The World Surrounding Me

About 2 weeks ago, I picked up a project that has long lay dormant: a 12-block applique project designed by Alice Wilhoit called “Remember When.” My version is still in pieces, so here’s a picture of the original quilt:

Original version of "Remember When" quilt, by Alice Wilhoit (from her website)

I saw this quilt on display at Alice’s booth during the one-and-only time I’ve managed to get to the Austin Quilt Guild’s show. I loved it far more than any of the quilts on display at the show. So, I bought the pattern. I even spent a few months collecting hand-dyed and batik fabric for each of the delicate baskets filled with flowers. I was determined that I’d conquer all of these blocks!

Well, somewhere around 6 or 8 years later, I just might finally be conquering them!

I have 4 blocks done, another 5 with just a piece of two left… and another 3 that are trying my patience.

One of those, for example, is the middle block on the bottom row. It’s a beautiful block with a slender vase and 5 nearly-identical flowers. I love the original design of the block, but I tried  & tried & grew more frustrated in attempting to make those little flowers look right. I tried freezer paper on top, freezer paper on bottom, I even tried sewing the shape on the machine (cheater’s applique) — nothing worked.

Then, I had a realization that I think every quilter needs when making a quilt based on a pattern: I Don’t Have to Follow the Pattern!

What freedom that is!

So, I changed away from 5 annoying-but-adorable flowers filled with gentle scallops to 5 somewhat-improvised tulip shapes. I think the tulips are adorable!

Here’s to freedom in quilting! If the pattern isn’t working, change it! If the fabric you bought looks wrong, set it aside and try another! If the technique doesn’t make sense, improve up on it! Make it your own!

By the way… I’d say that nobody but me would ever know that I changed the flower design… but then I went and blogged about it.

Like so many other people, I’ve gotten into Pinterest recently. Quite a few of my recent recipes, quilts, and decor projects have been inspired by photos I’ve seen on the site. You can learn what Pinterest is here.

I like it, but there’s an annoyance or two. One big annoyance for me is people who re-pin something, but don’t change the description. Most of the time, that’s fine. Often when I re-pin something I found on the site, I just keep the text that the original Pinner wrote. That works for comments that are descriptive (such as “This looks like a good recipe for broccoli” or “Scrap Quilt.”) However, it doesn’t work at all for comments that are personal.

For example… I see lots of recipes on Pinterest. Recipe photos are often described like “I love this!” or “I tried this last night and it was awesome.” Interesting… but then you wonder… who is “I?” Did my friend actually make this recipe last night?  Or is that “I” left from the original pinner?

It can get even more confusing. For example, I pinned a recipe just before Christmas and said “Matt made this last night.” It really was a good recipe, so I’m glad other people re-pinned it. But, many of them didn’t change the description so their boards now have pins saying “Matt made this last night.” Uh, who is Matt to you and why did he make you dinner last night?

Further, official pin ettiquite explains that you are to avoid self-promotion, but does allow you to pin projects you’re proud of. So, rarely, I’ll pin a picture that is my own creation. It’s at those moments that this whole not-changing-the-description thing can get really annoying. I tend to describe these pins such as “My latest quilt project.” I love it when those pictures are re-pinned; I hope I’ve inspired somebody else! But, I hate then going to their pages and seeing my work described as “My latest quilt project.” No, it’s not *your* project, it’s *my* project!

When I’m the original Pinner, I’m trying to be better about making a description that can be copied without confusion. But, I’d also like to start a new campaign for intelligent re-pinning! And, since I can’t otherwise link to this post on Pinterest unless there’s a picture, here’s a graphic:

Please Pin It if you share my cause!

(Yes, I should give credit where credit is due – I was inspired to do this graphic by a post by a user named “madincrafts” on a site called crafterminds)

My mom (aka my very own professional longarm quilter) sent me pictures today of the latest things she quilted: 4 of my Hawaiian applique blocks (to be made into pillows). One of those pillows comes with a story, which I wanted to share here.

In 2006, in conjunction with visiting my parents in Ireland (since my dad was teaching a study-abroad course), Matt & I used Ryan Air to get a cheap flight to near Paris.* We got an amazing deal on a hotel just a few blocks from both Notre Dame & the Louvre. Naturally, we visited both, along with the Eiffel Tower, the Orsay Museum, etc. You can see a few of our pictures here.

