Before I take a swing...

Ok, little confession... Before I start the quilt that I mentioned in my previous post, I've decided to be a little bit of a chicken liver and make a practice quilt.

I guess it's not fair to just call it a "practice quilt", this is actually something I've wanted to make for a long time, but since this quilt is a good deal easier, I thought it would be smart to make this one first and get the feel of how the quilting process is going to work for me. Here's what I'm aiming for...

• Smallish - enough to cover most of me and I'm tall, 5'10", did I ever tell you that before?
• Simple - 4" squares. I picked up a few fat quarters and some plain white fabric for the infill
• Lightweight - something light for cool summer evenings in the back yard, or on the couch
• Pretty - like, duh!

Sew! I cut all my squares a couple of days ago, then I took a night off and went and saw Eclipse with a friend (IT WAS AMAZING!! - except for the bad wigs, oofa.)  then last night I hatched my plan and laid out all of the squares in a random kind of way (which actually isn't all that random and took some thought so I wouldn't end up with blocks of color), then got to sewing!

I like the laying out process, it reminds me of my childhood. I have one of those big, foldy, cardboard thingamajigs, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. It's white and has a blue 1" grid across the whole thing, folds up like an accordion? My mom had one of these when I was a kid and my brother and I used to breakdance on it, we could spin really fast... hey, it was the 80's. Mom was constantly after us to get off of it... poor woman, I don't know how she ever got anything done. I didn't have any kids dancing across my grid thingy, but I did have two dogs & two cats curiously fascinated as to why I was sitting on the floor moving bits of fabric to and fro. 

Ok, enough of the bla, bla, bla, I talk too much, don't I?

Wanna see my progress?? Cool!

The sewing part goes really fast! I think it took 2 or 3 times as long to cut all these squares as it did to sew them. Is that normal?

See, it's kind of long. When I hold it in front of myself it goes from about my shoulders to my ankles. Perfect! This is the first half, I'm going to sew the other half together tonight when I get home from work.

The hardest part was carrying squares from the living room to my sewing spot, the first 4 rows especially, because I kept forgetting what order I picked up the pieces in. I don't know why I always try to do things the hard way... sheesh. Starting with row five I made a key so I could scoop up several rows at a time.

I don't know if I'm doing any of this the right way, and I hope I'm doing a good job. I'm just sort of making it up as I go along, doing what feels right to me.

I'm so eager to start the other quilt too, I couldn't help myself, I made my first block last night as well. I just wanted to see if I could... and happily, I think I did ok!

A few of my corners don't match up exactly, but that's all right. I can live with it. I have 29 more blocks to make, so I'm sure I'll improve.

Thanks for letting me share with you guys, I think this quilting thing might be addictive! I can't wait to get home, get dinner made and cleaned up, just so I can get back to sewing!

oxo,

Lisa

Love Bites

Ok, so as promised I'm back tonight with something cool! I hope you think so too!

Back in January of this year, I had a good ol' time having a bit of show and tell with you, because for Christmas 2009 I had challenged myself to make all of my Christmas gifts by hand. I had never taken on a handmade challenge before, and this was a lot of fun, as well as a lot of work. I had some pretty late nights back in December pulling it all together. One of the things that I especially liked was the Twilight pillow that I made for my niece, Ana. Remember?

This was also about the time I discovered Flickr (I know, late to the game as always) and had started loading my pictures there as well. So, just for shits & giggles I added this pillow into a Twilight Craft group on that website. I thought it might be helpful to other people, because when I set out to make this pillow I searched and searched for inspiration. I found nothing. All I could find when I Googled "twilight pillow" were silk screened pillow cases with giant Edward faces, not that there's anything wrong with that, but not exactly what I was aiming for either.

Anyhoo, a couple of weeks after I'd added this picture to the group, I got this email...

...I'm contacting you on behalf of ECW Press, a Canadian

publisher currently working on a book called Love Bites: The

Unofficial Saga of Twilight. The book will have a section on

the fan response to Twilight, part of which will focus on

Twilight crafters and the ten best Twilight crafts. We'd

love to include a picture and short description of your

Twilight related pillow. It's fantastic! You would be fully

credited in the book and would receive a copy.

