Its a sad day in my creative world

This afternoon I cleaned out my sewing room. Nothing left in it but a couch and an empty desk and possibly the stray needle, just waiting to get someone. We are getting a roommate today and his room is going to be the sewing room. I was a little appalled at the amount of stuff I had in there. I knew I had it all, I just didn't know (or chose to ignore) how much all actually was. I am going to be set up some place else to sew but right now everything is in boxes and all over the house. Not sure how long it is going to be before I feel motivated enough to find all my stuff and start sewing again.  We have a really fun attic space with a nice little window and stuff that I think I am going to use, but it will require a lot of moving stuff around and cleaning. Eventually my desire to sew will outweigh my laziness, I just don't know how long that is going to take. All that being said, it may take me longer than usual to post stuff. Our house is coming together really fast now, so maybe I will start posting stuff about that.
Until then...

My " I made this up all by my self" quilt. I think that is what I will name it if I ever publish the pattern

These are some pictures of the quilt I have been working on. I started With these small blocks and got just about the size of a crib quilt and gave up on this design. A large king size quilt is just to big for it to be entirely 2 1/2 squares. You can't tell, but each square is that small.

                                      

I then started to add on. I added the red strip around the little squares above, and then added a new square (below) but, because I didn't read the directions it was way to big. It should be square but some of the pieces for this black have already been scavenged for other stuff, so its huge. I may use this piece as is at some point, but we will see. 

These are the fabrics I'm using. I love them so much

This is the newest add on. Im going to do the triangles all the way around and then move on. What I have so far has come from many hours of pain and torture trying to figure out what to do and what I'm doing wrong. 

This is how it will look when the triangles are added onto the rest of the quilt. 

As I add pieces on, I will post more pictures. 

Until then 

bye

Sisters, Sister, there were never such devoted sister.

SO, I have two beautiful, amazing, talented, and creative sister. Who happen to older than I am and everything a sister should be. They are my best friends and have been best enemies at times. They are confidants and tattle tales, they are fellow warriors on no bed time and invading army in your room when you very clearly have NO TRESPASSING posted on your door. And in later years have truly become my kindred sprits. We are very similar in many ways and in just as many ways we are very different. I bring this up because my sister Kelly has been posting on her blog all about the quilt she has been making for her living room. How easy it has been to fallow the directions she has been using for said quilt. I have this same book and am also making a quilt out of it. I found my self wondering what directions she was talking about and why I didn't think Mine were so easy to fallow. As I have been making my quilt, I have found my self being really frustrated that I would finish a block and it would not match up and it just didn't look right. When I would go back and look at the directions I would wonder where I went wrong and I could never find anything. THEN, I realized, It really really helps if you, A) read the instruction and B) fallow said instruction from start to finish. I have this really nasty habit of looking at the pictures, glancing at the directions, then diving in and never looking back until something has gone horribly wrong. When all is said and done, I blame the book for bad instructions. Not my inability to sit still long enough to read the instructions. I also have a nasty habit of building onto existing patterns and making it up. So, really its not the books fault but mine. Most of the time, what I end up with is actually kinda cool, but there are some very mutilated projects that are hiding in my closet or are cannibalized into other projects. So i guess it comes down to those that read and fallow the instructions, and those that make them up. Neither one is better than the other, but the latter is more fun.

These are a few blackmail pictures I have my sisters

 The lovely red head is Keri and she is the oldest and the one holding the bunny is Kelly and she in the middle 

I love my sisters dearly and would not trade our differances for the world, even the ones that make we want to only child (well, maybe those if we are being honest : ) )

I love you guys, your the best.

Gluten Free for Two weeks

    Ok, I know this isn't a post about being creative or anything cool I found, but a post on my life. Starting today I am starting a gluten free diet for two weeks. There is some speculation as to whether I am gluten intolerant or have a full blown allergy. I have seen my mom go through this process and I am eternally grateful for her example and the trail she has created for me to fallow, as well as my sister and friends Jeff and Brooke Baker who have also gone on this journey. If this was just about losing weight, I wouldn't be doing it. I love bread and pasta way to much to just give it up. Not gonna happen.

So today I went shopping for my two week test and let me tell you, its really hard. When you don't have to think about it you don't realize how much you eat gluten. Trying to create a menu for a week cutting a staple out, is to much. Thankfully I could think back to what my mom eats and pick what I wanted. That saved me lots of time and energy. I am also so thankful for all the substitutions that are available now that five years ago were not even created (most likely).

