march - instagram lookback

as quick as march came, apparently it is over now.  2013 is zooming by like crazy!  here are a few instagram highlights from last month.
- went to SF for a little part 2 & 3 photo shoot with megan & her husband john.  we did part 1 at the end of april in penryn, and it was faaaaantastic.  in SF, we hit up this awesome hill spot, legion of honor & baker beach.  all in one day.  you can check them out over on the photog bliggity blog
- the following saturday was another photo shoot with melissa & her boyfriend trevor.  we stuck to the streets of loomis, newcastle & auburn for some nerdy photo goodness.  those are also up on the photo blog. seriously.  just follow me over there too.  more friends in more places, yo.
- i had a double header job interview.  sorta.  friday i interviewed one place, monday i interviewed another (and was hired on the spot.  whoop whoop)  you are now looking at the newest play center employee at broadstone racquet club in folsom.
- basically, my computer had some brutal heat problems... in which the boyfriend and i learned how to open up my computer and found it was dusty to the max.  like, two years worth of dust.  so needless to say, it got a good cleaning and has been running quite well since.  minus the internet problems, but that's probably because i'm at the way far end of the house.
- i lost the coin toss, and had to go see olympus has fallen.  if you like bloody shoot 'em up movies, then this is the movie for you.  not my taste.  at all.  hopefully i'll win a coin toss for something soon.... i really want to see admission... hmmmm.
- for my birthday last year, i was gifted a pair of toms of my choice.  well, i finally found a pair, and went to get them.  the size 10s i tried on were HUGE, so she (sales lady) convinced me on the 9.5 pair.  yeah, it was all bad.  so i returned them... but when i tried on a size 10 again, they fit fantastically, so the glitter shoes became mine.  or in the words of the boy's brother... "it looks like a stripper threw up on your shoes".... *sigh*
- i managed to knock out a stash buster quilt for the month (as you all saw in the post prior to this) and still think it's pretty cute.  so yeah, it did make it to instagram, as well as this post.
- aileen turned 17 last friday... say whaaaaaat? so we ventured to SF after i got done at the play center.  we hit up the jessica mcclintock outlet (not that great) as well as a few basic tourist places (ghiradelli square, pier 39).  BUT the big deal was finally seeing the full house house.  totally not the area you envision it in from the tv show... but it was still pretty cool.  i can now cross that sucker off my bucket list.
- on easter, i put my super hunky boyfriend to work.  after brunch with his parents, brother and their neighbor, he assembled my entire set up for my bridal show display.  i was told there was a "no camera" policy once he started using his mom's sunglasses for safety goggles... so unfortunately this is as good as it gets.  now it's down to my job of wood putty filling screw holes & painting.  yeah, i got pretty lucky with my free labor having a construction degree :)

blue & yellow double four patch penguin quilts

yep.  that's right.  this one is a plural stash bust result.  it totally boosts my numbers for the month of what i have gotten done, but it didn't start out being planned that way.  happy accident, i suppose.  between starting a new job this month, old job, getting things for my photography business going, and spending time with the boy, i so totally slacked at getting anything done for stash busting this month.  mid last week i pulled the fabric i wanted to use from the box, but then realized i didn't have enough of one to do the pattern i wanted to... so it sat on my floor until last saturday.  yeah, like four days ago saturday.  i cruised my pinterest for things i had pinned that only involved two fabrics.  and decided on the "double four patch" pattern.
saturday i chopped up the pieces.  sunday i sewed strips and chopped some more.  monday i sewed the two different blocks in to pairs, and tuesday i busted the row making out.  it was tuesday i decided on making two smaller quilts instead of one large one.  the more, the merrier, right?  had i thought about it being two smaller quilts in the first place, i think i would have made one so that the blocks went the opposite diagonal.
also when pulling out this fabric, i realized that besides the recently done fat cats quilt, nothing i had done yet was anyway boy related. these penguins were a nice find in my fabric box to mix things up a little bit from the pink and purple girly-ness that has happened so far. but looking at the contents of the box... i'm sure there is more of that yet to come!
this pattern was really fun, and the directions were super easy to follow.  even better, i didn't screw up and have to seam rip any rows out (or fix any upside down penguins)  plus, all that penguin fabric is out of my box and on it's way to be donated!
quilt pattern here: double four patch pattern
stash busting quilt total: 5

green & orange "fat cats" quilt

i just got word yesterday that this quilt was received in the mail, so blogging this is now officially good to go!
over my two trips to vegas, i've come to know a group of fantastic ladies who have become great people to turn to when in need of talking business, marketing, or just an overall random pick me up...  complete with a lovingly sarcastic side dish.  alej announced that she was having her first baby, and of course we all got a little excited for her.  when i began my stash busting adventures for the year, i came across a bunch of green fabrics i had, and decided to make her a little something for her baby boy on the way :)
the first year in vegas, i went to a dinner at mas and lucky for me, i sat near some pretty cool peeps, and alej and her husband were in that group. what did we (and my dad, he was there too) talk about? oh, we compared cat stories. and basically, bonded over the antics of some fat orange cats we both had.  from that base, i decided to use the "fat cats" template that i've had for years, along with some of my stash and create this little quilt.
from far away, you can't really see the details, but here are the close ups of three of my favorite cats so you can see the whiskers & tails, which were satin stitched with gray thread.  i didn't want to use black, because it seemed to harsh against the shades of green.
the back was pieced together with the same shades of green fabric, orange as well as white. i really like how the back because a little bit more exciting this way, versus the plain solid backing. my grandma did the quilting for me, as usual. always appreciated for sure :)
if i was to do this again, which i may someday if i have another cat lover turned baby haver, which is very likely, then i may go the wonder under route versus the cats being pieced in. the toughest part was getting the cat blocks all the same dimensions, and keeping them even in both height and width.  and there you have it!
this was officially the 3rd quilt in the stash bust fest.  first "complete" quilt (not just a wham bam quilt top done)
and there you have it.  (hopefully) more to come soon enough!

