter! How can I be "modern"?

Lots of the quilters that joined the discussion did bring up things other than white sashing and designer prints, things like working without a pattern, and wonkiness. These techniques aren't really new, but they are more prevalent and acceptable. Maybe the "modern" quilting world just has less quilt police? I don't know. All I do know is that I really enjoyed being part of this conversation, I just wish people weren't hesitant to chime in. If you have more to say, please.. say it.

What is Modern Quilting?

2010-02-08T21:20:00.002-05:00

yeah. so this is the topic of the day.

What is Modern Quilting, anyway? Since I joined the NYCMetroMod Quilt Guild I've been thinking more and more about this. Do I want to be a "modern quilter"? but I don't use white sashing, and I don't buy Amy Butler. But when I look back at the quilts I've made in the past few years, yeah, they're modern.

I've got a Bento Box.
I did a Plain Spoken from the Ringle & Kerr book, Modern Quilt Workshop.
I made a crosses quilt inspired from pics on flickr.
I did one of Kaffe Fassett's Bird Boxes.
Hell, I even made a Chinese Coins quilt.
I just finished a paper-pieced string top and I've got a Spiderweb in the works.
the only thing I'm missing is some Drunk Love in a Log Cabin...

So.. Modern Quilting is quiltmaking inspired by the modern quilt artists, namely Denyse Schmidt (the Godmother of Modern Quilting?), Kaffe Fassett, Fielke & Doughty, Ringle & Kerr.. popular quilters that don't make traditional quilts. There is an air of bending-the-rules-ness to it. Using color & patterns in ways the last generation of quilters (or young, traditional, Dear Jane types) wouldn't be interested in. "Wonky" is not only ok but sometimes sought after.

Oh, and a big distinction for me is that "modern quilts" are very different from "art quilts". Two great contemporary movements, but totally different in my book. I am not an art quilter.

There are sure to be other popular themes modern quilters mention, such as machine quilting and huge areas of open space/solids. I'm learning to do both, but I'm not there yet. I still love my eclectic stash of small prints (though that bin of previously drooled-over vintage florals may never again see the light of day), I'm very much a stash quilter and to be honest, I can't afford to keep up with all the latest fabric trends. I do still love hand quilting, but the switch to stay-at-home-motherhood has not really left much time for that. I think hand quilting has a place in modern quilts, but here I'm leaning towards perle cotton #8...

Modern quilting also reflects the change in ways quilters gather (online), share (flickr/blogs), and shop (again, online). Sure, traditional quilters do these things too, but with the speed of the internet, ideas light up and take off in an instant. Someone posts it on a blog, everyone sees it, and by next week, 20 people have made one already (more if someone creates a flickr pool for them). You don't have to wait for magazines and quilt shows to see what's new.

So what does all this mean? I don't know, but it sure is fun to be part of this movement. A part of quilting history. A part of the current wave of creativity that spreads and splashes into our heads, sewing rooms, and all over our beds, couches and walls in the form of cozy cozy quilts in the 21st century.

need help with that quilt?

2010-02-06T22:03:00.001-05:00

So maybe you, like me, have been inspired by quilts like these, but weren't really looking forward to removing all of the paper foundations.
Well.
Let me introduce you to a very practical and cheap source of help for this tedious task.
Find a toddler:

Hard at work, the little monster...

The best part-- he loved it. He wanted to do it over and over, taking each piece and walking it to the trash. Sure, he grabbed the garbage bag and shook out the contents all over the living room twice, but we got all but 4 of the 36 papers removed in just over an hour!
If you want to try this method but can't find your own toddler, email me, maybe we can set up a playdate..

here it is!

2010-02-01T14:08:00.000-05:00

Dude, i really busted my ~~butt~~ machine to get this top done before the end of January. Don't know why really, but I think I wanted to call it my January Weekend quilt.. I was probably motivated by the start of a new semester. But anyway, here it is, all set except for borders. I have some ideas, but no time to sit down and get them sewn on yet. here's hoping it can be basted by the end of February, ok?
The blocks are foundation pieced onto regular printer paper (i used a draft of an economics paper 'cause, yeah, we have those lying around the house sometimes..). I learned a bit through the process, it was not as easy or as fast as I thought it would be, but I did manage to piece the top to this point in about 10 days (sewing during naps and sometimes after he went to bed). I used a glue stick and lots of pins, and the end result is just what I was hoping for.
definitely warmer, right?

January 22 -- thinking warmer

2010-01-22T22:34:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we stopped into Gone Sewin so I could tell Toni how much I appreciate her being open and having the shop so close to home, even if I don't get in as often as I'd like. I told her about my trip to The Quilting Bug, and she seemed to have heard similar stories from other customers. I then proceeded to drop the rest of my January budget on fabrics that I liked. No quilt in mind (no serious ones, anyway), just wanted to pay my dues to a good local shopkeeper. It must have been a coincidence that she was having a 35% off sale at the same time..

So, my fabric acquisitions for 2010 are a bit staggering.. I think I'm up to 18 new yards already. I think I'm done shopping for a while.

This week I have also been sorting through my stash-- I want to slowly throw everything in the wash machine. I've been good in the past about washing second hand scraps, but I'm not always good about washing fabric right when I bring it home. Then when I want to dive into a project (like tonight) I have to put my enthusiasm on hold for a few hours to run the washer, assuming it's all the same color, or for a full day or more if it isn't. Right now I've got a bunch of warm colors in the wash-- deep pinks, bright oranges. I have a simple pattern in mind and wanted to test it out. This might turn into a good stash buster if it works out as easily as I'm hoping. At first I was just going to use up some of the random older florals from the bottom shelf, but then I remembered that I really like the fabric I've bought recently and I want to use that, you know? So in the wash it went. If the project stalls once it's out of the dryer then so be it. That's what I get for not being prepared..

oh, and some inspiration I'd like to share:

Amy at A Commonplace Life
BumbleBeans
and the simple yet satisfying quilts over at HeartStrings Quilt Project

January 20

2010-01-20T22:59:00.000-05:00

Back home in New York and very appreciative of the peace found in familiar surroundings and routines. My dad got out of the hospital today but will need another operation shortly. Thank you for your kind thoughts and emails, everyone goes through rough patches, I think I just wasn't prepared for this one.

Well, we're 20 days into the new year and already I've been to 3 different quilt shops in 3 states. Let's review..

First, on our last day in Virginia, our hosts asked if there were any places I'd like to go before we headed for home.. "Can I see if you have a quilt shop?" I asked. And they did!

On our way out of town we stopped at the Cloth Peddler in Stephens City, VA. A cute shop in a little store on the main street, they crammed an aweful lot of fabric into a small space. Bolts, samples and notions were tucked in every corner. I was a bit distracted because our friends came with us, so this small shop was filled with myself, the two owners, three non-quilting adults and two toddlers (one with a dirty diaper). The shopkeeper was quite chatty and even showed me the new package of samples that had just came in the mail. Beautiful fabric. They have a lot of really nice stuff. I left with a black print and some small cuts of medium blues (one even glows in the dark!). If I had been alone I probably would have bought more.

(here's George helping chose fabrics from the remnant bin)

A nice, well stocked shop with knowlegeable shopkeepers. Worth the trip if you're in the neighborhood, or just driving through. When we make it back out that way, I'll be sure to stop in again. The online shop looks promising too.

In Chicago I would be lying if I said I wasn't overwhelmed with the family situation. One day I took my sister's car and drove 40 minutes south-west to "escape" to a quilt shop to catch my breath and get my wits about me. I had been to Thimbles in Lockport before (no website?) and knew it would have a good dose of trendy fabric to put me in touch with the modern quilting world and pull me out of the dark cloud surrounding my parents' house.

I realized how tightly wound I had been when I noticed I had been up and down each aisle twice before my eyes registered the beautiful fabrics on the bolts. But I stayed in the shop til it worked its magic and I had calmed down.

Not only do they have a gorgeous shop, friendly staff, beautiful fabric and cheerful local quilters, but this shop is child friendly! They have toys for toddlers!

So George was happy, I was happy, and we just stayed there for a while.

In the end I found some fabrics that go well with my living/dining room and I bought about 4 yards, total. I don't know if they'll become pillows or placemats, but they're very pretty.

(I actually swapped out the center green for an Amy Butler print, but it coordinates well, take my word for it)

And today, on a whim and with no intention of buying any fabric, I drove out to The Quilting Bug in Massapequa. I've wanted to check out this shop since we moved in LI, and it's really not that far away (15 minutes?), but when I got there, my heart fell. It's bad. It's not the bigger, trendy shop I was hoping for. Sure, it's a nice size with a big classroom, but it's not well set up at all, and it didn't really have that much fabric. (How is this possible? A quilt shop without fabric?) Ok, so they had 2 walls of fabric, but I didn't want any of it. I didn't even like any of it. It was so.. uncoordinated and random. I felt bad for the shopkeeper, she must be going through hard times. She told me (once I got her off the phone) that they are relocating to a smaller shop down the street. I hope she is able to pull things together. I'd love to give her my business if she had anything worth buying. I guess the most dissapointing thing about it was the sad atmosphere of the place, like no one cared.

