Done!

Gracie has been gone for a few days, so I've been working like a mad mama on her quilt. I did the top a while ago. Then I had to figure out the backing, which I did. Then I had to put it together, which was the hard part. I was pleased with the top and loved the backing before I had to rig it a little to make it bigger. (Bad measurement girl here.)

I totally understand why people spend money to send their quilts off to be quilted. It was a nightmare. I thought it would be tedious, but do-able. I had no idea. Very frustrating. I'm really disappointed with how I finished it. But it's done. It's easily the biggest project I've ever done at any time in my life.  
Over time the stitches will loosen and no one really will tell how bad it really is. And Gracie will love it and take it to college with her and  . . . Is that overly optimistic? :)
She'll love it and it will be used. And it was a learning experience for me. That's all that matters, right?
It's probably my last quilt for awhile. It was a doozy of a first one, though. I'm thinking about starting slow on a t-shirt quilt, just doing one whole block at a time, then blanket stitching them together. I haven't really decided yet.
I'm going to take a sharpie and write some info on the back of the quilt, i.e. that I made it for Grace, the date and for her 5th birthday summer. Some bloggers I read have actual tags that they make or have made. I'm thinking about it. Is that pretentious? Would it be pretentious to put a tag in one of the dinky little handmade gifts I give with my name and logo on it? Do I care if it's pretentious? Of course I have to design a logo. In order to order from etsy, you have to create a shop name, so I'm already madeforyoubylulu. Big L and ladybugs around? Dunno. Thinking.

More backing dilemma

So I sewed all the strips together and laid them out - still not wide enough. So I need to get my booty back in the sewing room and add some width to the edges. Not hard, I don't think. But still. I don't wanna. I want to be finished with this dingy-dangy thing. So I'll do it soon. I worked on my corners. I thought I understood how to do a mitered corner with the folding over thing I was going to do. Not so much. I made several pot holders, thinking they would be practice for the placemats. No dice. I finally ended up fussing with it, snipping here and there to make it meet. Ended up better, but still not good. I finished one placemat and messed up the corners. Not bad, like maybe they won't notice, but I still feel like a failure. I'm going to do some thinking on it. I've decided on a few other gifts I want to make - a crochet needle holder, wristlet key chains and a good bag tutorial I want to try soon. I want to make Gracie a trick-or-treat bag. And I have a cousin's bday I think I might make her a little tote bag with some neat stuff in. We'll see. Feeling unmotivated!      

Backing dilemma.

Even though I am a scientist with a science degree and everything, I'm still really bad at measurements and numbers. Algebra, I can do. Other maths and sums (geometry, trigonometry, calculus,  I'm looking @ you). not so much. Which is why I don't to it. I don't find gauges when I crochet; etc. Not good @ it. I'm pretty good at cutting fabric a certain way. Otherwise, hm. So I measure the quilt top I made and did some calculations in my head and decided what I needed and bought that. It wasn't enough, of course, so I had to go back. Of course the original fabric was gone and I chose another. Cool. So I've got dots and stripes. What to do? What to do? I think I'm going to do strips of each color and alternate them. But here again, lots of maths and sums and  - well I'm going to jump in there soon and start.    

Midnight garage sale

Gracie stayed with my mother Friday night, so I got to do a bit of shopping. I was looking for tops that I could wear to school. I ended up with 2 dresses, 2 tops, a cardigan and 3 serving bowls for less that $50. Not bad. I wanted to buy a pair of those strappy lace up sandals, but I was afraid they'd be so dated by next summer, so I didn't. And, of course, Scott is always agog at the number of pairs of shoes I have, all perfectly fine, so I shouldn't buy more. Even though I want more. I shouldn't buy more.

I love this little guy. I don't know what he is, but I love him.

These cracked me up. They smell like old paper. Going through them - things don't change. Same type of advertisements, same types of lifestyle articles. Definitely from a different era, but still. My favorite was an ad for tampons geared toward girls, reassuring them that boys can't tell that they are on their period and personal daintiness. I have no clue what that is.  But these magazines are pure gold.  

I also went to the annual midnight garage sale that one of our sister churches puts on. It's a big event. I got there at 10:30 and was 30 or 40 back in line. I got an ice cream machine, a bunch of autumn leaves garland, a snail figurine, a casserole dish (I think) in that lime green I love. I think it's oven proof. There's no markings. I tried to google it but I didn't have any luck. I also got a curtain that looks like a vintage sheet. I'm thinking about making vintage pillowcase tote bags for everyone for Christmas. I may have to make do with this sheet though. It wasn't big enough to serve as a backing for my quilt, but that's ok. I think I have a solution to that.          

Today

I had lunch with an old friend today and we sat and talked for 4 hours. And she BLOGS. Here. And I'm so jealous of her cute blog.
Then I came home and cooked for Scott, since I haven't in a while. I made chicken, then chopped it up into several box dinners. I made pancakes  - not sure why. Gracie is gone for a few days and I guess I needed a little comfort, though I didn't eat them. I love making pancakes and eggs, though I don't eat those either - and bacon, which I do eat, but which has become OUTRageously expensive. Why is that? And I made NAAN, with this recipe.   And I'm so totally in love. This recipe made a ton and I'm pretty sure I"m going to be the only one who eats it. And oh am I going to eat it. Certainly better than the tortilla chips I was going to eat with my chicken, beans and cheese for supper. It's going to be chip, cracker, pizza bread - all that and a bag of cheetos, though not really. And making it combines my favorite cooking activities -making dough and pancake-like skillet activity. (you cook them in a skillet like pancakes.) Though this batch made 2 bags to put in the freezer and 1 for the fridge, so I'll not have to make it again soon. Much better choice than ritz - right? Of course.
I'm listening to Pattern Recognition- one of my favorite William Gibson books, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do tonight. Prolly not sew. Prolly cut fabric for other projects and putter around. I'll sew for reals tomorrow. No other plans so far.

Watermelon pedis

G's hand

I saw a tutorial for watermelon pedicures and really loved the look. We are all about that particular fruit of the vine, Gracie and I. So I went to Walmart to get some polish. I found a pink, but didn't like any of their greens. I decided the dark green I had @ home was fine. Ha! So we have watermelon pedicures in the abstract. Not so pretty. :(

At VBS Saturday, Gracie told Pastor that she forgives me when I'm mean to her. HA!

More wild hair crafting

I'll have to watch the inside/outsides as far as turning inside out so that bit of top stitch doesn't show. Or I could top stitch all the way around.    

I wanted to sew. So I made some tissue holders. These took me 2 sessions because my sewing machine was also having a wild hair day. I've also got a notebook that I'm writing tips and tricks for each project and who I'm giving what to, so I don't give the same person a tissue holder for every gift-giving occasion. :)