Sketch for the SavVy {Seasons} Swap

Fun Fact #8 about me...I'm a sappy, sentimental Christmas junkie. I love Christmas cookies, Christmas movies (esp Elf and It's a Wonderful Life!), gathering with family, snuggling in front of cozy fireplaces with flannel blankets, and the absolute one & only time I miss Chicago winters is during the Christmas season. For the first five years my husband and I were together, our Christams tradition was to walk to Marshall Field's ("Macy's") with scarves and rosy cheeks, eat in the Walnut Room beneath the big tree, and then stroll across to the Christkindlmarket (aka German Market) for roasted cinnamon almonds and apple cider in boot-shaped mugs. Last year was the first time that tradition was broken :(

Anywho, because I love Christmas so, so much...I found my first ever holiday-themed swap to participate in (yay!). Heather of a la mode fabric recently put together the SavVy {Seasons} Swap and as soon as I heard about it, I pounced on it like a monkey on a cupcake!

I got my secret swap partner info right before I left on vacation, and I figured out almost immediately what I wanted to do. My partner mentioned a bunting in her list of "Likes", and here's what I came up with. I hope I'm able to describe this well enough that everyone knows what I'm talking about!



There are two buntings pictured above, but there will really only be one. The reason I drew two is because there will be two interchangable themed sets. One set will be Cookies + Milk, and the other will be Santas + Christmas Trees. I thought the Milk + Cookies would be cute to hang over the fireplace around Christams Eve for Santa to "snack" on ;). I also thought it would give my partner a more muted palate than the bright red and green Santas + Trees. So she can swap back and forth, depending on what her decor and mood are :)

The string will be a Christmas-y green bias tape with a D-ring at each end for hanging. The flags will be the only part permanently sewn on, and I'm using Amy Butler's Full Moon Dots in Lime for the background and a dark green Kona to match the bias tape for the letters. The two sets will have metal snaps on the back so they can be easily removed and switched. The look of the Santas + Trees will be pretty much as pictured, but the cookies will look like these gingerbread ones, except made out of light brown fabric instead of felt. I think I'm gonna make the top part of the milk bottle out of linen, the "milk" out of a slightly off-white Kona, and the embroidered MILK out of a medium gray thread.

Hopefully I can pull this off and it'll look as good in reality as it does in my mind, haha! It's always disappointing when things don't translate well :(

Cross your fingers for me!

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Lots of sleep later...

I'm fully refreshed and ready to get back on the sewing/quilting/blogging bandwagon! When I came home I found a lovely surprise from verykerryberry in my inbox. Kerry had received the "Versatile Blogger" award from someone else and was supposed to post 7 facts about herself and then pass the award on to 5 other bloggers...and I was very honored to be chosen as one of them! :)

So without further ado...

My five bloggers are...Aneela @ comfortstitching, Nicole @ Making It Lovely, Suzonne @ Urban Comfort, Tong @ tingtongandthings, and Amy @ The Nifty Foodie

My seven facts are...

#1: I was an avid golfer growing up. I played competitively in summer golf tours from age 12 to 18. Everything is amateur at that stage, but I won a couple tournaments and have a pretty sweet collection of trophies. I was never at this level (didn't have the nerves or determination), but many of the people I played with are now on the pro tour and a few of my friends are doing really well...one of my guy friends was actually chosen for the 2008 Ryder Cup team at Valhalla in Louisville. My dad was a Marshall for that tournament and was asked to do it again for the Ryder Cup that's taking place in Wales this week. He and my mom flew out last Thursday...and were totally freaking out about it. As much as they talk about wanting to travel the world, they're pretty set in their ways and paranoid about the "dangers" of going to a foreign country...because as we all know, the U.K. is such a scary, uncivilized place...haha! I'm really happy they finally went to Europe though, because they're the kind of people that save and save and save but never actually use or enjoy their savings. I'm glad they're using their hard-earned money to take a nice vacay and I hope they have a good time, because I'd love to see them travel more! :)

This is me 8 years and 50 pounds ago (look at those flat abs...*deep sigh*)

And this is me with my 2nd place trophy (same tournament...I got 2 photos in the local paper, which was a big deal to me back then...until I moved to my first city and realized I was a microscopic fish in the big world pond...hehe)

#2: I've lived in 5 states in 7 years.

