artsy-crafty babe

weekend knitting + an interview

As soon as I hit the publish button Saturday morning, my lazy Saturday took a turn - not exactly for the worse, but not so good.  Ava started running fever.  I'm glad that we planned to stay in because with a sick little one, we couldn't get out.

We immediately brought her in to the Dr. because days before, her playmate was diagnosed with swine flu.  Thankfully, she tested negative.  His diagnosis was upper respiratory infection.  Poor thing ran fever all weekend long and is still feeling poorly.

It's a good thing I was in the mood for some knitting, because that's about all I was able to do this weekend.  Most of my time was spent sitting on the sofa or laying down with Ava with my knitting nearby.  Every so often I actually got to knit :)

I'm still working away on my blue sweater and I cast on another baby sweater.  I love making baby sweaters.  I didn't want to start something new until I finished my WIP's, but I needed something different to break up the monotony of the blue sweater.  I don't know why I didn't think to grab one of my many WIP's to work on!  Oh well, a new sweater is started with another in the home stretch.  I think I'll have a new sweater to wear very soon along with a completed gift!

I'd like to thank Jessica at CraftNouveau for the great feature.  She's got a great site there, definitely worth a look.  Thanks again, Jessica!

lazy saturday

I look forward to days like this.  When I heard the weather forecast, which called for rain all weekend, I was secretly happy.  So what if today is the first home game of the LSU football season?  You know, saying that in these parts is blasphemy - but I must admit, I'm already tired of college football.  Today is a rainy, dreary day, perfect for staying indoors and vegging out.

I was lucky enough to sleep in this morning. I didn't get out of bed until 9 am.  No saturday morning would be complete without losing and having to re-heat my coffee.  I always lose it.  I fix a cup, then get busy doing something, then I can't find my cup.  By then it is usually cold.  Some mornings, I re-heat my cup of coffee 2 or 3 times.

Today is sheet washing day.  The first thing I did when I got up was strip the bed.  There are lots of naked pillows laying around.  I think I naked 3 year old just ran by.  I guess she wanted to be like the pillows.

That little 3 yr old is in love with her dancing clothes (not so much the dancing class).  That was the first outfit she put on this morning.  Yes, the first.  As the day goes on she'll change clothes about 6 times.

Lily is busy making paper fashions.  Early next week this will get a post of its own, but for now, we're playing.  As soon as I get off the computer I'll join her.

The boy, well, he's lost in video game world at the moment.  He just got a nintendo ds.  He earned it by going to bed on time and getting A's in conduct over the past few weeks.  We'll be setting some boundaries on play time, but today, he can knock himself out.

Me, well, I'm pretty sure there will be some knitting today.  After finishing up my quilt, I need a change of pace.  There will also be some (more) browning baking and maybe some movie watching.  This rainy, lazy Saturday is just what I need to recharge my batteries. 

my completed quilt

Boy, this sure feels good -- taking a just finished quilt out of the dryer is one of the best feelings!! 

When I started this quilt over the summer, I thought I'd complete it in a snap, especially considering that the quilt top was just about finished as soon as I started it.  My plan was to use it in my living room on my brown slipcovered chair.  Well, since then, I got sidetracked and have totally redecorated my living room, including recovering that chair.  When I chose to change things up in there, finishing that quilt was no longer a priority.

Now I think I'm going to use this quilt in my bedroom.  It's the perfect size for covering up with when napping (wish I had more time for that!). 

While working on this quilt, I came to the conclusion that I am a sloppy quilter, and this doesn't bother me one bit.  Nothing is completely square, there are puckers on the front and wonky quilting lines.  No worries, I think that makes my quilt even more beautiful.  All those imperfections are proof that this was made by hand.  My hands.  There is beauty in imperfection. 

For me, making a quilt is not just craft, but an artistic expression.  I don't like to use quilt patterns, I find the freedom of random piecing exciting.  I love mixing color and pattern.  Very often, I am surprised at the outcome - I like not knowing what the quilt will look like in the end.  

Right now, making quilts satisfies me.  Everything about the process is interesting - picking out the colors, the fabrics, how they will go together, the backing, and the quilting process itself.  I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot more of these...after I get a few more of my completed quilt tops made into quilts, that is.

**a few details: the back was pieced using the off whites that weren't the correct match to my original sashing.  When I ran out of the off white sashing while piecing the front, I didn't bring a sample with me to match up in the store, so I ended up buying 3 different off whites.  Who knew there were so many off whites??  I quilted the quilt using straight lines all around the perimeter (on the sashing), then I divided the quilt into 4 quadrants and did a big square spiral in each.  I used off white thread for the top with red thread in the bobbin.  My tension was a little off, allowing the red thread to show through on the front, but that didn't bother me.  I washed the quilt with vinegar because I was afraid that the red would bleed on the off white - it seemed to do the trick because there was no bleeding.  Overall, I'm very pleased with my work!!

i labored

 

Monday was a good day for me.  I had the chance to be a total homebody with little interruption.  Two out of three kids were away, which means that there was no fighting and it was a little more quiet than usual.  I took the opportunity to labor away at my sewing machines.

