Itchy and achy... snail mail go faster.

I love receiving care packages... but the only thing that tops receiving them is sending them.  The second it is in the mail I get itchy.

I knew some of the consequences of moving away from the vast majority of my family and friends back East to live out West was going to be that ache.  Anyone who lives far away from their loved ones knows what I'm talking about.  Not being able to see someone or hug them makes you ache.  Skype helps but sometimes it's just makes it even tougher not to be able to reach through that screen and squeeze the crap out of one of them.

That's where care packages come in.  Opening a box your loved one sent you is like being able to hug them from far away.  It turns that ache into an itch.  And, whereas, the ache sucks the itch is tolerable.

When I got to wrap up my friend's quilt and make her a care package I sent along the things that I wish I could enjoy with her.  Annie's Mac and Cheese, best stuff on this Earth.  Seriously.  My new favorite green tea, which does not taste like dirt.  As roommates in college we used to drink tea together after a rough day.  And, finally, the quilt.

"I want to snuggle you like only Snuggles the bear can."

I sent the package and started immediately getting itchy.  Snail mail was taking WAY too long (ok, fine, it only took about 3 days but it seemed like a lifetime).  I asked her to take a picture of when she opened it, and once again being the lucky girl that I am, she made me a video.  Here are a couple of stills of the video, a little before and after:

Gosh, I miss this girl... urg, I'm getting itchy again!

I want to hug her so freakin' badly!

Binding and Barbie clothes

Now that I had finished the front of the quilt and had become attached to not ruining it I faced the scariest part of quilt making.  Binding and then washing.  Cue dramatic music!

So, with a lump in my throat and a growing need for someone who knows what they are doing to hold my hand I start to finish my quilt.  I really wanted an experienced quilter around but then I realized where all the quilters are hiding.  Somewhere in the inter-webs!

I started my research and here are the lovely ladies who helped me out:


Anyone Can Quilt
Amazing detailed instructions and information about spray basting (do it, you won't be disappointed)
http://anyonecanquilt.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/machine-quilting-101-1.html


Red Pepper Quilts
Great photos of the whole process and clear instructions
http://www.redpepperquilts.com/2009/11/binding-tutorial.html


Mama Love Quilts
This tutorial is about quilting straight lines, which in my case, I was and it was super helpful
http://mamalovequilts.blogspot.com/2012/01/10-tips-for-trouble-free-straight-line.html


Heather Bailey
Great PDF tutorial with drawn instructions, if you are anything like me I need to see it from every angle in order to understand instructions so this was very helpful
http://heatherbailey.typepad.com/photos/continuous_quiltbinding/index.html


Crazy Mom Quilts
Incredibly detailed step by step instructions on how to make your binding
http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2008/10/binding-tutorial.html


Also, all these ladies make amazing quilts too, so be sure to check out the rest of their websites!

I began construction confidently armed with all these wonderful words of wisdom and years of their experience.  I taped my backing to my floor, spray basted my batting to the back and then delicately spray basted the front to the batting to complete my quilt sandwich.  I then cut around the front of my quilt and rolled it up, ready to be finished off at the machine.

 

I had to attach a "walking foot" to my machine, which wasn't easy.  I'm not a very technical person so anything that requires a screw driver I usually call in the big guns, aka the boyfriend.  Somehow, with the aid of the machine's manual and PBR, I managed.

Then it was "go-go-walking-foot-go"!  I hit a few snags... literally.  But, overall, it turned out ok and pretty uneventful.  I began the binding portion of the quilt, and this was were I realized that I need to take a breath and go slow since the stitches needed to be so precise.

 

I then began to think about my grandmother; my Dad's mom, not my Mom's mom who I've written about before.  One Christmas my grandmother handmade me Barbie clothes.  Hand.  Made.  The tiny stitches astounded me.  Each little garment was so beautifully crafted and so lovingly stitched.  Once again, I will proudly admit that I am a lucky girl, what an wonderful grandmother.  Remembering those tiny clothes and the delicate sewing I started the binding process anew, I have those genes in me, I could make this happen!

After reading all the quilting blogs it sounded as if everyone loved washing their quilt, that it was the most satisfying portion of the process. I found it terrifying.  Just throwing this lovingly made thing into a machine and hoping it doesn't rip it to shreds.  Gulp!

Somehow, it survived!  And here is the end result:

I'll confess, I'm scared of color.

My closet is made up of black clothing.  And, no, I'm not going through some rebellious stage where I dye my hair aqua and rub a whole eyeliner pencil on every day.  I grew out of that phase long ago.  But, apparently, I never updated my wardrobe.

In my artwork I tend to stear clear of bright and bold colors.  Black is definitely a dominate color in pretty much everything else I create, but for some reason when it comes to quilts I love color.  Maybe it's because I was lucky enough to have my Aunt and her gorgeous color infused quilts in my life.  She and her husband are both artists; sigh, what an amazing lifestyle.  Check out their artwork here, http://www.bossbrownart.com/ and you will see a pair of people who are not afraid of color, that's for sure!

