aileen's nerdy bridal shower

the day that so much planning (and cross stitching) went in to has come and gone, and what an adventure it was.  i am SO glad i unintentionally got up earlier than planned and ran around like a crazy person on saturday, because if i waited until 1pm, NONE of this would have happened.  thinks were getting set up and written down to the wire when people were walking up to the front door of the train depot.  all last week was spent food prepping, decor shopping and paper cutting in order to prepare for the festivities.  i had great help from friends and parents wednesday through friday in order to make sure the food was good to go and nothing was lacking.  without further delay, here's a whole handful of photos!
> throughout the course of planning the food, i wanted to keep everything rather specifically nerdy.  it took some brainstorming, but i think we managed!  between star wars drinks, star trek cookies & lord of the rings elves, all potential bases of aileen likings were covered.
you'll notice she got a sewing kit... and it was NOT from anyone in the family!  i texted lisa this fact, and her response was "one of us! one of us!"  she has made pjs before, and i think a skirt.  so she's on the right track to earning her crafty carroll cousin membership card.
we didn't get to playing any of your typical bridal shower games (sorry erika) since so much went in to planning things elsewhere.  also, if you follow me on instagram, you'll have seen a few of the cross stitch pieces i did for this event. never fear, they are going to be in a post all to their very own later this week.  aileen was very spoiled by her guests who attended both physically and virtually (we were able to get lisa in on google hang outs just in time to see her gift be opened) and should be well prepared to bake her little heart out.  and apparently slow cook some things as well.  and be clean and showered.  i think we are all thankful for the last one.  just a few days shy of two months from now, and she'll be married off and out in to the world!  i'm thankful for all these people that like my sister enough to come celebrate her with us.  until the next bridal shower...
oh wait.
i only have one sister!
but now my friends have seen the madness i am capable of.  thankfully, erika & amy are both already bridal showered & done with.  that just leaves jenny...  MAAAAYBE i'll party hard again for jenny.

science ribbon star quilt

along side amy's lion king quilt, this was another great feat of 2015 quilts.
i had this quilt planned for awhile, because my mom and i had picked up the fabric for my physics majoring sister when we first saw the set in store, but never thought i would have to seriously get down to business on it at any specific point in time.  then, aileen got engaged and set her wedding date for april of 2016...  this was clearly a quilt that was planned to be for HER and not to be gifted as a "shared" item since it was a smaller sized quilt, so i had to get the ball rolling, and quick.  between september when she got engaged, and the sunday before thanksgiving, this quilt took up the entirety of my existence.  it was just supposed to be a simple twin sized quilt, but apparently the dimensions guide i found on pinterest for block numbers was either off... or well... i don't know what else. because this is what it turned out to be...
yes, this "twin sized" quilt ended up needing one of my queen sized battings, and that was almost not enough for it either.  that row you see on the back?  yeah, that was supposed to be on the front.  when i first started cutting pieces out, i had 6 prints and was planning to do 9 of each.  that plan was quickly changed when i could only get 6 blocks out of each so my mom ran to beverly's the following week and picked up a few more of the science prints.  there were multiple trips in the future when i ran out of the solid colors once or twice.  they saw me a lot during those months, but in the end, it was worth it!
at first, i had the green as one of the "ribbons" that wrap around the printed block, but since there were SO many different shades of green in them, i thought it would be better to keep the more neutral colors (gray & white) touching the block, and the green as the background. it totally helps the blocks "pop" a bit more.  as you can see now a little better in the close up, i scattered the different blocks all over instead of having them in rows of the same print.
much like her ruffle apron, i used polka dots in there as a print to border off the quilt without being too "in your face" with additional colors.
i used a 4" wide ruler to chalk line the quilting lines, and used a walking foot on my janome dc2010.  at first, i safety pin basted everything and started stitching from there.  i got about two thirds down the first side, and then saw how completely awful the back was wrinkling.  that was the saturday before we were leaving.  i pulled out everything at 2am, and went to bed.  sunday, i swept the driveway and prepared to spray baste.  i got the batting attatched to the back, and ran out of basting spray.  ran to beverley's, no luck.  ran to joann's, found it, but had left my phone at home so i was without coupon.  luckily, i found one in a shopping cart, checked out and ran back home to continue on my endeavor.  i was back on track to quilting, and managed to get it all back together and completed by sunday evening.  the binding was attached and pinned to hand sew as we trekked to idaho the following day.  it took me from reno, nevada to idaho falls, idaho to get the binding done. it kept me warm in the car, that's for sure!
since i decided to make it 6x8 on the front instead of 6x9, that's the bottom row that got added to the backing so it didn't go completely to waste.  i found this great atom print in the clearance section of beverly's to use for the back and it worked perfectly.  the row on the back aligned with the third row from the top on the front.
better closeup for the atom print fabric.
and yet another name tag!  i don't know what i'll do if i ever run out.  haha
and there you have it!  one mega science-y quilt that is now residing in idaho at college.
for the tutorial on the ribbon star block, head on over to freshly pieced :)

nerdy themed ruffle apron

some how, some way, my sister got a job at joann's this past holiday season.  they must know that we need the discount, and i was just too much awesomeness for them to handle when i applied a few years back.  besides, it has become apparent that the crafty world of joann's has begun to rub off on this sister of mine, and has inspired her to do some crafting of her own.  anyways, it was at her request that i make her an apron (since she doesn't sew) so that she doesn't have to wear the generic ones the store has.  knowing my favorite apron tutorial (which she has modeled three times now) i knew what i was going to make and just needed the fabric for it.  at one point it was going to be avengers themed i believe, but then this fabric was available in stores and we decided to go with it.  in case you weren't aware (or forgot) my sister is a physics major, so this overly nerdy themed fabric was perfect for her.  the polka dots were a good off set to separate the print without getting too crazy all over the place.
i managed to make this apron in an afternoon, after another cryptic "i made cookie dough..." texts, i figured i may as well get her fancied up for the last few months of working at joann's before she leaves for college.  it was so crazy to sew something that didn't involve quilting.... it went together quite quickly in one afternoon :)
it has been decided that the only flaw in this apron pattern is the lack of pockets.  which i suppose is really only a problem if you're trying to put a walkie talkie and/or a handheld somewhere instead of in your hands.  perhaps i'll have to revise this for the next fabric store employee i make this apron for.
workin' it
i've had some serious thoughts about making a few of these (generic enough) and offering them up on etsy.  i suppose i'll have to see how my summer looks after the next few days as i finish up finals and transition between school year to summer camp/dance recital/wedding season time.  but there you have it!  aileen's nerd-a-licious themed apron to love and squeeze and call her own.  and for kicks, here's a few links back to the previously made ruffle aprons:
green with envy
airplanes & postcards
nursing themed