If you have not heard of Pinterest, please allow me to introduce you to my newest addiction. Seriously. It's like crack for homemakers. Try it out but don't say I didn't warn you about the addictive side-effects.
I feel pretty confident that my sister, Julie, will not be reading this blog, as I'm fairly certain no one reads this blog...but that is another subject for another day. I mention this because I am posting pictures of the quilt I made for her for Christmas and I sure wouldn't want to spoil the Christmas surprise, but since she doesn't check this...I'm in the clear.
So here is the front of the quilt: Sorry it's so blurry. I blame the photographer...and the camera...and just about everyone...including me because I may have moved while trying to hold the darn thing up for the shot.
And, here's the back:
Again with the blurriness. Will it never end. If I was a more patient person, I would have retaken that. Oh well. As you can see the pattern of the quilting shows up better on the back and mimics the front's layout.
And finally, here's the closeup:
I quilted a diamond pattern on the central fabric and lines to frame out the remaining patterns.
Some of you may recall that I had intended to do some random quilting on this baby, but after working for 4 hours and then hating the results enough to pick the whole thing out, I opted for what I know. Lines. Straight forward. Simple.
I hope my sister likes it, but if not, I hope she pretends to like it because, man that quilt was a stinker.
For those interested, here are the pics of the finished quilts. (Please don't think about the one yet to be quilted. I already feel too much pressure.)
First then is Lincoln's, which some of you have seen before:
And here's the front:
Lincoln's quilt was the first and taught me a lot about quilting. I used horizontal lines throughout and then did just a few vertical lines of quilting to finish up.
And now Kyle's.
The back of Kyle's:
The front of Kyle's quilt was fairly easy to piece and the back, again, taught me a hard lesson in piecing large sections of fabric together. Pinning really is my friend. For his, I did horizontal lines exclusively, but varied the widths between each quilting line for each strip. I also tried out the idea of using a different colored thread on top and on bottom. White on top and black on bottom. It worked out great. I liked it so much, I did the same for David's.
And finally, David's: Here's the back:
David's was by far the easiest to piece, both front and back. For this one, I broke out and tried angles with my quilting. Horizontal lines on the straight pieces in between the blocks and a diamond pattern for the blocks. I liked the effect of this one the best and was pleased with the red thread on the bottom and the white thread on top.
Thanks to all my friends that encourage me and answered my mundane questions. Three down, one to go.
This is my current state of being.
It comes down to my last quilt. See, I made this goal to make a quilt for each of my three boys. I finished Lincoln's back in September and quickly bought materials for Kyle's and David's. Things were going along so swimmingly that I decided to make another quilt for my sister for Christmas.
And up until now, I have maintained a fairly good track record. I have finished Kyle's, quilted David's with the binding starting this weekend and then I will begin quilting the third and final one next week...probably.
Probably.
This last quilt is giving me pause. I really want to do free-motion but the idea of losing my security blanket (ie: my feed-dogs) is terrifying. I'm being such a chicken about it, I know, but really, what if I do a horrible job? This is supposed to be a gift for my sister. How can I give her something with shoddy workmanship? I know that I have to put on my big girl panties and just do it, but still, the whole idea is making me hesitate. Hence the postponing it to the very last.
Wish me luck.
I have been kinda absent lately, as far as the good ole' blog is concerned. Without going into useless detail, it's sufficient to say that October is kicking my butt. Every morning I wake up running and by the end of the day I fall into bed completely drained. Mostly to assure myself that I've actually done something, I've put together a little pictorial of the projects that have been filling my days.
Exhibit A: Quilting
I'm making quilts for each of the boys for Christmas this year, this one being David's. Last week, I finished piecing Kyle's as well. So now I have Lincoln's completely done, and Kyle's & Dave's ready for basting. I'm cutting the one I'm doing for my sister for Christmas tonight. I know, I'm a total lunatic. Why I do this to myself, I do not know. I'll post final pictures when they're finally done.
Exhibit B: Walt Disney World Lanyards
We intend to give the kids a trip to Walt Disney World for Christmas. The pin trading that goes on there is new thing to me, but I decided it would be fun to make a lanyard for each of the boys using fabric from the quilts I'm making. Here are the three lanyards. I've pinned two of the three, as an example of our starter stock of trading pins.
Exhibit C: Grout Cleaning and Sealing
This isn't all that exciting to look at, but it's a huge undertaking. I have loads of tile in my house. Currently I have only managed the master bathroom, entry way and half bath. Still to do: kitchen, living room and upstairs bathrooms.
Exhibit D: Organize my closet
This one was a good one day project––one of the few on my list. Target outfitted me with everything I needed and I am very excited about the results.