  I will keep updates going on how this is going and how I feel, and if I can keep it up when school starts. Its just to easy to stop and get a bagel on the way to school. Yikes, I hadn't thought about that one. I'm gonna have to figure that one out as I go. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Here hopping I can stick with it.

My first attempt at quilting

This is my very first attempt at quilting. I used a quilt block from a book my sister gave me, and instead of joining them together, I added a border of yellow and made...Pot holders for my mom. 

I love the contrast of the green with the pattern print. 

Hopefully there will be more soon. I just finished my finals so I have an ENTIRE week to do fun crafty things. In the mean time, check out this blog, its what I aspire to be Love Little Things

Its all Cowl's from here

This winter has been all about the Cowl for me. I think I made 4 of them. This was my favorite by far. I made this piece for my sister in law from 100% sheep wool. The pattern was from Ravely. The best site ever. Tons of patterns, projects and ideas for all kinds of yarn lovers. 

The best part about this Cowl is that it can be long and slouchy and doubled to be warm and cozy. For wool, this yarn is surprisingly soft. No scratchy necks here.

IF you want the pattern you can down load it free here 

Calm Cowl

Red is the Color of the Day.

So, it has been almost a week, and I am still sick. Some how that just seems wrong for something that hit me out of the blue. I went to bed feeling fine, and woke up feeling like, well, I wont write that part. While I have been sick,

I made Charlie a hat,

I am half way finished with a hat for myself. Raspberry beret, the kind you find at the second hand store

and last night, while studying for a final I have to make up, I decided to start on my very first quilt. That last one was really unproductive. I got A LOT of squares cut out, but not a lot of studying done.

I feel like I have siamese twins in my brain. One twin is all hyper and wants to see people and wants to leave the house. The other is just curled up in bed while the hyper one is trying to pull it out. It makes for not so happy twins on either side. Oh well, what is one to do. So now I get to deal with an exhausted ADD siamese twin in my head. When you have to study for a final and write a paper, that is really not a good thing to have in your head.

A Christmas in Stitches

This Christmas I was very very busy. We were trying to keep costs down this year so I made several gifts for the kids in our family. It was so much fun to work on these projects and actually see them come out and look AWESOME!!! I know, I know, I shouldn't toot my own horn, but these things are freaking cool.

Phannie Slouchy Beanie

I made this one for my niece Sadie. I had to mess with the pattern a little because it was a tad too small, but after a few extra rows it fits great.

Jayne Cob Hat

Fot those of you who are familiar with the T.V. show Firefly, this hat is originally in yellow and red and made for one Jayne Cob. If you like Sci Fi mixed with Chinese and old Western Themes and Joss Whedon then this is the show for you.

I made this one for my nephew Curtis and in the Oregon Ducks Colors. He is a huge Ducks fan and was able to go to the championship game. I never thought I would be jealous of my nephew, but let me tell you, I so was.

(my favorite model)

Caterpillar Toy

This is a fun one for my niece who is a little over 1. I want to call her Addy just to tick off her mom but I wont. From what I hear, Addy, I mean Della, really loves it.

Elephant

I have new nephew who's mom REALLY like elephants. So I made them this little beauty, the tag said, "To Aiden (but really for Erin)". Cause we all know gifts for babies are really for the parents. Out of all the gifts I made, this was the one I wanted to keep for my self the most.

Did you make any gifts for Christmas? What were your favorites? Share pictures, recipes, patterns, and how-to's with all of us. It could be fun.

Dr. Marvin, Im doily-ing

Yup, thats right, I am making a doily. Why? Is it because I am 90 at heart, is it to make my husband shake is head and roll is eyes at me, or am I just a little crazy, maybe all of the above. But really, it was something new to try and do while we watched Lost. We went through all 6 season of lost starting in Dec. and ending just after the new year. I needed something to do so I didn't feel like I was wasting my life away. Sadly, this is all I have to show, because doilies are surprisingly hard to do when you don't have the right thread and hook. Who knew? A long with finding something to make me feel alive while watching lost, I wanted to start blogging again. So, i tried again, and again, and again to write and post a blog I was happy with, but alas, my blog on word press was really frustrating to use I have since given up. So, I have started this one. I hope you will like it and will check in on it frequently.

Happy new year, Merry Christmas and all that