Recent reading

So the Smashing Pumpkins shows of last weekend were a bit of a mixed bag. Though, in truth, I am a huge fan and will probably heartily approve of whatever Billy chooses to play, there was a little disappointment at how the Friday show ended, even though Rob and I had a great time. The pictures are amazing, the set was amazing, and the sound was loud and good. Even so, the Saturday show was so much better and will probably go down as my second favorite SP show. That said, let's move on, shall we? Let's.

The photo above is of the reading material I'm currently shuffling. I picked up Handmade Nation last month in Portland and have been working my way through it. I'm nearly finished, but I think a part of me doesn't want the book to end. In some ways it reminds me of The Crafter's Companion, which I really liked. I'm incredibly excited for the documentary to come out. I really hope it plays in Boston!

In addition to the book, I've been shuffling through some magazines. I now get American Patchwork and Quilting magazine, which is fine, I suppose. It's one of those project-oriented quilting magazines that isn't really inspiring me right now, though I feel like I've flipped through it a number of times but never really looked at it. I went to Barnes and Noble last week to pick up Stitch magazine (which is every bit as good as everyone is saying!) and ended up with Martha Stewart's holiday magazine. It was that adorable little lamb on the cover that did it for me!

So, back to the crafting. My November Swap Til You Drop quilt is in the mail, so the reveal is coming later this week, once it's received. I ran out of backing fabric so need to pick some more up and get the "twin" quilted. I'm also working on binding another project, so that reveal is coming next week. Patience!

The jacket above was given to me last week in a pile of clothes headed for donation. It is so grandmotherly and hideous! I put it on and my assistant laughed so hard she was crying. Everyone said it couldn't be turned into something cute, wearable or not. Well, I believe I have succeeded! Pictures to come tomorrow. Stay tuned...

In which I talk waaaay too much about myself

Sorry for the lack of posting this week. My Swap Til You Drop quilt has been finished since Tuesday but I still haven't washed it (for the crinkly look I love and to remove the cat hair) so it won't be going out until the weekend. It has been one of those weeks where it's all I can do to make myself a bloody mary after work and then drag myself to bed at 9:00. (Seriously--9:00.) I can't really say why. Work hasn't been awful. I was feeling pretty gross on Wednesday and stuck it out for the full work day, so maybe that's part of it. 

Anyway. 

Today is the first of the Boston two-night Smashing Pumpkins show! I am a huge fan and have been for around 15 years. Unfortunately, I was never able to see the "original" Pumpkins, though by the end of this weekend I'll have seen the reformed band four times! Plus I saw Billy on his solo tour, Billy on the Zwan tour, and met him at his book signing at Harvard Book Store about four years ago. 

I'm getting excited. We watched If All Goes Wrong on Tuesday night, and then I dreamed of Billy Corgan. The dream was one of those that feels really real and kind of undoes you when you wake up, but you can't remember the details of it. Perhaps that's a big part of why I spent Wednesday walking around in a daze. Anyway, I woke up a bit early this morning and used my extra time to do a really good job on my eye makeup. Unfortunately, you can't really tell because these are crappy cell phone photos I took on the train this morning. But I think they look pretty good, if I do say so myself. Lots of dark eyeliner, which is my requisite for show nights (I don't know why--it just is). 

Tonight and tomorrow night I will be rocking out to my favorite band of all time ever, probably crying during at least one of the shows. Sunday will be recovery and football. And back to crafting. I promise to have some sneak peeks for you next week. Also possibly a crazy refashion project. For realz. 

Updates and a rambling answer

First off, I have to note that the cupcakes picture above is over a year old, but I'll get to that later. I'd love to show you some peeks of what I've been working on for the past week, but I can't. They are surprises that must remain surprises until they are received. I know I usually give a little peek of my Swap Til You Drop mini-quilt, but this month's theme is two-color quilts, so even a little peek will give away a large part of it! But rest assured that I'm making excellent progress. I pieced the top on Sunday and did all the quilting last night. I'm hand-stitching the binding on my commute today and hope to have it in the mail tomorrow or Thursday. Reveal to come next week! 