1. I grew up in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky (Appalachia)
2. Went to a private college in Indiana for 4 years
3. Lived in downtown Philadelphia for a semester (6 months) my Junior year of college for an internship with the Weight & Eating Disorders Dept. at the University of Pennsylvania
4. Got married 2 weeks after my college graduation and moved to downtown Chicago for graduate school. We both went to Moody Bible Institute where my husband started his Masters in Divinity and I worked on my Masters in Intercultural Studies (Missiology/World Religions)
5. Ray's parents went down to New Orleans with the Red Cross during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They fell in love with the people of this city and ended up moving down months later. We followed them here in June 2008 and have loved every minute of it :)

#3: This is kind of related to Fact #2...my husband and I plan on leaving the country for long-term mission work in Asia sometime in the next 5 years or so. That’s our timeline, but it may change because first we have to finish our Masters programs via long-distance learning. I know I’m delving into a sensitive topic here, but I’d like to take a moment to say that although my husband and I are very committed Christians, we try very hard to be extremely loving people. I’m appalled and disgusted by the way in which some hatemongering Christians behave, and I’d like to say on behalf of our faith that I am deeply sorry if you have ever experienced any kind of gross unkindness at the hands of a Christian. Unfortunately, the behavior of some often ruins the image of all.


#4: I LOVE LOVE LOVE to cook and bake. I secretly wish I had the time, money and energy to cook my way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking like Julie Powell. I looked into going to culinary school for several years, but ultimately decided my life was heading in another direction. I own just about every spice known to man and love trying new foods...especially ones that are difficult but worth the effort...like Swiss Meringue Buttercream...mmmm. Since I don’t have kids yet, I have the luxury of time and really enjoy baking fancy treats for people...especially when they’re going through a rough patch. I kind of have the same outlook on baking/cooking as I do with quilting...I feel they’re both ways in which you can show people you care by spending time on them. I enjoy making things from scratch (be it quilting or cooking) because I want the recipient to know I care enough about them to deliberately set aside a large block of my time to make something for them. I’m not saying it’s the only or the best way to express love, it’s just how I'm wired :)

#5: Even though I’m Chubbs McGee right now, I really enjoy running and pace about 10min/mile. I’ve done a 5K and 10K and eventually hope to do a Half or Full Marathon with my hubby. Once I saw someone walking around before a race wearing a tshirt that said on the back “I may be fat and slow but I’m still ahead of you”...I laughed out loud…because that’s totally something I’d wear!


#6: I’m an avid reader. It all started with Nancy Drew...my parents used to have to come in and yell at me, or else I’d stay up reading all night during the school week. My parents rarely had discipline problems with my sister and I, because all they had to do to placate us was hand us a book. We’d sit and quietly read for hours and hours. In the car. On a plane. While they were doing boring adult things. During church (hehe!). One of my favorite memories from childhood was my mom taking us to a huge, independent book shop in Lexington, Ky on the weekends and alotting each of us $10 for books. Which, at the time, meant we could buy two paperback or one hardback Nancy Drew. I still read at least 15-20 books a year and my husband and I have shelves upon shelves of books.


#7: My favorite movie of all time is Chocolat. If you haven’t seen it, click away from this blog immediately and go watch it. If my husband and I ever have a little girl, I'm gonna fight to name her Vianne (because he's already told me he doesn't like the other name I picked out :( ). And I love that Leslie Caron has a bit part in the film.

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I'm Back!

I'm back from Disney World after much eating, walking, thrill riding, and more eating. I'm still a little exhausted after all the walking we did, not to mention having to wake up at 4 am yesterday morning to make our 7 o'clock flight. I dreamt about how lovely it would be to nap in my own bed the whole way home, but then I forgot the Saints game was an afternoon game instead of an evening one, so my hopes of napping were dashed and we didn't actually get to sleep until 9:30 last night...still so sleepy...

Needless to say, no sewing has taken place yet, but I did arrive home to a lovely package. I love coming home to presents in my mailbox!!! My friend Allison wanted a second opinion on which bundle she should order for a non-traditional baby girl quilt, so she emailed me a bunch of links the week before I left. I loved the Raspberry Lemonade one from Fabricworm so much that I ordered the 1/2 yard one for myself! I think it's gonna look so amazing paired with some solid light gray fabric!!!


