Beba's Thimble

new beginnings

2011-10-20T07:48:00.001-07:00

OK - so I have been meaning to come back to this blog for some time and I just never seem to have the time to do a proper post, so I never bother. I think I am going to be revamping this little blog, deleting some of the old content and starting fresh. Stay tuned for some awesome changes (hopefully) soon!

In the meantime, enjoy this face:

the birth of a quilt

2011-03-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday night! How is it that I usually only find time to update this blog as I am laying in bed getting more and more tired and incoherent? Perhaps today it has something to do with the fact that my ass got completely whooped in a Bikram yoga class, and I spent the majority of the daylight hours preparing for, engaging in, and then recovering from it. I have always been curious about this form of yoga, but up until now I have been too scared to try it since it is practiced in a room that is heated to over 100 degrees, and you are in there for 90 mins doing strenuous activity the whole time. My friend has been taking the classes for a few months, and she highly recommended that I go with her to try it once...the jury is still out on the experience at this point. While the feeling after was indescribably wonderful (maybe more of a "thank god that is over with" type of feeling than anything else), the class itself was almost unbearable in my opinion. It was definitely one of the most trying things I have ever put my body through, but I wouldn't rule out another go at some point in the future, maybe once I have lost some weight...

Ass-whoopery aside, I was still able to make some serious progress today on a quilt project I have had in the works since last spring. The quilt is made from this pattern from Oh, Fransson. I have slowly been plugging away at this quilt as a background WIP, but I finally decided it is about time I finished this guy. I finished piecing and trimming the top yesterday and pieced together a wonky star-infused back today (which of course blogger won't let me show because it is apparently being a dick right now).

Now all that is left is to sandwich, baste, quilt, and bind....ugh - now that I type that out it sounds like a lot more work than I thought! Oh well, its all about the process, right? I really haven't done a whole lot of sewing for myself - this will only be the second quilt that I have kept for myself so I am pretty anxious to get this one finished. Luckily the new sewing machine is an absolute dream to work with, and progress has been fairly swift.

That's all I have for now, next time I hope Blogger will cooperate and let me post more pictures. I have updates on my teal dresser makeover, some decorating projects I've been working on, and more quilts!

The beast says: TTFN!

the new hottness

2011-03-09T21:19:00.000-08:00

Just a brief post here before its off to bed. I have so much to update about, but so little time, so I figured I would cover the biggest news for right now: I have a new sewing machine!! I have been researching machines for quite some time, but haven't really been in the market to buy due to some lingering financial challenges. Well...between a hefty tax rebate, a large unexpected bonus and raise from work, along with some budget changes over the last few months I somehow miraculously accumulated enough money to pay off all my credit cards, and create a bit of a financial safety net for myself. I decided it might finally be time to safely invest in a new machine. After calling around to every sewing machine dealer within a 200 mile radius I found a trade-in deal on my old machine I couldn't pass up from a nice independently owned dealership, and I was able to purchase this new beauty:

I have to say I am utterly thrilled with my purchase. I was very scared I made the wrong purchase at first since I brought the machine home on Saturday and I immediately started experienced some problems with the 1/4" piecing foot...many tears were shed as this is probably the largest single purchase I have ever made in my life so far, and it appeared to be broken. After a quick trip back to the dealer today I am happy to report they have adjusted the machine, and it is working flawlessly! I haven't had much time to play with it yet, but I have gotten some work done on a few projects.

I won't go into too much detail now, but next post I will update on some of the other crafty activity that has been going on around here.

a fresh start

2011-01-22T07:06:00.000-08:00

I am posting this from my NEW MACBOOK PRO! Hell yeah! No more waiting 15+ minutes for my computer to boot up, or frustrating blue screens of death! I have always wanted a macbook, but they have always been too expensive to really consider. Thanks to the powers of Best Buy price matching and interest-free financing my dream has come true.

I feel like a lot has happened since my last posting, but I really haven't had the time to just sit down and write about it. I recently decided to quit my pipe band, which has been a very difficult, but freeing decision. I had to return my uniform and my chanter, which was a bit surreal since they have been travelling with my for the last 10 years or so. I miss the people in my pipe band, but I have to say I have not yet been pining to go back to a practice. Its a relief to have an extra evening in the week to relax and get stuff done. You would think that with an extra weeknight free now I would be able to keep on top of the housework, but alas, that is not the case.

