Diary of a Mad Fabri-Holic

It's a jungle out there...

"Out there" being the fabric store.  The one I used to work at.  The one that is giving up its lease in a very pricey part of town, and consolidating with its sister store at an all new location.  And, having a moving sale.  35% off EVERYTHING.  I stopped in after work because I needed a pair of Machingers for a machine quilting refresher course I am taking this weekend.  I actually didn't even know the sale had started.  Really.  So, I got the gloves.  And then, well, my inner fabri-holic came out to play.  Can you really blame me, though?  35% off everything.  (It's a good thing I didn't take the no-buy challenege!) 

I started with a batik.  A batik I already know and love. 

It's going to be the backing for my snakes quilt!  And seeing as how that one is somewhere between queen and king, I needed lots of fabric.  I took everything on the bolt- 11 yards- and rejoiced.  I have been combing on-line sales and discount sites for a cheap batik for the back of that quilt.  I was nervous about committing to that much yardage sight unseen for a batik- if my monitor was even a little bit wrong, I might end up with $100 of crap.  So, problem happily solved!  I can baste this quilt soon- on my new-to-me tables.  When my office moved, we got rid of lots of our old junky furniture, including a bunch of long folding tables.  I salvaged 2 for basting purposes.  They can live in the garage when I don't need 'em, and come out to play when it's basting time.  Hopefully this will solve lots of my basting issues?

I also picked up some new animal fabrics for Princess Girl.  She picked the one on the bottom herself a while back. 

She wants a jungle quilt...  Now, we've added to it nicely, I think!  There were some other purchases.  A new thimble.  2 yards of 2 great batiks, and a cute cowboy print to make a pillowcase for Train Boy's buddy's birthday this weekend.  If Princess Girl hadn't been with me, and if we hadn't been racing to get to Train Boy's day care, I would probably have spent more.  I may have to go back.

Meanwhile, I got the place-mats all ready to quilt.  I wasn't certain the best way to make them, so first I have made them into little place-mat sandwiches.  I was scrounging batting scraps and taking total advantage of the bridge stitch on my machine.  It sews 2 fabrics together side by side, leaving a completely flat seam.  Perfect for piecing batting!  That stitch alone has saved me tons of $$$ over the years...  Tomorrow night, I hope to finish the place-mats.  Cross fingers, or, "mingers" as Train Boy says.  And when they are done, and mailed, I can go back to working on what I really want to be doing.  (If you're not sure what that would be, scroll down to the previous post!)

Klimt-a-licious

Wow.  That's all I have to say.  I stopped over-thinking the layout and just went row by row.  I did rearrange a few pieces, but it was not at all my usual freak-out.  And the entire quilt is ready to piece.

Go check it out larger.  Please?  You can really see the amazing colors in the larger image.  Part of me really thinks it looks reminiscent of paintings by Gustav Klimt.  Esp one of my favorites.  Here's just a little detail.

Is it really awful to toot my own horn?  Because, I think I'm going to.  I am just SO in love with this quilt.  The colors seem perfect to me.  I did remove one of the larger blocks and replace it with a newly-cut substitute.  It seemed too brown in the large block, but I left the fabric everywhere else.  It's a good accent to pop the others.  Just walking into my sewing room right now makes me happy.  This quilt covers the entire wall, and gives the room a most amazing feeling.

Yesterday was a great day all over.  Not only did I finish the quilt layout, and piece all the place-mats (to be quilted tonight and tomorrow), I also had a day all to myself with Princess Girl.  Thanks to the no-daycare situation, I took off work to take care of her, and we had a mommy-daughter bonding day.  We started at IHOP with chocolate chip pancakes- for both of us. 

Then, we went and got mother-daughter manicures. 

Really.  At the local beauty school, it's only $9- and you get to keep the nail polish.  It was her first manicure and she was SO excited to be a big girl.  All day, she made everybody admire the fact that her nails matched her Crocs.  Part of me can't believe I let my 5 year old get her nails done, and part of me got so much joy out of seeing her SO happy.  That was $9 incredibly well spent.  We followed this up with some back to school shopping...  New clothes for both of us.  All in all, a great girly day.

