Learning To Quilt

I've been teaching a couple of friends to sew / quilt and that's been loads of fun for all of us. They're so excited to learn how to sew, and I love that moment when the light bulb goes off and they get it. Plus it's kind of self-serving... I'm basically creating more quilting buddies! Heehee!

They picked a braided table runner for their first project, and I've been using Bari J's pattern to teach them. Everything from cutting, to pinning, to actually sewing a 1/4" seam. And on our last lesson, I taught them how to do HSTs the traditional way where you draw the lines etc. I figured they should learn that before I introduce them to Thangles just so they have the basics. I could see their brains getting scrambled, trying to figure out how the hell they were going to make an entire quilt out of HSTs because trimming one was giving them grief already haha! Oh if they only knew...

And then a question popped in my head... how the hell did I teach myself to do all this?! I think most quilters are self-taught but have taken classes here and there. I've never taken a class (well, aside from Denyse's improv patchwork workshop) but I have taught classes. There's something peculiar about that, no? Hehe! I looked back on the list of quilts I've made, and to see the progression is quite satisfying.

I learn from watching and doing. I always have. Maybe I just don't take direction well? Hahaha! (Mum, you can stop nodding!!) I make mistakes and learn from them... I find that the mistakes really stick in my mind because I refuse to make them again. Working at my LQS has also helped sooooo much. Being around all that quilting experience of my bosses and co-workers, plus having to figure things out for customers has been the best thing. I'm most definitely not a prolific quilter, my points don't always meet, and there's plenty I still don't know, but I'm quite proud of how far I've come. It still shocks me sometimes when I look at a quilt and think, "I made that?".

How did you start quilting?


Oh, and the picture above has nothing to do with anything. It's of a pile of 120 HSTs I just finished making for a project I'm working on for a friend. I love those colours so I thought I'd pop a pretty picture on here while I blather on about stuff :)

Hexidaisy

LOOK AT WHAT CAME IN THE POST FOR MEEEEE!!!

My friend Terri made me this gorgeousness in return for me making her a mini quilt, and I'm totally dying. How amazing is it!?! She seriously knows me so well. Rainbow? Check. Hexagons? Check. Striped binding? Check. Text prints? Check. The bonus was that this is called Hexidaisy, and daisies are my favourite flower. I even have one tattooed on me! She didn't know that, I'm sure!

Loooooooook!!!

It's so perfect, I can't stand it. 

Terri, thank you for your wonderful gift, my friend :) You are awesomepants, and I mean it.

I'm Still Here

Oh hey there. Hello. Hi.

The hubs informed me that it's been a fair while since I've blogged. I hate to say it, but he's kind of to blame. Oh who am I kidding, I'm happy to say it... It's completely his fault. He went back to work on Tuesday after lots of time off from work. He'd taken time off and had time off work because of public holidays and the blizzard. Basically, out of 11 days, he was home for nine of them. Not sure if he remembered how to do his job, quite honestly. I love having him home, but it feels like the weekend whenever he's around, so nothing gets done.

But there is sewing again -- I took a look at my Etsy shop and it's embarrassingly empty. So I'm getting some projects in line to keep me busy over the weekend because it looks like we're getting more snow. Not as much as the last time, but I'm just so tired of it already. Although it's kind of fun walking around in my puffy Muji coat... it feels like I'm wearing a sleeping bag. Yeah I'm that girl who wishes she could wear jammies in public. But I won't because NO.

I seem to have to gone off on a tangent...

So while I get my act together, please enjoy this little bit of awesome the hubs sent my way.

Oh, and speaking of food, the hubs didn't prepare any meals over the weekend. I figure he completely forgot. And I, uhh... didn't remind him :)

Randomness

- I couldn't stand it anymore and allowed myself to start making those x and + blocks. Damn peer pressure. Or lack of self-control... whatever. The tutorial there shows a 7.5" finished block but I used Ali's measurements to make a 10" finished. I don't know what size it's going to end up but I'm having loads of fun pulling out bits and pieces (many of the scraps were courtesy of Rita... Thanks again, darl!) to make the blocks. Each new block seems so different from the last, and I think that's what I love about it.  (Sorry about the crap picture... it's from Instagram.)

