Happy Halloween

What did I do all afternoon? Oh, yeah, that's right, I carved turnips. Because Martha told me to. Which, really, makes me kind of sad. Hopefully some action shots later. Have fun, kiddies, and always point your melon baller away from yourselves!

Boys Becoming Men, Men Becoming Wolves.

Ok, so the subject line? No relation to anything I'm going to talk about, but if you don't watch 30Rock, you're missing out, and you might want to check out this. And that's all I have to say about that. In more, ehm, relevant craft-bloggy news, I finished the "Post-It" quilt. Next time, I think I will cut the squares a bit larger, 4" instead of 3.5". Oh well, you live and learn. I am fairly pleased with the texture of the quilting though, this photo of the quilt before the binding was sewn on shows how bunchy and imperfect the whole thing is. I am totally in love with the fabric I used for the backing, which is part of the new Urban Chicks for Moda "Blossom" line. The print comes in 4 colorways, but I'm a huge fan of this very Martha green. And when I went to the quilt shop to pick it up, I found this fabulous stuff, part of Moda's "Allspice Taperstry" line, which I really wouldn't have taken a second glance at, but this pattern is just soooo good. I already made a new covered bulletin boards out of it, that I will photograph just as soon as I paint the frame.

Uhm, Yes.

Everyone who might be reading this knows that when I say "tomorrow" or "I promise", I am kidding, right? Because I am, obviously, kidding, as I have no sense of time and I use the word promise FAIRLY loosely. Anyway, so, the first question I have (because apparently, I have questions, I hadn't known before I started typing,) is, Who Else wants the Fruit of My Creative Loins? Not literally, of course, I'm not sure where the "sewing loins" are, but what I'm saying is, here is my math: Kristi and Heather are both on for the loin train (man, I have to drop the loin references, they're grossing me out now), and Spring Basil WOULD be, but I haven't been able to figure out a way to work this with someone who doesn't have a Blog to Pay-It-Forward on. (I guess you could start one, SB, and if you do, I will send to you and do four! Mull that over, eh?) So, back to math, I still need one person to give something free to! Step up! Don't be frightened! Most things I make are NOT poisonous!
OK, so with that rant out of the way, here's what I've been working on. Picked up a bunch of solid cottons for a new Bento box, and while I was cutting, also made these squares for another baby quilt. In my head, I'm calling it Post-It Note, because, well, yeah. The production on this is going fairly quickly because A) it is uber-simple, and B)After reading the entire archive of Lady Havartine yesterday in one sitting, I realized that I am not living up to my quilt-making potential. Or, rather, I'm not living up to hers, and I'm totally jealous of that.
So. For now. CONCLUDE.

Cross Process.

Tomorrow I will post with real words, I promise, and email everyone who responded to my PIF post, but today all I have are some photos of the bag I made this weekend and the retreat I went on with a friend a month or two ago. No digital enhancement outside the norm, this is scanned cross-processed (E-6 developed as C-41) film. Enjoy.

Something for Nothing!

All right, I'm jumping on the blog Pay-It-Forward bandwagon, which I hope is in no way affiliated with that horrid movie. And, I'm sorry if you liked that movie. Haley Joel tends to make me puke in my mouth a little, as does the song "Calling All Angels". Anyway, what I was trying to say, is that yesterday I signed up to be a recipient of the whole Pay-It-Forward-Thing on Angie's blog, and so today I offer my services up to you, blog-reader people. If you're there, that is. So the first three people who comment and want to join in and get some handmade something from me in a somewhat-but-not-very timely manner, will get something. How many times can I use something in a sentence? And then they, in turn, will be expected to PIF as well. SO. Far more text than I am used to dealing with, right off the bat, but there it is!
In other "news", take a look at the fabulous print I just bought for a baby gift, from the fine folks at Hammerpress, our local letterpress geniuses. Cute, eh? I thought so. In fact, once it's framed ad everything I might have a hard time giving it away. Oh well.
Conclude!

Oh, my.