My closet is long and narrow and although it could house a lot more clothes, I hate the feeling of being swallowed in a clothes closet, so by keeping everything on one side, I hope to control the chaos.
We are still storing a few boxes in here that don't actually belong in the master closet but I will work on finding them a new home on another day.
That's it, Ladies and Gents. Thanks for coming along my little journey to prove that I am actually doing something with my day.
I did it: I finished the quilt! It may not seem like a lot but doing this quilt was so dang empowering. It reminded me that I enjoy learning new things. For example, the binding process had previously seemed mystical and unknowable, but it's now quite understandable, and to my surprise, rewarding. Thanks so much to Jen and Sarah who have, with the patience of the wise, given me tons of guidance along the way.
Before I show off the finished product, I thought I'd explain the genesis for the quilt's color story. I originally wanted to do something boyish in pattern--you know, skulls, motorbikes, tools or rock-n-roll type stuff, but I just didn't find what I wanted. So instead, I decided to use Lincoln's current bedspread as a guide.
As you can see, his bedspread had several colors: two different blues, a green and an orange along with a tan and dark brown. This became the colors I chose to work with. Here is the finished product:
And here's the back:
I hope Lincoln likes it. I plan to do one for each of the boys for Christmas and I'm already plotting the next one. Wish me luck!
Last week, I hung my fall wreath on the front door and it looked so...lonely. It needed a little something and I knew exactly what to do.
<And so here comes my confession: I, of my own free-will and choice, have decided to blatantly steal an idea from Elizabeth Severson, friend and innocent party. I did not come up with it on my own, and I knowingly copied her own brilliance. Lock me up. I am guilty...BUT I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I really like the effect and personalizing touch that the "W" adds.
I thought I should blog about the current status of my quilting project. (Here's the pattern and online tutorials, if you're interested). Last week...or was it the week before? I can't seem to keep things straight around here. It's the summer––it does this to me every year. Anyway...last week I finished the front of my first ever quilt.
This is supposed to be a random quilt, so I began the piecing process by selecting at random one of the ten fabrics to piece. I sewed five of the 'bricks' together, separated by a neutral square to completed one strip...then lather, rinse, repeat...until I completed 20 strips. Then, I was supposed to lay out the quilt. I thought this would be the easy part, but it proved to be quite a little headache-maker.
Initially I laid the quilt out while striving for randomness. But it looked so...so...chaotic. My problem, I think, is that I have 4 colors that make up my 10 fabrics. The fabrics themselves are mostly solids or tone-on-tone patterns. They don't necessarily relate to one another outside of being in the same tone. In total, I had 3 browns, 2 oranges, 3 greens and 2 blue fabrics. If I were to do this again with solid colors, I'd have chosen to go with only blues and greens with pops of orange...say 4 greens, 4 blue and then 2 orange for accent. This, I believe, would have created a more cohesive randomness.
However, this realization did nothing for my current plight. I wasn't about to unpick all that work, nor buy more fabric, so, I fussed over it for hours. Finally, Adam suggested that I try for the opposite effect. Rather than randomness, he proposed that I try clumping the colors together--getting patches of the same colors in places, hoping to minimize the chaos. Here's the result.
After sewing the strips together to create the front, I moved on to making the back. A lot of times, the back is just a large section of a coordinating fabric, but I had lots of leftover fabric, so I inserted a panel to add interest.
Is it horrible that I kinda like the back better than the front? I'm playing around with the idea to do an applique of the letter L here on the back because, after all, this quilt is for Lincoln and a sure fire way to make my boys feel ownership is through monogramming. This will probably be my task for today. After that, it will be time to make my quilt 'sandwich' and start quilting. I've opted for straight lines, instead of the random and I'll probably do a light colored thread, hoping that on the front it will blend in, but on the back it will contrast.
So, all you quilters out there. What other lessons should I have learned from this project thus far? Any tips going forward? I'm destined to make at least two more boy quilts (equality is big in my house), so I'd love some advice.
I've always wanted to learn to quilt and a while back a friend asked if I'd like to participate in a quilting group. Perfect right? Yeah, well, I thought so, too, until I went for the first meeting. That's when I realized that I'm probably out of my depth. Still, I hung on, telling myself that "So what if everyone else has way cuter fabric or loads more skill. I can do this."
My first real decision in this whole process was to select fabric. I had already opted to make my first quilt for my first born, thinking that the symmetry would offer me some sorely-needed luck, but I'm not so sure this was accomplished. When I began looking around at the fabric store, I saw loads of fabric that I loved, but what kind of fabric would a 10-year old boy love? Nothing too young and nothing too girly. Definitely no floral patterns and probably should steer clear of anything too cartoonish. Needless to say, picking a color and design that reads masculine is much harder than going for a 'beautiful' or 'artistic' or 'bold' fabric––at least for an amateur like me, that is. It probably wasn't the easiest way to start, but nonetheless, I finally selected all of my 10 fabrics. Wish me luck.
