Big Plans and Earrings

At the Moda Bake shop they're doing a Christmas in July theme. Nothing that interests me too much but a quilt by Angela really caught my eye, especially when she went and posted it in this version.

It's RAINBOW! and the perfect way to use not-exactly-coordinating-but-not-mismatching fat quarters. Today I dragged my entire fat quarter stash went through it. And came up with this.

I think I like the color pallet I maybe have to switch it around some more still and figure it out. I think though the real make it or break it of this quilt will be the background color I pick. Anyone have any suggestions? Based on the pic in my back stairwell I don't think white is the right neutral to do it with. My first inclination is to use grey. But that is because I really like the color grey so I am biased.

The more I think about quilting the more I'm getting excited for it. I finally sent the check to my sewing machine repair guy so I can replace the part that broke!
Right now though it is too hot to think about ironing. (an important part of quilting) The heat index has consistently been over 100 degrees lately. Usually averaging about 105. My roommates new favorite website is The Fucking Weather which is kind of all sorts of awesome. The point is it is way too hot to play with a hot machine, especially one that spurts out steam.

My favorite part of quilting is the large amounts of fabric and color that can go in one quilt. If I put that much different yarn in a sock it would look a little silly. But for fabric I think this is the perfect amount.

Have you noticed my problem yet? Look closely... How about this side?
I only have two purples. I need three... Does someone have a purplely-lavender fat quarter they'd be so kind to pass along? I'll trade you? I'm also looking for another yellow and green because a few of them I would like to switch out.

Which brings us to the second part of this post. Over the winter I decided (or rather was just too lazy to keep studs in) to let the piercings in my ears close. I didn't get them pierced until I was 18 and found them to be a hassle more than anything else. So I've decided that I should pass my earrings on to someone that would actually use them. Or repurpose them. I'm not picky just so
long as they are put to good use. Here is the lot.

(Promised to someone)

(Promised to someone)

(promised to someone)

(promised to someone)

If you're interested leave a comment, contact me on ravelry or twitter, email. There are a lot of ways to get in contact with me!

These aren't all of them. I am a collector of stuff. So I will post more later. But if something catches your eye let me know! Surprised by the lack of rainbow earrings?

The Sun is shining, it's a beautiful day.

And I am the luckiest girl in the world!

It is wonderful out today. I spent some time in my back yard with Beverly, my spinning wheel. Listening to music and noise and spinning in the back yard.

I said Hi to Sampson who lives next door and is the most energetic dog ever.

Mostly just taking in the sunlight because it finally feels like summer.

Remember how I got my spinning wheel? It was from a kind and wonderful woman named Beverly. And now less than a year later (just shy of a month to be a year apart) I was given a wonderful new present.

Why yes that is a new sewing machine. This time from a kind and wonderful woman named Kay. I just got to sew on it today and it runs really well. And is head and shoulders nicer than my old machine. She was also nice enough to spend me bobbins and a shank separately from bringing the machine over. I met Kay over in the MOHS group on Ravelry along with her mother and her daughter. Three generations of crafters, amazing. And they are all nice and sweet as can be.

I think the name of my new machine is going to be Kay. I hope she doesn't mind.

It also came in what I think is the cutest bag ever.

This post is brought to you by...

The beautiful Avan Jogia



His PSA is for a campaign by a group of men that call themselves "Straight But Not Narrow" Now. I appreciate the message I really do I think it is great that allies are reaching out and spreading the word, especially as an ally to the cause. Allies have an important place in the world as way to reach out to communities that might not be aware or open to those issues, which is clearly what this PSA is trying to do.

However, I'm not sure about the packaging. The entire notion of "real men" would support it and "man up" is very gender normative. It could be that because they are trying to reach out to those communities that are masculine and often have their manliness tied to things that are traditionally manly like height and ability to shotgun a beer, That they are being clever and using the language of the person to make it more understandable to them.

Pop stars like Katy Perry, Ke$ha (I can't believe i just put a dollarsign in that) have come under fire for talking about manliness in their songs. Katy wrote a scathing song about an ex-boyfriend called UR so Gay, and Kesha has told men before that they need to "grow a pair" in song. And even though this message is positive unlike the other two I feel like it falls under the same gender normative stere0 type trap that these popstars do.

I don't really know where I am going with this, I just know that when I started out with this blog it wasn't supposed to be a crafting only blog.