Also, I received a comment yesterday from sweetkelli (thanks for stopping by!) asking about Lady Scouts. I've mentioned Lady Scouts a number of times here, but I don't think I've fully explained my idea of it. Basically, it's a gathering of like-minded females who drink, eat, craft, and share. The end result is much more than the sum of its parts. In the beginning we were sharing a short reading, but that has fallen off. Hmm. I think it's something we need to resurrect. Below is a picture of what a Lady Scouts craft session looks like: 

This was from the cupcakes one late last summer. The end result cupcakes are in the top picture above. The second one from the right is mine and is sitting on my work desk. 

We've mentioned before that perhaps a manifesto is in order, but I think I've just been too lazy to come up with one. Lady Scouts got its name when I was thinking about getting together with friends and crafting when I was little and in Girl Scouts. What does one call a similar gathering amongst adults? Lady Scouts, of course! It's really lovely when we can all get together, but it's also a rare occasion. There are about five "core" members, and everyone is always welcome to bring friends, so we've had a number of different ladies attend one or two "meetings." Ideally, I'd like for this to be the second Tuesday of every month, but that just isn't possible, and lately we've gone months between meetings. 

So, I hope this explains my concept of Lady Scouts! Please, feel free to ask any questions, or to start up your own chapter! If you do, let me know! 

Also, I just have to note that I am going to see the Smashing Pumpkins on Friday AND Saturday night in Boston! I am super excited. I've been listening to the catalog pretty much chronologically this week, just to get ready. I had a hard time figuring out if I should listen to Earphoria or Pisces Iscariot after Siamese Dream, but I went with Earphoria because I was itching for some live stuff. It's been just over a year since I last saw the Pumpkins, and I realize I am incredibly lucky to be able to see them as often as I have. *sigh*

What I've been up to....

I've been pretty MIA this past week--it's been a busy one. Here's a short run-down of what I've been up to lately: 

• Touring a paper mill, which was incredibly interesting
  
• Touring Gettysburg battlefields (photo above taken from Little Round Top) in the cold and rain
  
• Spending lots of time in rental cars and airports
  
• Seeing Johnny Pesky in Logan Airport

• Hosting a Lady Scouts wherein we made Shrinky Dink jewelry (but did none of the jewelry part, only the shrink part)
  
• Playing with Anna Maria Horner fabrics
  
• Ordering supplies for Christmas crafting
  
• Watching bad vampire movies and an okay superhero one
• Boning up on Of Montreal, who I'm seeing tonight
  
• Pulling together a Halloween costume for tomorrow night's party in Salem
• Looking forward to gaining an hour this weekend!

Some things...

Because I don't have any crafty endeavors to show you today, here instead are some pictures of things that I am digging right now. First up, an awful shot of me on Friday in a sweater dress, green tights, and brown slouchy boots. I have decided that this is going to be the year that I wear leggings and tights and bring back the sweater dress and just extend the life span of my skirts. Not sure if it'll work, but that's my bright idea at the moment. 

Next: Mr. Gnome's Deliver This Creature. I don't even remember how we stumbled upon this band, but they're cool. Very rockin', with a cool chick singer. I'm always amazed that two-person bands can make so much noise! Their official site is here. 

And then the inevitable kitty shots. Here's one of Bellow doing exactly what he's not supposed to do. It seems whenever Rob gets up from typing at his laptop, Bellow sits down on top of it and immediately falls asleep. Rob is beyond annoyed at this, but I find the whole thing endearing and adorable. Then again, it's not my spot that he's stealing. 

We had a lovely sunny Sunday morning over the weekend and I was lucky enough to snap some really cute pictures of Iris. My beautiful little girl is so photogenic, and it's like she's posing for the camera! She's continually moving around, showing me different angles... Watch out, America's Next Top Kitty Model! 

