Stuff I've Been Meaning to Show You FOREVER.

About a million years ago...
I got this map from my wonderful husband for President's Day.I made a kindle cover for the kindle he got for Christmas.I designed a logo for the KC Modern Quilt Guild Site.I bought a Liberty pillow! (Ok, so this one is fairly recent.)The animals were adorable. (This one happens every day.)FINALLY Spring has happened in KC, and I am feeling really excited and productive for the first time in months! Thank you all so much for your house hunting tips and reassurances. I am trying to remember every day that if it happens, it happens, and there really is no rush. (Well, other than that $8000 ticking clock...)

Where the Month Has Gone.

I shall now attempt to sum April thus far in a neat list:
-house hunting (exciting!)
-house hunting (not so exciting!)
-HGTV on hulu (awesome!)
-house hunting (mneh.)
-hating house hunting (ugh.)
-being sick (insert phlegmy cough here.)
-freaking out about getting our taxes done (eek.)
-getting our taxes done, and having it be NO BIG DEAL. (hooray!!)
-KC Modern Quilt Guild (awesome awesome AWESOME!!)
The sewing machine has not gone unused during this time, but the camera used to document sewn-items has. The weather here has been a mix of really miserable and stunningly beautiful. Today was the latter, and Brian came home early, so we dog-parked it up, and now I am listening to Jeopardy from the next room. Folks, Jeopardy should be ashamed of itself. A category called "drinking games"? Whatever, but it doesn't even make SENSE, and it's really EASY, and Jeopardy is just not what it used to be. Thats my old lady PSA of the day. Tomorrow, I will do how no one writes letters anymore. (Not really. But they don't!)

I was a giant dork and went to Target on 8 am the day that the Liberty line came out, only to find that the two stores I went to hardly had anything put up yet, but several others in the area had put theirs out on SATURDAY! I had to really hold myself back, but I ended up getting a tray, one of the pillows, a notebook set, and then today I went back for a dress. I wasn't crazy about the women's dresses, but I read online that the girls' clothes were better made and that the XL sizes were decently sized- it's so true! I got a really lovely cotton dress for less than $17! Triumph!

I have always had this really romantic idea of what house hunting would be like, created by HGTV and looking at houses on the internet. Fun! I thought. Exciting! I exclaimed. Guess what? It is soul-killing. And EVERYONE I have talked to says the same! It turns out, everything you love online has a bad roof, or a crumbling foundation, or a wet basement, or windows that need replacing, or a rotted deck, or a neighbor with a crumbling house and a mean dog. Or, you see a really fabulous house, and then, wait a minute.... it is $10,000 more than you wanted to pay. Fab. Great. Delightful. SO, I am BURSTING with ideas about how I am going to decorate our fictional future home, but no idea if we will ever find it. Is there a house fairy? What do I need to put under my pillow? Come on, people, tell me the secrets.

Things Tied Up in Twine!