Amazing work huh!?

I'm even lucky enough to own one myself, which has traveled to Ireland with me, Boston and now Arizona.

Lucky, lucky girl with the traveling quilt!

So I set about assembling the rest of my friend's quilt, attempting to squash my fear of colors with a little vino and PBR.  I chose light blue (at my friends request), a deep purple with small floral print and a yellow and burnt umber checkered pattern.  I added several stripes to either side of the original image of my friend and I.  It was fun just to add to the quilt without any size or pattern to follow.  Just sewing and ironing at will.

The result was this:

Quilting and PBR can't get much better than this!

The next step I had never done without assistance so I checked numerous resources before starting but that will come soon.  In the meantime, I basked in the glow of an almost completed quilt!

First day of spring my a**!

So instead of writing witty, charming and inspiring posts about crafting I've been shoveling snow.  A crap ton of snow.  A metric crap ton of snow!

When I tell people that I live in Arizona and that it snows, I usually get some perplexed looks.  In fact, in one instance, I had a fella follow me around a bar and tell everyone I met that I was a liar.  He was charming!

On Saturday is was beautiful here, so the boy and I went kayaking in Winslow:

It was gorgeous and totally empty, a great way to spend St. Paddy's Day!
Just don't forget the sunblock, I got burnt.  It's the fair Irish skin!

On our way back the ominous clouds were beginning to collect over town.  The winds began to whip around the car and yank at the kayaks strapped on top.  We even passed by a giant semi truck that had been tossed onto its side off of the highway.  A storm was definitely brewing!  Those in the know were predicting about 12 to 24 inches of snow in town and more than 50 inches up on the mountain.

They were right.  Damn it.  We got 24 to 29 inches in town and 53 inches up on the mountain.  And you know what that means?  Shoveling.  Stupid, shoveling.

Not as much fun as kayaking, but you don't need sunblock.  Good news I guess?

So you tell me again, fella.  Am I a liar?  I know, lets make a bet.  If it snows here in Arizona, then you have to come out here and shovel out my driveway every time it dumps on us.  Please?

Mistakes are just wonderful little flaws... Right? False.

Mistakes... so many, many mistakes.

In my excitement to rush into the next steps I made a couple mistakes.  Ok, more than a couple.  But the best part about making someone a gift is that it doesn't stay in your home for you to obsess over.

I printed the stencil the size I wanted it.  Which was large since I had no idea what I was doing and I was definitely concerned about making it look like the picture.  I then layered the fabric and the stencil and committed my first mistake.  Here is a visual of the stencil and fabric sandwich I made:

Yes, my needle is a lightning bolt, because that's how fast I sew!  Boom!

Mistake numbero uno:
I figured that with enough soaking and patience I would be able to remove the paper from the fabric since I was planning on just sewing over it.  Nope!  The paper was sewn to the fabric.   Because, dur, you sewed the paper to the fabric.  I'm not sure what I was expecting but do this like I did.  I would suggest the following sandwich if you are looking to replicate this project:

Mistake numero dos:
The purple fabric I had chosen has a very light pattern of flowers on it.  I had hoped for this pattern to be visible.  Well, that's all well and good but since I had now sewn paper to the stencil I had to flip the stencil and cut out the purple fabric, leaving the light colored fabric as the background color.  Well, that's easy enough adjust to, but once again my OCD flared up and I thought about starting over.  Happily, my friend would not care one bit since she wouldn't know about the mistake.  Oh well, until now that is.  Sorry, hun, I made a boo-boo.

Mistake numero tres:
Did you know that sewing machines really just want to sew in straight lines?  They do.  That's sort of "their thing".  So when I wanted to outline a picture with my machine it was not the easiest task.  In fact, it was pretty ugly.  But, once again, she wouldn't care all that much since if need be I could just scrap it and send her a card.  Happily, I didn't have to.  But if I could do it again I would purchase a "darning" or "free motion" foot for my machine so I wouldn't have to fight the machine into curves when all it wants to do is make straight lines.

Once the stencil had been totally sewn and I had made all the mistakes I could on these steps I got to cut out the stencil and yank the paper off.  I think this was the most rewarding part of the process.  I cut pretty close to the edge of the seams, probably about an 1/8 of an inch.  Once I finished it up I received the most praise that could be expected from such a debacle-ish beginning.  The Boyfriend said "Wow, that turned out way better than I thought it would".  Nice, on it's way to being an ok quilt, which is all I was looking for, since it's not staying at my house!

Finished result:

Dawww, aren't we cute!

Finding inspiration and fighting with Photoshop

So I decided to sew a gift... whoopdeedoo! It's a great idea if a) you actually know how to sew and b) you have any idea as to what you want to create. Otherwise you are lost in a sea of Google images and amazing quilters who are well beyond your skill level. That's where I started.

