the curse of threes

It turns out I did come back from Chattanooga with bronchitis. And a sinus infection. And then, late last week, I came down with fifth disease. And, although not being a particularly vain person, I was a bit embarrassed to show up at work with all of those spots.

The upside was that I had the perfect excuse to lay low this weekend and find stuff to do around the house. The weather cooperated with my plan on Saturday by spitting down rain and keeping me indoors. Now that it's finally warm out, we moved our bed back into our bedroom and I started setting up my new sewing/crafting room. The kids have been a big "help" by sorting fabrics and spools of thread into piles based on color. I should have photos to post by this weekend.


Earlier in the week I finished up the quilt in the above photos for the Four Season Quilt Swap. I put a lot of thought and time into it, but I've pretty much been shamed by the other quilters, who all seem to have tons more talent/experience. My partner should have received her quilt today, and I hope she is happy with her newbie creation. I have lots to learn!

seeing spots

I finished the leopard quilt this weekend. It only took a week from start to finish, which is pretty fast quilting for me! I'm so happy with it, and Xander loves it too. Quinn is feeling a little jealous and is asking when I'll have hers done. I'm afraid that it's going to take a bit longer than a week since I'll be out of town for a few days. Luckily, she's luckily enough to have a big brother who is good at sharing, so they both were wrapped up in his quilt this morning.

The finished, washed size is about 44" x 64"


And now it's all nicely fluffed-up and puckery.


For Quinn's version, I'll be using browns and yellows. Including the top fabric pictured here that I got from Jamie over at PhatFabrics. Jamie is a lovely seller and I'll be buying from her again. Check out her store, she has some great deals going on now. She's on both eBay and Etsy.


In knitting, I learned both increasing and decreasing this week, and am looking forward to getting a little practice time in on the plane. I'm also working on a digital photo project for my friend Lynne. I'll be posting that once I'm a little further along.

snow day

For the past few days it has been unreasonably cold here in the Midwest. The kind of cold where you have to keep the kids inside all day. The kind of cold where you start to think that maybe your family wouldn't mind eating canned soup all week if that means you don't have to go out to do shopping.

But there hasn't been much snow. Still, every school in the area closed today because of the threat of freezing rain this morning. I'm happy to have a day off from bundling up the kids and getting them out of the house. It's nice to spend an extra day in our jammies staying cozy by the fire.

Plus, I'll have an extra hour and a half in my day since I don't have to drive to and from work and daycare. I plan on using that time to start quilting Xander's leopard quilt. I put together the top over the weekend, and am soooo happy with it so far!


The turquoise is a little bright for me, but Xander loves it. And, I have to admit, I love how it turned out on the applique. It's the first time I've tried reverse sewing the stabilizer to the fabric and then finger turning it before ironing and sewing. Even with all of the curves, it turned out nice.


Also on the 'nice' list this week is this art bag I whipped up for a birthday gift for one of Quinn's school mates. It has a nice little drawstring top and a front pocket. It's filled with art supplies for a creative three-year-old. Pom-poms, pipe cleaners, pencils, scissors, and some glitter glue. I like it so much I'm putting together the same thing for one of Xander's friends party for this weekend.

'cheating' quilt complete

It's finished! The only thing I don't like about the 'totally cheating' quilt is that I can't seem to snap a good photo of it. I finished it up yesterday and got it in the wash today. It's now all full of dimpled, puckered quilty goodness. I love it!

I tied off each square with 100% wool yarn, and it felted a bit more than I had hoped in the wash. Still, I'm really happy with the results. Especially the binding. Which is hands-down the best I've ever done, thanks to a couple of tips from Lynne.

Xander and Quinn love it and spent evening 'sharing it' since it isn't large enough for both of them to snuggle under together.

Despite the lack of photos (hurry up, Spring! I need light after 6:30 pm!), I had a great crafting week. I learned the purl stitch this week in knitting class. Now I know what they mean by "knit one, purl two". I think I remember that from old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Strange.

I also took a photography lesson from Ray. I've had a Nikon D-70 for the past couple of years, and I've hardly ever taken it off of 'auto'. Kind of crazy since I took photography way back in high school and have at least a basic knowledge of camera theory.

For homework, I have to take photos every day on manual, for 30 days. The quilt photos are day 1. As you can see, there's lots of room for improvement.

totally cheating

Last week I was feeling a little lazy. This happens a lot in January. Once the holidays are over we seem to get hit with an obnoxious twenty degree drop in temperature and snow. The snow would have been festive in December, but in January it just serves as a reminder that we have at two more months of winter to get through and I start to feel, well, lazy.

So, I spent a lot of time last week on the couch with the TV on and a nice wood fire going, glass of red wine in hand, reading blogs. While purusing The Purl Bee I came across a link to their echino line of fabrics and found this great patchwork fabric (Kokka Fabrics Echino Red Squares 95000-500/b14). The perfect project for someone feeling lazy - a fake patchwork quilt!

I ordered a yard and then was off to the fabric store to get some kona cotton for the backing and the strippy binding. The binding I pieced together from four different colors of fabric (okay, that part wasn't lazy).

Then, I just quilted the layers together by "stitching in the ditch" between the squares of the printed top layer. Viola! The totally cheating quilt! I still have to finish sewing the binding on, but I want to take the whole thing over to Lynn's place so she can show me how to correctly hand stitch a binding. The finished quilt should be up here in the next week.

Reversable stash

I found this great canvas in my stash and used it as the main panels for the front of these two patchwork handbags. The top panel is the right side of the fabric, and the bottom panel is the wrong side. I'm going to try to get both bags done by Friday.


I also whipped up these two mini zipper pouches using the same fabrics that I used for my last messenger tote. One is for me, and the other is for my friend's mom who took a look at my great grandmother's quilt and showed me how to repair it. That is going to be one long project. And when it's done, there's no way it's going on my bed, like I originally had hoped. Turns out it is way to fragile.

Labor Day Arts Festival

I got up early(ish) and headed over to the Upper Arlington Labor Day Arts Festival to try and beat the heat and crowds. I'm not sure that I beat either of them, but I was able to make it over without my kids, and actually take a good look at everything without worrying about little hands. I was even able to try my hand at blowing a glass bead. Let's just say there wasn't any natural ability that was uncovered in this area. Some highlights:

:: Meeting Tim George "Mr. Etch A Sketch" ::

:: And seeing some of his work up close ::

:: Talking to the wonderful Tara Hubbard who had a another great selection of handbags this year ::

:: Seeing this amazing quilt by Barbara Robertson that took over a year to make ::

:: My first (and probably last) attempt at glass blowing ::

:: Recycled bottle caps ready to be used in a mural ::

Fox Party

Quinn had a nice, fun, (and relatively quiet) birthday party today. Because it's Labor Day weekend, all of the usual invitees were out on vacation and we celebrated with just the extended family (all 13 of us). I was able to pull together enough fox-related activities in order to satisfy Quinn's near to last minute request for a 'fox-party'. Both kids are upstairs now sound asleep, and after finishing this glass of wine, I'm going to bed myself.

:: Fox shirts - finished up just in time! ::


:: Birthday banner in the dining room ::

:: Fox bags for the pinata ::

:: Fox and flowers cake ::

:: Fox for Quinn ::

:: Baby quilt for the Fox ::

:: Quinn with her new bike gear ::