You know what goes further than anything to restore my faith in humanity? Other than the Winter-Olympics-Visa-Commercials? Getting gifts from people in the mail. I might be kidding about this, but I also might not. I have not decided. A while ago Sarah contacted me because she had made some (awesome) pillow shams for her bed using my quilting method (If it could be called a method, which I am fairly sure it can't,) and offered me some vintage pillowcases from her apparently large collection. I was like, ok, cool, I will send you some scraps-and-stuff, and she is all, don't worry about it, and I am all, well, I forget, but I said something. And so there are a few months where I forget to give her my address and Christmas etc, happens, and then SUDDENLY, last Friday, I have a package on my doorstep. A LARGE package. With an apology for being late, as I pull at my imaginary necktie and gulp because I am not yet done PACKING her package. Not only did Sarah send me a heaping pile of awesome stuff, she LABELED every fabric, with the color (for the Kona) and the manufacturer and designer for the prints! And the pillowcases! They are glorious and all really, really soft, and I am just overwhelmed with how awesome people are, and how lame I am for never getting packages out on time. Thanks, Sarah, you are officially the bomb-diggity.
And not only did I receive that wonderfulness, but last week I got a package from the wonderful land of Canada. Have you heard of it? They drink milk from bags, and also have giant beavers with "Made in Canada" stamped in red on their backsides just floating around, apparently. And it is from Raych, my love, who if you have not followed my many links and started reading her hilarious blog, then I pity you, you are missing out onsome of life's most treasured moments. Raych's sister is a fabulous illustrator, and so I got some of her Cavorting Hippo cards and also her mom sent me some fabric I had been oogling from the cancer-pity quilt that she made Raych. So pretty much, Raych and her big Canadian (well, American too) family are awesome. I have much love for humanity right now, I want to give a speech, but I will end up talking about the sad Olympics commercials, and crying like I do EVERY TIME I SEE THEM. Just so you know, Raych's Christmas gift? Which I promised to send months ago? Still unpacked and scattered in various parts of my apartment. I am the opposite of the people who make me feel good about the world. (Also, how cool is Rebekah's business card? So cool.)Moving on, remember my little resolution? Well, this weekend I actually DID some stuff. Not a lot, but enough that I feel really good about it. I cleaned off the desktop, which is nice, since it is something I stare at for at least a few hours every day. I also organized my closet, which had pretty much been a human height pile of clothes all winter. We hung something on a wall (more later on that). I made and packaged four meals of faux-Chipotle-burrito-bowls, and made a giant pot of vegetable soup that should last us a couple weeks in leftovers. I made salsa! And guacamole!
And the result of all this is that, even though there is a TON of stuff that is left to be done, I feel really CALM right now. I hadn't realized how not-calm the state of things usually makes me. I think that up until this point, I had been thinking I was calm, but was actually just sleepy; it is an easy mistake to make.
And, I also wanted to mention something that I plan on posting more about, but the KC Modern Quilt Guild is really picking up steam relatively quickly. In January we had an organizational meeting with about 35 people, and our meeting last week brought in 69 quilters! Which is CRRRRRRAZY. And out ning site currently has 161 members, which is especially crazy, because I have officially been made the "Web Tech Officer" or some such thing. Which is kindof hilarious, because my knowledge of the internet extends to uploading pictures and embedding html links, but fortunately ning makes it pretty easy. (Nothing will compare in ridiculousness to the time I was an assistant cross country coach, having never before run more than a mile in my life, and only having run that mile because I was forced to.) I am currently working on prettying up the site, which should happen, in my usual fashion, "soonish". I like to say that, because soonish means nothing. So, if you are in the KC area, join us! We have free snacks!

Uncommon, Tote Bags, My House Is Messy.

I finally ordered a case for my iPhone, after having a nightmare in which I dropped it and everyone gave me the "you-are-unbelievably-stupid" look and I WOKE UP TERRIFIED. Mostly of getting that look, and knowing it was 1000% justified. Thanks, dream friends. Anyway, I ordered my case from www.getuncommon.com, and it is beautiful. You will spend exactly what you would spend on an ugly case at Target, but instead you will get a Thing Of Beauty! You can also design your own, using the art available on the site or YOUR OWN PHOTOS, which I would have done, except I am lazy and indecisive. But I love the one I ended up getting, and the shipping was super-fast and if you google getuncommon coupon, you will find a code for 20% off, but I forgot it. Happy happy materialism. Note that I'm sporting my current favorite app, UYH, where you write lists using your own finger-handwriting. I love lists and am a handwriting narcissist, so it is IDEAL. Ok, enough iPhone talk, I am disgusting even myself. I have finally listed a bunch of the tote bags I made for craft shows, so, uhm, there they are. Marketing marketing marketing? I stink at this. Anyways, you need a tote bag? You knows where to find me.
I really need to clean. Like, I am not even worried about sweeping and scrubbing, I just need to do something about the PILES. I was thinking yesterday about how I dream of lovely interiors, but I always imagine that I cannot create them where we live now. Which, is just not true. We are lucky to have a pretty awesome apartment in a pretty awesome house, and the only thing holding me back from interior bliss is the fact that I am a crappy housekeeper. So, I am RESOLVING, to finally take the six bags of Goodwill stuff to Goodwill! To finish shredding the giant bag of to-be-shreddeds! To create a working mail system! To remember to take out the recycling so we no loger have four bags of it in the office! To maybe, even, throw some stuff away? You are my witnesses, so WITNESS! And, the kitties were meant to serve as a friendly reminder- do the laundry before the kitties drown in it. It's a good thing cats have multiple lives, friends.

Cats and Fails and Dirty Floors.