Collages are not my forte. The idea of a collage is appealing, but the execution (for me) is tricky. The perpetual straightening, the hanging of each piece in relation to the other pieces, then re-hanging each one with a new hole in the wall when you misjudge the effect––yup...not really my ideal way to spend an afternoon. But, it shouldn't be that hard.
I needed to find a new way to conquer the collage while still keeping my OCD under control. Here's what I came up with:
I laid the frames out on some butcher paper and fiddled with the layout until I had the desired effect (which is again not really my thing, but I'm doing my best here, so roll with it). Once I had the pictures where I wanted them, I outlined the pictures and marked the location of the hook on the back of each frame. Then I taped the whole thing to the wall.
This process assured me that each picture stayed in its spot respective to the others. Now that the paper was up, all I had to do was put a nail at each of the marked spots.
Once all the nails were tapped in (right through the paper), I just pulled down the paper, used it for reference and hung the appropriate picture on the appropriate nail and done.
Here's the collage in the context of the room:
Lincoln's 4th grade class have been learning about economics––specifically the influence of supply and demand on price. As an exercise to illustrate this, the fourth graders are asked to create a product with a budget of $6 which they will sell to the 3rd graders. The proceeds will go toward a 4th grade party. Last year when Lincoln was a 3rd grader he got to do the purchasing and he proudly brought home a marshmallow gun. This year, his product ideas were for either a marshmallow gun or a rubber band gun. I was all for the marshmallow gun, especially after seeing this awesome blog describing how to make it.
This website recommends using a hacksaw to cut the pvc. I tried that, and if I only had one to do, it would have been fine, but I was looking down the barrel of a lot of pvc pipe, so I borrowed pvc pipe cutters from a friend (who had two sets of cutters, if can imagine that). By the way, the pvc supplies cost me $1.07 per gun--not too bad.
After making the six guns for the project, I discovered that marshmallow guns are usually popular items and that supply would be high. Lincoln and I discussed his options and he came up with differentiating his marshmallow gun by making it a rubber band gun too.
Since I had gathered the clothespins and rubber bands from supplies on hand, the cost stayed the same = $1 per gun. Lincoln will set the sales price but I hope that he can at least charge $2 so he can double his money.
Lincoln helped with the cutting, assembly and also picked out the colors, but I did the spray painting. A ten-year old with a can of spray paint is the stuff of nightmares. After making the first six for his class, I had three sorrowing boys moping around the house They each wanted their own. Another trip to the Home Depot and I had a gun for each boy AND a few more to use for gifts for Kyle's upcoming birthday party. But no rubber band guns for me. I stuck with the marshmallows and left the rubber bands to the salivating 3rd grade boys.
Lincoln and Kyle wanted custom paint.
But David opted for a simple personalization.
I found this virtual parade of homes from a friend's blog (thanks, Katrine). Enjoy! I really love #7 All things thrifty.
Over the weekend, the boys all got a much needed haircut. I don't profess to have a knack for it, but I can get the job done with some reasonable results, but none of us like it. The boys hate the itching and uncomfortable feelings and I hate all the whining and tears. Miraculously, this time wasn't so bad. Even David was remarkably calm and collected. No swatting and minimal cringing. Count your many blessings, Diana.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Despite looking like it, I didn't actually hurt him, but this is what he gave me when I said "smile".
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Phew! Done for another 4-5 weeks.
My roses have finally come back from our rather harsh Houston winter. Coldest winter we've had since moving here ten years ago.
I love Knockout Roses. Easy to care for, nearly indestructible and very hardy. They'll bloom ten months out of the year here––even during our tortourously hot summers. I believe they manage better than I do.
For a while now, I have been hearing about "The Pioneer Woman" and her website, but for some reason I didn't make time to look her up. About a month ago, I finally wandered over to her site and was graciously rewarded for my tiny effort by an amazing site, which includes sections on Cooking, Photography, Homeschooling and Gardening, not to mention her Confessions of a Pioneer Woman Section. I am enjoying it way more than I should.
Anyway, during my perusal of the site, I realized this woman and I had a strange connection––let me explain, before you think I'm stalking this poor lady––which I kind of am.
"I’m a ranch wife, mother of four, moderately-agoraphobic (self-diagnosed) middle child who grew up on the seventh fairway of a golf course in a corporate town. I attended college in Los Angeles and wore black pumps to work every day. I ate sushi and treated myself to pedicures on a semi-regular basis. Then, on a brief trip to my hometown, I met and fell in love with a rugged cattle rancher. Now I live in the middle of nowhere on a working cattle ranch. My days are spent wrangling children, chipping dried manure from boots, washing jeans, and frying calf nuts. I have no idea how I got here…but you know what? I love it. Don’t tell anyone."
