Do you believe in love at first sight? The kind that sweeps you away before you even know what you're doing?
I do.
What other excuse would I have for falling head over heels for Laura Gunn's Lantern Bloom fabric line? What else could possibly explain why within ten minutes of first setting eyes on it, I was clickety-clicking all over the internets, ordering a bit of just about everything in this line?
I am not impulsive by nature. This was highly unusual behavior.
Also, a first: The first time making a quilt from instructions, using exactly the fabric suggested. It's not that I'm oppositional; I'm just naturally scrappy. I'm an equal-opportunity fabric employer. Scrap fabric or new, vintage or contemporary, thrift shop or quilt shop, and all points in between.
What can I say? I'm a new quilter; I know not what I do. But that's also how I roll. I try to use what I have on hand. If that's wrong, I may need an intervention. Send Dr. Drew, please. He's got that brainy-but-hot thing going on.
This weekend, I did get a little sewing time in, and I cut out and pieced this little ditty. Emphasis on little. It's like crib quilt size. What part about 45 x 55 did I not understand? I guess when you're in love, you do silly things, like pretend not to care about size.
Oh, well, I'm still hearting this fabric in a major way. And did you notice? Birds! In cages! So wrong, but yet so right. I used to have birds. I taught Penny the parakeet to wolf whistle. Hey, when you're in your forties, you miss that stuff, so you resort to other means to fulfill your needs. She could also cluck like a chicken, say "Bird" (sort of), and laugh...my laugh...which was a bit unsettling.
This will have a binding out of the wine-colored tile mosaic print, and the backing will be...well, I don't know. I made a mistake and ordered the wrong amount of what was supposed to be the backing. See? All reason flies out the window when you're under Cupid's influence.
Rest assured there is some sewing happening at La Casa de PP.* I'll get to that tomorrow. Today is all about the love.
I love music about as much as I love sewing, and they usually go hand in hand. In the past 24 hours, I have listened to everything from Les Paul and Mary Ford to Band of Skulls.
If you didn't catch the Les Paul documentary on PBS last summer, check your local listings. I caught a rerun of it the other night. I've seen it three times now, and it is excellent. He was such a beautiful man, a true genius. And Mary Ford's sweet, pure voice can literally bring tears (Tennessee Waltz, anyone?).
Also a beautiful song, but in a different way, is "Cold Fame" by Band of Skulls. You can listen to it free here. Best song on the CD, in my opinion.
To say my musical taste is eclectic may be an understatement.
So here is my musical Valentine to all (10?) of you who may read this today, starting with a song you've heard probably 325,653 times, but check out this rendition. Talk about pure vocals, Jason Mraz is in fine form here.
In case you don't have nine minutes of your life to spare on the above, here is the Cliffs Notes version by a talented charmer. This little guy will steal your heart!
And finally, just for pure pop pleasure!
Much love to my family and friends, old and new, on Valentine's Day! I hope you are spending it with someone you love, and/or doing something you love. Preferably both!
*My initials, folks. Well, two of them anyway. Bonus points if you can name the comedian/actor who used that phrase in a different context.
Whew, VTT was a blast. It sure was fun to stop by and visit the other participants and see all their awesomeness. Thank you, everyone who left comments here. I really appreciate them.
Today, while I rest my pinkies from repetitive Shift+1 key strain, let me introduce you to Dolly.
Dolly is a little piece of trash my husband brought home last summer, and I could not have been more excited.
No, not that kind of trash or that kind of excited. Sheesh.
She had been stripped of all her clothing and basically kicked to the curb. He took her gently in his arms and helped her into the car. When he came in the house with her, like I said, I was thrilled.
You may have gotten a peek at her yesterday.
She's a--what's the word? Mannequin? But she's headless, armless, and legless. Calling her a torso seems like an insult. Whatever, she's our Dolly now, and we (I, in particular) love her regardless of her physical challenges. And she doesn't eat a thing.
However, I have not been a particularly good provider for Dolly in that she is still basically unclothed, save for the aprons I tie on her to protect what shred of dignity she has left. I think she needs a nice blouse or something, don't you? I should make her one. Maybe two. (Note to self: Whoa there now, don't get carried away.) Goodness knows I have enough fabric and should be able to come up with something.