Dear Rachel, the fact that you think my floors are clean made me LAUGH OUT LOUD. So hard. I have the dirtiest floors of anyone I know, and if they look clean, it is a testament to the power of shallow depth of field. Maybe you were joking? Seriously, my path is constantly crossed by meandering tumbleweeds of animal hair. All doors hide secret stashes of dust. Is everyone appropriately disgusted? Great, someone come over and sweep my house, I will pay you in fabric.
Moving on. There has been much sewing in anticipation of craft shows, and much craft show failing. This is, I suppose, to be expected. It is not the best time of year for craft-showin', and the ones I have been in recently have been rather small. The plus side of this is that I now have a TON of stuff, if I ever get my backend around to photographing it.
Speaking of taking photos, Baxter and I have been working on his headshots. He has decided to get into the acting business. I will spare you from explaining all the subtle emotions he is trying to portray, and let you guess.
I am absolutely sure that there was something else that I really wanted to say, but I have forgotten it. You have ow had the exact experience of having a conversation with me in real time. Sense-making? Bah.

The Spewing of Much Information!

The amount of awesome stuff I have to blog about is inversely proportional to the ease with which I blog. Got it? That is my excuse for not being here more often, and I am sticking to it. Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild! Amayyyyyyy-zink. Seriously, I have to do bullet points, or I will never remember all the stuff I want to say.

-KC Modern Quilt Guild had its organizational meeting three-ish weeks ago? And it was awesome. Not only are the people organizing it really great, but a million people showed up. Or, you know like 35. But EVEN MORE have joined the ning group, and so maybe more will be at the next meeting? Which is fabulous, and also overwhelming, because, where will everybody sit?

-One of the folks organizing the whole shebang is Jen, aka, Tula Pink. You know. LIKE THE FABRIC DESIGNER?!? And she said she liked my fabrics, and I swooned into her arms (or, well, not that,) but long story short, I HAVE MADE HER BE MY FRIEND. And it is awesome. I could go on and on about this, but I don't want her to think I am a huge dork if she reads this. Well, she knows I am a huge dork, but I am going to try and retain some dignity.

-(OHMYGODOHMYGODIAMFRIENDSWITHTULAPINK!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMGOMGOMG!!)

-Google Chrome is kicking Safari's lame butt all over town. And, Firefox, I would have stuck with you, if you hadn't decided to SHUT DOWN every five minutes. Thank you, google, for being the one thing in the world I can always count on. (Well, not the only thing. But top three, most defs.)

-We got iPhones. The rest of the world does not feel the earth-shaking impact of this on our lives, and we are confused. iPhones are straight crack. For real. iPhone flickr is so much more dangerous than regular flickr. HOURS. HOOOOOOOUURS. (I love drawing out words that lose all phonetic sense when the letters are doubled. Ha.)-I bought some fabric. THE BEST fabric. New Anna Maria Horner voile, and LIBERTY fabric. A YARD. Of LIBERTY. And 20% off. What will I do with it? Rub my face up against it for the next 60 years until it eventually turns to dust. Good plan? I got it at Bon Bon Atelier, if you are in the KCMO. Check it out.

-I did my third craft show this weekend, and it was LAAAAME. I "made" $12, and by "made", I mean "lost $40". It was a learning experience? Or something?

-I am doing another show THIS WEEKEND, so if you are in KC, come down to the Westport Flea Market on Saturday. I will be there, hopefully not looking at flickr on my phone. But no promises. Other people that I know and are cool will be there, too, so it is worth the trip.

-I have been stalking houses on the internet, and it has put my decorating hormones into overdrive. I cannot look at a room now without spending five minutes thinking about the color I would paint it. Usually it is dark gray, light gray, white, or green. I am creature of habit. Oh! Or maybe dark blue.

-APPARENTLY, not only do you have to make your designs public and for sale on Spoonflower, but you have to make your profile public, as well? This, to me, makes no sense, and I am still irked by it. I didna mean to put a useless link up, my friends! 'Tis nonsense! If you still want lovebirdie fabric, if you ever did, go HERE. For real, this time.

-I made shrinky dinks of some of the birdies, and it was super fun. I love shrinky dinks. ALSO, discovered that not everyone knows what shrinky dinks are, so if you do not, LOOK IT UP! It is the most fun you will have... all day?
Thas it. Love you.

What is this?

Why, it's more birdies!But these ones are IN LOVE!I will be uploading some pictures of things made with the actual fabric in the nearish future, but I wanted to go ahead and put it up because I lurve them so much. Those silly birdies, falling in love.The fabric is available right here (http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/laurenhunt) through the Spoonflower Marketplace. You'll notice if you go there that the pattern is on it's side- that's because I wanted the design to run from selvedge to selvedge, instead of running horizontally across the width. Does that make sense? Well, it does to me, and that's why I did it, so DEAL WITH IT! (Better Off Ted reference, anyone?)Woohoo!
Fabric + Birdies + Love = Awesome?