I'm playing with Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitch Along on Flickr. Here's my pretty-basic version of the assignment.

Embroidered Christmas.

I've come a long way since my sock puppet days. (Although, I believe such maturity probably comes along with, you know, being legally able to drive, vote, drink, lose my 401(k) during a particularly bad day in the market...)

Anyway, even though it's after Christmas AND after Epiphany, which means I'm all kinds of late, I thought I'd show off some pictures of some little handmade gifty things I made for the holidays. I forgot to take pictures of some Christmas tea towels I whipped up for my family, but I did snap some pictures of Christmas ornaments I made as hostess gifts.






For the curious, I just downloaded a fun font, then traced it onto the fabric and stitched from there.

Then, since I couldn't stop embroidering, I made this awesome sexy librarian pillow for my badass librarian friend. I used a Sublime Stitching pattern and just did some basic piecing of fabric around the border.






And then, since I STILL couldn't stop embroidering, I made this pillow for me.

Fa-la-la-la-laing

My calendar says September. My mind is on late December and the Christmas holidays. The season sneaks up so quickly, especially when I have the comical idea in my head (and with the best of intentions) that I'm going to try to do handmade gifts for my best girlfriends.

So what am I doing right this very moment? (I mean, other than typing this blog, smartass? Don't make me come over there.) Making up my holiday shopping list. Relatives, 'rents, girlfriends, and church friends are going on there and everything from fresh-baked bread and cookies to something Amy Butlery and AWESOME are on my list.

Of course, I'm me. So I'm freaking out about how I'll get everything done in time. And budgeted accordingly. But, whatever. I LOVE the holidays. I love the smell of the kitchen and the way my condo smells when I come home to my fresh(ish)-cut tree. I love the colors. The smiles. I love the time together with the people I love the most. I love caroling on the church porch. I even like the snow and the cheesy animatronic window displays at Marshall Field's Macy's.

Mmmmmmmmm.

So before I get it in my head that I'm going to bake some sugar cookies RIGHT! THIS! SECOND!, I thought I'd ask where you are in your Christmas planning? Are you one of those obnoxious people who's done by July? Are you a Christmas Eve at the mall type person? Handmade? Latest gadgets?

Wedding Quilt. A Tour.

One month shy of the Emily Post wedding gift limit, I was finally able to send off Currer Bell's wedding quilt. I've written about the super-slow progress on the project before. It kept getting sidelined by baby quilts and other assorted projects that I could power through. In this one, though, there was no powering. It was just lots of work all the way through.

But I'm so, SO glad I did. I think it looks great and I really like the totally different double sides of it. They have such alternate vibes, but yet they fit together. A fitting metaphor for a marriage, no? (Note to self: existential thoughts about quilts and quilt design makes you STRANGE.)

Anyway, because I am a strings-attached friend, I made Currer and her man, Hot Pants, send me pictures of the quilt once they'd received it. And they totally delivered.

To start with, I should note that the theme of the quilt was birds. They used a bird theme prominently in their wedding decor, and I wanted to use this awesome Alexander Henry "starling" fabric as the centerpiece of my blocks.


From there, I modified this pattern by Oh, Franson and built four concentric color-themed squares (with four different fabrics per square) around the piece of the Starling fabric. (Incidentally, this quilt pattern is where I learned about the Starling design.)

From there, I added white sashing (borders for you non-sewer types.) And the front winds up looking like this.


Here's another view:


The back is totally different. It's a scrappy Urban Amish quilt, a pattern designed by the always awesome ladies at Quiltology.


Next I added two borders _ one white and one in this kelly green fabric by Denyse Schmidt.



The quilting is done in a kelly green stipple pattern and I did the binding in something that for the life of me I cannot remember. What I do remember is sitting in a rocking chair in the back of our unairconditioned church sanctuary with the quilt in my lap working on the binding during a service. And loving every sweaty minute of it.

The quilt winds up be a solid snuggling size for one person, or two people who just want a light blanket. Here's Currer Bell holding it up.

Front:



Back:


Crazy view:


Woot!

Quilted baby goodness.

Or maybe it should be baby quilted goodness? Either way, behold this gender-neutral baby quilt I made for my friend Sara and her little boy Ben. (Who, at the time, we did not know was a boy.)

I don't know who's cuter! The quilt, the kid or the onesie (which is a gift from my awesome friend Emily.)


Here's a look at the front of the quilt, sans baby.



And the back:


The quilt is less scrappy than my usual ones, although I made it entirely out of stuff already in my stash. Also, it's the second-ever quilt I quilted by myself. Hell to the yeah.

In which I make things.

Because I am a dumbass, I forgot to take pictures of this project while I was working on it. But sometimes, there's something even better than a picture of a finished sewing project on a hanger. What is it? A finished sewing project on a person!

Meet my friend Emily. Or should I say, Rev. Emily.