I was thinking Dolly was maybe a 32 bust, but I thought I better check. Holy tape measure, she's got quite the rack for such a petite thing! She's 36-24-36. Hmm...who do you think created Dolly? And what kind of magazines did that guy read, anyway? I mean, do those measurements actually occur in nature? Because I live in the Land of Beer, Brats & Cheese, and nobody I know has had a 24-inch waist since, oh, second grade.
So let's see, depending on which size chart I consult, she's got about a size 2 waist and a size 8 bust. What the--hey, wait a minute...was this the same person who invented the Barbie doll?
Anyway, Dolly needs some duds. I will see what I can do. Stay tuned...
Yay! It's Vintage Thingies Thursday! I'm pretty stoked about being able to participate for the first time today. VTT is the inspired idea of Suzanne, aka Colorado Lady, and it's a stellar one at that!
Just in time for Valentine's Day, I spied this cute apron at the local thrift store. It was really wrinkled and just dangling haphazardly from a clip hanger among a dozen or so equally sad-looking pieces. It had to come home with me. A little pressing and it was restored to it's former beauty.
The glass mid-century coffee carafe on the left is by Inland Glass and was another thrift store find, as was the aluminum mini-coffee pot, which reminded me of the one we had on the stove in my childhood. My husband had the bright idea to put a little bike tire light inside the clear top, so when you tap it, it blinks red! Cheap entertainment--I love it!
The little red and white trivet under the glass coffee carafe was made by my dad's uncle's wife probably sometime in the 1940s, I'm guessing. It's crocheted over bottle caps!
The Betty Betz Teen-Age Cookbook was published in 1953. I adore the illustrations in this book, done by the author, Betty Betz. The inside cover reads, "Our girls have good looks and are good cooks!" Well, of course! Sweet, huh? Yes, there's some schmutz on the edge of this page, but that just lets me know the book was loved by its original owner. She even wrote her name and address on the following page. I wonder where Kathryn Anne is now?
Thanks for stopping by for a visit today. I'm really looking forward making the rounds to all of you on VTT!
It's the middle of the morning and I think I need a nap already. I have been trying to figure out the best way for me to do pictures on this blog. I read way too many help files and watched a 40-minute Picasa basics video late last night (yawn), and this morning downloaded Picasa. My brain hurts. Now someone will surely tell me there's an easy button. That's usually the way it works.
Since I have spent an inordinate amount of time in front of the computer and not a sewing machine lately, let's look at an earlier quilt shall we?
I pieced this one in '09 (or maybe late '08?). It's one of my first quilts. It came back from the longarm quilter a couple months ago, and I bound it and it's on my bed now. It's the Chunky Churndash pattern by the wonderful Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville. I have learned so much about quilting from her site and am so grateful for her generosity in sharing her knowledge and passion with the world.
This is a very scrappy quilt, and I love that about it. I love looking at it first thing in the morning when I wake up as the light is coming through the window. Much of the fabric was scraps from my mom, who was a talented crafter and seamstress, so it holds a special place in my heart for that reason too.
But this morning as I looked at this quilt, I was thinking about Gretchen Wilson.
See those blue and white hourglass blocks between the scrappy blocks? I had to trim each of those to the correct size, one by one, because apparently my seams were a bit off and the blocks were pretty wonky. I wasn't happy about having to do that but wouldn't have been satisfied with it had I not. So I grabbed my stack of blocks and my cutting mat and cutter and then went looking for some music to get my mind off the tedium of having to trim those blocks.
You ever have one of those days when nothing in your whole music collection is what you want to hear? So I'm tearing through the house, looking for something different, and spotted this CD in a dusty corner of my daughter's closet where she'd left it behind after moving off to school.
Now, no offense, but mainstream country music is not my thing. I like a whole lot of music, but contemporary country is not my genre of choice. However, I have been known to imbibe in small doses from time to time, and this seemed like the right time for a hit of Gretchen Wilson. Forty minutes later, with a good Gretchen buzz going, I was done slicing and dicing those blocks. About that time, my husband came home and asked me what I was listening to. Only it was in the context of: [OMG] What ARE you listening to??
It was pretty funny.
The ironic thing is that this quilt definitely has a country look to it, and I am perfectly okay with that.
Have I listened to Gretchen since then? Not willingly, but hey, I have to admit it. That day? She was there for the party.