I'm heading to bed in a few minutes, so I'll root through my vacay pictures tomorrow and post a few lovelies for you :)

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A Short Break

As I mentioned before, me and the hubs are leaving for our annual Disney World trip. See you guys next Sunday the 26th! (but maybe if you're good, I'll sneak a picture or two from our trip on here in the meantime ::wink::)

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New Fabric Smell

Does anyone else love New Fabric Smell (henceforth to be known as NFS)? It's kind of like New Car Smell, except much, much better...because I don't have to spend 3 years paying it off or dump $40/week into it with nothing to show for it.

Even more mysterious is that all fabric has the exact same NFS, no matter where it comes from. I'm probably breathing in a delicious array of manufacturing chemicals whenever I take a big whiff of a fresh new fabric bundle. Ahhhh...those sweet, sweet carcinogens.

It's a shame they haven't come up with a scratch'n'sniff computer monitor yet, because I'd love to share the aroma.

From T to B: Dogwood Bloom in Lake, Honeycomb in Pink, Herringbone in Grass, Herringbone in Timber, Herringbone in Maple, Herringbone in Lake, Acorn Chain in Lake, Pie Basket in Fiesta

I also got some of the Farmdale prints (yay!) and here's a sneak peak at one of them + the other fabrics I'll be using for a new project - and this one's actually going to be for me! My husband and I are leaving for Disney World on Saturday, but when I get back I have a small mountain of half-finished projects to complete (this being one of them). First up are my September "wonky town" blocks for Bee (A Little Bit) Japanese, my Farmdale item, Meghan's Modern Meadow quilt, a Savvy Seasons swap item, and a smattering of other things. I think it's good I'm going on vacation before I finish working on them, because to be honest, I need a little break from sewing right now. Sacrilegious, I know....BUT...I will say that I'm gonna be really excited to start working on one project in particular when I get back. My Savvy Seasons secret partner mentioned bunting as one of her "wants", so I'm going to make interchangable bunting. It's going to be a long piece of linen tape with snaps on it, so my partner will be able to snap on and off the two holiday sets I'm going to make for it. One set will be fabric gingerbread cookies and glasses of milk, and the other will be triangle shaped santas and trees. The items will alternate with letters to spell out HO HO (i.e. cookie - H - milk - O - cookie - H...you get the picture). I thought this would be fun because if she wanted, she could make a fabric set of letter flags + icons for every holiday!

Avert your eyes from these last few pictures if you're feeling a weak, compulsive need to order more fabric right now...because what I'm about to show you is practically fabric porn! Look at these precious fabrics Natalie sent for her October blocks! She wants us to make one giant 11"x36" mini-forest block full of wee lil trees and critters. Can I tell you how much I love our Japanese fabric bee? I love being able to work with all these different fabrics without having to buy them ;)


This one is by far my favorite..."petit cochon" aka "little pigs"...how adorable is that?!?!


I'm having a Glee marathon with my hubby right now and I'm missing the Olivia Newton John episode, so I gotta run. Lemme part by saying how much I love Sue Sylvester. What other character on TV could get away with saying lines like:

"You take weird little strides when you walk as if you grew up in Imperial Japan and someone bound your feet."

and

"Now get out of my office, if you can manage to squeeze through the door without your water breaking all over my new carpet."

No one.

P.S. THANK YOU for all your sweet comments about my B&W quilt top! You guys are the best, and if I had a chart with all your names written on it, each and every one of you would get a gold star ;)

Finishing it and writing about the whole ordeal was very cathartic, so thanks for reading through all my psychobabble. Hugs and kisses ~Kaelin

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The WKBW Quilt (aka Wimpy Kiddy Baby Whiner Quilt)

I'm a tinkerer, so I usually don't buy quilt kits or follow patterns to the letter, but this quilt is my one exception. A couple I knew was getting married about two years ago and they loved to decorate with black and white. Almost everything on their registry was black, white, or a combination of the two. Furniture...dishes...pictures...you get the idea. So when I saw this High Light quilt in the Fall 2008 issue of Quilts & More, I just knew they would love it. I called up the shop listed on the page and spent $300 ordering enough fabric to make a king size quilt (front, back and binding). I wouldn't normally take such a huge risk, but I was close enough with the couple to know their tastes pretty well. I finished the entire quilt top (aside from the 2 layers of sashing) a few months before the wedding, and the next time we went over for a visit, I brought the top so I could give them a sneak preview. I know...most people would think that's terrible and I'm ruining the surprise...but what can I say? I'm impatient and get super excited about giving presents! Well, as things turned out, it was a very good thing I did, because it wasn't well received at all.