I've been busy in the sewing room since I've been home, falling in love with tiny nine-patches. Class starts again next week so I'll have to find a good balance again, but I'll manage. C's mom is coming to stay with us at the beginning of February through March, so maybe she and I can work out a schedule that allows for more quilting time for me.. I can be optimistic, can't I?

January 12

2010-01-12T13:09:00.000-05:00

We had a very wonderful, restful and peaceful Christmas followed by a relaxing week at home and a fun filled trip to Virginia for the New Year. Photos were taken, snowmen were built, friends visited & I even got to a quilt shop.. All posts I could have written but probably never will.

Now George and I are in Chicago and my father is undergoing his second surgery in the past 5 days. I don't have words to really describe this past week, and the cute photos of George my sister has been taking don't really express the mood of the post. I'm finding peace in Travel Quilt #2, thank god. One stitch at a time, one breath at a time.

More holiday cheer!

2009-12-23T18:18:00.000-05:00

We were invited for dinner at the home of some new friends. I thought it would be a fun activity for the kids if we decorated a gingerbread house...

Before we left home, we had to mix up the frosting and assemble the house. George helped with the electric mixer:

Yum, frosting...

Here the kids waited patiently as I took a picture:

Then they brushed icing on the roof:

And decorated with lots of candy:

And our finished house:

George even helped by piping on the icing for the door. I think if I would have given him the icing bag the whole dining room would have been covered. Well, it was a good activity, the kids liked it, and I can't wait to do it again when George is older.
Christmas is almost here.. are you squeezing in every last bit of holiday fun while you can?

blue & white

2009-12-22T21:17:00.000-05:00

My friend Shannon is putting out a BOM over at her blog and I decided to make the December block. I don't know, I was in the mood for blues and whites. She's a very advanced piecer and some of what she does intimidates the pants off of me, but I thought I could handle this one. If January doesn't scare me, I might try that one too.. :)
I have never done a full year of BOMs before.. I've started once or twice, but then get distracted by other projects and have lost focus by the time the next month's block has come out. Have you ever done a full year? did you finish the quilt? I think I'm also having mixed feelings towards samplers these days too, which is ironic, seeing as I just started one of my own for an online quilting bee..
I don't know.. since I finished the binding on 1994 and stitched the next binding on the anti-depression quilt, I was almost feeling a little tired of quilting. Like, I'll make all these blankets and then what? What kind of weird hobby is this anyway? But then I came to my senses and remembered that I love quilts because I can stare at them for hours, think about them for days, get lost in them and immediately feel better once I connect with one. Not to mention the security I feel being part of group that labels themselves as "Quilters", even if I'm not currently in a guild. So yeah, it was a fleeting thought. I won't be giving up quilting any time soon. But I have been thinking about it a lot (what else is new?) and I guess I'm just thinking about different things than before. I also started reading Quilter's Home. Yeah, who's late to the party this time? I fall in love with Mark Lipinski after he leaves his own magazine?! that's what I get for being frugal and checking the issues out of the library insead of buying them off the newsstand. But anyway..
In one of the back issues from this year he had an article about an inspiration journal and got me thinking about making a Quilt & Fabric Journal. So last week (?) I started one. I collected photos of each quilt I've made, got archive safe photo corners, pulled out an old blank scrap book, and got to work. When it's more complete I'll write a full post about it, but just working on it is so satisfying. Going back, thinking about every quilt, when i made it, what inspired it, what else was going on then.. And it's really amazing because with one quilt per page, I've already almost filled up half the scrap book. I'm gluing fabrics in there too and it's nice to have texture, photos, and stories together on the pages. It's a really selfgratifying project. My life hasn't always been good, but I like to spend time remembering, contemplating, and appreciating it for what it has been.
Well, George is asleep and I've got the house to myself, I think I'll go upstairs and fill in a few more pages..

1994

2009-12-20T21:38:00.001-05:00

So it's done. Quilted, bound and washed, and has found a cozy spot on the living room couch where it has spent the week keeping us warm, making us happy, and even working out as the roof for our "spilitsa" (little cave). I finished what used to be my oldest UFO.

Snow!

2009-12-20T09:22:00.000-05:00

I don't know how clear it is from the picture, but the snow drift in front of the door is up to his shoulders. Can't wait to get him bundled up and toss him in!

Low Budget Holiday Cheer!

2009-12-11T10:07:00.000-05:00

I had this idea when I went to bed the other night. (still playing with the handprint idea, like on mom's wall hanging..) I didn't know how it would work out, but it was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be, and as a result,10-12 lucky Christmas card recipients will also get a bit of original artwork this year (or maybe I'm just prepping him to become a Sumo wrestler..)

What you need:

washable poster paint = $3 at Target
cardstock = I had some left over from my mail art days. You probably have some lying around too.
wax paper covered cutting board
silicone basting brush
newspaper to cover your work area

I set it up assembly-line style on my ironing board. Then I put a full coverage bib on the kid just in case, held him in my right arm and guided his hand from the paint to the papers with my left. When we ran out of papers, I carried him right to the sink.

So easy! Minimal mess! Big score on cuteness!

So of the 45+ Christmas cards we send, a few will be a bit more special this year.
Hope you're having as much fun with your holiday crafting!

30 is here, and it's really not all that bad....

2009-12-05T23:21:00.000-05:00

I'm eating chocolate cake with PINK frosting. yeah, i went a bit overboard with the red food coloring, but it's so much harder now that it comes in gel instead of liquid. I had no idea how much I was adding..

The cake decorating did not go as I had planned.. i wanted a light pink base with little white flowers, but the flower tip was giving me trouble, so I ended up with little white peaks of loopy-ness. I'm glad I'm not a professional or this totally would have ended up at cakewrecks..

George came with me in the morning to the grocery store for last minute cake-baking supplies, then he was going to help me mix the batter, but kept wanting to stick his fingers in it. He succeeded in grabbing a handful of frosting right out of the tub, but that wasn't so bad once I taught him how to lick it off his fingers. We got my parents & sister on Skype so everyone could sing "happy birthday" together and that was really cool. Costas bought me flowers and took me to a movie (YES, we actually got a babysitter and went out without George!) After the babysitter texted that George was sleeping, we strolled around the mall and took purikura (for the first time in 8 years..).

A good day, definitely. Now I'm debating between quilting a bit or just heading to bed. Maybe I can applique just one circle on the new quilt I started...

Mini Quilt Monday

2009-11-30T23:43:00.000-05:00

This is a tiny wall hanging that I made for my mom last week. I hope it keeps her spirits up til Christmas!

(the photo was taken before the quilting was finished to catch the good lighting, sorry!)

two weeks from saturday...

2009-11-18T23:14:00.000-05:00

i'll be 30. And what will I do with my 30th year? Heaven only knows. (wait, isn't this my 30th year? and from 30 to 31 is actually my 31st year?)
I do hope to quilt a lot though. Actually, I have lots of plans for quilts in the new year (or, for as soon as this damn semester is over..), and maybe even a Quilting Bee? Lesly mentioned one and I said I'd join. Losing weight and quilting? Both worthwhile endevors, no?

And then today I received a nice thick package in the mail from Amy. (Thanks Amy!!)

About a million bright squares. (i'll count them soon, and spend hours pouring over them and their possibilities, but not before the final exam i have tomorrow..). At first glance, I've already spotted some favorites.

(what are these, pen nibs?)

At the library yesterday I picked up a few new-ish looking quilt books (and requested Material Obsession #1 via interlibrary loan, score!). There's a pattern in this one that might work perfectly for the stack of squares..

Have you read any good quilt books lately? I really want to see what else I can get through interlibrary loan. Oh, and Amber is in the market for a new sewing machine so I thought I'd pool my readers:

What type of sewing machine do you use?
Do you like it?
What's its best feature?
If you were going to upgrade, what would you get?

All comments will be helpful. Thanks~

A day in the life

2009-11-16T22:42:00.000-05:00

Amy invited us to play along and tell about our daily schedules.. here's what a typical weekday looks like around here:

7:30 George wakes up. He has probably started to stir about an hour earlier, but I pacify him with a boob and we all get more sleep. We know he's really awake when he starts poking our faces or trying to dive head first over us to get out of the bed. Lately I've started putting him down on the floor and trying to get a few more minutes of rest. He likes to play with the sock bin in my closet, but he also gets into things he shouldn't too, like C's glasses, or this morning when I found him crawling underneath our bed..

7:45 Sneak away while George is playing to brush my teeth. I can't do anything in the am until my teeth are brushed.

7:50 Pick up the munchkin and head to the kitchen to make coffee for Costas. He gets tempted to stay home and play with George so I try to give him a push out the door- on good days I make coffee and lunch. On bad days I make him hold George and make his own coffee.

8:30 Breakfast for the 3 of us. Usually cereal for the adults, yogurt with fruit and/or oatmeal for the kid. C and I use this time to chat and catch up on the day's plans. I really like that we have breakfast together.

9:00 George and I head out to Stroller Strides or a playdate. Today we went to a music class at Orly's Treehouse. After class we have snacks (read: coffee) with other moms & babies.

12:00 Naptime. I try to plan to be on my way home from somewhere around noon so he can fall asleep in the car. Once we get home I make a pot of coffee, check my email, and try to get some school work done. I used to sew during naptime, but now it's coming down to crunch time in the semester-- I've got an exam on Thursday so i shouldn't even be blogging now.. I have quilt projects all lined up for winter break though.

