only 13 more days left

Jason left for 7 level school yesterday morning at oh-dark-thirty. It's been a day, I miss him already, and I'm not just saying that because I've had to deal with the boys all by myself. :) Wyatt did ok, I'm not sure how much he understands Daddy being gone. He's more concerned with the Iron Man action figure that's going to be his special present from Jason. The last time Jason was gone for any length of time Wyatt wasn't even a year old yet.

I didn't finish quilting the skull quilt in time, so I made something for Jason to take with him. It's a pinup girl on a tiny little pillow. I was embroidering furiously to get it done in time since I was determined Jason would have a memento from home to take with him. I think she turned out really well, and I'd be interested in doing a wall hanging or quilt of a whole bunch of pinup girls. It was fun looking for pictures of vintage posters and tracing different ones. I had to be careful doing the google search because I found a couple of links that lead to really trashy stuff. Yuck!

I don't have a picture of the pillow all put together. I was in mid construction when I took this photo. I wanted to show my friend Monica how it was going (that's her in the chat window to my left). I embroidered on a plain broadcloth square, used a piece of leftover batting and batiste for the back, then quilted around. Then, I used some leftover red batik for the outer backing and a ruffle. Oo-la-la! The red batik is leftovers from the skull quilt, and I thought the deep red color kept it from being too frilly for a man.

Here's another picture I did before I decided to go with the lovely lady in red. I will probably finish her and make another little pillow. I'm taking a break from embroidery for a few days though. It was difficult to keep the purple in my hair from rubbing off onto the picture (because I often reach up and scratch my head), and also to keep sticky little fingers and the furry childrens' hair off of it.

I suppose I could put off some of the crafting I do but it would make me crazy to not have an outlet. I've (willingly, I might add) sacrificed so much of myself to have kids that I'm not going to put off the artistic part of me just because it can be a real pain to keep them away from my things. I just choose crafts that are appropriate for being around the kiddos. I read somewhere once that in order to teach kids to love books, you need books all around the house and children need to see them being read. I see my crafting the same way.

Dollhouse

Wyatt did something that was incredibly cute the other day. We were out on a walk to the store and he found some pinecones, and carried them around the rest of the day. He had two little ones which he told me were the babies, and a big one that was the mama. He said "Where's the daddy pinecone? He's at work!"

So, I've decided to make Wyatt a dollhouse. I don't want to build a big heavy one since we're due to move in a few months and I worry about something tipping over. I'd rather build one than get something premade, because most of those are plastic, they wouldn't ship such a large package here, and they usually look like the Pepto Bismol fairy threw up all over them. Also, this will give me a chance to use bits of things I find to make some furniture. For the main parts, I'm using these wooden crates and painting them. The bigger crates run about 12 bucks a piece, and the small ones are about 7. I thought of attaching them but I'll leave them be so Wyatt can arrange them how he likes and I can use them later as storage boxes.

We had some leftover paint from Wyatt's room, so I got to painting the box straight away. It was really relaxing just slapping the paint on. It's a lovely shade of blue and I'm glad I get to use it again as it's not enough to do another room, but an awful lot to chuck out.

Here's what it looks like so far. During the week I'll probably round up some cardboard, fabric scraps, and the like and make a bed, table, and chairs. What I really need is to find some popsicle sticks. Then I would get to play with paint again . :)

I'll leave you with another picture. You can tell these two have life so hard, right?

Skull quilting progress

I've taken out the skull quilt again. Jason's departure date for 7 level school is approaching fast, and if I want the quilt done for him to take along, I have to haul bum.

I was afraid to do it by machine, but I realized this was the only way I'd finish it on time. I don't have a walking foot, and it's a pretty cheap machine, so I was worried. I made a couple of practice quilt sandwiches and the results weren't too bad so I gave it a go.

