Little Things

Just a couple of things making me happy right now:

Weather warm enough for Chacos and a sundress, even when all the leaves have fallen:

And a kitty asleep on my bed on a lazy Sunday morning.

Red Red Red

Today I went for a hike on the grounds adjacent to the Gilcrease Museum. It's still warm here, but all the leaves are off the trees, making for a dismal backdrop to the unseasonably gorgeous weather. There were hints of color once I started looking, though.

Halloween Weekend

Autumn has been treating us well, with mild temperatures and the best fall color anyone can remember.

Fall means: layering
Chrysanthemums
Halloween!

Crazy Lady Alert

Sometimes, you just need to put pictures of your dog on the internet. This is not my dog, however. This is my friend J's INCREDIBLY CUTE new great dane puppy, named Macey:

She came over and had a playdate with my dog, Lucy (a year-and-a-half year old cocker spaniel mix):

There was a little hesitation at first, but they got along famously! And once Macey is done with puppy kindergarten, maybe Lucy will join her at some much-needed training classes.

Tulsa State Fair: The good, the bad, the bizarre

Way back at the beginning of October, I made my annual pilgrimage to the Tulsa State Fair. (Why a state fair if it's just for one city? Only one among the many unsolved mysteries of the fair.) Anyway, by far my favorite thing about the fair (besides fried cheese on a stick) is the crafts. I saw some amazing quilts:

I'm still not quite over this quilt, which featured embroidered presidents of all the presidents (minus the current one):
Mysterious antique cameras--what were they winning awards for?

True story: I once made a hooked cat pillow very similar to this. Unfortunately I gave it to my friend Meggie for her birthday. If only I still had it!
And then, there was what can only be described as the sublimely bizarre.

Rejuvination

I've been feeling a little down in the dumps lately... I've been in a rut, and haven't been doing a lot of blogging, or anything else for that matter. But I really want November to be my turn-around month. To start with, I'm making a serious attempt at Nanowrimo for the second year in a row. Last year, I wrote a novel that was basically Jane Austen meets Steampunk meets fantasy. This year, I'm writing a romance/mystery/thriller set in the mountains of Colorado. I've been looking over my photos from this past September's trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, and just recalling how beautiful it was is doing a lot to recharge my spirit.

Braids & Warm Hands!

I have recently become obsessed with the Flickr group Braid Wednesday. I've also been wearing my hair in braids more and more (especially on bad hair days--see above!) Maybe I should join?

It's campaign season in Tulsa, and there are approximately 50 mayoral candidates.

But most importantly, I made some hand warmers! These are from the "Victoria Fingerless Mittens" pattern in Knitting Little Luxuries. I made them with Caron "Country" in "Coral Lipstick." This yarn is nice because it's cheap and mostly acrylic, but doesn't feel cheap and acrylic. It's 25% Merino, but not scratchy at all--I'm usually super wool-sensitive, and these don't make me itch in the least. And they're cozy and a little victorian-y and make me feel like I'm ready for fall to come!

green weekend

This weekend was full of green... it's finally cooling off a little here, and the yearly end-of-summer drought that turns everything brown seems to have passed us by.

A Birthday List

23 Things to Do Before I Turn 24

(a.k.a. Jeez, I'm old now!)

1. Purchase a drop spindle and roving and learn how to spin!

2. Visit Grinnell friends in Iowa

3. Visit A-Ro et al in Chicago

4. Visit Leigh in Prague

5. Visit Ali & Rachel et al in Minneapolis

6. Go running regularly & run a 5K

7. Take more pictures without an occasion

8. Take an art class of some sort

9. Take a yoga class or just do yoga regularly again

10. Learn how to drive stick shift

11. Write a romance novel

12. And submit it to publishers

13. Write poetry again

14. And submit it to journals

15. Sell stuff on Etsy!

16. Learn how to flamenco dance (take lessons from Lexi)

17. Cook and eat more unfamiliar food

18. Cuddle with Cricket & Lucy (my dog and cat!) more

19. Cuddle more in general

20. Make fewer lists

21. See at least 1 live music show per month

22. See at least 1 theater performance per month

23. Spend a WHOLE DAY reading in the hammock

A few from Arkansas

I decided to take off an a little weekend jaunt to Arkansas with my friend Jessa, with the result that I've eaten a lot of good food and seen a lot of bizarre stuff and not gotten a lot of crafting done. But it was a great weekend! Here's a hint of what it was like:

Finally, finally finished

This was a week of ups and downs, that's for sure. Ups: coffee with friends, seeing Julie & Julia (which I loved), Thai food, laughter, and I have a kitty on my lap right now. Downs: STILL not having a job, or even any interest, despite sending out a billion resumes, ennui, a short-lived flu virus, sleeping way too much. BUT! I'm healthy again, and willing to give next week the benefit of the doubt. Come on, world! Something good needs to happen!

In the meantime, continuing adventures in unemployment (or, as my friend Amanda insists, FUNemployment): I finished my quilt!

It's backed in the hot pink/magenta color that I accidentally use for everything. Check out that sweet hand-stitched binding:

I made a label, too, which features a little stitched kitty:

Current Granny Square count: 34.

Also it's hot as hell here. More incentive to stay inside and sew (as if I needed incentive).

Dog Days

It's that time again... the point in the summer where you just want it to be OVER, so you can go back to school and go outside again and buy school supplies. And, okay, so I'm not going back to school this year, but I did buy school supplies!

Plus, my current state of unemployment allows me plenty of time for important things like quilt-making. It's almost done, I just have to sew the binding down by hand and make a label! I think I feel a Battlestar Galactica marathon coming on.

All-Consuming Quilting

For awhile there wasn't much news on the crafting front because I was spending a little too much time snoozing and not enough time, well, making.

I did get a new oilcloth tablecloth for my craft table! I love the aqua/red/yellow combination. I ordered a couple yards of oilcloth and just pinked the edges to finish it and square it off. Hooray tablecloth!

Anyway, I recently got a copy of Patchwork Style, which is an insanely beautiful book. I really wanted to start in on some of the projects immediately, but I couldn't work on something new knowing that I had a quilting project squirreled away that I've been meaning to finish for about a year. So I got it back out....
And forced Jessa and Lissie to come over and hang out with me while I sewed...
(Jessa was working on a collage book for a friend from college. I like this page!)

And... voila! All the squares laid out prior to assembling the top. The top is sewn together now. I just need to buy batting, tie it all together, add a binding and I will have a (sort of) real quilt done!

Caution: do not start a quilting project unless you have copious amounts of time and many episodes of Ugly Betty to see you through, because you WILL NOT be able to stop working on it until you get to see it put together!