At the Louvre, I was fascinated with the exhibits of the Palace of Sargon II. Sargon was an Assyrian King circa 720 BC. I’m pretty sure he’s the same Sargon referenced ever-so-briefly in Isaiah 20:1 in connection with the siege of Ashdod (I’m sure all of you know exactly what that is… haha!). He was a very powerful Assyrian monarch and had his capital at Dur-Sharrukin (near modern-day Mosul, Iraq). Somehow, huge portions of this amazingly-decorated (and amazingly-well-preserved) palace wound up at the Louvre and other institutions. At the Louvre, you can walk through areas with carved winged bulls standing twice as tall as a person and with walls covered in intricate stone-work.

I was captured by one bit of stonework in particular:

As I looked at this, I just *knew* it would make a good quilt design! However, my skills weren’t nearly good enough to make anything with it just yet.

Fast forward 5 years.

In early April 2011, I visited 4th & Main Quilt Shop in Cannon Falls, MN (a great shop!) and picked out a few pieces of fabric that I just loved. In late April, just days before our trip to the island of Hawaii, I scrambled to come up with a Hawaiian applique pillow design to work on while we were vacationing (there’s something incredibly perfect about sitting in a lounge chair on a Hawaiian beach doing Hawaiian-style hand applique). I remembered that design from Sargon and determined I had the ability to recreate it.

Below is my interpretation of the Sargon pattern. Naturally, it looks a bit different (since I was doing a pattern that radiates from the center, and since I was looking to cut just one piece of fabric). But, I love it! It’s definitely one of a kind! My mom finished the echo-quilting today. It will be made into a pillow.

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*We kinda thought we were flying “to” Paris, but then realized that Ryan Air served an airport “near” Paris requiring an hour-and-a-half bus ride into the city, then a crazy cab driver to get us to our hotel. Ah, the stories I could tell about that flight!

Every quilter, every sewist, every crafter (and probably every home-improvement-er, etc.) has these lying around: what’s jokingly referred to as “UFO’s” or un-finished objects.

My quilting closet is packed with them. I’ve got:

• Quilts that just need binding attached. These I often feel worst about, since they’re *so close* to done, and since my Mom has gone to great lengths to quilt them already!
• Bundles of fabric stuck in a bag along with a pattern or design I want to make.
• Stacks of pre-cut or even partially sewn pieces that have been cut, but I can’t remember what project they were for. (Thankfully, I only have one pile like that right now!)
• Quilt tops that just need borders attached — but that will require me to clear off the dining room table (the only surface I’ve got that’s large enough to lay out large quilts).

As a goal for early 2012, I decided to tackle my to-do pile. Thankfully (with one notable exception) I’ve always keep my projects-in-process organized. Here are some tips I’ve used to make it so I can put a project down and still (safely!) come back to it later:

Keep a list!

I have two small white boards in my sewing area, which I use to keep track of progress on every project that’s not yet finished. One board (shown at left above) is for Quilts In Progress, Applique Blocks, and “Stuff Mom Has “ (i.e. things I’ve sent to be quilted). The other board (shown at right above) helps me keep track of Matching Fabric Sets (haven’t decided what pattern to use yet), Bags Started, and Binding To Do.

For quilts, I give a code to each project so I remember where I was at in the process (and so I can easily pick a project that suits my mood or available time when I go in to sew). The codes are:

1. Just the border left
2. Ready to assemble the blocks
3. Block assembly
4. Pieces cut
5. Fabric chosen

I used to try to organize this information on my computer, but found that white board – with easy satisfaction to erase/update info – worked better. Yes, even Becky, who loves Excel Spreadsheets a bit too much knows that a written list sometimes wins!

And… yes, if you’re counting, I have 21 pieced quilts in progress right now, plus another 13 applique quilts/blocks, and 9 quilts needing binding. (Hence my goal to get thru the to-do list in early 2012!)

Use clear bags to keep patterns & fabrics together

Whenever I buy new sheet sets I save the zippered plastic cases they come in. Those clear zippered pouches work great for holding a pattern & all the fabric I intend to use for it. Two bags are show above: one is just the fabric for “Urban Cabin” by Atkinson Design (the second time I’m doing this design – I loved it!). The other is a “Slanted-Stars” inspired scrap quilt. That bag not only holds the squares that I’ve completed, but also matching yardage in case I need to change anything.