1:30 Lunch for George, when he's done we play for a while. If I was lucky, I threw in laundry before breakfast so there'll be a load to fold together in the afternoon. He's getting really good at laundry. While he plays I can usually sneak off and check my email. I may get 10 minutes before he's banging on the office door. We catch up with family and friends with phonecalls in the afternoon, and in general just hang out around the house. Twice a week though the babysitter comes for 2 hours so I can get some more focused studying done. Thank god for that!

4:30 Maybe a second, short nap, if he's worn out from playing.

5:00 Start dinner. Depending on the meal, I usually start chopping and measuring while he's naping so I can saute and throw stuff together once he gets up. We eat all of our meals at home (Costas takes left overs or a sandwich 5 days a week for lunch) and I'm getting much better at meal planning, shopping for what we need (less frivolous purchases), and using what we have. This is a huge step for me as a housewife.

6:30 George gets dinner and I'll probably get a snack. Then more playing (and some mindless tv) til Costas gets home. Twice a week he gets a bath, but no more than that due to pretty bad excema.

8:00 Costas gets home. He plays with George for a while and then maybe we'll have dinner as a family, but if George didn't get the second nap, I'll let Costas eat first while I put George to bed.

8~9:00 Bedtime for the monster. Definitely flexible, depending on when he got up last and when C gets home from work. I hate to put George to bed without seeing Daddy, but sometimes Costas has to work late..

9:30 Unwind in front of the TV with C. Sometimes I try to study, sometimes I go hide out in the sewing room, sometimes I do both. Lately I can't handle more than 1 hour before changing activities so if I have more than 2 hours to myself I tend to bounce back and forth between sewing and studying. Of course I can also blow 2+ mindless hours playing on line, but then I go to bed feeling more tense (neck soreness) and very unproductive.

12:00 Bedtime. Sometime around midnight George will wake up and I'll go get him and bring him to bed with me. I let him nurse as much as he wants through the night and we all sleep better.

Our days are long and it's often exhausting keeping a 13 month old stimulated, happy and safe all day. But he's a happy kid and these days I'm usually a happy mom. There are ups and downs of course, but I'm thankful for the recent upswing, especially during crunch time at school.. This week has been unbalanced in terms of school work to sewing, but that's ok. Overall, I'm really glad that I found a good balance this semester-- taking time to sew keeps me more focused on schoolwork when it's study time.

I will be 30 three weeks from Saturday

2009-11-12T22:37:00.000-05:00

So today I bought a box of devils food cake mix and two tubs of frosting. I'll make my cake similar to George's, but I haven't decided how to decorate it yet. I don't think I've ever made myself a birthday cake before, I usually get one from Baskin Robins or the grocery store. I really like box-mix cake though, and i love frosting, so it's kind of strange that it's taken me 30 years to figure out what I really wanted..

Today I also started a compost pile in our backyard. Do you compost? When I told Costas I was going to start one he said, "but you don't do anything in the yard." and it's true. I don't have a garden, I don't like to get my hands dirty. But I do like collecting things. Collecting food trash and making a pile of it in the yard sounds like fun, let's see how long this lasts. Oh, and it was really satisfying to smash 3 pumpkins into the pile to get it going...

And maybe the most important-- today I also got life insurance. I've wanted to take out a policy for a long time but i was a little confused about my options and how to go about it. The Metlife rep made it easy and almost painless (there will be a bloodtest..). Now I have peace of mind.

And because this is still a quilting blog... Look what came in my mail last week:

It's my Post Partum Anti-Depression quilt! I sent it off to Shannon and she quilted it up beautifully!

Aren't those feathers to die for? I have it folded on the back of the front room couch now and I just like to stare at it. George likes running his fingers across it.

As soon as the semester is over I'll bind it, but already I love it as it is. I am so grateful to Shannon for pulling me out of what could have become post-partum depression and pushing me to focus on quilting again. This year quilting has really kept me sane. Thank you.

Mineola Show

2009-11-09T12:44:00.001-05:00

Yesterday Amber & I went to the Evening Star Quilt Guild's show here in Mineola, NY. It was good, a small but well put together guild show. They have a nice mix of quilters it seems, some new techniques, some amazing hand quilting. Still nothing like I see in blogland though, but the people we spoke to were all friendly so now Amber and I are thinking of how to get an evening away from the boys to sneak off to one of their meetings. We'll just see about that.

Here are some of my favorites. Click to enlarge. More over at flickr.

Check out this stunning hand-quilted whole-cloth! The maker made it (Queen Size) for her daughter and completed it in only 9 months!!

A mini-quilt, this measured less than 15" x 15", and it's hand quilted!!

A new favorite, i feel the need to make something with pink 9 patches on point now...

Just impressive! hand pieced, appliqued & quilted. Really makes me want to get to know the ladies in this guild..

Of course we went home very inspired. So inspired that i decided to wash fabric in fact, hehe.

Video for Becky

2009-11-07T14:59:00.000-05:00

My college friend Becky bought some Quilt Patis templates and had some questions about how I piece stars with them. After trying to take photos of each step of the process, I realized it would just be easier to make a video. Of course, then George tried to "help."

Enjoy. Quilt Patis can be ordered here. My post explaining my travel sewing kit is here.

10/28/09

2009-10-28T22:06:00.000-04:00

Playing around with the timer on my camera...

I hung it from the knobs on the cabinets while George and I were making dinner.

And in case you want to know what we were making.. here's the recipe for my mother-in-law's Chicken & Prunes.

Is anyone planning to do NaBloPoMo? I don't think I'd have enough to say, but I might try it anyway..

Oh, oh, and Jackie is having a giveaway! You've got 4 chances to win some Moda, Kona or a magazine, so go give it a shot!

How do you get it all done?

2009-10-27T00:54:00.004-04:00

An argument about priorities caused me to be very productive tonight. After putting George to bed (at 10 pm) I mopped the floor, took a shower and ironed 5 shirts. Afterwords I took the iron upstairs and sewed for an hour.
I had not had an especially easy or relaxing day-- We did storytime at the library and snacks at the mall and while George alternately napped and played with the babysitter I spent 4 hours researching and putting together a presentation for class on Thursday. I'll admit I did waste an hour zoned out in front of stupid TV (Cake Boss) but I felt I had gotten a lot done today-- before the argument.
So I must ask all of you more experienced wives and mothers: How do you make yourself do it all? Yes, it's not a question of finding the time or the energy, I think the reason I don't get it all done is that I can't force myself to do it. What do you think? All comments welcome, thanks.

My Jet-set Baby

2009-10-24T16:20:00.002-04:00

From our recent trip to Chicago, this is George's 8th plane ride, all before his 1st birthday..

Beautiful weather

2009-10-24T15:12:00.004-04:00

beautiful slightly-rainy, very windy-yet-warm weather today so I took George for a stroll just before noon, hoping he'd fall asleep for his nap. We switched from the infant carseat to the convertable this week (Britax Marathhon, what kind do you have?) and I'm still feeling a bit helpless when it comes to naptime-- driving him around the neighborhood had been my go-to nap routine for the last 2 months. Thankfully it wasn't too cold today and he didn't seem to mind the 3 raindrops that fell on him. We made a loop from our house down to the main street, checking out Halloween decorations and watching the grade-school kids play soccer in the schoolyard. He fell asleep in less than 10 minutes. Great, but what am I going to do when it starts snowing?
Once inside I thought, "Blogging or sewing?"
I chose sewing because it calms me, lets me find my place in the world (which has seemed a bit chaotic lately).
I trimmed up the triangles for 4 new spiderweb blocks that I pieced last night. Then I cut more paper templates and light blue kites. I also drew up a 2nd draft of the potential layout.. this one calls for only 30 blocks with light blue background, but 26 blocks with medium blue background, which I don't have in the stash. I was hoping I could go through the rest of the year without buying fabric (ok, without buying anything really), so we'll have to see how far I get. I'm now up to 15 blocks and still loving it.
I thought this pattern was supposed to make a dent in my scrap stash, but it hasn't really. Scraps beget scraps, right? No complaining. I'll find the ideal scrap-busting project one of these days. Suggestions welcome, of course~
I find that piecing the spiderweb units has helped me sort through my scraps with a fine-toothed comb. Any strip more than 20" long gets set aside for another strip quilt project. Chunks and triangles get tossed into the triangle box for the corners. When I find squares, I separate them and toss them into the square drawer. This part of the project has been very satisfying. Sure, I love sewing and quiltmaking, but I think what I love more is playing with small pieces of fabric. Just touching them, sorting them, moving and collecting them. And when I trim up a triangle the trimmings have to be really small for me to part with them. I've started a pile of "too small to sew with but too pretty to throw away"-- greeting cards maybe? We'll see.

10/23

2009-10-23T22:22:00.000-04:00

I love my sister and I wish she could come visit more often...

Birthday!

2009-10-20T13:25:00.004-04:00

Not much sewing around here lately-- with the exception of George's halloween costume which he wore for his BIRTHDAY PARTY!

He was a scarecrow, easy-peasy except for the hat which I ended up making out of craft foam and stitching by hand. He wouldn't keep it on -- not even for a picture..

