Revised Must-Do List

OK so I've been in a craft-induced frenzy which has since led to a craft-induced coma. I have all this fabric with no immediate purpose, a half-finished baby quilt top, weekender travel bag supplies piled up in a corner, cut-out chef's jacket pattern, and a new Japanese sewing book. I NEED to get it together here folks. Its starting to STRESS me out, and isn't my crafting supposed to promote the opposite effect? (affect?? ugh whatever) So here is the plan, Stan.

1. FINISH quilt top for baby.
2. Cut-out weekender bag pieces (I think this project may best be done in stages)
3. Sew a dress using muslin to get the perfect fit from my new Japanese book.
4. Sew dress from muslin pattern using some fabric lying around here.
5. Use my newly acquired pattern following skills to finish chefs jacket.

OK that's the plan for now. I am hoping that by putting this down I will force myself to follow it. HOPING. really HOPING.

In the meantime check out my friend's blog. No these boys aren't crafty, but they are pretty entertaining in that post-college life way. Let me know what you think!!

LA and More!

First of all, I just found out I got into the Master of Arch program at UIC in Chicago!!! I am SO excited. I really wanted to stay here in Chicago, and the program at UIC is fantastic, and I can even stay in my same neighborhood!! The only downside is less time for crafting...haha. I will find time no matter what!!

On to the point of this post, my amazing trip to LA. I took the quilt I had been working on as a housewarming present for my best friend from Utah, Jennifer, her wonderful boyfriend Robbie, and their dog Roman.

They loved it. And so of course did Roman!! The next day Jen and I visited her friend Ashley at her office/showroom. Ashley is the designer and owner of the Myne-LA fashion label, and her designs have been seen on everyone from Rachel Bilson to Vanessa Hudgeons, to Selena Gomez and she is even featured in Elle this March! Her clothes are exactly my style, simple, beautiful, modern yet also with a vintage flair, and easy enough to wear anywhere for a hot look. Definitely check her out!!

The next day was Valentines Day (blech!) but it was the perfect day to be outside. Jen had to work so I walked up a few blocks to Runyon Canyon for a hike. I admit I was so busy looking for famous people the whole time that I barely noticed how steep the hike was, but believe me I am feeling it in my legs even today!! I guess thats what happens when you live in the FLAT midwest!! The skies over LA were crystal clear and the temp perfect for a brisk hike. I came back and laid out on their grassy lawn and enjoyed as much of the sun as I could before heading back to Chicago. That night I met up with a great friend from Colgate, a superstar on the Bakersfield Condors, and his equally stellar teammate. They were the best Valentine's dates ever. We went to dinner at my favorite place, barneys beanery, then hit up a club, a must to complete a fantastic night. I danced circles around those boys, but they are definitely better on skates!! (thats no question as I am a disaster on ice).

The next morning Jen and I headed to the Long Beach Flea Market where I picked up some fantastic finds:
Several embroidery patterns (Aunt Martha!), some Scandinavian style trim (Heather is going to LOVE this!), and a Coats&Clark book, "100 Embroidery Stitches". Can you tell what my next project is going to be?? I also got a beautiful resin aspen leaf pendant. That night we made a wonderful burrito dinner, and I made a Brownie pudding, courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa. One word: wow. It was the most amazing dessert EVER.

My last day was Monday and before I hopped on the plane I took a second trip to Mood Fabrics. Uh. Bad. Idea. Really. I have a hard time with clothing patterns, that whole following written directions thing is lost on me. I need pics. Please. but I came away with the absolutely most beautiful silks I've ever seen...I'm enlisting my mom to help me make a dress and two skirts. (do you see the ant fabric in pumpkin!?)
Then it was back on the plane after a sad goodbye to my Los Angeles family. I really had the most fantastic weekend. I can't thank Jen and Robbie enough for putting me up. I will hopefully be back there soon, this time for the Rose Bowl Flea Market, and maybe a hockey game???

Pencil Roll!

I have talked about the baby quilt I am making for my friend Jackie's boy bun in the oven, but I wanted to make something for her 1.5ish year old Tillie since she deserves a little present too!! So I have seen these colored pencil/crayon rolls all over these days. I finally tackled the project and came up with my own pattern/method!! (really impressed with myself to be honest) I even think I will put up a tutorial on how to make it!! But first I want to show it off:

PS: Jackie if you read this, I just couldn't keep it a secret!! xoxo

PPS: Heather please don't be mad I used some of our shared fabric!! I heart it!!

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

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!!