I'll just go ahead and admit that I'm not a thick-skinned person, and I was so hurt that I found a dark corner to cry in that night. I couldn't (and still don't) understand where I went wrong. After the hurt came what I like to call a long period of secret "pissed offedness" and a healthy dose of self-pity. It was "secret" because I didn't want to admit to myself that I was the kind of childish and cowardly person that would hold a two year, passive-aggressive grudge. Meanwhile, the 90% completed top was folded and tossed under a pile of stuff to collect dust for a year and a half. I didn't want to put it somewhere I'd see it often, because I knew each glimpse would dredge up all those hurt feelings and anger.

A few months ago I realized I'm not the kind of person that should hold grudges. Truthfully, no one should...but it's particularly dangerous and unhealthy for me to hold onto anger because it's a huge problem in both sides of my family. I know I'm really susceptible to it, and I've seen many family members turn into bitter old codgers that have slowly shut out every imperfect person in their life (which is everyone!).

So I put on my big girl panties, let go of my unhealthy anger, and decided to finish this beautiful quilt. This past Saturday at our MQG Weekend Sew, I added both the thin black sashing and the thicker graphic sashing. I think I'm going to start pin basting sometime in October because I want to use this for our bedroom. I love black and white clothes, but I'm not usually a big fan of decorating with it because I find it a little harsh. I thought about selling it at first, but this quilt has slowly grown on me (I think it's the cute shams that sealed the deal and won over my heart), so we'll be using it as a fall/winter season quilt for our bed. We aren't allowed to paint our white apartment walls, so I have the luxury of being able to radically change the bed linens without clashing with the room decor :)

And there you have it. I know...I'm a big wimpy kiddy baby whiner sometimes...and I need to learn to let things go and forgive people despite their flaws (Because guess what...I have lots of flaws too! But shhh...that's our secret ::wink::)

My lovely assistant wasn't home yet and the light was fading, so these pictures are the best I could do. Did you know it's ridiculously hard to photograph a king size quilt? Well if not, now you do.

I promise all future photos will be at least 10x more awesome and show more than 50% of the quilt. Hopefully the Quilts & More photo up top will make up for what these lack ;)

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Ever wonder what thousands of crazed Saints fans look like?

Well now you know.

They were even partying on the rooftops.

And this is why I love the people in New Orleans. This little kid walked up to the guy next to me, tapped his arm, and asked "excuse me...can you pick me up so I can see the parade?" Next thing I know, the guy is hoisting him up on his shoulders, no questions asked! gotta love it! :)

Who knew giant Snickers were so low in calories? Gotta get me one'a dem.

But best of all, we got to see...

Taylor....

Bob Costas having sweat dabbed off his brow by the makeup artist....

And best of all, DAVE MATTHEWS BAND!!!

...all for the bargain price of zero dollars. We were able to get ridiculously close to the stage after the parade had finished (and right before DMB came on for the last two songs), because part of the crowd started charging through the special access gates just as a William Wallace-esque New Orleanian cried out "they can't stop us all!!!" So we joined in the madness and made a run at the stage. So worth it. I'm usually against social anarchy and the mob mentality, but for Dave I was willing to throw caution to the wind. Everyone was pretty calm about it and no crazy shoving or madness started, so the cops were like "meh. whatever." and let us be.

WHO DAT!!!

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Another Modern Meadow Quilt :)

My friend Meghan visited a few months back while I was working on this quilt for Roxanne. She fell in love with the simple pattern and asked if I'd make one for her, so we dug through my fabric and settled on a Modern Meadow bundle from Fabricworm. She likes the muted and cozy look of the Shabby Chic style, so the sweet colors and florals were perfect for her.