Hopeful

My apologies to the handful of you who actually read this blog. Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, and sorry I don't have any crafty pictures to show you today. That will be remedied, but right now they are still on my camera. Instead, I have these cloud pictures I snapped with my cell phone yesterday morning on my walk to work. They make me hopeful.

Yesterday was my first day back to work in four days--I took Friday off just to have an extra long weekend. Anyway, there was something in the air yesterday that made me feel hopeful. It was like everything was a new beginning, even though not a lot is changing for me. Summer is unofficially over, which means no more summer Fridays, but also means I'm back to my 9-to-5 and getting home a little after 6 instead of at 7:30. It also means we're really hitting our fall season with the books and I'm getting a lot busier at work, which really makes the time fly. Rob starts teaching a little this week, and then has a full week next week. Routine feels good. So does productivity.

With my four-day weekend, I did lots of crafting. Rob was home the whole time, too. We were fairly anti-social, but most of our friends were out of town or otherwise occupied, so it wasn't hard to just stick around. We did SOMEthing every day, even if it was just getting groceries, going to the museum, getting bagels, or having a picnic at the park. We also watched a bunch of movies. But for the most part, when we were home, I was crafting.

I've been getting a little anxious about Christmas this year. I know, I know, it's almost four months away, but when your gifts are handmade, and number 20+, you really need to start thinking about things early. Last year I made a lot of big, different things for everyone. I did a pretty good job of budgeting my time, but still had some late nights and some close mailing deadlines. This year I decided everyone is getting similar things, but they will still be personalized. And the gifts will also be smaller, easier to make, but no less handmade, and with no less love put into them. So, in an effort to try some things out and get a jump on the gifts, here's what I accomplished over my four-day crafty retreat:

• Cut, basted, and blanket-stitched (by hand) 13 needle books
• After some trial and error, made three jelly jar pincushions and will be able to make nine more very easily
• Finished piecing the top and back of my Little Bits quilt, sandwiched it, and quilted it
• Almost finished piecing an entire quilt top from "jelly roll" strips I cut from fat quarters; this will be another gift
• Cut out fabric to make ten little birds, which will become a lovely birthday gift
• Made a nifty quilted pillow case for my sewing chair pillow, complete with free-motion quilted curlicues
  
• Did lots of reading of this book and made much progress on the top and borders of my first mini-quilt

It was a lot of cutting, pressing, stitching, pressing... But it felt so good to get so much done and off my list. I will be posting pictures of everything soon--once I fully document it all and get the pictures off my camera.

I haven't been able to get excited about fall. I don't know why I've been so reluctant to let go of the summer, but I have been. Anyway, yesterday something changed. I don't know exactly what it was. My walk to the train was busier, with more traffic, making it more difficult to cross streets in some places. But the sky was lovely, full of wisps of clouds. And the sun was shining. And between yesterday and today I listened to The National, My Brightest Diamond, and Jeff Buckley. Wowee. It's a beautiful way to start a day. And though I still wouldn't say I'm excited for fall, I am hopeful.

I'm hopeful for the elections and for Obama, who I fully support. I'm hopeful for good, busy workdays and productive crafting at home. I'm hopeful for more quilting classes and a chance to learn paper piecing. I'm hopeful for more snuggle time with my cats, who are little bundles of wonderfulness covered in fur. I'm hopeful for a new season of NFL football and for long Sundays with stew and fresh bread and lots of beer and TV. I'm hopeful for more hand-sewing.

