Cutting and Stitching.

Just a few pictures to show what's been going on around here lately- lots of starting, not a lot of finishing quite yet. Why are new projects so much more appealing when you are on a deadline with previous projects? Ahdunno. The KCMQG is taking part in the Robert Kaufman "No Prints Allowed" solids challenge- RK provided Kona charm packs for our entire guild, and we can use as much additional fabric as we want, as long as it is a solid. I am... not done. A lot not done. We are supposed to bring our quilts to the March meeting, but I'm afraid mine might not make it until April. As far as I know, there will be no beatings administered on the basis of quilt tardiness, but I have been wrong about these sorts of things before.

I'm In the Papes!

So, somehow or other I ended up in the newspaper. I've known about it for a while, but I wanted to keep mum just in case I looked like a turtle in the picture, or said something totally ridiculous, which I am known to do. (And quite possibly did- I have NO memory for anything I say.) The fabulous Jacquie, (who was also featured, and whose fabulous quilts are pictured throughout the article) and I had a few nervous conversations about the shape our little article would end up taking. But fortunately, the picture ended up with a minimum amount of turtleishness, and I don't think anything that was quoted ended up being offensive, insane, or totally incorrect. Can we all sigh with relief? Thanks.Really, I'm very honored to be a part of this article about our awesome guild and the movement behind it, and I truly hope that it encourages some people to come see what we're all about. I don't see myself as even CLOSE to a person most deserving to be included in the article, I can think of so many other guild members who have done so much more than I have., but the starts aligned themselves in my favor, I guess. Susan, who wrote the article, contacted Harper's (the quilt shop where I work) to get some info, and when she came to interview Elaine the owner, I was there as well. Talking. I talk a lot when it comes to quilting, and the Modern Quilt Guild, and apparently if you throw enough words at someone, they end up sticking like so much wet spaghetti. You'll know this if you've met me, I am a perpetual flinger of word-sghetti.Eventually this led to a photographer coming over to take a photo of me sewing, which was definitely the most nerve-wracking part of the whole business. Because, seriously, this means everything must be mildly presentable, including my face, and I have to make sure I am not hunching old-lady-style while I pretend to sew naturally. La-di-da, no one is pointing a big camera lens at me! La-di-da, of course my sewing room is always arranged in little vignettes to display pretty fabric! La-di-da, oh, I have perfect posture? Why, thank you so much for noticing! ...It ended up not being as bad as I thought, despite the fact that the light was really bad because of an impending snowstorm. And the bonus of it is, I actually have a semi-presentable sewing room right now. I took advantage of it and shot some photos of the room in its pristine state, marvel at it while it lasts. Because trust me, it won't.(Also, does anyone else love Newsies as much as I do? Trick question: It is not possible to love Newsies as much as I do. Snap.)

Olympic Dreams (Vote for Me?)

When I was in elementary school, I became mildly obsessed with figure skating. Katarina Vitt skated a Robin Hood-themed program that burned itself into my 11-year old brain, and led to months of my friend Melissa and I wearing pantyhose over our sneakers during indoor recess and "skating" on the basketball court. But then, I went to a friends birthday party at the ice skating rink, and the dream died a cold, cruel death. I have weak ankles and devastatingly poor gross motor skills, and spent most of the party pulling myself along the wall. Another girl, who was tall and blonde and already a basketball star, was declared "a natural" and by the end of the day was skating backwards effortlessly. I decided to stick to violin and drawing.

That said, I never dreamed of being an Olympian. It was clear that athletic greatness was never in the cards, but it was a DELIGHTFUL surprise to be informed yesterday that the Overdue Book Calendar has been shortlisted in RikRak Studio's 2011 Handmade Olympics. It is in the "handmade goodie with an innovative design" category, and was put on the shortlist by Jaime Derringer, founder & editor of design milk, which just gives me warm fuzzies. Anyway, The Handmade Olympics is a pretty cool contest, so check it out, and if you wouldn't mind, maybe give me a vote? The prizes are really pretty sweet!
In other "making" news, I have listed a bunch more Vintage Sheet Shoppers in ye olde etsy- I love making these because they combine my love of vintage fabrics with the added bonus of recycling and avoiding using more plastic or paper bags, plus they are SUPER SOFT and fun to sew. Please note my ridiculous bag-holding-self-portraits, in which I look seriously into the distance while doing various silly things with my grandma-hands. While taking these yesterday, I couldn't resist incorporating one other prop that is frequently found in the craft room, so please enjoy these Baxter Spencer Hunt product photos as well. And, PSA of the day, from my accountant to me to you- get one of those little mileage tracking books and be DILIGENT about tracking your business mileage, it can TOTALLY make a difference when doing your taxes. Now, if you could only deduct the time spent in line at the post office...

Something FREE! For you!

Remember how I was all, "I don't remember holidays, scroogity scrooge scrooge" that one time? Well, it is probably still true for the most part, but I have cooked up a sweet little V-Day nugget for you, my bloggity BFFs. You may remember that I drew up these little Lovebirdies last year, so today I decided to pull them out and smacked together some delightfully FREE printable Valentine's cards! Just for you, because you're cute, and because I don't want you to have to go to WalMart for Hannah Montana cards. Or whatever the kids are into these days? Anyway, I LOVE them, but I am biased towards all my little creatures, though I hope you will enjoy them too. Tell your friends, y'all.
You can download the PDF here:
https://dropulous.com/3626320347 Make sure when you print it out, you set it to "No Scaling" (or remind your friendly copy-guy to), because the margins are already included, and there are cut-lines to guide you when cutting them apart. And if you don't already have Adobe Reader, you can download it here for free: http://get.adobe.com/reader/
Happy Valentimes! (No, not a typo. If you get it, we are already best friends.)

Your Daily Lesson.

Public Service Announcement of the day, folks: never chop onions before you've put in your contacts. You will forget, and put in your contacts with your twice-washed-but-still-stingy-as-HALE fingers, and you will be very sad. In fact, you will cry for like, ten minutes. Lesson learned the hard way.Oh, Rachel (British Rachel, not Canadian Raych), Baxter is still alive and kicking. If you need proof, look no further than this photo to see that not only is he fine, he is planning universal domination. And no, I didn't make him sit on that book, he did it on his own. Clever cat.For the past few days we have been blizzarded in, but today it is SUNNY, and so I am walking around the house in slippers taking photos of random stuff. And by house I mean, like, two rooms. Behold, the bed is "made"! The quotation marks are necessary because the bedmaking is nontraditional, in that it is two twin-sized quilts on a queen sized bed, going the wrong way. The husband and I are not blanket-compatible, you see: I MUST be cocooned in such a way that I can feel blanket under me on every side of my body, and he is a sleep-quilt-kicker-offer. So we have our own. Surely we can't be the only ones?Check it, the blizzard was so bad that the world turned black and white again. Crazy, huh.