By the way...I wish I could do this with everyone I make a quilt for! It's so fun digging through fabrics with someone, having them admire your carefully curated stash, and getting both your creative juices flowing! My floor and cabinet were a mess afterward, but it was too much fun making the mess for me to regret it! ;) Laughing, yanking out fabric in a flash of inspiration, unfolding, comparing, wadding, "what about this"ing, tossing aside.

You can read more about the backstory and see the fabrics I'll be using for the backing and binding here.

And everyone say thanks to my beloved hubby and model, Ray. He quit playing an intense game of Plants vs. Zombies to help me out with my "photo shoot" ;)

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More Stashin'

I've been on my best behavior when it comes to ordering fabric ever since I got the FFA2 bundle...but...I ran across some hard to find fabrics the other day, and that required some buying! You can't not buy 3 yards of Chocolate Lollipop Damask when you find it in either Turquoise or Brown, because they're next to impossible to find! And I know what you're thinking...the Riley Blake isn't hard to find, but I thought I might as well throw it in the cart since it was $6/yard and I was already paying for shipping ;)

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

But anywho, here are my recent conquests:

3 yards Chocolate Lollipop Damask in Chocolate (I just caught myself typing "Chicago" instead of "Chocolate"...didn't realize that was a color now instead of a city...haha!), 1 yard Riley Blake Raindrop Stripe in White, 1.5 yards Modern Meadow Herringbone in Lake (another one that's getting hard to find! grr!)

And below are some fun little tidbits I acquired recently. One is the free Spoonflower sample I ordered a week or two ago (it just arrived) and it's called An Apple a Day by hamburgerliebe. Her stuff is so cute! The other is a yard of lovely fleur de lis ribbon that the best mother-in-law in the world gave me! (mine) Sorry, but I'm not sharing her world. You'll have to marry my brother-in-law to steal her from me, but even then I'll fight you ;)

Tune in tomorrow because I'm gonna post pictures of my newest quilt top! (you can see the fabrics I'm using here) My friend requested a really simple pattern (Amy Butler's Brick Path) and it shouldn't have taken me long to finish, but I've had to stop and start a million different times in order to finish a bunch of small projects. Argh. At least I'll be able to finish before winter sets in in NYC! That is the goal after all. Using quilts in the winter to keep warm :)

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And the winner is...

Before I announce the winner, I just want to thank all of you for entering and leaving me such lovely comments! You guys are the best and I appreciate all your sweet words about my blog (and my puppy...the quickest way to my heart is to compliment my furbaby!) I had a blast going through all the links to your favorite projects and I feel priveliged to have so many awesomely talented people reading my blog! And don't be surprised if you see one of your projects used as "inspiration" on here in the future ;)

The winner of the Modern Meadow fabric bundle + the FFA2 pouch is....

AllieKatMom!!!

The Random Number Generator picked the number 5 and her comment was:

"My favorite thing I ever made http://www.flickr.com/photos/alliekatmom/4921142854/ ....oh you mean quilting!

Dont really have a favorite thing yet. Maybe this http://www.flickr.com/photos/alliekatmom/4751872877/ or this http://www.flickr.com/photos/alliekatmom/4459655915/ or this http://www.flickr.com/photos/alliekatmom/4905073869/ I like em all or I wouldnt have made em I guess :)"

The winner has been emailed and if I don't hear back from her by the end of the week, then I'll redraw.

CONGRATS! :)

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Weekend Update

My husband's done a lot of gaming, I've done a lot of sewing, and my dog has done a lot of napping on the sofa. I think all parties involved consider this holiday weekend a rousing success so far in terms of relaxation!

I had a couple different projects to wrap up, so bear with me as I "Vanna White" them all! First I had to finish my 6th and final block for the 3x6 Bee because the mailing deadline is next Wednesday. Miniature Quilter requested a purple + green + cream block (you can't really tell in the photo, but I promise those solid bits of Kona are cream instead of white!) Below you'll also see a mosaic of all my blocks for the bee :)



Next up is (yet another) box pouch for a friend at work. Her birthday was August 29th, so I'm ridiculously late with her present and finishing it this weekend was a must. I modified the design a little bit to include a wristlet strap and flower pin. Yay for options! Both can be detached, so it can transition from storage pouch to purse! She goes out a lot on the weekends, so I thought this would be a nice "grab and go" item for when she's livin' it up on the town ;)

I got the houndstooth fabric from Hobby Lobby, and both the lining and flower pin are made from prints from Timeless Treasures' "Taxi" Collection. The strap is Kona Cotton in Black and all the hardware and beads are from Joann's.