Mark my progress

If I start a project and then I get bored with it or life gets in the way, I try to quickly organize the remaining material and mark the pattern so I know where I left off. This has saved me dozens of times! Just this morning, I was able to pick up a project I hadn’t sewn on in at least two years and know immediately where to pick it up.

Don’t mistakenly use the binding fabric!

Since I send my quilts away to my Mom to be quilted (and since I tell her again and again to prioritize my projects below those of her paying customers) it can be a while from when I finish a top and when I get it back, needing to be bound. More than once, I’ve forgotten which fabric was intended for binding a quilt, and used it in another project. So, I realized that I need a safe place to keep fabric I intend to use for binding. I use a pocket on a shoe-organizer for that. Each fabric that goes in that pocket gets labelled with the project it goes with.

Keep binding organized

I don’t know what it is with binding, but it’s often my least favorite part of making a quilt. It’s not hard! I don’t even mind the hand-sewing step, but it’s just never something I want to do. So, I do bindings little-by-little… finding the energy to cut the fabric one day, press it the next, etc. When I finish each step, I wad up the binding and fold it inside the quilt top. That way, it stays neat & is easily associated with the correct project.

I’m done with the two-thousands. 12 years into the new century (or is it 11?), I think it’s time we started calling it “twenty” rather than “two thousand.” Maybe you can call that simplification (going from three syllables to two).* Or, maybe I just like it that way.

So, in twenty-twelve, for the third year in a row, Matt & I gathered over lunch to debrief the prior year and set goals for the new year. I’m not really a “resolution” sort of person, but setting goals has become a very good thing for us. We haven’t reached all of our annual goals (some of them each year are quite a stretch) but it’s been good to set goals, post them where we can see them, and review them often. We’ve accomplished things via our goals that we never would have otherwise.

2011 was an odd-yet-typical year… one with struggles but still filled with rich blessings. There was loss (of family & friends, of old work situations, and a bit of weight) but there was also gain (of freedom, independence, and ability to walk normally). There were moments when we felt so much alive, moments that took tremendous strength to get through, and a few moments that were both simultaneously. There were dreams fulfilled as well as dreams delayed.

I don’t know if our plan for goal setting is that innovative or worth documenting, but the one thing that has helped most is for us to post our goals where we can see them. For us, that means on a piece of paper taped to a wall in our home-office/extra bedroom. Throughout the year, when we accomplish a goal, we check it off. We didn’t get to check off each goal from 2011 (though I lost weight, I didn’t get down to the size of jeans I wanted to), but we did check off a few (like me going to Connecticut and *finally* finishing my legal name-change after getting married). Seeing check-marks appear by easier goals snowballs into motivation to add check-marks by the goals that are harder to accomplish.

So, what’s in store for 2012? Lots of things, I’m sure! We set a few short-term fitness goals, including going for a 20-mile bike ride somewhere around Austin in the Spring. We also set a goal to remodel our kitchen, and read at least 6 quality spiritually-oriented books each. (I already finished my first one: Simply Jesus by N.T. Wright). Plus, there’s the typical list of work-oriented, relational and financial goals.

I’m looking forward to seeing all that 2012 has to offer.

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*Or, maybe you can just chalk up the “twenty” rather than “two thousand” as another way of deliberately changing how I pronounce words… such as with either/neither.

1. A Christmas present for Matt from me, addressed to Becky Laswell
2. A box of parchment paper I ordered for myself and need in order to finish baking cookies, addressed to Becky Laswell
3. A Christmas gift for me from my mom, chosen from my wishlist, addressed to Rebecca Laswell
4. A Christmas gift for Matt from his sister, addressed to Becky Laswell

Thought it may not seem obvious to you, there’s a subtle code in the names above, and that’s for a good reason!

This time of year, the UPS and USPS delivery folks get good workouts coming up & down our steep driveway. It seems that a package arrives nearly every day, and with most of them coming from Amazon.com, they can be hard to keep track of. Matt & I both have wishlists, we buy gifts for each other, and we also order a lot of common items from Amazon; with Prime shipping and great prices it just makes sense.

There are, sadly, several times when I’ve ripped opened boxes that I thought were normal household stuff, but which were actually gifts for me, ruining any surprise. As adults, we don’t get that many happy surprises, so it’s important to safeguard the ones you do get!

Thankfully, I found a feature on Amazon’s wishlists that reduces the confusion. You can set your wishlist to send you packages at any address and with any name. Here’s how you do it:

Christmas Stockings on the Mantle

New for 2011. I designed & stitched both of these in less than 90 minutes. They aren’t huge, and that’s on purpose, since we don’t need excuses to buy a ton of candy to put in them!