I'm also hopeful that this Flickr mini-quilt swap I signed up for wasn't a mistake. This is a monthly swap with quilts no larger than 15" square, and a new swap partner every month. There is also a monthly theme. We've known this month's theme, hearts, for a few weeks but just got our partners the other day. I had an idea for the hearts theme but wanted to wait and see who my partner was to make sure it was something she would like (we all posted our likes and dislikes, so the idea is that you get something made just for you). I decided to go ahead with my original idea, though I haven't made any physical progress on it yet. Yesterday I learned that some people are done and were talking about a mailing on the 7th or the 10th! Wow--talk about anxiety-inducing. This is my first swap and I want to be good, but I also don't want to stress myself out over it; it's supposed to be fun! So I've kicked my mental planning into high gear and actually lied in bed, awake, from 3am until after 4, thinking about how best to make this work. Ugh. And then this morning, before hopping in the shower, I dug through my stash and picked out scraps for the different elements, so I'll be ready to start cutting tonight. I'm nervous, but I'm also hopeful that I'll do good work and receive good work and my swap partner will be happy.

I have a question for you quilters out there, if you're still reading. How do you label your quilts? I usually just chain-stitch or back-stitch "KK 2008" on the back before attaching the binding, but I don't think that will cut it for this swap, or probably for any of the other projects I have pending. Any suggestions? I don't like the idea of the printable fabric because I like to wash my quilts, and I know that over time the ink on the label will continue to fade. This is something I need to look into, and quick!

Anyway, happy Wednesday, happy September, and happy (gulp) start of fall. I'm still not giving up my skirts, though. Not yet.

Pencil roll

Yet another project from Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. I'd always liked this project, but was recently inspired to make it because I finally bought some colored pencils and because I liked Marisa's version so much. This is one I made on Friday afternoon. (Seems my summer Fridays are turning into crafty Fridays!) I think this project is in the 2-4 hour gifts and it took me about 2-1/2 hours to assemble it, longer to pick out the fabrics. It was really interesting going through the scraps in my stash and trying to match up the colored pencils with fabrics that I had. When I had the scraps all laid out for cutting I was really NOT liking the fabrics all together, but once I assembled the patchwork piece I really liked it! So, there you go.

I used some linen I had on hand for the outside and the pocket. I had a really hard time getting it to stay straight. I realized after the fact that I should've just pulled one of the threads to make sure I had a straight edge before I started cutting, but that didn't occur to me until too late. Oh well. I added a flowered ribbon to the outside for some extra cute, but it's right in the middle and that's where the ties are, so you can hardly see it. Again, oh well. It's good enough for who it's for: me!

Not sure if you can see it here, but I had some issues with my seam allowance. It must not be exactly 1/4", because over 23 seams in the patchwork my final piece ended up being 3/4" longer than it was supposed to be and didn't match up with the pocket and outside and batting pieces I'd already cut, per the pattern. Oops. I compensated by not stitching directly in the ditch for the first and last three pencil slots. So that's a little wonky, but not too bad. I've already used the roll a couple of times this weekend for some Shrinky Dink projects that I did. A post on those TK later this week! At any rate, I need to get that seam allowance thing figured out, but I want to sew the reverse patchwork for my Little Bits quilt first so that the two (hopefully) match up when I assemble the quilt. This will make more sense when you see the finished project.

In other news, Rob and I watched Lars and the Real Girl again last night. LOVE that movie. Love love love! If you haven't seen it yet, add it to your queue and bump it to the top! And while I'm talking about creative things that I love, I have just fallen in love with the music of Bon Iver. Wow. The album is "For Emma, Forever Ago," which I think is an amazing title, and you can hear some of his music at his MySpace page. Go. Listen. Love.

(Last) weekend crafting

These are the last of the projects that I've completed and not posted--I promise! The only thing close to that is my new dress, which isn't finished; the pattern is done, but the first actual dress in actual cotton needs a few adjustments before it's wearable. But it's close!

Anyway, by request from my mom, who is doing yoga now, I made these two eye pillows for her and her friend. I followed the dimensions and filling instructions for the Eye Will Survive eye pillow in Denyse Schmidt Quilts (which, if you haven't noticed already, is my go-to crafty book; I use this one more than any other!) but the patchwork is all me just throwing stuff together.

