Andy's Wedding Quilt

My mom and I made this really awesome quilt for my cousin Andy and his wife Tara who got married last Saturday. We each made half the blocks and we both love it.

My 100th post and first giveaway!

100 posts! it only took me three years :)
Since I am greedy and want my darling friend Kate to make me something lovely, I am going to pass on the favor to y'all. Please read below for official contest rules.

The first five (5) people to respond to this post will get something made by me.

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. You get what you get.
2. What I create will be just for you - if you have a blog I can mine for ideas, it might be based on what I think you'll like - or it may be random.
3. It'll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it's going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something digital. It may be weird or beautiful. It may be baked goods.
5. I reserve the right to do something strange, if inspired to do so.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text into a note of your own - or a blog post - and make something for the first 5 people to respond to your note.
7. Send me your mailing address if you don't live close to me!

IMPORTANT: You DO have to pay it forward.

If you want to participate, leave a comment with a link where I can find your post. Email with your address and I'll get around to it sometime in 2009.

Paying it forward from Kate's blog and my participation therein.

some smaller quilts

First, a baby quilt I made out of leftovers from another quilt that looks pretty much exactly like this. I think it's so cute!

Next, the final result of one I posted a while ago; it ended up about 52" square, a perfect lap size. Tiff bought it for her mom for Mother's Day.

Finally, the last of the pink square-in-a-square bits I had left, made into a sweet baby girl quilt. I'll be posting this on Etsy soon. I can't believe I almost made a queen size of all 4" square-in-a-square blocks!!! I was insane.

bogus dreams 1

(I have been having a lot of really really weird dreams recently.)

I dreamt I was sent on an emergency business trip to Scotland. I was to fly there Tuesday to arrive Wednesday and be refreshed for the meeting Thursday, and then fly back immediately Thursday afternoon. No problem, say I, except that THIS IS TUESDAY MORNING RIGHT NOW. So I get on the plane and realize I don't have any of the essentials - those being extra underwear, appropriate trousers for a meeting, iphone charger, and book to read on the long-ass flight. So the pilot somehow learns of my plight and drives the half-empty plane to my house, because he knew my dad. Except that he drove it to my PARENTS' house. (I moved out 5 years ago and everyone thinks I still live there. This is true and frustrating even in real life) I ask to borrow an iphone charger from my dad, ask him to get one from my house when he goes up to feed my cat, and then we spend what seems like hours taking care of five minutes' worth of stuff and I start worrying about holding up the entire plane. It is still in the driveway.

(then my phone rings and wakes me up)

jet setting

I'm off to London today! I'm on vacation for two solid weeks, including a weekend in Scotland and another weekend in Morocco! SO COOL.
I'm leaving in two hours and haven't packed yet. :)

suzy homemaker weekend!

Hi guys!
I have been hanging out at home this weekend, being super productive (in between wasting time on facebook and napping on the couch with kitty) so here are a few snaps of what I'm doing:

Some blocks from a pinwheel quilt I've been working on for some time - mostly very pale blues with a few very pale greens (upper right) and that one mostly white print with big pink flowers on it (bottom center). I've got 64 - 8" blocks finished, I was considering making it a queen size but lost steam when I realized that not only would I have to sew 36 more blocks, but also that a 64" square quilt is really quite a lovely size. I'll lay out the blocks once I get this one off the quilt wall:

this is an incredibly crappy snapshot, but you get the idea. The strips are 6" wide - they are the leftovers from the squares I cut for Mikey's Christmas quilt (below). I had a giant stack of strips left and decided to sew them together. The horizontal asphalt grey strips are 1" and the vertical ones are 1.5". It's 41"x44" right now, if I remember correctly, and I think I'll just sew 4" grey borders on and piece a multicoloured sashing from more of the Asian prints - though I may give in and put a double border on it (grey, print strips, grey) to make it more of a lap size. Your input is welcome!

Here is a sweet little vignette of my sewing table - I did some improvisational piecing from bits I had left over from a homespun quilt I made - that one did turn out to be queen sized - and I'm quite pleased with the results. It's 22"x25", a large doll quilt size. I made one about that size for my cat since I just had a few squares left from a quilt I made for Monica a few years ago, and I loved them together, so I just made a mini quilt. The cat thinks it is the best thing ever. She hides toys under it and then dives under to attack them, or just fights with it. It's cute.

