Back In Business

Seems like the holidays tend to put a halt to routine, but I seem to be back to my normal quilty business around here :)

I went and got a dowel to hang the hub's Christmas quilt. Picture it: Me in a hardware store. Funny, yes?

I keep seeing things I wish I could change on the quilt so it's going to drive me crazy for a while... but the hubs is so happy with it that I really should just get over it.

My tiny collection of hexagons. Still no idea what to do with them...

I've finally gotten round to quilting my Quilt-Along quilt now that all the presents are made and orders filled. I had no plan going into it so I just kind of winged it.

The quilting's all done and binding is going on now :)

Technically Speaking...

Last night while getting ready for bed, I spied my husband squirming around under the sheets trying to get comfortable...

Hubs: "What?! Why are you looking at me like that, you homunculus!?"

Me: *Gasping* OMG how dare you! I am NOT a homunculus! I am Asian!"

Heehee!

Let The Addiction Begin!

I resisted hexagons because I knew I'd become addicted... And as it happens, I know myself pretty well.

This was my very first hexagon flower thingie. I don't know what it's called. I just know I like making them.

I'm currently piecing together a bunch of hexagons with 30s fabric. Couch-sewing really suits me...

Not sure what they'll become but I know I'm having fun making them heehee!!

Snow Day

The hubs is home from work today because his work declared a snow day. He's all excited like he's in grade school again hehe We've planted ourselves in front of the telly for a Grey's Anatomy marathon. (We were late to the GA party and we're catching up with re-runs!)

Merry Happy!!

I hope everyone had a lovely time with loved ones over Christmas. And didn't eat their weight in cake. Because I think I did. I'm still drunk on red velvet cake so who knows...

The hubs woke me up to open our pressies like an excited child hehe He'd taken all our pressies and piled them on my cutting table, then placed our very tiny Christmas tree atop the little pile. He's quite adorable.

See, told you it was tiny :)

We spent the rest of the day at his parents' house where we ate too much, laughed a lot and argued over what to watch on the telly. I won and we watched Friday. I just figured it was the most festive movie ever made... no? We lost power for the better part of an hour and were forced to speak to one another instead of staring at the telly. Imagine that! When the lights came back on, I got some hand sewing done, so that was nice.

By the way, that snuggie thing was a gag gift Steve was presented with, and now he doesn't know what to do with it lol

My MIL looooooves snowmen. The house is filled with them and yet we both find more snowmen every year. The little fellow on the left was my contribution this Christmas. I love that his little bell buttons jingle.

This is Daisy. She's a sweet girl and sits still when I want to take her picture. Her sister Zoe, on the other hand, either runs around or tries to lick my camera lens.

Anyhow, I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday, and to all from my corner of the world, Happy Boxing Day!!

O Christmas Eve, O Christmas Eve...

We got a little sprinkling of snow, so it'll be a slightly white Christmas this year :) I had to go stand in the snow for a little bit since I had my stompy boots on.

And I'm happy to announce that we're pretty much done with pressies. I do still need to wrap a more few things, but NO MORE SHOPPING! We got last minute things today and decided we're so very, very done. I just have to bake a red velvet cake for tomorrow's festivities and then I can kick back and relax.

Hope everyone's Christmas preparations are going well... stay safe on the roads... and a very happy Christmas to one and all :)

Good Ideas Are Awesome

Late last night, the hubs and I were on the couch and he looks over and announces that he had a hankering for chocolate pudding. I'd never made it before, be it box or scratch, but I looked up a recipe and went ahead and made it since I had all the ingredients.

I have to say it's pretty damn good. It was a very painless process so there'll probably be more chocolate puddings in our future. I used fat free milk so perhaps it turned out a little thinner than it was supposed to, but it was still yummy.

The only thing I'd do over would've been to take a picture of the hubs licking the saucepan and spatula clean lol

Love Is 696 Squares

I'm currently quilting the hub's Christmas pressie. It's a patchwork picture of Brian Eno's Another Green World, one of the hub's favourite albums ever.

I can show it to you because it's no longer a surprise. Why? Because 1. My sewing room is wiiide open and 2. The man hovers. Oh my god does he hover.

These are 1.5" squares. 696 of them in total. Most of which are half square triangles.

I think I may have cried a little... pretty sure I did. But the glee on the hub's face more than made up for the tediousness. Plus it was necessary to make the squares smaller to benefit the perspective.

Here's the actual picture. Pretty good likeness, no?

The Raven Quilt

Nothing says Christmas like a bit of Edgar Allan Poe, right? Heehee :)

I finished this custom quilt for the hub's cousin... well his wife is surprising him with it. Their bedroom is all things Poe, in blue, red and black. Hence the colours in the quilt.