My sister has been here for the past week and there is NO WAY I could have pulled off the party without her. It's great to spend time together and the extra hands/eyes are a Godsend!

We went all out for the desserts-- cupcakes (idea came from a family magazine I read in the Dr's office waiting room last month, snapped pics of the recipe with my camera phone, but I don't know which magazine it was, sorry!), an eclair cake, and a birthday cake:

George enjoyed it all, and so did the rest of us.And thank you for the many peaceful wishes.. My mother has been in the hospital for the last 2 weeks and it got quite scary there for a few days. She is doing better day by day though, came off the ventalator yesterday and may move out of the ICU this week. She has a long-term illness which I'm not quite ready to answer questions about yet, but thank you, thank you for your prayers and good thoughts.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2009-10-09T17:38:00.005-04:00

Yay! an online quilt festival!
I have several quilts "almost done" and another that I've been saving to show you (no good pics yet), but then I remembered Zoe's quilt-- my first finished hand-quilted piece.

The piecing was very simple, I think the blocks measured 8" finished. It's hand quilted using a motif I found in a 1950s sewing magazine and enlarged on a xerox machine. I love this pattern, but quilting in circles is a pain in the butt! (Funny, I continue to do it though..)
This quilt was made from January-June, 2004, in Atlanta, GA & Athens, Greece. Made as a baptism gift for our dear friend Zoe.
New developments in family health issues necessitate a quick trip to Chicago this weekend. while we're trying to stay calm, please send peaceful thoughts our way. Thank you.

Scraps, huh?

2009-10-05T20:57:00.003-04:00

At the Silver City show and also at Portsmouth Fabric Co. I was drawn to the scrap piles, as always. Is it bad that I collect other people's scraps? What if I was contemplating posting an ad to buy scraps off of other quilters? Yeah, that's taking it a bit too far i suppose.
For the huge sum of $18.80, I came home with enough scrap fabric to keep me busy for quite a while.
When we got home from the trip (two weeks ago already?) I didn't have the chance right away to start sewing stuff-- first i sorted the new scraps into 3 piles for the laundry. then i contemplated the quilt in my last post for a couple of days. I did a load of scrap laundry & sorted it. thought about new quilts some more, sorted through the existing scrap-stash, and finally, started sewing..

I have wanted to make a spiderweb quilt for about a year or so, I guess. I've had the background fabric set aside for one since last winter. I'm using 2 of Costas' Ralph Lauren button down shirts. Using Bonnie's Method with 8.5 x 11" paper foundations it's actually pretty easy and a hell of a lot of fun. The only trouble so far has been removing the paper-- on the first few triangles I guess I used too much gluestick..

I'm up to 8 blocks so far and I just starched the remaining pieces of the first shirt to keep the threads under control when i cut the kites. It's so much fun to play with my scraps-- i had several bags of bits/strips set aside from past projects and going through each one brings lots of memories. I'm also getting a lot of pleasure from organizing my small scraps. Now I have one bin for triangles and as I wade through bits of fabric I'm pulling out anything that would be too big for this project. Why cut into a 3 x 4" brick when I really just need 1" x 4" or smaller? And believe me, i think I have enough small bits and strips to get this done. I'll be surprized if I actually need to cut fabric for this quilt. I wonder if I'll even use up all my bits and crumbs..

Why am I frustrated with Blogging?

2009-10-02T21:49:00.003-04:00

I think it's because I got a new camera last year, the nikon Coolpix, and I haven't been able to get good blog-worthy photos out of it. My old Kodak easyshare from '03 was getting slow and had a screen the size of a postage stamp, but it took nice, crisp close-ups and was amazingly clear without the flash. Little maroon Coolpix over here likes to blur the photos when I don't use a flash, not fun!
so.. i have tons of photos and lots of good things to blog about (like the second half of my Boston trip), but i'm so disappointed with the low quality of the photos that I don't even really want to share them with you. I guess I should anyway though. I'll console myself with the thought that I'm not really a photographer anyway, I'm a quilter, remember? and oh, yeah, I hit an amazing fabric shop on my trip up north...

Walk up these steps and into this invitingly-open door and inside you will find Portsmouth Fabric Company. Have I blogged about this before? PFC is the first quilt shop I had ever been to and the fabric in the stash that I bought there with my dear friend Lexi while we were in college still gets coveted and used in only the most special and important projects (read: every single scrap quilt i've tried to make). Recently I realized that I was running low on those special fabrics from that special time in my life, and thought since I was driving half way there already....

It's a good shop. All the latest. An entire wall of Kaffe. very very expensive Berninas for sale. So I thought, it's worth it to ask, "Do you have any Denise Schmidt?"

and the two women working there on Sunday afternoon looked at me with identical puzzled looks. Hmph. I guess not all quilt shop employees keep up to date with the latest and most beloved designers of the trendy-young-quilter set. I was a bit more reassured when I asked the owner the same question Monday morning (of course I went two days in a row!) and she said they do carry it, but didn't have any in the shop at the moment. Whew, at least someone knows what I'm talking about.

you may wonder why I was even asking,

as I have posted previously about my bewilderment at the

trend in blogland to buy and quilt from all of one designer's collection.

Heck, I only have (had) 1 fat quarter of DS, purchased unknowingly

and I didn't even sign the FMF petition (though i think

i would buy some if it were reprinted),

but it is precisely because of that petition that I wanted

to HUNT for some FMF, or any of DS's fabrics,

just to see if I could find them. Sadly, I didn't.

But for the record-- I love love Denyse Schmidt's quilts.

It's ok though, really, because they had lots and lots of other beautiful fabric to look at, touch, and eventually choose from. I wasn't planning on buying fabric. Hell, I went to the quilt show with a list of what I wanted to buy so I didn't get carried away with frivolous purchases. At the show I ended up buying tons and tons of scraps (another post, i promise), but as I was looking around PFC, colors spoke to me. fabrics called to me. and... i bought yardage. whoops. :)

you see, I bought this new umbrella a few weeks ago at the GAP.. (gap.com does not seem to sell umbrellas, sorry, no link to a photo) and I love the colors-- deep pink, purple, creamy oatmeal-ish neutral.. I thought I should make a quilt, you know how it goes. I bought some "aged muslin", a brown/purple/red floral, some Australian prints in purple and orange, and a big piece of Valori Well's cinnamon butterflies . Oh, I had fun. I also quickly rifled through their pile of scrap strips, mostly Kaffe Fasset, and for some reason I was in the mood for reds & pinks. Hmm.

When I got home I mulled some patterns over for a few days, sketched out some possibilities, mulled it over some more, and decided I want to do the above pattern (Quilt by Joann Borges) in a King size for our bed. (btw, i don't actually have this pattern. Joann said she'd send it to me but I need to remind her. If you have it and wouldn't mind mailing me a copy, let me know please!). I was thinking about it for a while. It consumed my thoughts for days actually. But I didn't do anything. The fabric is still sitting in the PFC bag, tossed onto a shelf in the sewing room. I backed away in favor of playing with scraps instead. I do still want to make the quilt, so I guess we'll see when/if that'll happen.

Portsmouth Fabric Company is definitely worth the trip, if you happen to be anywhere near southern New Hampshire. I'm hoping I can get back there soon myself.

The Road to Silver City

2009-09-25T09:52:00.005-04:00

And Saturday morning we went to the QUILT SHOW!!

(by MaryJo) One of my favorite quilts of the show!

I'm really liking Trip Around the World quilts these days..

(by Eve Beland)
Eve showed me some of these leaves when she first tried them out. She made two quilts using the leaf idea-- one from a purchased pattern and the one above, her own interpretation. Amazing, huh? I love how the leaves are pieced and then pieced with the background-- no applique.

A real stunner, caught my eye right as I walked in. I'll probably never make something like this, but it impresses me that someone else has.

And the Raffle Quilt:
Blocks were made by guild members and the quilt was assembled and quilted by Diana Annis. It was a truly stunning quilt and I think it won a ribbon at the Lowel Quilt Show (?). Lots and lots of tickets were sold, but in the end it went to a Silver City guild member, which is perfect! The raffle quilt from the last show went to a woman who hadn't even bought a ticket-- someone else bought it in her name. She wasn't a quilter and after receiving the quilt, contacted the guild to find out its value because she was going to sell it on ebay! We were crushed. I'm so happy this quilt will have a better fate. Here's a close-up:

I have so. many. more. photos. It feels so nice to have new pictures of quilts again! overall, spending the day at the show was very soothing and healing for me. I did a bit of shopping and some catching up with old friends and it was well worth the 5 hour drive from LI.
I'm in the process of putting the rest of the pics with credits on flickr. I'll edit to link there soon.

Dinner with Librarians

2009-09-24T21:07:00.004-04:00

The first night of our road trip we spent some time with Joanna, her boyfriend, and two delightful librarians. Good food, stimulating conversation, and nice people genuinely interested in keeping George happy.

They cooked dinner (carbonara & bean salad) while Joanna introduced George to Boston culture.

It was Joanna's birthday last week so there was left over chocolate-peanut-butter cake for dessert (no pics, eaten too quickly). I totally forgot to take a pic of the little coin-purse I gave her, maybe she'll take a pic and send it to me (hint hint)?
Highlight of the evening= George chasing Joanna's cat. Kitty ran behind the couch and George climbed right in after her. Yeah, he gets a little excited around animals..