Looting Las Vegas

Thank you all for the wonderful welcomes home. When I get a free moment, I'll get back to you all, I swear.  I think I even saw some new commentors on here! It's almost enough to make me go away all over again...  But alas, the vacation budget is busted and Granny and Papa have had their fill of the kids.  For now at least.  We're all headed down to their place in SC in a few months. 

I swear, I meant to come back over the weekend and show you my Las Vegas loot.  But then, Princess Girl continued to get sicker, my folks were still in town and all was chaos.  After my week of vacation time from work, I've now been home 2 days with my daughter, who, according to the Dr, will be well enough to return to camp tomorrow.  That would be the week long camp we spent a fortune on, because her daycare is done, so we wouldn't have to use all our leave taking care of her.  Oooops.  Tomorrow she can learn about fish and outer space at her Daddy's museum, at least, and we'll get 3 of the 5 days out of  it.  She's feeling 100% improved, and is kind of bored at home. Plus, Granny and Papa spoiled her rotten while she was ill, and returning to reality is proving tricky.  Ah well.

We went to only one craft related store while in Las Vegas.  Fortunately, we found a quilt shop that also carries a nice selection of yarns! 

How cool is that?  Nancy's Quilt Shop has a large selection of higher end fabrics, although, I was very let down by the Kaffe selection.  Actually, that was probably a good thing, since I spent enough without that!  The store was easy to navigate and well organized, and the staff were helpful without being obnoxious.  I bought 3 patterns- one I had never seen before, one to make a penguin quilt for Princess Girl's favorite teacher, and also the bento box pattern that others like Hanne have made so beautifully.  I bought LOTS of FQs.  Little snippets of novelty fabric make me happy :-)  The clearance area was large, and I found several gems tucked away.  One, a fabulous face fabric,

I am now kicking myself for not buying more of... It was on sale, but not as cheap as some others, so I thought why buy more? Now that I have it at home, I love it so much. Ah, well.  The batiks around it were not on sale, but, they're wonderful.

True to myself, I bought some sparkly purple novelty yarns. 

Shocking, I know.  I just thought these three little balls would be so much fun to knit into a very very funky scarf.  Plus, they were 50% off, so that made me feel better.  Also very cool- with any yarn purchase, you got a free felted wine tote pattern. I think it will make for some lovely gifts in the future!

I have made a lovely little mosaic to show you all my purchases in one spot.

Click on it, and it will take you to Flickr.  At the Flickr page, there will be links to bigger shots of anything you want to see bigger...  If you want to see anything bigger.

The store had a Hubby chair, but, someone else was in it.  The Hubby was a very very good sport, but, he also got a treat out of this.  We never would have seen that amazing soul food cafe had we not been searching for this store, and esp. not if we weren't driving to this store from Savers, where I convinced him we should go. 

So, he got an awesome meal for his trouble...  Savers Las Vegas was interesting- I found what certainly seemed to be some pairs of stripper boots, and not any interesting tchotkes.  I wonder, since Vegas has so many vintage stores selling things I love at ridiculous prices, if the thrift stores get plundered on a regular basis?  But, we did find a slew of great books, and I have come home with enough reading material to last a few weeks!  Everyone wins!

The snakes are TOO BIG!

The snakes are growing!  The snakes are growing! 

Which, actually, has turned out to present two big ole challenges.  First off, this is the biggest quilt I have worked on since The Hubby made my design wall (aka two felt backed tablecloths tacked to the wall...)  And, it turns out, to see the quilt, I have to drag my cutting table into the middle of the room.  Where it can't stay, due to space restrictions.  I may try laying this out horizontally soon.