That's her at her ordination service late last month. And that lovely green number she's wearing around her neck? That's the stole I made for her as an ordination present. Green happens to be her favorite color and it's also the liturgical color for ordinary time, which is a hefty chunk of the liturgical year. (Non church geeks click here to find out what the hell I'm talking about.)

Anyhoodles, since I love Emily and she is 800 percent fabulous, I knew I wanted to make a stole for her big day. I didn't use a pattern, but if I make another one, I'll tweak it a bit so it wasn't so wide. The hardest part was getting the stole to lay flat along the back, so I borrowed a bunch of stoles from my pastor friend and tried to figure out what worked best. (BTW, I have a lot of minister friends. And seminary friends. And yet I have the world's foulest mouth. They love me anyway, because that's the kind of people they are.)

Here's a strangely cropped picture showing Em serving communion to her hubby. Note the pretty back of the stole. Say it with me: Ooooh. Pretty.


And here's an even more strangely cropped picture showing the full stole. It's a little rigid because I put interfacing on both sides, but I hope once it gets a few washings that it softens up a bit.

Even though I forgot to take pictures of the project (and here's where I should give a shoutout to Emily for letting me use her pictures of the blog, since I am a horrible friend and missed the whole service because I was drinking mai tai's on the beach in Hawaii), I had a ton of fun making it. It actually was a pretty simple project and I love the idea of making something for clergy who aren't into the standard stoles that are a) heavily brocaded and look like they were made with my grandmother's old draperies or b) look like they should be accompanied by Birks and a rousing chorus of Kumbaya. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) I really hope I get to make some more!

It's hard to see here, but there's a smattering of stuff from different designers including Denyse Schmidt, Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner and Art Gallery Fabrics in there. I used mostly fat quarters and lined the back with two different Amy Butler prints.

Woot! And, may I be one of many to say congrats Rev. Emily! I'm so proud of you!

In which I make a mess. And progress.

N.B. If I owe you a long-awaited wedding present that's really going to be more like a Happy First Anniversary! present, read at your own risk.

Many moons ago I started working on a wedding quilt. Started, being the operative word. The pattern was taking forever. None of my colors seemed to go together. I ripped out every seam and started over. A lot. It was just ... icky. Luckily (or at least, luckily if you enjoy procrastinating) everyone on the planet decided to have babies, which kept me up to my eyeballs in baby quilts for a while.

But birthin' season is almost over so now I MUST return to the wedding quilt, which is inspired by this.

I spent about three hours working tonight and only made three blocks. Sigh. I forgot how much is involved in this, especially since I can't use my favorite fast-sewing technique of strip-piecing.

After what felt like an hour of cutting, I had this. One glorious mess. (This is just a part of it.)


I had a hard time taking pictures of the finished blocks. Plus, it's getting late, I'm tired and I don't feel like playing with photoshop to fix the crappy lighting. So pretend this looks STUNNING. Is actually a picture of the whole block. Has cool colors that aren't funky in the light. Is straight. And then multiply it. By a lot. And then your mind can enjoy its imaginary-for-now-but-soon-to-be-actualized awesomeness.


The end.

I solemly swear ...

... That I am up to NO GOOD.

Quilty goodness for a baby

I made a quilt for a new baby who is expected to arrive just in time for Mother's Day!! His name is a secret, although I lobbied for Charlie Blagojevich or Daley Blagojevich. His parents wouldn't hear any of it. Alas.

Dimensions are 40x40 and it's made up for simple 4x4 blocks I cut using stuff from my stash.

This is a close up of the quilt top before I quilted it.


Yes. You read that right. I quilted it. All by myself. Yay me! Who cares if the lines weren't totally straight??



Here's a view of the back:



And finally, a fancy pants little shot:

Lidolicious

Confession time: I have a friend crush.

Yup, a crush on a friend who is just so fabulous that he's simply impossible not to love. Lido's a modern-day renaissance man: a knock-you-over good photographer (check out his blog), a chef, a journalist, an artist, a guy who knows more about philosophy and dance than I'll ever know and is a 100 percent great friend and human being. (Years ago he even let me mangle his toes once on the dance floor. Rest assured it was a mistake he never made again. He also once let me sleep in the back of his Outback during a weekend-long jam band and bluegrass concert. Also a mistake he never made again.)

Basically, he's fabulous. (For the record, he's also engaged to the equally fabulous Jessica, whom I love and wish nothing but the best. Mazel tov!!)

The last time I publicly professed my Lido Love was in September when I was having an existential font-related crisis. But wouldn't you know it? Mr. Marvelous went and out did himself and caused me to fall all madly in friend love with him again. If I didn't love him so much I'd smack him.

So what did he do? Well, it looks like even though he's busy living it up with his lady in Montana and working as media director at a Web site/newspaper, Lido went out and learned to knit.

Yes. Knit.

