pretty pretty pictures

I've been taking a lot more photos lately, mostly due to the fact that I'm taking a photography class at the local community college. I conned my parents into buying me a fancy camera, so I figured I should probably actually learn how to use it. (I don't think they minded too much... my dad is a huge photography buff and when I was taking pictures today he was hovering over my shoulder, giving me instructions about which shutter speeds to use).

These were taken at a nursery and the hardscaping retailer next door. In case you can't tell, I've just learned all about depth of field, so I'm kind of obsessed with dialing my aperture way down to get that blurry background effect. I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out, and I may even use a couple of them for the photographic scavenger hunt which is my final project for photo class!

Time to go--I just went to the grocery store, and there's some cookies & cream ice cream with my name on it in the freezer.

Let's play dress-up!

I recently inherited some great '70s and '80s patterns from my mother (by "inherited" I mean, "she was going to throw them away and I saved them from the trash"), and I was looking through them today when it struck me that, with a few variations, these patterns could yield a super cute summer wardrobe! Through the magic of genetics, I'm about the same size now my mother was back in the day, so I could definitely make these patterns work for me.

I love the white shirt dress with the belt! Shirt-dresses are usually a bit awkward on me because I'm somewhat short-waisted, but the great thing about sewing for yourself is that you can adjust the fit of a garment to your heart's content. I can totally see this in a floral print with a contrast belt and collar, or maybe in navy with red top-stitching. What do you think?

Love the turquoise blouse with the huge bow at the neck. I would make it sleeveless or give it cap sleeves, and make the bow a contrast color. Maybe a light pink floral with a seafoam green bow? I would wear this tucked into a high-waisted denim skirt, or maybe layered over some denim cut-offs.
That red gingham dress just screams "summer" to me. I would make it a touch shorter, but I love the loose, blousy cut of the bodice. The lines are simple enough to support a really vibrant print, maybe something with birds or a graphic floral. I would probably not make a matching belt, but instead belt it with a scarf or one of my many classy faux-leather belts from Target or Forever 21.
Um, can anyone say ROMPER? This culotte dress could so easily be shortened, and it would be a perfect loose, forgiving cut for a summer playsuit. My only worry is the width of the legs--I might need to adjust that a bit to ease my mind (I would constantly be worrying about, ahem, exposing myself).
This nightgown pattern is a little cheesy, but I really like the babydoll nightgown in the center. I have a hard time finding pajamas that are comfortable because I can't stand any kind of lace or embroidery that might chafe against my skin. This could be mitigated by sewing my own nightgown in a super-soft swiss dot or knit material. Maybe one little teensy ribbon bow wouldn't hurt....

The Big Quilt Post

Hmmm... I haven't updated for quite a while, largely because I've been utterly consumed by the most massive sewing project of my young life. I've made plenty of things before--skirts, formal dresses, shirts, doll clothes, stuffed animals, throw quilts--the list goes on. But never before had I attempted the holy grail of the sewing world (at least to my mind): the Queen Sized Quilt.

It's done!!! I've blogged about this quilt before, and then got off-track because I naively neglected to purchase a walking foot for the quilting portion of this project. I thought to myself, "How different can a walking foot be from a regular sewing foot?" So I blithely sewed onward with my usual garment foot... and then halfway through the first side of quilting realized that, um, EVERYTHING HAD SHIFTED. Duh. Because a sewing foot only has feed dogs on the bottom, and therefore pulls the backing through more quickly than the quilt top. Whereas a walking foot has feed dogs on the top as well, and hoists all those layers of fabric through there quite neatly and efficiently.

If you're ever going to make a quilt BUY A WALKING FOOT. Learn from my mistakes! Mine cost less than $20 and was a miracle. After I finally got the walking foot in the mail, I finished the rest of the quilting within a week, due to that perfect little gadget.

So, learning curve aside, I'm very pleased with how this project turned out. I love the sunny quality of the fabrics together, and the mixture of 30s/40s reproduction fabrics with more modern, graphic prints. Also, sleeping under a handmade quilt just feels entirely different. My grandmother made a pink quilt for me when I was thirteen or so, but it was a little too small for my queen sized bed. This fits just right and is the perfect light blanket for spring, summer, and fall. In the winter I'll be able to layer it over a down comforter.