Problem #2 is that- while, we took the original pattern from the book to the copy shop and had them enlarge it the specified 400%, it turns out, that was too big!  My blocks are about 2 inches too big, and, last night I realized- I was going to run out of the lavender background batik!  ACK!  I had enough to finish the blocks, but, not enough for the borders.  And even though the quilt will probably be long enough that I could skip top and bottom borders, the sides were not wide enough.  Grumble.  I didn't want to piece a border from the various snake fabrics as I really love the border-free look of the original.  So today I hightailed it to an LQS that I only like for its batik selection, and where I bought the original.  And, they had another bolt.  Which is good, because I finished the first bolt months ago.  I intended the fabric for the background of another quilt, and then it was going to be for Love Beads from the Modern Quilt Workshop, but now I'm planning to do that one in grey- and purple.  Anyway!  Crisis resolved, I bought 4 more yards, and now, I can continue!  Ahem, I may also have bought another 3 yards of fabric, but, let's not talk about that stash enhancement.  Or, do you want to know?  1 yard of a cute retro pink poodle flannel, for Princess Girl's Xmas present.  Hmm, I should probably start that.  And 2 yards of an amazingly cute ice cream cone print. 

Oi, what a weakness for novelties I have.

Meanwhile, I am reading the most fascinating book I have picked up in quite some time.  And eye-opening, and heartbreaking too.  The Girls Who Went Away is an amazing read. It is the story, written by an adoptee, of women, young teens and early 20s mostly, who gave away babies for adoption between 1945-1973 (the end of WWII to the passing of Roe V Wade...)  The Hubby is actually one of these babies, and I have always wondered about his other mother, and that connection being out there somewhere.  What is so shocking to me is how naive these girls were, and how cruelly treated.  The idea that anyone could give up a baby and forget about that baby forever seems ludicrous to me.  (Especially with the 2 of my own.)  And often, these babies it seems were pretty much forced away from the young mothers, who knew nothing of their own rights, and received no support from society.  These poor girls received so little information that some of them were taken into the delivery room, still not knowing where the baby would come out.  I cannot imagine the terror!  The author of this book has done an amazing job balancing first person interviews with historical research, and also her own journey as an adoptee.  It is depressing to read of how so many of these young moms never recovered emotionally...  I have to say, I'm doing a lousy job trying to convey how simply amazing this book, and the chunk of American history it exposes, are, but, really, what an amazing read.  It's so darn good I may not work on the snakes at all tonight, even though the kids are tucked safely in bed after a wild and crazy and H*O*T day at a local free kid festival.  Every year it seems to hit the hottest weekend of the summer.

A busy little bee, that's me...

Really, I'm not dead, and I haven't gotten bored with blogging and forgotten about all of you.  Really.  Between Princess Girl's birthday (thanks for all the lovely birthday greetings and comments on my icky birth story...), and The Thesis From Hell (took a vacation day from work yesterday to crank out a new section per advice of my advisor), and my annual pilgrimage to buy cast off rich kid clothes (odd but true) and, oh yes, a book signing last night... (In case you can't tell, Debbie Stoller is the glamorous tan blonde one, and I'm the fat pasty one!)

...life has been a wee bit insane.  I am so wiped I nearly feel asleep in a meeting on Wednesday.  Wonderful, professional behavior.

With all this madness, I have created next to nothing as of late.  Unless you count the 10 page essay on challenges I faced in my thesis?  While I was working on that at home yesterday, I got so antsy in my super-clean sewing/computer room that I actually got out some old WIPs, just so the room would feel more alive.  Of course, one of my favorite ways to procrastinate is to shop on-line, so while making nothing, and busting ZERO stash, I have expanded...  Bad Sam!  Found some awesome oranges on clearance at the Fat Quarter Shop:

Does shopping in the color theme count for project spectrum?  Sheesh.  I also splurged on some monkeys.  Lord knows, I need no monkeys, but, they were so cute.  I may just sew the charm squares together into a super simple patchwork quilt...and keep it for myself.  I also bought 8 yards of backing for my T-shirt quilt.   Found one of my favorite Kaffe Fassett's on sale for a great price, and since this quilt is all about me and my favorite things, I decided to go for it.  Total indulgence.

And I spent a little more money. Picked up two quilts from the machine quilter at the LQS.  Remember these?