This view shows the back of the Japanese one. Those fabrics aren't actually Japanese, they just look like it. I really like this swirl but didn't want to chop it up for the front, so there you go. The one thing I'm not totally pleased with on this is the filling. I was running out of flax seed so I bought some from the Trader Joe's instead of the bulk stuff at Whole Foods. I saved a lot of $$, but when I went to use the flax seed I realized that it was roasted! And it smells roasted! I added some extra lavender in an attempt to over-compensate, but not sure how well that will work. So, um, sorry Mom! I hope the eye pillow doesn't make you hungry!

And I totally forgot to post this earlier, but here are two of the felted rocks we made at Lady Scouts last week! The instructions are from Last Minute Fabric Gifts and were very easy to follow. Our rocks all turned out pretty well!

So, it's Friday! Almost the weekend! And I get a summer Friday today, thanks to the wonderfulness of book publishing (and my working extra hours all week). I plan to make the most of it: Rob is meeting me for a late lunch, then we're going to mosey down Newbury Street (meaning we will spend oodles of time and probably $60 in Newbury Comics) before meeting our friends at the Boston Common Loew's for the 4:30 show of the Dark Knight. I'm very excited to see it! I think we all are. We'll probably be back on the North Shore around 8. I didn't even get home until after 7:30 last night, so when I get home tonight it will feel like I've already had a bunch of my weekend, when really it's barely begun!

On Saturday night Rob and I are going to see Salem State's production of Grease! We haven't been to live theater since...we left the midwest, I believe. Insanity. I don't know about Rob, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Those are our only concrete plans (and that's quite a few, but still leaves a lot of open time on Saturday day and all day Sunday), but I'm sure we'll think of something. Here's what I hope will happen this weekend:

• We have breakfast at Red's one of those mornings
• I finish my dress
• I cut and sew the muslin for a new Built By Wendy skirt from Sew U
• More Dear Jane progress
• I sew the Sew U skirt ?
• kitty snuggles
• I kick Rob's ass in poker
• We watch more Deadwood

Also, I cannot believe it's nearly the end of July already. Where has the summer gone?

Also also, I want to take a little break here to talk about some other arty (but non-crafty) things that have been near and dear to my heart recently:

1) Son of Rambow. Seriously--this movie is amazing. We saw it last Friday at 4-something in Salem and loved it. I actually got really teary at the end. It just reminded me how wonderful cinema is, how inspiring and uniting it can be, and why I love it so much. I want to own it. Go see it, if you can. Netflix it!

2) Billy Corgan. Okay, I know... If you know me, you know how intensely I adore Billy Corgan. Really, truly. I adore him. I love his music. The Smashing Pumpkins has been my favorite band since I bought Siamese Dream in, like, early 1994. So I've been a Pumpkins fan for more than half of my life. I sobbed when they broke up. I was ecstatic when Zwan formed and I saw them at First Ave to kick off their US tour (which they never finished because the band broke up) the night after the war in Iraq started. I loved Billy's solo album and freaked out when I saw him play at Avalon and I was only 20 feet from him. I own two copies of Billy's poetry book. I waited in the rain for two hours in October in Cambridge to have him sign my book at the Harvard Book Store. He said the most wonderful things to me and my photo of him signing my book hangs right above my computer at work (and is also framed and hanging above my guitars at home). When the Pumpkins reformed and put out Zeitgeist last year, I also freaked out. They came to Boston for three shows and I was lucky enough to see them at two of them. Two nights, in a row, of live Pumpkins! I really freaked out.

What brings me to this point is the fact that for the past couple of days I've been listening to the bootleg I have of the first Pumpkins show I attended. It's been just over nine months, but it still feels so fresh. Rob and I were in the very last row in the orchestra at the Orpheum, but I could still see really well, and the sound was amazing. I did really well and didn't cry until half way through the show, and then only once, during "To Sheila." I am still incredibly moved when Billy is singing, "You make me real." That show was the best. We got three encores! The band tore through "Cherub Rock" at the end and it was amazing. Billy's voice was so beautiful, but he also did a lot of rockin' screaming. They did a 17-minute version of "Heavy Metal Machine"!

