briana arlene

A January Quilt

2012-01-18T10:39:00.002-05:00

I have barely done any sewing in the past few weeks. I think I am just going through the same phase I do every January. The one where I realize that I still have 3 to 4 cold, dark months ahead of me, in which I will be lucky to see any daylight during the week given my work schedule. It's demotivating, for sure. I am a morning person, which means that I am a LIGHT person, so winter kind of zaps my creativity.

Anyway, I did start a new quilt, just to give myself something to work on so that I can feel mildly productive. I have only gotten this far, though:

And I made one test block. As you can see, Kohlrabi is very intrigued about what this might turn into.

Flea Market Finds

2012-01-08T19:20:00.001-05:00

Look what I found at the DC Big Flea Market this weekend—two linen tea towels with mid-century/Danish-looking motifs.

Now the question is, do I cut these up for a quilt or leave them intact and display them somewhere?

Hat and gloves

2012-01-05T10:59:00.002-05:00

I am going out on a serious limb today, readers. I have debated showing you one of the projects that I worked on for Christmas because then I would have to explain to whom I gave it, and I wasn't sure if I was ready to announce it to the entire blogosphere (or like the 40 or so of you that actually read this blog). But here goes.

This year, I knitted a hat and gloves for...

...my boyfriend. It's true. I have one. I had been single for nearly a year previous, and that was honestly one of the best almost-full-years of my life. I really needed that time to breath, be myself, and refocus my life on God first and foremost. I had no intention of seeking out a relationship, but then—Bam! There was Tommy at a friend's birthday party this fall. I mean, that's not the whole story, but this blog is about my creative projects, after all, so you're just going to have to ask me the story of us offline if you don't already know it.

Whew. Okay, personal life confession time over. Back to the hat and gloves, which are the topic of this post, after all!

Initially, I had set out to just make a hat using Stephen West's pattern Honegart. I hopped on the metro to Knit and Stitch in Bethesda during a lunch break and found a gorgeous and super-soft handspun merino/alpaca blend by Blue Sky Alpacas. I think the yarn is their worsted hand dye in #2013 midnight blue and #2025 charcoal, but I don't have the tags with me right now to check for sure. This was unfortunately one of the most expensive yarns I could have chosen, but it knits up like a dream and the depth of color is amazing, so I think it was worth it in the end (for a small project anyway—I couldn't afford a whole sweater's worth!).

I finished the hat within two evenings of starting it. Then I promptly took some Instagram photos of it to send to my best friend Lauren. Sorry to disappoint you, but you're not going to get any photos of Tommy wearing it today because (1) I don't have any, and (2) I haven't asked him if he would be okay with me posting photos of him on my blog. So here's some awkwardly close-up, self-taken photos of me wearing it instead.

My favorite feature is the earflaps. They make the hat so cozy!

After finishing the hat, I still had an untouched skein of midnight blue and half a skein of charcoal with 5 days left until Christmas. So, I made some gloves, too. Although I have made a number of pairs of gloves for myself in the past, it was challenging to know if I was making the right size for a guy. I think they turned out pretty well, though. (Thank you various office friends for trying them on for me mid-glove to see if I had the sizing right!)

I gave them to Tommy on Christmas Eve, and he loved them.

A Snapshot of 2011

2012-01-03T11:56:00.002-05:00

Disclaimer: I have absolutely nothing new to show you.

I have spent the past two weeks enjoying Christmas and New Year's with family and friends, and I have barely touched my sewing machine. So, just to get myself back into the swing of things, I am going to be completely unoriginal and post what ever other crafty blogger out there is posting this week—a mosaic of my favorite projects from 2011. Here ya go:

While I am at it, I may as well mention that I also contributed patterns to a few publications and wrote two free tutorials in 2011:

Modern Houndstooth Quilt pattern in Fat Quarterly, Issue 4, Winter 2011
Quilted Bookends in Stitch Magazine, Fall 2011
Contributor to Modern Blocks by C&T Publishing
How to Quilt Words and Stars tutorial
The Type "A" Starburst Block tutorial

And here are some other random blog highlights that don't really fit into any particular category:

I learned how to make my own handbound journals.
I traveled to Salt Lake City to attend the Sewing Summit in October (read about the trip here, here, here, and here).
I won honorable mention in Katie Evans's food photography challenge.

Well, that's a wrap on 2011, project-wise anyway. I am looking forward to what 2012 brings. Hope you had a good new year everyone!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of GREAT JOY that will be for ALL THE PEOPLE. For unto you A CHILD IS BORN this day in the city of David a Savior, who is CHRIST THE LORD. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."

Luke 2:10-12

In him was LIFE, and the life was the LIGHT of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:4-5

Mini-quilt Monday: Tiny Stars

2011-12-19T14:09:00.002-05:00

I guess this is another mini-quilt. This was really one of those "I don't feel like starting on a big project because I only have 2 hours to sew this week" kind of project. It's also one of those "Now what do I use this thing for?" projects.

I don't know how big this looks from the photographs (since I have nothing in them for size reference), but this mini-quilt is only 11" x 11". Each of the 17 stars are 3" wide.

I had actually made this quilt block earlier this year with the intention of making it the center of my Wonky Star Quilt, but then I completely forgot to include it when I pieced together the quilt front.

I quilted it with a similar technique as I did with my Orange + Aqua Starbursts mini-quilt, except that instead of a spiral, I followed the outline of the center star and then continued to quilt stars radiating outward 1/4" apart.

You can see the quilting a little more clearly from the back.

This might be it for blog posts this week while I try to finish up work at the office and get ready for Christmas. If I don't post again before Sunday, hope you all have a good one with family and friends!

xx Briana

Sewing kit for Steph

2011-12-16T10:08:00.000-05:00

One of my closest friends, Steph, and I met nearly 10 years ago when we were in college at UMd. She was a fine arts major, and I would often be jealous that she got to do things like stay up late making paper for a class assignment, while I sat in my dorm room chin deep in textbooks trying to memorize an insane number of organic chemistry reactions.

These days she lives in Baltimore with her husband and works as an art teacher at a private school outside of the city. We don't get to see each other as often as we would like thanks to the horrific DC-to-Baltimore traffic, but the time we do get to spend is as if no time has passed at all. I really love that quality in our friendship.

This is what I just posted in the mail to Steph for her birthday, which was Wednesday (the 14th):

A mini sewing kit! When folded, this little guy is only 3" wide x 5" tall. Unrolled, it is about 12" wide x 5" tall.

The first section has a tiny pin cushion (I mean tiny! I think this thing is only 1.5" x 1".) and two elastic loops for thread.

In the second section, I stitched a piece of grey felt to keep needles and safety pins.

A small zippered pocket in the third section hides a seam ripper and scissors.

I don't remember specifically where I got the inspiration for this project. I know that Nova made a cute little needle case earlier this year that I really liked.

The phrase "Make do and mend" that I embroidered on the front originates from a 1943 WWII publication by the UK's Ministry of Information.

This pamphlet-style book actually has a lot of useful tips in it, like:

Don’t waste a whole lemon if you only need a drop.

Stick a skewer into the lemon and squeeze out the juice you need.

Wrap the lemon in foil and keep it in the fridge.

and

Mend clothes before washing them as the tear or hole may become unmanageable.

Keep a look out for loose buttons and other fastenings and mend at once.

Save all tapes, ribbons, buttons, hooks and eyes and keep a well-stocked work basket.

and

Freeze leftover pieces of cake until you have enough to make a trifle.

(Quotes from Miss Thrifty. I don't have a copy of the book myself.)

I thought the phrase was especially fitting for Steph who is even more contentious than me about using everything you can and not buying things that you don't really need/can make do without.

I kept the back simple with raw-edge appliquéd rectangles in a few neutral prints. (The polka dot print is actually grey, even though it appears kind of blue in the photos.)

That's it for this week. Have a good weekend everyone!

Starry Napkins for Jenny

2011-12-12T09:27:00.002-05:00

This morning, I have some photos to show you of the gift I made for my friend Jenny and her fiancé Gordon. Jenny and I met through a weekly Bible study at church. I knew that friendship was inevitable after catching on to her wicked sense of sarcasm. There were definitely a number of times when we were the only ones laughing in the room. It was kind of like how in The Office, Jim turns to the camera to give that, "Is this really happening?" face. I turned to Jenny. Sadly, Jenny has now moved on to a new group with Gordon, and I am the only one in the room laughing. That gets kind of awkward, but I just save the stories to tell Jenny later.

So, back to the gift—a napkin set. This has kind of become my standard wedding gift because it's personal, but also doesn't take too much time.

I was actually running short enough on time last week that I picked up a set of plain grey napkins at Home Goods as a base and then added the stars to them. You can call this "cheating" if you want, but I call this 3 to 4 extra hours of sleep on Saturday night.

I will say, though, that I was surprised at how the majority of the napkins hadn't been squared up with the grain and, therefore, didn't quite have 90 degree corners. But I just had to remind my perfectionist-self that it was saving me from staying up all night, and Jenny (who is not an obsessive perfectionist) would still love them.

Each of the napkins has three stars that I zigzag stitched around and two outlined stars that I stitched with a straight stitch using my free-motion quilting foot. I arranged the stars differently on each napkin.

Most of Jenny and Gordon's registry items are white or neutrals, so I decided to go with mostly neutrals with subtle pops of color to match their theme.

I gave these napkins to Jenny yesterday at her bridal shower. I am really looking forward to celebrating with Jenny and Gordon again in February for their big day!

Making tree skirts with Lindsay

2011-12-06T13:09:00.001-05:00

Last night, Lindsay came over with sewing machine in hand, and we made Christmas tree skirts—or started to, anyway.

I don't even have a Christmas tree and probably won't get one since my cats would run off with the ornaments or eat the tree's needles and leave little piles of green vomit all around the house for me to clean up. (Gross, but true.) I guess the other option would be to just put the two of them in cages the whole month of December, but that just seems cruel.

I don't have good pictures to share with you (just what I took with Instagram on my iPhone), but here's my dining room table with stacks of fabric spread out as Lindsay and I each decided on our respective designs:

Lindsay is making a scalloped edge tree skirt made of long strips of fabric. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of her progress to share, but it's going to look kind of like this one. Mine is going to have little houses around the edges kind of like this one. The rectangles in the pictures below will be the houses.

Now that I look at these pictures, I am realizing that we got more talking and Chardonnay drinking done than actual sewing. But that's okay—we did get some sewing done, and it was nice to have someone to sew with for a change! Stay tuned next week for more progress on this project.

Mini-quilt Monday: Orange + Aqua Starbursts

2011-12-05T09:06:00.001-05:00

This weekend, I finished up another mini-quilt. The blocks for this quilt were made by the ladies of To Bee Orange and Aqua, a 6-month quilting bee focused on the colors orange and aqua. I guess that was pretty self-explanatory by the name of the bee, though, wasn't it?

I have found that I am most happy with bee blocks that don't require perfect piecing, so I asked each person in the bee to make me two 6.5" starburst blocks using either Ashley (of Film in the Fridge)'s tutorial or my paper-pieced tutorial. I got the inspiration for the quilt from Krista (of Spotted Stone Studio)'s Big Orange Wall Quilt.

I went a bit out of my comfort zone and didn't include any neutral solids in this quilt.

...but I evened it out with the quilt back, which is just plain old Kona ash, and the binding, which is Kona coal.

For the quilting, I tried a really densely quilted spiral inspired by Malka (A Stitch in Dye)'s work. (I love this pillow Malka just finished.)

The lines are only 1/4" apart from one another. I really like the texture that this added. It even makes the solid back aesthetically appealing.

The quilting took forever, though, especially considering that the quilt is only 18" x 24" in size! And it was pretty challenging to get perfectly curved lines. I felt like the result was worth the time, though.

The other fun thing about this quilt was that I finally broke into my free sample of Aurifil thread that I mentioned getting at the Sewing Summit in this post. Aurifil is an Italian thread company that makes low lint-producing, high-quality cotton thread. I had never heard of this brand, but everyone at the Sewing Summit was raving about it. I even heard the phrase, "It will change your life!" thrown around by quite a few women.

Well, let me say this—I did really like the thread. It was noticeably stronger than my stand-by Gütermann thread and has a beautiful sheen. But, it did not change my life. What has changed my life is Jesus. And—much less substantial, but still true—my Bernina 440QE sewing machine. If you want either of those stories, email me.

Thanks Dorrie, Tina, Beth, and Alisha for helping to make this quilt possible!

In progress

2011-12-02T10:25:00.001-05:00

No more new projects to share this week, but here's a glimpse of a few items that I am currently working on. Sorry for the ambiguous photos, but these are gifts for a couple of friends, so I can't tell you what I am making until I give the items to them!

November bee blocks

2011-11-29T10:18:00.001-05:00

I am in just one quilting bee right now (To Bee Orange and Aqua), which is just the right number. I wanted to do a few Christmas-themed sewing swaps this year, too, but I am glad that I didn't because I have felt so busy lately that I am not even sure how I have accomplished any sewing at all.

It might be because I don't sleep. Like, really, I don't. I woke up at 4am this morning and couldn't fall back asleep, so I got up, took a shower, fixed holes/altered 3 old J.Crew sweaters, made a protein smoothie in the Vitamix, and still got into the office a whole hour early (6am).

Anyway, for November, Tina requested two simple strip blocks made with alternating linen and colored strips. Here are mine:

I love working with linen. The texture it adds is just so perfect. I couldn't resist making a little "extra" with my scraps to send off to Tina, as well—a mini pincushion.

Speaking of extras, I don't think I ever posted a picture of the cute little card that Tina sent me along with the Starburst blocks that she made me last month. Here it is:

This card is now safely pasted into my sewing journal next to the sketch for my Starburst mini-quilt.

Thanks, Tina. Hope you are enjoying your blocks and extra goodie as much as I am mine!

A quilt (plan) for Nanna

2011-11-28T16:11:00.001-05:00

My grandmother (whom I call Nanna) cracks me up.

I had dinner with her Sunday night and brought a copy of the book, Modern Blocks, in which I have a pattern published. (I finally got my printed copies right before Thanksgiving. Yay!)

I showed her my pattern first, which (of course) she liked (she has to, right?). Then, as she began to flip through the rest of the book, at practically every page turn, I heard her exclaim:

"Eww! Yuck!"

"Why do they have to use so many prints? It doesn't look good all together!"

and

"These are boring. Doesn't anyone do more abstract quilting?"

Now, you might be thinking, what does this woman know about quilting? It's true—Nanna doesn't quilt, but she does sew, upholster, paint, and for many years, she also had a stained glass workshop set up in her home. Needless to say, she has an artist's eye. In my home alone, I have something in practically every room that she has made. I went through my house this morning and photographed the things that she has made for me so that I can share them with you.

Nanna is also 80, still beautiful, wears black eyeliner that she sweeps up at the corners into an elegant cat eye, goes to the gym 3 times a week, mows her own lawn, cleans and keeps up her own house, and is an active member of weekly a painting group and book club. That's kind of beside the point, but I am just putting that out there because it makes me proud to be her granddaughter.

Above: This stained glass mirror hangs in my entryway next to the front door. I love the color scheme. As a side note, this photo was surprisingly hard to take. It took about 20 shots and subsequent camera setting adjustments to get the light metered properly and have the mirror IN focus and me OUT of focus.

Above: This stained glass mirror hangs in my bedroom. It's purple—Nanna's signature color, and one of mine, too.

Above: Nanna gave me a monogrammed jewelry box when I was a teenager. I think it may have been my 13th birthday present. I wish I remember which year it actually was :(

Above: Nanna just gave me these stained glass Christmas trees on Sunday. I love their simplicity. Let the Christmas decorating begin!

Above: View of one of the Christmas trees from the top. Nanna made them by fusing three pieces of glass together.

Above: Two wilderness paintings hang in my upstairs sitting room. Every time I reference these paintings, Nanna says, "Oh, those old things!" She thinks they are far from her best effort, but I love them all the same. And the subject matter is perfect for me—mountains.

Above: Close-up shot with Nanna's signature: A. Baker.
"A" stands for Arlene.

Yes, I am named after her.

Above: Another close-up shot with my half reflection peaking through.

