Sunny Saturday

I took the first sunny day in awhile to take a few pictures to share. The first one is of a small stack of my fabric stash. These are all recent purchases of fat quarters from across Etsy. Floragraphix is my FAVORITE of them all, but there are some Amy Butlers in there and Patricia Bravo. My original plan was to make lots of laptop cozies but I havent gotten around to it. Some day soon I will get a little push I hope!!
The one on the right is a fabric jewelery pouch I made to give my friend Ruthie for the big 2-5 tomorrow. She shares her birthday with the Super Bowl, how uhhhh exciting? Or really just a reason for us to give her a little party without her knowing. There is a little treat tucked inside the pouch. I made it out of Heather Ross Mendocino fabrics I had leftover from the baby quilt I just made. We are also making cupcakes so I thought that cute cupcake toppers would be the perfect accompaniment. I just used some images of the Mendocino line and now all I have to do is find my paper cutter and put them on some toothpicks. Im going to use a cupcake idea from blempgorf and I will let you all know how it goes. Happy sunny Saturday from chilly Chicagoland!

Bound

My mom searched out binding for me back in SLC. I wasn't having any luck on my search here in IL and online, so I trusted her to pick some out and (wash) and ship it here. I cut right into it and sewed it onto the quilt. For some reason I have the worst time with the whole "continuous binding" concept. Well anyway, nothing left to do by hand sew the back!! Ill post pics then....Hope it turns out like I imagined it!

Sad Mittens

Sad Mittens, originally uploaded by Carson.J My friend Scooter "gave" these to me about 4 years ago. I say "gave" because it wasn't like a formal gift exchange, it was more like, I used to always borrow them and he let me keep them. Maybe he doesn't realize he gave them to me but anyway, THANKS SCOOTER!! I've worn them every winter since then, I've tried "patching" them (as you can probably tell) but they are now beyond repair. They have fleece on the inside so they should last to the end of this winter. But I either need someone to direct to a place I can pick up a pair of these (likely in Canada somewhere) or sit me down to help me knit a pair myself (uhhh I prefer option 1). Anyone?? Love, Jenny and her Sad Mittens
PS did I mention that they are probably my most favorite "gift" ever??

Great Weekend!

I had a wonderful weekend. First I finished off Jen's quilt (well except the binding). This accomplishment kept me up late friday and took all day Saturday. BUT it was very worth it!! I think it ended turning out amazing. Well you can decide...

Then "the girls" came over that night for some wine and snacks. I had to clean my craft stuff up and that was a task! There was thread and small scraps of fabric everywhere. My friends still ended up with thread all over them. Sorry!! Heres a pic of my cleaned up living area:

This morning, Heather and Nate picked me up and we grabbed brunch with Ruthie and Ian. Then the girls headed to my new favorite fabric store, The Needle Shop. We picked up fabric and headed back to Heather's crib to craft. We wanted to get Ruthie back into sewing and she picked Amy Butler's Chelsea Bag as a starter project. Well it turned into about 6 hours of cutting, fusing, pulling, cursing, sewing, and lots of laughing. We almost got it finished for her, but she just needs to hand sew the two sides together. Again, the machine had a hard time with the thick interfacing. Guess I will have to start saving up for an industrial machine!! I bought some beautiful fabric to make a clutch, keep a look out for that this week!! Thanks girls for such a wonderful day sewing!! xoxo

Another Travel Disaster

Another travel disaster, originally uploaded by Carson.J.Yesterday I attempted the drive to eastern Indiana again. Well, it was a full 50 degrees warmer than the last time, a beautiful day, and I was zooming around in my little rental Prius. The good fortune was not to last however as I apparently broke the "engine shield" going over some snow. The car had to be towed and fixed at the local Toyota dealership, causing a 3 hour delay in my day. Dad says that once January is over my year will get much better!!!

...hope hes right. This is supposed to be MY year!!

Cool!

Found this little tool while I was scrolling through Jessica Jones' blog.

Style Obsession

More on this later, but i am seriously obsessed with Smythe. I found them thanks to MakeSomething. I wish I could afford each and every one of these jackets. I'd wear a new one each day.

Design Disgust?

So I am working on the quilt I mentioned in the last post. As you may be able to tell it is made up of different shades of purple and grey. Well, I don't know if anyone has noticed but there is like ZERO grey fabric floating around out there. I only found two shades of grey at my local Joanns, both different weights and had to order a third (which seems to be a silly waste of money). I went looking for more yardage of the darker grey today and it was nowhere to be found. UGH. I also just want grey striped fabric for the binding!! Why can't anyone carry grey striped fabric!?! I am seriously doubting this project, despite the top pretty much being finished.

Jen's Quilt

Jen's Quilt, originally uploaded by Carson.J.
Yay! Finally got my third grey (Kona Slate) in the mail yesterday from Fabric Depot. Washed it this morning (even with a massive hangover), then after brunch with Katie I sewed and cut and sewed and cut and cursed at my machine, and sewed some more. Can't wait to get the top done so I can start working on the machine quilting!!!

