My First Quilt- next steps.....

I might have made it seem like in my last post that all the cutting and work just happened but I actually did all that last summer and set it aside.  Then when my dear cousin got pregnant I thought I better get a move on and finish it to give to her.  I don't think she reads this blog.  If so, surprise! I missed your shower but your gift is on it's way.  And, before the babe is born, unusual for m.

Progress yesterday after I got my car washed and detailed, grocery shopped for the week and walked my tiny dog, the nerd in me stayed in, stoked the fire (ok, it's a gas insert but flipping the fireplace switch sounds so lame) and assembled the quilt front and back.

Green Quadrant

Orange yellow quadrant

 In novice quilter fashion, I was not good at keeping my 1/4" seam allowance and that made my color quadrants a little wider than the white portions.  I realized when I set them in the arcs of white that they were slightly bigger. You can really tell on the green that it's bowing out.

Blue purple quadrant

Red pink quadrant

So my remedy was to wet a towel and steam them so they laid flat.  I wasn't about to go back and resew them all.  That's the beauty of cotton, you can steam it to shape.  That is the reason the quadrants look damp.  I threw them in the dryer and then assembled them all together.

Front of quilt assembled.  Parting shot before bed.

The assembly was easy- sew two quadrants together making a half.  Repeat, making another half and then sew both halves together making the whole.  I'm very pleased with the visual of the colors.  I tried really hard to not repeat any print in more than one color although that option was available it felt like cheating.  There is only one solid piece: red- that I used from another project, blogged about here.  I didn't photograph the boy version that I made with the red, but the pinks and brights from the girls versions are here too.  The boy version was red, denim and baseballs was super cute and made more sturdy for jumping.

Today, Super Bowl Sunday, or in my house, doggie playgroup day and quilt layer assembly day.  Ok, also I need to run two miles as I'm training for the Shamrock Run in March.  This is Portland's first big run of the year- something like 30k people.  Huge.  Fun.  Good thing it's sunny and bright today- perfect for a brisk run.

Happy Holidays 2011

Long time no see everyone.  I will admit that my life spun completely in a strange direction when I got my new job.  No time to sew and no desire either.  Really busy digging in at the new company.

Then..... I bought a house.

And I did a lot of this.....

in the back yard.... and if you can't tell, that's drinking, eating and hanging out with friends and family.
Then I got one of these....

Meet Mochi the smallest dog in the world or my world

and we've both been in training........and by the way he won't really wear that sweater more than 30 seconds.  And he poses really well in it because he refuses to walk when it's on.

I also took a work trip to China and managed to go to a few fabric markets, started a quilt, and did I mention ate a lot?  Love cooking in my new kitchen.

Hope to see you in the new year with some updates on that trip and some more sewing.  Take care and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays!

Farewell 2010...... Hello 2011- the International year of ME!

New Year's Eve; wearing my grandmother's mink coat for the first time.

Well 2010 was a really great year.  I fell in love and then out.  Quit a job and started a new one.  Started sewing again and kept on going.  And, I turned 40.  That's when I decided that this year is the year of ME. Things seem to be going my way and I've hit on some things that make me happier than I've ever been.   One of which is sewing, sharing and wearing my creations.

I noticed that the bloggers out there do a yearly recap but the above is my recap for you.  That was last year.  Here's what's planned for this year.

1. Sell my house in California - renters want to buy it- yippeee.
2. Buy a new computer- mine is limping along and aged.
3. Run the Shamrock 5k again in March- improve time and bring along friends
4. Sew a few jackets- at least 4 are planned- not enough for the jacket a month but that's ok.
5. Enter one contest
6. Join a sew a long- vintage sew a long- check! Found a pattern that I bought in the 80's
7. Finish my sister's dress- this should be #1 or 2 but I just thought of it.
8. Make a few blouses- at least 1 planned w/pattern and fabric purchased
9. Make at least one pair of pants
10. Sew through the stash before buying more fabric
11. Make one coat- one planned w/fabric already purchased.
12. Teach some kids how to sew- already started, see later post.
13.  Go to Paris for vacation.

That's all I'm willing to share at this point.  I've got a few others but let's just say those are more personal.  I will say that my new job has given me a good sense of accomplishment and doing a good job means taking a lot of time to plan and learn etc.  It's taken a lot of my mental capacity these last two months but I know the key to keeping balance is also putting energy into my personal life and that includes doing the above things for myself.  Balance; not easy but necessary.

