Here is a picture of the back.
And here is the front.
Clearly I should have ironed it, but there you have it. Go me. :)
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Baste, Quilt, and Bind
I did it! I finished a real quilt. It's small (roughly 36x36) so I'll use it as a lap quilt while I'm watching TV and stuff. I guess I can also take it to outdoor activities. It isn't perfect, but I really am pretty proud of myself.
Here is a picture of the back.
And here is the front.
Clearly I should have ironed it, but there you have it. Go me. :)
Here is a picture of the back.
And here is the front.
Clearly I should have ironed it, but there you have it. Go me. :)
Monday, September 26, 2011
Who wants to be crafty?
It's been a while since I pulled out my sewing stuff, but this weekend I had some time and no desire to grade or write college recs. Therefore I spent a lovely fall weekend crafting.
I made some very cute Halloween napkins. I have no idea why as I have no particular love of the holiday, but it was fun to knock out a quick project. Here's the fabric I used.
I think the little skeleton animals are cute.
I also gave a new project a try. I decided to make potholders. This was prompted by two factors. First, our potholders were totally worn out and not pretty. Second, one of Mary's relatives had made some at her shower and I thought it would be a fun little skill to have in my repertoire.
Here's my first go at a tutorial.
You will be cutting 9 inch squares. Here you can see one square of white cotton (the color isn't important because you won't actually see this), one square of fleece, and one square of Insulbrite. The Insulbrite is what does most of the heat blocking, but make sure the rest of the interior fabrics are all natural fibers. Polyester is very bad at insulating heat seeing as it is a plastic and all that.
You also need four 9" squares that are pressed in to half squares.
Finally, you need one square that will be your main fabric for the top of the potholder.
Next, stack the squares with the white fabric face down, followed by the fleece, followed by the Insulbrite.
Place the main fabric square face up on top of the pile. Next, you'll need to basket weave your four half squares. Place them so that the raw edge is facing out and the folded, finished edge, is towards the middle. Like this.
Then you weave the four halves together making sure you like how they are ordered.
Notice though how the edges are sticking out a little funny? Well, to make the potholder as square and straight as possible, square up your sides using scissors or a rotary cutter so that it is perfectly square.
You also want to liberally pin the layers together as they will shift when you start sewing.
Next, you'll line the edge of your potholder up with the edge of your presser foot. This gives about a 1/4" seam allowance, but more than that, your presser foot won't change size, so you know your seam will be straight.
After you sew all the way around, trim the corners and any major excess. You also need to turn the whole thing inside out using the little hole that the four fabrics make on the back.
Finally, use a wooden dowl, pencil eraser, or some sort of not too sharp stick to poke out the insides of the corners. The reason it can't be too sharp is that you don't want to poke a hole in your fabric. I've done it and it makes you sad.
At the end, you have a cute, very sturdy potholder.
I love that you can put your hand through the back to hold on to the hot dishes better.
I ended up making 4 in coordinating fabrics.
After you get your squares cut, the whole process only takes about 15 minutes. So quick, easy and practical. Yay!
I made some very cute Halloween napkins. I have no idea why as I have no particular love of the holiday, but it was fun to knock out a quick project. Here's the fabric I used.
I think the little skeleton animals are cute.
I also gave a new project a try. I decided to make potholders. This was prompted by two factors. First, our potholders were totally worn out and not pretty. Second, one of Mary's relatives had made some at her shower and I thought it would be a fun little skill to have in my repertoire.
Here's my first go at a tutorial.
You will be cutting 9 inch squares. Here you can see one square of white cotton (the color isn't important because you won't actually see this), one square of fleece, and one square of Insulbrite. The Insulbrite is what does most of the heat blocking, but make sure the rest of the interior fabrics are all natural fibers. Polyester is very bad at insulating heat seeing as it is a plastic and all that.
You also need four 9" squares that are pressed in to half squares.
Finally, you need one square that will be your main fabric for the top of the potholder.
Next, stack the squares with the white fabric face down, followed by the fleece, followed by the Insulbrite.
