Mountains and Pillowcases

After returning from a lovely trip to St. Louis it has been a whirlwind of work and camp and getting ready for school to start... and a last minute jaunt up to a friend's mountain house last weekend. My return to full-time work last February has made it hard to stay as connected to two of my favorite ladies as I would like, and all of us being available to run away for a quick weekend of girl bonding was just too good to pass up.

My crazy friend Melissa was so excited at the prospect that she went completely over the top whipping up goody bags for us. They were so cute, little trinket necessities like a big drink cup and leis among other dollar store treats, and she somehow managed to print up some cute t-shirts and make pillowcases! If you watch The Office you will recognize the t-shirt quote, and all weekend you could hear melissa expounding "it isn't an event without SWAG!". I have to say I agree!

My pillowcase was made with squirrel fabric (because she is evil, but also knows I love that line) and some lovely Heather Bailey fabric. Christy's pillowcase was cupcakes with cute pink University of Georgia fabric on the edge.

We pretty much ate a huge breakfast, sat on the porch, read trashy magazines, ate snacks, sat on the porch, and gabbed. There may have been a few very large cups of sangria... mmmm.

Back to the pillowcases for a moment. I mentioned in my pillowcase tutorial what a great gift pillowcases are, but I just have to emphasize it again! All week I have gone to bed and smiled at my pillowcase from last weekend, and it will always remind me of good times with friends. Before putting the one Melissa made on my pillow, I had on one from the set that my friend Audrey made for a wedding gifty in our wedding colors. I can pull those out every anniversary as just another little reminder of that wonderful day. We also have ones that we put on pillows for birthdays and almost all major holidays. If you haven't made some I highly recommend it!

Audrey's wedding pillowcases

Knitting Over Saint Louis

I couldn't resist a picture of the Clapotis finally getting some attention on the airplane. My new crackberry uploads pictures right to flickr, fun! Will be back next week after some STL Arch, Cardinals, Imo's pizza and family.

Butterflies Finally Finished!

I wasn't sure I was going to make my weekend goal of finishing the butterfly quilt after carousing at Melissa's 40th birthday party last night, but this afternoon I rallied! I shook off the margarita haze, blasted some tunes (thanks to Jay's suggestion) and tackled the binding. At quilt camp my mom convinced me that I should try machine sewing my binding, and that really helped me complete the binding quickly also. To machine sew the binding you do the first side as usual, and then use a serpentine stitch to do the other side instead of sewing it by hand. I appreciate the speediness of it, and I think it did well on this quilt that I have always planned on being a picnic quilt, but I don't think I would use it on anything I had spent a lot of time on. Would be good for quick baby quilts too.

Specs:

Jane Sassaman's Butterfly Garden Fabrics

71" X 73"

Machine Appliqued Butterflies

Machine Pieced and Freemotion Quilted

July = Non Stop Action

I wanted to get my binding strips cut out and sewn on to take up to the lake for the fourth to finish up my butterfly quilt, but sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the week. Also, Jack says there is not enough room in the car! Every weekend coming up seems to be completely booked, but hopefully I can eek out some time to finish the quilt, it is sooo close to being done.

Our fourth was full of family and fireworks, both natural and man-made. Hope yours was great too!

Quilt Camp 2009 - The Second

Lessons learned at Quilt Camp this weekend: Take jeans to quilt camp because northern visitors can't handle the southern heat and will want to keep the ac at refrigerator temperatures, Some might go at the pace of a hare and some might go at the pace of a worm; but everyone gets a lot done, Mom really does cook sometimes, Stitch Regulators are really cool and addictive (and not cheating), Machingers are an absolute must-have for machine quilting (how did I ever sew without these?), Summer sewing and cocktails is endlessly entertaining (but really we already knew that).

Had a great time ladies! Hope to do it again soon.