Back to quilting, though—I showed Nanna some pictures of various quilts I thought she might like on Flickr to try to get a sense of what she does like other than mine (because, as we already established...she has to like her own granddaughter's work!), and the one that she responded most strongly to was this one:

Above: Mod Mood Quilt by Sherri Lynn Wood (daintytime) on Flickr.

This is a mood quilt. Sherri Lynn Wood of DaintyTime started a quilt-along for this type of quilt last summer. I think that she also came up with the technique involved in this style of quilting, but I am not completely sure. I have saved pictures of these types of quilts with the intention of maybe starting one "someday," but now I have the motivation to actually make one.

Luckily (in this case anyway), Nanna doesn't have a computer, so she will never know that I am planning to make her one for Christmas :)

...That reminds me. For all you family members out there that can't keep secrets—Ahem! You know who you are. Don't make me call you out by name.—don't tell her!

Bargello Windows Quilt

2011-11-28T08:16:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend, I finished the quilt that I blogged about last Wednesday.

One thing I have learned since I started quilting is that some of the traditional patterns that made me gag growing up can look completely different (and dare I say, appealing!) if they are updated and paired with the right colors of fabric. This quilt started out as one of those.

When I imagine the ugliest, most cringe-worthy traditional quilting pattern, I think bargello. Just google "bargello quilt," and a myriad of hideous creations will pop up on your screen. When I see the bargello motif, the phrase that comes to mind is:

Quilt Vomit.

Don't you agree?

I also envision such a quilt being held up by the proud creator who is sporting a matching quilted vest, baby pink Keds, and an 80's-style perm. Aahh! Stop running away, Imagination.

Despite my clear aversion to bargello quilts, I decided to challenge myself to create a modern bargello quilt.

I began with a limited color palette (orange and aqua). This alone went a long way. Second, I broke up the pattern by creating bargello squares sashed with Kona cotton in Snow because neutrals make everything more appealing in my mind.

I am pretty happy with the resulting quilt, though it is nearly blindingly bright! The intense colors are perfect for a baby quilt, though, as is the size—55" square.

I used my leftover scraps from the quilt front to make the back. Please don't comment on the fact that the pieces are not quite lined up and squared. I am aware of this. And the perfectionist in me is not happy about it.

I mean, I totally meant to make the back a little wonky! Yeah, that makes me feel better.

That's a wrap on this project.

Have you created anything that made you change your mind about a technique or motif that you previously hated? I would love to hear about it!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T20:30:00.001-05:00

I am taking the rest of the week off from blogging and sewing so that I can spend it in Virginia with family. Right now, I am actually sitting on the floor at my cousin's house watching one of the cutest newborn nephews ever peacefully sleep. Maybe it's just because he's related to me, but seriously, he is adorable.

See you back here next week. Hope your Thanksgiving is a good one filled with family, close friends, yummy food, and the knowledge that God is good!

I am not an orchid grower

2011-11-22T10:58:00.001-05:00

Although I love giving gardening advice, I always kind of laugh to myself when people ask me questions about my garden or how to grow a particular vegetable because I really only know what I do know through trial and error.

Here, today, is an example of such error:

This is a Phalaenopsis orchid. Or I guess I should say, This was an orchid.

I put it outside this summer, and it was doing great. It had even started to grow a new flower spike. Then I brought it inside, gave it some new moss, and put it in the exact same window it thrived in all last winter.

Two days later, the thing had turned yellow and acquired leopard spots. I don't know what in the world happened.

Oh, well. Guess I just need to stick to what I know—vegetables!

Coasters for Lindsay

2011-11-21T10:14:00.001-05:00

Confession: Sometimes I am a bad friend. Lindsay, one of my fellow book club girls, had a birthday on November 6...and I completely missed it. I have an excuse (my cousin's house burned down that day), but still, I forgot to even text a measly "Happy Bday!" Lame.

I made a set of 4 coasters as a belated birthday gift for Lindsay this weekend. (I guess it's better late than never!) The execution of these was pretty straightforward. I first pieced together a bunch of scraps into this rectangle:

Then I traced and cut out circles, added some batting and backing material, sewed them right sides together, and then flipped them right sides out. I stitched about 1/8 in around the edges and randomly quilted straight lines on each coaster.

And I finally made use of the Warm Tater batting sample that I got in my Sewing Summit SWAG bag. My Sewing Summit roomie, Dana, and I had laughed at this product because the packaging had said something like, "For all of your microwaving needs!"

I don't know about you, but I don't usually put my quilts in the microwave.

Anyway, I figured that if the intention of the product was to provide heat-safe insulation, then it would be perfect for a set of coasters. I really didn't notice much difference between Warm Tater and regular batting. It did seem to be a little denser, which is nice, but I have also not used any of The Warm Company's batting before, so it may just be a difference in brands.

Technically, I haven't even given these coasters to Lindsay yet, so maybe I shouldn't be posting this yet. They are sitting in the front seat of my car all wrapped up right now. I am grabbing dinner with Lindsay and Lauren tonight and am banking on the fact that Lindsay is a teacher and probably doesn't have time to check my blog during the day. Guess we'll see if I am right on that theory!

Last of the season

2011-11-17T07:38:00.001-05:00

The northeast harvest season is coming to a close. *Sigh*

You are looking at the very last handful of peppers my garden will produce in 2011. These are lemon drops and were the only ones to make it through the late-October frost.

Farewell, 2011 garden.

An apron for Lauren

2011-11-16T13:16:00.001-05:00

Monday was Lauren's birthday, so you know I had to get down to some sewing business and make something for her. I knew that she would pretty much be happy with anything. She is a very grateful person. I know that people throw around that phrase "It's the thought that counts," but with Lauren, I know that this is true. She really does appreciate the time and thought behind things—sometimes even more than the "thing" itself. I really love that about her.

Lauren has a necklace with a hedgehog charm on it, which she got after reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. (I haven't read this book yet, but it's on my list!) A few months ago, Lauren mentioned how she would also love an apron with hedgehogs on it. I quickly filed that idea away and ordered some fabric with hedgehogs on it from Etsy a few weeks later.

Since Lauren is also a less-is-more kind of girl, I decided to use the hedgehog fabric an accent fabric rather than the primary fabric. I picked up a piece of brown cotton-poly blend suiting fabric for the body of the apron. Weird choice of fabric, I know. I questioned the purchase while wandering around the fabric store looking for other options, but did end up going with it in the end, and I am glad I did!

Making clothes for other people is kind of scary, but luckily I had two things going for me on this project: (1) an apron doesn't have to fit that precisely, and (2) Lauren and I wear the exact same size, which means I didn't have to guess at sizing at all.

So, here's the front:

And the back (I know this is just a dress form, but this photo makes me giggle every time. Maybe I should have put clothes on her under the apron. Sorry for exposing your muslin bum, Gertrude!):

Here is a close-up of the waistband:

And a close-up of one of the pockets:

The best part of this gift, though, was that I got to give it to Lauren in person! She's in town for a whole week right now. Yay!

W.i.P. Wednesday: back to quilting

2011-11-16T12:24:00.001-05:00

I feel like it's been FOREVER since I worked on an actual quilt. In reality, it's been about 7 weeks. I've been sewing other stuff...just not quilts. It was nice to switch things up and work on some garments, a few gifts for friends (one of which is a bday gift for a certain best friend that I will be revealing tomorrow after I give it to her!), and some other random home sewing projects, but I have been realizing that I really must be a quilter now because I have been missing having a quilty work-in-progress sitting on my sewing table of late.

Problem solved. i haven't named this quilt yet, but here's a sneak peak of the completed top.

Wow, those oranges are BRIGHT! It looks good when you see the whole thing laid out, though. I promise!

Now I must tackle my most hated part of the quilting process—making and basting the quilt sandwich. Yuck. I stall on this step every time I make a quilt. I am just hoping that posting my progress will help me dive in and just do it. We'll see!

And since I actually remembered to post a work-in-progress on a Wednesday, I am linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

I always love scrolling through blogger's half-finished items each week. The most fun posts are those that list everything they are working on. It's fun to see what people are doing, plus it makes me not feel so bad that I have 10 projects going at once and about 50 other ideas of things I want to start. (I'm not the only one. Yay!) Maybe at some point I will remember to photograph and list out all of my W.i.P.'s for a Wednesday post, too, but for now, the one W.i.P. will have to do!

How to plant garlic

2011-11-15T09:21:00.001-05:00

I have a confession. I have been neglecting my garden big time lately. I didn't plant any fall veggies this year, and I haven't even moved my herbs inside for the winter yet. (Sorry, all you half-dead plants! I am a bad garden momma.)

When the season starts, I meticulously write down everything—what seeds I planted, when each one germinates, the first true leaves, the first flower, the first fruit. I think this keeps me sane in the late winter and early spring months when I am desperately longing for fresh air and sunshine. But then summer hits, and I let my garden grow wild and free (or as wild and free as a garden can get when confined to containers two stories above real ground), and I abandon my notes because so many things are producing fruit and flowers that I am busily harvesting, cooking, and canning.

This year, before I knew it, fall had set in, (We had our first frost before the end of October. Pretty early for DC!) and I hadn't planted anything to harvest in October and November. Oh, well!

The good news is that it isn't too late to plant garlic. Now is actually the ideal time to plant it for next spring. You want to put it in the ground when it is cold enough that it won't start to grow, but before the ground is frozen. The other great thing about garlic is that it adapts easily to container gardening.

To plant garlic:

1. Start with a healthy bulb.

Depending on how much garlic you are planting, you probably only need one bulb because you will be planting the individual cloves one-by-one.

If you don't have garlic on hand, purchase it from a farmer's market, organic food store, or garden center. I do not recommend getting garlic that you intend to plant from a chain grocery store because it could be treated with chemicals that will prohibit mold or bacteria growth. The problem with this is that it will also prohibit the garlic itself from growing, too.

2. Pull apart the individual cloves.

Leave the papery coating on the cloves. It acts as a protective coating.

3. Choose the largest and healthiest cloves.

Healthy, plump cloves = a healthy plant in the spring. Don't plant those tiny little cloves near the center of the bulb or any that have brown spots or signs of rot.

4. Push the cloves into the soil.

With the "pointy" end up, push the cloves about 2 to 3 inches into the soil in a pot that is at least 8 to 12 inches deep. Space the cloves about 4 inches apart.

To grow full bulbs, use extra large containers (think garage storage bins) to give the garlic some extra space to grow. If you don't have room for this, don't worry! Smaller pots will still produce delicious mid-summer green garlic. And both options will produce garlic scapes, the flowering stalks—a delicacy that you will be hooked on come spring time.

5. Cover the cloves.

Cover the cloves with soil and a layer of mulch or straw. You won't have to worry about watering them until the spring. Isn't that great?

Don't forget to label your garlic so you know where to look for it in the spring!

Twiggy Trees Mini-Quilt

2011-11-11T09:50:00.000-05:00

While sorting through my flickr photos last week, I realized that I never blogged about this mini-quilt. This thing is tiny—about 7" square. This started as a scrap to test raw-edge appliqué for some napkins I made last year. The center piece with the little leaves sat around in a scrap pile for months until I came across it again and decided that it deserved to be made into something "real."

Umm, yeah that is still orange polish for Halloween on my toes. I haven't had a chance to change it yet. Don't judge!

And this is what I use it for—a resting place for my coffee mug on weekend mornings. So, I guess this is known around flickr as a "mug rug." I have never really liked that name, though. So, I am still calling it a mini-quilt!

I am entering this in Amy (of Amylouwho)'s mini quilt challenge. Amy was so inspired by Amanda (Ms. McPorkchop)'s class on minis at the Sewing Summit that she wanted to host a challenge. I didn't take Amanda's class, but I did get to see the wall of minis that everyone brought to share in the class, and that alone was inspiring, so I can imagine the class was even better. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone came up with for this challenge, too!

Chester County, Pennsylvania

2011-11-10T07:18:00.000-05:00

I am in Pennsylvania this week on work travel. I had grand plans to pack some small sewing or knitting project, but with everything that happened with my family this past weekend, that didn't happen. I was so scatterbrained when I packed, that I didn't even remember to bring my real camera. Eek! I also happened to forget to bring deodorant, a tooth brush, and enough clothes to get me through the week, but it's the camera that I am really missing.

Luckily, I did remember my phone, and in the short time I have owned it, I have been super impressed with the camera on the new iPhone 4S. Here are some shots I took today.

Above: Abandoned houses by Frick's Lock

Above: A mowed farm field

Above: Autumn foliage

Above: Me. (I am wearing a hard hat if you are wondering what is going on there.)

Two zippered pouches

2011-11-09T09:51:00.000-05:00

I have two quick projects to share with you today. And since I am on work travel this week, they are extra fitting.

The first is my Drawing Room Weekender Pouch, which I made from the weekend travel bag pattern in Heather Ross's book, Weekend Sewing. I combined two prints from Anna Maria Horner's Drawing Room—one of my favorite home dec fabric lines. Why didn't I buy more of this when it was still available?

The pattern was pretty straight forward, though if I made another one of these pouches, I think I would use seam binding. The pattern has you sew the fabric and lining right sides together and then flip them so that you don't end up with raw edges. But doing this for every piece ends up being time consuming, and if you are working with heavier fabrics or happen to use heavy weight interfacing (I used both!), your seams become bulky and somewhat of a pain to sew.

Overall, though, I do love this travel accessory. It is big enough to stand up travel-sized shampoo bottles with room to spare for all of the other standard toiletry items.

The second project is my Drawing Room Zippered Pouch, which is fully lined. I just realized I forgot to take pictures of the lining. Oops! I did line it—I swear! I got the inspiration to make this from It's a Pretty Modern Life's fully lined zippered box pouch tutorial. Technically I didn't follow her tutorial, but I think that my sewing order was pretty similar to hers.

I experimented with bubble quilting over the Volumes print (side panels) and wavy lines over the Plumes print (middle panel).

Bubble quilting is fun, but boy is it time consuming! I think I spent 30 minutes just doing the quilting on this pouch—and its finished size is only about 9"x6"x3".

And just for fun, I am linking up today's projects with Wow Me Wednesday over at {Ginger Snap Crafts}.

The school days dress

2011-11-08T12:58:00.000-05:00

I know, I know. I just posted about this dress last week. But I took new pictures of it and gave it a name so that I can use it as my entry for So You Think You Can Sew!, a little sewing competition hosted by Mommy by Day, Crafter by Night.

Ashley, along with 5 other talented ladies, will choose 12 sewists from the entries to compete in a 4-week sew-off in January. Each week, Ashley will announce the new theme, and contestants will have 5 days to complete a new project based on the theme.

I would love to be one of the 12 sewists chosen to compete. This sounds like a great opportunity to challenge and expand my sewing skills! Since I have already described this dress's construction process in my last post about it, I will just leave you with a few more photos. Wish me luck!

November 6, The Fire

2011-11-07T20:45:00.001-05:00

I do have some projects to share with you this week, but right now, I feel like posting pictures of the things I have sewn this week is just silly. You see,

yesterday my cousin's house burned down.

The same cousin whose house I had just coveted in one of my recent posts. Ha! The irony. When the fire happened, the whole family (Trinity, Michael, and their 3 little ones) were all at church, and each one of them is unhurt. But they are now temporarily homeless, have lost almost all of their possessions, are expecting their fourth child in only 7 days, and (saddest of all) have lost their loyal and loving golden lab, Buddy.

Our family gathered yesterday to help salvage the wreck and board up the house before dark to protect it from anyone that might try to steal anything from it. (I don't know why anyone would want fire-eaten chairs or the sooty remnants of clothes and books, but who knows.) Most of all, though, we all gathered together just to be there in the same place, at the same time to mourn the loss together. There is practically nothing you can say to make a situation like that better. And in the moment, it feels like there is nothing you can do, either.

But I know that God can use even this for His good purposes, and I know He will. I know that "for those who love God all things work together for good" (Rom 8:28). We always want the things that work together to be good things, but the verse says ALL things. That means the bad, too. That means houses burning down and the loss of a beloved pet.

