A week before Sewing Summit an old friend contacted me and wanted me to make a Tardis quilt for her to give as a gift. The catch? She wanted it before Halloween (the recipient’s birthday — no it wasn’t me — obviously, hehe.) I knew I was going to be gone for 4 days for Sewing Summit, and that even if I took it with me I wouldn’t get anything done on it in SLC, so I basically had 2 weekends to knock a whole quilt out.

I sketched it up in my notebook pretty quickly and estimated the fabric. Then we started hunting for the perfect background and backing fabrics. (The rest of the quilt is in Kona solids.) The backing was pretty easy, there is this teeny tossed Tardis fabric on Spoonflower. (I’m really starting to think there are an awful lot of closet geek sewers and quilters.) So my friend ordered that and had it sent to me.

The background was a different story. We searched and searched for something “starry”. Finally I went into my LQS, and found this print by Robert Kauffman. It’s “Mixmasters Luminescence.” (On a side note, I can’t believe I spelled luminescence right on the first try!) I took a photo with my phone and texted it to her to get her approval. Don’t you just love technology? How in the heck did people survive before they could take pictures of fabric with their phones?!

The signs were my biggest problem. I knew I could print the black on white text on with a printer using the freezer paper method. We actually went and bought a new printer during this process because the inkjet we had only had pigment (which is more permanent than dye-based)  ink for black. The new printer does color with pigment inks, too. I’m excited to try that out soon.

The white text on black had me stumped for far too long. I finally realized I could use silk screen ink with a freezer paper stencil (yeah, I love freezer paper) and print my own sign. I love how it came out.

I was also asked to embroider a little message on the back, and this is what I came up with. I actually did the “I” and the “YOU” on my machine, and hand stitched the red hearts.

You can also see that the spoonflower fabric wasn’t quite wide enough, so I added a strip of the background fabric to finish it out.

I actually ran out of the background fabric in the middle of this project. I bought 2 yards originally and thought that woud be about 1/2 yard too much, but boy was I wrong! And not because I wasted any of it either. I had to send Chris back to the LQS during his lunch one day to get some more. (Yes, he’s definitely a keeper!)

The quilting doesn’t show up well in these pictures at. all. But I quilted in the ditch around the Tardis, and then in radiating lines from the “light” at the top over the rest of the quilt. It’s not a ton of quilting, so the whole thing is still rather soft and snuggly.

Even though I was worried that I wouldn’t have time to get this quilt done by Halloween, I actually finished and bound it (in a solid Kona blue) a few days early.  It was really quite a simple quilt to put together once I solved the issues with the text fabrics. Of course, I could have had those printed at Spoonflower, but they take FOREVER and if the sign was the wrong size it would be a major disaster.

I’m surprised that I seem to have come to a point where a single quilt doesn’t take me months (or years) to complete! OTOH, I have a few quilts that I’ve been struggling with (or rather, designing on the fly, thus taking more thought than planning the dumb thing out in advance) for quite some time. But I’ll show you those in a future post…

On that note, I started a new geek job, so I’m kind of stretched for time these days. I’ll try to keep the blog updated, but don’t worry, I haven’t disappeared off the face of the Earth… yet.

I’m obviously not blogging much, so what am I doing? Mostly a whole lot of nothing. Well, that’s not true. I’m procrastinating. A lot. Avoiding my long list of to dos. Last week, I managed to do no sewing at all in the evenings. I just sat on my butt and watched, House, Alcatraz, Fringe, Merlin and several other nerdy shows that I love so much, but sewing… or even thinking about sewing? No.

I did make these cute little bags for my sweet Hazie’s little odds and ends. I do love Jeni’s bag pattern as a quick gratification project. And I love that it’s using up fabric from my stash. I’m trying to pare down my fabric some because now that I’ve not got a whole room to myself, three huge boxes of yardage + a large bin of scraps and another bin of fat quarters is a bit much for the tiny loft/tv room. Ok, not really, I just want to use it up so I won’t feel so guilty when I buy more fabric.

What should I be doing? Well, the long list consists of things like:

1) Finish the Firebird Quilt – This one is due at the beginning of April for a fundraising auction for Alexis’ school. I actually started it last spring, but then got sidetracked — by oh a thousand other things — and it sat in the corner until recently when I picked it up again and realized that the quilting I’d started on it had caused the applique to pucker horribly. So what did I do? Yeah. You guessed it. Picked all of the (hand) stitching out. Boo. Then, I decided to stich in the ditch on the the applique (as if applique even really has ditches…) and we know how good I am at that… not good at all, but apparently getting better, because if you squint your eyes and turn your head 90 degrees you can’t see the stitching that climbs out of the ditch at all… mostly because you’ll be looking somewhere else entirely.

2) Finish this quilt for a dear friend – Another quilt that’s been in the works for a while. Admittedly, I’ve made progress since these photos were taken (I actually quilted the whole thing last night), but I need to get this one bound and photoed and sent off to it’s new home soon!