The samples showed me that now is not the time to try to learn free motion quilting. :) I need a better foot for that anyhow. So, I decided to just to evenly spaced straight lines. They aren't all across the top in long lines or a grid. I treated the shapes as their own sections. I'm terrible at explaining, but it'll be easier when the whole thing is finished.

I only have one itty-bitty section of straight line quilting left, then I'm going to echo quilt around the outside of the large design. My back, shoulders and left hand are throbbing. It's just your average sewing machine, so I'm having to shove the bulk of the quilt through the miniscule throat space. Also, not having a walking foot, I'm having to use my hands to keep it feeding evenly. I think the only reason it's working at all is it's a thin cotton batting I'm using. Were if high loft batt, I'd be toast. I'd love for the qulting fairy to drop a longarm machine and table on my doorstep, but I don't see that happening anytime soon ( I can see her saying "Ooops, sorry, we don't ship outside the contiguous 48 States").I'm seriously considering getting one of the Flynn multi-system frames.

Anyhoo, here are pictures.

Here is the back.









And here is the front. I must say, I'm really happy with the way it's turning out and I don't often say that since I'm such a perfectionist. Sure, it won't win any shows, but no one will be looking that close at the stitching anyhow. I think reactions will be "Whoa! Skulls! Freakin' awesome!" Or at least hopefully "Whoa! Skulls!
They're ok. "

Long time no post

Goodness, I just realized it's been a long time since I've posted. Not that anyone misses me in the blogworld! But that's ok, I have a great life in the real world so my ego isn't too damaged by not many people commenting. I sure am glad that my whole life doesn't center around the internet and the computer. I talk to people online (most are my friends that have mobved away), but I don't think I'll ever be the type to use the digital world as a substitute.

I've been busy string piecing, something I don't think I'd have the patience to do by hand. I think things are turning out really well, I'm just worried that all my combinations are starting to look the same since I don't have a huge collection of scraps.

Since I'm going for a really scrappy look, I want to make sure I'm not using the same fabrics in the same places. I've been wanting to make some Ohio Star blocks, so I did some scrappy ones with some string piece blocks in between. I think I'm going to throw a few solid color stars in too since I'm starting to run out of long strings.

I'm so happy with the way this is turning out. They're 12 inch blocks so the quilt is growing nicely, and I love the scrappy stars. The best part is I'm making something out of stuff that I probably would have thrown out before. I'm not sure how big I'm going to make it, but I'll post pictures of my progress.

Jason and I went to the big annual summer happening, a.k.a the BASH, last weekend. I thought Wyatt would enjoy some of the rides since they have a few for little kids, but he screamed on every single one! Mal loved them though. I took him on one that was made to look like a hot air balloon , and I held him in my lap. Every time we'd go in the air, Mal would smile and clap his hands. We played a couple of games and won some crappy toys for the boys, ate caramel covered apples, frito pies, and steak sandwiches. It was a great day.

I got a very cute wallet at the bazaar there, made out of the Alexander Henry tattoo flash fabric I've been coveting. I really need to get on E Bay and buy some of this fabric. I think I want to make pillowcases out of it, or a quilt with really big squares to show off the print.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=62814 This is the etsy shop of one of the people I bought it from, it's called Sinner VIP. I also like the things Katie makes and finds at fatpatch. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=109655.

I love buying handmade things from people. I'm a crafter so I can appreciate the effort it takes to make things, and I really love having something that can't be bought at a chain store. Don't get me wrong, I loves me some Wal Mart, but it seems like handwork isn't appreciated now that things can be easily obtained at the store. Sure, I could have bought a wallet for cheaper than I bought the one above, but it would have been the same as everyone else's and I wouldn't have gotten to appreciate the crafter's work.

Well, I'm off to catch some zzzzzs, so I'll leave you with this

Made in Germany from American parts :)

He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty Wyatt!

http://thesurrealist.co.uk/movie.php?word=Wyatt

This brought me unexpected giggles today. It's a random movie quote generator where a name can be substituted. My post title is the most recent one I did.

