Getting Back on Track

Posted on April 23, 2011 by 12months12quilts

I am finally coming down from the post wedding high and trying to get back on track with my sewing.  There has been a lot to do around the house and at work, so it’s been a bit tricky, but I am trying to make at least a little time to work on things.

While on our honeymoon, we stopped into a small sewing shop in Carmel called “Findings” and picked out some pretty fabric for the newest project “The Honeymoon Quilt.”  It will be another hexagon quilt, but I will be using 5″ squares to make it.  I just ordered the paper pieces today and can’t wait to get started.  I’m also in the process of beginning an even larger project-  a children’s sewing class.

I’m looking to teach a class for kids pre-k and up at our local community center.  It would be a great opportunity for me to combine my favorite hobby with a second job.  I’m still developing the lesson plan, but basically the students would learn two basic lacing techniques with alphabet cards, then transfer their skills to a simple letter embroidery project with their initials.  The students can then choose to turn their piece into a pillow or a framed project.  The next level of the class would be to switch from a plastic needle to a regular needle and do a similar project.  After that would be custom stamped embroidery on checked fabric and will conclude with a simple patchwork project.  I’m hoping to have 2-3 levels going at the same time either in the same class or in different classes.  I’ll keep you all posted with the progress!!!

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A Series of Coincidences

Posted on April 11, 2011 by 12months12quilts

My life as been a series of happy coincidences and random connections.  It was very fitting that my wedding was the place for a happy coincidence and major connection.

One of the members of the catering staff is the son of our Synagogue Board President.  Towards the end of dinner, he was feeling a bit under the weather, so his mother came up to the venue to give him some meds.  I saw her and went to say hi and found her chatting with me Wax cousins.  Turns out they are related through my Uncle Phil.  Which means that we are cousins through marriage.

When I converted to Judaism, I knew that I would be the only Jew in my family and I was ok with that, and over the years I have created a wonderful Jewish family through my community.  When I went to my Aunt’s funeral last year, I found out that Uncle Phil’s father was Jewish- Yay!  I’m not the only one!  Finding out that I have this whole other Jewish side to my family was so wonderfully overwhelming and really cements that I have followed the right path in my life.

Mr. and Mrs. Harding Under the Chuppah

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Tomorrow I’ll Be A Mrs.

Posted on April 9, 2011 by 12months12quilts

Tomorrow is the wedding day!  I’ve been reflecting a lot over the last few days about my life leading up to this moment.  I’ve been thinking about when I was younger and all I wanted to do was get married.  I was so young then and really didn’t know what I wanted out of life.  I also wasn’t a very strong person.  I allowed people to treat me poorly and as a consequence, tended to date men who weren’t very good to me.  The funny thing is that without those relationships, I wouldn’t have found Jamie.  Each of my failed relationships put me on the path that led me to him, and for that I am grateful.  It’s kind of funny to say that now, but that is what maturity does to you.

One failed relationship in particular stands as the example of that path.  In 1998 I made the decision to return home to California after 12 years in Utah.  That was back in the heyday of chat rooms and I began chatting with people from the Bay Area.  I met someone, we’ll call him X, and we began a long distance relationship.  He sealed the deal on the move back to California and in March of 1999 I arrived in San Francisco.  My relationship with X lasted a stormy 3 years and boy was it awful.  He cheated on me, treated me like crap and made me feel I was lucky to be with him.  When I finally broke up with him on the Summer of 1991, I was a new person.  I made a decision that I was not going to be treated like that ever again and set out on a new path.

Thanks to X, certain things had happened that brought me closer to Jamie.  I was in California, I took a job at a radio station that introduced me to Hawthorne Lane, then took a job at a preschool where his former roommate worked.  If I hadn’t been with X, I’m not sure those things would have happened.  Most importantly, I had a new outlook on life and dating.  It took several more years of working on myself to bring me to Jamie, but in the Summer of 2006 it happened.  I met Jamie.

I am being ecstatic to be marrying my true partner tomorrow.  And I am also grateful for the “Ghosts of Boyfriends Past” who each taught me something about myself and brought me closer to the man who will become my husband tomorrow.

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Crafting Under the Influence

Posted on April 3, 2011 by 12months12quilts

Today was a long day.  After a poor night’s sleep, I arrived at Hebrew school to find out that the 1st grade teacher was sick, so I would have her class along with my full class of Prek/K.  Not a big deal, just had to make extra copies and re-think a little of my lesson plan.  The kids were pretty wired, but we had a fun morning.

Right after school, we had a Synagogue clean-up day that I helped organize.  I trudged around the grounds with a huge garbage bags and 4 little helpers gathering trash.  The bag got pretty heavy, pretty fast, so my arms got a good workout!

