Wedding bird mobile

I was supposed to be setting up my side of Adam and I's workroom (and I did, a little bit!) but instead I made this!

My mom sent me the left over birds I made as favors for the wedding and I'd been trying to think of what to do with them. This was a nice quick way for me to have some out as a memory. The bird pattern is free, from the Spool website and the fabric was designed by me and printed through Spoonflower. 

Old favorite new favorite

I'm not very good at switching up the things I wear but there's something about getting to wear different shoes when it starts to get cooler out that I love! Something about having my feet mostly covered in the summer time makes me crazy (and too damn hot). So when crisper fall days start to roll around I get a little excited!

Now, I know that boat shoes are probably supposed to be summer shoes but so what! Right now is the prime time for me to want to wear them. They are super cute, comfy and come in other cute colors, AND, AND, AND are only $12.99 right now on clearance on the L.L. Bean website! And since they are from Bean's it makes me feel like I'm a wicked Mainer. 

I decided to switch up my purse too. I got that purse probably 4 years ago from H&M in Boston.  It's HUGE and I remember at the time I bought it so I could fit school stuff in there. I don't carry school stuff around any more so I'm not really sure why I'm using it again. But it's got a really cute lining and a special pocket for my phone so whatever. Also, I was using my Foxy Tote from Boygirlparty and I'm paranoid about messing it up since Susie doesn't make them anymore. 

Really I just wanted an excuse to talk about my boat shoes.

First quilt is DONE!

I finished up sewing the binding on my quilt yesterday and here it is!

TA-DA!

Baking day

Breakfast with Adam + new yarn + listening to Metric + clean kitchen (not anymore!) + Morgan + Leela +

apple tree in the backyard + making baked donuts + making challah bread +

rain (not just clouds) + dinner with pals = I am so in love with today!

We're through, sewing machine!

Ok, we're not through but I sure am mad at you. Remember how I was all excited about sewing yesterday and I was all psyched about all the cool stuff I was about to make and you were all going to be super jealous? WELL. My machine is being a total jerk. I'm not even going to go into all the dumb things it suddenly started doing yesterday. (Thanks, Mom and Amanda for all the suggestions!) I keep trying to poke around with it but it just makes me mad so I'm just designing more color palette stuff for future sewing projects.

Adam and I had dinosaur chicken nuggets and crinkle cut fries for dinner last night. It's funny sometimes how a silly dinner can make you feel so much better!

Quilting the quilt!

I spent most of Monday finally quilting my quilt. I was really nervous that I had forgotten what went into sandwiching and basting etc.  My kitchen table was just slightly too small for the whole top but I think I did alright. I know for sure I should have trimmed my batting down a little more but like I said, I was so nervous!

It took me a while to figure out where to start with the quilting. Really, I'm not all that used to sewing, let alone trying to wrangle a bunch of fabric around and through my machine. I got the hang of it after a little bit. I definitely need some practice getting my stitch straight, but overall I'm happy with what I ended up with.

I decided to just stitch diagonally across the dark blocks and the little yellow ones. You can see it a little better in the next pic.

So it's alllmost done. I am still stitching the binding in the back. You can see along the left side and a teeny bit on the bottom where it's not done yet. 

I can't even tell you guys how excited I am be really close to saying "I'm done with my first quilt!". SO DAMN EXCITED.

Fabric crushes

I just spent way too long looking on Fabricworm and I'm totally crushing on these fabrics!

You can click on the images to go to the Fabricworm site and buy them for me! Thanks in advance!

Apparently I have a lot of pillows that need covering.

Sometimes I think one of my favorite things about making stuff is how excited Adam gets. I mean, I made this envelope style pillow cover today for a throw pillow and it was like magic to him!

I've been hanging onto that Echino fabric forever and occasionally pulling it out and looking at it and just assuming I'd never use it. I think I also assumed that I just never would get into sewing but I guess that's not true!

Man, you guys, who knew that making stuff for your home felt so satisfying! Oh and p.s. the back of the pillow is a plain, natural colored linen.

Pillow cases!

The other day I was determined to do some sewing. I wanted to do a fairly simple project that could be something for our home and had been really wanting to try out this pillow case tutorial for quite some time. I didn't have any fabric big enough so yesterday Casie and I went to Joann's and looked for something cheap to do a kind of practice run. It took me a little while to find something because I'm picky (I have no illusions about this and I am sure that my Mom, Adam and Casie will back me up!) and decided to take a peek in the bargain/clearance fabric section and just like when we were picking out quilting fabrics there was a little ole' colorful $3/yd bolt of cotton just waiting for me! I scooped it up, Casie was all.."Duh, I knew you'd find something here." and we left.

So I just spent the last few hours making some pillow cases. The first one is kind of wonky and the second one I had to do some seam ripping on because I'm a bonehead and didn't pay attention to what I was doing..BUT! I'm still really happy with them!

The fabric reminds me so much of my Gramma, the lilac colored bedroom she had when I was growing up and most of her sheet sets. If she were still alive I would have given these to her in a heartbeat! I'm so excited that I know how to make these now. I haven't done a whole hell of a lot of sewing and I feel like I definitely learned some stuff while working on them.

Marked Man

Our house right now is consumed with the sounds of acceleration, scraping and car crashes. We downloaded and bought Burnout Paradise the other night and it's all Adam, Paul or I can think about. I don't usually like racing games but one that actually rewards you for crashing into stuff works out really well for me.

It was mostly cloudy today and oh so sleepy. It always takes me a few cloudy days to get used to the encroaching months of them. Because we are slow pokes we still don't have the house totally unpacked and a lot of the walls are still bare. I find myself poking around the house for spots where there is some color and just kind of soaking it in. Two of my favorites right now are:

The mer-bears Casie made for Adam and I as a wedding gift. They hang over our bed.

Annnnddd, the Atelier Lzc dishcloth I picked up at a cute shop in Seattle a few years ago. It hangs in our bathroom and matches our pink counter and tub!

Living with white walls is a bit foreign to me so hopefully we will quit being lazy jerks and get more color up around the house soon. Lord knows, when those winter months come around we will need it!

Coral Garden by Helle Jørgensen

I came across Helle's work the other night on Flickr and I have been swooning over her Coral Garden pieces since!

I absolutely love the colors and detail of the work. To see more of Helle's work you can visit her Flickr or blog.

Granny squares, a little hike and motion sickness.

Yesterday was a great day. We got up, had some breakfast and then went for a little hike on one of the Fox Hollow Trails. It was great weather and the trail was so pretty. The forest here is so magical and green and mossy and not buggy.

When we got home I decided to try crocheting in the hammock. Just a heads up. Crocheting while sitting in a hammock can make you motion sick! Or, well, can make me motion sick. Looking down while swinging slightly side to side = NO GOOD.

I hadn't actually made any small granny squares before, only started an afghan that is like one giant one. I've made eight different squares and today decided on a layout. 

It looks pretty crazy like that, but it's not reaaaally going to look like that anyway. It kind of gives me a headache to look at for too long. Well I must get back to my granny squares and watching Nip/Tuck with my bro-in-law.