Place the main fabric square face up on top of the pile. Next, you'll need to basket weave your four half squares. Place them so that the raw edge is facing out and the folded, finished edge, is towards the middle. Like this.
Then you weave the four halves together making sure you like how they are ordered.
Notice though how the edges are sticking out a little funny? Well, to make the potholder as square and straight as possible, square up your sides using scissors or a rotary cutter so that it is perfectly square.
You also want to liberally pin the layers together as they will shift when you start sewing.
Next, you'll line the edge of your potholder up with the edge of your presser foot. This gives about a 1/4" seam allowance, but more than that, your presser foot won't change size, so you know your seam will be straight.
After you sew all the way around, trim the corners and any major excess. You also need to turn the whole thing inside out using the little hole that the four fabrics make on the back.
Finally, use a wooden dowl, pencil eraser, or some sort of not too sharp stick to poke out the insides of the corners. The reason it can't be too sharp is that you don't want to poke a hole in your fabric. I've done it and it makes you sad.
At the end, you have a cute, very sturdy potholder.
I love that you can put your hand through the back to hold on to the hot dishes better.
I ended up making 4 in coordinating fabrics.
After you get your squares cut, the whole process only takes about 15 minutes. So quick, easy and practical. Yay!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Fall
I have a complex relationship with fall. I love the colors, foods made with pumpkin, the return of winter squashes. I'm even excited to be back in the classroom. However, my love of all these things is often overshadowed by the knowledge that winter will soon be here.
For now though, let's appreciate some lovely fall things that I've been enjoying in the past week.
Need I say more?
Pretty house stuff
Football of course
How about you? What are your feelings about fall?
For now though, let's appreciate some lovely fall things that I've been enjoying in the past week.
Need I say more?
Pretty house stuff
Football of course
How about you? What are your feelings about fall?
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Catching Up
Clearly school is back in session. After a week of meetings and a week of classes, I'm beat. Things are going well though, and I'm feeling very positive about the year. I have one section of AP and three sections of freshmen. We're trying lots of new teaching ideas in both classes including flipping classrooms. It's a pretty cool idea where you do activities in class and send kids home with videos to watch as replacements to lectures. So far, the response from the kids has been great.
On the home front, I didn't see my husband at all this week. I forget what was going on Monday, but he worked late on Tuesday, Wednesday he didn't make it home until midnight after working an auction, Thursday I stayed home with our crazy dogs while he went to an art opening, and Friday I went to a dinner with my mom who is in town while he was at the baseball game. We did go to dinner last night finally, so it was great to hang with him. :)
Speaking of last night's dinner, we tried Sancutaria for the first time. It is located in The Grove. Our table was on the patio, and I'm so glad it was! The space is beautiful and last night's weather was perfect. I have to say that the food was amazing. We had plantains two ways, eggplant, these amazing cheese cigars, and some lovely desserts. It was a little pricey, but not totally insane. We also clearly splurged. It would have been easy to eat for less. All that being said, I don't know that we'd go back unless we knew the weather was good for sitting outside. The service was really pretty bad. It got better as the night went on, but the beginning made us all wonder if we had made a big mistake. Like I said though, if the weather was nice, the food was good enough for me to give them another try.
Our plan for today is to have brunch at Salt and then go to the closing of Urban Wanderers at the SLU Art Museum. I hope I can find time to blog about brunch. I love their dinner menu and have been eagerly waiting to try their brunch.
On the home front, I didn't see my husband at all this week. I forget what was going on Monday, but he worked late on Tuesday, Wednesday he didn't make it home until midnight after working an auction, Thursday I stayed home with our crazy dogs while he went to an art opening, and Friday I went to a dinner with my mom who is in town while he was at the baseball game. We did go to dinner last night finally, so it was great to hang with him. :)
Speaking of last night's dinner, we tried Sancutaria for the first time. It is located in The Grove. Our table was on the patio, and I'm so glad it was! The space is beautiful and last night's weather was perfect. I have to say that the food was amazing. We had plantains two ways, eggplant, these amazing cheese cigars, and some lovely desserts. It was a little pricey, but not totally insane. We also clearly splurged. It would have been easy to eat for less. All that being said, I don't know that we'd go back unless we knew the weather was good for sitting outside. The service was really pretty bad. It got better as the night went on, but the beginning made us all wonder if we had made a big mistake. Like I said though, if the weather was nice, the food was good enough for me to give them another try.