3) For the Love of Solids swap — I decided this year I was going to try swapping again. My last few attempts haven’t turned out so good. I either got zero feedback on the items I sent (which I thought were really awesome!) or have not received my items. I have high hopes for this swap though. It’s very active. So active that I’m having trouble keeping up! I hope my partner loves her items, though, I’ve only finished one so far and have only an inkling on the second item. Here is the sneak preview I posted ont he flickr group, it seems to be well received so far!

4) do. Good Stitches — This bee is not a chore at all. Two blocks per month is pretty simple to whip out. However, I am up to be the quilter/leader in March, and I still have no idea what quilt block I will choose for our group! I still need to make my February blocks as well.

5) Curves Class with Rachel @ Stitched in Color! – I think I might be some sort of Rachel Hauser groupy. do. Good Stitches is her brainchild, and now she’s come up with this (what looks to be awesome!) class for a bunch of us to improve our curvy piecing. I’m really looking forward to it (today is the first “real” day of class!) for the camaraderie, but also to hopefully get past my fear of drunkard’s path blocks (and other wonderfully curvy quilty blocks). I just hope I can make myself find the time to get some of the projects done.

6) Pattern Writing — I’m working on a pattern for one of my past projects. And that’s about all I can say right now. But it’s a big one, and taking a lot more time than I anticipated. I hope it’s worth it!

And those are just the items highest on my list. My goals for February as it were. I also want to actually blog about this stuff as it happens. I hope I don’t get too overwhelmed and just shut down completely. Last week was a good break, but I still worry that I’ll not be able to keep up, and instead of only leaving a couple of things out, I will just give up on everything… So, wish me luck!

See that fabric? It’s the first one I’ve designed myself. I’d been thinking about doing some designs up just for fun, but then I saw that Spoonflower was hosting a contest for fabrics with an “Outdated Technology” theme. First thing that pops into this (not a) geek’s head is old floppy disks.

I think it still needs some tweaking. The print itself is really quite small, and I think it needs more of a background color to make it look a bit less stark, but overall I’m pleased. And I should be, I did a LOT of fighting with Illustrator to get the darn thing cropped correctly.

So if you get a chance and are so inclined, head over to the contest page and vote for me!

Mini-moo cards for taking to the Sewing Summit. And just as a side note, they have a 25% off deal going on right now too. I swear they aren’t paying me to say that… but they could.

This isn’t the first time I’ve ordered these cute little calling/business cards. I used to include a couple in every Etsy order I shipped. But since I haven’t sold anything on Etsy in — well — forever, I decided to get some cards that don’t have my etsy shop URL on them. Besides, the old ones only have my banner on the non-text side. (I’m not sure whether to call that the back or the front.)

This time around, I wanted to feature some of the stuff I’ve made over the years. You’ll probably recognize some of the photos I’ve used if you have been a long time reader. Some of you might even have the item in the picture in your possession. When I opened up the box and started to pull one of each card out I was shocked at just how many photos I had chosen. Ah, well, variety is good, yes?

As always, the quality of these little cards is just stunning. Heavy paper, crisp clear photos and text, and packaging to die for. I heart tiny boxes. What can I say? It seems to run in the family… you should see my grandmother’s collection of boxes, it’s taking over her living room… and Alexis immediately wanted to know when she could get her hands on this new box… hehehe. (As another side note, she thought that the little blue droplet on the edge of the box meant that the cards were waterproof.)

Seems I’m not the only one with this idea. Lots of the other summit attendees have blogged about their cards recently. I can’t wait to start trading them!

Not a whole lot to say about these stacks that the pictures themselves don’t convey. (ETA: Yet, I still managed to go on and on and on…)

This first stack are the fat quarters that I’ll be using for Alexis’ new quilt. They’re a combination of Moda and Kona solids. Pay no attention to the Moda charm pack that snuck into the pile… I know it just wants to join the party. I suppose in a way it will because I used it to find the backing fabric for her quilt. Of course, I seem to always change my mind on the backing after the top is pieced so I might just have a big giant 3.75 yards of Aqua Andrea from Moda’s Sugar Pop. It is the third fabric from the top in the stack below.

And speaking of the stack below above, I ordered it from Sew, Mama, Sew. It was my first order and I was blown away by the package I received. The fact that they took the time to carefully fold each fabric and then tie them with a strip of one of the prints I ordered was almost more than I could take. I think I actually squealed when I opened the package. It took me almost a week to open the cellophane bag they came in, and I only did that because I needed to get the Kona Coal out (4th one down) for the back of the Mystery Quilt. It’s like they knew exactly what was aesthetically pleasing to me. :)

I haven’t figured out exactly what I’m going to do for the top of Alexis’ quilt, but I’m going to start with 4 inch half-square triangles. As I discovered before, they can be arranged in lots of cool ways.

Back in my experimental art days (you know ages ago in 2007?) I drew this sort-of self portrait based on some doodling in my sketchbook. I started the whole thing by enlarging one of those silhouette profile thingys that Chris and I had done on our honeymoon. Then I started doodling in pencil. The whole thing is really just several evenings of doodling. When I’d filled the entire area, I spent another week of evenings inking. That was BORING. Boring. Did I mention it was boring? And it made my hand hurt. I think I forgot to mention that this thing is something like 16″x20″. It is not small.