Well of course I was like, beyond flattered!  So I replied yes! I would be happy to have them use my picture. OMGosh, like so totally radical! But really... on the inside I thought, well maybeee... and didn't hold my breath. Other than my immediate family, I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want to have egg on my face if nothing materialized.

In a subsequent email from ECW, they said that the release of the book would coincide with the release of Eclipse, which as you Twihards know, is fast approaching... yesterday I came home to find this in my mail.

At first I thought "hmm, what's this? I haven't ordered anything... Canadian post mark? weird"...

(yes, I converse with myself, just like that. Often.)

Then it dawned on me.

!!!!!!!!!! I know what this is!!!!!!!!!!

I ripped open the envelope!

Oooh, glossy! Lots of fantastic pictures!

Aww, isn't that nice??

Ok... where is it?!? Flipping to the back... Aha!

Yeah baby! Team Twilight!!

There it is, page 196!! Woop! Woop! Raise the roof!  

(insert totally immature squealing, maniacal giggling, and awkward happy dance here)

So yeah, I'm immortal now.

Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe.

Hey look, my pillow is right next to Floresita's "Stupid Lamb". I love that piece!

I'm honored, seriously. Floresita is a major talent, and is a writer for one of my favorite blogs, Feeling Stitchy.

Actually, all the crafts featured here are amazing, the journal (made by Nikki Pitcher, pitchmom.etsy.com) is a great example of paper craft, the mittens (made by Erin Smith) are beautifully knitted, Bella's moonstone ring (made by Desiree of fallenhearts.net), the Edward-themed necklace (made by Paula McDonough, venbead,etsy.com) are all wonderful.

All kidding aside, I am truly, truly flabbergasted that my little pillow, a Christmas gift for my niece, was selected to be in such great company as these other pieces. I'm not a professional crafter, I don't do this for a living (I wish.), I'm just a regular chic, goofing around with fabric and floss...

Wow. It's still all I can say. I know, this isn't *that* big of a deal, it's not like I have my own book or anything, I'm just really happy to have been included in something like this. I am an unabashed Twihard myself, a bigger fan of the books than the movies, but still... a fan none the less.

Ahh... I've done it again, prattled on and on.

If you've made it all the way to the end of this long winded post, thank you most sincerely for taking the time to read this, I know there are a lot of really awesome blogs out the, and I appreciate that you've popped in to read mine.

Goodnight sweet blogsters!

~oxo~

Lisa

p.s. Wanna own a copy of Love Bites? Here's a handy~dandy link, just cuz I love ya!

Just a quick hello...

Greetings Y'all!

Hope all my friends in blog~land are happy little elves dashing here and there and making holiday cheer! Hey, that sorta rhymes! Hmm, well not really, actually.... It's been very busy here at Casa Leggett, tonight I'm making candy pretzels to share with the bunco girls tomorrow night, yay bunco!! The picture isn't great since it's from my phone, but you get the idea. In person, they're much sparklier. So I'm taking a break from my toiling (snickering, hehe) to do some blog-o-phoning :o)~ Ahh, cell phone, how did I ever once live without thee?

And speaking of "sparkle", I know I'm a little late getting to this, but I can't skip it, I just can't! Who's seen New Moon?? Come on... I know you're out there... I wasn't the only non-teenybopper in that theater, that place was jam packed with ladies of all ages! Sooo, whad'ya think?? Likes it? Loves it? My vote, LOVE! So much better than Twilight. The production value alone made it a better film, but whoa, the acting has improved, alot! I'm still Team Edward...I think... but darn that Jacob is a cutie! Meow! Oh, I mean woof! Woof-woof!

Anyhoo... I have lots of crafting to share as soon as I have 5 minutes to sit down, even something to do with the above mentioned... oooh, hint, hint Ana!! Check back soon!

TaTa!
~Lisa