in which i actually finish something

Let it be known that I am a little bit of a hoarder. I keep things, for no reason. I don't generally keep garbage (and definitely not food-garbage - bleh) but I kept these boxes from Costco that contained some picture frames for our wedding gifts to our parents/grandparents.

A couple weeks ago I decided to see if I could cover one of them with fabric to make a wall hanging for my living room. It kind of worked, but I decided I would use the other two later to make a couple for my bedroom. My husband's been sick for the past week and a half with something nasty, and I finally came down with it this morning. (Other weird thing about me: I get crafty things done when I am too sick to do anything else. I've finished three quilts this way.) So, I started working on the next two. 

This time I was slightly more careful with my cutting and things (no, really, you should have seen the first one - there was tons of extra fabric tucked into the back) and used regular office-type staples rather than packing tape. I figure this would hold up better than the tape, but would still let me take the fabric off and replace it in case I decided I wanted a change or to use the fabric pieces for another project later. 

I don't know that I'm totally thrilled with the colors I used, but I wanted to get something finished and hung on the wall today, so I used what I had. I've kind of been wanting to add a little orange to our predominantly white, green, and black bedroom, but I don't think I like the extra colors that are in those particular prints. Right orange, wrong other colors. So, that is my project for the day. Now I need a nap. 

trying something new

You guys, I really suck at this. You will notice my last post was over a month ago. Which, actually, is pretty good for me! I've gone much, much longer between posts. Anyway, this time was a little different. I posted on a couple different blogs, one I have occasionally updated over the past two years, one I started to replace this blog and deserted. 

In an effort to accomplish who knows what, I'm going to show you something. I've never been able to keep both blogs up at the same time, so in an attempt to unify and therefore simplify my blogging life, I'm letting you in on that particular secret. It's a pretty touchy part of my life, and my crafts and photography aren't, so I don't foresee a lot of adoption talk here, but, I'd like the ability to post something related to that blog here if I want to, without going through the internal turmoil that is basically me worrying that someone who doesn't know will wonder what I'm talking about and then cause all kinds of grief for me in some way I can't imagine they would, but anyway. (Hi! I like run-on sentences!)

So, anyway, that is my life, and this is my life. I have tried for a very long time to keep that part of my life in it's own little box, but that's not fair to me, and it's not fair to my little boy. I am not ashamed of him, and I can't be worried about what people will think to the point where I hide that part of my life from the people I come in contact with on an every day basis. The reason I am so open with him and his family is because I don't want him to ever have to be ashamed of that part of his life either, so it doesn't make sense to keep it my dark little secret anymore. 

Next time I will try harder to keep it lighthearted and crafty, since I have plenty of that going on right now. I just need to finish quilting this quilt, which is a loooong process since I used two layers of batting and maneuvering it around in my tiny machine is a huge job. And kind of a workout, too, for that matter! I can't wait till it's done, since I made it out of my favorite fabrics ever (Neptune, from Tula Pink - who is a genius, anytime I see her fabrics in a store I spend way too much on them - plus a piece from Full Moon Forest on the back because I -gasp- didn't have enough pieces of Neptune!). It's a small quilt, but so nice and thick. I hate the thin-ness of just one layer of Soft'n'Natural, it's like wrapping up in two (granted, well-insulated) layers of fabric. Since my quilts are usually throw-sized, that's not what I want to be wrapping up in while I play my Wii. So, this one, which is a baby-sized quilt, was kind of a two-layer trial run. I think I will be thrilled with the results!

January 23, 2010

The newest addition to our kitchen. The knobs that were purchased for it came with screws that were a little too short, so it's not fully functional yet - but close! At least it's finally in our house - it sat in my parents' garage for months!

January 22, 2010

I got a second quilt completely finished! This one is me-sized, so I have been wrapped in it ever since it came out of the drier - thusly, I haven't taken a full shot of it yet.

January 21, 2010

The church behind our house.

Look! I finished something!!

Seriously, for me this is kind of big. I have quite a collection of half-finished quilts, embroideries, and other assorted abandoned craft endeavors. So:

Yes, it is just a baby-sized quilt, for some future baby. But, it didn't start that way! I set out to make a regular old lap throw, and had some extra squares of fabric leftover. I just added them onto the quilt, which made a long, skinny, weird quilt that wasn't good for a whole lot. Unfortunately, I figured this out after I had it quilted and was getting ready to bind it. I was pretty unmotivated about figuring out how to add more quilt to make it bigger, so I just cut the whole thing in half and made two baby-sized quilts - one of which I will keep, and one I'm planning to give to my best friend (in the future, also - she just got engaged this weekend! Yay Chantelle and Tyler!).

So, yeah, the other half of this quilt is sitting on my stack of unfinished projects, but I learned that this size quilt takes like no time at all to hand sew the binding on to, so I foresee myself finishing that one up in the near future too.

January 19, 2010

My husband hates onions, and I am physically incapable of using less than three (small) onions in any given meal.