I was lost.  Sadly, the person I usually turned to when I was in this conundrum was my friend who I was hoping to surprise.  Damn.  So I began by looking at pictures of us together, hoping that some inspiration would strike.  Nothing.  So I started looking at what other quilters were up to.  Boy, I was suddenly very intimidated by the prospect of this project.

After much consideration I realized that one quilt in particular was sticking with me.  It was Dan's Orange Lizard of Piece and Press (http://pieceandpress.blogspot.com/).  I would highly recommend clicking through to his blog.  Seriously.  Go there now. Stop reading this.  Listen to me and go there!  Now you're just being stubborn.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/73440393/orange-t-rex-quilt 

The mastery of composition, colors and craft are all very apparent.  You can see why it stuck with me!

Adequately inspired I moved on to the next step.  I figured the first part of the process was then making a stencil.  Ok, I could do it the old school way, with tracing paper and a large window or I could play with Photoshop.  Which I was under the impression was the computer program for photo manipulation.

So I started fiddling with Photoshop.  Not the most straight forward program I've ever worked with.  But with enough patience and access to Google I came up with this:

Me and Al

Chickadee- 1, Photoshop- 0.  Ha, battle won, but next comes the harder part than fussing with a computer program.  Making this into anything even resembling a quilt!

Ohhh man, this little bug has got the crafting itch.

I've been working on a project for a friend who has been having a tough time.  I finally finished it and got it in the mail and now I'm dying for her to get it.  Ok, not dying, it's more like itchy.  Gosh, I'm itchy.  She's my very best friend, more a sister actually, but from another womb.  She lost her grandmother this year and as I sat at my sewing machine, that my grandmother got me, I realized how influential these wonderful women are.

I was lucky enough to spend three summers at my grandmother's house.  Three very formative summers; freshman, sophomore and junior years in high school.  As many people can attest to, you're sort of a jackass during these years.  You're figuring out what makes you tick and that's not always a pretty journey when hormones are also raging through your system.  (Sorry Dad and Mom!)

But my grandmother is as patient as a saint, seriously, ask anyone who knows her.  I think having 10 kids will do that to you.  She taught me so many things while I stayed with her.  I now know what a delight companionship is and what it means to be happy with simple pleasures.  One of my favorite skills she taught me was sewing and knitting.  To a young girl who already had the crafting bug these were new weapons in her growing arsenal.  I remember being obsessed.

One day I came home from working at the summer camp for my aunt and uncle, and to my absolute delight there was a brand new Singer sewing machine waiting for me.  I was so stunned and touched.  Being the hoarder that I am I kept the note that was attached.  Recently, when my mother shipped me the sewing machine she included the note.  How lucky a girl am I?

Every time I see that handwriting I ache, I miss her so badly.

So with my grandmother and my friend's Bessa in mind, I took up sewing a gift.  Ambitious.  Or stupid.  However you view it, I was starting an undertaking that I had no experience with in many years.  Thank goodness Gram taught me well!

So... what's up with the dead bird?

So what the heck is this blog going to be about?  Well as the title indicates it will be about creating.  I think that's what I do best.  I'm not going to lie and say that it is a success every time I create something, but I would consider myself pretty darn crafty.

My parents used to say that they could give me a big roll of masking tape and scissors and I would be occupied for hours at a time.  I would say I'm scrappy when it comes to making anything, and I like a challenge.  But do you know what goes well with a challenge?  A drink.  It's just a fact.

And that's what brings me to answering the question, "what is up with the dead bird".  The bird isn't dead, the bird has maybe come across a few too many trials and had to imbibe a few drinks to rise to challenge.  Those other birds are the ones you should be keeping your eyes on.  Those judgey judgey birds.

Ok, so this blog will be about crafting and beer (my favorite beverage).  Probably craft beer.  While I craft. Get it?  Well even if you don't hang in there, it might make sense later.  No promises, though.

Expect to see more of this... but hopefully with better beer.  Sorry PBR.

Dear future self, listen to your Mother.

Madre & myself (past me?)

Dear future self,


Do you remember that conversation you had with your mother yesterday?  No?  Well you do talk to her a lot, so that's understandable.  This conversation in particular was nothing out of the ordinary, just a simple chat.  Poor Madre had cleaned out your childhood closet, you slob, and she found all your journals.  Gasp, right?!  Well, not really, your childhood ramblings didn't make for any tantalizing stories, truth be told.  But one lesson Madre subtly slipped in, was that she wished she had written a journal as a young person and that she could read them now.  Good point, Mom.  Actually, great point.  Which is what brings me here today, writing this letter to my future self.  You might not always enjoy keeping this up but one day you may enjoy looking back on it and realizing you have no tantalizing stories, again.  Learn a lesson from your Mom.  Write a blog.  


Love,
Your present self