I also know that though my cousins' physical house may be uninhabitable, their spiritual house is strong. They have already done the hard work and firmly rooted their spiritual house on Jesus, the rock. And all of that labor—that digging down deep—has prepared them for this day.

You know what's funny? Just a few days ago, Trinity wrote a post about all the things she is trying to accomplish before Baby #4 comes. She listed each one out, noting when they were reasonable things or obsessive things. Cooking meals ahead of time—smart. Going to 4 stores to find the right wall shelf to get a stack of Michael's books off the floor in the bedroom—kind of obsessive. (I can say that because Trinity and I are too similar, and I would be doing the same thing!)

But at the end of that post, Trinity said that she said that she wished her list contained only one item:

1. Hang out with people she loves with no agenda.

Despite a huge tragedy yesterday, God gave Trinity and Michael just that. People they love (and that love them). Just there. To help them. To hurt with them. To give them a hug. To say something (or nothing). To just be there.

I know that the days ahead are going to be tough for them, and rebuilding their lives will not happen overnight. But I have already seen God bless their faithfulness in the hours after the fire. And He promises that His faithfulness will continue.

In my faithfulness I will reward my people

and make an everlasting covenant with them.

Their descendants will be known among the nations

and their offspring among the peoples.

All who see them will acknowledge

that they are a people the LORD has blessed.

(Isaiah 61:8-9)

________
*Update* We have started a Facebook page called Community Support for Wilbourn Fire to keep people updated and provide a central place to coordinate donations. If you happen to have old kids clothes and shoes or happen to be getting rid of old nursing bras or post-baby clothes, the Wilbourns could especially use these items.

Handi-hour at the Renwick Gallery

2011-11-04T12:19:00.001-04:00

Last night I met up with some friends for Handi-hour at the Renwick Gallery in DC.

The event costs $15, and gets you two beers, snacks, a variety of craft supplies and project sheets with which to make your own projects, and after-hours access to the Renwick Gallery's art collection. Pretty good deal, right?

The event is held right in one of the gallery rooms. I often feel like museum rooms can be overwhelming, but I actually found this one to be very pretty. Not my style—but it worked and was well put together. As you can see, the room has been cleared and set up with long rows of tables at which crafters can sit down and get to work.

On one side of the room, two of the guys from Birch and Barley were there to serve up the local brews: The Great Pumpkin from Heavy Seas Brewing Company; Cellar Door, a Belgian-style wheat, from Stillwater Artisanal; and an IPA called The Corruption from DC Brau.

On the other side of the room, a table packed with various craft supplies awaited the amassing crowd of crafters.

After we got our beer and supplies, we sat down to craft.

Most of us chose to make a set of ceramic coasters. Here are mine. I think I inadvertently made 4 coasters that look like quilt blocks! I think that's just my default style at this point.

My friend Jonathan, one of the few brave men to attend the event, made these ones. I like that his are more avant-garde/collage style.

So there you have it—Handi-hour. I am sure that all my friends that secretly read this blog, but never leave comments, will make fun of me for being so excited to attend this event, but whatever. I will just take that to mean that they are jealous of my sweet new coasters :)

A sweet gift

2011-11-03T09:53:00.001-04:00

My aunt, Donna, gave me such a sweet and thoughtful gift for my birthday (which was back in September) that I thought I would share some photos of it with you.

Knowing that I love all things stylish, handmade, and unique, Donna found these two items at The Treasure Chest, which is a true "treasure" of a second-hand store in Virginia. My cousin has furnished practically her entire house with mid-century gems from The Treasure Chest. I am mildly jealous of this every time I visit her house, but I know that eventually, Trinity will run out of room and just go in search of $10 furniture pieces for me because she (like me) has an addiction to thrift stores and yard sales.

Anyway, back to Donna's gift. The first item is a natural linen purse with carved wooden handles and beautiful hand embroidery in my current favorite color combination: orange and aqua blue.

I think this type of embroidery is called crewel because it uses thick wool thread and the motif is stitched densely enough to look puffy, but I am not sure. Does anyone know?

The inside of the bag has no tag, so it's maker is a mystery.

The back of the bag has a completely different design that is much simpler and uses more subdued colors. I can't decide which side I like best. They are both so different and beautiful!

The second item is a hand-painted teacup.

The motif looks Japanese to me, but like the purse, the teacup has no mark from its maker.

You can tell from holding it, though, that the porcelain is of high quality—the cup is practically paper thin, and completely uniform and symmetric in its shape.

This pretty piece is currently displayed on a shelf in my sewing room far out of reach of mischievous kitten paws.

Thank you, Donna, for such a thoughtful birthday gift! You definitely know me well :)

Brown and navy geometric dress

2011-11-01T11:08:00.000-04:00

I made this dress over the weekend, which turned out quite well despite the comedy of errors that resulted in its creation.

I had originally set out to make a skirt out of the silk-blend navy blue and off-white geometric print. I was going for simplicity—a waistband made out of a 2-3"-wide elastic band with a skirt that gathered and attached to the elastic band with a serger. Easy peasy, I thought. An hour of sewing at the most.

But then as I was cutting out the pieces, I decided that set-in seam pockets would be a fun addition. The only problem at this point was that the silk-blend I was using required both a lining and french seams because it was basically too thin to finish it any other way. So, I managed to actually figure out the sewing order for that...and I will probably never combine those three things (pockets, lining, french seams) in a garment again. It was confusing to say the least, and I sewed in mortal fear that I was going to have to spend lots of time ripping out countless stitches over a glass of wine that evening. It all worked, though. I am not sure how, but it did.

Then (being so proud of myself for figuring out the pocket issue), I forgot to adjust for the fact that the I hadn't found any navy blue elastic, which meant I would have to cover the waistband with material. Since the waistband was no longer stretchy and I hadn't thought that detail through, I had to cut the skirt down the back and add a zipper.

As if that wasn't complicated enough, I decided that I may as well just turn the skirt into a dress because I haven't made a dress in a while. So, I added a sleeveless cowl neck top out of some scrap brown jersey material.

And then (being so proud that I had draped fabric all by myself to make my skirt into a dress), I forgot that the zipper should have actually extended part way up the back of the dress so that I could actually get it on. That was a funny moment when I had the half-made dress's waistband stuck around my neck and one shoulder. I remedied that problem with four fabric covered buttons.

Here is a detailed shot of the buttons:

So yeah, I totally planned out each and every detail of this creation...ha!

In the end, I love this dress. And as frustrated as I was to have to cut the back apart and figure out how to add the buttons without any extra fabric, it all worked out. And the buttons are my favorite part!

And no, not all of my sewing creation disasters turn out this well. I just don't blog about the ones that find their way into the scrap bin :)

Blogger's Quilt Festival & my first-ever quilt

2011-10-28T12:14:00.003-04:00

It's time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, a twice-a-year online quilt "show" that Amy of Amy's Creative Side hosts.

Since Amy started the Festival, I have always loved scrolling through the many beautiful quilts other bloggers link up on Amy's Quilt Festival post, but I have never gotten my act together in time to actually have a quilt to share myself. I still didn't get a chance to make anything new, but I did take some new photographs of an old quilt—that counts for something, right?

So, today I am sharing with you my photographs of, and the story behind, my first-ever quilt: my Pinwheel Quilt. I made this quilt in 2002(-ish).

Growing up, I had always thought that quilts were ugly. Actually, hideous would be a better word. They always seemed to use drab, lifeless colors or awful batiks or novelty prints. And on top of that, the designs were often too busy or cluttered. I associated them with women that wear jingle bell earrings and sweatshirts with puffy, appliqued reindeer heads across the front all through the month of December. You know—"crafty" women that have assorted cutesy knickknacks on each and every surface of their entire house and rush out to Michael's Arts & Crafts to buy gaudy decorations for every single Hallmark holiday. When people asked me about my sewing, I was always quick to correct them and say that I was a garment sewer, not a quilter.

Then one day in college, I was flipping through a Garnet Hill catalog and found this:

This quilt seemed completely different from what I had envisioned quilts to be. It was brighter, had simpler, modern-print fabric, and the design wasn't overwhelming. It made me think that I, too, could make a quilt that didn't make me want to throw up.

So, with no quilting experience or even a book for reference, I sketched out my design and started cutting out triangles one-by-one with scissors (I had no idea what a rotary cutter was at that point). And because I didn't know any better, I then sewed each block individually instead of via the more-efficient assembly-line style that chain piecing allows. And because I am an "all or nothing" kind of person, I also decided that I would make a twin-sized quilt to cover my bed, rather than starting out with a reasonably sized sample quilt.

Given my complete lack of quilting skills at that point in my life, I am actually impressed that I managed to make this quilt. I even matched up the majority of the points!

Once I was finished with all of the blocks, I arranged them to create a color gradient of sorts.

For the quilting, I stitched in the ditch (though I had no clue that was an actual technique with a name) vertically and horizontally along the lines created by the pinwheels. I remember being secretly afraid that this technique was not the "right" way to quilt because I had heard that in traditional hand-quilting, you are supposed to do all of your quilting within one quilt block and then move on to the next block without any stitching lines crossing one another. Now I know better. There is no right and wrong way to quilt, but at the time, I didn't want to share my creation with anyone but myself for fear of someone pointing out that it was not a "real" quilt.

Nevertheless, the finished quilt quickly founds its home as my dorm room bedspread where it stayed for the rest of my college days.

The machine I used to make this quilt was an old Kenmore purchased on eBay whose tension was shot. As you can tell from the picture below, the stitches haven't held up too well in some areas. That machine was a hot mess—kind of literally. It would occasionally catch on fire. If I sewed for too long, it overheated, and the connection point between the cord and machine would start smoking. No joke!

General wear has added a few additional rips and holes to the quilt, but that's okay—quilts are meant to be used, right?

So there it is—my first-ever quilt.

I would love to hear about your first sewing or quilting creation, if you are willing to share (admit) to what that was!

A rainbow of peppers

2011-10-27T07:05:00.000-04:00

Aren't these pretty? These are Chinese 5-color peppers. The name kind of says everything, doesn't it? This is a variety that originates in China and comes in (you guessed it!) 5 colors—red, orange, yellow, purple...and I guess cream is the fifth color? Yeah, we'll go with cream.

I am all about balancing beauty with functionality, and these peppers do that with ease.

On the beauty side, the plant itself has gorgeous purple-veined, dark green foliage and purple blossoms. As the peppers form, they start out purple and then change to cream, then yellow, then orange, and finally red. Since the plant continuously flowers, the ripening process creates pops of rainbow hues amidst the green leaves all through the summer and early fall.

On the functionality side, these peppers are a great all-around hot pepper for any Asian dish. Because of their small size (1-2"), you can ration your heat level as you cook or kick it up a notch by adding just one more pepper.

I don't find these peppers to be particularly hot, but I also ordered my green curry "Thai hot" at a restaurant last week and was given a warning that Americans can't handle Thai hot. Then the waiter stared at me in disbelief when I had tasted the dish and asked if it was really Thai hot or if they had gotten my order mixed up. Then there was the time last summer when I ate a scotch bonnet raw. Just so you know—scotch bonnets are hotter than habaneros. That was some serious pain. I mean, I'm pretty sure my throat started bleeding. And then I accidentally rubbed my eye, which practically started bleeding, too, at which point I frantically started digging through my gym bag, then my purse, then the back seat of my car for anything liquid. Why I had decided that a 350,000-Scoville unit pepper would be a tasty snack on the way to friend's party is beyond me. One quick detour to Potbelly's for a vanilla milkshake calmed my taste buds down, though the red blotches around my mouth and eyes stayed around for a couple of hours. I guess my point is that my definition of "not particularly hot" probably can't be trusted.

So, here's what the internet has to say (because the internet can always be trusted. Ha!) Chinese 5-colors generally range from 5,000 to 30,000 Scoville units. That's hotter than a jalapeno, but not as hot as a serrano chili. Does that help?

Even if that's too hot for you, you can't deny that they sure are pretty!

This made my day

2011-10-26T09:10:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, I opened my email to find a blog comment that made me smile from ear to ear. It was one of those moments that probably only fellow bloggers can understand—where you realize that somewhere, somehow, your writing has inspired someone else to do something.

That someone was Morgane, who recently relocated to the DC area with her family.

And that something was to join the farm share that I am a part of at Sycamore Spring Farm in Frederick, Md.

As you might have guessed from my gardening and farm-related posts on this blog (and if you know me in real life), I am passionate about people seeking out local farms and co-ops for their food. I believe that eating local is important because it teaches us about what actually goes into producing our food so that we can make educated decisions about what goes into our bodies, where we invest our money, and the environmental ramifications of those decisions. It can also help us take back the sense of community that has been steadily slipping away from us in the past few decades as big-box food retailers have become the norm. I may not have a million things in common with the other families that are part of my farm share, but I know that we have one big thing in common—a love for "our" farm, and that is enough to forge an instant connection.

So, given all of that, you can now imagine how excited I was to hear about Morgane visiting the farm and becoming part of Carol's farm share program. I am thrilled to have facilitated this family's journey into local food, and I can tell from Morgane's photographs that her kids are already hooked...though they might just be hooked on the many friendly kittens and other animals that Carol has roaming around! You can read about Morgane and her family's visits to the farm here.

And just because I don't like posting without photographs, here are a few new ones that I took at the farm this past Saturday.

Above: Fiona, the Scottish Highland cow, and the horses munch on some hay.

Above: A java, the second oldest of the American chicken breeds, runs along the fence line.

Above: The chicken and turkey house, though sometimes doves, guinea hens, ducks, and puppies
make their way in here, too!

Above: Another java peaks out from its enclosure.

Above: Fresh eggs just collected from the hen house.

Above: I think this is what they mean when they say "puppy-dog eyes."

Above: This is the same little kitten pictured in this post. He's growing up fast!

Above: This pretty boy was born one litter earlier than the kitten above. Can you see the brotherly resemblance?

Fat quarter giveaway winners

2011-10-25T14:58:00.001-04:00

I have winners (two winners, in fact) to announce this morning from last week's fat quarter giveaway!

The first winner is commenter #13, Kristin Orth of Iowa. Kristen makes the cutest kid's clothing! You can view her flickr photostream here. I love this double-layer skirt that she made and the cute little girl modeling how you can twirl in it.

The second winner is commenter #73, Lexi of DC. This is super exciting because I actually know Lexi! She's in the DC Modern Quilt Guild. She blogs at Tea and Crumpets and you can view her flickr photostream here. Lexi made this quilt top last Christmas. I laughed as I scrolled through her photostream, though, because so many of the picture captions mentioned being deathly afraid of binding quilts. Girl—we need to fix that because your quilt tops look great!

Congratulations ladies! I will be sending out your fabric by the end of the week.

Mini-quilt Monday: a self-named mini

2011-10-24T09:42:00.000-04:00

This week is probably going to be scarce on posts because I don't have a ton to share. I have plenty of ideas in my head, and a number of sketches of things I want to make, but I haven't had much time to actually sit down and SEW!

I do have this mini-quilt (of sorts) to share with you, though.

I made this with the intention of photographing it and using it as my blog header, but between making it and photographing it, I made a different blog header, which in the end, I like better anyway.

This mini-quilt is pretty simple—I just free-motion quilted my name on a scrap piece of Kona cotton in sand. I traded out batting for fuse-a-shade interfacing (a super thick and sturdy interfacing) so that the piece would lie as flat as possible for photographing.

Then I randomly added these little cross-stitched X's for another pop of color.

Since I didn't end up using this as my blog header, I will probably display this little guy on a shelf in my sewing room. I don't want him to feel useless, after all!

Fat quarter giveaway

2011-10-21T09:41:00.000-04:00

After all of the freebies that I took home at the Sewing Summit, I decided to clean out my fabric stash and share the love with you all. So, I am offering 19 fat quarters (give or take—some pieces are a little smaller, some a little bigger) to a lucky reader!

Included in the stack is an assortment of Denyse Schmidt, Amy Butler, Tina Givens, Erin McMorris, and Jennifer Paganelli.

But wait...I have two identical stacks! That means that two lucky readers have the chance to score some fabric.

I am keeping it simple to enter. You don't need to follow my blog or leave some sort of complicated comment or jump through any other hoops...

