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I've had the Pink Chalk Studie Mail Sack pattern sitting around in my stash for at least a year now. In an attempt to use what I have, I decided to finally put this together a few months ago.
The pattern was extremely well written and I was able to put this together in a few hours. I'd definitely recommend it!
Now, if only I could walk around the neighborhood with a kitty in tow and not get strange looks!
It's been a busy few weeks around here, so sorry for being light on the crafty posting these days. Here's the brief, bullet point list of some of what's been going on...
• I finished knitting and blocking my Hela cardigan. I tried it on for kicks and nearly died of heat stroke. The words "Get me out of this thing" may or may not have been yelled to Jon during the process. Once I pick out a zipper, I'll begin the steeking process.
• I (along with the kitties) cast on for Jon's Icelandic Sweater, Stapi, last Wednesday, but have not touched it since. He picked out the yarn colors and pattern on our trip to Toronto in March.
• Jon and I discovered the most fabulous ice cream bars! If you like Almond Joy, you'll love these So Delicious Dark Chocolate Almond Coconut Bars. Yum Yum!
• I'm a bit behind in my bee blocks, so I'm going to be busy this weekend playing catch up. If all goes well, 3 out of 5 of these will be on time!
• I'm also participating in the Doll Quilt Swap #9 this year. My partner likes bright colors and graphic designs, so it's right up my alley. I've been tossing around ideas in my head for quite a while now and hope to finish up the quilt this weekend. My quilt from round #7 was featured on Angela's favorites list on the Doll Quilt Swap blog last week. Thanks, Angela!
Our little kitties would much rather sleep in a ratty takeout box (our remnants of Thai food on the 4th of July - sacrilege really).
Jon called me into the living room on Sunday so that I could see this...
eek...those kitties are too cute! He couldn't get him to leave his lap for some extra space for his computer for the life of him!
I started a long to-read list while I was doing my library practicum last semester and as soon as I was finished with school I placed a bunch of books on hold. Now, I've been playing a game with myself by trying to read these books before they're due.
I've also been more diligent in keeping my goodreads page up to date. You can friend me and see what I've been reading by clicking on the goodreads link in the sidebar of my website.
It's fun to sit on the couch with Jon and the kitties at night and lounge and read instead of researching or writing papers on my computer.
PS. My Kandinsky quilt was featured on the blog, quiltporn, on Sunday. Wendy has been featuring gorgeous quilts on her blog. Check it out!
• Talking to Jon on his way to class
• catching a cat nap
• Discovering a new brand of Peanut butter (and a dairy free recipe for homemade Nutella - thanks Jodi!). I will definitely be trying the Cinnamon Raisin kind next.
• Finishing up another quilt top (in all it's wrinkly goodness) - made using this tutorial
I spent Sunday catching up on life around our house. Now our pantry is stocked, laundry is finished (and put away!), soups are stored in the freezer and my head is clear and ready for another week. It feels good to get things accomplished.
I made the most delicious loaf of Mediterranean Olive, Sun Dried Tomato and Walnut bread from The Joy of Vegan Baking. So delicious! I'll share the recipe later this week. The second favorite recipe I made was the Pickle Soup from Love Soup...so yummy!
I started working on my failed Ravelympics project again. It's coming along much better now and I hope to have it finished by this weekend.
Jon and I have been burning the candle at both ends, so it was nice to have a day to get caught up on things and relax before the start of another busy week.
It seems like my big craftwind last week has died down. I managed to tweak out these two projects before life got the better of me.
First up is a few cat pillows for around the house. I found this microfleece blanket for $5 and was able to make 3 pillows out of it (with lots of leftover fabric) for the cats so I was glad to find such an inexpensive piece of fabric to use. The pillows are your basic rectangle stuffed loosely with fiberfill. The cats like to sleep on the floor in front of our heating vents, so I made two for in front of the vents and one for the couch. (Mental note: buying a dark couch is not such a good idea when you have light colored cats...we are constantly vacuuming fur off the grey surface). As soon as I finished the first pillow and set it on the floor, NukuNuku jumped off my lap and splayed herself across the pillow. It's always nice when someone appreciates my work! Even though we have three pillows, they always seem to be fighting over the use of whichever pillow the other cat is using.
Nuku Nuku thinks I iron everything too well...she always likes to make sure everything is sufficiently scrunched up.
I also finished my green quilt top. This was modeled after my other baby quilts (here and here) and the blocks in this quilt are 5" square instead of 2.5" square. I used 10 fat quarters from the Timeless Treasures Apple Collection and 3.5 yards of fabric for the top. I was able to cut 12 five inch squares out of each fat quarter, for a total of 120 squares that were then cut in half. I cut the green fabric into 5" wide strips and cut out 120 squares from each strip and used the remaining fabric for a border.
The quilt is 14 blocks wide and 16 blocks tall with a 5" border of sashing around the edge. From my estimates, the quilt is approximately 72x81. I'm not sure how I'm going to quilt this yet. I was thinking about doing some straight line stitching a quarter inch in from each seam to make concentric squares, but I might just stick with basic stippling. Any ideas?
I was planning on giving this away as a gift (I don't think the person reads my blog), but after I told Jon my intentions, he became very protective of it. Hopefully he'll let me part with it!
All cats are strange. Sometimes, Shinji is really weird. He's totally in love with Jon and, if he could, he would spend all day on Jon's lap looking up into his eyes lovingly. Because that's not possible...he gets a little creative with his poses...
study time and no room on Jon's lap. No problem, position yourself precariously on his shoulders and the back of his chair
Jon leans over to check to see if the amount of liquid he's measuring is correct...perfect time to jump on his back to rest!