He fell asleep in the car on the way back to Makiba's so when he woke up Saturday morning and saw all of Ayane's toys he kind of freaked out a little. He was sooo excited. I had a hard time keeping up with him and only got good pics of the kitchen set. Makes me want one too..

Asian Pears

2009-09-23T11:24:00.003-04:00

The first thing we did when we got to Boston was collect the Whites and head to Lookout Farm to pick some apples. You take a "train" into the orchards and it lets you off at whichever type of fruit you'd like to pick.
We didn't have a lot of time so we headed straight for the asian pears. This was George's first time apple picking and at first he didn't know what to do. But after I put a few pears on his stroller and didn't stop him from putting them in his mouth, he was soon chomping away..

He and Ayane had fun getting to know eachother in the orchard too..

I made sure to get some of my favorite McIntosh apples too, and after a quick but fun trip, we were on our way again.

Next stop, Joanna's..

road trip

2009-09-22T23:15:00.002-04:00

215 photos are now downloaded onto my computer. when i find the time, they'll get uploaded to flickr. we had a good road trip. lots of quilt-related soul-soothing fun. george traveled really well too. sorry i'm too tired to write more. quilt pics will come soon though, promise.

2009-09-17T21:53:00.002-04:00

Today I:

+Interviewed a babysitter for George (finally!)
+Ordered a subscription to Quilter's Newsletter Magazine (do you read it? do you like it?)
+Organized photos in my little "Quilting" photo album
+Started packing for our road trip to Boston

George and I will head up to Boston tomorrow to visit friends and then on Saturday we'll go to the Silver City Quilt Guild's QUILT SHOW!! yay! A whole day of quilting, catching up with friends & maybe a little shopping too (I've got a $50 budget, is that ridiculously inadequate?). Sunday we'll drive further north and go see my Aunt Cathy in NH. Monday we'll head home again. It's a lot of driving, I hope George cooperates. We're trying to squeeze in a lot in just 4 days, I hope I remember to take pictures..

September 10th

2009-09-10T20:32:00.006-04:00

So I started machine quilting. I'm doing a very thread-intense pattern which I've been calling "snaily-Q's". It's a lot of fun, and now I finally understand all that talk on quilt blogs about curved safety pins, garden gloves, thread tension, stitch regulation, and running out of bobbin thread. In one length of quilting I used up 5 bobbins, is that normal? Anyway, I'm having lots of fun with it and now have great dreams of making tons and tons of quilts, just like all the other machine-quilting quilt bloggers.

You might be wondering why, out of the blue, i decided to pull out this UFO and teach myself to machine quilt the same week I went back to school. See, after my dismal post last week I had a small breakdown-- Costas asked me a question about future home remodeling. "Future" as in our 5-10 year plan, whether or not to knock down a wall and... And I felt myself crumble. I held back tears and tried to explain to him that I didn't have the mental capacity to have that discussion right now, that I was trying as hard as I could to deal with school and George not sleeping and adjusting to a new schedule. I know daydreaming about "fixing things" is one of his hobbies so I apologized to him and told him I didn't enjoy thinking about things like that (usually because we disagree and end up arguing about things that haven't happened yet), and he said,
"Then what do you enjoy thinking about?" (as previous discussions that day involved how stressed I was thinking about school and scheduling for George)
"Quilting." I answered.
And then it hit me. Thinking and daydreaming about quilting is stress free. It is calming, soothing. I can do it anytime, anywhere, and I almost immediately feel better. So I realised I need quilting in my life. For my mental sanity, for balance. In order to hold me together; so I can function, so I can cope.
That's why I started working on my "1994" quilt and why I have put my Travel Quilt kit on the shelf in George's room. While he sleeps I split my time between studying and quilting, and now while he plays I can sometimes stitch 2 or 3 diamonds together. I'm not in any rush. I'm striving for happiness, peace and balance in my life. I think I'm moving in the right direction.

My oldest UFO

2009-09-08T11:10:00.004-04:00

My oldest UFO from jessica alexandrakis on Vimeo.

Sept 5th

2009-09-05T21:05:00.004-04:00

Today I:
+read an article for class on the rate at which immigrants learn English

+went through a storage bin labeled "pre-pregnancy clothes"
+vacuumed, scrubbed & mopped the floor
+made BBQ sauce from scratch
+daydreamed of opening my own quilt shop like Material Obsession

and I decided that I can't let myself get lost in feeling overwhelmed. I must remain positive. Life is good, I'm lucky to be able to do what I'm doing, and I'm grateful to Costas for a million things, including putting gas in the Jeep.

I drove George around the neighborhood to get him to sleep tonight. It's not the best solution, but it sure beats listening to him cry for 2 hours.

(the pic is one I snapped of a mini-quilt on display at PurlPatchwork, have you seen it?)

Just in time for it to fall apart

2009-09-04T20:58:00.004-04:00

So yesterday I had my first class and.. to be honest, I'm a bit overwhelmed. The syllabus seems manageable, thank god. A research project, a report on the situation at the local school district, a few response papers. I think I can handle the coursework. But the reality is that I haven't been thinking about my field since I stopped working over a year ago. And the last year has been George George George, with the occasional bit of quilting, travel, or shopping thrown in. A balance will need to be struck here, but at the moment I'm struggling and almost pessimistic that it can be found..

Costas is being very flexible and we've decided that he will watch George for the two nights I'm in class. He even said I don't have to rush home afterwords and I can stay and socialize if I want. Nice nice, but the first time it didn't run so smoothly-- George's eating/napping schedule was thrown off and he ended up going to bed by force (read: the three of us climbed in bed and we basically coaxed him to sleep) at 10 p.m. He woke up this morning at 10 to 9. Yeah, 11 hours of sleep is great for him, and my body appreciated it too, but if I sleep on his schedule, when will I get any classwork done?

When he finally went down for a nap this afternoon I sat down at the computer and tried to write a draft of my first short assignment-- I felt...lost. Completely unprepared and truly overwhelmed at the amount of time and effort I should put into doing this right. I didn't understand the terminology she used in the question so I turned to wikipedia, that trusty wealth of knowledge, but once you start there you keep clicking, reading, clicking, reading some more.. Reading through my notes again I found something I had wanted to search for so I found the webpage, but then more reading, clicking, reading.. you get the idea. 90 minutes later I had written 2 paragraphs and George's nap was over.

I go about my day trying to get regular chores done, knowing I won't have time to think about school until he's asleep again. The kicker is that these days he isn't interested in sleeping at night either, we've been trying to put him to bed for the last 2 hours..

So, I'm not exactly at my wit's end, but I'm just wondering how I'll be able to pull it off without taking out my frustration on Costas (as I did this afternoon) or through daily trips to Baskin Robins. The strange part is that while I was reading wikipedia this afternoon, I thought, "wow, this is almost as fun as reading my bloglines."

Ok then, I'll end here and just pray for peace and balance, and think that at the end of it all, I may get to do some quilting again..(pictures are from our trip to Ellis Island last weekend. The museum was really amazing, lots of English language learning history in there...)

Pulling in all together

2009-09-03T12:55:00.001-04:00

Isn't it cool when you cross things off your "to do" list faster than you thought you would? I have been pretty productive in the last two weeks-- a mega-trip to the post office including 2 quilts to 2 long armers (ok, well I just sent new backing fabric to shannon, she already had the top), phone calls and apointments are all taken care of, textbooks are purchased, school stuff is in order, and..I finished these two pillows for my cousin's dorm room:

Foundation pieced, no quilting, but very cute with lots of sentimental fabrics, like the green raccoons that my grandmother (?) made into dresses for her 6 daughters, and the green giraffes that became pants for our cousin in high school. If she ever asks, I can tell her the story of all these fabrics.. that's just the kind of quilter I am. :)

Well, this post has been sitting in my drafts pile for too long, I could say more but time to post is limited. I start classes again tonight, wish me luck!

Boxy

2009-08-18T13:48:00.005-04:00

I love when people post links to tutorials that are really easy to make and AWESOME. Thank you, thank you, AfricanKelli. I would love to make all the things you made this summer, but for right now I'm happy that I found a simple pattern and the time to actually MAKE it. yay!

The original tutorial is here, at Indie House, a quilting blog I was previously unfamiliar with. Kelli used canvas instead of separate lining and interfacing and I agree, this does make for a nice sturdy, boxy-box. It's also very cool that I found a yard and a half of canvas in my stash (while filling my Iraqi love boxes), and now I have a use for it. I also have 20+ vintage zippers which, though a little creaky, work great for this project.

I adjusted the pattern a bit-- using 10" x 5" rectangles and adding pull tabs to each end for easier opening/closing. Now it fits pens :)

I read in the comments of the original tute that some people are finding ways to cover the raw edges on the inside of the pouch, which i think I'll have to play around with because the canvas frays pretty quickly.

The pink tree fabric is the one I got on Friday at PurlPatchwork. It's so nice to actually use a new fabric right away instead of letting it sit in my stash for months til it's not "new" anymore.

I bought a piece of furniture for the sewing room at an estate sale on Saturday, it's an old shelf, pretty big, and now I'm in the process of sorting my stash onto it. Once it looks pretty enough to photograph I'll show you...