I was initially asked to use fabrics in those colours that feature skulls and ravens. Skulls weren't difficult to hunt down (although most of them are very pirate themed!) but no ravens in sight. I figured the best way to remedy that was to applique them on. Two ravens -- one for her, one for him... Mr and Mrs Nevermore, perhaps? Hee! Trust me to make Poe twee.

I like how the quilting turned out. It was a little tedious but the fact that you do it in sections meant there was a lot less hefting the quilt around.

Skullsssssss....

These ones glow in the dark, by the way lol

The back is a black and white damask print.

And I used a solid black for the binding since the rest of it was pretty busy already.

I'll be delivering it next week and I hope they like it! :)

Sew Crafty

Took an accidental break from the blog... whoopsie doodles. I've been up to a few little things, plus attempting to do that pesky Christmas shopping. I'm horrid with gifts so it takes me forever.

I'm currently working on my last custom order for Christmas and it's sort of an Edgar Allan Poe theme (hence those ravens). I wasn't quite sure how to approach the quilting, till I remembered the quilting on the Plain Spoken quilt in Modern Quilt Workshop.

I know it's meant to look like water, but I thought the overall look could also be kind of wispy and sinister.

It's my first go at this quilting pattern so I was a little apprehensive, but I like how it's turning out so far.

I ordered myself a camera bag online, but till it arrives, I thought I'd make myself a little box pouch... And of course, it's quilty :) I used this cute birdie fabric (or mustaches if you ask my husband haha!) and just did straight line quilting.

I hate working with zippers. They're so fiddly and I always end up poking myself with pins. Always.

But it turned out pretty nicely so I can't complain :)

I got myself a new pincushion! It's so frakking cute, I can't stand it.

I'm a little teapot, short and stout... this is my handle, this is my spout.

[Edit: I've been getting an inordinate number of questions about this teapot pincushion for some reason. It was from Jo-Ann Fabrics three years ago, and is no longer available. And no, I don't know where to get one now and I'm not selling this one.]

And I finished my MIL's potholders. I decided to just stitch in the ditch after all (my first time doing that ever!) so that the star would be easily visible. I think I'm going to give them to her as a pre-Christmas gift so she can use it right away. I hope she likes them!

Have a great weekend all!! :)

New Camera And New Work

My camera arrived yesterday! I wasn't expecting it till much later this week, so I'm just thrilled I get to play with it before all the Christmas parties begin :)

Matilda had to come investigate and get her picture taken.

Isobel wonders why Momma is squealing...

Indoor pictures in the daytime are pretty nice. I still have to play around with the camera and actually learn to use it properly but so far, so good.

In low light last night. Coffee cup (you can see the handle on far left), Coke plus can, water... we obviously feel very strongly about hydration.

Night time couch photography. In low light again.

And there've been quilty things happening of course. I still have to take a picture of my husband's pressie. I tried keeping it secret but since my sewing room is an open space, secrecy went out the window almost immediately. Pffft.

Anyway, the above are two cut outs of ravens that I'm going to applique (wish me luck!) on a custom quilt. I couldn't find pictures large enough so I had to draw them. I can't draw. This is evident. I can't tell you how bloody long these two damn ravens took me to scribble out. But hey, as long as others can tell they're ravens, it's worth the while. Sort of.

My MIL asked for potholders for Christmas since hers are close to disintegrating. Her kitchen is blue and she is the high priestess of beige and brown, so I used a colour in between the two. Ecru? I dunno. It was in my stash and I didn't label the colour.

I made two with the blue star points, and two with the ecru star points. Now I have to figure out how to quilt it. I hate working with Insul-Bright, but it's what works best for potholders. The crinkly sound makes me want to barf, and my sewing machine hates it.

Off to do chores and stop playing with my camera :)

Rules For Cats

Last night the hubs and I were sitting around, playing with one of our cats Matilda...

Hubs: "You know, in The Last Unicorn, there's a cat that can speak and says that all cats can speak but they simply choose not to."

Me: *To Matilda* "Please, please, please DON'T EVER SPEAK. I will die of fright."

Am I right??

This Past Sunday

We went to Northampton again on Sunday. It was SO windy and cold, it made us wonder how we ever made it through winters.

On our last visit, the hubs ordered horchata for the first time. Now he won't shut up about it. My sisters and I had tried it, and while we liked it, we weren't in love with it. But because it had cinnamon, I knew my husband would be.

And oh how he loves it. He might petition for it to become the national drink, and he even asked the lady if he could buy a gallon of the stuff. I just pretended not to know him.

Then there was a lot of this afterward.

I made him that hat a couple years ago and it still makes me giggle every time he wears it because of that huge pom pom. By the way, it was him who requested I put the pom pom on the hat lol!

These made me laugh so hard. The OCD one would be perfect for my middle sister but the other one is just... heeheehee!!

Dressing For Winter

Inspiration for winter is always welcome. I love these looks... and I still want a cape!

Pictures courtesy of glamcanyon.