I have been on a huge redecorating kick as of late, and I've been pretty much been coming home most nights and working on various art/craft projects late in to the night. There have been nights (when Andrew wasn't home) where I didn't even eat dinner because I was so focused on my work. I am hoping to have pictures of the final products soon.

I don't usually make resolutions for the new year, but this year I am going to try to abide by some rules I set for myself. The first, and most important rule, is going to be organization. I have come to find that if I am not organized my life becomes 10 times more stressful. I am a huge procrastinator, and I'm not sure that will really change, but I need to start organizing my daily routine, and my housework or I will probably crack one of these days. The second rule is going to be exercise. I NEED to exercise more for medical and mental health reasons. I bought myself a treadmill from a friend, and I need to start using it. To start the year off on the right foot with the organization I decided to start working on small spots of clutter around the house. The first place I hit was the medicine cabinet. Using some discarded baking mix boxes I turned our medicine cabinet from a jumbled mess to this:

I also started a massive fabric stash reorganization project. Right now all my fabric is in droopy piles in a closet, but with the help of some comic book boards my fabric closet is going to start looking more like this:

So far the year is starting off well. I am going to try to simplify things this year, and do my best to enjoy the ride. Its going to be a very busy day, so I better stop there for now...plus there is a certain beast who would like me to stop typing and come play with her...

a pretty amazing weekend

2010-11-14T20:13:00.001-08:00

Some weekends really rock. Andrew and I took Friday off to relax, and I managed to get some reorganizing done in the craft room. I took out a bookcase to make room for an armchair in the corner (if I can afford one sometime), and did some redecorating. I refurbished an ugly old cork board (which Stella was very interested in chewing on), and a few other magnetic boards I had.

I finished all the piecing on the Christmas Quilt, and finished the cutting of a new 8 bit quilt.

I also have another decoration project in mind using some of the old embroidery hoops I saved from my grandma leenie's house a few years ago.

I don't have any pictures from the rest of the weekend, but I went on a massive impromptu pub crawl that started at the mall of america, included a stop at an irish pub and a ghetto karaoke bar, and ended at a zombie bar at last call, followed by Perkins at 3:45am. There was much NutLiquor to be had. It was awesome. Bed time now, since I only slept 4 hours last night.

fleeting craftiness

2010-10-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

Here are some projects I have been working on:

The Goomba quilt - almost done now, just a few more feet of binding to sew on.

Halloween bat pillow and weighted pincushion/scrap bag device

New purse with lots of storage made out of IKEA origami animal fabric (amazing, btw)

Future projects:

1) Pile of aqua and red fabric scraps - I'm thinking these are destined for a star quilt at some point. I am waiting to get a few half yards of Moda Bliss fabric to start this project since I am completely in love with the prints (may be awhile since I am *completely* broke). 2) Dresser/vanity I bought on Craigslist. I have been sanding/disassembling this in the garage to paint, and discovered that it is from 1915 (at least the mirror is). I am very excited for this to be a bluish-green masterpiece when I'm through revamping it. I am also utterly thrilled about the claw feet. Pictures to come as I work on it.

Other than enjoying a few fleeting spurts of craft time, I have been pretty much just doing the same old thing: working too much during the week, and partying too much on the weekends. I am trying to get myself a second job somewhere to save up some money to help pay down my crippling student loan bills, and some other minor personal debt I have...not to mention paying for the things I have been putting off like new tires, oral surgery, etc. I have applied to several places close to my house and full time work, and it seems this job market is so bad that even places like Kwik Trip are not calling me for an interview for part-time work. What a huge bummer, and kind of a punch to the old ego...I'm really not "good enough" to get an interview at the Kwik Trip?? *sigh* We won't even go into my search for another full-time job...

If anyone knows of any other ways to save up an extra few thousand dollars on the side please let me know. P.S. Prostitution is not an option. I've thought about it, and ruled it out.

(wish I was) listening to: Light Chasers by Cloud Cult

We Are the Robots

2010-10-04T21:18:00.000-07:00

Not much time here, so I will be brief. This week I: bought an antique dresser that I am going to refurbish (pictures to come later), did some decorating for Halloween,

made a Pokemon bag for my friend,

was a pickle,

and a drunk flower child,

enjoyed the perpetual cuteness of the beast,

and tonight, made some robots for my favorite twins (almost finished.)