february - instagram lookback

say what, it's march now? super madness!  here is a quick little look back on some things that went down in february.
- board game night with jenny & her mister.  i don't know how exactly we managed so many rounds of catch phrase without falling asleep.  but i love the board game life... no joke.
- first ever double date with erika & her husband.  i know, it sounds crazy, but in the past 10ish years of us being friends, we never went on a double date.  EVER.  and you know what?  it was awesome.
- fall out boy.  yes please.  they're back, and erika & i are going to their concert in june.  whoo hoo!
- yep.  i had a valentine this year, and he got me a flower.  and i made breakfast for dinner that night.  super classy.
- "second valentine's day" date night... aka don't want to fight the crowds on valentine's day, so we waited until saturday to go out.  dinner, wandering target & ross for leftover candy on sale before going to a movie? super classy night for sure.
- yes.  i did rock those shoes on our date night.  and almost fell only a few times...  stairs suck.
- chipotle.  who doesn't love chipotle?
- everyone loves a grumpy cat.  he's always around, i just needed to involve him... gotta give the kitty some love, even if he doesn't reciprocate.
- marketing.  lots of marketing attempts going on.  really trying to get this whole "wedding photographer" business going.  first round of postcards have gone out this week, and more will be going out in coming weeks.  also donated to the elementary school dinner auction.  holla at me people,  freeze frame - photography by emily!
- i took my first jewelry class at joann's and had a good time.  well, i was the only one in the class, and picked up super quick... so not only did i make the bracelet and earrings, but i also made two rings.  i'll probably sign up for the next classes for sure.
more to come in march, but why wait for the end of the month?? follow me on instagram and see these updates and more as they happen!  instagram.com/wereradletshug

charlie brown & snoopy valentine's quilt

>yeah yeah, i know valentine's day was literally two weeks ago... which was when i planned to have this quilt top WELL done with, and maybe even a second for the month.  but i decided to turn my productivity brain off for a bit, resulting in finishing this up last weekend instead.  hey, it's still february.  it counts.  so hah.
i did this same quilt pattern last year for jessica's baby shower (you can check out that cuteness right here) and it went together super easily and super cute.  i've had this charlie brown fabric for i don't know how long (and i wish i could remember what impulsed me to buy it) but i figured it was time to stash bust this sucker out and create something awesome.  this time something went weird with my number of hexagons (or something... not really sure) but what was intended to be the top turned out to be the sides, and vice versa.  it still turned out like i imagined, so that's always a plus, right?
the pink fabric is originally from a whole bunch of yardage that was used as a table cloth for a photo project i did in 2009.  there is plenty more fabric left, so i'm sure something pink will make another appearance in the near future.
finishing this quilt marks #4 of the stash busting quilt top project, which makes me feel pretty awesome about myself finishing up the second month of the year.  more to come soon!

black, white & pink baby quilt

originally from the "quilts for babies & kids" book by leisure arts, this was another quilt i had already cut out from quite some time ago that was waiting for me to get my act together and piece it together.  consider that act finally done.  finishing it marks it as the official second quilt top done for my stash bust-o-rama for the year which is awesome to say since january isn't even over yet.  yep, feeling pretty cool about myself, that's for sure.
the last time i did this quilt in 2008, i had an "oops" and one of the squares smack in the middle was going the wrong way... but i left it that way.  i'm 99.9% sure that these ones are all going the right way.  gold star for emily.
my other plan was to have the stripe this time be pink, but apparently when i originally cut this out i had cut the strip too short.  luckily i still had some of the black fabric in my stash box, and was able to come to this quilt's coordination rescue.  thank goodness i didn't have to buy more of something.  yet... ;)
now, i actually have to move on to quilts i don't already have cut out. originally i was thinking of doing a few black & white only quilts, but after doing this one with all it's black and white-ness, i'm not entirely sure. i guess you'll have to keep checking back in order to see what happens next!

craft fair bag collection

way back when (now technically almost 4 years ago... say whaaaat?) lisa and i did craft fairs.  well, fast forward to now, and i've still got some goodies left over that are looking for a good home.  i sold these on etsy too, but now time to try a new venue for these lovely little bags.  i've broken them up in to four categories of awesomeness, so consider yourself warned!
these ones are my more girly/stylish ones. hearts, flowers, a little glitter. and of course, who wouldn't love to carry the ocean around with them all the time?
a little troops supporting, shall we? left to right, in case it is hard to tell in the photos are airforce, army, navy and then the marines.  i've sent a few of these to my lovely military wife friends in the past, and they've loved them!
this set would be more along the lines of little kiddos. perfect size for dance shoe bags, carrying around doll accessories, or a simple small diaper bag for quick trips on the road when you don't want to stock a ton of diapers with you..
and last but not least, some bags for all you craft enthusiasts out there.  i've found they work fantastic for those small little projects to tote around, or even a trip to the local fabric store.  i know my every day purse is quite large, so a small purse for a quick errand trip works amaaaaazing.
originally, we were selling these bags for $25 at craft fairs, and since i'm in a world of destash and freeing up space right now, i've cut the price down to $15, shipping included!  drop me a line in the comments section if you are interested in purchasing one, and we'll get in touch!