They look awesome!  I chose a pattern that reminded me of 50s linoleum for the Whacked Out Wives:

And Pam, the quilter, suggested working the words "eek" and "boo" into a simple stipple on the Haunted Log Cabin!

Okay, they're impossible to see in this tiny image, but click on it for a larger view,should you want to.

Meanwhile, I'm swamped at work, and Train Boy's teacher made me cry today.  I *think* The Hubby and i get to take a vacation together, with NO KIDS, thank you Granny, in August.   If I can just make it until then.

 

 

Oh where, oh where has my little Sam gone?

Perhaps you may have noticed- I haven't been blogging for a few days.  Yet again, our house is under a plague.  IF we can keep this going through Friday, one of us will have been sick or injured for 2 straight months.  All, the joys of parenthood.  This time, I had some stomach issues which I'm blaming on the Asian buffet we sometimes frequent.

Train Boy has a super high fever and was generally miserable,

and The Hubby gets the prize- he's been sick with various complaints for nearly 2 straight weeks.  Thanks to a special exhibit at his museum, he's been having a lot of trouble getting time off, but today he basically said screw it, and he's home in bed.  Poor guy!

So what have I been up to? I finished putting together my package for the Coloriffic Swaporama for April- theme of purple and green. 

I knitted a silly little bag

from a free pattern at the Lion Brand website.  I'll be mailing it off on Friday- first day I have time to get to the Post Office.  I really hate working with fun fur, but the bag is cute, and, I already had all the yarn in my meager sad stash.

I also finished my cousin's little baby quilt (no new photo, sorry!), and will mail that Friday as well.  I'm broken hearted as I learned she's having an unnecessary C-section by choice. Perfectly healthy young girl, perfectly healthy pregnancy.  This is a real hot button issue with me- and I've done it both ways myself- though my c-section was NOT by choice.  It was so hard to put on my fake happy voice when I talked to her this weekend...  The c-section rate in the USA is appalling!  Damn you, Brittney Spears...  And fearful doctors, and malpractice lawyers, and well, everyone!

And, I finally photographed some recent thrifty finds- I seem to have been focused on the kitchen as of late.

Most of my best thrifty find of late have been great kid clothes.   

What else have we been up to?  Hmm, a huge influx of new books, both library and purchased!  Check out my list on the side bar if you're curious...  Oh, and planning Princess Girl's 5th birthday party!!!  I cannot believe she is that old!  We have tended to go overboard with birthdays in the past, so this year we've scaled back a bit.  It should be fun!

Okay, I'm off to heal my family.  And my legwarmers- yup, I dropped another stitch or something, and am awaiting expert help to fix it...  Hint, hint...

 

That's not flying, it's falling with style...

10 points to anyone who can name the movie referenced in the title. Hint: it's animated...

I think I may have been letting the kids watch too much TV lately, judging by the titles of my last 2 posts!

So, what's the "falling with style" I'm talking about?  Well, I've been trying to be good about NOT fabric shopping.  After all, I have a stash that can accommodate my shopping needs!  And, I don't really have a budget that can...esp. as I buy more and more yarn.  (Interesting aside- I was at a lovely knit evening the other night- more in another post to come, I swear.  Anyway, there was some discussion of which craft is more costly- knitting or quilting.  The knitters-only/predominantly all thought quilting, but I thought knitting.  The cost of a sewing machine was offered up as a major reason why.  However, that aside, I really feel that yarn is way more costly than fabric.  My legwarmers cost me $37 in yarn- not counting the $15 needles!  Those are some pricey legwarmers...)