So, that's Ree Drummond, Pioneer Woman. I have decided that I'm something of her "bizarro" self--the opposite, yet the same. Whereas, she grew up a "city girl", I grew up in a tiny town in Idaho, a daughter of a farmer.
(My grandfather circa 1920)
I spent my days playing across the acres my family farmed, hanging clothes out to dry, digging holes in the dirt and chasing kittens around our yard. Then, I went to college, met my husband and somehow, I now live in the 4th largest city in the U.S., whereas, she lives in the middle of nowhere. She probably imagined her life to be much like mine is now, and I imagined a life much like hers. The remarkable thing is that she seems pretty happy about it and so am I.
Still, there are some things that are intimidating about my life. I wished I learned how to decorate a cake, my home, myself, and do the shopping, clean my house and wear a big fat smile like I knew just what I was doing. But, instead I learned, how to work hard, grow a garden, be self-reliant and even herd a little cattle. ("Just wave your arms," my dad would say. "They're more scared of you than you are of them." Yeah, right).
(Despite popular belief, Idahoan Farmers grow more than potatoes. Here is just one crop grown on my brothers' farm)
Growing up, I knew everyone––my neighbors were my cousins and grandparents. The kids I went to kindergarten with were the exact same kids I graduated high school with twelve year later. My third grade teacher taught every single one of my nine siblings. Now, I live on a street when I know only three of my neighbors––a family from India, a single gay man and another woman from Louisana, who plays bunko once a week, and talks about all things southern. Despite my lack of experience with this kind of life, I love it.
And this is how Ree and I are the same: We gave up what we know, for a life with the one we love.
Ree Drummond met her husband and after their first date, they were basically never apart. Ten days into the relationship, he told her he loved her and two weeks later they were engaged. I can understand this. Adam and I met and ten days later, we were engaged. The end of life as I knew it.
So, here's what I am trying to learn from Ree, my bizarro twin, and her jaunt into all things rural. Ree seems to have a complete lack of fear. Okay, correction––she sometimes gets intimated, but she overcomes. If she wants to learn something, she'll just dive in, regardless of failure looming just overhead. Here's just one example, in her own words about her experience with photography. "Four years ago, cameras scared me...but I slowly taught myself the ropes."
(This is just one of Ree's photos on her great photography section.)
I've known a few people like Ree––Tracy, you're one of them––and I immediately want to be around them. These type of people inspire me to get over myself and try something new. I struggle sometimes with wanting to stay in my comfort zone but her site inspires me to get off my tush and start plowing a new field.
(Can you guess what my 'new field' might be?)
Now a question for you. What makes you want to get up and try something new?
This is a picture of our home, 2 1/2 years ago when we moved in. Notice the two nicely manicured wax myrtles that flank the house. I really liked those trees...at the time. Since then, I've risked life and limb to hack those babies back and keep them under control, to no avail. They were great for shade, but their roots were compromising my drainage and frankly, I was beginning to hate them. The thought of climbing the ladder once again this spring was more than my little heart could take. So, I put on my big girl pants and...hired someone.
Here you'll see how the workman hit my water pipe. Yeah, fun times. It was fixable and so I'll move on. Below is the pile of debris, both from the wax myrtles and my oak tree, which was in sore need of a trim.
And finally, the finished product.
If you look closely, you'll note the two small crepe myrtles, where the wax myrtles used to be. Yeah, I thought they'd be bigger too. We'll just fertilize and pray them into growing a bit. Crepe myrtles can get unruly too, but I've been very happy with the one I have in my back yard and I'm pretty sure these tiny things will give me no trouble for quite some time.
I am a conquistador––minus the Spanish helmet and plume, of course. Today I discovered and conquered a new area of my home. The laudry room...cue the menacing music.
This room isn't exactly big and when we moved in, I threw my laundry supplies on the shelf, stored my vacuum behind the door and forgot about it. Jump ahead two and half years. A couple friends come for a visit and we get talking about spaces in our homes, specifically small spaces and I complain about my tiny laundry room. They suggest I move the vacuum to a new home and re-think how to use the space...and voila!
Three hooks, 12 cork board tiles and two hours later, a previously undiscovered area of my home is vanquished and designed into submission. Now I have a place for the kids' backpacks and coats AND I have a place to pin up all the kids' school notes, schedule stuff, etc. Thanks to Andrea and Tawna for the excellent push in the right direction––you're the Queen Isabella to my Columbus...or whatever conquistador suits your fancy.
