glittergoods

in honor of the snow

More snow this morning, but only enough for late arrival.  This is the kind of snow day I can get behind:  sleeping in, kids playing together without much fighting, then I still get to drop them at school & get stuff done.  Excellent.

Also, seems like a good day to remind myself of the 70F weather during my visit to New Orleans a couple of weeks ago.

There are very many gorgeous houses there, but this one was my absolute favorite.

I also loved this amazing pop of color.

If you are a quilter inspired by architecture, this city will make your head spin.

Also, cows!

And not even a little bit of snow.

sk8: planning stages, also Martha lets me down

I finished binding the nephew quilt this morning.  It's now in the dryer; one hopes it will survive.  I was thinking I could check that off my list, but then I remembered that I also want to make a pillow to send off with it, so I actually managed to increase the size of my list by finishing something.  Excellent.

Things on the auction front are pretty well where they should be at this point (I'm design/decor lead this year, so thankfully I only have one auction to deal with), so I've been able to do some work on the 8th birthday party happening next weekend.

We had a skateboard party when my boy turned 4, but even though he got his first skateboard that year, he wasn't too focused on it except for holding it as a sort of future fantasy, that he'd be a skater someday.  Over this past year, though, he & about 3/4 of his good friends have become obsessed with skating (helped in no small part by the excellent public skate park that opened last summer), & so the theme for this year's party was obvious.

Ok:  I have, like many of you, a collection of MS Kids magazines, & when it became clear we were having a skateboarding party this year, I happily remembered the skateboarding party they featured that one time, & dug through my issues (well, looked it up on the internet, but then went & dug up the right issue to read the exact same info because I could) to find what I was sure would be the BEST fancy skateboarding party ever.  EVER.

Except then I started cracking up because look at how all those kids are dressed in bright colors, & are standing up more or less straight, & are happily wearing complete sets of pads, & don't have hair in their eyes.  (I would love to totally horrify my kid by making him & all his friends strike this pose, except school is out this week for midwinter break.)

I actually think this foam wallet is very cool, except I am not too sure how the bright colors & grosgrain ribbon would play around here (would have been excellent for 4yo skate party, though!).  Maybe in black, with a sticker or screenprint on it.  Does gocco ink stick to fun foam?  Anyway, I am not even experimenting with these, because what if I gocco ink DOES stick & then suddenly I am desperately needing to order $50 worth of wallet chains?  Oh, Martha.

We're going to an indoor skatepark that includes pizza in the party rental; I'm sure it will be nothing like this lovely pinwheel-sandwich filled spread, but based on my fairly substantial birthday party experience, it turns out that the boys will not care even a little bit.  Looking at this, I'm feeling sort of relieved that his birthday is too early in the year to make it worth the outdoor park rain risk, since I am SURE that I would feel compelled to produce this sort of over the top picnic (except I am just not really a pinwheel food fan, & also:  Tex-Mex Chopped Salad is a crowd pleaser for eight year olds at a skate park?  Really?  I mean, my kid is an actual fan of weird grownup food & everything, but still I say:  really?) & then stand around feeling mildly deflated when all of the slouchy, mumbling, dark-colors-skinny-jeans-wearing, hair-in-eyes-having boys wondered when the pizza was going to get there.

I am still making cupcakes, though.  And I ordered some vinyl sticker inkjet paper to mess around with.  So I'm sure I'll manage to become just as ridiculous about this party as I do every year, despite the questionable skate park pizza.

forgot how difficult titles are

One reason I was so anxious to get my sewing machine back is that I needed to finish up the final few rows of quilting on the quilt for my brand-new nephew.  I was seriously gnashing my teeth at having to send the machine off mid-quilt, though on the other hand, I suppose I should be grateful that the quilt forced me to face up to the ever-more-insane bobbin hijinks happening on the back of itself.

 

My husband said:  you are not taking a picture of how that quilt is stuck in your machine, are you?  No, I'm just being a little coy with it, plus I actually like pictures of quilts all squashed through machines.  Also, wow that oilcloth on the table photographs aggressively, doesn't it?

 

Now I'm stitching the binding.  I enjoy this part of quilt-making -- especially with a cup of coffee & NPR playing on my iphone (Public Radio Tuner, do not judge by the number of reviews that are mad because it does not stream hip-hop stations) -- largely because I am so much better at it than I was when I bound my very first quilt, & I think about that every time I'm sewing on binding.  It's very satisfying.  Much of it is just practice, figuring out your rhythm, working on even stitches, but it also turns out that taking 5 seconds & marking an exact stopping/starting  place at your corners (ie, when you are sewing your binding on & you're supposed to stop 3/8", say, from the corner in order to do your mitering, then start again 3/8" in on the next side) makes an entire galaxy of difference when it comes to a nice crisp turn.  I use a regular pencil, right on the binding -- it's going to be folded over anyway.

I thought maybe I could transition into the New Orleans pictures I took when I was out visiting my sister a couple of weeks ago (I just missed the baby, but did get to see these cows...), but I just don't think I can pull it off today (or, possibly, ever).  I'll give them their own post later.  After I finish binding the quilt.

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Thanks for all the warm re-welcomes -- it's good to be back!

hello again

Well, hi there.  Happy Valentine's Day.

I know, it's like I ran out to grab a cup of coffee & never came back.  Last fall was more complicated than I'd planned, & something had to give, you know?  And then I thought I'd start posting at the new year, only I was too far out of the habit to remember on that exact day, & then I was suddenly caught up in the start of school auction planning insanity (though I am not making a quilt this year, at least), & then I had to go to New Orleans to visit my sister (who had a baby yesterday!), but now I am determined, & committed, & even renewed my expired typepad account so not blogging is costing me money, so...we'll see.  I'm going to try.

I'm looking forward to taking pictures again.

I don't know that I stopped making things over the past few months, but I stopped thinking about making things as anything other than one more chore to be checked off the list.  So I'm looking forward to changing that.

I just got my sewing machine back from the shop, & I'm looking forward to remembering how much I like putting fabric together.

I'm looking forward to reading blogs again.  I've missed everybody.

I'm looking forward to spring.