I did up a bib for my friends Kristine and Chris's little girl, Lily-Anna, she's going to be teething really soon so you know the drool is going to start and not stop for a few months, and then after that it's solid foods. It's all quilting cottons and cotton batting, so it should absorb nicely, I did the closure with Velcro, and it seems to do the trick quite nicely. I actually used one of Jake's old bibs as a template, and it seemed to work just fine.
The front, the binding took longer than the cutting
and quilting itself. All those curves are a pain in the butt!
The back, note the little heart in the middle!
After that, I still had a lot of energy left, and wanted to try out applique for the first time, it's sloppy, and I don't have any waxed freezer paper to do nice sharp applique's but the sharp angles on the flowers make me happy to be honest. I liked the geometricity of it all. (If that's not a word, it is now!) I like the kitschy 70s colours, and really it was all an experiment, anyways. It's small, only approximately 10 inches high by 12 inches wide, and I could probably attach loops in the back to make it a tiny little wall hanging or something if I felt the desire to do so. I don't think my technique could stand up to much washing in the machine anyways.
I'll be picking up one of those teeny handheld irons and a roll of freezer paper to try out other techniques that I've seen online. I did a double trip around each piece with a blanket style stitch around the pieces, and I liked the definition that the stitching ended up doing.
applique, babay!
I hand quilted the outlines of the petals and outlined each flower, stalk and leaf, as well as did the corners of the binding where my machine decided that it was too hard to get through. I also broke my first machine needle, (almost on my left index fingertip, a close call!) after that I decided to hand sew the rest of the corners. To be honest, once I got into the rhythm of it, It was nice to sit in the quiet living room and just sew with the TV off after my son had gone to sleep and hubby was having a snuggle with him. I'd taken the liberty of escaping downstairs after dinner to ease the sewing craving. The rest was machine quilted with straight stitches and my favourite little bowtie stitch which is just adorable and I find an excuse to use it in everything if I can get away with it. It's on every single piece I've done so far since I got my new machine.
One item at a time. I decided to be less passive this year and more agressive at attaining my own goals. Afterall, if I won't chase my own dragon, than who will?
Item one on my "Bucket List" was completed last weekend, my auntie came over for the weekend and taught me how to sew a quilt. She helped me set up our spare room in our basement as a hobby/sewing room for me, she generously contributed the 5" squares for the topper and helped me pick out the other items I'd need, as well as setting me up with the basics for what I'd need to make more, which is definitely in the works, and sets me up nicely for number 2 on my list.
Action shot!
Do you think he likes it?
with it's matching pillow, in my sewing room.
Napping Daddy approved, though quite short for someone who is 6' 3"tall! LOL!
Item number 2 is to make more quilts if I was any good at making the first, (which I seemed to do tolerably well, it's a cute blanket!) and I decided to make a matching pillow for the original quilt, I had enough squares left over and enough backing and quilt batting to do more. So sew I shall!
Other items on my Bucket list are:
Going to Scotland for a few weeks (Hubby and I agreed this would be our 10 year anniversary present! He wants to fish the river Spey, I want to go wandering around in castles wearing cable knit sweaters!)
Getting a large piece tattoo done from mid thigh to the top of my foot (a peacock)
Getting my drivers license (32 this year and I still can't drive, what a joke!)
Getting my passport.
Going to Mexico.
Achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight.
Professionally publish some of my writing.
Creating something with pottery/clay, perhaps taking a class at a local college.
And many more items, but all of them achievable. Some are mundane, some are extraordinary and will require a lot of planning and forethought, but it's not the intensity and difficulty level of these things That is the point, it's the journey that is life from start to finish. I want to be able to be there on my death bed, whenever that is, and not have regrets that I didn't do the things I wanted to do in my life.
I'll probably write more posts about my bucket list items. What are some of your life goals?
1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
I registered a URL for a blog. This is the first time I've ever owned a website. Kinda neat, but sad that at the same time this is all I can think of for firsts. Maybe our first family photoshoot, or my first wedding anniversary.
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
In the past 4 years I have flat out refused to do any sort of New Years Resolution, my NYR's are started before the 1st of January, (or at least planned out) or started sometime in March. This year is something different, and I quite honestly feel like I am wasting my borrowed time on this earth. I'm singularly unhealthy, both weight and physically, you can see it in my skin, in my bodyshape, and in the way I feel inside. It's crackdown time, but it's not necessarily a "New Years Resolution". It's a necessity resolution to myself so I don't fucking kill myself from my own stupidity. Also I'm hoping to lose 50lbs by August. We'll see. I just have to stick to it.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yep, my cousin's and his fiancee had a very handsome little lad, and my friends Kristine and Chris had a lovely little miss who I got to snuggle at less than a day old. Squee!
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope, not this year... At least I don't think so?
5. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
Confidence in my body.
6. What countries did you visit?
I stayed in Canada this year.
