a slight dilemma
More than a year ago, I started work on this quilt, with hopes of finishing in time to take it to college. I figure having a nice handmade quilt in college will be great: cute, fun, and a daily reminder of my creativity. A few weeks ago, I remembered my goal, and now, less than two months before college (scary!) I’m attempting to finish an enormous quilt.
I dug out the box full of patches, and counted up in accordance with my self-made chart. I then cut out as many additional patches as I could from my fabric scraps… then I ran out of half of the fabrics. According to my calculations, I need at least half a yard more of each of the lacking fabrics. And, as this was a stashbusting quilt, most of the fabrics were purchased from Jo-Ann’s clearance section well over a year ago, so I have no idea how to track them down. Oh no!
For now, I suppose I’ll keep stitching together patches.. I’ve got an extremely basic pattern in mind that I came up with myself (although I’m sure it’s been done before) but unfortunately, it uses a pretty much equal amount of each patch. Perhaps I can do a few simple patch substitutions with similar fabrics; as long as it’s somewhat organized, it should look pretty decent. I’ve still got some hope! But I can’t help realizing that I do not have the time to complete a full-size quilt; ugh. The quilt top is easy, but I have no idea how to do the other stuff!
So wish me luck, and hopefully I’ll come back with a slightly more optimistic post!
This should bring some interesting google searches my way. But really, I’m not allowed to buy fabric. And really, I’m having problems with my self-made rule. So every time I buy fabric, I have to smuggle it past the roadblock in my brain, and let myself bring even more future projects into the house.
I realized that the two major goals of a teenager’s summer are to a) relax and be lazy and b) make lots of money. These are probably the two most conflicting goals a person can have. So I’ve been switching off days… sleeping in and sitting at the computer, or (still sleeping in) sewing, working, going for bike rides, and hanging out with friends.
And I finally did manage to clean the sewing room, if only a bit. I’ve been steadily shipping off a stream of Ebay-ed patterns.. granted, I’m making about 10 cents on each one after the Ebay fees and Paypal fees, which doesn’t even cover my time taking pictures and typing listings.. but at least it’s freeing up some space. And I’ve realized that I am not a skilled cleaner. I get halfway through cleaning, until I can see the surface of the desk or the carpet of the floor, then I get distracted and start a brand new project, leaving all the things that need to be put back in even more of a mess than they started. But yesterday, I cracked down on myself. I actually managed to optimize the clutter on my bookcase, so I have even more room for the unfinished projects that will take longer to fix than they’re worth (like the hoodie that came out 3 sizes too big). And, at the moment, I can see most of the white surface of my sewing table.
Yesterday, my mom and I went on a college shopping spree. We headed to Target to peek at the minifridge of my dreams (it has a separate freezer - for ice cream emergencies!) although we didn’t actually buy it yet. Then we stopped by the outlet mall and looked through the Pottery Barn outlet. I was hoping for some awesome sheets, but they didn’t have any in the Twin XL dorm size. However, I did find my ultra-perfect dorm-ready rug. It’s huge, 7′ x 9′, but oval, and it’s blue, pink, green, and white. The braids are made of soft, fuzzy chenille, so it couldn’t be comfier. I also scored some clearance electric blue Pumas at the Puma outlet, and that made me very excited because my other cute & comfy shoes are just about dead. So that was definitely a successful shopping trip.
After all that running around, it was nice to have a calm, relaxed day today… not much that needed to be done, but still not so little that it became boring. I took pictures of the two latest totes, and put a bunch of Butterick patterns up on Ebay. There are a few for purses/totes, one for historical blouses and costumes, and lots and lots of patterns for outfits for young girls. If you’re interested, you can 
With summer in full swing, I love the luxury of taking as long as I like to eat breakfast. Breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day. It’s important, good for you, and a special breakfast can make the whole day better. So I consider it completely worthwhile to spend an extra 20 minutes or so making something that I will thoroughly enjoy. This week, it’s been crêpes.
The hardest part about making crêpes is mastering the cooking process. The batter is thin, and once the pan is hot (medium-high heat) one hand needs to hold the pan while the other pours in about a half cup of batter. Then you quickly swirl the batter around in the pan until you have a nice, round, flat crêpe. After some bubbles have formed on the surface, flip it over! The back side is harder to judge, since you can’t judge its cooking time by looking at the top. But after a few, I got the timing down, and it was so worth it.
Of course, being the goober that I am, I got bored with simply swirling the batter into a circle after the first few. So I decided to try something a bit more creative and daring and came up with what you see on the right. If you guessed “whale”, you were right; it was an attempt. If you had no idea what it was or what it was supposed to be, that is entirely acceptable because it didn’t turn out like it was supposed to. And that was even my second try! But it still tasted great, and provided me with a bit of bonus amusement.
The past few nights, as I lie on my back thinking before I fall asleep, all I can think of is sewing. Jo-Ann’s is having a 60% off sale on all of their spring fabrics, so that killed my “no buying fabric” rule for the summer. But one of the fabrics had whales on it! So, of course, that was necessary. I also got some lovely fuchsia knit; I hate purple, it’s my least favorite color, but this sort of purple-y pink has been catching my eye lately. But I haven’t worked with knits much, so this is what I’ve been dreaming about. I want to make some sort of sleeveless top, but one that could be worn on top of a short-sleeve or even a long-sleeve shirt once it gets cold again. I love sewing summer clothes, because anything without sleeves is much easier than anything with sleeves… but my mother keeps reminding me to prepare my wardrobe for the cooler climate of 