To enter:

Leave a comment on this post. Be sure to sign in before leaving the comment so that I can track down your email if you win.
Leave a second comment if you did NOT attend the Sewing Summit. Whether you couldn't take time off work, had other obligations that weekend, or weren't able to afford the flight out there, you get an extra entry! Those of us that did make it out to the event came back with so much SWAG that I think those of you that didn't go should get an extra shot at winning my giveaway.

I will close comments at ~~12pm EDT~~ midnight EDT on Monday, October 24, and announce the winners Tuesday morning. (Entry deadline extended!)

I don't mind shipping overseas, so feel free to enter no matter where you are located.

Good luck!

xx Briana

***COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED***

Silk loop scarf

2011-10-20T09:32:00.000-04:00

About a month ago, I scored this beautiful silk fabric in the remnant bin at G Street Fabrics.

This week, I made it into a loop scarf. Silk is so airy. I forgot how much I love to work with it, although sewing it can be quite the challenge because silk is also so slippery that it is hard to cut or sew in a straight line.

I made the scarf as a gift to my cousin Trinity, who is expecting a baby in November.

Trinity had decided that she didn't need or want a baby shower this time around since it is baby #4—she pretty much has what she needs at this point, and another baby shower just seemed silly to her. Last night Trinity showed up at her favorite Thai restaurant in Old Town Manassas, Siam Classic, thinking that she was just going out to dinner with immediate family. But instead, 6 of her closest friends surprised her with a girl's night—because she might not need a baby shower, but any momma could use a night out with 3 little ones running around and a 4th one on the way!

I actually had to resort to finishing Trinity's scarf in the car in the parking lot outside of the restaurant because I have just not had time to work on any projects this past week.

But it all worked out. I finished Trinity's gift and had just enough fabric left over to make a second scarf. I don't know why, but matching my best friends never gets old!

Above: I hate indoor flash, so I gave this photo some sweet old skool styling.

Do seeds expire?

2011-10-19T13:35:00.000-04:00

Yes. Seeds do "expire" so to speak. Technically, what this means is that the statistical probability of a seed germinating and producing a viable plant decreases over time. This is a bummer because seed collection and storage is such a deliberate time investment. But the good news is that the expiration date is probably much farther into the future than you think.

Above: Giant speckled lima beans

Have you ever noticed that if you buy seeds from a store or seed catalog, the back of the seed packets are stamped with a label that says something like "Packaged for 2011"?

It's not technically an expiration date, but it can give you some clues as to how long you can expect your seeds to be viable. Because packaged seeds must be collected at the end of the growing season and usually aren't shipped out from seed companies until the beginning of the next growing season, you can assume that your seeds are at least a year old already. That means that if you buy your seeds (rather than saving them yourself), and you don't use up all of your seeds this year, you probably only want to save the remaining seeds if that particular seed has a viability of 3 or more years (just to be on the safe side).

If you save your own seeds from your garden, you know exactly when you collected them, which makes figuring out how long they will last a whole lot easier. Unless you didn't label your seeds. But that would just be silly of you, so don't do that!

So, when do my seeds expire?

Here's a quick reference list of some commonly grown vegetables and their seeds' average viability.

1 year or less:

parsely, onions

2 years:

corn, leeks, okra, peppers (sweet and hot)

3 years:

asparagus, beans, broccoli, carrots, celery, kohlrabi, peas, spinach

4 years:

beets, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, kale, squash, tomatoes, turnips, melons

5 years:

collard greens, cucumbers, endive, radishes

6 years:

most varieties of leaf and head lettuce

You can also prolong the life of seeds by keeping them in a cool, dark place like in a basement pantry. I don't have a basement, myself, so I keep a shoe box filled with seeds in the back of my refrigerator.

Above: Pinto and black beans

As a side note, as I am writing this blog post, I am really realizing that I should heed my own advice. Obviously, my 3-year-old parsley seeds didn't germinate this year, nor did my 4-year-old leek seeds. But clearly, I don't heed my own advice on a regular basis as you learned in my post about seed saving. Maybe I should have written this post sooner for my own garden's sake!

I have extra seeds. What do I do with them?

Right about now you might be realizing that you can't possibly use up all of your seeds before they expire. For the small space gardener, some of those seed packets contain quite a lot of seeds, after all! Here are some thoughts on what you can do with your leftover seeds once you have used as many as you plan to for your own garden:

Save them for next year. If your seeds haven't expired, there's no need to get rid of them. Just store them in a dark, cool place like, such as your refrigerator or basement pantry.
Give them to a friend or neighbor.
Donate them to a local school. Contact your child's teacher or school to see if they would be able to use your extra seeds in a class project.
Donate them to a non-profit. Winter Sewn is a non-profit that collects unused seeds and distributes them to schools, youth groups, senior centers, garden clubs, and other groups for educational gardening and landscaping projects. Directions on where to send your unused seeds are on Winter Sewn's website. This organization only accepts seeds less than 3 years old. For other organizations that accept seed donations, just do a good old-fashioned Google search on donating unused seeds.
Compost them. It's always an option, but if your seeds are still viable, try giving them to someone that can use them before tossing them in the heap.

Happy seed saving, everyone!

If you want more information on saving your own seeds, check out my previous post on selecting seeds for saving.
_________________________________
By the way, I got the seed viability information in this post from the Virginia Cooperative Extension.

Modern Blocks now available online

2011-10-18T11:15:00.000-04:00

Exciting news! I just received my advance e-copy of Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers by C&T Publishing, which is now available online in print and electronic form. Here is a preview of the cover, plus the pages that contain my block, Wedged In.

I am so excited to have contributed to a book along with some of modern quilting's "big names" like Amy Ellis (Amy's Creative Side), Faith Jones (Fresh Lemons), and Penny Layman (Sew Take a Hike).

I will be giving away one copy of the book to a lucky reader once I get my paper copies in the mail, so be on the lookout for that in the next few weeks!

I updated my header

2011-10-18T06:52:00.000-04:00

I am super excited to launch my new header this morning, which I just finished updating last night. I have had the same header since I started my blog way back in 2007. My old one was actually a scan of a paper cutting I did in college. I rarely took pictures and had no idea how to do any picture editing at that time. So, it was definitely time for a change!

Pop on over to the blog if you are reading this from google reader or another RSS feed reader, and check it out!

The wiggle skirt

2011-10-17T11:54:00.000-04:00

When Gretchen of Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing mentioned the wiggle skirt during her class, Getting a Perfect Vintage Fit, at the Sewing Summit, I giggled. I guess you could call it a wiggle giggle. I mean, wiggle skirt? That's funny, right? But when I looked to my left and then to my right, I realized that no one else in the class was stifling laughter, so I quickly jotted down the term to look up later. Obviously, these girls were on to something that I didn't know.

From what I came up with searching online, a wiggle skirt (or dress) is one in which the width of the hemline is narrower than the hips. A lot of wiggle skirts don't have a kick pleat in the back either, so you literally have to shorten your steps to walk in them (I suppose that's where the wiggle comes in!). They are very 1940's, though, and produce a fitted, hourglass silhouette.

To create the wiggle skirt silhouette, you can start with a pencil skirt pattern. Then take in the side seams by drawing a straight line on the flat pattern from the fullest point in the hips to a point drawn up to 2" in from the bottom hem.

I made a wiggle skirt last week from a wool blend last week. I only took mine in 1.5" at the bottom hem (2" seemed scary tight!).

I guess I should have ironed the skirt before taking pictures of it! It looks pretty wrinkly here:

You can't tell that well from the pictures because the skirt is on a dress form with no legs, but the main reason that this silhouette is so flattering is that it doesn't make your knees look as wide as your hips, which can be the case with pencil skirts.

I wore the skirt to work last week, and you definitely don't have as much room to move, so I would probably opt for a fabric with lycra in it if I made another one so that the skirt had enough stretch to feel a bit more comfortable. But all in all, I am still pretty happy with the result.

By the way, the shirt on the dress form is anthropologie, and the necklace is by Bykali. And the skirt is (of course) Briana Arlene :)

Salt Lake and Sewing Summit recap: Day 4

2011-10-15T18:11:00.000-04:00

This post is part of series on my trip to Salt Lake and the Sewing Summit. Check out what I did on Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 in my previous posts.

On Day 4 of my Salt Lake trip (Sunday), I managed to get up for another run. My lungs had begun adjusting after four days in the mountains, but I still only managed 3.5 miles, but without walking. Hey, that's progress!

At breakfast, Ali of a²(w) had a very special announcement to make. Over the past month, some of us (me included) rallied together to form the SSSS Bee to make two quilts for Amy and Erin as a thank you for all of the hard work and sleepless nights that they have put in over the past year while planning the first-ever Sewing Summit. (Those S's stand for Super Secret Sewing Summit, by the way.)

Here is the front of one of the quilts (the two are identical):

And the back:

And all the contributors made signature blocks, which Amy made into this cute photo mosaic:

Above: All quilt images from Amy's Creative Side

I made blocks for the backs of the quilts. Here they are before I shipped them off to Ali:

After breakfast, we had two classes before saying our "goodbye's." I took Aspiring Authors: A Panel Discussion with Published Authors and Documenting Your Creativity: Blogging and Social Media. I thought both of these were well-planned and really helpful.

(I also put down my camera at this point...so sorry—I have no more pictures to share!)

The author's panel really gave me confidence that maybe my limited experience and publications really is enough to submit a book proposal with a major publisher. I appreciated the encouragement and positive attitude of all the ladies that were a part of the panel.

Dana of Old Red Barn Co. had some great thoughts during the blogging class, which I kind of summarized in this post a few days ago. I also appreciated the opportunity to have a group discussion with other bloggers on topics like mobile blogging, tracking blog statistics, advertising pros and cons, and the value of giveaways (to name a few).

Then, before I knew it, the Sewing Summit was over! It was a quick goodbye to new friends before hitting the road to the airport for the long flight back to DC.

Thanks to all of you ladies that made this such a great weekend! Apparently, Amy and Erin are already starting to plan Sewing Summit 2012. I can't wait!

100 Quilts for Kids: today is the day

2011-10-14T14:01:00.000-04:00

Did you make a quilt as part of Katie (Swim Bike Quilt) and the DC Modern Quilt Guild's 100 Quilts for Kids quilt drive? Remember to stop by Katie's blog and link up a picture of your quilt today to be eligible for the prize drawing!

If you didn't finish your quilt in time, don't worry—the point of the quilt drive was to get a quilt in the hands of someone that needs it. So there is always time to do that, right? So you can still finish up your quilt, find somewhere to donate it, and add it to the 100 Quilts for Kids flickr stream.

Here's a picture of my 100 Quilts for Kids quilt that I finished up last month:

If you are wondering how I quilted this quilt, check out my tutorial on quilting words and stars.

Salt Lake and Sewing Summit recap: Day 3

2011-10-14T09:23:00.000-04:00

This post is part of series on my trip to Salt Lake and the Sewing Summit. Check out what I did on Day 1 and Day 2 in my previous posts.

On Day 3 (Saturday), the Sewing Summit was in full swing.

I started the morning off right by getting up early for a run. Thank you, Dana, by the way. I am not so sure that I would have done so if you hadn't gotten out of bed, too. (The girl is training for a half marathon! Woot!) I ran a pitiful 3 miles (including a short walk) and felt crazy winded because I live close to 0 ft above mean sea level, and Salt Lake is about 4200 ft above mean sea level. My lungs were pretty confused about the lack of oxygen.

After the short run and a shower, I snuck back out again for coffee (I just love my local coffee shops!). This time (unlike the previous morning's quest for coffee) I found what I was looking for—the Raw Bean.

Even though I had my reusable cup with me, I got a paper cup just so I could take a picture of it. Now that seems ridiculous and wasteful of me.

By the time I got back to the hotel, breakfast was hopping.

(You are really going to see how awful I am at indoor photography, today!)

The spread was amazing. I had potatoes, bacon, yogurt, and granola. It looks pretty gross from this picture, actually, but I can assure you, it was delicious.

Amy and Erin gave some morning announcements before we all headed off to our classes.

My first class, Garment Fabrics from Angora to Zibeline, was with Gretchen of Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing. First, I am sad that I don't have a better picture of Gertie because she is pretty much my new girl crush. You can kind of see her on the left hand side of this picture. If you combined Zooey Deschanel and Katy Perry and then added in some mad sewing skills that would give you a sense of what to expect with Gretchen. She is personable, friendly, funny, and a great teacher on top of that. I actually liked her first class so much that I stayed with her for her second class, Essential Hand Stitches for Garment Making, instead of going to the free motion quilting class that I had signed up for.

After our first two classes and lunch, most of the women bolted for the sewing room to work on personal projects, but I decided to get outside and make the most of my short trip to Salt Lake by doing some more touring. I passed by these graffitied walls on East Broadway.

Then I browsed through the Green Ant, a mid-century modern vintage furniture boutique. I loved everything in this store except the prices!

That's me in the mirrored glass of an office building. I look so Salt Lake City girl, right?

My last stop was the City library (again). I was hoping that the rooftop garden would be open that day...and I was in luck!

When I first walked out on the roof, a bum smoking what was probably an illegal substance asked me if I wanted to "take a hit with him" on some sort of homemade pipe. I said, "No, thank you," and kept walking. Actually, first I took a picture of him, and then I kept walking, but I won't post that picture because...well, I just don't know that that would be appropriate to post online, especially since I hold a clearance for my job. Anyway, the view from the roof made it all worth it. You could see the whole city.

After the library, it was back to the Sewing Summit for me. My next class was Letting Your Machine Work For You: Specialty Seams in Garments with Susan of Freshly Picked.

I was a little disappointed with this class because all we did was make little zippered pouches (I think there was some sort of mix-up in the planning/coordinating), but it was great to meet Susan. She is funny and so pretty! The girl sells the cutest baby moccasins, too, which apparently the Kardashians have bought.

I rounded out the day with Gretchen (again) in a class called Getting the Perfect Vintage Fit. We learned all about tailoring patterns to fit your shape. This class was really helpful because I never knew if I was making modifications to patterns correctly. Gretchen also talked about vintage undergarments, which she has a whole "arsenal" of at home and refers to as "weaponry." Hilarious.

For dinner, Dana and I went to Red Rock Brewing Company, where we reviewed our respective classes over beer and good food. I had a Black Bier followed by a Bavarian Weisse. Both delicious.

After dinner, we headed back to help set up the Fat Quarter Swap for that night, during which everyone that had turned in fabric the previous night got to "buy" fabric with tickets. I wish I had photos of this. All the fabric was laid out on tables by color, and promptly at 8:30, about 50 women rushed in to pick out some new prints for their fabric stash. Everyone was polite—no arguments or fights of any kind. I was surprised!

I had brought a variety of (mostly) Amy Butler prints to trade (her fabric is just too busy for my style these days), and this the fabric that I ended up taking home:

That's a wrap on Day 3. I will post about my final day in Salt Lake tomorrow.

Half the Sky--a book, a story, and a contest

2011-10-13T08:09:00.000-04:00

Few things in life do I love more than sewing.

And few things in life can get me more upset than learning/thinking/reading about impoverished women subjected to awful things like slavery, sex trafficking, and prostitution.

These two thoughts are related. Promise—but first, let me backtrack.

A Book:
In their new book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn assert that "the best way to fight poverty and extremism is to educate and empower women and girls." Basically, educating and providing opportunities for women in developing nations can start a domino effect, enabling more and more women to fight oppression by becoming contributing members of their local economy. The book includes an explanation of the issues that face women in impoverished and male-dominated countries today, individual womens' personal stories, and practical advice to readers.

About this book, Angelina Jolie said,

"Women facing poverty, oppression, and violence are usually viewed as victims. Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s Half the Sky shows that unimaginable challenges are often met with breathtaking bravery. These stories show us the power and resilience of women who would have every reason to give up but never do. They will be an inspiration for anyone who reads this book, and a model for those fighting for justice around the world. You will not want to put this book down." [Source: Half the Sky Movement website]

(This is the UK book cover, by the way. I just thought it looked cooler. See below for the U.S. version.)