I took Mon-Fri off from work, so I am hoping I will have something interesting to report by the end of the week.

who needs kids when you have a dog?!

2010-07-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

Sadly, the comfortable, productive evening I had planned for myself did not start out well. I got home and tried to get Stella to eat her food, but she refused (which she's been doing a lot lately), so I mixed in some leftover breakfast burrito filling from the other day to try to get her to eat. After I heard her tags clinking in the bowl I thought it was safe to go upstairs and change into my comfortable hipster evening wear. When I left the upstairs bathroom I was greeted by a quivering pile of vomit that looked kind of like an old school jello mold, but instead of pieces of fruit there were chunks of sausage and dog food embedded in the jiggling mound. I panicked, as she started to eat it back up, and ran into the bathroom grabbing the only thing I could find to clean up: a half roll of toilet paper. I tore off a massive wad, and scooped up what I could, hastily depositing the foulness it in the toilet. When I returned to the gory scene the remainder of the TP roll was missing. Stella had taken and dragged it all over the house. I followed her trail of carnage to the living room where she was gnawing on a soaking-nub-formerly-known-as-TP-roll. GAH!
I got that mess (mostly) cleaned up, immediately mixed myself a massive long island iced tea, put on Cinderella as background sound (yes...I am a dork), and made myself a quick dinner. After that I felt a bit better. Two loads of laundry, a load of dishes, and 1 more long island later I felt positively on top of the world. Now, as I lounge here on the couch with my third long island, there are two beautiful loaves of zucchini bread cooling on the stove top, radiating their gorgeous fragrance throughout the house. I tweaked this recipe a bit, by adding some nutmeg and a bit more cinnamon.

These babies were made using the fresh monster zucchini Mom gave me from her garden. I have to say: I am *good.*

Lately I have been outrageously obsessed with online artsy-crafty project tutorials. While I am short on time and cash for the supplies, here is a sampling of some of the things on my to-do list for the future (I am not quite sure yet how to appropriately reference online photo sources, so please forgive *and correct* me if linking is not enough):

crocheted stones

homemade dog collar and leash set

mirrored planter (I would add some glass etching for sure)

ruffled pillow made from two recycled t-shirts (different colors)

Also, I want to make potholders, fabulous etched windows, english paper pieced hexagons, and more.

Stella is really pissing me off right now by doing lots of this:

I am going to play ball with her for awhile.
goodnight.

some days are wonderful

2010-07-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

So far this weekend I have gone to the horse races with some friends:

And I will also be going to the Red Bull Flugtag to watch stupid people launch themselves into the river, and Gasthof zur Gemutlichkeit to drink beer out of a boot for our friend Matt's birthday...pictures to follow. The "in-laws" will also be coming over to stay the night tomorrow, so we are going to need to clean up the loads of crap in the "dance floor" area, so people can actually sleep there.

I have many craft projects in the works before I leave for Scotland, but I especially cannot wait to get a start on making some of my own interpretation of these as xmas presents:

So. Fantastic.

Stella recently got a haircut, and she has been quite disapproving...

Now it's off to go eat the homemade breakfast burritos Andrew has been slaving over while I've been puttering around on the interwebs.

Mood: very content

The Frantic Crafter

2010-07-19T21:33:00.000-07:00

I don't have much time here, but I feel like I need to update about my recent craft fever. I have had several ideas for various craft projects buzzing around in my head, but not nearly enough time to work on them. I sit at work all day thinking about what I would like to come home and work on, but I never seem to have the time at night that I need to make much progress with anything. I had a little bit of time this weekend (between the bar outings, hangouts, errands, and getting trapped by tornadoes) to complete and start some of the projects I have been thinking about. Here are a few recaps:

I fixed my failure sign and I think it looks pretty presentable now.

I made some cute coasters out of tile, scrapbook paper, and acrylic sealer

I also made another enormous mess of the craft room (after I just cleaned it) starting a few new quilt tops.

This is shaping up to be another very busy social week again, so I'm not sure how many other projects I am going to get to work on. Among other things, this weekend I will be going to the horse races, attending the Red Bull Flugtag, drinking beer out of a giant boot for a friend's birthday, and getting together with my dad to plan a dresser he is going to help me build. Here we go again!