Ack, killer digression.  What was I rambling about?  Ah, yes, fabric shopping.  I didn't make any pledges/resolutions/vague statements to the effect of not buying any fabric this year.  I know me- that ain't happening.  I HAVE been making a concerted effort to finish UFOs and work from stash- both ways to maximize money I've already spent.  And that has been going really well.  Until, I fell off the wagon on Sunday.  It's all the fault of the LFS that's going out of the quilt business.  I HAD to see if there were any amazing deals to be had, right?  Here's what I came home with:

Click for larger view- it's really hard to see any of the fabrics in this small shot!
Also-

Cake, yum.  I have a companion piece to this already, and really want to make a special birthday quilt...  the LFS selection is really spotty by now. The quilt fabric is at least 50% gone already, even at only 30% off!  I don't know if I'll go back again before they're done.  But hey, I did enough damage already.  Still, more than 15 yards of fabric, $82.  Not so bad.  Esp as some is Kaffe Fassett and Martha Negley prints that I adore! (And the odd novelties are for pillow cases for birthday presents for Princess Girl's friends- fabric with a purpose!)  So, the moral of my story is: if you're going to fall of the shopping wagon, make sure and fall with style!

There has been so much varied feedback to the various layouts of my Project Spectrum quilt.  I think everyone's personal styles are showing through their comments- both here and on Flickr.  I am still liking B the best- which none of my bloggy commentors like!  Hmmm...  People have been really drawn to the pinwheels, esp for balance, but I find it a bit too dull for me.  If you look at B again, you'll see there is a sense of balance- all the pink triangles point one way, and the red the other.  A is neat, but not eye catching the way I envisioned- I really want the stripes playing at different angles.   I might try the A layout with a different color scheme another day...

Insert Pithy Title Here...

I don't have an even remotely interesting title for tonight's post.  It's been a hell of a few days, good and awful.  On Weds, The Hubby and I sprang for the ultimate rarity- a sitter- and saw a much anticipated movie.  We had to really search to find it still in theaters...  I will say, I much preferred movie #4 over #3.  I know everyone loved #3, but for me, #1 is the most magical- the world of Hogwarts unfolding for the first time and all that.  Last night, I got to go to the movies with my bestest girlfriends.  Such a treat- both to see them and the film.  Oh my god, go see the "gay cowboy" movie, as people insist upon calling it.  I have not seen such an amazing tale of love, heartbreak, unfulfillment, and relationships in years.  Truly.  Not to mention, the cinematography is SO amazing that there were several moments where I wanted to pause the movie so I could have more time to appreciate the composition of the scenes.

Many nice things happened this week.  Tonya posted an amazing tutorial that let me know how to use Picasa.  I found out the my new neighbor on the crazy/hip mama blog ring is into quilting cool- go visit!  I worked on my Suki some more.  I showed off my Tie Bag everywhere. 

That was all great.  Today I had to leave work early (to avoid overtime) so took advantage of the 1.5 hours to hit- of course- Savers.  Found some new ties for another bag, this time in greens. 

Also found some 1970s and 80s craft and quilt books- too much fun! 

I can almost feel the scratchy polyester from those quilts right now!  LOL.

And, the find of the year- this coat!!!

It's so fantastic.  Faux fur, super plush and still in really great shape.  It fits perfectly, which is never, for me, the case with great vintage stuff.  AND- it had no price tag.  I asked- the salesclerk quoted me $60.  So, I sadly put it back.  I can't splurge that much on something I have zero need for.  The first salesclerk went on break.  The cashier looked at me, said, "$19.99 okay?"  And I practically hugged her!

Then, I went to pick up my offspring.  Train Boy slipped and whacked his head, HARD, right after I got to school.  Took 20 minutes to calm him down- and he was still sobbing most of the ride home.  Princess Girl accidentally peed on the floor of the bathroom as she misjudged her need to go NOW.  The cleaners didn't come AGAIN this week, and so now we're on 5 weeks with no real cleaning (twice in that time we expected them to come, so held off doing it ourselves...  I don't usually live in my own filth on purpose.)  Then, the phone rings.  And I find out one of my best friends in the entire world, one who sat next to me at the movie last night, is in the hospital.  She will be okay, eventually, but it's a scary problem, and, the worst part, they have NO  health insurance right now.  Her husband recently started a new job where they make him wait 6 months for coverage. What a crock.

Okay, Toy Story is almost over, which means it's time to be Mom again.  At least until I get them to bed, and then I can watch a movie and work on some project. I'm so scattered right now, I don't even know which one.