A Story:
During the writing stages of this book, Kristof wrote a NY Times article about a 38-year-old Nairobian woman named Jane Ngoiri, who was pushed out of her home when her husband took a second wife and eventually resorted to prostitution to make enough money to feed her two small children. In 1999, Jane joined an antipoverty organization called Jamii Bora. Through this organization, Jane learned basic entrepreneurship skills as well as how to sew. She eventually launched her own business in which she buys secondhand wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses and re-fashions them into two or three children's dresses. Through her business, Jane has been able to leave prostitution behind for good and has bought a home for herself and her children. Her oldest daughter has since become the first in the family to graduate from high school.

A Contest:
When Amanda (a fellow blogger and friend of my cousin Trinity) read about Jane, she was so compelled by Jane's story that she wanted to spread the word and help collect dresses to send to Jane. In Nairobi, hours of scouring used clothing markets yields only a dress or two at a time. Yet here in America, seconds of skimming through our own closets would probably yield 3 or 4 dresses that we never intend to wear again. (I'm embarrassed to say that this is so true of me!)

With this thought in mind, Amanda has put a call out for old prom and bridesmaid dresses in the form of a contest, which you can read about here.

My cousin Trinity put a call out for dresses, too. The contest instructions are simple—

Post a comment on this post saying that you are going to send it a dress or that you have sent in a dress.
Send in one or more old dresses to either Amanda or Trinity before October 31. (Check out their links for mailing instructions). The dresses will be bundled all together and shipped overseas to Nairobi.
Send Amanda a photo or a link to a post of a photo of you in the dress (now or when you originally wore it).
Be entered to win a copy of Half the Sky, a Freeset poppy print wine bag (both courtesy of Amanda) and a copy of Sold (courtesy of Trinity).

I am also upping the ante by giving this zippered pouch to the winner...because though this isn't about winning, a little incentive never hurts :)

The pouch is about 8" x 4" x 2"—the perfect size to fill with pencils, make-up, toiletries, or other small items. I free motion quilted the pieces and then added hexagons over the quilting to give it a 3-dimensional effect. As you can see below, I also added some colorful strips to the bottom as well.

I am going through my closet tonight. Would you consider going through yours?

I almost had a heart attack

2011-10-12T17:52:00.001-04:00

This afternoon at my office desk, I logged into Blogger to add a few sentences to a draft blog post I have been working on throughout the day. But when I logged on, I got a big fat message saying that:

my blog
doesn't
exist.

What? Well, obviously that's wrong. I didn't freak out immediately because I was using Internet Explorer, which I hate, and we only have an old version at work, which I hate even more. I assumed that this older version of IE couldn't handle my switchover to the new Blogger Dynamic Template that I made this morning. I calmly closed the window and opened my preferred browser—Google Chrome. But the same thing happened.

Then I freaked out and released a number of bad words at my computer screen. Sorry, cubicle neighbors. Umm, also sorry, God. That was probably not how I should have responded. But by that time, I couldn't breathe because I was too busy realizing that nearly 5 years of my life had been washed away down a blogosphere black hole, and I had absolutely no power to do anything about it.

I imagined a King Kong-like cyber creature snatching my blog out of the cyber air and crushing it into cyber oblivion.

(Okay, sometimes I can be dramatic.)

I don't know what happened, but as you can tell by reading this, I did "find" my blog again. Google had to text me a code to retrieve my blogger account because of "suspicious activity." I don't know what that's all about, but I changed my password, too, just in case.

I guess I had no idea how much I love blogging until today. I don't even get that many readers in the grand scheme of things, even compared to other friends of mine. That's okay, though, because for me, blogging helps keep me sane as I sit behind grey cubicle walls in the midst of a work-obsessed, sleep-deprived city. It's how I document my creative life—the one that people don't see M-F 9-5.

It actually relates directly to one of the main points that Dana Bolyard of Old Red Barn Co. made during her blogging class this past weekend at the Sewing Summit. She started the class with a question:

Why do you blog?

For Dana, it's about creating a living record of who she is for her children to have when they are older. For others, it's about documenting their projects or showcasing their photography. But for all of us, it's also about developing a community of people that share similar interests. The Sewing Summit (as I have been posting about the past few days) was all about that community. It was a room full of 150+ women that sew and blog and who—in one whirlwind weekend—became instant real-life in-person friends. Those are the types of connections that make blogging worth the time.

What about you? Why do you blog?

Salt Lake and Sewing Summit recap: Day 2

2011-10-12T10:30:00.000-04:00

This post is part of series on my trip to Salt Lake and the Sewing Summit. Check out what I did on Day 1 here.

On Day 2, my roomie Dana and I got up early and decided to head out in search of an ATM and coffee before morning check-in for the Sewing Summit. We found the ATM, but we never did find coffee. (The streets are kind of confusing in Salt Lake because they are all numbered based on their proximity to the Temple. Once you know this, it's easy to navigate. At this point in our trip, we hadn't quite figured this out.)

Then it was back to the hotel to check in. We were greeted by the smiling faces of Amy and Erin, the organizers of the Sewing Summit, who handed us packed-to-the-brim SWAG bags. Can you believe all this stuff?? And everything isn't even pictured because I gave some items away that I didn't think I would use.

Dana and I plopped down on a couch by the hotel lobby's fireplace to dig into our spoils, where we met Liz and Candice. Soon after, Dana, Liz, and Candice headed off with 40-some-odd other women to go on a shop hop of Salt Lake's many fabric stores.

Lauren picked me up, and we headed to the Coffee Garden for breakfast. We loved the look of the place (clean, bright, and packed with outdoorsy people crowded around community tables), but we decided to put the place to the test by ordering straight-up coffee (the true mark of a coffee shop's worth). It passed—the coffee was great. I have a feeling this will become a regular spot for Lauren. And me, too, whenever I visit.

Next up, we headed to Momentum, one of the local climbing gyms that Lauren and Josh are considering joining.

Although it was fun to climb at a different gym, we weren't too impressed. The bouldering cave was closed, the staff was unclear with us about having to bring our own ropes to lead climb, and the ratings were pretty soft. And also, what's all this about? No loose chalks?? Weird. And annoying.

Oh well, we still got some good pictures out of it.

And the view out of the floor-to-ceiling gym window isn't bad.

Sisters. I mean, friends that manage to coincidentally coordinate clothing and that everyone mistakes for sisters:

After climbing, we swung back by Lauren and Josh's house to pick up Josh, and then we all headed up to Park City (elevation 7000 ft).

Because of the drastic elevation climb, the rain quickly turned to snow as we left Salt Lake.

For lunch at the Back Door Deli, Josh and I both ordered sandwiches on challah bread, which the girl at the counter wrote down as "holla," which made me laugh.

After lunch, we did some browsing in the Park City shops. The first stop was a place called Olive and Tweed, which was basically a small, locally owned version of Anthropologie.

A picture of myself in the mirror at Olive and Tweed:

I splurged on some grey boots with red zippers that look like this:

Above: image from mintyfreshflavor on flickr.

I had to—I mean look at them. So cute.

But then we walked into Burns Cowboy Shop. Now these are boots.

And they just went on and on...

The guy working in this shop was very excited about boots and also excited that we were there all the way from DC and that Lauren had just moved to Salt Lake. He told us all about boots—you can get pointy toed boots; round-toed boots; square-toed boots; short boots; medium boots; tall boots; boots with an inlay; boots in whatever color leather you want. My head kind of started to swim at all the options, and all I could think was Forrest Gump and his many types of shrimp.

At between $600 and $1300, Lauren and I decided that today was not the day to become cowgirls.

Along the way back to the car, we popped in the studio of photographer Michael Fatali. His beautiful wife greeted us and told us all about his striking landscape photography: everything is shot with only natural light with no computer imaging, artificial lighting, or unnatural filtration. Amazing!

He still uses the same large plate camera that he began with 24 years ago.

When you look through his camera, everything is upside down.

Back down the mountain for us...

Lauren and Josh dropped me off at the hotel, and I headed in for the Sewing Summit welcome reception. (And you probably thought that the day was wrapping up!) I was immediately immersed in a room of about 150 other women that love sewing as much as I do and many of whose blogs I read regularly and whose projects I drool over weekly. And there they were IN PERSON! So cool.

By the way, from here on out, the pictures suck. I just haven't gotten the hang of indoor/flash photography. I am going to show you the photos anyway, despite my embarrassment at their quality.

After the welcome reception, I helped collect and sort fabric for a fat quarter swap that Kaelin had organized to take place on the following night (Saturday). This picture doesn't even show half of the people we crammed into one hotel room or the 50 or so women that stopped by to exchange their fabric stacks for swap tickets.

And this picture is only about 2/3 of the fabric that we collected to swap.

I called it quits at about 10:30pm (hey, that's 12:30am east coast time!) while the last few women trickled in to add their fabric to the swap. And that's a wrap on Day 2.

Tomorrow...Day 3, the first full day of the Sewing Summit.

Salt Lake and Sewing Summit recap: Day 1

2011-10-11T21:59:00.000-04:00

It's back to work and "real life" for me after my long weekend in Salt Lake for the Sewing Summit. This was such a packed-full-of-goodness trip that I am going to recap what I did day by day, and share some photos with you, too. But first, I want to give Amy and Erin, the founders and organizers of the first-ever Sewing Summit a huge...

Thank YOU!

The love, time, and thought that you ladies put into each and every detail of this weekend was clear. You made this a weekend I won't soon forget. I had such a great time meeting all of my online sewing friends in person and learning techniques and tips from so many great teaches, and I know that everyone that attended can say the same!

So here is the run-down of Day 1:

(Also, I suppose that I should warn you that I tried to cut down on pictures, but I still have included way too many for one post. Sorry. I kind of couldn't help myself.)

First, I hopped on the metro and caught a ridiculously early flight out of DC. Technically, the Sewing Summit festivities weren't in full swing until Friday evening, but since one of my best friends just moved out to Salt Lake, OF COURSE I had to get there a day and a half early!

A little spider made its web between the airport window panes. Hello Mr. Spidey!

Lauren greeted me upon my arrival at the Salt Lake airport at around 2pm, and we headed into town.

I checked into my room at the Little America Hotel. Swanky, right?

Then Lauren and I drove to her and Josh's new house. Lauren and Josh's place is so cute! Why don't I have photos of it? I don't know, but believe me—it's like the super cute places that Design*Sponge posts and you just wish you could live in.

Next, we went to Caffe Niche for coffee and a scone-sized oatmeal raisin cookie to share.

They were as yummy as they look...

Then it was off to tour Salt Lake—the city's public library, the city and county building, the Morman temple, and more. You can walk or jump on the TRAX system to pretty much everything. The city is so clean and beautiful that it feels like a college campus. And the mountains surrounding it don't hurt the view, either!

We saw this little doggie in the window on the way to the library.

The Salt Lake City library is gorgeous! A definite must-see if you visit the city.

Sadly, the libary's rooftop garden was closed, but we could sneak a peak of the view out the door...

...and catch a glimpse of the rooftop beehives from one of the windows.

The city and county building:

South Temple Street:

The Beehive House and Temple grounds are exquisite. The entire area is landscaped English-garden style with more types of wild, colorful flowers than you can count.

The temple itself:

The LDS office building stands 26 floors high and is the world's headquarters for the LDS church.

This cute little boy was splashing around in the puddles outside the temple. He got scolded about 30 seconds after I took this picture. But then his mother started laughing and just pulled out her camera, too.

We hit up Backer's Bakery on the way back to Lauren's place.

For dinner, we went to Squatter's Pub on West Broadway. A McGrueh's Dry Irish Stout for me, please!

Above: image from waymarking.com.

Then it was back to the hotel for me to wait for the arrival of my roommate, Dana, who had flown in from DC on an evening flight. It was late when she arrived, but we traded stories of the day's travels and set our alarms early to make sure that we would be first in line for early check-in the next morning for the Sewing Summit.

Stay tuned...Day 2 tomorrow.

I make clothes, too

2011-10-10T20:26:00.001-04:00

That's right—I make clothes, too. The funny thing is that when I started sewing, I only made clothes. I thought that quilting was for people with no sense or style or taste, and I was also deathly afraid that the way to bind a quilt was to put the right sides together (like in clothing seams), sew around the edges, and flip the whole thing right side out. Well, as you can tell if you read my blog regularly, I have figured out the correct way to bind quilts. And boy am I glad that it's not done how I originally thought!

Anyway, this past weekend at the Sewing Summit in Salt Lake, I was re-inspired to dive into fashion sewing thanks in large part to Gretchen Hirsch, better known as Gertie of Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing. I had originally signed up for about a 50/50 split between fashion and quilting classes, but after my first class with Gretchen on Saturday morning, I jumped ship on the quilting classes and set sail with the garment courses for the rest of the conference.

Then Sadie Fox and Christina— whose card I can't find at the moment to link you to :(—who both teach in Denver at Fancy Tiger (don't you just love that name!) reminded me of BurdaStyle, an online pattern site and sewing community for garment sewers. I joined over a year ago, downloaded a pattern, forgot I downloaded the pattern, found the pattern, made a dress from the pattern, wore it to a friend's wedding, and then forgot all about the dress and the BurdaStyle website until now. (Whew! Did you follow all that?)

So, this morning I took some photos of said dress—the Theresa Dress (BurdaStyle pattern #6066). I made it from a black crepe-back satin in a poly-silk blend.

Although I have always been drawn to the crepe side of crepe-back satin, I used the satin side as the "right" side because I thought that this was the correct way to use the fabric. But then during Gretchen's class Garment Fabrics from Angora to Zibeline, she mentioned that you can use either side and that she prefers the crepe side, too! Now I know for next time.

I want to start posting more photos of garments that I make, so hopefully, I will actually do so! And more to come on the Sewing Summit and Salt Lake in later posts this week. I am still recovering from the long, but awesome, trip and haven't had time to process all the weekend's events!

So long Salt Lake

2011-10-09T14:07:00.000-04:00

I am headed back to DC this afternoon. My trip to Salt Lake seemed way too short, and I kind of don't want to leave. Everyone is so friendly and outdoorsy here. I felt like I immediately fit right in. Which then makes me think—what is wrong with us in DC? Would it kill us to look up from our Blackberries and smile at the people passing us on the street or maybe slow down from the hustle and bustle and actually sit down in a coffee shop and strike up a conversation with another regular customer? It's no secret to my friends that I have a love/hate relationship with my city. And after visiting Salt Lake, I am kind of on the hating it side at the moment.

Plus, I still can't get over how breathtaking the view in Salt Lake is, despite the fact that the locals were complaining that it was rainy and dreary this weekend! Yes, it was cloudy and hazy (as you can see in some these photos), but still quite beautiful. And the air felt fresher than anything that has blown through DC all summer.

Above: view from the plane.

Above: view from the street. (Yes, the middle of it. Yes, I was jaywalking.)

Above: view from the hotel.

Above: view from the road on the way up to Park City. (Don't worry—this time I was in a car!)

Above: view from the top of the city library. (Sadly, this was the best view, but the haziest of all!)

So long Salt Lake. I will miss you!

Photöberfest, week 1, honorable mention

2011-10-09T00:13:00.003-04:00

Katie Evans picked one of my eggplant photos as an honorable mention for week 1 of her Photöberfest contest! This one, to be exact:

To me, this is more exciting than "winning" by getting the most Pinterest votes because Katie herself selected my photo as one of her favorite entries. She generously gave me an electronic copy of her new book, The Key to Taking Pictures Like a Professional Photographer.

I haven't had a chance to glance through it, but I know Katie's photographs are gorgeous and her composition is always interesting, so I know I am going to learn a lot! Thanks again, Katie!

Katie is still hosting 3 more weeks of Photöberfest if you want to challenge yourself to take some photos. The next three weeks' subjects are (in order) kids, action, and Halloween. Good luck to those of you that enter. I am looking forward to browsing through everyone's entries!

Whole Foods, Rockville

2011-10-08T09:54:00.000-04:00

I took my last set of food photography for the week at Whole Foods in Rockville. Because I shot these all inside, they are dark shots. I didn't use a flash on any of them, and I didn't adjust the colors or exposure, but I do feel like the indoor lighting colors them a little weird. Maybe it's just my personal preference—I tend to like light-filled, slightly over-exposed photographs much more than darker photos. I do really like this first shot of the coffee beans, though.

