paloozaing

Here are blocks eight and nine of the palooza

Initially I was hesitant about the applique in block number eight but the heat n bond wonder under worked just sooo well and I could get the original placement of the gesse right in this block so I sort of made my own placement, but hey it worked out. Also, you'll notice that my long strips on the side are seamed. that is because I'm working with layer cakes and can't actually make a strip that is 10.75" because well, layer cakes are only 10" oops.

Block number nine was so pretty but I'm not sure about my color choices. I was nervous about it because it contained the smallest geese yet. But actually they turned out pretty decent if I'm allowed to say so.

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.

Bunnies Bunnies Bunnies!

Bloggers' Block a palooza update!

Block number six, despite part of it not being square it was generally the right size and ascetic wise it is my favorite block yet and the first chance I've really had to use all of my colors together. and I looove it.


Block number 7 has BUNNIES! it was my effort to use more brown in the blocks so they weren't just all white and one color. I love it. Plus any time I can use the big bunny print instead of just all the little ones make me happy. I love bunnies! and the brown looks nice and doesn't stick out that badly.


Here is my first eight blocks all put together!


more on block eight latter.

Also: for those of you worried I've stopped doing other crafts, here is my malabrigo shawl in progress you can't squish it over the internet, but trust me it's delightful.

Geesey McNinepatch McFail

Two weekends ago I set out to make block number five of the block-a-palooza, I was excited for the no waste method of geese and cut all the proper fabrics, after lots of marking and careful cutting this is what I ended up with:

it is not the right size, it is not even it is NOT pretty.

That is when I gave up and made a mug rug. Being me it is a rainbow log cabin. I've come down on the side of Mug Rugs are kind of not practical and kind of silly. But cute and pretty and nice. So that's what I've fallen on.


This weekend I started again with the geesey McNinepatch pattern and this time instead of trying the no waste method of geese I made all the cuts. cut all the big squares in two diagonals and all the little squares in halves and made sure everything was squared up. The result?

Not really much better than the first but is is slightly straighter and slighly closer to the right size. sooo win? Also, my wonderunder came in today so look for blocks 6-8 soon!

Block-a-palooza 1/4

Yesterday, I finished up block two and then did blocks three and four, I am now 25% done and half done with the blocks that are already been published. But First the redo of block number one

I'm not sure you can tell but it is much straighter and has no holes than the last one. and it actually measues about 12.5 instead of 11.75 like last time.

Block number two was the one I was most worried about lots of sewing lots of little blocks and seams to match up. While the seams aren't exact the block is surprsingly square and I wasn't sure about the color choices but now I love them.

Block number three was kind of a pain in the butt with all the cutting 7/8th squares and then so many diagonals. But the way they made flying geese on this was way better than the first attempt, it might be because I'm getting better at them though. =D

Block four came together really really quickly and three out of the four points match in the middle. Which for a newbie quilter like me who is in waaaay over her head i call that a success. Hopefully some of the blocks are easier and I'll get caught up ish soon. However, I own no wonder under and have never apliqued before for the newest block.... oh crap.

Bloggers block-a-palooza

So after two weeks of looking and another three days of realizing "Hey I have enough fabric in my stash to to make that! I caved. I decided I was going to do the blogger's block-a-palooza. Read more about it here . Several of the blogs I follow are doing it including my personal favorite quilting blog Oh, Fransson!So despite the fact that I am completely outclassed and have never made a flying geese or a pinwheel in my life. Despite the fact that allegedly there is applique involved. Despite the fact I have been sewing for maybe six months (just under) I am going for it. Late last night I embarked on a journey and tried to make my very first flying geese patches. It did not go that well. I went to bed satisfied that I made my first ever and that the block was much much bigger than I thought it would be.

I took a look at it again and noticed what a complete and total failure it was. I picked it apart back to its nine-patch component and measured the flying geese patches to see if there were any I could save or if I should just start over. Not a single was was 6.5" the size it was supposed to be the closest was a quarter of an inch off and none of them were remotely square so I decided to redo it. all eight of the flying geese. wasting the little bit of the solid I have for this quilt. hopefully I can post an update soon. and my block will actually be square and or big enough that I can square up...

Oh it's another Saturday Night...

And I ain't go nobody. I got some money 'cause I just got paid. Oh how I wish I had someone to talk to, I'm in an awful way.


What am I doing instead? why I'm cleaning fabric in my bathtub and hanging it to dry in my kitchen, isn't that what normal college kids do? That is a fat quarter set of Soul Blossoms by Amy Butler btw.

I really should leave the house sometime soon.

And Just like That...

It took around six months (more like five).
Obsessively buying fat quarters.
Screwing up my first attempt at free motion quilting within minutes then taking it apart in hours.
Feeling really sad that people didn't like my blocks.
Thinking I broke my machine.

But now, now I can officially be called a quilter.


I should let the quilt speak for itself.

Craft-a-long

On my facebook for the new year I posted this message "

In order to start the new year creatively, I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment. In return, you must re-post this and send handmade gifts to the first 5 people to reply. (All gifts will/must be sent in 2011) Let's make stuff together!"

and I am happy to report that 11 days into the new year I have already finished my new project yay! Sorry for the terrible pictures I only have my phone which refuses to focus half the time but it's just a cute little brown hat for my twin/co-worker Ben in a lovely tweedy brown.


Also ignore the fact that I can't take a picture without making a stupid face.

2011, the year of the quilter?

This summer I took a sewing class where I made some cute little pouches:
After this the next logical stop (of course) was to buy a sewing machine cheaply off of craigslist. So far I've spent around twice as much fixing/cleaning it than I have buying it. It is a total beast and frustrating at times but I love it. In the about six months plus I've been quilting I've been buying fabric, and quilting accessories. For Christmas I wanted fabric:

From my sister.

And I have been getting sewing accessories for Shannon (my sewing machine)

A walking foot to help with quilting.

I've still been knitting and spinning. But now I am trying to become a quilter. I love looking at them and how intricate they are. I love that you don't need a pattern and can kind of just go for it and try to figure it out as you sew. I love that it is pretty free form.

I am about to finish my first quilt that was supposed to be a Christmas present, she'll get it soon (ish)

My second quilt I'm working on is a rainbow quilt. I'm predictable even between crafts.

<3Annie