Made from batik fabric, with a cut-away snowflake shape, to match the tree skirt. (see notes below about how I did the tree skirt).

The mantle has some leftover garland and lights.

From Christmas 2011

 Blue & Silver Christmas Tree

I continue to love my Christmas tree, so I decorated it just the same as always. It is wrapped with as many blue & white lights as I can manage (a mix of LED & regular bulbs), with silver, blue, and white ornaments. I always put on some kind of ribbon; this year I twisted it on vertically to make the tree appear taller.

From Christmas 2011	From Christmas 2011

Snowflake Tree Skirt

I made this in 2010, from fabric purchased in Colorado in 2009. If you want to make your own version here are the rough directions:

1. Cut a piece of fabric for the base, into a hexagon shape (6-sides), large enough to spread under your tree. Clearly press it into 1/6ths (radiating from the center).
2. Cut another piece of fabric, the same shape as the base, to use as the lining.
3. Rough cut a slight smaller piece of fabric for the snowflake, and then adhere heat-n-bond to the back. Leave the heat-n-bond paper on & fold/cut the paper-and-fabric into a hexagon shape. Again, keeping the paper on, clearly fold & mark the 1/6th lines, radiating from the center.
4. Then, pretend you’re back in elementary school and cut the top fabric like a snowflake, being aware that you’ll later have to sew around your edges (so don’t make them too complicated), and being careful to cut evenly through all layers.
5. Unfold the snowflake, remove the heat-n-bond, and line the snowflake on top of the background hexagon (using the 1/6th fold marks to line it up). Adhere snowflake to background according to heat-n-bond directions.
6. Blanket stitch around the snowflake edges.
7. Cut a straight line from the outside edge to the center (so you can wrap the skirt around the tree) — do this on both the base & the lining. Also cut a hole in the center (for the tree trunk).
8. Sew the front to the lining, right sides together, leaving a small opening to turn it right sides out. Press well. Wrap around your tree.

From Christmas 2011

Nativity Scene

Nothing new here other the location. This is the nativity scene my uncle Larry hand-carved for me circa 1991, combined with the original “Little Town of Bethlehem” watercolor from Jimmy A, purchased at Cornerstone 2008. It is placed just inside the front door, on a table Matt made.

From Christmas 2011

Hot Pepper Lights & MESS!

You can find these hot pepper lights all over New Mexico. We picked up this set at the White Sands gift shop a few years ago. I’ve often hung them in the kitchen, but chose to put them in the entryway this year. Behind the lights, you can see into the dining room, which is the holding area (aka warehouse) for the supplies for our bathroom remodel. Even with the mess, I like these lights. They spice things up.

From Christmas 2011

While we’re overall quite satisfied with our home, there are a few things about our house that Matt & I don’t love. Many of them, unfortunately, stem from bad style decisions of the former homeowners and the fact that the 1982-era builder-grade features aren’t exactly our favorite. These two sources of problems show themselves in things like honey oak cabinets and bad faux-southwestern-style wallpaper. Slowly but surely, we’re remedying these issues by re-doing things in the house. Over the past few years, we’ve re-done the downstairs bath, upgraded the lighting in kitchen & living room, put on a new patio/pergola, and many other improvements.

Right now, we’re focusing most of our creative energy & money on our master bath — but we recently did a minor upgrade of the guest bath, too.

It wasn’t a complete over-haul. We kept the same cabinet & counter/sink. We kept the light fixture & towel bars, too, since we installed them just a few years ago. We also kept the same tub & shower surround. We kept the same mirror, too. Still, for what we didn’t do… we think the change is good!

BEFORE

Unfortunately, I can’t find the before pictures, so use your imagination. Vinyl floor with “rust” colored squares on a should-be-white-but-yellowed-out background. Faux southwestern wallpaper (thankfully, my mom helped us strip that a few years ago*). Old toilet with mechanics that didn’t work quite right anymore – requiring you to jiggle the handle and flush multiple times. And, as we found out when we went to replace it — the old shut-off-valve didn’t actually shut anything off anymore. The room also had cheap mini-blinds, installed by us (but hardly an improvement over the old cheap mini blinds that came with the house when Matt bought it).

AFTER

New floor, new paint, custom window treatment & changed out the accessories.