This Whole Foods location has as an awesome bulk foods section that includes a table full of various salts. They are all so pretty, and they smell amazing.

Himalayan pink salt. Yum!

Also part of the bulk foods is an entire selection of dried mushrooms:

Here are my two best photos from the seafood department. I had a lady staring at me like I was crazy while taking these, so I had to just get over that and take the photos anyway.

That's it...my week of food photography. I have Katie Evans and her Photöberfest contest to thank for encouraging me to get out there and and take photos focusing on a particular subject. I think that the exercise has helped me improve my eye for composition. And it has also made me realize that photographing food isn't always easy (Believe me, I took a ton of photos of food that you do not want to see. I don't know why when you take a picture of a plate full of pasta, it always looks oily and gross), but food photography is not impossible either. So, thanks Katie!

Pumpkins

2011-10-07T07:01:00.000-04:00

So, I didn't read that the rules that closely on Katie Evans's Photöberfest contest, or I would have noticed that the entries were limited to 3 photographs, not 3 blog posts...oh well. I am going to share some more photos with you anyway. Here are some pumpkin pics since it is October, after all...

A Georgetown cupcake

2011-10-06T09:17:00.000-04:00

I took more food photos yesterday during my work coffee and lunch breaks as part of week 1 of Katie Evans's Photöberfest contest. In my post yesterday I told you I took 151 photos to get those 3 shots of the eggplants. I actually kept about 20 or so photos in total, but I just posted my 3 favorites. For this round, my photo count is:

Total: 203

Keepers: 51

Favorites: 22

I am going to post the 22 favorites over the next 3 days in sets. Today, I am just posting photos of a salted caramel cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake (my favorite dessert spot!).

Because I took these shots at midday, it was hard to get the right lighting, but I found a bench in one of the alleyways that connects Bethesda Row to the Bethesda Ave parking garage, and the lighting here was bright yet indirect—perfect. I like that the honey color of the bench highlights the caramel color well.

I switched up the background by pulling out my sketchbook and flipping to a blank page.

This is the little candy label with which Georgetown Cupcakes always tops their free flavor of the day.

Going, going...

Gone. (Yes, it was as delicious as it looked!)

By the way, if you have a Pinterest account and want to vote for my photos, visit Katie's Photöberfest Week 1 Board and "like" my photos. That would just be so nice of you :)

Heading out

2011-10-06T06:07:00.000-04:00

I am on my way to the airport this morning...

...and am super excited for the weekend in Salt Lake and for the...

Hope to see some you bloggies there. And for those of you that can't make it, I have my camera in-hand ready to photograph the whole experience. Have a great weekend everyone!

xx Briana

Photöberfest and food photography

2011-10-05T18:07:00.000-04:00

The more I blog and read others' blogs, the more I realize that photographs are what make or break your posts. I have also realized that I love photographing the things I make about as much as I actually like making them. In fact, if I have good photographs of my quilts and other sewing projects, I will happily donate them or hand them over as a gift to someone and not mind in the slightest that I may never see that particular item again. I don't feel the need to keep what I make. It's the projects that I have only poor-quality photographs of that I am sad at losing.

In an effort to improve my photography skills, I have been reading Katie Evans's photography blog the past couple of weeks, and she has some GREAT tips and tutorials. In fact, I think my photography has already improved in the short time I have been reading her blog. She has a book out, too, which I am setting aside money to purchase soon (the hardcover, of course. I just don't do the e-reader thing).

This month, Katie is hosting Photöberfest—a month-long photography contest. Katie has declared a theme for each week in October and will post weekly tips and techniques for that week's photography subject. You blog about your photos, and then Katie pins them on Pinterest. People vote on the best photo, and the person with the most "likes" wins. Pretty simple!

I wouldn't turn down a prize, but I am honestly just doing this to improve my own photography. I am treating it like a class, which means that I am toting my camera around everywhere right now. People give me weird stares as I photograph close-ups of fish eyeballs at the Whole Foods seafood counter, but that's okay. You just have to get over the stares if you want good photographs. (That just happened this morning, so I haven't downloaded the pictures yet. I'll share any good ones I got of the fish tomorrow!)

Week 1's theme is food, as you might have guessed from my eggplant shot above. I took 151 photos yesterday after work, and the one above was my best shot. I don't think it's my best ever, but I was working with dying daylight in a southwest-facing window, so I am surprised that I got anything passable to share with you at all.

Here are two other shots that I like:

By the way, the eggplants are a variety called lavender touch (from my urban garden, of course! more about those here), and the ginkgo plate is from Crate & Barrel circa 2007.

To Save or Not to Save? (Seeds, That Is)

2011-10-05T07:12:00.000-04:00

I am a huge advocate of saving seeds. It's cheap. It's fun. It's nature's version of recycling. But it's important to know when to save them and when not to save them. That's right—sometimes you should just toss them right down the disposal when you're cooking (or save them for the compost pile if you have that option). Wait, what? I thought you just said it's nature's version of recycling? So, when DO you save seeds and when do you NOT save seeds? This post will give you a quick primer.

By the way, if you are unfamiliar with some of the terms I use in this post, check out my previous post that discusses what open-pollinated, organic, heirloom, and all those other produce terms mean.

Do save seeds from open-pollinated varieties.

Do not save hybrids.

Seeds from open-pollinated varieties are the only seeds that you can successfully replant next year because they are pollinated naturally by bees, birds, insects, wind, or some other natural mechanism. Therefore, you can expect to get the same fruit year after year.

Hybrids, on the other hand, do not produce "true" seeds--that is, a hybrid's seeds will not produce fruit like it's parent, but something more like one of its grandparents (if that analogy makes sense...think way back to Mendel's peas from 6th grade). That is, if it produces anything at all. Some hybrids do not even produce seeds like seedless watermelons, the mules of the produce world.

Above: Image from the Washington Post.

But back to the hybrids that do produce viable (but not "true") seeds. A few years ago, I saved seeds from a farmer's market pepper that I was told was a "peter piper." (I have yet to actually find a description of this pepper online thanks to all the references to that childhood tongue twister by the same name, so who knows what that pepper was. Maybe it wasn't a peter piper at all!)

The pepper was red and skinny and looked almost identical to a cayenne but was just a little hotter. Sort of like this:

But when I grew a plant from the seeds that I saved, I got this:

This son-of-peter-piper is much larger, green, shriveled-looking, and isn't hot at all. It basically tastes like a green bell pepper.

The same thing happened when I saved eggplant seeds. While I got lucky with both the peppers and eggplants, a lot of hybrid seeds aren't even viable—meaning that you will go to the trouble to carefully collect and dry the seeds, store them until next year, plant and water them, and nothing will happen.

So, know what varieties you are growing, and choose open-pollinated varieties whenever possible if you intend to save seeds.

Do save seeds from healthy, ripe fruit.

Do not save seeds from fruit that is misshapen, older, or unhealthy looking.

Whether you are selecting fruit from the farmer's market or out of your own garden, you want to choose the healthiest, freshest-looking fruit when saving seeds because this fruit is the most likely to contain healthy, viable seeds. If you got a great deal on a huge bag of tomato "seconds" at the farmer's market, make tomato sauce, but don't save the seeds. If the fruit is misshapen or unhealthy looking, its seeds are more likely to produce a plant that is misshapen and whose fruit is unhealthy.

If you are saving seeds from your own garden and have had a wretched time combating pests, fungus, or any kind of disease this year, don't save seeds in this case either. Just toss them. Really. It's much better to just buck up and pay a few dollars for some new seed stock than to save seeds that are likely to get hit again with the same problems next year.

As an example, I stubbornly saved tomatoes seeds last year even though I had a huge infestation of white flies, some sort of beetle I never did positively identify, and some mild early leaf blight. Well, I shouldn't have saved them. Because this year I have spindly tomato vines that have barely produced much in the way of fruit. My tomatoes have been so frustrating this year that I have even pondered whether to grow them again next year.

Also, if the fruit from which you are saving seeds is old (i.e., it's been sitting in your fridge for two weeks because you completely forgot that you bought it), these seeds are less likely to be viable because the fruit has probably started to decay. Even if the fruit is still edible, you shouldn't save the seeds. Luckily, I don't have any pictures to share for this because I have at least been smart enough not to save those seeds.

Do save seeds after a series of sunny, hot days.

Do not save seeds after rain or frost.

Because moisture causes seeds to expand, you want to make sure to harvest seeds after a series of sunny, hot days so that the seeds only dry out once and dry completely that one time. If you save seeds after rain or frost, you will increase the risk of seed coat damage because the seeds will have to dry out a second time. You also risk mold and mildew issues. If you know that substantial rain is in the forecast near the time you plan to harvest seeds, cut the seed stalks off the plant, and dry them inside. Likewise, if you have already cut the seed stalks off and are leaving them out in the sun to dry, make sure to bring them in so that they don't get rained on.

This rule really only applies to plants whose seeds develop in pods or flowers, such as the majority of herb varieties. Vegetable seeds develop inside the fruit, in which case, you collect the seeds when you harvest the fruit.

For More Seed-Saving Information:

Check out Rae Blewden's Saving Vegetable Seeds in an Urban Garden, a free 32-page PDF full of useful information. This little e-book has lots of information on how to save specific vegetable and herb seeds.

Heading west

2011-10-04T13:33:00.001-04:00

Warning.

(Lauren knows what this means. The rest of you, don't worry about it. Just read on.)

Last week, one of my best friends, Lauren, her boyfriend, and their two pets packed up and began the nearly 2,100-mile trek from DC to a city that seems too pretty to be real—Salt Lake.

Above: Image from University of Utah's math department website.

My friend was tired of DC. Tired of the traffic, tired of the hustle and bustle and the unfriendly people. Tired of the summertime heat and humidity. Tired of not feeling like this place is where she belongs. And I don't blame her...I definitely get frustrated with the DC area all the time, especially this part of it (the 495 Beltway):

Ahhhh! Just looking at this photo stresses me out, and I took this photo over the weekend when the road was pretty thin on traffic.

On Friday morning, I helped Lauren and Josh load up their moving truck. Lauren's Siberian forest cat, Royal, is from Colorado, so he perched himself on top of the kitchen counter, ready to return to the west.

Josh's border collie mix, Donovan, on the other hand, is an east coaster. He's been on road trips, but this will be his first move to a far away city. Something tells me that he is going to adjust just fine when he sees his very own fenced-in backyard.

I am so excited for this new chapter in Lauren's life. I know that the west is where she belongs, but the problem is this:

2,100 miles is far away! Geez. I actually didn't really realize how far 2,100 miles is until I grabbed this picture from Google maps just now. It's going to be tough not to have her around the corner.

Over the past year, we have gotten to the point where pretty much a day doesn't go by that we don't see each other, talk, or email. We are strangely similar—we are both climbers and runners; we both love photography, good wine, and independent coffee shops; we both have a mildly obsessive love of animals; and the list goes on. In fact, we are often asked if we are sisters.

Similar interests are great, but what really makes Lauren stand apart from the rest is that she is genuine. She doesn't pretend to be what she's not. And she loves her friends and family for who they are, where they are. She doesn't judge them, she just accepts them. I have learned a ton from her, and my life is so much better for it.

So, thanks Lauren! I will miss you, but I know that our friendship will not disappear—it will just be different. I can't wait to hear all about life out there once you are settled in, all the cool people you meet, and how finally (hopefully) you feel "at home." And best of all, you have now given me a great excuse to jump on a plane for a long weekend out west here and there, which coincidentally, I am doing in just a few short days :)

(P.S. Lest you blog readers think I am crazy since it has only been a week since I've seen Lauren, I had actually planned this trip almost a year ago when the first-ever Sewing Summit was announced. Hence this little badge on the left hand side of my blog:

The fact that Lauren is now living only a few blocks from the hotel hosting the event is just pure luck. But hey, I'll take it!)

Salt + Light quilt featured on Modern Day Quilts

2011-10-03T16:06:00.000-04:00

My salt + light mini-quilt was featured on Modern Day Quilts today.

Exciting! I can't access this website at work (boo, randomly government-restricted sites!), but I have browsed through it at home before, and it is chock-full of modern quilting goodness. Heather has done a great job with curating this collection of inspiring photographs, so go on over there and check it out.

Thanks for featuring me, Heather!

Mini-quilt Monday: Cityscape Quilt...and Michael's mustache:

2011-10-03T09:06:00.001-04:00

I made up another mini-quilt this week with the scraps from my salt + light mini-quilt.

When I pieced this one together, I really liked the quilt top, but—to be honest—I am not thrilled with the finished result. This is for two reasons.

One: I managed to make this quilt 4 inches shorter than the salt + light quilt. So much for hanging the two on a wall side-by-side. (Yes, I am that much of a perfectionist. In fact, I have already contemplated ripping the binding off, adding 4 inches, and rebinding it.)

Two: I am not crazy about the quilting. I was going for a cityscape. You can kind of see that I quilted the outlines of tall buildings at the bottom.

And then added some swirly wind that eventually calm down to wavy lines near the top.

But the end result is just trying to do too much. Oh well, that's how it goes—sometimes you love your creations, and sometimes you don't. And this week, I don't. But it's all part of the process.

To photograph this quilt, yesterday I asked my cousin Trinity to hold it up in our aunt and uncle's nice green backyard. But I quickly learned that this was a mistake...

You see, Trinity, her husband Michael, and their kids spent the summer at the beach. (You might have seen some of the family portraits I took of them down there.) But now that they are back in Ol' Virginny, Michael has gotten back to his redneck roots.

That's right—

mustache + trucker hat + flannel shirt = Michael thinks he needs to be in every picture.

He is so proud of his mustache, he even dyed it darker with special extra-dark mustache dye. No joke.

You might think Michael is saying "thumbs up" to the quilt. But no. He is saying "thumbs up" to his mustache.

Michael (with a fake Latino accent): Does this make my mustachio look good? When I stroke my chin like so and pretend to be super sexy?

Trinity: Are you kidding me? I am not even sure you are my husband.

Michael (still with a fake Latino accent): Don't be afraid of a little mustachio.

Trinity: Okay. But I am only smiling now because I am going to shave that thing off in your sleep tonight!

Happy Fall, Y'all

2011-10-02T21:47:00.000-04:00

This weekend, the temperature cooled down here in DC. Right about now (October) through Christmas is my favorite time of year. It's time for fleece vests and hoodies and apple cider. It's time for early morning hikes that make your cheeks rosy. Crisp air that makes you feel more alive. And adding an extra blanket to your bed at night. And it's definitely time for some pumpkins and squash from Comus Market.

We rang in the season with a superhero-themed party and late night bonfire for my little cousin's big 0-4 on Friday. It was just chilly enough to need a sweatshirt. Perfect weather if you ask me!

My cousins Harrison and Michael helped me stage some long exposure photographs with a light stick. Cool, huh?

Happy fall, y'all! Hope you got to ring in the season with family and friends, too!

The Type "A" Starburst block tutorial

2011-09-28T09:58:00.001-04:00

October is my month to send out fabric and choose a block for my quilting bee, To Bee Orange and Aqua. I am planning to make a mini-quilt inspired by this big orange wall quilt by Krista (Spotted Stone), so I am asking for each person to make two 6.5" starburst blocks.

Ashley (Film in the Fridge) posted a great starburst block tutorial last year, but I didn't actually find that tutorial until I had come up with my own way of making the block (typical me!).

Although the result is pretty much the same, Ashley's style is more improvisational (and probably a bit quicker), while my method uses paper piecing to enable you to have more control over the arrangement of the finished block. Okay, I will admit it--my method is completely the result of me needing control over the finished block because I am a total Type A personality. I do think my method also creates a little less fabric waste, though, so there's a bonus! Anyway, I figured I would share a tutorial of my method in case any of those other Type A's out there want to use it.

Step 1: Gather your supplies. You will need some copy paper, a ruler, scissors, 2 colors of markers, 10 scraps of fabric, thread, a rotary cutter, and self-healing mat. I am making 6.5" square blocks, so my scraps are at least 5" x 5" each. If you are making a larger block, adjust your scrap size accordingly.