And last (but not least) is my favorite project of the weekend! It's for the Mug Rug Swap and I did a wee baby DWR for my secret swap partner!!! It's the same Jennifer Paganelli pattern I used for my Double Wedding Ring back in July, but I shrunk it by 50% on a copier. The piecing was a little meticulous since everything was on such a tiny scale and the seam allowances were only 1/8", but there were only two rings so I really enjoyed working on it (if I had to do 16 again I'd probably be singing a different tune!)

I know I really jumped the gun on this swap, but this Fall I'm signed up for another round of the 3x6 Bee, the SavVy {Seasons} Swap (whoo hoo!), the Mug Rug Swap, Modern Swappers, and Bee (A Little Bit) Japanese (year commitment)...not to mention I have a full-time job and lead our local chapter of the MQG...my head is exploding just thinking about it! (but it's all more than worth it ::wink::) I'm really looking forward to participating in all these groups and am bound and determined to get it all done, so this was one thing I could cross of my list early. I find so many people these days are overextended and, unfortunately, not very dependable because of it...so I really try to be a person others can count on to get things done. And there's my two cents for today...hehe :)

HAVE A LOVELY LABOR DAY!!!

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Fabric Hoarders Anonymous

In case anyone's interested, I just started a new Flickr group called, you guessed it, Fabric Hoarders Anonymous!

If you have a problem with non-stop fabric ordering, hate cutting into your favorite fabrics, or have to fight off the fabric police at every turn (aka spouses), then please join! Together we can beat this! (...or instead just look at pictures and talk about which fabrics we'd like to hunt down next)

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No Whammies, No Whammies...STOP!

I was thinking about how much I want to win this quilt, and then my brain kept playing that catchphrase from Press Your Luck over and over in my head. I have no idea why...unless my mind is making a weird association that the other readers are Whammies and I'm hoping the Random Number Generator will skip them and land on me. I don't pretend to understand how my own mind works....haha!

Anywho, everyone should head over to Angela's blog and check out this newest mini quilt masterpiece giveaway (she gave away a comfortstitching-style "girl on a swing" mini a while back)!

(and just in case anyone's too young to remember Whammies...I've included a picture below for your viewing pleasure)

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5 Outta 6 Ain't Bad

I know. The lyrics are really "2 outta 3 ain't bad", but I thought I might be able to slip one past you guys ;)

As you can see I finished by 5th block last night for the 3x6 Bee! I'm almost done...which is good because I'm slowly creepin' up on the final mailing deadline...yikes! But that's what 3-day weekends are for, right? They're not for celebrating with your family, psht! (I kid). I'll be doing my fair share of both this weekend...sewing and celebrating with the fam...or maybe even both at the same time if my mother-in-law and I decide to take over her dining table and sew while we're all hanging out. I'm sure a fair amount of eating will also be mixed in with everything else. Can't live in New Orleans without doing a lot of celebratory holiday eating...mmm...rubs tummy.

Why do you all allow me to go off on these random tangents? So the point of this narrative is to show you my blocks and praise jenjohnston for picking such awesome colors. I really wanna keep this one. Partially because of the lovely color scheme, and partially because it has little bits of furniture mixed in (all hail Tufted Tweets!)

And below is a lovely photo mosaic of all my blocks so far. Everyone say hi to Louis the Albino Alligator. He's at the Audubon Aquarium downtown. You can't just go down to the corner store and see Louis, only in New Orleans (or Louisville, KY...but just ignore that bit of info), so you should probably drop on by NOLA and pay him a visit. Now that you've been properly introduced, it would be rude not to. And you can't be rude to a gator!