I'm a little overwhelmed really. For a few reasons, but mainly because of the response I have gotten from the Bento Box quilt. Lately it has been referenced on the Sew Mama Sew blog, Malka's amazing A Stitch in Dye and (sharp intake of breath), Shim+Sons . All of this is crazy, because these people are pretty much some of my big crafting heroes, and they linked to little old me. I hyperventilated a little, and the husband told me to calm down, and reminded me that because he helped pick the quilt colors, (a 45-minute Hancock's fiasco), he is largely responsible for the success of the quilt. Anyway, thank you to everyone who has taken a look or commented, it means a lot to me, and I appreciate your interest!
This weekend was pretty much consumed with running around for various reasons, but Sunday afternoon I had some time to spare, so I worked on these, my latest WIP. They will be patchwork scarves, hopefully sometime soon. These little boogers are time consuming, though, mostly because I decided I needed patchwork on BOTH sides, silly, silly, idea.I also had a chance to go pick up some pumpkins at my favorite price chopper. I bought the Martha Stewart Holiday Halloween issue last week, so I have been thinking a lot about decorations, even though Halloween isn't really a big-deal holiday for me. I'm dying to make the turnip-lantern-light things, just as soon as I can find turnips big enough. I also picked up a few ingredients and made these really simple pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese icing. Pretty good, and pretty hard to mess up.
One thing I have learned from blogging is that I am awful at writing conclusions. And so I think I will stop trying, and simply end by dramatically saying:
"Conclude!"
(And a picture of my cat. Because, you know, I really like the cat, and assume everyone else must, too. See? Bad at concluding.)
Conclude!

Blogging for the Sake of Blogging.

Really, I should have titled it this post "I have nothing to say, but insist on saying something anyway". It is one of the most common scenarios I see played out in the classroom. Most times, it's as though the child had no idea their hand was raised until we call on them. Then, a puzzled look, a moment of stammering, and a totally random bit of information. So, here, I offer up the blog-post equivalent."This is the inside of my shower! See? I take showers in here. I like the curtain. Ok?""This is my sewing chair with a vintage tablecloth I am going to cut up on it. I put it there, to take a picture. I don't keep tablecloths as cushions. Did you see that show last night?""I washed the quilt, and it got all puckery. I like it better, it has dimples and texture and feels very REAL.""I made a muslin of a shirt that fit so poorly this is the only part I like, and therefor the only part I will show. Pintucks, much more fun than I would have thought.""Uhmmm.... Uhm. I forgot."

Less Interesting.

Thanks for the quilt love, everybody. I did not design it, it was actually the first quilt I have ever done from a pattern, and I really enjoyed it. I forget who wrote it, but I'm sure it can be googled. I think I will make a few more of these, as it was fast (relatively, of course) and I know lots of people who are having babies in the near future. Also, I forgot to mention that all those photographs were pre-washing, so I will probably post photos again of the quilt in its more bunchy-quilty permanent state.
In other news, I got new shoes.Ok, so maybe "news" is too strong a word to use for the acquisition of shoes. But seriously, plaid Pumas. So good.And, a bunch of WONDERFUL linen from Namolio on etsy. If you haven't checked her shop out, you really should, she's an amazing seller and I LOOOVE everything she sent me, which was more than I bargained for.Really, these photos don't do this stuff justice at all. It's great. And as soon as I have gotten over my quilt-hangover I'll start using it, I promise.

Bento Box.

Here it is kids, my weekend, in fabric form. Sorry I've been so stingy with the words lately, I blame it on 1) my laziness and 2) listening to This American Life whilst doing all photo editing/blog type activities. During the piecing process. This part went surprisingly fast, I think all in all it took about 5 hours to do all cutting, sewing, etc. involved in piecing.What REALLY took all the time was the quilting. Why on earth did I decide to do it like this? Sheer stupidity, I think, is the only answer. Never have I changed so many bobbins in one project. Blech.I sewed the binding on in a few sittings. I really enjoy doing the binding more than anything else really. It pulls everything together so nicely, and makes the whole thing seem real, which is nice, after you've seen it looking like a stringy mess for so long.How many pictures are necessary? Not this many.