7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why:
My first anniversary.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Nothing I can definitively answer this year. How depressing.
9. What was your biggest failure?
The lack of achievement in 2011. I was very "overwhelmed" and depressed all year long. Time to put on my big girl panties and deal! Also, I accidentally washed my kids' ipod touch in the washing machine. There was a lot of cursing happening in the laundry room while I scalded the shit out of my arms/hands searching frantically for it in the screaming hot water and sheets.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing major. A couple of colds. I suppose crippling anxiety at parts in my year would classify as an illness.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
My 4th gen, 64gb ipod touch. Technically my husband bought it for me, for Mother's day/birthday gift.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Jake. The leaps and bounds he's made in development, both attitude wise and vocabulary and mental developmentally is amazing. He amazes me every day.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Mine.
14. Where did most of your money go?
I don't have an income. Ask my husband.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Glee, which dammit, has been VERY disappointing both season 2 and the beginning of season 3.
16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
Adele - One and Only.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Sadder, however, more determined than ever to smarten this life of mine around.
ii. thinner or fatter? Ugh, Fatter, is my guess. iii. richer or poorer? I'm not the moneybags.
Okay, Meme, let me take a stab at that:
i) more or less like Justin Beaver - Uhh... I couldn't give two shiny shits and a brass knuckle. ii) more or less likely to decide inanimate objects looked like boobs - Everyone loves tits. iii) more or less likely to watch Glee – About the same, but if it's true that C. Colfer and Lea Michelle are leaving after this season, it will def. be my last. This season is awful so far.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
More shit outside my house. Somewhere in the last couple of years I became reclusive to the point of ridiculous. This is completely out of character for me, and not a good example for my son.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Sitting on my big fat ass, stuffing my gob. LOL!
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
At home. With my cousins and my guys.
21. Did you fall in love in 2011?
No. I'm feeling particularly jaded.
22. How many one-night stands?
What is sex? I forget.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
Big Bang Theory, which was a marathon of all 5 seasons in a week, this summer it was True Blood on HBO. I don't really watch more than that. Glee... well... That's been covered already.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nope.
25. What was the best book you read?
I enjoyed Jacqueline Carey's newest spinoff of the Kushiel's dart series (Nama'ah's kiss, curse etc...) and I just finished reading the four books Cliff got me for Christmas, (4 books in five days, Yeah it's sick...) by JR Ward, the Fallen angel series: Covet, Crave and Envy. They were enjoyable and a nice spinoff of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series that she writes.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Herp-a-derrrrppppp.... Uh... Probably Adele's 21, and Micheal Buble's Christmas album is awesome. It was on every day until Christmas in my house.
27. What did you want and get?
Mah iPod upgrade!
28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Thor was enjoyable. Napoleon Dynamite is a recurring favourite. It might not be "new" but it's always enjoyed.
That sucked. I’m going to make up a new question:
a) Where are your pants?
on my fat, fat ass.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 31. I can't remember what I did for my birthday. I know it was a pretty good weekend, that's all I can vaguely recall.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More cowbell?
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Fashion? Yoga pants and a few knit sweaters. Tank tops and shorts in the summer.
34. What kept you sane?
My friends. My trip out to Victoria this summer by myself, which was my first holiday sans family.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
No one.
edit: I totally freaking lied.Joe Manganiello. Phwoar! The only Celebrity crush I've had since I was 13 and obsessed with Jonathan Brandis. (RIP, JB.)
Oh. My. God. (To my husband: I love you, honey.)
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Nothing, really. I voted this year.
37. Who did you miss?
Christmas was hard without my parents this year. 38. Who was the best new person you met?
Ugh, the pressure! Everybody that wasn't douchey?
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011:
Nothing happens unless you're proactive. You'll never know what you can do if you don't try.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Uh... No.
Ok, so I officially fell for 2 pranks this April fools day, one masterfully executed by my cousin Sylvie, (which I don't know If I can forgive her for) because I was so very bummed after I found out it was her joke. She posted on her facebook status that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 was being released in May instead of July. I was GLEEFUL. I posted it on a friends page. And the only reason I fell for it was because I didn't think Miss Sylvie was the prankster type. (I should KNOW better, I live with her for gods sake.)
Sad. Face. FOREVER! You don't fuck around with a nerd and Harry Potter.
I'll have to get over myself with that one. (I told her she was a stinker, and she laughed and laughed at my disgruntled face!) which I'm sure will happen within moments.
And the other "prank" was by Gmail/Google. Seriously. I'll let you see for yourself.
Now, I wouldn't have fallen for it under normal April 1st circumstances, as I'm pretty wary of anything on that day, and I'm really freaking gullible. But the clincher was that it was linked in my gmail inbox, up in the navigation bars as a new product. Now, admittedly, my email could have possibly been open since the 1st in my browser and and I never actually refreshed the page. but aren't AFD pranks supposed to happen on the 1st, not the 3rd of April? (and technically, aren't pranks supposed to occur only until noon on the first?) I checked it out today and was flabbergasted at the concept, mainly because people would look like total tools dancing around in front of their webcams.