- The hubs and I found out that Before Midnight is going to be released in May and we're so bloody excited!!! It'll be the third in a series of movies that's special to us... Before Sunrise and Before Sunset were the first two movies we watched together as a couple. Plus they're amazing movies and kind of remind us of ourselves. We're kind of like the two characters... just walking around and talking about everything and nothing constantly. When the hubs found out about it, he was sitting in the car while I was as a fabric shop. He ran in to tell me and we were quietly squealing to ourselves. We had to hold in our excitement till we got to the car and then there was a lot of "OH MY GOD!" and "HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO WAIT TILL MAY?!" happening. We really found each other, no?

- I thought this was really funny.

- And this is just madness. How does one not know they're pregnant?! And the baby was 10 lbs! It's honestly one of my worst nightmares (I have many... I'm damaged). I loathe surprises and like everything planned... this would cause me so much strife. Plus I'd need to at least make a (couple dozen) quilts. A quilter's baby that doesn't have a quilt is just embarrassing.

- I've been looking at property websites and I found a house that had three bedrooms, one full bathroom and FIVE half-bathrooms. They really shouldn't let crackheads design houses. 

- I believe it's going to snow again over the weekend. I officially give up.

- And my list for this week... Things I Do Every Day. I didn't include the normal daily ablutions because the list would just be inane and looooong.

I'm Officially Scared

This morning...

Hubs: "Hey, what are we doing this weekend?"
Me: "Nothing... Northampton on Friday if weather permits, but nothing else. Why?"
Hubs: "I have an idea. You don't need to cook! I'll do the cooking!"
Me: "Wait. What? Explain!" (The man cooks hard boiled eggs and still asks me how...)
Hubs: "Don't worry about it, I have an app!"
Me: "No no, you can't just say you have an app! What is this app? I need more information!"
Hubs: "Don't worry!"
Me: "Uhh, I don't like this..."
Hubs: "You like cauliflower?"
Me: "Yes..."
Hubs: "Okay."
Me: "And??? What are you cooking with the cauliflower!?!"
Hubs: "I don't know yet!"
Me: "It can't just be cauliflower for dinner! There has to be more!"
Hubs: *runs away*
Me: *to self* "Sooooo... I need to cook something to freeze before the weekend..."

This is going to be very, very bad. Very. Bad. Indeed.

Blizzard Of 2013

Yikes. We got quite a bit of snow, you guys. By quite a bit, I mean a maaaaassive buttload. All day Friday, we kept watching the snow fall and fall... by the time we went to bed, we had over a foot and the wind was blowing like mad. And when we woke up... everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, was covered in about 30" of snow. The wind blew a lot of the snow in our front yard sideways so it doesn't look like a lot, but the snow on the back deck came up to the top of the tables. 

We ventured out on Sunday and I have to say the guys on snow plows did a great job clearing the roads so quickly. I wouldn't be able to figure out where to put all this snow! On the highway, we got stuck behind plows putting all that snow on trucks to be taken away because they couldn't very well just tip it over and have it fall onto the highway below. It took forever (I think we were stuck behind them for well over an hour), but I'm glad they could do it. All those guys worked hour after hour, and people who complain about roads not being cleared quickly enough need to just shut it. 

The hubs snow blowing the driveway. I think he had to do it twice because there was just so bloody much of it.

Here the hubs is pulling the snow blower and running because I'm yelling at him to get off the street to avoid getting hit by the approaching snow plow. It's a good thing I'm so good at shouting :)

And the giant snow plow. Doesn't it look back to front? But hey, if it clears the roads, it can go upside down for all I care!

Anyhow, we're all okay and we didn't lose power (thank goodness!!!). The hubs watched hours of DVDs and I sewed. No complaints from either of us :) It rained today, turning the snow to concrete, and it's super foggy out there. I'm ready for winter to be over now... please?

Randomness

- My list for the week: The Best Snacks. The list could have gone on and on forever... I had to stop myself somewhere. One thing is clear... I love my chocolate and my gummies. I actually do love fruit a lot, but a lot of the fruit I love, I can't find here. I did find mangoes the other day and I bought a whole bunch of them :) What are your favourite snacks?