I arrived home exhausted and in need of a beverage!  I popped open a cider and sat down to work on my crocheting.  I have always wanted to learn how to crochet, but while I could get the stitches right I could never get the tension right.  Thanks to the Klutz Crochet book I finally got the hang of it and made my first two projects, a jewelry roll for each of my bridesmaids and a flower:

The funny thing is, I think that the booze actually helped with this process!  The key to the tension is to relax your arm and hold the hook loosely.  I tend to grip needles pretty tight, so being in a “relaxed” state helped.

I’m now working on little soap bags for the ladies doing the readings, and I learned a new skill!

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Getting Crafty: Part Two

Posted on April 2, 2011 by 12months12quilts

Whew!  I got a lot done today! Here is the update:

Bridal Party Gifts- I have a small bridal party, a Maid of Honor and a Junior Bridesmaid.  All of the gift suggestions they have on the bridal sites and in the catalogs were really generic and awful.  Being a crafty girl, I decided to make them myself.  My MOH loves pink, so I put together a little tote bag that she can use for her lunch:

For the Junior Bridesmaid, I made her a tote bag with a cool, retro print:

I also made both ladies a “pearl” and ribbon headband for the wedding:

The headbands

Detail of the flowers

Next up, I found a simple frame for the Memorial Piece:

Made a sign for the Best Wishes cards:

and, finished the Chuppah!

The full Chuppah

Detail of the lace and ties

It’s now time to pop open a cider and enjoy the night!

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Progress Report- March

Posted on April 2, 2011 by 12months12quilts

March was a busy month for me, but also a very successful one in terms of quilting!  I finished two projects- The Baby Quilt and The Cat Quilt; started a new project- The Cherry Quilt; and costumed a show- The Totally Awesome, Totally 80’s Megillah.  Here’s the status of my other projects:

  1. The Storybook Quilt- The quilt top is done and the backing has been cut.  I just need to sew up the seam for the backing and cut down the quilt sandwich.  I probably will not finish this before the wedding craziness descends, but I hope to have it done by the end of the month.
  2. The “Other” Hexagon Quilt- I am now calling this The Flower Quilt- I haven’t made any progress on this quilt due to the focus on the chuppah.  I hope to have a full set of 10 flowers done by the end of April
  3. Block of The Month Quilts- I have at least two blocks done for each quilt.  The Arbor Lane Quilt has three done.  I have decided that until I hone my applique skills, that I simply don’t want to do it on a quilt that is going to get a lot of use.  The Tulip Twist Quilt has a 50-50 split between patchwork and applique, so I am just going to double up the patchwork and add fabric to the outside of the block to make the size match.  The Meadows in Bloom Quilt has a strip down the middle that uses applique, I am still figuring out how to re-work it.
  4. The Herb Sampler Cross Stitch- I have finished 2 herbs and am almost done with the 3rd.  I am planning on taking it with me to Post Ranch after the wedding to work on there.
  5. Disappearing Nine-Patch Quilt- This is another neglected quilt that is sadly sitting in my sewing basket.  I have several days off during Pesach and plan to put them to good use working on this project.
  6. The 1930’s Hexagon Quilt- I pieced the first column of flowers and started to attach the second.  It was looking off, so I need to take it apart and am going to do each column separately.  There will be a wider row of white in between the flowers, but at least it won’t be off!
  7. The Chuppah– It is nearly done.  I need to sew around two more edges and add the ties.  The goal is to finish it today!
  8. The Cherry Quilt- I just started this project last week, and have 15 blocks done.  I love this pattern because it is very simple, but looks very elegant.

As you can tell, there are a lot of projects happening and I am going to be adding more!

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Getting Crafty- Updated!

Posted on April 1, 2011 by 12months12quilts

With the wedding a little over a week away, it is time to get down to business!  On my to-do list today is to stamp card stock to use as table signs, prep our “Best Wishes” cards, make the bridesmaids gifts, pretty up the baskets for the bathroom and finish the chuppah.  Just a few things!  Luckily, I have tomorrow off and can finish up whatever I don’t get done today.