Step 2: Create a paper template of your block. Using copy paper, cut out a square the size of your finished block plus 1/2" for seam allowances. My finished blocks will be 6", so I cut out a 6.5" square, but you can make yours whatever size you prefer. Draw an offset diagonal line across the paper (shown in red below). You will actually piece the block together in two halves, so this will be your dividing center line. Choose an intersection point along the red line, and draw 5 lines per side that connect to this point this point.

Step 3: Cut your template in half along the red line. You will piece your block together in two halves and then join them at the end to create the finished block.

Step 4: Piece your blocks together. Starting at one edge of one of your template halves, align your fabric right sides together and with the wrong side of the fabric against the unmarked side of the paper template. Sew along the first black line back-stitching at each end. Remember to set your stitch length to between 1.5 to 2 so that the paper will extra perforated and will easily tear off later.

Because we cut the block in half in Step 3, remember that your stitching (and fabric) needs to extend 1/4" beyond the center intersection point to account for the center seam allowance. The fabric only needs to extend on this one side, though, because we have already accounted for the seam allowance on the squared edges of the block when we initially cut out the paper square.

Step 5: Trim your seam allowance. Fold the paper back along the seam you just sewed, and trim the seam allowance to 1/4". Discard the waste fabric, and flatten the paper back out.

Step 6: Press your seams. Turn the template over and press your seams before adding the next scrap of fabric. It looks weird at this point, but all that extra fabric will be trimmed off as you go along.

Step 7: Repeat Steps 4-6. Continue adding scraps of fabric as described to complete your two block halves.

Step 8: Trim your block halves. Using a rotary cutter and ruler, trim your block halves. Remember to trim against the paper line along the squared edges of the block halves, and trim 1/4" outside of the paper line along the diagonal center line.

Step 9. Sew the center seam. Match up your block halves with right sides together and sew the center seam along the paper line.

What I found extra nice about this method is that at the edges, you can match up the tip of the paper on one side to the edge of the fabric on the other so that you don't end up with an almost-but-not-quite squared block. See, I told you this was a Type A tutorial!

Step 10. Press your block open. Carefully tear the paper off the back of your block, press the center seam open, and you're done!

I would love your feedback on this tutorial if you use it. Leave me a comment or send me an email and tell me how it worked for you! Happy sewing :)

Family portraits

2011-09-27T10:31:00.002-04:00

I don't claim to be any kind of great photographer, but I do love taking photos. There is just something about capturing the sunset as it casts a perfect light on your subject or that moment between two people as they look at one another and laugh over a private joke.

I tend to photograph still life and animals (as if you can't tell from my blog!), but this summer, when I was at the beach with my cousins, I took a surprising (for me) number of people pictures. They aren't perfect, but they are sweet memories. My cousin Trinity posted a whole series of my photos on her blog last week.

These are some of my favorites:

That's right, number 4 is on the way in that little 7-month preggo belly! And we didn't even plan this photo. Trinity found the bucket on the beach. How perfect is that?

Still in love—six years and four kids later (well, almost four).

Ummm, maybe obsessed would be the more accurate descriptor for Michael.

The fun thing about these photos is that I realized how much I like taking series of composed, yet somewhat candid photos. I think you get great shots when you put people in front of the right background and then just tell them to start talking. Apparently though, when you put Michael in front of the right background, he starts spanking.

Michael: "Oh, you want to take our picture. Well, I'll give you something to take a picture of!"

Michael: "Observe: my unsuspecting wife peeling paint in a corner..."

Baby Kairi: "This isn't going to be pretty."

Michael: "First, just a little test spank."

Trinity: "My husband is insane, but I dig it."

Michael: "Sweet Jesus, thank you for creating spanking!"

Baby Kairi: "Daddy, I don't think so."

Michael: "I've got a fever, and the only prescription is...more spanking."

You can see more of my photos in Trinity's blog post. You should also just read her blog, anyway. She writes about her family's journey to cultivate an intentional life—full of love and fully alive. I am inspired and challenged all the time by her writing. So, check it out, if you want to be, too.

:: mini quilt monday: salt + light ::

2011-09-26T07:14:00.000-04:00

This week, I am super excited to show you my completed mini quilt. I am actually just super excited that I met my my September goal of finishing my mini-quilt within the month and consistently posting each Monday on my progress.

So, do you have any guesses as to what all those circles and rectangles are that I gave you a sneak peak of in photos of the quilt top the past two weeks?

What about now that you can see the whole quilt? Think dot-dot-dash...

That's right—it's Morse code.

Above: Morse code chart from Wikipedia.

Did you figure out what the quilt spells out? Well, obviously I am about to tell you, so don't worry about it if you didn't look it up on the chart. If you did look it up on the chart, you were probably one of those kids that didn't read through the whole test first like the teacher recommended. Anyway, the quilt spells out:

This is a reference to Matthew 5:13-14 where Jesus says "You are the salt of the earth...You are the light of the world." The full verses are:

"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under by people's feet."

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

My original intent with this design was to have something to hang up in my house that would somehow remind me of these verses. But I am just not the kind of person that can handle a cute little cross-stitched Bible verse surrounded by pastel flowers tied in blue ribbons hanging up in the guest bathroom. *Shudder* Umm, I also don't feel the need to give my guests a moral lesson just because they have to pee, so I plan to hang this in my bedroom (not my guest bathroom) in case you were wondering.

So anyway, I knew the quilt needed to be modern and clean-lined. Morse code fit my vision perfectly. I also like that the meaning behind the quilt is not immediately obvious to the viewer.

For the quilting, I hand-stitched around the dots and dashes in thread color corresponding to the dot or dash color. I then machine-stitched around the letters to create a maze-like texture. The white and tan striped binding was kind of on a whim. The material was at the top of a fabric stack in my closet, and I decided to go for it. I am really happy with the result. It complements the quilting just right. Plus, I am mildly obsessed with stripes. So, I think they always look good.

That's a wrap on this project—a year and 2 months in the making. Thanks, Faith, for putting that mini-quilt challenge up on your blog. If it weren't for that, this quilt would probably still be living where it had been for the past 13 months—in my sketchbook.

So, is this organic or is it open-pollinated or is it an heirloom?

2011-09-23T10:32:00.000-04:00

I started to write a post about seed saving, but the more I wrote, the more I realized that there are a ton of different seed and produce descriptors floating around out there, which makes this whole business of writing about the right varieties for seed-saving confusing if you don't know what all those words all mean. So, I thought I would post a prequel to my seed-saving post that just includes terms used to describe seeds and produce so that we are all on the same page.

I think that the biggest reason why these terms are confusing is because they are all used in advertising to make you, the consumer, buy things. I mean, how many of us have walked through a grocery store in a daze and ended up with five extra things in our basket because it was on sale or looked good? Right—everyone. So, when you are standing in front of a table with four kinds of tomatoes or a wall display of pretty seed packets wondering "Is this organic or is it open-pollinated or is it an heirloom?" here is what you need to know.

Above: Image from jacobredding on flickr.

I have divided the terms into three general categories based on what aspect of the vegetable or seed the term refers.

The first grouping of terms refers to how plants reproduce.

Open-pollinated varieties are those that are pollinated naturally by bees, birds, insects, wind, or some other natural mechanism. You can think of open-pollinated varieties as being very similar to human families: the seeds of open-pollinated plants will produce fruit like its parents, but not exactly identical to it's parents—just like you and your parents. This is because the pollen source is controlled by the pollinator (not by humans!). This increases biodiversity, but is often not favored by large-scale growers because it doesn't allow as much control in the resulting fruit (i.e. you can't get vine after vine of those identical, tasteless grocery store tomatoes. Umm...no problems here!). If you happen to hear the term non-hybrid, this is synonymous with open-pollinated.

Above: Blossom of a chocolate cherry, an open-pollinated variety of tomato. Because this variety is open-pollinated, I save the seeds each year for planting the following year.

Hybrid varieties are the love children that result from cross-pollination of two distinct and distant parents of the same species. Hybrids are produced by human manipulation and are often bred specifically for disease resistance, flavor, color, or general hardiness. A lot of the fruits and vegetables that you buy at conventional grocery stores and most of the seeds and seedlings that you buy at large home center stores, such as Lowes and Home Depot, are hybrids. Sometimes, even farmer's markets carry hybrid varieties, so it's important to ask what variety you are buying.

Above: The purple flower of a lavender touch eggplant, an F1 hybrid variety. I acquired this plant as a seedling at the Dutch Plant Farm in Frederick, MD.

Hybrids are not inherently evil. In a lot of cases, crossing varieties results in hardier crops with higher yields. However, if you grow hybrids, you have to buy new seed stock each year, and hybrids often require extra input, such as artificial fertilizers or a different watering regime, because they were developed with large-scale agriculture in mind. In theory, the extra money that farmers put in at the beginning of the season to grow hybrids evens out in the end because of the resulting higher yields, but for small-scale farmers, this isn't necessarily the case.

Above: Comic from primalseeds.org

The big issue that sticks in a lot of people's throats is that some hybrids are patented—which means that if someone's patented genes mix with your garden's open-pollinated varieties, you can literally be sued. I won't go into that here, but if you are unaware of this issue, please google the company Monsanto and educate yourself on this issue. The terms cross-pollinated and genetically modified also designate that a variety is a hybrid.

The second grouping of terms refers to how long the variety has been cultivated.

Heirloom varieties are open-pollinated varieties that are not cultivated by large-scale growers. Some sources say that a variety must be at least 50 years old to be considered an heirloom. However, no official definition for "heirloom" exists, so 50 years is just a general rule of thumb. This term really only emerged in the 1980s as an attempt to re-brand "normal" varieties amidst all of the hybrid varieties that began to emerge during this time.

Above: Brilliant blue flowers of the herb borage. Borage is open-pollinated and a huge honeybee attractor. Some websites say that it is an heirloom, but because there is really only one variety in the U.S., I think this may be more advertising than anything.

Heritage is a term that most often refers to livestock, but sometimes it is used to describe seeds as well. Like the designation heirloom, heritage indicates an older variety. However, unlike heirloom, heritage is more often used to describe a variety that can be traced back to a particular region or culture and is often tied to a historical event or era. For instance, miner's lettuce got its name (and fame) from California gold rush miners, who ate the leafy green as a cheap way to get their Vitamin C and prevent scurvy. Romano pole beans are another example. Italian immigrants brought these beans to the U.S. starting in the late 1800s. As a side note, the UK uses the term heritage to mean the same thing as what we, here in the U.S., think of as heirloom.

Above: Blossom of a Texas hill country red okra, an heirloom variety whose name refers to the limestone hills in the Austin/San Antonio region. I bought this variety as seeds from Baker Creek Seed Co. Some websites also advertise this okra as a heritage variety.

Finally, the third grouping of terms refers to what growing techniques a farmer uses.

Organic items are produced without synthetic inputs such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The term organic also indicates that the seed or crop does not contain genetically modified organsims and has not been irradiated or processed with industrial solvents or food additives. USDA Organic specifically refers to the USDA's certification for organic producers and food labeled with this designation must include at least 95% organic ingredients. At the grocery store, organic produce is labeled with a five-digit PLU code that starts with a "9." Because of this cetification process, organic labeling is highly controlled. If you want to learn more about organic labeling, specifically, check out descriptions of organic labeling levels at the USDA's website.

Above: Calendula zeolights blossom grown from organic seed. I purchased these seeds from Botanical Interests.

Note that an item may not be labeled organic, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't produced using organic practices. Organic certification is very expensive and requires a lot of paperwork, so many small farmers cannot afford to pursue it. Without the certification, farmers cannot legally advertise their crop or seed as organic. So, if you are curious about the practices that a particular grower uses, ask them! I have never visited a farm owner or met a grower at a farmer's market that didn't want to talk my ear off about their vegetables. They believe in their product, and they want to tell you about it so that you believe in it, too.

Above: Another calendula zeolights blossom. Flower colors range from bronzy orange to the delicate peachy pink you see in this photograph.

Conventional items are—simply put—not organic. The grower may have used pesticides or chemical fertilizers. But maybe he didn't. Those conventional potatoes could contain genetically modified organisms. Or they don't. You really can't tell what went in to producing conventional crops once it gets to the grocery store shelves. Remember, though—a lot of "conventional" crops, especially those you find at farmer's markets and local co-ops or through CSAs, are still produced using organic methods (see above). If you talk to your local farmer, you will be able to decide whether the farming practices that he uses on his crops are acceptable to you. In the store, conventional produce has a four-digit PLU code that starts with a "4."

_______________________________

I hope that was a helpful overview! I will be posting what I had originally intended to post—how to select seeds to save—within the next week.

:: mini quilt monday: week 3 ::

2011-09-19T07:32:00.000-04:00

I don't have much progress to report this week because I have not had time to work on any sewing since last weekend. I finally got a few free hours this afternoon, but I also had to squeeze in an 8-mile run, laundry, and all those other odds and ends that you take care of before the work week starts. I did take a few minutes to start hand quilting my mini quilt because I had to show some sort of progress for the week! You can see the first few rows below.

:: kohlrabi (the cat) and brussels sprouts ::

2011-09-17T07:09:00.000-04:00

Just checking on the brussels sprouts...

Wait, what is that in there?

Is it a...

It is!

Well, you shouldn't be in there, but I can't move you with that face.

Sleep tight, buddy.

:: I only went in to get zippers. ::

2011-09-16T10:25:00.000-04:00

Yep, it's true. I only went in for zippers when I popped in to G Street Fabrics after work on Wednesday. My goal was two black invisible zippers for fall skirts that I am in the process of making. But then they have that massive mess of a remnant fabric table where everything is $3.97/yd...you can't really NOT look, right? But when I did, two pieces of fabric practically jumped in to my arms.

The first is a quilting-weight cotton with little tigers and the number 56 on it. The fabric has a slight sheen and is very soft.

I have no idea what 56 means. Maybe the Detroit Tigers won something in 1956? I don't know. Then I searched the company and fabric title printed on the selvage. Nothing. Hmmm...I like mystery fabric, but it would be fun to find out where it came from. I think this fabric will definitely be going into the fabric packets I send out for the Orange and Aqua Bee next month.

The second one is a really pretty silk that will become a scarf by the end of the weekend. I was really drawn to the colors--aqua, coral, moss green, and brown--and the geometric print.

I have really been trying to limit my fabric purchases lately, but since these total less than $8.00 and I already know what I am going to do with them, I don't feel quite as bad about the splurge.

:: It's My Birthday ::

2011-09-14T10:02:00.000-04:00

Above: Rainbow cake by One Charming Party.

It's true. That day that comes once a year is here, and I have already felt very blessed this morning by all of the wonderful people in my life.

My friend Katherine gave me a sweet and so thoughtful card last night that she had filled both sides of with such kind words. My friend Lauren gave me a piece of homemade banana bread fresh from the oven. (Actually, to be fair--I am not sure if this was for my birthday, but it had tons of chocolates chips and was so delicious, I am kind of counting it as pre-birthday cake!) And she also signed me up for an 8K as my gift--our last one together before she hits the road to Salt Lake City. My friend Omar sent me a picture of the "cool socks" he is wearing today in my honor. My fellow ultimate frisbee players broke into an impromptu dance when I arrived at the field this morning for our pre-work game. And I have gotten many birthday wishes, texts, and emails.

I am not usually one to really care much for birthdays, but today I just want to take a quick moment to thank the people in my life that I love--family, friends, my ultimate frisbee crew, my climbing peeps, fellow bloggers and quilters, my book club gals, and all the rest. You guys are awesome! Love ya!

xx Briana

:: How to Quilt Words and Stars ::

2011-09-13T07:53:00.000-04:00

Today I am super excited to be kicking off a 10-day series on quilting techniques, hosted by Katie of Swim, Bike, Quilt, as part of the DC Modern Quilt Guild's month-long charity quilting event and quilt-along, 100 Quilts for Kids. I will be showing you how I quilted my Storytime Quilt (based off of this pattern by Made by Rae). As you can see in the photo below, I combined straight-line stitching on the patterned blocks with free-motion stitching on the three bands of cream sashing.

I will just be covering the free-motion portion today since there are already lots of great tutorials on how to get precise straight lines when quilting. (I especially like Jacquie's (Tall Grass Prairie) hints and tips and Nettie's (A Quilt is Nice) tutorial on quilting straight lines with a walking foot).