Fabric Baskets

I found this tutorial on MissBehave's blog and had to try it out. I have a teeny tiny little studio apartment and it seems like all my things are always being knocked off of shelves and tables. Heather and I bought some fabric last weekend at the Vogue Fabrics in Evanston to make the big boxes, but after I found that great fabric yesterday at Joanns I wanted to make something smaller for my bathroom. My little Elnita sewing machine had a hard time at the end sewing through two layers of heavy heavy stabilizer plus home dec weight fabric and cotton fabric so I just hand sewed the corners where there was the most bulk. I wish I could just zoom through all the layers but my sewing machine does what it can and I do love it!! I can handle a little hand stitching on a Friday night. Besides that the little box turned out GREAT! It was exactly what I needed in my bathroom and it is currently storing all my day to day makeup and tools.

Shoutout

I have to mention my fellow crafter and partner in crime in all things involving my right brain, Heather. She is a wonderful hostess who throws the most amazing parties that even Martha would praise. She is also up for any adventure (especially to Ikea!), and will generously take me with her (since I'm car-less) wherever she goes!! Thanks Heather!!


This is a pic of Heather, Dan, and myself. Heather and I made this beautiful shirt for him before he moved to California. The back said "the fastest gun this side of the Chicago River". We thought it was pretty clever and Dan humored us by wearing it the whole night (under his buttondown, but still!!)

xoxoxoxxo

Shot of the thermometer in my rental truck

Shot of the thermometer in my rental truck, originally uploaded by Carson.J. Yes that temperature really says -23 degrees. This was at about 8 AM on the Indiana Toll Road. Shortly after that I began to see cars off the side of the road and nearly spun out myself. Unfortunately the rental truck didn't have 4WD as it was advertised by the lovely Enterprise rental agent. Seriously, who gets/makes a TRUCK without 4WD? I don't understand. I didn't make it to my destination, I had to pull over and collect myself then turn around and make my way back to chicago. On the way back I hit a HUGE traffic jam....

When I finally made it back to the city, I took a much deserved stop at Joanns Fabric. I picked up this really great home dec fabric (30% off). I had been needing draft stoppers for my doors and windows because this 100 year old apt building keeps none of the heat in or cold air out. I also had some kitty litter around from when I had thought I wanted to adopt a cat (another story for another time), so I was able to make two using the instructions here. My sewing machine stopped liking the fabric/kitty litter combo so i finished up the second by hand. A little sloppy but I think they do the job and I LOVE the fabric!!

Resurrgence of the blog

Hello, I don't know that anyone will ever read these posts. But I have been inspired by so many things recently that I need to share them. And since my friends, family, coworkers, random people I force into chatting with me, can only tolerate so much I thought I would try the blogosphere.

I haven't been making my jewelery for about 3 months now. I'm not sure why, I have a tendency to lose interest in my projects pretty quickly. I sold a total of two items to people I didn't know so I guess I got frustrated and gave up. But not to worry, because I have been crafty nevertheless.

First I was working on my architecture school applications. I LOVED putting together the portfolio!! I am obsessed with blurb and lulu and ended up making a book for my brother for Christmas. I now have dreams of making picture books for everyone in my life. In addition, I found out that my good friends, Simon and Lisa, were going to have their first baby in March. A girl!! So that gave me the perfect excuse to buy some of the awesome fabric Id been scoping on etsy and make a quilt.

Well that opened a HUGE can of worms. I finished the top and sent it along with the beautiful backing home to SLC with my mom to get quilted. I haven't jumped into machine quilting yet, mainly because my sewing machine might not make it through. And i might go crazy, so I sent it to the Quilting Bees, and they did a phenomenal job. I finished it up when I was home for Christmas and sent it off about a week ago. I got a message from Lisa and they loved it!! I can't wait for the little one to come and snuggle up in it. I always dream that my quilts will become their beloved comfort blanket forever.



During my week in Utah my mom and I went to the most amazing quilt store, Quilts, Etc. It is so huge and overwhelming if you don't have a project in mind. But Madre of course managed to find a project, and somehow it got passed along to me!!

So the first weekend I was home, I felt the itch in my pedal foot and sewed the whole top. I am a little nuts. So that got shipped off to mom for quilting, but she hasn't made the hand off yet to QB.



Since then, I've obsessively been stalking etsy for more fabric and bought ALOT to make goodness knows what. Laptop covers? but how many laptop covers does one girl, with one laptop need!?! Ive volunteered to make everyone I know one, but no one really leapt to the offer. Oh well, I'm just going to put together some more quilts. Namely a modern solid colored one for my BFFAEAE Jennifer and another one for my other BFF Jackie and her bun in the oven (a boy!!). I'm going to post things here to ponder, and also to see various images i find in a different light. I am always finding beautiful works of art in nature and in life so I will share them with anyone who reads this!!