Update-

So, I’ve made a dent!  The Table Tents are done, as are the “Best Wishes” cards.  I also got the Memorial Piece done that is honoring my Aunt and Uncle.  Here’s what I did:

Table Tents– I could not find anything that I liked in the stores or online, so I took my awesome Maid of Honor’s suggestion to use blank cards with the table numbers written on them.  I spent about an hour at Michaels yesterday searching for either large number stickers that weren’t gross, or large number stamps.  Nada.  I did find a nice archive quality ink pad in a copper tone that has a great sheen to it, a sweet dragonfly stamp and a pack of 50 blank cards in a soft cream.  Today I went to Joann to see what they had to offer and found more of the same- nada.  I did find a nice, rustic looking set of alphabet letters, so I decided that I would just have to write out the table numbers.  They actually came out lovely:

Best Wishes Cards and Basket- We decided long ago that we did not want a guest book.  I’m planning to order prints of our photos and put them in an album myself and thought it would be nice to have cards with notes from the guests mixed in with the photos.  So, I took the rest of the cards from the Table Tents project and cut them into fourths.  I then used a Fiskars decorative border punch to give it a little added touch and stamped the dragonfly in the corner.  I’m going to pick up several pens in the copper color and will put them out on the greeting table for the guests.  For the basket, my MOH had some leftover ribbon in our colors, so I tied a tiny ribbon on the handle and am leaving it at that.  Here is what it looks like:

Memorial Piece– My mother’s brother and sister passed away last year and we are feeling their loss keenly.  This is the first time we are all getting together since my uncle’s funeral, and we wanted to honor both of them at the wedding.  Well, we are an Irish family, and they both had a signature cocktail, so we are honoring them at the bar.  After the wedding the guests will be served Old Fashioneds or Mahattanans during the cocktail hour.  At the bar will be a lovely floral arrangement with Bells of Ireland and a framed photo collage with some great photos of Uncle Bob and Aunt Dot.  My cousin Kelly was amazing and dug up these photos.  Here is my favorite:

I still have a lot more to do, so make sure to check back tomorrow for more updates!

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By the Book

Posted on March 28, 2011 by 12months12quilts

I love quilting books.  The pictures, the tips, the everything!  When I get a new quilting books, I see beautiful patterns for quilts, and want to make them all, then I see the amount of cutting that is required and put the book away.

This year is all about challenging myself, so I decided that I need to put my fears away and make a quilt that will require me to do some cutting.  Lucky for me that I have the book “Simplify: Quilts for the Modern Home” by Camille Roskelley.  Camille’s patterns are beginner friendly and use mostly pre-cut fabrics like jelly rolls and charm packs.  I found a pattern that I liked then set out to find the perfect fabric.

I have a thing  about cherries (this seems like a tangent, but go with me).  Cherries remind me of when I was 10 and my dad took my brother and me to Europe over the summer.  When we were in Italy the streets were filled with vendors selling paper cones full of fresh, delicious cherries.  I ate so many cherries that summer that I’m surprised I didn’t stain my teeth red!  Cherries make me smile and I even have a sewing basket that looks like a cherry cupcake:

Imagine my delight when I found a Moda charm pack called “Oh Cherry Oh” full of adorable cherry themed fabric.  Since the fabric has been archived by Moda, I had to do some searching for the sets that I needed to come up on eBay.  I finally got everything I need, and sat down this afternoon to start the squares.

I had to cut the honey buns (sets of 42″ by 1.5″ strips) down into smaller strips and group the strips into sets, which was time consuming, but the cutting was simple and so was the sewing. I knocked out 6 squares in about 90 minutes.  Here is one of them:

I have to make 40 of these squares, and may make more so that I can put together a queen sized quilt.  So welcome to my new project- The Cherry Quilt.

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Nearly Done with Number Three!

Posted on March 25, 2011 by 12months12quilts

I spent some quality time with the long neglected “Storybook Quilt” today and cranked out the top. I had to skip one of the layers of borders as I have misplaced one strip of fabric. Oh well! Tomorrow it’s back to Jo-Ann’s to buy some backing fabric then completion! I love the 1930’s theme of the quilt (of course) and that made it really easy to find binding for it. I raided my stash and found two different jelly roll strips to use as the binding.
Here are some photos:

The Completed Top

The Binding Strips

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Making Up For Lost Time

Posted on March 21, 2011 by 12months12quilts

Well, I made it through the Spiel! The costumes looked great, and everyone had fun!

Now that the Spiel is done, I can get back to sewing for fun, and today I made up for lost time.  I spent a good 3 hours sewing on my Jo-Ann fabrics Block of the month sets and completed 3 blocks and am almost done with another.  I’m not feeling as guilty about using the machine anymore, since I still have several projects that require hand sewing.  I kind of like being able to mix it up.

I’m trying to squeeze in as much sewing for fun as I can in the next week since the next show (Wizard of Oz at Stapleton) is coming and I will be working on costumes for that after the wedding.  Oh, yeah and the wedding is coming up in 19 days!!!!!

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