The Chicken Knows

I think Angry Chicken should hire herself out as a personal shopper. I can think of at least three things that she has shown on her blog that I have purchased, and all of them I've been immensely happy with. She just really has a knack for finding cool stuff! The lastest purchase of mine was the totally cute cherry pitter that she featured last week in this post. Just the day before I had been ripping cherries apart to get the pits out for my oldest daughter aka the cherry addict. When The Chicken showed this adorable little pitter that my daughter could do herself, I hopped right over to Amazon and snatched one up. It doesn't disappoint, this thing is adorable AND effective, just look at all those cherry pits!


And now my white sink doesn't look like cherry carnage has recently taken place, bonus. Look, even the box is cute!

WWKIPD

I think I have a new favorite holiday, World Wide Knit In Public Day. Ok, so it isn't an official holiday, but it should be! My favorite metro Atlanta yarn store, The Whole Nine Yarns, hosted a knit in the park day this weekend (the park is located conveniently across the parking lot from the store) and had sale items that changed every hour. If you have any doubt that this is a great yarn store, know that we trek a solid 45 minutes from our homes on the other side of Atlanta to go to this one, when there are at least two other decent stores located much closer.

I spent the morning with my two favorite crazy knitters (my mom and my aunt) and a bunch of other delightful knitters (not pictured because I feel weird posting pics of people I don't know). I managed to make it through the sales with only one book purchased, and to top it all off someone brought their bunnies, angora bunnies!!!

I would seriously consider owning a few of these if bunnies weren't so stinky. Especially after the awesome spinning lesson we got from someone that set up their wheel and showed all us non-spinners the ins and outs of making your own yarn. I think she gave some very good advice: if you already have a love of fiber, don't start spinning unless you are ready to become completely addicted. I don't think my bank account can stand another addiciton at this time, so I am staying away. At least until my mom purchases her first spinning wheel.

I am still only at the beginning stages of my clapotis, I don't know what it is, but I can't seem to really get going on this thing. I think I've mentioned it before, but my mom and I started knitting this at the same time and hers was done weeks ago. sigh. Does seem a bit odd to be knitting a scarf-like object when it is 95 degrees, but I'm not about to knit something seasonally appropriate like a bathing suit!

Must be summer...

because we chopped a LOT of hair around here this week!

Unexpected Gift

I love getting to share how creative and talented my family members are. We had a family birthday party this weekend and among the birthday presents was a wedding present for me and Jay. My aunt used to do a lot of stained glass when I was a child, but she put it aside for many years. I'm so excited that she has taken it back up, especially since I have recently aquired two of her pieces: a Christmas star ornament that is so pretty that it remains hanging in our window year around and now this gorgeous piece of art...


It is going in a window next to our bed where we can see it every morning. I have always loved the changing light that comes through this window and really look forward watching it play with the glass.

I spent a good chunk of Sunday over at Melissa's sewing, I am revisiting a quilt that I have worked on a little bit each summer for the past 5 years. This is the year that it is going to be finished, and soon! I'm hoping to have the top complete and sandwiched before I go off to quilt camp weekend after next so that I can quilt my heart out while hanging out with other funny and inspiring quilters (bring your whip Audrey, I want to get this one done!).

Too Sunburned to Sew

Not a lot of crafty action going on around here... we took advantage of a childless weekend to jaunt up to the family lakehouse and lounge around on the dock (a little too long). I took some knitting but didn't even touch it. Just lake and sun and naps and candlelight dinners. This is why I love this man... he didn't one time say I was completely hairbrained when I told him I wanted to haul a quilt and candles down to the dock to eat dinner just like we were in a page out of the recent Anthropologie catalogue. Even though that meant he had to carry dinner down about 50 steps and a REALLY steep hill...

and over a gang plank (um, after wading knee deep in water because the other end of the walkway is presently submerged)...

It was worth it.

But then we had to carry it all back up. There are numerous stairs beyond the ones you can see here. Was still worth it.

(he also never called me a crackpot for wanting to put battery powered candles all down the stairs)

We wandered home Sunday and then went to see Bon Iver. He was beyond awesome. I wish this video did him the least bit of justice, but sadly my little camera has a super crappy microphone that can't handle any of the base or overwhelming noise of about 1500 people singing at the top of their lungs. But it makes me smile to remember, so here it is anyway.