For the most part I really like how it came out. There are, however, a few areas I’m not crazy about… the eye, for example, just seems off to me. Or perhaps it’s really too cliché. Gears turning in my head, light bulbs popping in the forehead and all that. But you can tell how much I like organic lines and shapes. Especially fractalish circles. Probably my inner math geek showing through. So in that respect I think it’s a decent representation of myself from the inside out. For a perspective from the outside in, you can refer back to my headless self portrait.

I don’t think it’s finished. I’ve gone back and forth on adding color, but can never figure out how… Watercolor? Marker? Coloring in specific areas? Or a general wash over the whole thing? Maybe something entirely separate from color? Maybe more stuff on the “outside”? It’s just so black and white. Not like me at all.

Anyone have any suggestions, critiques, jokes, comments, accolades, rebukes or side stories?

1. My earliest gymnastics memory is of Mary Lou Retton hitting her perfect 10 on vault at the 1984 Olympics.  That Christmas I – and everyone else on my gymnastics team – got a Mary Lou leotard. You know, the one with the stars on one shoulder and the stripes on the rest of it? I think that was the only 3/4 sleeve leo I ever owned.
2. I only see doctors I really like, and I’ll drive a long way to get to them if necessary. I figure if they aren’t going to listen to me, or they consistently diagnose the wrong condition (a la House without the almost dying part) they aren’t worth my time or money. Some of the pickiest people I know have asked me for MD references, and as far as I know, no-one has been disappointed yet.
3. I hold a first degree black belt in Tang Soo Do (that’s TONG SOO DOH) and I regret every day that I’m not still training. I miss my fellow students and the training and sense of community within a school, but I try to live my life by the basic eastern principles that are taught with traditional martial arts. Some day I hope I’ll find the right place to train again.
4. When I started college, my major was pre-med. I changed it to computer science after I took my second programming class. I have no idea what possessed me to take a second programming class because I hated the first one so much. Some Most days, I wish I hadn’t switched.
5. Over the years I’ve tried about every craft or art out there. Sewing, quilting, painting, writing, throwing pottery, collaging, crochet, cross-stitch and finally knitting. I think knitting is “the one”. I enjoy it more than any of the others, but I still dabble often. And I’d still love to take a class in large scale metal sculpture.
6. I am falling apart. I’ve ruined tendons in both ankles, had knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus, and now there is something unknown going on with my shoulder.
7. I wish I lived on Castaway Cay — only with out the hummingbird sized mosquitoes at night.
8. I have an enormous capacity to forgive wrongs against me, but will hold a grudge forever against those who hurt my loved ones.
9. In my junior year of high school I was diagnosed with epilepsy. Until the diagnosis – and sometimes even after – my teachers and counselors insisted to my mother that I was on drugs. My grades fell drastically and I dropped from the top 10% of my class to the bottom half.
10. I love my house so much that I never want to move.
11. On the last day of my senior year in high school, my English teacher told me that I am the most sorry excuse for a human being she had ever met. I left the classroom because I didn’t believe I had to sit around and be treated like that. But a cop in the hallway stopped me. When I told him what had happened and that I was going to the office, he pulled my teacher from the classroom to confirm my story, and she ADMITTED it was true. What a dumb ass!
12. I dream about staircases to nowhere on a regular basis. These dreams are often so terrifying that I wake shaken for the rest of the day.
13. I went to college out of state, and I’m still paying for it.
14. The older I get, the more I look like my mother. I found a picture at my aunt’s house a few years ago. It took a second for me to realize that it was of me at about 1 yo sitting on my mother’s knees and not me holding my daughter.
15. I totally can’t work a fax machine.
16. I met my husband on America Online. He was chatting with me about how to break up with the jerk I was seeing at the time.

Names have been changed to protect the innocent gift recipients

me: godI could so easily spend $75 on yarn to get free shippingno comment?Chris: nope, I understand how that worksme: :)wellI put the fawn in the cart  then went looking for kid friendly machine washable wool…found it$10/skein… 1 skein per kidChris: cool me: so that’s like 35 bucksbut then… I started lamenting giving my new petting yarn awayeven though I bought it for xxxxxxxChris: there is a blog in here somewhereme: oh godyou’re rightexcept your mom reads itso the question iscan I justify spending $44 on yarn that I will likely just pet?Chris: in the long run….  it’s cheaper than a cat me: LMAO  that is so greatI just want you to tell me to buy it even though I was bitching about money this morningChris: thank you, I’ll be here all week, enjoy the buffetbuy it even though you were bitching about money this morningme: hehdid you cut and paste?;)Chris: pretty muchhighlighted and draggedme: I’ll probably kick myself on 1/1… but I can pet my new cat and feel betterChris: definitely a blog in thisme: good thing google auto saves these conversations

1) If the government was going to screw with your computer votes, they could just as easily mess with the paper ones.

2) The paper ballots are scanned BY A COMPUTER. So essentially, you’re just creating more work for someone by voting on paper.

If there is some other reason, please let me know, because I’m completely baffled.