Pushing our strollers through Manhattan

2009-08-14T18:06:00.007-04:00

Ahh, Solids. Will I ever learn how to use you?

While I was in Greece, a new friend posted a picture to her facebook and I was like, "woah, Amber quilts!" Of course I knew she quilted, but when you're on the other side of the world, sweating it out in a quilt-deprived nation, a small photo of hexagons can all the sudden spark fun ideas. So when I got home, I asked if she'd be up to taking the boys and the strollers and heading into the city..
(I thought we were coming to the city to have fun mom, not for more quilting..)

We started out at City Quilter, which I'm coming to appreciate quite a bit. They carry most of the new and popular fabrics and their inventory seems to move pretty fast. Tons of notions and books too. George was a bit rowdy and talkative, which made shopping hard, but I did manage to pick up 1/2 a yard of a Christmas print called "Figgy Pudding" and a couple fat quarters. When we were done, we headed south to Purl Patchwork, a tiny but well stocked shop that has their own blog.

Amber checked out the shelves, Dominic charmed the employees,

And George slept through the whole thing (thank goodness!)

Honestly, it was a bit surreal to shop in there, it was kind of like being inside blogland, if that's possible. They have a lot of Japanese fabric, Quilts Japan, and just about every quilting/sewing/craft book written by a blogger in the last 3 years. I liked it, of course, but only bought another 1/2 yard (pink with trees) and some more fat quarters. I'm trying to stick to a budget and God knows I don't need any fabric. the solids in the window (top photo) were awfully tempting though. So many good ideas, so much inspiration. How can I stay focused and get anything done? Well, little by little, of course :)

Already I feel like the house is coming together and things are falling into place. 2 more weeks til school starts. If I can get packages off to 2 long armers, I may actually have quilts to keep me warm this winter..

Thinning my stash towards Iraq

2009-08-13T21:46:00.004-04:00

By now a lot of bloggers/quilters have heard of the Iraqi Bundles of Love project (I heard about it through Jan's link to Kristin's blog). My sewing room is literally jam packed with supplies, a lot of which I'm sure I'll never get to use.
So I picked up some flat-rate boxes at the PO, filled them with love:

and tied the bundles.

Don't forget the lovely customs form!

Iraq, here they come!

My bundles contained mostly non-quilting fabrics-- cotton/poly blends, some silky stuff, a piece of pink waterproof fabric with fruit on it. I also put in a pack of needles, a thimble, some tulle, buttons, fake flowers, ribbon, and several skeins of yarn. I was ready to send off all of my knitting needles (because now I'm sure I'll never knit), but they didn't fit in the box.

If you (or your local quilt guild) want to join in the fun, just leave the IBOL Guy a comment and he'll send you the address. Imagine how much fun it will be for the recipients to untie each bundle...I hope it makes them smile for a long time.

I'm learning

2009-08-11T11:32:00.003-04:00

that you can not be "rushed" and "creative" at the same time.

For the last 3 days I've been taken stolen moments (while he's asleep) to cut 3.5" squares for a pillow I want to make for my cousin's dorm room. I have a general idea of what I want it to look like, but yesterday I laid out my squares and thought, wtf? The fabrics are not going together the way I had hoped at all. So now (that george is napping again) i was debating between trying to figure it out or blogging about it. Blogging won out.

One option was to alternate lights and darks, but i have a lot of mediums in there too.

Or, I could alternate with a plain fabric.

I briefly toyed with the idea of sashing it all in a solid, but threw that idea out the window because I barely have time to get the squares cut and pieced, I can't possibly double my seams and cutting by adding 1" sashing..

agh, i don't know. It will come together, but when?

Farmers' Market

2009-08-07T21:50:00.004-04:00

I'll file this one away under "local secrets."
This morning I went to a Farmers' Market, right here in my neighborhood!

These bunches of fresh basil were HUGE! I stopped on the way to my fitness class and left the veggies in the car while I worked out. I got back to the car and *whoosh* a nice gust of fresh basil was there to meet us. I had a tomato & basil salad for lunch, perfect.

Sure, the local tomatoes aren't as pretty as the ones in the supermarket, but they taste a whole lot better...

I don't know how long into the fall the farmers market is open, but I'm going to try to go as often as I can. I've been interested in taking a more proactive approach to buying local and eating in season for a while now, but it's hard to put these ideals into practice when you're rushed for time and feeling tired all the time. Now that I know the farmers market is there, it just makes it that much easier to live in line with my values. Not being able to recycle for 5 weeks while we were in Athens was tough also. I got home and wanted to recycle every little bitsly I came across. I also wanted to save and reuse, to be more environmentally concious and frugal. Do you also feel that when you are placed in a situation where you don't have control you just find yourself making lists of what you'll do as soon as you have the chance? I feel like that after every trip I take. How can I make my life more satisfying? What have I been meaning to do for a long time but haven't gotten around to doing?

So since we've been back, I've been trying. "Blog more" was on the list of things to include in life, but honestly, it is such a challenge sometimes. It's so much easier just to read other people's blogs and get satisfaction (relaxation/inspiration) out of that (such as these two posts, which I thought about for a long time after reading..).

...

I was about to write that my free time is limited, but in truth, it's my mental focus that's limited. I have time to myself, like now for instance, when George is asleep. I can sew, blog, sleep, or do anything else. But I feel certain activities like blogging take more mental focus during the day. A post needs to be planned out, photos taken, uploaded, retaken if they didn't come out right. And then the body of the post-- I have just been recording what I'm living lately, not really thinking about it. Or, well, that's not true. Of course I think about it, I just haven't been blogging and sharing my thoughts with you.. My time to review my thoughts with myself is sometimes too short.

Now that the summer is winding down and fall (read: grad school) is looming, I just want to do what I can to feel more balanced with what is already in my life before adding new things (such as classes, friends, ideas). I want to get the house in order so Costas and I can both relax when we're here. I'd like to get a couple of quilts quilted and finished to have them around the house for when guests come over. Both Costas and I would like to eat healthier and get in better exercise routines. It's now (at the start of the school year) more than in January that I feel the need to make resolutions and set goals. Does anybody else feel that way?

So, slowly slowly, not wanting to feel overwhelmed and discouraged, I'll tackle my projects. It helps that George is getting bigger and can run errands more easily now. Once we get the baby gate up I might feel more comfortable leaving him in the family room as I cook or do laundry (I'll still be able to see him, he just won't be able to get to me). I'd really like to get a clothes line for the yard but I don't know where to look, Home Depot? any suggestions?

Ok, this post definetly has substance. And in writing it, I feel like I've got my thoughts in better order. Yeah, so I didn't do any sewing today. I can be hopeful that I'll get some done over the weekend though.

Seek and you shall find

2009-08-07T21:34:00.003-04:00

Well, I can't take the credit for this one. I gave up searching for quilters in Greece about 4 years ago. Thankfully, Constantina was more persistent and in a websearch for "quilters in greece" she found my blog. :)

Sadly, I don't actually live in Greece (sadly for her, I mean. I think I might go nuts if I actually lived there, no offense to the in-laws, of course), but while I was there this summer we got to meet up and talk about quilting! (among other things).

We couldn't actually do any sewing together though, what with time/transportation/family constraints, but maybe next year. It was so comforting to sit and talk quilting in a place that, though beautiful, was always missing something for me. Not anymore.

I can have Greece and my quilting too.

Athens

2009-07-22T14:34:00.005-04:00

If you've read my blog for a while (or if you're family), you know I've been to Greece many times. This is the 9th, to be exact. Would you believe I've still never toured the Acropolis?

Today we went downtown to buy souveniers for some friends and after lunch (at a restaurant I've been to several times before), I asked Costas if I could cross the street and look beyond the fence.. this is what I saw:

It's the ancient marketplace. How cool is that? Or maybe, how strange is it that I've sat half a block away from it on more than one occasion but never knew to look?

As any traveling quilter does, I love spotting inspiration in everyday places.. above is the iron covering on the windows of an old church. (I tried to get pictures of some wood carvings inside, but the old women collecting the candle money stopped me.) Below is the storefront of a place that sells fake jewels? Anyway, I liked the vines...

Oh oh, and I must mention that I found what I previously thought didn't exist--- I found a quilter here in Greece!!! or wait, actually she found me, through the blog no less. Friday we're meeting up to show off our current projects, hopefully I'll have pictures and stories to share after that.

typing quickly while he's asleep..

2009-07-18T14:55:00.004-04:00

Weeks 2 and 3 have passed and what have we been doing?

+enjoying the scenery

+napping on the beach

+playing in the garden

+visiting friends+enjoying the sunsets

as I go through my photos, I realize I have at least 4 or 5 possible separate blog posts, but only have time (and mental energy?) to write one.. forgive me. We are enjoying ourselves here, but the heat takes a lot out of you... Now that George is down for the night, all I really want to do is finish this post and maybe stitch a few stars before going to bed.

here we are!!

2009-07-07T11:21:00.003-04:00

(taken about 20 minutes before this post)

Yay! we're in greece!
it's hot, but George loves it. He gets lots of attention, has tons of people to play with, and his Yiayia gives him foods full of sugar when mom isn't looking!

the baptism went well (some pics on facebook already), if i get digital versions of the photos from the hired photographer maybe i'll write a post. the after-party was devine.
tonight we're going to another family party, should be fun.