(as you can see...my one ulterior motive on this blog is to get everyone to move to New Orleans...or at least visit...but if you visit, you'll want to stay...so they're kinda the same thing ::wink::)



Oh, and by the way...I can't believe all the talent that's floating around out there on the internet! I went through each and every link that you guys left in the Giveaway comments, and I was in shock and awe. I'm not just blowing smoke up your skirts, but I didn't see a single thing that I wouldn't love to have in my home. A.MA.ZING.

And not to play favorites here...but I'm a sucker for a good nerdy joke...how cute is this little guy? Mr. Pi Smiley was Tong's favorite project :)



Have a lovely Thursday and may Pi Smiley smile down upon you in your bland work cubicle (or wherever you may be)!

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Bon Voyage Doll Quilt

Do you ever wake up some mornings and just know it's going to be a good day? I woke up this morning and didn't feel tired at all. Usually I hit the snooze at least 5 times and my husband practically has to bang on pans to get me up. But not only did I feel refreshed and happy about the day this morning, but I actually woke up before my husband and walked the dog. I came back in and played on the internet before getting dressed...and joy of all joys!...saw that Anna Maria Horner, my favorite designer in the universe, posted pictures of her new fabric line Innocent Crush!!! Can you believe how gorgeous and versatile it is?!

But then, best of all, I realized my doll quilt would be delivered to my secret partner today! I just knew it was going to be a good day ;)

I finished my doll quilt a little over a week ago, but waited to mail it off until I could finish getting the rest of my "extras" together. I sent it Priority on Monday, so it should arrive on her doorstep sometime this afternoon. I'm 100% sure she doesn't read my blog and it's arriving today anyway, so I feel safe posting pictures of "the goods".

This is everything that went into her package:

And here's a closeup of all the little goodies:

I made her one of my little box pouches out of Modern Meadow because she listed that as one of her favorite fabric lines (and I have tons of it...obviously!). I figured I couldn't go wrong with a zipper pouch because she's a mom and mom's can never have enough storage bags! All the little items you see out to the side were lovingly zipped inside before I packed up her box. I found those adorable little needle threaders at Joann's, and then I thought it would be cute to get some strawberry buttons to match the little red strawberry needle threader...and the butterfly straight pins don't really fit in with anything else, but I thought they were cute and tossed them in my cart.

The book is one that I picked up at Barnes & Noble, and I highly recommend it! It's called the Directory of Quilting Techniques by Caroline Rodrigues and I bought about a million of them to use as stocking stuffers when it was marked down online to $5 a couple weeks ago. It's a reference book for quilters and includes just about every common pattern, stitch, and applique technique known to man. It's not incredibly detailed, but it's nice to use as a quick reference when you're sewing and either a) forget how to do something and need a refresher or b) don't know how to do something at all and don't quite feel like trolling the web looking for a tutorial.

Silly rabbit that I am, I almost forgot to make a label for my quilt. Honestly. I didn't remember until Sunday night around 9 pm! So I whipped out some printable fabric and put this little guy together. Don't judge my stitches because it was late and I was in a hurry (...at least that's the excuse I'm giving myself as I sit here - horrified - looking at this giant, closeup picture of my mangled Tim Burton-esque stitches)!


And now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever fully explained my DQS9 quilt title. Obviously part of the name comes from the fact that the little girl decides to stop caring whether she gets wet or not and "embraces the horror" by jumping into a giant puddle like an Amazon woman. But I actually got the phrase from my mother-in-law because she says it to me all the time! Whenever something crazy and uncontrollable happens, my MIL will look at me, laugh, throw her hands out, and say "embrace the horror Kaelin". Like when the whole family is together and my scottie, their chihuahua, and my brother-in-law's Jack Russell puppy are running around the house like a fur tornado...Ray and Terry are playing Halo at a volume of 73...and my father-in-law is in the background yelling because he spilled Diet Coke all over the floor...my mother-in-law will look over at me, chuckle, and calmly say "just embrace the horror Kaelin...just embrace it".


Lastly, here's my quilt all snuggled in it's box and ready to go. I wrote her a long note (the entire back side is covered as well) explaining where I got the idea, plus a few other little things I wanted to tell her. It was a little sad mailing it off, but the thought of it maybe hanging in her little girl's room someday made me happy again. Hopefully her family enjoys it :)

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