The floor is a slate-wanna-be tile from Home Depot. This picture shows the floor & cabinet before I painted the baseboards — and wow, did they need fresh paint!

The paint color is very similar to what it used to be, so much that I doubt anybody could tell unless you saw the colors next to each other, though! The wall is slightly darker and the trim is now a true white instead of cream. We kept the same art — a picture taken by our friend Brian, and two pieces from the same Hawaiian artist.

We replaced the toilet with an American Standard Cadet-3 (round bowl). We have the same toilet (but elongated bowl) downstairs in the half-bath, and it flushes great at 1.6 gallons/flush. This new one is 1.28 gallons/flush, but works just as well so far.

The soap bowl & dispenser (not pictured above) were actually wedding gifts. They are made from soapstone, and were on our registry at Crate & Barrel. I like them so much more in here than in our master bath, where they weren’t showcased (as they should be). The cabinet also got a fresh coat of white paint and new hinges (brushed nickel, instead of painted-over-off-white).

The “floral” arrangement is from the Autumn clearance section at Target & Michael’s. The spheres were sold as a set for about $4 from Target (40% off, I think). The reeds were 70% off at Michael’s (cost about $1) and the vase was half-price (about $4). I like when Autumn clearance time comes; Autumn colors tend to fit in with our house way better than the stars-and-stripes you find in during Summer clearance or the pastels you find when they’re discounting Spring merchandise.

The window now has a roman shade, a DIY project I made following these directions to make a shade out of a mini-blind (though I did some sewing, so mine was not no-sew). I’ll have a full review of that tutorial later. We like this shade better than the old blinds, but it’s not perfect. I may re-do it with another similar shade someday, now that I know the technique (but I’ll have to remember where I found that fabric — I pulled it from my stash of home-dec fabric purchased on sale in order to make pillows).

Overall, for a not-complete overhaul, we’re very happy with our “new” bathroom! And, it was far easier than the Master Bath work which is happening right now! If you’re on Pinterest, check out some of the parts of our master bath.

*Note: I don’t hate wallpaper. I just hate when people put it up directly over drywall without priming the drywall first. There’s simply no way to get the wallpaper off without damaging the walls. My mom got us a WallWik set, and provided the labor — which helped a lot in removing the wallpaper in the bathroom, but the walls are still not perfectly smooth.

While I’ve been stuck at the house supervising construction workers on our bathroom, I’ve been sewing & crafting. I made two more ornaments yesterday: a star & a wreath.

Wire wrapped star

Tutorial found via pinterest. I didn’t have the weight of wire recommended in the tutorial, so I just used what I found around the house. It turned out OK. Easy to make.

I also made a smaller version of this jingle-bell wreath from Martha Stewart. The picture didn’t turn out, however, so use your imagination.

As a fair warning to my family members… I think most of you will be getting a hand-made gift for Christmas this year. I’ve got a lot of time & creative energy, so I’ve been spending it making fun things for gifts. Some of them are little add-ons, like the ornaments in the prior post. Other gifts are a little more elaborate. Yesterday & today, I worked on one of the most elaborate items — which may wind up as a gift for my niece (or I may just decide to keep it for myself!)

It is a small purse (about 7″ long, 6″ high, and 3.5″ wide), with wooden handles, padded exterior pocket, and magnetic snap closures. This was the first time I’d ever attached a set of wooden handles. Thanks to yet another link from Pinterest, I found a good tutorial for how to attach them. I used the bag in that tutorial as a general guide as well (though I changed the dimensions) on mine. I may look for a fun button or pin to finish off the outside of the bag. The pocket & interior have magnetic snap closures (another pinterest-found tutorial)

The purse comes with a matching circular case which can hold earbuds (and act as a small key-ring). This, too, is another Pinterest-inspired item (find the tutorial here). This went together fairly easily, however, if I make it again, I’d enlarge the circle just a bit — either that or I would use quilting-weight fabric throughout (instead of home-dec weight exterior) and substitute medium-weight fusible for one of the pieces of batting.

The main fabric actually comes from Ikea (they have relatively inexpensive fabric in fun modern designs), and the accent pieces were from my stash. I ordered a bunch of zippers on Etsy a while back; the yellow zipper comes from that order.

If my creative juices keep up, I may sew a coordinating case for holding Nintendo DS games or perhaps a small wallet/pouch, so my niece can keep herself organized on-the-go. Or, maybe not. 2 homemade gifts might be more than enough for a pre-teen girl.