- We're going to see Vampire Weekend in May!!! I signed up for presale tickets and the whole shebang. Dork, party of one. I'm so bloody excited, I can't stand it. Their third album is released a week before the gig so I'm going to listen to that shit on repeat, yo.

- So the other day I'm making a sample table runner for work, and I'm being all smug because it's a small project and I can bang this shit out super quick. Nope, not what happened. I got too cocky and cut the sashing wrongly. I suck.

- I'm teaching a couple of friends to quilt over the weekend (I hope by Sunday the snow won't pose a problem) and I'm really excited about it. I taught myself, so I'm never quite certain if what I'm passing on is correct. They asked if I could teach them the braided runner as their first project and I've chosen the pattern by Bari J because I liked it best. And I applaud them for choosing something a tiny bit challenging for a beginner. It's not difficult at all, but if you know nothing about quilting, all those angles could scare you pretty easily, I think!


- Later today, we're going to get a blizzard of epic proportions. It'll go on for an entire day, I think. Yay. Not. From what I gather, we're to expect between 15" and 24" of snow. That's not cool, Mother Nature. Not cool at all. I have a feeling it's going to look like the winter of 2010/11 when the snow got to be about as high as me. Which is not very high at all, but you know what I mean. Hubs had to dig a path for me lest he lose me in the mahoosive piles of snow.

Everyone who's on the east coast and will be affected by the snow storm, please stay safe. And if you don't hear from me for days, it's probably because we lost power. Holy crap please don't let us lose powerrrrrr *sigh*

Tango Mango Quilt

I made another Tango Mango quilt! I can't stop making them! They're almost like a palette cleanser to me haha! Sometimes in between a project I need something like that to give me time to mull over what I want to do for the next quilt. 

I still love these colours together... But I think for my next one, I'll do something different with them. I don't want to get tired of triangles! God forbid!

This time, instead of Kona Ash, I used Aqua instead. Sort of brightens it up a little, no?

The quilt is currently listed in the shop SOLD.

Oh! And before I forget (again), I've got a little Blogger Bundle inspired by this quilt at Pink Castle Fabrics for you to purchase!

Mini Quilts Are Awesome

I finally finished that mini dresden rainbow quilt for my friend Terri!! I couldn't figure out how to quilt it, then it finally hit me... Lines down the seams! DUH. I used Aurifil so that it was nice and thin... I obviously can't stitch in the ditch properly. Shame.

I tried spiral quilting in the centre of the block... definitely going to have to try this on an entire quilt! It's a bit fiddly at the beginning, but it gets easier as you go on. Creates a really nice texture, even on this small bit. And because Terri's favourite colour is purple, I went with a solid purple for the binding. I'm so clever.

I hope this brightens up her sewing space! :)

And while we're on the subject of minis, I've completely forgotten to share the lovely little mini my lovely friend Christina gave me! It's one of her Ornate Mini Quilts and I love it! Orange? Yes. Grey? Yes. Dots? Yes! Thank you Christina :)

New York, New York: Part 3

I just realised I hadn't posted the rest of the pictures from NYC I wanted to share. I made the hub's head explode by taking him to two places he'd always wanted to go to... Katz's Deli and Russ & Daughters. 

Ahhh Katz's Deli. So charming and so good. A tad pricey, but it is good food. 

The hubs in heaven at Russ & Daughters. He ended up getting a bagel with lox and cream cheese because he just had to.

And I just had to get chocolate babka. I want to marry this chocolate babka. Russ & Daughters is just a little bit down the street from Katz's, so go to both if you have room. Or if you're like me, eat a corner and then shove it in your bag and forget about it until the next day. Then it's like happybirthdaymerrychristmas to you.

The last picture is of Joey Ramone's apartment. Ahhhh the Ramones :)

And that's it for New York. For now. Because you know we'll be back soon enough!

52 Lists: Favourite Smells

There's probably many, many more smells I love... these were what came to mind. What are your favourite smells?