On my quilt, I quilted words within the innermost and middle bands of sashing and added 5-point stars at each corner. For the outermost band of sashing, I quilted a continuous row of stars of varying sizes. I will describe how to quilt words and stars separately below, but you can combine them as I did or in any fashion you want.

SUPPLIES

Finished quilt sandwich, basted together
Disappearing ink marker
Scrap pieces of paper and a Sharpie marker
Cotton thread in a color that contrasts with the area you will be quilting
Free-motion sewing foot
And, of course--sewing machine, scissors, and all the other "usuals"

QUILTING WORDS

Step 1: Decide what words you will quilt, and practice writing them in script on scrap paper with a Sharpie marker. This step is really important! If you aren't comfortable writing script words without picking up your pen in between letters or if you have trouble writing larger letters, you will have a tough time quilting them. I suggest using a Sharpie marker because it mimics the thickness of a disappearing ink marker. You are going to be writing the words directly on the quilt with the disappearing ink marker before you quilt, so practicing the words with a similar thickness ink will help you achieve uniform letters.

Also, I would NOT suggest printing out a nice handwriting-style font from your computer to copy. It may sound like a good idea, but if you can't write it yourself, you will not be able to quilt it, either. Your handwriting may not be perfect, but that's okay because the result you are going for here is what you might doodle in the margin of a notebook. It is supposed to look sketchy--not perfect.

As you can see in the photo below, I chose to quilt the words play, grow, laugh, and love.

Step 2: Cut out your practice words and arrange them on the quilt. Individually cut out your words and lay them out over the area that you will be quilting the words to determine your spacing. I chose to quilt one word per side of the innermost band of sashing, and three words per side on the middle band of sashing. Choose your spacing based on the length of the words and your personal preference.

Also remember that the words are only going to be legible on one side of the quilt. This may or may not matter to you depending on the design of your quilt back, but it's something to keep in mind.

Step 3: Write the words on the quilt with disappearing ink. Using your practice words as a spacing guide, write each word out that you will quilt.

I really suggest disappearing ink for this step rather than tailor's chalk or a chalk pencil because chalk will smudge as you scrunch and rotate the quilt under the needle. A washable ink pen would be fine, too.

Once you have written out the words, go back and connect the words with wavy lines. I also added 5-point stars to each corner. I apologize that the disappearing ink is not well-defined in these photos. You want to mark the quilt lightly, which is why the ink doesn't turn up well in pictures.

Step 4: Quilt the words.* With your free-motion foot and cotton thread (and with your feed dogs dropped!), quilt the words SLOWLY and smoothly from left to right as if you are writing using the disappearing ink as your guide. Pause as often as you need to allow for readjustment of the quilt, and don't worry too much if your quilting doesn't match up exactly with the words you drew in disappearing ink. Like handwriting, no two samples are identical, so it is better to focus on flowing, rounded lines than on following the disappearing ink precisely.

*By the way, it wouldn't hurt to practice quilting some words on scraps of fabric first until you get the hang of it and are happy with your resulting work.

Step 5: Repeat Steps 1-4 on the next band of sashing. Arrange your sample words, use disappearing ink to write the words on the quilt, and free-motion quilt as before. It's not so bad once you get the hang of it, huh?

QUILTING 5-POINT STARS

Quilting 5-point stars is relatively straight forward, but you may want to draw the stars on your quilt with disappearing ink first to give yourself a guide as you quilt and ensure proper spacing. When drawing connections between stars, the stitching line that "leaves" the star should be two points to the right of the first star point. Once you get the hang of these, you will be able to quilt them without drawing them on first in no time.

Using your free-motion foot, follow the steps in the diagram below. Note that you will stitch the first line of the star twice in order to continue quilting.

The stars are supposed to look sketchy, as if you were doodling in the margin of a notebook, so don't worry about each point being equal in size or even each star being the same size as the last. Instead, focus on quilting the star as you would draw it on paper to get the cleanest results.

That's it! Now you know how to successfully quilt words and 5-point stars. I hope this tutorial is helpful, and feel free to send me any questions if you get stuck.

:: mini quilt monday: completed quilt top ::

2011-09-12T07:34:00.000-04:00

This week, I finished my mini-quilt top. Please excuse the raindrops on all of these photos...despite 6 straight days of rain in DC, the skies had decided to once again open up for a thunderstorm right when I walked outside to take these shots.

You might have noticed from last week's post that I had reverse appliqued a couple of sample circles. Well, reverse applique is no fun when your blocks are only 2" big! It is just too time-consuming and hard not to distort the fabric unless you have been super careful to cut exactly on the grain--which, let's be honest--who actually takes the time to do that? (Not me!)

So, after spending way too long on only 4 blocks, I remembered that Ramona had pointed the members of Bee Lovely to a great tutorial on quilting "6-minute" circles for her month's blocks. The photos aren't great in the tutorial, but believe me--the method works. The only thing I changed was that I did not remove the freezer paper before stitching around the circle. I think that this gave me a cleaner line overall.

And yes, I am purposely being a little coy with my photos so that you can't see what the whole quilt looks like because I am excited about the concept behind it and want to share the full view when it is completed. You will just have to check back next week when (hopefully) it is all finished!

:: completed storytime quilt (100 quilts for kids) ::

2011-09-11T16:58:00.000-04:00

I just finished quilting up my storytime quilt, which I had shown you a preview of about two weeks ago. This was a breeze to quilt because of its small size (only 41" x 41" finished). I combined straight-line quilting on the printed squares with free-motion words and sketchy 5-point stars on the sashing. As part of Katie's 100 Quilts for Kids Quilt-Along, this coming week I am going to be sharing how to free-motion quilt words and stars like you see in this quilt, so check back for that tutorial.

I kept the back super simple--kona cream (same color as the front sashing) and a cute print by Tina Givens that I had yet to find a use.

Over each of the bands of sashing, I used coral and spring green thread to quilt the words, play, grow, laugh, love, and sketchy stars.

Here are some more details of the quilted words:

On the outermost sashing, I quilted a continuous row of stars.

Here is a close up of one of the stars from the back of the quilt. I chose to machine bind this quilt, which you can also see in this photo. I have actually never done this before because I like the look of hand-finishing, but it turned out pretty well. I will definitely keep this skill in my back pocket for smaller quilts or projects that I don't have a ton of time to complete.

And finally, the label. Nothing fancy--just my name :)

:: eggplant ::

2011-09-10T07:02:00.000-04:00

Do you like eggplant?

I know that I sure didn't until a few years ago when I had it in Thai food (especially green curry--yum!). Until then, my only experience with eggplant was with the super large, tough-skinned, deep purple eggplants that are in pretty much every grocery store. They are kind of tasteless. You know them; they look like this:

Above: photo from chiropractic-help.com.

Random, I know. But I thought it was a good photo.

They look pretty in the picture, but don't let them fool you. If they are not cooked right--yuck! I remember my despair as a child when I sat down at the dinner table to undercooked eggplant parmesan. I still steer clear of that dish to this day just because of the memories.

But all eggplants are not created equal. In fact, some of them are created really, really delicious. Like the ones I am growing this year in my urban garden: fairytale, kermit, and lavender touch.

I saved seeds from some farmer's market fairytales last year, so I knew I was going to grow those. And then, when I visited The Dutch Plant Farm in Frederick, a kermit and a lavender touch seedling jumped right into my cart. What was I to do?

The fairytale is my favorite. The fruit is so tender and sweet and the prettiest shade of dappled purple. Funny enough, I just read that it's a hybrid, too, but the seeds I saved seemed to have produced true fruit.*

*Actually, after writing that last sentence and looking at photos of my fairytales and realizing that mine are not the prettiest shade of dappled purple, I googled fairytale eggplant. I guess that I am not growing true fruit. Here is what fairytale eggplants should look like:

Above: image from Park Seed Co.

Oh, well--mine are still yummy. I think I will now call mine son-of-fairytale eggplants. I think it would be fun to grow fairytales plus hansel and gretel (two other delicious varieties) just because the names are so fun. *Sigh* Someday, when I have real land.

The kermit eggplant is a Thai variety that matures pretty early and does well in small spaces. The fruit is round and green with spotty white stripes.

The lavender touch is almost white with the faintest hint of purple. It tastes pretty similar to the fairytale to me, but the fruit is generally larger in size. Sadly, this is a hybrid, too, so no seed-saving for me!

Whole Foods just posted some good info and recipes for eggplant on Thursday on their Rockville store blog. Check it out if you think you don't like eggplant (like I thought!). And if you decide to try out a recipe, get your eggplants from the farmer's market! Seriously. Don't mess with those gross ones in the first photo!

:: a new quilting bee ::

2011-09-09T11:27:00.000-04:00

I took a little hiatus from quilting bees the past couple of months. It gave me time to finish this wonky star quilt from the squares I received during the Red + Aqua Bee. And it also gave me a general break from making so many blocks for other people. But, of course, as the months passed by and I saw more and more cool creations on the Quilting Bee Blocks flickr stream, I got the itch to join a new bee.

September was the first month of To Bee Orange & Aqua. And that's right--you guessed it--this bee focuses on the colors ORANGE and AQUA. Beth was up first to choose a pattern and send out fabric. She requested super scrappy wonky star blocks--so scrappy, in fact, that she sent out a few squares of fabric and then asked us to pull the rest of the fabric from our own scrap bins so that no two blocks would be the same. And in exchange for using our own scraps, she sent us all the cutest little pouches! I don't know if everyone's is made up of the same colors, but mine is perfect. I love that brown scissor print my Moma.

pouch front.

pouch back.

I made these two blocks for Beth:

The stars in this first block are only 3" across! I was able to use up the tiniest scraps for it because the star points are only 1". Sadly, that also reinforced my obsession with keeping even the teeniest, tiniest little scraps because--hey, look! I can use 'em!

After all that super tiny piecing on the first block, I stuck to one center star on the second block, but added a fun double border.

These two blocks are sitting on my desk in an envelope ready to go to the post office. I had meant to get them out to Beth on Tuesday, but it's been raining 4 days straight here in DC! Like, so wet, that I have been dumping water out of my plants every evening because it just pools up in the pots. And I have been a wimp and not made the 1/2-mile trek to the post office during my lunch break in hopes that I would get some relief with the wet weather. Looks like I will have no such luck!

But I am prepared today--I have boots and an umbrella. So, it's off to the post office for me in a few minutes. Hope the weather's nicer in your neck of the woods, bloggies :)

:: i won a giveaway...i think (?) ::

2011-09-08T07:42:00.000-04:00

After I returned from the beach a few weeks ago (yes...I am getting around to posting this way late), I found a mysterious package of fabric in my mailbox. I know I didn't order this. I also checked my credit card statement, so I know I didn't pay for this, either. So, I am guessing I won it in a blog giveaway.

But the problem is...I have no idea who's giveaway...there was no card in the package. I am completely embarrassed that I don't know where this came from, especially since I like to write thank you notes whenever I have been lucky enough to receive freebies like this. When I am having a hard time concentrating at the office, I do occasionally search for blog giveaways and enter them en masse, but I don't even remember entering this one.

Does this photo jog anyone's memory? It's an awesome assortment--a yard of Kona white, half yards of Robert Kaufman's metro living circles in 5 colors, and 2 charm packs of Terrain by Kate Spain for Moda. So, thank you unknown blog giveaway-er! I love these fabrics, and I am excited to cut into them for one of my next projects. I know that my extra-large thank you font doesn't make up for my rudeness, but it will have to do until I can track down the email about the giveaway that is probably sitting in my archives somewhere and send you a real thank you note.

:: farm kitten update ::

2011-09-07T20:04:00.003-04:00

Since I just posted about these little guys on Sunday, I thought I would give you an update. This update is especially dedicated to Lauren's mom, who was worried that we both might have contracted rabies over the weekend. (Thanks for the concern, Mrs. Udwari!) This worry prompted Lauren and I to reminisce about all of our animal "rescuing" as children--Lauren, petting raccoons trapped in the neighbors have-a-heart traps to "calm them down" before releasing them, and me, catching "pet" rats in the barn trashcans and then bringing them into the house in shoeboxes. They always escaped their cardboard homes that I spent so much making cozy for them. But it was okay--there were always more rats in the barn the very next time I went to find a new pet!

Anyway, back to the farm kittens...

I got a call from Carol this morning, who had just returned from the vet. Both of these precious little girls had just gotten a clean bill of health! It turns out that they had some sort of short-lived virus. Carol had quarantined them in the house on Saturday and hasn't seen any signs of the virus in any of the other kittens (or animals) on the farm, which is also good news. Carol said that the orange tabby girl was back to its playful kitten self and was pouncing on her feet as she was talking.

And this tabby-calico girl is already on her way to her new home with Carol's daughter.

And one more photo, just because--this is actually from back in the first week of July. These kittens are only 2 days old in this picture! This litter has 7 kittens total, but it is completely impossible to get a good shot of 7 wiggly little kittens at a time. All of the photos I have of the whole litter have one smooshing the other 6 or one wandering off to do its own thing. You can kind of see all 7 in this photo, though--4 in the front and 3 in the back. Aren't they the cutest little things?

:: mini quilt monday ::

2011-09-05T17:47:00.003-04:00

After seeing Faith's post last week, I have decided to hop on the mini-quilt bandwagon for September. Faith is going to make one mini-quilt per week, but I just plan to concentrate on getting one completed within the month. A particular one, in fact--

I sketched out a mini-quilt over a year ago (July 26, 2010 according to my sewing journal), but never got around to making it, so now is the time. (As if I don't have enough projects going already.) This quilt requires a lot of tiny circles, which might be why I never did start it...I can do curved seams, I just don't like the extra patience they take!

This week, all I have to show is cut pieces so you can get a feel for the colors and a few trial circles. I am going all neutrals with this quilt, which is just right for this time of year when I start to crave darker, richer colors and solids colors. I also start to crave crisp air, caramel apples, and pumpkin patches, but that's got nothing to do with quilting!

:: saturday at the farm ::

2011-09-04T19:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I headed up to Sycamore Spring Farm for my monthly CSA pick-up. My friend Lauren came with me, which was an extra treat because sharing places I love (like this farm) with friends just makes them more precious. Carol, who owns the farm, is also the sweetest, loving, upbeat, knowledgeable, hardworking, doesn't-take-crap-from-anybody woman I have ever met, and I think everyone should meet her.

So, after cooling down from a 5K race that morning, Lauren and I headed up to Frederick with our cameras and some empty grocery bags. The funny thing is that--though I love the farm--I don't have many friends that would want to just wander around playing with animals and taking photographs and catching up with Carol on what's new at the farm. I think practically all of my friends would be standing around thinking, "Can we go yet??" But somehow I have met a friend that likes photographing and baby animals (especially kittens!) as much as me. Besides the 100 other random things that we have in common. But that's another blog post entirely...so, getting back to my original thought--

I think it's when you slow down that you find things you would have never noticed before. It's when you really have the time to care for and about the people and animals around you. I think we are programmed to NOT live like this in DC, but I sure try to fight that in my own life as much as possible.

For instance, these little babies (below) were curled up together near the storage barn--almost hidden because they blended in so well with the shrubby weeds and grass.

Rather than coming over to say hi, they stayed in their little ball meowing at us. Lauren and I knelt down and called them, but they didn't come. When I went over and picked one of them up, it immediately started purring, but I could tell something wasn't right: its back legs were stiff and its face just seemed like it was in pain. Yet, no sign of injury. I set it down, and sure enough--it tried to walk, but its back legs dragged, and it immediately laid on the ground, defeated. The second kitten showed the same signs.

We took the two kittens to Carol, who immediately stopped what she was doing to take them inside and get them set up with a warm blanket and some food and water. Carol wasn't sure what was wrong with them (no blood, no sign of infection or worms or anything like that), but she was thankful that we had noticed them because if she hadn't found them there until night fall, a fox would have had an easy dinner. Sad, but true. That's just nature.

No update on the kittens as of today, but I am glad that we didn't just rush in, pick up veggies, and rush back out. Who knows what would have happened to these little guys otherwise.