Decisions, Decisions. What's a Girl to do?

Yesterday, The Hubby and I were both off from work, and for once NOT because we were sick!  We have weird floating holiday schedules, and yesterday he took his New Year's and I took my Christmas, and we had a date.  Did I mention the kids are back in daycare??  We went to a movie, which I loved, and had breakfast out with no annoying kids at our table.  Wow.  I had almost forgotten what that was like. 

And because The Hubby is such a good guy, we hit my favorite store in the world, where I scored some good books and some great sweaters, as well as a LFS.  I wanted to get some non-100%-cotton-quilting-fabric to play with these bags and purses I'm so excited about.  So, Denver Fabrics has an "annex" where they sell remnants, blot ends, etc., for fantastically low prices.  I got some great deals from the $1 and $2 per pound tables, as well as some pre-cut pieces.  And now, I need some help deciding what to do next. And I know you guys will be willing to voice opinions, so...  I want to make this neato tote bag  (from Making Handbags by Goldstein-Lynch, Mullins and Malone)using old ties.  Got some fun purple-y ties at ARC and Goodwill the other day...  Yesterday I bought two pieces of fabric I am considering for the body.  At the store, I was 100% certain I would use the pinkish tweed ,

but then at home, I think the grey suiting

looks better.  What do you all think?

I also bought these fun fabrics for other bag projects.

The silky lavender is the perfect match for lining the purply tweed.  The grey leopard stripe is very velvety feeling, and the other two were simply too good, and cheap, to pass up.

FYI, after all the wonderful comments about the zipper quilt top, and what to do with it, quilting-wise, I am thinking I may just brave trying it myself.  Nothing elaborate, just long vertical, slightly gently curving lines.  I'll be sure to post when I'm brave enough to try.

Mixed feelings... (and a stash sunday)

I'm posting today with some... mixed feelings.  I see that the Quilt Maverick Webring has had some shakeups over the weekend, and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, so I'm not going to talk about it.  'Kay?

I am feeling less exhausted now.  The whole family pretty much collapsed yesterday, for some much needed R&R, but that did mean I missed meeting a new friend.  :-P  Ah well, in January, right, MF?  Or maybe even sooner?  Stayed in last night and frantically added stash fabric to eBay.  Buy my fabric, please?  Also kid's clothes.  Since we are pretty certain we done expanding the family, it may be time to sell of the garage full of kid's clothes and baby gear.  If ya know anyone in the Denver area seeking a mega bargain, send em my way!  Sorry to sound so money grabbing, but once I decided I want something gone from my house, I like it gone ASAP!

That meant I didn't get any quilting done at all this weekend (did I mention I went to a swanky benefit gala on Friday night for a very good cause?)  I did work some more on my practice blob scarf.  And this morning, we headed out to JoAnn's for some supplies for a tote bag experiment I'm working on, where I caved and bought some cheap yarn to try a scarf for me.  It was my first actual cast-on without the help of my superb teacher...  I am sure that the yarn is cheap and junky, but for someone with my skill level, that seems a good choice!

Which brings us to today's stash sunday- something new.  It can't get more new than 11am today, can it?  Ta-Da:

I also indulged in some 90% off fabric from the Halloween clearance section.  I've been toying with the idea of a fabric self-portrait, and these fabrics definitely screamed "ME!"  We really, they screamed splashy and ostentatious, but isn't that the same thing?

I also splurged (not really as I had a gift certificate) on a new book.  I am thinking- I love to make quilts, but I have a lifetime's worth of fabric, and I'd like to be able to throw together little gifts for folks.  SO, I am trying the fabric bowls, quilted scarves, and also tote bags all at the same time.  No one can accuse me of being unambitious.

I also had some very very bad news about my masters thesis this weekend. It may be even more kaput than I thought.  Which sucks, as I have completed all the course work except for the damn final capstone project.  It was supposed to be about Native American quilters, but it totally fell apart.  Anyway, more on that as it comes, but...  I may be in big trouble.  Cross fingers?