I'm going to try to make my first quilt

I've been itching to try quilting for a while now actually. Then when I heard that the Stitch House in Dorchester is offering a free quilt workshop, I decided now's the time to start on my very first quilt. I won't be able to make it to all three of the workshop sessions so I'll just be doing it on my own with the help from a couple of friends, but I think it's a pretty good class idea. The workshop/guidance is free but they require that you buy the fabric from them (approx. $55) which seems reasonable when you're buying 11 different patterns of gorgeous Amy Butler fabric.

So here's the pattern I'm going to try to do:

I already had some fun Amy Butler fabric on hand (it's the same fabric of a bag I bought in Seattle during our honeymoon), so I'm going to use that as my base. I also had some coordinating fabrics to go with it, and then I found a couple more in solid tones to match at the Fabric Corner the other day. So now I'm at 6 out of the 11 different patterns needed cut into 18 - 4.5"x7.5" rectangles.

And of course, knowing me, I already have my 2nd quilt idea planned out. (I know, crazy doesn't even begin to describe it.) For this one, I wanted to use the black and white fabric I have on hand. Some of the stuff I had at home had some yellow in it too, so I picked up a couple of fun, bold patterns at the fabric store. I am in love with this particular pattern and may have to go back to get more to make up the backside of the quilt.

I don't have a particular pattern to work with for this quilt idea, so I've just cut the fabric into 4" squares and a couple of larger 8" squares. I'm looking forward to just playing around with this configuration.

Wish me luck! I'll be sure to post progress photos as I go.

Happy crafting! :)

a few good things

I had a pretty productive weekend getting ready for SOS, and I still managed to be pretty social too! It's funny to think back to the days (not so so long ago even) when I used to stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning just to work on scrapbook layouts. I think I was up until midnight on Friday night and even that was a stretch for me. Yikes! I'm really getting to the point where getting even 30 minutes less sleep a night really effects me the next day (read: I'm getting old!).

My brother-in-law, Joe, spent the night after he and Tony went to watch our friend, Jim's, band (Gene Dante & The Future Starlets) compete in the 2009 WBCN Rock n' Roll Rumble on Friday night. I cooked dinner for them and our friend, Don, before they left and then I made a batch of the Magic Blondies for a dinner party we went to on Saturday night at Tony's ex-boss' house. Then on Saturday morning, we went over to the Sherman Cafe for breakfast. It's a cute little place in Union Square on Washington Street.

Then somehow I managed to crank out 17 little clutch purses within the next five hours.

Must be something in the latte I had that morning! LOL

Well, I should correct myself and say that I had done all the cutting a couple of nights ago so Saturday was primarily just sewing the pieces together, attaching the elastic closures, and then turning them right side out. But times that by 17 and that's where you get the five hours. Sigh. And then the buttons were sewn on by hand last night.

Anyway, then we walked over to Jie's house/mansion. I kid you not! Her house is amazing. And giganomous. Two of his old coworkers were there, too, so it was a nice small group of us. Joey and his fiancee brought some really delicious shrimp and noodle wraps that were so refreshing. Jie cooked us a wonderful Peking duck dish, and we had some chocolate cake that John brought. And lots of wine! I think Tony and I drank the whole bottle of Riesling that we brought, and then Jie whipped out some Prosecco for dessert. Fun time!

Sunday was a super productive day and it was actually good to be indoors in our relatively cool apartment compared to the 80+ degree weather that was outside. I know, that doesn't sound very hot but it was pretty humid and it felt like a summer day rather than spring. Of course, I'll take that over any rain or snow storm, but still. Too hot for April!

I managed to put together these little 4-packs of note cards in a variety of colors, I think 14 packs total. Each set contains one each of four greetings, plus the envelopes. I hope they go over well at SOS.

And then today started off in a nice way: one of my coworkers brought me two huge bags of mixed candy that she bought at Costco over the weekend to contribute toward the candy bowl. I still can't get over how thoughtful that was of her to do! Here's a shot of the candy after I dumped it into the shopping bag.

Seriously people, this bag weighs a ton! I don't think we have to worry about the candybowl going empty for a while.

I think this is what it would look like if you were an ant that fell into the bag. LOL

And here's what keeps people happy at the office: a full candy bowl.

Oh and I ended up using "schooled" as the subject line in the email I sent to Trevor notifying him of my Bubble Spinner score. Tony said he was quite irked and said, "You're wife is killing me." LOL I love me some competition fo sho! ;)

Hope you all had a good Monday!

blooming inspiration

The hyacinth bulb on my desk has started to bloom purple flowers. It's so cute how my coworker, Karoline, stops by my desk each morning to see how it has progressed.

I think it's a pretty good thing that it's a self sufficient type of plant. Is that safe to say? I mean, my husband is more of a green thumb than I am and I definitely did not inherit my mother's ability to keep flourishing gardens and plants. So I hope I don't ruin this plant. Seriously. I kind of have been known to do not-so-well with small living things like aloe plants and goldfish. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this flower makes it under my care!

On to crafting. Something that I haven't been doing much of lately, I admit. Which is foolish considering I have a show coming up the first weekend in May that I need to build an inventory for!

I have a ton of fabric that is just being stored in my crafting room for someday. Someday when I've sharpened my sewing skills. Someday when I have a giganomous table that I can spread yards of fabric onto and not have to clean it up within the same day. Someday when I learn to have the patience to work with better attention to detail and pattern instructions.

In the meantime, I like to make attempts at smaller projects here and there. The other day, I saw this cute clutch pattern on Kelly's blog so I decided to try my hand at it. I used part of her instructions (loved the clever idea of using elastic for a fastener) and part of these instructions (to help me remember how to properly sew the lining and outer parts together and then flip them inside out correctly) to create these two little bags:

Yes, I realize that's a lot of pictures to show two purses (p.s. click on the photo to enlarge it) but I wanted to demonstrate how they look open, closed, and the inside lining. I also really liked how Kelly used a piece of felt (any color - it doesn't show through) to make it thicker and just thick enough so it didn't weigh down the clutch. Anyway, I love how it turned out and used the one with the small green patch on the outside (that was to cover up a minor mistake - see, me being impatient again!) when I went to the Buckners gig on Thursday night. It was the perfect alternative to a bulky purse or handbag when I just wanted to carry my driver's license, one credit card, some cash, lipgloss, and a small digital camera. Thanks for the inspiration, Kelly!

Speaking of patience (or the lack of), I snapped this photo of a funny sign at the Irish pub on Thursday night. Can I get an amen?!