Our plan for today is to have brunch at Salt and then go to the closing of Urban Wanderers at the SLU Art Museum. I hope I can find time to blog about brunch. I love their dinner menu and have been eagerly waiting to try their brunch.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Book Review
I've been reading a ton this summer, but a friend requested that I review one of my recent reads: Uglies by, Scott Westerfeld.
I didn't realize when I started reading this book that it was part of a trilogy. The story takes place in the future, after there was a huge catastrophe, and every person is forced to go through cosmetic surgery to make them "pretty." The surgery is supposed to take place on a person's 16th birthday. As you can probably guess, something goes wrong with the main character and her surgery. The rest of the book follows Tally as she moves through not being pretty.
It's funny, my friend who is a librarian at school kept recommending the book to me when he found out I liked the Hunger Games trilogy. For some reason, I never took the book though. I'm so glad he took it upon himself to add it to my pile for the summer. Now I have to see if they have the second two books: Pretties and Specials. I would say if you liked the Hunger Games, you would like this book too. I'll be interested to see if the next books are as good as the first.
ETA: Here is the official teaser.
Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.
But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.
I didn't realize when I started reading this book that it was part of a trilogy. The story takes place in the future, after there was a huge catastrophe, and every person is forced to go through cosmetic surgery to make them "pretty." The surgery is supposed to take place on a person's 16th birthday. As you can probably guess, something goes wrong with the main character and her surgery. The rest of the book follows Tally as she moves through not being pretty.
It's funny, my friend who is a librarian at school kept recommending the book to me when he found out I liked the Hunger Games trilogy. For some reason, I never took the book though. I'm so glad he took it upon himself to add it to my pile for the summer. Now I have to see if they have the second two books: Pretties and Specials. I would say if you liked the Hunger Games, you would like this book too. I'll be interested to see if the next books are as good as the first.
ETA: Here is the official teaser.
Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.
But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.
Friday, July 29, 2011
More Crafting
Just to be clear, I don't like how Christmas starts in September these days. I used to love going to the mall right after Thanksgiving and seeing it transformed. Now they decorate by Halloween. Nevertheless, with my new sewing obsession, it is time to start planning my holiday crafts. I'm almost finished with my first gift (pics to come,) but I really want to make stockings. My husband has refused to give up his childhood stocking. It is literally falling apart. With that in mind, I want to make stockings for us that match/coordinate.
The tutorial I'll be using is from Diary of a Quilter. The instructions she has are for small, gift bag type stockings, but I will make bigger ones. I think I'll also add an interfacing to give them a little more structure. I worry that just cotton would get too saggy. I'll also have to add a loop to hang them. Thanks for letting me think through all that. :)
Anyway, fabric choices are obviously important. I don't think my husband is quite ready for a true grownup stocking, so I thought I'd make him a fun one. The outer fabric would be the one on the left and the inner fabric the one on the right.
What do you think? Green or red?
I'm planning to make two of these pairings with the hopes that, if we ever get pregnant, the monkey one could go to our child and my husband would be willing to have a grownup stocking.
So, which two?
The tutorial I'll be using is from Diary of a Quilter. The instructions she has are for small, gift bag type stockings, but I will make bigger ones. I think I'll also add an interfacing to give them a little more structure. I worry that just cotton would get too saggy. I'll also have to add a loop to hang them. Thanks for letting me think through all that. :)
Anyway, fabric choices are obviously important. I don't think my husband is quite ready for a true grownup stocking, so I thought I'd make him a fun one. The outer fabric would be the one on the left and the inner fabric the one on the right.
What do you think? Green or red?
I'm planning to make two of these pairings with the hopes that, if we ever get pregnant, the monkey one could go to our child and my husband would be willing to have a grownup stocking.
So, which two?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)