Progress!

2010-07-14T20:13:00.001-07:00

So...for still not having my sewing machine back from the repair shop, it has still been a relatively productive craft day! I was able to get the binding sewn on an old quilt project (finally after sitting in the closet for months half-finished)

The earthy colors in this quilt remind me of a swamp, and the brown fabric makes me think of frog eyes -does anyone else see that, or am I just nuts? I have dubbed it "Swampy Quilt."

Aside from finishing this quilt I also did some sprucing up in the craft room using some ugly clearance picture frames I found in the garage awhile back. They had some gummy crap stuck to them from the clearance tags, so I cleaned them with some Goo-be-Gone, and threw in some cute coordinated stamped postcards I was messing around with a few weeks ago.

Who knew that it would be so easy to transform something that was going to go straight to ARC into a cute decoration? These little birdies fit nicely on my bookshelf now.

I also attempted another project tonight that I was thinking about all day, but it was kind of a fail. I tried to use my cricut cutter to cut some vinyl and make a painted welcome sign to go above our door, but it didn't really work out how I planned. I think if I had tried this experiment on something more flat it would have been a success, but the textured canvas panel I used must have been too lumpy and allowed paint to seep under the vinyl.

Oh well...such is life sometimes. I think I am going to try to salvage the project when I am less tired with some white paint, a small brush, and a steady hand. It could still work out.

Andrew got a new digital SLR yesterday and it is pretty much the nicest camera I have ever used and I am quite jealous (none of the pics above were taken using this...trust me, it is very nice...see the un-edited photos below). I have a feeling I am going to need to steal it a lot and take many pictures.

Stella be with you!

WHAT a nerd!

2010-07-05T16:20:00.001-07:00

OK, it's really time to post on this blog again...has it been a week already?? Jebus, time flies by fast. Brief recap of this week: 1) fill in Wed-Fri with uneventful crap 2) went to the local sci-fi convention dressed as a Goomba (bad mushroom guy from Super Mario Bros) to try to fit in. Yes, seriously...check it out:

(That's me on the left.....)

(don't know who that random guy with the booze is...just kinda showed up and wanted to party with Andrew...on a BOAT)

Many beers were had...

perhaps too many beers at times....

Anyways...I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked this year mainly due to the fact that Andrew had my camera in his pocket most of the time and he kept wandering off. I am hoping that my friends will come through and fill in the photographic gaps, and I can post more about this later (not to mention Blogger is having some serious photo uploading issues right now).

Aside from that the rest of the weekend was spent 4) enjoying a relaxing Sunday that consisted of eating, napping, eating, getting pissed at our neighbors for stinking and noise-polluting up the whole place with their gunpowder obnoxiousness, and then sleeping again. Andrew picked us out a steak the size of a small child, and we feasted like kings on grilled food. I also made some delectable brownies from scratch, but they were almost a bit too rich so we have a lot left over...

That is all I have for now. Time to go eat dinner, take my sewing machine to the doctor (for 2 whole weeks...son of a vondrook!!), and then work on cleaning this pit of a house.

Stella's mood: particularly tired today...

The Calm

2010-06-28T19:18:00.000-07:00

Mondays are always a tough day for me, but today was particularly arduous. I want to keep this blog positive, so instead of dwelling on what went wrong with this day, and what I am so nervous about happening tomorrow, I will just say that right now I am very cozy. Andrew is away at a friends house and it is just me and the fuzzy little beast here. I am snuggled up on my big comfy couch with my favorite blankie and pillow, drinking a delicious blueberry lemonade-boozy-thingy by candlelight, waiting to finish catching up on some Dr.Who. *contented sigh*

{doesn't this feel pretty cozy to you?}

This weekend was *quite* busy, and I am sad to say that I haven't been able to do any of my own crafting, however I did help the next generation of nerdlings foster their crafty side. I have to say that MSLG (my special little girlies) were ~~pretty excited~~ besides themselves with glee when I whipped out the laminating machine and told them we were going to make some laminated bookmarks. Here is a peek at the bookmark that little V made for me to take home, and a few of the tiny decorated booklets we make out of sticky notes...they seemed to be a hit.

