Nored No More

What th- ?!?!?

How is it August already? I'm pretty sure my sister is asking the same thing, since she starts teaching again any second.

JULY absolutely FLEW by. I spent the first five days of July in Lake Gaston, NC with some fun new friends. I mostly floated in an innertube in the lake the entire time, but I also did some mudding with a suped-up golf cart, road the boat to film the surfing, jet-skied, played some cornhole, and made some awesome peach french toast.

On July 9th I competed with some colleagues in the area's first ever Metro Dash. It was nothing at all like what I had thought it would be (and I have tons of pictures that I wanted to blog about here... but perhaps on ANOTHER rainy day I'll get to that...) - but I'm hooked and totally loved it. In October I have not one but two obstacle races - the Warrior Dash in Richmond and the Run for Your Lives Zombie Race in Maryland. In November I have the Primal Mud Run, and in December I have the Hot Chocolate 15K. Of the four, it's the last one that I'm the most nervous about. Thankfully I'm still churning away at Crossfit.

I watched the entire Game of Thrones series on-demand before it expired in mid-July. That was AWESOME, and much like MadMen and United States of Tara, I'm not sure I can wait until next year for the next season. In other TV news, my DVR delete the last episode of U.S. of Tara, and I haven't put forth the effort to find it somewhere else. Don't tell me anything.

Last weekend (the last day of July), I went white-water tubing with some friends. Glad I didn't do the rafting, as the 6-in-a-boat-with-life-jackets-and-a-helmet trip didn't appear to be nearly as fun as the solo-in-an-innertube-with-the-life-jacket-used-as-a-tie-off-for-the-cooler trip.

I'm making decent progress on the embroidery for my Christmas quilt, but have done no sewing or knitting yet. I bought enough Prince Charming and a pattern I'm siked about to make a huge quilt for my bed. I need to start cutting and sewing before the fabric is out of production!

I'm reading (STILL! for a MONTH now!) The Social Animal. I got sidetracked for three days by The Shack, which was... interesting, but I'm loving The Social Animal. Now if I could just finish it...

Finally, I am pleased to report that Charlie has been seizure-free since May 16. I do hope this new diet is truly the key!

Someday you'll come by to read this blog, and you'll be STUNNED! STUNNED, I say!! to see pictures posted, too. May I recommend that you not hold your breath on that, though?

Block-a-palooza Block #9

Yay, block nine, Lemonade Stand, is done:

This was done with a slightly different type of no-waste-geese method, and I was pretty darn pleased with my geese. 

 

Here's what else I have to show: 

Have you heard of Quince and Co.? One day I was trolling around on Ravelry, and on an impulse I ended up with this:

So that I could make an Oatmeal Pullover... even though I'm still working on Aidez... and fifty other projects... Anyhow, here's what I liked about ordering some Puffin from them:

So classy! Check out their site - it's beautiful, and I'd definitely order more yarn from them.

What else? I needed thread, so I went to the quilt shop over the weekend. Ended up buying a bit more than what I went in for:

 

Top left: Alexander Hamilton's Larkspur, in the Indigo colorway:

Top right, Kitty Yoshida's Prospect Park in the Grey Pistachio colorway:

I l-o-o-o-v-e this stuff.

Bottom middle: Bella Solids - no idea the names:

But all my favorite colors. Something cool will come of them...

And also? I've been coveting these cathedral window pillows I keep seeing all over the internets. So after trolling around for a tutorial I could understand (and there's a TON out there - but this one made the most sense to me), I started on a few panes today. I didn't get too far - my dog seized, and I put away the sewing after that. But, here's what I did get done:

Yeah - not too far. Two folded up squares and the perfect insert fabric. Can't WAIT to try some more. 

And finally (because I know Sven in Norway is dying to know!): I finished reading Catching Fire so now I'm halfway through Mockingjay, and Bob's Burgers is my new favorite show. The characters are just so...wrong and bizarre. Makes me laugh out loud every episode. 

 

Block-a-palooza Block #8

Whoops! Forgot to post this:

My Basket of Geese from Thursday. Applique, and I gotta say - I read the post of the directions and went, "Ugh." I had some anxiety about proper placement of the geese, but opted to go with the tried-and-true lick-it-and-stick-it method, and I'm pretty pleased with how it panned out.