This is the quilt we made Mikey for Christmas - I started it YEARS ago (we won't attempt to count) and Mom basically finished it for me (last bit of the sashing, borders, sandwiching, quilting, machine stitching the binding) so I could take it up to Whistler to give to Mike. It turned out HUGE - Anna is standing on a chair, on tiptoes, holding it up as tall as possible, on the left side of the photo there, and it's still puddling on the floor a tiny bit. HUGE.

Also I am knitting a hat, and made a pie (check it out at the hot buns bakery) and got a lot of sleep. Excellent weekend.

Love,
Abby

a lovely little story

I had seen this a while ago but my brother found it on youtube and I want to share it, so please without further ado, spend the next 10 minutes watching this little gem of 1960s graphics and dry wit.

The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics

Happy New Year!

Hey guys!

I had a pretty fun new year - big roses & rosemary party (for which I provided baked goods and oceans of cheese) and then up to Whistler for the weekend with a couple of friends to visit my brother (did I tell you he's living there for the winter? bastard). I left my car at my parents' house for the weekend while I was up there and when I came back there had been a fire... inside the car. yep. This is the second time in 4 years that I have had a fire in my car. I have bad fire/car karma apparently.

My hopes for the new year are high but not unreasonable:
-do not buy lunch at work unless I have a lunch date and am going out. this involves cooking the night before or keeping pb&j in the fridge. this relates to:
-cook more. it's cheaper and healthier and funner. yes i said funner.
-travel more. this should be doable with all the money i'll save from cooking - and maybe even from not getting another car if i can hold out long enough.
-be more active. yeah, this includes going to the gym, but also bike more, hike more, play outside more. again, funner.
-finish more quilts. i'm hoping for 1 a month. also i'd like to blog about them, with pictures. and finish UFOs. and make lots of stash quilts because my stash is ooc.

so in summary, i want what i always want - be healthier and live my life to the fullest.

Here's hoping your new year brings you everything you wish for too-
love,
Abby

tasty treats

Hi guys!
Jenn's mom's birthday was Saturday and she requested a German Chocolate cake:

I made extra frosting and it was damned good.

I also made biscotti last week. It was pretty plain but I flavored it with orange zest, vanilla, and almond extract and it was AWESOME. I will make more for Christmas goodies.

I have also volunteered to provide food & decor for the Roses and Rosemary New Years Eve party (www.rosesandrosemary.org/NewYears) so I spent the weekend pricing cheese and testing appetizers - I wanted to make fancy nuts for nibbles and loosely based my recipe on the absurdly fantastic spanish peanuts they have at El Camino (please go there immediately).

Abby's Awesome Spiced Peanuts (or mixed nuts, do whatever you want)

3 cups peanuts (i used roasted + lightly salted and they worked fine)

1t cumin

1t cayenne

1/2 t savory seasoning blend (optional - i used the no-salt garlicky one in a grinder from costco)

1T honey

1/2 lime

2t sea salt

Put cumin and cayenne in a dry pan and toast for a minute, then add a tablespoon or two of water, get all the spices wet, and add the nuts and toss to coat. Cook the nuts, tossing frequently, for a couple of minutes. Stir in the honey and make sure that's mixed well, then spread on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, then let cool. Squeeze in some lime juice and sea salt, toss again, put the rest of the lime in some Coronas, and try not to eat them all in one go.

Love,

Abby

happy thanksgiving!

what's up, y'all?

It's been two months and I have been busy, but I just wanted to tell you hello and I'm still around and doing great and having fun, but don't feel interesting enough to blog when I have time, and don't have time when I feel interesting.

That being said, today was an absolutely lovely Thanksgiving with a delicious mishmash of friends and family, and I'm thankful for all the wonderful people in my life. And food. Good lord, I'm thankful for the food. And for you, reading this.

And now it's time for Christmas, which is pretty much my favorite thing ever.
Love,
Abby