And now a word about new years.....
I love to dress up.  Love it.  And the dress I picked to wear out to dinner with friends was my favorite sewing project of the year- blogged about here.  I see on Erica's site that it's her favorite too- fitting as she is one of my sewing heros and when she made it, I dug the pattern out and made it asap. Let's just say that dressing up makes me happy.  I had forgotten how much.  And more so when I can wear something I made that is fabulous.

Dinner at Blue Hour with friends wearing the fabulous Guy Laroche dress and fake eyelashes.

Two fabulous girlfriends: Angie and Mollie.  And, I finally learned how to pose in a flattering way.

We had a wonderful time.   There was one altercation (hushed but heated), one marriage proposal (not to me) and a lot of champagne.  Let's just say my couch was my best friend on the first day of 2011 and I caught up on all of Boardwalk Empire.  I should add a goal regarding toning my flabby arms- eeek.

Happy New Year everyone.  

Fun Sewing Related Birthday/Christmas gifts

Yes, it's true, recently I had a birthday.  It was in fact a big decade number.  Yay!  Blank age is the new _______!  Never mind.  Anyway, I got a few very nice gifts that are sewing related.

Ceramic spools of yarn and herringbone tape, lift off the lids and they are candles!

Here's the top of the herringbone spool. 

My best friend gave me the green one for my birthday and then I got the blue one from my sister for Christmas.  Do these ladies know me or what?  The candles can be purchased at Anthropologie.  I'm sure there are many colors and sizes, I haven't check but I think I might need one more to make a little trio arrangement.  I LOVE them!

Another gift I got was this adorable book- Sew Retro! It's a history of home sewing in the US.  Who knew that Ebenezer Butterick was the first one to put out a sized pattern?  Well, some of you might have but I didn't.

Cover of Sew Retro: A Stylish History of the Sewing Revolution by Judi Keiteler

Time line of history of home sewing and the sewing industry along the bottom of all pages

History by decade or era

This book is full of projects that home sewists can do today!  So popular right now: aprons!

This is a really cool book with little projects throughout.  The projects are a little more on the crafting side than the fashion side, but they definitely take me back in time- that's for sure!  Great gifts from my great friends and family. Thanks y'all- no, I'm not from Texas but really, sometimes ya gotta y'all.
Ok kids, I'm off to bequeath my old sewing machine to some cute little nieces and give them their first sewing lesson- a patchwork pillow- on this snowy/rainy day before new years eve.

Where for art thou August issue of Burda Style Magazine?

I'm over this monthly search for one of the few copies of Burda Style Magazine that make it to Portland Oregon. 

On Sunday and Monday I hit Powell's World Of Books, Rich's Smoke Shop and called Bolt Fabrics.  No one has their copies yet.  Just now at lunch I went to Josephine's Dry Goods to buy bias tape for the last seam on the 40th birthday dress and I exclaimed out loud, "Oh!" and then "oh."  when I saw a Burda sticking out of the mag rack but then quickly realized it was a Plus issue from last month.  I didn't even  know that they carried it and the lady at the counter said that EVERYONE is waiting.

Powell's seems to get theirs mid month and it costs $9.00.  Riches Smoke Shop gets ONE copy, a few days earlier but it's $11.50.  When I was in there on Sunday the guy said someone bought it but I don't think it's really come in yet.  They told me to call late on Thursday when they get their next shipment. It's all a little bit more hoop jumping than this circus girl wants to do. But what else CAN I do?

Does everyone have their copy but me?  I'm pouting with my arms folded- wah!  What I don't understand is why in this day and age it takes so long to get issues from Germany to the west coast of the USA.   I am expecting them to stock the September issue (coveted) any day now, why can't they (the magazine distributors) get us a copy by the first week of the month it's publish for?  Why is it so hard? Am I in a snit for nothing?  I don't see anyone recapping the magazine picks yet, maybe I'm being unreasonable, and yet high expectations have taken me far in life.   WHERE IS IT?

Then I found this link for Canada that says it's mailing August 9th!!!  Balls, that was Monday, does that mean it's leaving freaking Deutschland on the 9th?

Is it time for me to get a subscription? I was thinking that might be a good Christmas or birthday present request (maybe a few people could get together).  However, I'm still waiting for my subscription to Vogue that the person who drew my name for Christmas opted not to get me even though they asked me specifically what I wanted.  I just don't know if my heart can take the toiling over when it will come in........
sigh....... rant complete.   Carry on with your day.