I painted all weekend long. I also finally set up my surround sound system - well, watched and made drinks as Jen did it.  Y'all, my movies  now look and SOUND like I'm actually at the theater. 

Oooh  - also, Jen's husband Chuck steam-vac'd my carpet and it looks like I have brand new carpet. The estimate I had came back a smidge high (over two thousand for my l'il ole one-bedroom). This makes me very happy that my carpet looks this good. The living room is lookin' gooooood. The kitchen needs another coat and the tile to go up. Then on to the dining room and the bedroom. Slow and steady.

 

Block-a-palooza Block #7

Whew! Okay - all caught up just in time for block eight to come out tomorrow. Here's block number seven - Orange You Glad I Made a Nine-Patch (ha! loved the name, and loved that it was a nine-patch, as they're kinda fun and easy for me).

And since I started Mockingjay last night, I'm off to go read a bit more of that  -- stayed up way too late last night reading  - AARRRGGGH.

SO. NOT. HAPPY. 

Although, also w-a-a-y less confused. I just went to Amazon to get the link to Mockingjay, where I noticed it's called Mockingjay: The Final Book of the Hunger Games. "FINAL" - as in, "Hey, you read the first one, and then you started the last one - and all that confusion over WTH? the Quarter Quell? Peeta's a what where? District 12, wha-? ... all that should be cleared up if you'd just read CATCHING FIRE: THE SECOND BOOK OF THE HUNGER GAMES first."

So apropos of my life. Sigh. Upside: the correct book is on my desk at work, so tomorrow I'll start reading Catching Fire. 

Block-a-palooza Block #6

So I'm a smidge behind - block seven came out YESTERDAY, and I'm just now posting block six. I had a very productive weekend, though. 

First, the block:

I love this. I love all the blocks. But secretly, this is my favorite so far. I'd actually do a whole quilt out of blocks of this. 

Next, the home improvements:

Painted the kitchen - Candied Lime and Vanilla Steam. Heheh. Just realized they're both foody names. There's the tile in the background. I still really like it. Also? The microwave there? It died. GE came to service it. Repairs cost more than replacement, so a new one is being delivered tomorrow. Sigh.

Also, you can't tell, but I a) painted this corner (Brisk Olive - same color; and the next two walls in the living room will be done tomorrow, because I took down the drapes and sent them to the dry cleaner, but they're ready to be picked up which means they're ready to be hung up which means the wall needs painted) and b) I put new books up. You may be able to tell that I put together a new console (I haven't had one since....2003? I've been using a steamer trunk full of books - off to storage with those). It's so grown-up looking! It was also fun and easy to put together on Saturday night - a mere two and a half hours from Target to this (I'm not counting the HOUR it took me to plug the cords back in so that I had sound and audio on TiVO, cable, and PlayStation... that was like DEATH). I also have a new surround sound system there, courtesy of my friend Jen in honor of my upcoming birthday. THAT isn't set up yet - but it's close. And then it's gonna be the BOMB.

Finally, tomorrow Lowes is sending over an estimator to tell me how much to tear up, remove, and install carpet. I'm thinking of one of the two below:

And finally, I finished Hunger Games over the weekend and thankfully have Mockingjay to start......NOW!

Block-a-palooza Block #5

Today's block comes from Miss Print, and the name is Geesey McNinePatch. I liked the name. I like nine patches. Flying geese, however, aren't really my favorite thing. No matter how perfect my cutting, and how straight my sewing, the little buggers always end up "bowed," almost. Kinda concaved on top and convexed on the bottom (my math friends' heads just exploded with my verbed use of concave and convex). Also, I've used some of Miss Print's tutorials before, and I really have liked them. She's a whip. So I thought perhaps the tutorial she had on "no-waste" flying geese would make me suddenly love love love me some flying geese. 

I still don't.

After three hours, here's what I produced (note: it's REALLY wrong):

Note the left and right columns: the geese are flying in the same direction. Go back and check out Miss Print's - the geese are flying a circle around the nine patch. 

So, okay - that was a pretty obvious mistake. I ripped out one of the columns, went to rotate it and sew it back on, but realized I ripped out the wrong column and had to resew the ripped one and THEN rip the other column. So, about another 30 minutes go by and I produce this:

My geese now fly all around the nine patch, but again - I STILL don't have it right. Go ahead -- go look again.