Aside from that I also *helped out my pal Anna (Marbleboats) with the beer tasting fund raiser at her museum

*almost died on the highway in a flash flood, ate pizza and watched the Human Centipede (gross, btw) with friends

*went antiquing with my mom, took the beast to the dog park, and subsequently bathed said beast...in no particular order.

Needless to say it has been a busy weekend.

I am going to wrap this up so I can (perhaps) watch some Dr Who before bed. This has been a very relaxing use of the last hour, but I do believe someone is looking for attention by pulling the glasses off my head, so I should really get going.

TTFN

Thursdays are Busydays

2010-06-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is Thursday again...ugh what a bummer...this summer is really flying by (tends to happen when you live almost solely for your weekends). Despite deciding to leave work at 12:30 today it still feels like I got nothing accomplished in the Real World. I had the best intentions of getting so many things accomplished in my 4 hours of freedom, but it seems that the gods of productivity were conspiring against me today. Partner in Crime had to work an unexpected all-nighter last night, and *surprise surprise* the dog kept me up most of last night barking and whining, and startling herself awake at the sound of cars outside. Soooo...with both of us tired as all get out, not a whole lot got done in the way of household chores today, and to top it all off it seems that Little Beast may have actually peed on the bed without me noticing. *sigh* But how can you get too mad at something with such a cute little mug?

(excuse the blurriness, this was taken in a poorly lit room with a phone camera...as many of my photos probably will be)

I did do at least one exciting thing today, though, which was adding to my ::ridiculously well-stocked, over-admired, and under-used:: fabric stash. I have been contemplating getting some fabric from Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley line for quite some time now, but high prices and "me not having any kind of plan for it" have been holding me back. I decided to bite the bullet today, though, and buy some fat quarters of the "new day" colorway. The store was missing some of the prints from this colorway, so I will probably end up having to fill in the gaps with some online purchasing, but for now I have 5 nice FQs to hold and ponder.

I have a feeling this will be sitting on my shelf unused for some time until I have some kind of plan for it, or I feel ballsy (ovariesy doesn't sound very good) enough to cut it. I also ponied up the dough for 2 - 1/2 yards of my favorite prints from Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane line, and two other FQs that struck my fancy.

As of right now I have no plans for these fabrics, but they will supplement my stash nicely until I find a use for them. I am definitely an impulse fabric buyer, but I buy in small quantities so it is more affordable, and I have a larger variety of fabric to play with. I rarely buy fabric in quantities over 1 yard unless it is required for a pattern, it is a beloved print that I feel I will use copious amounts of over time, or it is a basic print or solid that I can use in many projects.

Anyways, it is starting to get late and I could go on and on about fabric, but for right now I will stop. I will likely not have much time to invest in this little bloggy blog over the weekend due to massive amounts of plans (ie truck pull/cheese fest, adult hangout/Dr Who/toddler bash, baking lessons with my mom, and a beer tasting to name a few), but I will do my best not to neglect posting entirely. Since Whiskey Pete, my precious sewing machine, is on the fritz I will not get many opportunities to work on any sewing projects until he is mended. Perhaps in the meantime while he is away at the fixery I will update with some WIPs (works in progress) and introduce this new blog to my craft room? We shall see...stay tuned.

Stella says "goodnight."

Birth of a Blog

2010-06-23T19:59:00.000-07:00

Well, after spending *way* too much time fretting about background color options and font formatting, here we are - my first blog post!

I am starting this blog to try to motivate myself to do something crafty whenever the opportunity presents itself, and to share my ideas and inspirations with a community of like-minded folks. I am also trying to keep my brain engaged with something semi-intellectual since it spends most of its days in mind-numbing stupor, working for Corporate America.

I'll try to keep this a negativity-free zone as much as possible, and I will try to post as often as I have the time for. Not every post will related to crafty things (sadly) because unless things change I just don't have the time that I would like for crafting right now.

Let's get this thing started off nicely with a pretty picture. Here is a block that I am contemplating incorporating into a baby quilt for a friend at work who is pregnant. We shall see...not quite sold yet. I am still learning how to use this blog thing, so for now pictures and things are going to be pretty basic, but you've got to start somewhere, right?

What I'm listening to: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt 1 by The Flaming Lips