I can type faster than I could charades out a freaking email.
And while I thought looked ridiculous, but more for the guy demoing it than the concept itself. Dude was totally a Creepy McCreeperson. All I could think was poor planning on Google's advertising team! LOL!
though I have to give both Sylvie and Google credit, for as paranoid a person as I am around the first of April, they totally snookered me.
Here's a video that nicely sums up how much I dislike April fools day, It's from Canadian sitcom Corner Gas, and features my favourite character (Davis).
The reasons mostly being that I feel like most pranks are usually malicious and poorly thought out. For example, as a kid, I thought it would be hilarious to put water into the section of the food processor that was used to push food towards the blades. HAHAhahaha...ha..hhhaaaaa.... *sighs* Yes, electrical devices and water, and spinning razor sharp blades. I never said I was brilliant at the age of 10. (I didn't actually do that one, I thought I would get in tons of shit for it.)
Most of my friends seem to rotate around the concept that announcing pregnancies and relationship statuses on facebook was the theme of the day. You know, the kind of blatantly obvious jokes that only fool the people who don't know the actual date.
Except for Sylvie. Who successfully yanked my chain.
This is a challenge given by my girlfriend Alli, to see if we could write 50 things about yourself that you like. Here are mine. Keep in mind this is things I like about myself, not always "positive" things but things I've learned to accept about my persona. I challenge YOU to write the same (you don't need to share it if you don't want to!) I found it to be a definite booster to my pretty ragged feeling self-esteem level today.
1. sense of humour.
2. the shape of my eyes.
3. my skin after I shower and shave my legs.
4. my writing style.
5. my handwriting.
6. my Intelligence.
7. that I am left handed.
8. when I'm genuinely entertained by something my laugh is awesome. Usually a cackle.
9. my ability to think logically sometimes.
10. my extensive vocabulary.
11. my ability to read anything quickly.
12. my physical strength.
13. how deeply I love my son.
14. the shape of my hands and my feet
15. that I still have faith in humanity, and seeing examples of humans doing amazing things makes me cry
16. My willingness to admit "I don't know the answer to that." and then to research and educate myself on it almost immediately.
17. that I like pretty much anything to do with music.
18. I can sleep anytime in the day.
19. I like my ability to be scandalized. This is a new development as this never used to happen 5 years ago.
20. that I have mellowed with age.
21. there is a healthy level of cynicism with my sense of humour.
22. that I can re-read books over and over again. One of my favourite things to do is get lost in a familiar story.
23. I like that I can swear like a sailor. My mother hates it but this isn't about her.
24. that I've learned definite lessons from my previous mistakes in life.
25. that I rarely blow dry/flat iron/do anything other than put my hair up in a ponytail. It's always in pretty good condition even a year in between haircuts.
26. that I am a brunette. I <3 brunettes.
27. my dated pop-culture knowledge. Yeah that's right, I can kick your ass at 80s and 90's trivial pursuit.
28. that if I had a choice I'd be 70% carnivore and 20% carbafarian, and the rest can (I guess) be vegetables. Yep. Veggies suck, but I eat them anyways. (and in a more balanced ratio.)
29. my love of nirvana, soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Most 90s music in general, actually.
30. my ability to USE common sense as well as possess it.
31. my ability to be 100% emotional instead of logical at times.
32. my absolutely mind-bendingly confusing methodology of arguing/fighting. LOL!
33. the fact that as I get older I am refusing more and more to deal with bullshit. My own included. I wish I'd been like this years ago.
34. I love that I LOVE diamonds.
35. my calves. I got my mom's gams.
36. my lips.
37. my honesty regarding my housekeeping, gardening and fish keeping abilities. I'm pretty shitty at all three.
38. despite the fact that I'm terrible at all three, I still try, try, try. I'm still shit at folding laundry though. Maybe because I hate it.
39. the fact that I am tolerant to a point about almost anything but when I reach that boiling point I put my foot down and it's no going back ever again.
40. my love of designer perfumes.
41. that I can be pretty deep and also superficial at the same time. It all depends on how well you know me as to how many levels you get to see.
42. my abilities with technology. I'm not to shoddy at doing most things on a computer/smartphone/etc.
43. that I can be really really sweet and supportive, or a real fucking bitch, depending on how you treat me.
44. that I am particular about my chocolate.
45. I do not drink very often.
46. I love that I can bring the house down at karaoke.
47. how anal I am about my itunes music library. It's organized within an inch of it's existence.
48. I am an excellent verbal communicator, but an even better written communicator.
49. I'm a good instructor/teacher/helper.
50. I'm a damned good cook and baker.