I'm going to call it creative license, leave it as-is, and go to bed. A colleague loaned me the Hunger Games series over 6 months ago, and I'm FINALLY going to start reading it. Perhaps..........NOW.

 

PS: the tutorial was excellent and easy to follow. I dunno what my problem is - I think the next block I'll try printing out the PDF instead of running back and forth to the computer (which, yeah, is a laptop that could carry over, but there's no where to put it in the "sewing area".... First World problems, y'all...).

 

 

Block-a-palooza Block #4

Wow - did I just type four? How is it time for block number four already? Eh. Time FLIES when you are having FUN.

So I opted to fussy-cut my corners, which made the process take a tad longer than it should have... once again I'd say an hour total. I'm pretty pleased:

This one is called Gingham Pinwheels - I really like pinwheels, and I need to say again how much I *really* like this fabric. The colors are just totally me. 

 

TGIF, y'all.

Home Improvements

A few weeks ago I started a list of all the things I want to do to my house (and because I'm me, I baby-stepped the list in to about 40 to-do's) that essentially boil down to:

1. repaint (same colors everywhere except the bedroom pink will change to cream)

2. add a tiled backsplash to the kitchen

3. have new carpet installed

I've had three painters give estimates. I've gone to two places to get carpet information. And tonight I took one trip to Lowe's and on the FIRST TRY I found the tile I want. I think. 

Behold:

So, my millions of followers, any thoughts on that selection? (It's still in the shrink wrap and I have the receipt, and I really didn't think it'd work the whole way home. But once I taped it up, I was pretty pleased. It's got the blue I like, it goes well with the cabinets and the granite, and it even has that odd green that the rest of the house is painted...)

In quilting news, I did the January Fab Shop Hop, and as a result I got access to the pattern for the All Around the Neighborhood Quilt. One day over the weekend (or maybe the weekend before) I tried my hand at one:

Very fun, and totally made of nothing but scraps. Sweet!

Tomorrow's a new block-a-palooza, so I'll see you soon.

Block-a-palooza Block #3

Whoot whoot - this was nice (yay Orange!) and pretty easy. About an hour, max. Shoofly Geese:

Here's what they all look like together:

And also, I did a smidge of knitting over the weekend. And by "smidge," I mean I watched all of Season 1 of 30 Rock on Netflix (yay, PlayStation3) and got this far on Aidez:

Another storm is coming through, so I need to keep knitting so I can wear it ASAP.

The next block pattern comes out on Thursday, but I'm not sure I'll have time to get it done that night. Hopefully before then I can post some pictures of finished quilts. 

Who wants to see some Charlie??

This is stoic Charlie with his pouting cousin Murphy. Murphy isn't simply looking out the window in this picture. He's hiding his head, snout stuck in the corner. I took this picture in Florida, as my nephew and I were getting ready to go on our second hike of my trip there. The first hike we took Murphy only, and apparently he thought the honor was solely his for our second hike, too. He was not happy about Charlie trying to get in the car, and I think Charlie must have been embarrassed or something, because he just sat up so stiff and stared straight ahead--"My feelings are NOT hurt, and I'm READY for this."   Isn't he just the cutest??

Block-a-palooza Block #1

Today the pattern for the first block was released, and after a mere 90 minutes, I have my block done. OF COURSE there's an *ERROR* in my block... but I'm from the "lick-it-and-stick-it" school of design rather than "check, double-check, triple-check check check before you sew" school of design. Don't get me wrong -- when I'm cutting fabric, I'm extremely careful and I really take my time. But once everything is cut - well, I'll slap things together as fast as the sewing machine will go!

Anyhow, here's how perfect everything was cut:

And here's my finished square:

So, if you were me, would you rip it apart and replace the swirly corners with gingham like the original? I wanted to use swirlies instead of gingham, but I forgot to rotate the four-patches for the cool on-the-diagonal alignment with the center four-patch. 

Still, the fabric is AWESOME. I'm a total fan of Sweetwater's lines. I'm working with their Authentic line on a different project right now - which I'll post about soon.

Next Block-a-palooza pattern comes out on Thursday, so hopefully I'll have time to make the block AND post about it!