I am disappointed my machine crapped out. I really wanted to do some string piecing with the huge scrap collection I'm acquiring. I know it could be done by hand but with some of the bits I'm using, I think a machine will be better because the stitches will be sturdier. I would love to have a nice Bernina, Janome, or Husqvarna, but that just isn't in the budget right now and would be difficult to obtain before we move back to the States in a few months. I'd have to order it and wouldn't get to test it in person, and have my mother in law send it here since authorized dealers don't send machines outside of their area. All those companies have overseas locations, but I'm pretty sure those will be 220 voltage.

So, since there are no repair shops in the area that I'm aware of and we're moving soon and I need a machine now, I put a cheap (94 US Dollars) Brother machine on layaway at the BX. I paid half today and will pay the rest of it when Jason gets paid again, or perhaps sooner if we have extra before then.

I found an adorable outfit today while I was looking at the machines. It looks like a minidress but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be a top. I don't think I'll do the minidress thing now that I'm not a size 4 anynmore. Plus,when I'm chasing the boys at the playground, I think the other parents can live fulfilling lives without knowing the exact brand and color of underwear I'm wearing. Anyhow, here it is.

I wasn't so sure about the yellow but Jason gave it the ok, and he has pretty good taste in clothes for a computer geeky guy. :) I want to get some wool roving and make felt flowers so I can pin them in my hair. I think yellow and orange will stand out great against my still purple hair. I think the empire style is really cute. I might have to try my hand at replicating this look when I get my machine.

I have explored some hand piecing ideas the past few days to keep my hands busy. Here is a star I made. It was a pain to trace all the shapes individually and not rotary cut them but it was very easy to hand sew having a line to follow, and I was also able to use some small scraps.

The points don't match up very well in the middle, but I'm ok with that since the star lies flat, and I managed to sew three quarters of it together while I was sitting by the tub while the boys were playing in their bath. Huzzah for multi-tasking!

a bit of strong language ahead

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3269485&page=1

What an asshat. Wait, that's an insult to people who are asshats.

quilting progress and yummy dinner

That little dot is there because I couldn't figure out how to unpost a picture I didn't want there.:)

I realized the other day I haven't really done any piecing in a long time. Save for a couple of small side projects, I've been putting all my creative energy into Jason's quilt. I'm not as frustrated as when I was basting it,though, because I feel now that I'm quilting, I'm actually making progress.

I'm still not sure if I'll have it done in time, but I will try my best. The main reason I'm not on it right now is my left middle finger is sore from feeling the tip of the needle from the backside to make sure it's gone all the way through. I think I've even managed to sew my finger to the quilt a couple of times. Oh well, at least if I bleed on it, it won't show since the material is red and black. :)

Here's what I've done so far. I took pictures of the front but it doesn't really show well with the basting stitches. I'm using black thread in the black spaces,and red in the red. The lines in the square are nice and straight thanks to scotch tape. Boy, it was a pain stitching around it, but now that I see how nice the lines are I'm glad I did it. I had a hard time deciding what to do in the red parts, but I'm just going to free hand some nice little arches. I don't have a decent marking pencil, and I think with the mottled texture it looks fine it things aren't perfectly straight. If I were doing it by machine, I'd probably do a meander stitch there.

We had the best dinner tonight. For some reason, I was having a strong craving for black eyed peas (the food, not the band). So,I cooked two slices of bacon and saved the drippings and sauteed some chopped celery and onions in half of it, the dumped in the tins of the peas and let that simmer. Then, I made some cornbread from scratch, no sugar, with a drained can of fiesta corn dumped in. I used the remaining bacon grease to oil the pie plate so when I took it out of the oven the bread was light and fluffy with a fine brown crust on the outside. I plopped some beans on the plate, added a nice hunk of cornbread, and some thick slices of tomato on the side.Oh, and the sweet tea. It was all so good, it was almost better than chocolate. I'm definitely going to have it for dinner again tomorrow night.