Preview

I'll write a longer post later, but I wanted to show you a sample of my newest obsession.  :)  (Or rather, an old obsession revived.)

Close up

Finished product

In process

Decisions, decisions...

I've got an abstract to write and five articles to read by tomorrow, so of course...

I'm sewing and listening to Taylor Swift's new CD Speak Now!!!

Don't judge.  You wish you were too.  :)

But I've encountered a dilemma.  (Do you encounter a dilemma?  Experience a dilemma?  Hit your head against a dilemma as you try to run from it?)

I need to choose between one of three layouts for this baby quilt.  

A)  The layout of the original pattern

B)  Some solid blocks intermingled

C)  Different solid blocks intermingled, but I think the pattern isn't random enough?

Which one do you like best???

My first doll quilt...

And it's probably the first of many.  So fun and quick to make!  

It took exactly one jelly roll strip to bind a 9x9 in doll quilt.  How handy.  :)

I've never tried pinning down the binding before as I sew it down by hand, but I did this time and I was amazed at how much easier it was!  Usually my hands ache after sewing down the binding, but I'm typing away and they're fine.  :)

There are the most amazing doll quilt swaps on flickr, so inspirational!  Maybe one day I'll feel skilled enough to join in.  :)

Squiggles!!!

I had a nice, lazy day today, but somewhere in the middle of it I started feeling a little productive.  I don't really know how it happened, but suddenly I was motivated to finish that dratted piano key border on nephew's baby quilt.  So... I did!  

Not only that, but I kept going and prepared the batting and backing...

and then I quilted that sucker!!!  That's the great thing about baby quilts, once you sit down to do it, everything goes so quickly!

I was very brave and tried some free motion quilting.  It's not perfect, but hopefully I'll keep improving.  :)

To combat imperfection, I decided to quilt some "purposefully" imperfect squiggles down the seams and in the borders.  I kind of like it!!!

And since nephew gets a quilt, I think niece should too.  :)  And if I can find the time to put a binding on this mini quilt, she'll have an almost matching one for her Barbie dolls.  :)

Time to go continue being lazy.  :)

Where's MY Lord Orville???

 I got my hair cut!!!  I love it, and it's so much easier to deal with now that it's a little bit shorter.  It doesn't show up very well in the picture, but it's actually more of a honey blonde with warmer tones, I was ready for a change.  :)

It's been all grad school, all the time, but I did have time to make another Chocolate Stack Loaf last night while I was watching Sons of Anarchy.  (I couldn't tell you why that's one of my favorite TV shows, it just is.) 

My reading list suggestion for the day is Evelina by Frances Burney.  I'm reading it again for EN 674 and it's so hilarious.  If you have time I highly recommend picking up a copy.

P.S.  I notice that I've had quite a few visitors lately, from all over.  I'd love it if you'd leave me a quick comment, it would be so nice to know who's visiting!

Ruffles and Stripes

I needed a creative outlet today, so after relaxing for a while at home I started surfing my google reader to see what was going on in blogland.  I have a few quilting/sewing blogs that I love to follow (maybe I'll list them at the bottom of this post) and I found this awesome Ruffled Rosette Pillow at the Moda Bake Shop.  

I wasn't sure though, that I wanted to commit all of my brand new jelly roll strips to the project before knowing how it would turn out, so I decided to make a mini pillow to test it out.

I made all of this up on the fly.

I didn't have any elastic thread on hand, so I improvised with some embroidery floss that I zigzagged over, then tugged on the ends to create the gathers. 

I did use the Ruffled Rosette Pillow tutorial to make the rosette and attach it to the striped top.  

I ran out of purple right as I got to the center, so I decided to add a fun burst of orange!

Wait, what's that color I hate again?  Oh yeah...

Kind of liking the finished product.  Definitely nixing the orange next time though.

It could use some work, but for a test product, not bad!

Blogs:

Posie Gets Cozy (sewing and crafting, also some great recipes if you look closely)

Bearpaw (quilting and crafting)

Attic24 (crocheting)

Linen and Raspberry (quilting and sewing)

Quiltsalott (quilting)

rose hip (sewing and crafting)