I know, I'm so exciting!  My day started with some piecing on the new scrap quilt, then I finished up the quilting on my red quilt, then I made the binding and machine sewed it onto the red quilt, then I did a little more piecing on the scrap quilt.  At that point I was about to call it quits for the day and work on hand stitching the binding on the red quilt, but I had another project on the brain.

Another bag!  Ever since I made this bag, I've been wanting to tweak it.  I took a chance and made it from good fabrics - Lantern Bloom by Laura Gunn.  I generally don't like to use patterns from all one line on a single bag, but these work together so beautifully, I couldn't help it.

I really thought this was going to be IT, but after putting all my stuff into the bag, I realize that I still need to do some more tweaking.  I think it looks great, but I'm not happy with how the front pocket falls open.  Also, because this is a fairly large bag, I think it need some more reinforcing somewhere.  Maybe I just need to make it a bit smaller.  See??  More tweaking, for sure.  I may be a sloppy quilter, but I'm more of a perfectionist when it comes to bags.

But you know what?  This is all part of the fun.  So, this one wasn't IT, but I get to make another one and try again.  I find that kind pretty darned exciting :)

distracted

An annoying aspect of having a puppy is their short attention span.  This drives me crazy when I'm bringing Ruby out.  She's sniffing, about to do her business, then oh, there's a lovebug!  Oh, there's a toad!  Oh, a rooster cock-a-doodle-doo'ed!  Oh, there's the cat!  And by this time, I've been outside in my front yard in pajamas for 10 minutes and Ruby has yet to pee!  So annoying!!!

Well, I kind of feel like Ruby right now.  I went upstairs Friday night to work on quilting my red quilt, but noticed that my scrap basket was over flowing.  In picking up the overflow, I started looking through the scraps, and before I knew it, I had picked out some scraps for another quilt.  Then, I started sewing it.

Yeah, so much for starting that table top quilt.  Eh, a happy diversion?  Once I get this current scrap quilt completed, I'm going to work on assembling my other quilts - promise!  Well, maybe not. I know myself well enough not to make that promise.  When it comes to sewing projects, I have the attention span of a gnat (or a puppy)!

By the way - charcoal gray, yellow-green, and fuschia-plum, LOVE it.  This color combination makes me very happy.

about that "new" quilt...

One day I was looking through my flickr stream and came across this picture of my dining table with my table quilt from last fall.  I love that look - so clean, bright, and homey.  I miss that look.  Earlier this summer I moved that table from my dining room and into my living room so that we could put our old, bigger dining table in that space.  As a family of 5, we needed the table space. My table quilt doesn't fit the bigger table, so what else am I to do other than make a new table quilt?

I'm pretty much sticking with the same colors as the first table quilt, (which now resides on the platform rocker in the corner), but I'm making a different pattern.  I'm trying my hand at a string quilt.  I think this will be fun.  I don't want it to be too fussy, so I'm going with a big 16" block.  Since I'm not using scraps, I can do this, I think.

It may seem a little crazy using a quilt as a tablecloth, but for my family it was very practical.  Yes, we did actually eat on it.  At first I picked it up at every meal, but then I got tired of doing that.  It did get dirty, but it washed well.  It was great for absorbing spills (we have LOTS of those).  For some reason, I'd rather just throw a spilled on quilt in the wash than have to drag out a mop and use up towels.  With this project waiting in the wings, I guess I had better get busy finishing up that red one - I'm about 1/3 done with the quilting.  Soon, very soon.

do I still love it?

With my living room almost complete, my recent nesting craze has shifted to my bedroom.  My poor, sorry bedroom.  I do believe it is the most neglected room in the house.  Since we moved in over 5 years ago, I never have done a thing with it.  Well, I have started a few times, but never made it very far.  Should I admit that we still have the same bedding (bed skirt & throw pillows) from when we got married?  I made it all and never have gotten tired of it, even though it's been almost 12 years (really?  has it been that long???). 

At one point I had a plan.  I was going to make some new bedding and decorate the room around these Amy Butler prints (I couldn't even decide which one, so I bought enough yardage of them both) along with the stripe.  Gosh, I don't even remember when that was - 4 years ago, maybe?  Well, here I am, and I'm not so sure I'm in love with that fabric any more.  Hmmm.  But if I don't go with that, I'm not sure what I want.  I find it odd that I can so easily make decisions about every other room in the house, but I get totally stuck on my bedroom. 

And this, friends, is how I ended up with the same dust ruffle for 12 years.  I'm very into linen and gray these days.  I definitely want a cool, calming vibe in here.  Any suggestions?  Input?  Links?  Maybe I should just look at what I've already done in my kitchen and living and go from there.  You know what?  I'm NOT going to use that AB fabric.  I guess I had it in my mind that I had to use one of those, so I was putting it off.  Okay, now that I've released myself of that burden, I think this will be fun!