Not Quite Vintage

colorful inspiration

I am working on a design project for a close friend of mine. It has been a long while since I worked on a purely design project. My professional life has moved from graphic design into project and production management that is closely tied to technology and online systems. While I am in a 'creative' atmosphere everyday, I don't get to actively design pretty things anymore (at least at work, crafting and blogging helps fill the void a little). I miss it.

And to be even more honest, while I miss it and deep down I know the skill set still exists, this new design project has me nervous. And scared. It has been so long since I had an opportunity like this and the non-confident side of me wonders if I can still do it. In these situations I sometime get paralyzed by the white paper in front of me. You know, the blank paper of possibilities just waiting for ideas to be sketched on it?

Well that paper has been blank for a while now. Long enough that my sweet friend gave me a needed nudge yesterday. The nudge came at the perfect time. On Tuesday while driving home I had a brainstorm. I tend to get the best ideas when I back burner something for a bit and this one light-bulbed in the car while music was blaring out of the radio. Even though I remember the excitement I felt when I got the idea, the fear put it on the back burner once again. If it hadn't been for the nudge, it may have taken me a while to take the next step. Yesterday I did a bit of online research and the brainstorm evolved into an idea I am really excited about. An idea I so hope I can get out of my head and onto paper in a way that meets (exceeds would be even better) my expectations.

Last night I got out the sketchbook of pretty blank white pages and dug the colored pencils out of my old ArtBin caddy and started working. Goodness I forgot how much I loved colored pencils. Their smell and the noise they make clicking together brings me back in the day. Now if I just had a set of
http://www.dickblick.com/products/prismacolor-premier-double-ended-art-markers/ Prismacolor markers like back in college. That would be a shade of heaven.

I am inspired and thinking positively about this project. And after it's complete I may just have to take a drawing class. And you know what that means? New supplies of course!

spiderweb block #3

September of the Pieced Together Quilting Bee brought another spiderweb quilt block request to my mailbox. I remember a few months back when I was soooo nervous to try paper piecing and now I can sew up a spiderweb block without following directions - crazy. Progress, that is progress.

I now love this block. Not sure if I would ever take the time to make an entire quilt myslef, but a pillow might be added to my crafty to do list for the near future. Ok, maybe distant future... I need to be realistic, with only ten weeks till Christmas I have a lot of other things to get moving on, like the project I bought all the fleece for.

pb granola bars

I have noticed that many of the gals out in blogland have been making their own granola bars lately. I have had success in the past making my own granola, so I thought I might try my hand at granola bars this week.

I have many, many recipes bookmarked, so I gave them all a once over to determine which recipe to start with. I settled on a Peanut Butter and Honey Granola Bar recipe from Active Life Cooking. Mostly because I love peanut butter and had most of the ingredients in my pantry.

They were super simple to make and while hard to photograph turned out pretty darn yummy.  If you take a look at the recipe it calls for your favorite “chaser” and “additives.” I chose flax seed as my chaser, sunflower seeds, almonds and dried cranberries as my additives and also included some rice protein powder (I try to stay away from all soy products and vegan rice protein powder was suggested by my niece as a good alternative – it is great in smoothies too).

The only one thing I may change next time is to toast the oatmeal a bit more before mixing all the ingredients together so that my granola bars might be a bit crunchier.

I think I will keep trying granola bar recipes so I can compare and determine which is my favorite. Anyone have any good recipes to share?

drunk love block

Last night I checked another Pieced Together Quilting Bee block of my extremely long crafty to do list. It may still be long, but I am so happy to be making progress... especially on the things that are past their due dates!

The block was for Jody. She requested a Drunk Love block ala Denyse Schmidt Quilts. I always loved that pattern so I was excited to work on this one. The fabric cutting took a decent amount of time - and it was for only one block - I can't imagine how long it would take to cut out an entire quilt. 

Once I had the pieces cut I pulled out my Denyse Schmidt Quilts book for reference. I wanted to make sure I sewed the pieces in the correct order and ended up with a nice square block... The drunk love part of the quilt is a gorgeous effect, but you have to trust Denyse to know her stuff and that the block will square up in the end because along the way it seems a bit wonky and wrong.

To keep myself in line, I followed her Compass Pin technique. This simply suggests that you place a pin facing north (away from you) in the center piece of the block so when you turn the block while sewing you can easily keep track of what she calls the ready-set-sew position. I also followed her Modified Log Cabin technique in which you sew the top and bottom pieces first and then the left and right pieces before starting all over again.

I love the finished product. The muted color combination Jody chose is really nice. I can't wait to see her finished quilt top.

a circle and a cabin... block

A quiet Friday night at home was the perfect time to catch up on my Pieced Together Quilting Bee blocks. I completed two and have 2 more planned and ready to be sewn this week.

First up was the July block for Edith. Yes, I said July and it is now October. Oops. Honestly, this one had me stumped for a while. The "add a circle" request had me blocked. I dove in on Friday and came up with this. In the end I am pretty happy with it, plus I got to practice machine applique. Bonus. And like always, when I get nervous or stumped, it is never as bad as I make it out to be in my head. Someday I will learn.

Second was Kathy's August block. A fun scrappy log cabin out of an assortment of Amy Bulter fabrics. I really like how this one turned out. The color combination is really pleasing.

Speaking of Amy Butler fabrics, have you seen her new line LOVE? Want, want, want.

attempting to crochet

This week, I have been trying to fit in a little crochet in the evenings as I relax watching a mix of dramas and The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

I got off to a slow start on Monday while watching House. After pulling out a skein of cotton to make a one of the dish clothes I liked from the September/October issue of Crochet Today, I worked for most of the hour before deciding to frog the entire thing. I just didn't like the texture the pattern produced. Darn.

I took Tuesday off and tried again last night. This time I pulled out some Naturally Caron yarn I picked up last week. I am working on a couple gifts, so I can't tell you what I am trying to make, but I promise to share later. I worked a couple motifs only to have a big, huge mess of knots come out from the middle of the skein. Honestly, I was so excited when on the first try I pulled out the end of the yarn from the middle of the skein. No big wad of yarn came with it, no pulling of other yarn, nothing. So, I am really not sure where the heck the big huge mess of knots came from. Since I only bought one skein of yarn for each project, I frogged what I had completed and started to un-knot the yarn. A lengthy conversation on the phone with my Pops and about five more minutes later I had it all cleaned up. Phew, yarn saved. 

I had to take a little break after that for dinner, but afterward I was ready to try again. Under my cozy quilt and while watching ANTM followed by the much more brain-worthy The National Parks I completed more than a dozen motifs. It was a good night all-in-all for crochet.