I have been trying to use up my old supplies so that I can aquire more guilt free, here is my latest installment. I made the top in my intro to fibers class at the AIC as an applique sample, then today I decided to turn it into a pillow. Unfortunatly it doesn’t go with anything else I own.
Front
I finished these mitts about 1.5 weeks ago but due to the short term loss of a camera cord, a trip out of town, and general laziness we are just posting them now. Sweet deal on these mitts, I used leftover cotton batting from Batten’s quilt, leftover cotton canvas from my bag posted below and fabric I bought specifically for this purpose back in February. Cleaning out my giant vat of fabric I am. It’s spring cleaning or something and on that note how about that snazzy little flickr badge thing over on the side there, yea that’s right, I put it there myself. Jealous much?
My sister was in a tornado tonight, and when I say she was in a tornado I don’t mean that it hit her general vicinity, I mean that it hit her apartment building and then continued on through downtown Iowa City. She is a very lucky gal that beemo, she escaped with only a panic attack, too bad her building and the rest of town didn’t fare as well. Gas leaks, cars on cars, cars in dumpsters, power outages, shattered windows, and the only roofs in sight are on the streets. And did I mention that the entire dude population of the University of Iowa is wandering the streets drunk on looted beer? They sure know how to make the best out of what could have been a bad situation. Anyway everyone is okay and so far there have been no reported deaths.
I now present links about the tornado, which has in fact been confirmed as a full blown tornado since this first article came out.
The Iowa City Press Citizen
The local news station has some photos and video of the “Severe Weather Coverage”
KCRG News
Beems took a bunch of photos so when she is able to get back into her building she is going to email me some so I will post the more interesting ones here. Oh yea, and it did sound like a train.
Today I finished my Amy Butler bag which I’ve had the supplies for since probably last spring. Luckily the Sew? I knit! – along was bags this month so I finally had to buckle down and make it.
A few notes about the pattern: It was very easy to follow, and gave overly clear directions, but one thing I would do differently and would recommend to others is when sewing the bottom of the lining, use a 3/4″ seam allowance and trim it to 1/2″ after you sew. This will eliminate the giant mass of fabric I have in the bottom of the bag due to the fact that the bag and lining are exactly the same size. Add in the combined seam allowances of 1″ and you’ve got too much fabric and not enough room for it to go. Unfortunatly I didn’t realize it in time and my bag was already turned out and for the life of me I could not get it to go back inside out. Other than that I can’t believe how nice this bag came out. Yea!
I had some sprouts on my little herb garden. Soon there will be fresh herbs for all.
And here is a little project I am working on, we’ll see what it becomes. I have big plans for this little one.
Today on my bike ride I realized this. I don’t want an old bike because it’s cute, I want a modern bike because it works. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Luke and Jon, it’s that Lance wouldn’t ride a performance dehancing bike, so why should I? Now to start saving.
I finally gave Luke his quilt this weekend. It would have been Thursday but that was the day he picked up his BMW wagon so I decided that he couldn’t have the quilt until he could be properly excited about it. That may have been more for me than him. So without further delay I present to you the fruit of 6 months hard labor and stress…
Since I have had to keep this project in the dark, here are a few in progress photos.
Here is the quilt top finished and ironed out.
Spreading out the back to make the sandwich.
The sandwich about half way hand basted. Notice the exotic creature in the top left. Mmmm.
The zigs and zags being marked and quilted.
So that is all. My mom is giving me less than a year to start my next quilt. We’ll see, it sure was a lot of work. Maybe next winter.
Sick again. Ah the woe that is my shitty set of lungs, every season change they betray me. Ah well, could be much worse, I did get a bit of relaxing in the past 4 days. On Monday I decided the only thing that would cure me is leek and veggie soup so of course I was compelled to make it, even though what I needed was to lay down. I bought this giant bunch of veggies at Jewel (home of crap produce), chopped them up, boiled them in a pot, then ate them up. Here is a before and after photo.
I finished up hand hemming my skirt and now it is ready for some warm weather. I have to say I wish I could erase those butterflies on the fabric. I was hoping they wouldn’t be very noticible but I think they are.
Finally I am finally finished with my phildar no.20 pieces. It’s about time, I thought I was never going to finish. Now I just need to block those suckers and sew them together and hope it’s not as long as some other people’s I’ve seen. The measurements say this should fit, but the visuals are telling me otherwise.
Up next is my bag. The pieces are cut out and waiting. We’ll see how long they have to wait.
...at home on a boat, it\'s a fish trap...
