365.2014 - week 47

365.2014 - week 46

pink & purple parallelograms - baby girl quilt

a few months ago (but really, a lot more than a few) my aunt asked me to make a quilt for another one of her coworkers.  the parameters for this one were:  baby girl, birds, rosy pink.  i found the adorable bird fabric for the back at joann's, and selected some colors for the front pattern that i thought would best match it.  initially, i stumbled across this pattern that was for a table runner that i thought would translate in to a quilt quite well... but that didn't happen.  instead, this sort of "parallelogram" pattern was created and it came together quite swimmingly!  i think the teal-ish fabric is my favorite :)
at first i considered stitching down the diagonals, but instead went on both sides of the white and in between the two pink edges.  simple, yet satisfying.
i am quite pleased with how this little quilt turned out.
it was totally my first girly quilt in awhile, and the birds were just too fun.
hopefully i'll get a few more things shared soon enough!
and for kicks, here is the original pattern i was attempting to do:  scrappy valentine's day table runner

365.2014 - week 45

quilt block swap round 6: the blocks

the final send outs were just three weeks ago, and i'm now getting to blogging.  sounds about right.
i participated in my first craftster swap in years, and i have to say i thought it would be easy.  but i was wrong.  i thought a quilt block swap would be a piece of cake to have some crafting going while dealing with school work at the same time, but so many other things came up, and i easily got burnt out after my first few block sets.  i did managed to get them all finished in time the day before send outs, and they were on their merry little way.  here are all the blocks i created for this quilt block swap:
double aster
ribbon star
home town/state/country
cat block
garden fence
split 9 patch
quilter's choice - paper pieced
designer's personal pattern
and there you have it!
i think my favorite new block from this set has to be the ribbon star block.  while i had some serious "not reading the directions completely" issues and lots of seam ripping (with the help of my mom) it all came together in the end.  i also am quite pleased with the bigger of the star blocks from the paper piecing set.  which is a good thing, as i plan to use that pattern to make a quilt for my bed... still have a twin sized quilt on a queen sized bed.   soon enough that will change!
here's to hoping that in posting this, i'll be more inspired to get crafting again.
well, december is coming up, and i know i have some plans in store for the first 25 days of that.  it's just the act of getting there now.  ha!

in the past month(ish)...

hey there, blog land.
yeah, it's been awhile.  yes, i'm still alive.
i haven't really been crafty (sad face) since school kind of took over my life for awhile.
so here's a little update from october through now.
(some photos swiped from friends...  thanks friends!)
sarah & raymond got married
i've known these two since high school, and it was so much fun to celebrate their wedding day with them and some of my favorite peeps.  they were married in sarah's parent's backyard, and then a reception at a local winery in loomis.  there was some crazy dancing, delicious food, and all around good time.  table 13 was a pretty groovy collection of people.
and then there was also this fine musical piece...

halloween 2014
on halloween i ended up working 3 of my 4 regularly scheduled dance classes, and then headed off to melissa's halloween murder mystery party.  i wore my minnie mouse costume on thursday to the pre-k party, and cat ears to the dance classes, and so i was finally able to bust out my halloween costume (that was intended for two years ago) and attempt to not die (in the game). yep. i totally went as big bird.
this year's party was a much smaller collection than last year, but still fun in the same.  after trying to get someone killed off - which ended up being me in the last round - we played cards against humanity.  oh, and since jenny showed up late, she followed me around like she was navi... hey.  listen!
i headed home around 12:45, and it was POURING. so crazy to finally see so much rain.  and then it all be gone the next day.  boo.  and that brings us on to our third and final section....
birthday!
yep.  this past wednesday i turned 26.  and since it was on a weekday, i partied hard the saturday before with some of my favorite peeps.  erika, jenny, melissa, jared, chris, myself and the boyfriend went for dinner at lorenzo's in town.  after dinner, we had a quick stop at wal mart & starbucks before heading to rocklin lanes for some good ol' bowling.  it took awhile for the glow bowling to kick in, but we still had some fun.
on my actual birthday, i worked at the pre-k in the morning, and then taught my dance class kiddos that night.  two of them brought in a whole bunch of cupcakes, and my boss also brought me more cookies... they were pretty much set for life.  usually, i would have been going to class afterwards, but my professor had a speaking engagement at NAEYC in texas, so class was cancelled that night.  instead, i went to hang out with my dance class peeps that i haven't been with on a wednesday since before i went to colorado.  i'm a little bummed that my next semester's schedule messes with that as well... ugh!  i'm hoping to make things work somehow, especially with the 30th anniversary recital happening and all...  well, here are my party people from wednesday!
and here's to hoping i can better update in the next few weeks.
i have my quilt block swap done, as well as a quilt or two that i still haven't posted.... oy.
about a month until the semester is over... so close... yet so far away...

365.2014 - week 44