Other fun stuff:

George is learning to bowl with his new "Farm Bowling" set.
It has been raining a lot.
The house across the street got struck by lightening and caught fire. George's godfather ran over and put it out. Costas ran after him and slid down the marble staircase outside (it was still raining heavily) and ended up at the hospital. No serious injuries, but a great story...

George has also been practicing how to walk, and getting better day by day (can't do it alone yet, but loves standing up).

Ok, that's all the internet time i have now. let's see if i can post again next week.
xoxo

194 and away we go~~

2009-06-25T21:45:00.005-04:00

After adding on the sections I completed in Chicago & Boston, Travel Quilt #2 now has 194 stars!! And I have "freed" 90+ plastic templates to work on the next section while we're in Greece. Yay!

Getting things taken care of around the house before we go is a bit hectic and stressful-- major home improvements right before (and during) a long overseas trip is....(not my idea?) a lot to handle, for one thing. The house looks awesome though, and I'm sure we'll be surprized by the changes when we get back. For now, I'm going to try to focus on packing and not worry about anything else. Wish me luck.

In baby news== George got his first tooth and started crawling. More like, he was happy to be able to crawl the first day and since then he just wants to climb all over everything. Good times. He has started eating some table foods too (and turning his head away from my lovingly-homemade baby purees). His current faves: asparagus and toast.

pictures, travel, and stories

2009-06-18T23:32:00.006-04:00

aagh! no substantial posts for almost a month! I'm ashamed that I stopped documenting my life like that, how will I ever remember what we did with June?

Things We Did in Chicago:

+relaxed with family
+drank tea
+sang songs from my childhood
+spent time with Aunt Lori

+Practiced crawling
+Played with cousins (and got our first taste of rough-housing)

+went to garage sales
+Learned about dogs

It was a very good, relaxing 2 weeks with my family. George traveled well, but didn't sleep that great once we got there. It took him a few days to get into a rhythm (me too). I love love love my family, it was good to see them.

Things We Did in Boston:

+enjoy the ultra-posh hotel Costas booked
+learned to sit in a high-chair

+Played with Japanese girls

+George went to his first wedding (and the bride fell in love with him!)

+and he wore a suit!
+Visited lots and lots of friends in just 3 days
+Enjoyed the roadtrip~

Summer travels aren't over yet-- next stop= Athens. George's first international flight (any advice for how to spend 10 hours on an airplane with an 8 month old?), more family, more food, more fun. I have no idea what the status of the internet connection is at the house in Greece, will post if I can. I pieced a lot of stars in Chicago and more while Costas drove to and from Boston, I'm sure I'll keep at it through the rest of the travels, let's see how big it gets by september..

constantina!

2009-06-17T21:44:00.001-04:00

yes, we are coming to greece! send me an email and I'll write you with the details, ok?
jessicaintheforest (at) yahoo (dot) com

more stars

2009-05-26T17:56:00.006-04:00

Constantina asked if I've found time for quilting..

and I have, here and there. Naps are good-- he sleeps, I stitch. especially when we're not at home (and I don't have housework calling).

This week I've been sewing a lot of stars for Travel Quilt #2, and I also found time to put together the beginings of a wall hanging to match my Anti-depression quilt.

I also rearranged furniture in the sewing room, clearing one corner for some repair work on the wall (removing the airconditioner, filling in the hole), and I like it.

Tomorrow George and I are off to Chicago to spend 2 weeks with my family. The packing list is similar to the one I posted 2 weeks ago-- minus the bath towels and the lamp, and now includes swim diapers & swim trunks. Ahh, summer traveling.. we've got at least 2 more trips planned after this one (all including Costas, thank goodness). George will be a seasoned traveler once September rolls around. (and my Travel Quilt is becoming a travel quilt once again :) ).

Smith Reunion 2009

2009-05-21T19:06:00.009-04:00

It was well worth the drive...

It was great to stay on campus again (In case you're wondering, we were in Chapin). I loved being able to see Amanda walk through campus as though it were her home, because it is, and it was my home for 3 years too. I love that she and I will always share this familiarity and common experience...

Amanda's parents and brother came for the weekend too and it was great to hang out with them. Uncle Tony is my mom's oldest brother.

Everybody was more than willing to hold George for a while and he loved the attention, especially from Alex, who would lift him up high in the air over and over.

The best part of the weekend was Ivy Day, which I think is my favorite holiday, btw. The alumnae parade through campus, past rows of seniors dressed in white. George and I marched in the parade too. He got to see his first marching band...

and a lot (a lot) of white skirts and pants..
The Junior ushers carry long ropes of "ivy" (I think it's laurel) and join the procession after the alumnae. When they are in place, the seniors walk through the "ivy" for the photo-taking-glory of all the parents waiting in the quad..

There were lots of receptions and activities going on all weekend, so we always had something to do. At this reception I let George try grapes for the first time (i bit it in half, held on and let him suck on it for a while). He wanted my brownie, but he's a bit young for that still..

Aunt Molly and George with Paradise pond in the background. Smith does have a truly gorgeous campus.
(George did a photo-shoot especially for Grama..)

In downtown Northampton there is a mural painted on a building next to a parking lot.. It shows the history of women in the town. I only captured one corner, the most important, imo.

The List

2009-05-13T12:25:00.009-04:00

Because Amy asked, here's what I'm packing for our 4 day, 3 night road trip to MA.

for George:
car seat, stroller
front-pack carrier
high chair (small seat that straps to normal chairs)
2 bowls, 2 spoons
4 tubs of baby puree
1 box baby oatmeal (haven't decided if I'll put some in another container or just take the whole box...)
sippy cup
6 bibs
dish soap & sponge
5 ziplock baggies
5+ plastic shopping bags (I'm sure I'll find more along the way)
50+ diapers
wipes
changing pad, disposable changing pads
Vaseline
baby nail clipper
blue nasal aspirator (i call it the nose plunger)
4 washcloths, 3 burp cloths
sunscreen, hat, sunglasses
2 bath towels
3 teethers, 4 small toys
clothes
diaper bag
3 blankets

for Jessica:
extra pair of glasses (in case he tosses mine into the pond)
sunscreen/moisturiser
shower shoes
towel, washcloth
hair dryer
3 hand towels
travel mug, water bottle, travel chopsticks, travel paring knife in plastic case
clothes, shoes
camera, charger
cell phone, charger
travel quilt #2
blue desk lamp
datebook

Well, we're leaving in about 15 hours and that's all that I can think of. Last minute items may get tossed in "just in case." We are going by car, of course, but maybe i should post my packing list for our upcoming Chicago trip just to compare. When traveling by plane I just buy diapers/food when I get there.

Oh oh, and here's my Hootie Hider. (Nevermind the messy hair, it was windy)

Travel Quilt #2 has 173 stars

2009-05-12T21:37:00.004-04:00

and we're getting ready to travel again..

Thursday George and I will leave on a short road trip-- up to Northampton, MA for my cousin Amanda's graduation. YAY! I'm excited to go there, but a bit worried about getting around-- it will be crowded and if I find a parking spot, I probably won't want to give it up. Plus there are hills.. and hills with a stroller can be.. well, a work out. I just pray to god it doesn't rain, that would suck.
We're going to be staying on campus (I registered for reunion, even though it's not my reunion year-- it was cheaper and easier than trying to find a hotel) which should be really convenient and special. The accomodations will be bare bones (bring your own towel & lamp), but I'm eager to stay in a Smith house again. Still not too sure how things will go with George, but we'll play it by ear and try to stay flexible. My list of what to pack is getting really really long. There are the essentials like baby nail clippers, wipes, 50 diapers, and sunscreen, but I'll also need to bring the blowdryer, his highchair, extra blankets, bowls, spoons, a waterbottle & travel mug for me, and probably a few things I'm forgetting. I'll start packing tomorrow, wish me luck.

Turtle Resort

2009-05-11T20:43:00.005-04:00

A lot of you will remember that I had a turtle.. a turtle that I brought home with me when I moved back from Japan in 2002. Makoto and I were pretty close.. she kept me company when I lived alone in Hokkaido and came with us on every move we've made in the States since then, as well as on several road trips. Since George was born though, we realized she wasn't getting the type of attention she deserved and we decided to find a better home for her.

I got a phone call last week after putting a post on Craigslist, and wow, I couldn't have dreamed of a better option for her.

Just a short drive from our house is a turtle resort-- a retired couple has turned their yard into an amazing pond/garden and they do turtle rescue as well as collect turtles as a hobby. My only regret in giving up Makoto is not bringing her to this heaven sooner.

We put her in the yard and she explored for a while, eventually finding her way to the pond.

Joan and Mike have about 15 or 20 turtles living outside in two ponds, so Makoto will finally have some company.

She wasn't in very long when this guy came over to check her out. It seemed cute at first, then I realized he's a male, coming to see the new girl in the pond, and I got a little worried for her. I hope he's nice...

She seemed happy and a bit hesitant to be there-- after she dove in, she peeked back at me from behind a rock, like she was checking to see my reaction, if I'd come in and get her. I think it will take a while to get used to her new "freedom" but Mike said most of the former pets adjust to the pond quickly. He also said we can come visit if we like, so maybe we'll go back when George is older. I was sad as we drove over there, but on the way home I felt better. This is definitely better than sitting in a tank in our living room...

