Finish Quilting... Check!

I have finally finished quilting my latest quilt. This is my first attempt at free motion quilting and I'm pretty pleased with the results. It wasn't as difficult as I expected it to be- when my machine was working properly, that is. I think this is going to be my method of quilting from now on. I really like it!

So this one time, I finished quilting. It was awesome.

It didn't come without its hiccups though. The most major one was when I sewed my finger. I am still amazed that I managed to do that. But ANYwho. In the process of sewing my finger, I managed to break my needle and that started a chain of machine/user related problems. I had issues with the needle size, there was major birdnesting problems, and then my machine decided to start skipping stitches. All of these has put me about a week and a half behind schedule. It also made me very frustrated and have me really wanting a nicer machine than my super basic Singer. I'll add that to my wish list. Along with a new couch, bookshelves, sharp kitchen knives, and a Toyota Camry... Hybrid... for the environmentalist very, very deep inside.

Close up

Tigers vs Rays

Last weekend while I was working on some quilting I managed to sew my finger.  I didn't realize it was possible but apparently it is.  In the process of sewing my finger I also managed to break the needle I had in my machine.  I decided that I needed to take a break from quilting due to the finger incident and resume quilting later in the week.  Unfortunately, once I got my new needle in the machine it started having what I am sure are user error problems.  Maybe later today I will decide to fight with it again.  It must not be my week to do some quilting!

On a more exciting note, last night Shawn and I went to a Detroit Tigers game.  I really enjoy going to baseball games.  I love the atmosphere and the excitement around in sporting events in general.  Baseball, however, brings a social aspect to it that I also enjoy since it is a slower paced game. 

The Tigers, who are a notoriously inconsistent team, managed to play somewhat decently for us last night.  So well, in fact, that they pulled out a win!  Going to a game where your team wins is always makes it more fun!

And to celebrate, they had fireworks!  Actually, they have fireworks after every Friday and Saturday night game and that is why I wanted to go to this game in particular.  It's more fun to say they were for the win though.  

Power Piecing

Last weekend heavy rains forced me to stay inside for a good chunk of the time. That was good since I needed to get working on a baby quilt for a friend. Her shower is quickly approaching so I needed to get moving.

On Sunday I finished piecing the top and back and sandwiched it together. I chose the pattern Plain Spoken in colors from her nursery.



This weekend I'm hoping to finish the quilting.

The Cause of Crafty Burnout

 

No, our home is usually not this messy...

Missing from this picture, the bookshelf that used to be my dresser...

In addition to having an incredibly busy summer, I have been working on tackling the task of turning a very white bachelor pad into a wonderfully decorated home.  This picture is of our bedroom.  Since we were so busy and gone almost every weekend this summer, this project was a weeknight only project.  I realize now that I was pretty ambitious. 

Shortly after we got married we purchased a bedroom set.  We were told that if the furniture was in stock or would be 4-6 weeks and if it needed to be built it would be 10-12.  Not a very specific window there.  What it did mean was that I needed to get moving on painting.  I had ths initial idea of putting up a chair molding instead of the brown band around the room, but that got nixed in the early stages.  So I set off on making our bedroom a white, blue, and brown wonderland.  Devoting a couple hours here and a few hours there.  Six weeks later, we got the phone call saying our furniture was in.  Naturally since we hadn't finished painting.  The heat was on- we had 4 evenings to finish our painting.  The night before our furniture was supposed to be delivered we finished up all of the touchups and at last had a painted room. 

And this is how my ambitious, weeknight-only bedroom painting project left me wanting to do nothing that required creativity for awhile.

Back in Action

Home Improvement Project #1

A couple weekends ago Shawn and I started our first home improvement project: painting one of the bathrooms. Shawn bought our condo about 3 years ago and as with any good bachelor pad, there has been a minimal amount of decorating done since then. When I moved in, I was essentially gaining a blank canvas. So it is now my project to find ways to decorate.

When I was registering for wedding gifts I found this fabulous shower curtain at Crate and Barrel. I was quite excited when one of my coworkers asked me what I wanted specifically from Crate and Barrel. The practical side of me whispering that I should request the silverware lost and I am now the proud owner of the shower curtain.

From there I found some great bamboo bathroom accessories: soap dispenser, trash can, and Kleenex box cover. Also while registering, I became a sucker to the bamboo items. One of the women who helped us gave us this shpeel about how bamboo is a very renewable resource. Now I wouldn't claim that I am ordinarily an environmentally conscious person, but for some reason I got hooked on bamboo. It look nice AND was environmentally friendly. How could a girl go wrong?

And lastly, I decided to paint the bathroom a dark green. I thought the white shower curtain and the bamboo would accent nicely. We went to Sherwin-Williams and got some samples to test a couple colors. I finally decided on "Overt Green" but when I opened up the gallon we purchased I was nervous.

It was so bright and lime green looking. Thankfully it darkened up and turned out the color we hoped.

I'm pleased with how it turned out.