Anyway, I've been listening to live Pumpkins and adoring Billy Corgan.

Happy weekend, everyone!

A New Week

It's a new day, and a new week. I can't believe this is my first April blog entry. Actually, I CAN believe it. Last week was a rough one. Work was insanity and kept me swamped every day. Home was pretty nuts, too. There was a death in the family, so it was a fairly emotional week for everyone. It was a bad week, but a good week, too. I got a small-ish hourly raise AND a fat bonus. Sweet! Also, in the height of the madness, I ended up spontaneously meeting up with Cynthia and JJ for beer and Indian food and some much-needed girl time. It was perfect. 

The weekend went fast, as weekends always do. Friday night we watched American Gangster, which was okay, I guess. On Saturday Rob had to teach again. I was awake at 6AM for unknown reasons, and when we had a where-is-Rob's-wallet frantic search at 7AM, I knew I wouldn't go back to sleep. So I had an impromptu meeting of my Saturday Morning Quilting Club, consisting of me, Bellow, and Iris. More on that in a separate post, with pictures! 

I decided that, since I was feeling restless and I had my bonus and all, I'd go shopping. So I headed out to the malls around 11, got lunch at Panera, which is only navigable during non-peak hours, and shopped. I ended up running the gamut: two pairs of Payless shoes, a strapless dress from Marshalls (that I will be adding straps and possibly a ribbon belt to), a skirt + short-sleeved sweater top + little cardigan from Ann Taylor Loft (I had a gift card left over from Christmas and they were having a sale!), and I answered the siren song of the Banana Republic and walked out with a pair of nicely tailored plaid pants for a mere $32. In all I spent around $140 for a bunch of great stuff. But I gotta say, I had a hard time with some of it. Especially at Ann Taylor (the Loft, even!), where everything was $40. There were some cute little satin blouses, really simple, for $44. I wouldn't even let myself try them ON because I know I can make one for less than $10. It was hard to shop and to spend money on stuff I can probably make myself, so I stuck with knits and denim and things I surely wouldn't do at home. I suppose, really, it's a GOOD thing that I have a hard time shopping, and that it's because I can make a lot of that myself. Still, it was tricky. 

The rest of the weekend flew by and I spent most of yesterday on the couch, doing some hand-stitching. I watched North Country on cable, and we watched Confederate States of America on-demand before catching John Adams on HBO and heading to bed. 

For inexplicable reasons, I awoke at 5:18 this morning thinking of Rock of Love 2. Who's it going to be: Ambre or Daisy? I'm firmly in the Ambre camp and have been since the beginning, but who knows what Bret's, um, heart will decide. After lying in bed for another hour, I decided to just get up and watch the weather. I went out to the living room, turned on the TV, and picked up the hand-stitching I had left off on last night. I finished my project by 6:40, then hopped in the shower. I took my time getting ready, was early leaving the apartment, was early getting to the train, and even snapped some pictures on my cell phone along the way. I was listening to the Smashing Pumpkins' Zeitgeist, and it was an awesome way to start out the week. 

A new day, a new week, Smashing Pumpkins, blue sky... 

And a big week it is, too. Tomorrow is my birthday and a dinner out with a small group of friends, Wednesday is the big annual Book Show that will now require me to be more careful than in the past. As one of my manufacturing contacts said to me last week, "You have a target on your back." Indeed. There are a lot of salesmen there, and a lot of people who think that buying a production manager a drink = said manager buying printing work. That's not nearly the way I do business, but I'm new and there are a lot of people who don't know that yet. Anyway, Thursday is potentially a belated birthday dinner out for Rob and me... Another busy week, but hopefully in a different way than last week. 

So here's me, today, on the train, listening to the Pumpkins, sitting in the sunshine, looking optimistic. YES, that IS my optimistic face!