Quick Crafts for Sanity

2009-05-10T22:13:00.005-04:00

There's a flickr group called "quick crafts for sanity" and these two definitely need to be included..

first I made a spring/summer "Hootie Hider" which I use every day. I took my store-bought one and just copied it to the best of my ability, using a strip of template plastic along the center of the top so it would stand out and George and I can make eye-contact. I completely forgot I had the fabric and now I'm really glad I used it on something useful.

(*edit* I had full intention of sharing a pic of this wonderfully useful item, but when I went about my day, it occured to me that taking a picture of myself using it would be nearly impossible.. it's not that I'm against showing breast-feeding photos online, just that I'm always the one taking the pictures.. so if I'm nursing, I can't also be across the room taking a picture of myself. Sure, I could set up the camera's timer, but with a hungry 17 lb baby in one hand and the hootie hider in the other, the logistics of getting the camera set up at the right angle and pressing the right button are just... well, if I ever get it to work, I'll post then, ok?)

The next project is a terrycloth bib-- I got one as a present and didn't use it for the first 6 months because it was big-- a bit too long for just a dribble bib, but now that we're eating solids (and making messes) a longer one comes in handy. I got tired of washing the one bib every night and between meals, so I went through the linen closet for an old-but-still-in-good-shape towel, traced the store-bought bib, added bias tape from my scrap bucket and Voila! Cute, practical, and very home made.

So I'm preserving sanity and using what I have all at the same time. And this weekend we get to go to Smith and show them off, yay!

Sunday Stash #4

2009-05-03T09:46:00.002-04:00

This week I found a sweet bee and clover print to share. I was on a mission for a while to find bilaterally symmetric fabrics to make the Gamelan block in Ringle & Kerr's Modern Quilt Workshop. I finally found the fabric but by then the momentum to make the quilt was gone...
So I have 2 yards of this and I know it would look awesome all kaleidoscoped out, but...now it's just part of my stash, waiting for its time to come.

new

2009-05-02T21:22:00.002-04:00

Yay!

Sunday Stash #3

2009-04-26T07:46:00.003-04:00

This navy & cream print has been in my stash atleast since 2002 when I can remember first using it in a pouch I made for Yiota. I think it must have come from Joanns or Hancock Fabrics in Chicago. Again I only bought a yard... too bad though, because now I realize it would make a really nice thick border on something.

knit

2009-04-25T11:31:00.005-04:00

I am very lucky to have some amazing crafty friends, and the more I look around, the more I feel that George and I have been blessed with some fantastic handmade gifts which deserve parading on the blog..
Last week a package arrived from Joanna in Boston. Look at the fabulous blankie she knit! The color is perfect (the photos don't do it justice) and I'm totally impressed at her border knitting.

George likes it too. The bunny with his scarf is very sweet, but as soon as George saw him an ear went in his mouth, so I'm going to put him on the shelf until the drooling/chewing can be supervised. He has enough other store-bought toys to chomp on, I want this bunny to last a little longer.

Sunday Stash #2

2009-04-19T13:48:00.003-04:00

From my trip to Hokkaido in April 2007. I only got one yard, haven't done anything with it yet.

Sunday Stash #1

2009-04-05T15:16:00.004-04:00

"What's in my stash?" I asked... This morning I pulled out these two:

The first is a sweet plum blossom floral from Moda. When I took the photo, I realised it would make really nice curtains in the sewing room, but sadly I have only 2 yards. I bought it at Fabric Place in Randolph, sometime in 2007?

The second is an Alexander Henry print (?) with small asian houses. I only had a yard and used most of it in my t-shirt quilt. I wish I would have found it earlier to throw some into the front of the anti-depression quilt, I guess I'll just stick some on the back. I have no idea when I got this fabric or where I bought it. It was already established stash by the time I pulled it out for the t-shirt quilt in '07.

So what's in your stash? Head on over to Tamara's and play along.

current trends

2009-04-04T21:52:00.005-04:00

does every modern quilter in blogland have the same fabric? Am I the only quilter under 35 that does not own ANY Fleamarket Fancy or Katie Jump Rope?

I LOVe the quilts that modern quilt-bloggers are making these days, but it strikes me a little that they ALL have the same fabric in them. Hmm. Didn't anyone have a stash before they had a blog? or is it just that everyone has more disposable income than I do? (probably true)

Shannon had asked a question about trends in our LQS, but I guess this is a trend out in blogland (because these amazing quilt-bloggers definitely aren't hanging out at my LQS, unfortunately). It just feels like I'm the odd man out, fabric wise. I love my stash, but it seems to be lacking in what's "new" and "trendy". This isn't the first time I've felt this way-- back in Atlanta in 2003 I wasn't buying the trendy fabric either, but still, my stash grew somehow. So what's in my stash? Maybe I should join StashSunday and post some treasure from my stash once a week. (sorry, i can't remember whose blog does that.. ~~comment if you know, ok?~~ **edit** it's 1/4 of an inch) Oh but wait, that means I'd have to go back to planning blog posts and arranging photo shoots to take advantage of good lighting, to uploading and editing photos, linking to flickr and back again. Ahh.. the good old days when I had time to do all that. Now I'm happy if I can sew for 10 minutes, take a shower, and have meals at a decent hour all in the same day.
Anyway.. i should get off the computer and go sew something while he's asleep..

George's first quilt shop

2009-04-03T21:35:00.003-04:00

yesterday the weather was nice so we took a walk down to the local quilt shop.
The walk wasn't bad-- it took less than half an hour, but the sidewalks in this neighborhood seriously need to be re-done. At one point there was a 4" drop.
George was good at the shop, flirting with the ladies and being cute on demand. He was patient while I browsed the scrap bin but after 10 minutes or so I knew I'd be pressing my luck to dig further. I paid for my scraps and we headed home again. It was so nice to be with quilters again. I'm hoping for more nice days so we can add this to our weekly routine.

April 1

2009-04-01T21:00:00.006-04:00

I didn't finish anything (wisps or otherwise) in March, but I did start not one, but TWO new projects. I'd like to call them quilts, but with my uncertain sewing schedule I don't know how far I'll get with them. The coin quilt progressed rather quickly.. here are the strips laid out on the bed in the guest room (hey, no one's living upstairs, why not take over the entire second floor with quilting?). I've got 2 more coin strips to piece-- both are already stuck up on the design wall, just waiting for a chance to be sewn together. I could go up and work on that now actually, seeing as George went to bed early tonight, but I want to post a full update first.

As I was going through fabrics for the coin quilt I kept coming across these great dark blue batiks that I had cut up for another project long forgotten (a block swap from 2003). I have an odd number of 6.5" and 3.5" blocks already cut, and about 1/4 yard left of 4 fabrics. I decided to bite the bullet and try to make geese, finally, from this tutorial that Jan mentioned here (yeah, some 16 months ago.. did I really wait that long?).

They came out pretty good, but I realized that my machine's foot is wobbly and that's part of the reason I can't get a consistent 1/4" seam. Anyway, I think I'll use up the rest of my batik squares and pull together a lounging throw (EQ snapshot forthcoming), if time (and motivation) allows.

happy mess

2009-03-23T22:29:00.000-04:00

Real sewing has been going on in my sewing room.

I can cut on my cutting table, and I even put up a make-shift design wall.

Although it's not as well organized as some other sewing rooms out there, it's working for me so far. And hey, I'm quilting again.

And the discussion continues..

2009-03-23T21:54:00.003-04:00

I guess I took too long to post my next discussion question, because Shannon posted one of her own:

what is trendy in your LQS (local quilt shop) or guild and do you like the trend?

Hmm... I do have a local quilt shop, less than a mile away, which is the closest I've ever lived to a quilt shop, but I haven't been there since before George came along so I don't really consider it my quilt shop yet. And since I've been in NY I haven't joined a guild yet either, so no wonder I was so happy to get to the quilt show this weekend, I guess I'm really out of the loop..

At the LQS they seem to be really big on kits. If this is a trend, I can say I'm not a big fan. I love using my own stash and coming up with my own quilt ideas though I may be heavily influenced by quilts I've seen online or in person. the idea of putting together a quilt that someone else has designed and chosen the fabrics for (and often, the patches are already cut out) while easy, it seems like half of the fun has been sucked out of it. I don't know, that's just how I feel now.

If you want to answer the question, just let Shannon know, k?

Empire Quilters Show

2009-03-22T22:05:00.005-04:00

Yay! I got to go to a real quilt show! There was so much to see and George was cooperative and charming as usual. I took a few pictures but most were blurry because George was bouncing and kicking in the baby carrier.. I'll upload them tomorrow and see if any are salvageable. The Empire Quilt Guild says that they're going to post photos on their website shortly, so maybe I can just link you over there...

(p.s. Thanks Becky for the pic!)

An extra step in the quilt making process= Play

2009-03-19T18:59:00.006-04:00

How do you keep a 5 month old happy while you iron freshly washed fabric?

First you drape the fabric over your head and around his, making a tunnel.

And when that gets old (you can play for a while if you've got a large variety of colors..), drape a big piece over the baby swing. He was happy under there for at least 10 minutes.

So the fabric is washed and ironed, and sitting on my cutting table just waiting for the next free minute or two..