Handmade Ring Bearer Pillows

I just realized today that I forgot to post the cute ring bearer pillows I made. So, I'm sorry, but here is yet another wedding post. I actually got started on the quilt from my wedding napkins today, but there is some debate about the design going on around here, so I'm not ready to post it yet.

I had the design of these pillows in mind long before the wedding, and I was absolutely set on the idea of combining knitting with fabric, but it wasn't until a few weeks before the wedding that I convinced my mom to knit the little lace squares I needed for the middle. For some reason she just smiled and did as she was told, and I finished making these two days before the wedding. They turned out just as I had imagined, which was pretty much a complete shock to me. I had done a prototype that I liked well enough, but I never did a second prototype with the changes I wanted to make to the original, I just dove in (it was down to a time crunch) and I thought they turned out just lovely. The knitted lace part was out of the most luxurious Ella Rae bamboo silk yarn, and it is really hard to resist just petting these little pillows and rubbing them against your face. Here's one in action, I wish I had a good shot of the younger child with hers, she was so serious about holding it up just right.

Perfect Day

Yesterday was wonderful. My only complaint is that it went too fast (I know, all brides say that, but there were so many moments I wanted to freeze time and just breathe it all in). Two of my best friends helped me get ready and drank champagne out of the bottle with me to calm my nerves. The ceremony was rich with detail and deeply meaningful to us both. The party in the vineyard was time spent with almost every person I love.

We laughed a lot. We cried a little. It sprinkled just enough for luck. We hula hooped. We ran through the grass. There was casual knitting with wine and conversation. There were quilts spread under the oak trees. My daughters were so beautiful my heart hurts to think about it. I married my best friend. Perfect.

I will link to a flickr album once I finish rounding up pictures from family and friends (for some reason we didn't take many ourselves). I do love these that Jay took as we ran around after almost all the guests were gone, with the shawl that was finished thanks to my mother dragging it out of my hands two days before the wedding.

Quilt Camp!

Quilt camp was so much fun that we have already scheduled two more for later this year. I only got to go a couple of days, but my mom, aunt and friend Audrey were at it for a week and got lots completed considering camp includes lots of vodka tonics and the occasional nap. My aunt finished her first two quilts, baby quilts for coworkers:

Audrey came with a suitcase full of uncut fabric and left with a quilt top! She had plenty of help deciding exactly how the blocks should be laid out and Rillion was there to help with pictures:

My mom made all the blocks for a quilt she started, and also put in some time on the neverending wedding shawl.

I finished the aforementioned napkins and put in some time on the shawl too, I really look forward to working on a non-wedding related project at the next quilt camp. Of course, I will probably be working on the quilt made from the napkins, so I guess that is still wedding related. We really did have a great time, and the beasts definitely did not want us to leave. Look at these pitiful pup faces trying to go home in the car with us!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

I think it is very important to point out to everyone that the wedding napkins have been done for a whole week, that's two weeks before the wedding people! I really thought I would be still sewing these the night before the wedding, but thanks to the help of many people, some of them complete strangers, they were done in plenty of time. My mom sewed a very large stack, and my friend Audrey flew through a stack of them last weekend at quilt camp (she would tell you it was thousands, but really it was about 15). And then about a week and a half ago I had one of the best mail days ever because all of the ones below arrived!

A fabulous box of napkins from Mary in Virginia, including wine charms in our wedding colors and a little kit to make fabric flowers, sooooo stinkin' cute!

And, her friend Sandy apparently joined the festivities too and included these lovelies:

And also Chris, from my neck of the woods, sent these along:

I really just kind of walk around with a goofey smile on my face whenever I think of these napkins and these ladies, they are like 19 little hugs and best wishes from the blogosphere, just awesome. Thank you all so much!

And here is what 70 finished cocktail napkins looks like... seems like that stack should look a lot taller, huh? But they are all there, I've counted several times.

I'm super excited to see them in use next weekend. Eek! Next weekend!