The quilt back is an aqua colored king size sheet. Not too much more expensive than fabric by the yard, plus no worrying about piecing narrower widths of cotton together. I accidentally didn't buy enough of the binding fabric I intended to use, but I had this floral print in my stash (I think I was going to make a retro sundress out of it once upon a time) and I think it works quite nicely.

I gave my bed a little makeover to celebrate finishing this epic project. My new sheets are the "Shabby Chic" line from Target and weren't too pricy. Um, the sheep came from the Easter Bunny. I'm an adult, I promise! (I'm totally not).

PROOF

Spring is here! It's really really here! It was warm and sunny and in the 50's here today, with temperatures supposedly nearing 70 on Friday. I really hope it comes true!

Although the warmer weather and sunshine should have put me in a good mood today, instead I was SUPER GRUMPY. I hate days where my mood just refuses to budge, despite all my attempts at magical thinking. I drove to my grandmother's house and was grumpy. I went to Hancock's to check out fabric possibilities for spring clothing and found nothing and was grumpy. I came home and went for a walk and was grumpy. I made stir fry for dinner and the tofu fell apart and (you guessed it) I was grumpy.

I'm making Decisions about Life right now, and Waiting to Hear things, and it's just put me in a frame of mind where everything seems simultaneously hopelessly static and terribly uncertain. Spring makes me realize all over again how much I love Tulsa as a concept, yet I feel as though I haven't taken full advantage of living here this year. Yet, if I'm going to be moving away soon, and traveling in-between, there's really no point to starting anything new, right? (Obviously that's ridiculous--spring is the perfect time to start something new--but that's just how my mind's been working lately).

Forgive me my rambling. Hopefully tomorrow I'll wake up all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to take the world by storm! Hopefully.

Home Again Home Again

I'm home again after a trip down to Florida to visit my grandmother. It was so, so nice to be in a place where I could step outside and enjoy warm weather! Even if it was actually a bit chilly most of the time we were there, I still enjoyed it.

Lately, every month I sort of press the "reset" button on my life, and come up with new plans, new goals, and new worries. My goal in March: try something new at least once a week. Like, something I've never done before. Also, be more thoughtful. I miss learning new things, grabbing onto a new theory or idea and turning it over and over in my mind.

Quilt!

My latest BIG project is a queen-sized quilt for my bed. This picture doesn't really do the fabric justice--it's a mixture of peachy pinks, aquas, and cheerful purples. A tad little girl-y, but that's just how I roll. The quilt pattern is the "Ollalieberry Ice Cream Quilt Pattern", by Alicia Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy. Buying the PDF was definitely worth it--the instructions are clear and easy to follow, even for a novice quilter like me.

Sewing the quilt top together was easy-peasy, since I'm fairly experienced at garment sewing. The actual quilting, however, is another story. I've been struggling a bit to keep all the layers of the "quilt sandwich" aligned and smooth. I'm just hoping there aren't toooo many visible mistakes when I'm done! I find that putting on the local 50s & 60s oldies station helps a lot with the quilting process.

Winter Hibernation

I've had kind of a hard time getting back on my feet after the holidays this year. This isn't so much because of post-holiday letdown--I'm not a huge "Christmas" person--so much as it's just a result of the fact that I'm sort of unmoored right now. I'm floating between jobs and obligations, and have been mostly taking advantage of my copious amount of free time by reading and sleeping and baking pies.

Christmas this year was defined by a surprise blizzard on Christmas eve which left me and my family stranded at home when we should have been driving to visit family in St. Louis. We finally got there, though, after a looooong and snowy drive across Missouri. Christmas was quiet this year, if a little rushed by weird weather and such.

Now I'm trying to throw myself back into the day to day. For me 2010 has had a slow beginning. I'm going to try to hold myself accountable more, though. I might start posting book reviews to this blog, or (gasp) spending a little more time and thought on my posts. I have many New Year's resolutions, but right now the one I want to focus on the most is living more intentionally, and taking more pleasure in the quiet moments in my life.