And because he's Lido, he didn't just decide to knit a scarf. Or a hat. Or pot holders. Or something else nice and basic. Nope. Lido, upon learning that his cousin was going to have a baby, went out, learned to knit and made that munchkin a freaking blanket.


(Ladies, are you swooning yet? If not, well, perhaps you should see a physician.)

He sent me the pictures of his project and after squealing and demanding more details, I asked if I could post the pictures and some of his story for you all to admire.


When I asked him what prompted him to learn to knit, he was as always his humble self:

"I don't know why I started knitting. It was something I tried doing ages ago and never really completed anything. So when my darling little cousin became pregnant I thought why the hell not knit them a blanket. (They are very earthy, locally made, hippie, livin' on the farm, appreciate handmade type folk.) Mostly, I like it because I feel like I'm accomplishing something but I can still sit and zone out, clear my mind, and do something that's nothing like anything else I do during the day."

He also confesses to being unable to stop knitting. It's a plague I know well.


Anyway, now that I've made the boy blush and hopefully not enraged his fiancee by professing to love her betrothed, let me just sum it up by saying OMG! Hats off, Mr. Vizzuitti. You are, as always, totally Lidolicious.

Right folks?

Baby quilt goodness

I haven't officially gotten permission from the recipient to post pictures of this baby quilt. So I'm only going to give you a hint of what's on deck for my super-fabulous friend Emily, who is set to birth a splendid little halfpint in May.

Since that's just in time for my birthday, I've launched a full-fledged Name The Babe Noodles effort. So far, she's being stubborn. Whatever. I blame the pregnancy hormones for her inability to listen to reason.

Anyway, since I was SO FREAKIN' lucky to have a three-day weekend (word to the civil rights movement!), I was able to bust out the entire top quilt. As soon as I hit publish, I'm going to whip up the back and then try my hand at actually quilting the damn thing myself, instead of paying someone else to do it. (Emily, I hope I don't mangle this.)

So here's a little eye candy to hold you over until it's finished and I can show it off for real.

Stitch and this bitch.

I don't even have enough time to keep up with my quilt making since my friends keep getting knocked up and married. But for some reason, I still found time to learn to knit. And knit. And knit. And knit. And no matter how hard I try. I can't. Put. The. Needles. Down. AHHH. What can I say, it's the perfect activity for the bus. And conference calls. And tv watching. And...



I haven't made anything fancy: Yet. Just a scarf is the softest baby alpaca wool I got at my local nearby (uh, perhaps too nearby) yarn store. I'm playing around with a mobius scarf using some super bad-ass Italian wool I found in a sale bin.

Alas. There goes my focus. No would you all quit having babies so I can knit without guilt!?

I'm taking requests!

So, it appears some of you hearted my fancy pants Scrabble pieces picture of my word of the year. I'm happy to make you one of your very own! Just drop me a comment and make sure I have a way to reach you by e-mail. (And let me know if you want B&W, color or both and if you want an "I will" added.)



Lookie, I already made one for the always fab, Ms. H!



All I ask in return is you do something all nice-like to someone else in the next week. Pay it forward, ya know?

Happy 2010, y'all! I'm flipping '09 the bird. Catch you crazies next year!!

Confessions of an Etsy addict

Chances are, if you read this blog, you've probably got the same type of Etsy addiction I do.

So with the Christmas holidays rolling around (and my own fantasy that I'll be flush with cash this year ... hahahaha. Right.) I thought I'd post some of my favorite Etsy shops with the hope that maybe you'll post and share yours.

Ready? Set? Go!

First up: Paper Prayers -- folk art with a spiritual slant. These crafty ladies have much more on their blog and you can convo them for items that aren't listed in the store. (They make the rounds at a lot of craft shows. I'm currently in love with this piece.



Next comes The Love Shop! How can you not, uh, love it! Great prints with a great message. There are too many fun ones to pick, so I went with this.



The Wheatfield makes me so happy. In fact, I have one of Katie's designs as my background at work. It calms me down AND makes me smile. Incidentally, she's having a sale right now where all prints are $15... Hum. I might have to pick up a few.


I am somewhat convinced that if Vol25 and I ever meet, we'd be instant besties. Of course, she might think I'm bat-shit crazy (also, true) but I just immediately get what she's talking about in her work. Plus, we both heart typewriters.


When I used to live in Chattanooga, I'd see Beth Gumnick's work all over town. Now I have a piece in my house that I picked up during my list visit. It's a hand-painted sign and I LOVE it. You can see more of her work here.



Can you tell I have a think for prints and wall-hangings? Yeah. It's a sickness....

There's, of course, my favorite etsy fabric shops: Whipstitch and FabricWorm. And the fun (and sometimes dirty letterpress) of RarrarPress and YeeHaw Industries.

So what about you? What Etsy shops do you love??? Prints or fabric, jewelry or, well, anything ... Let me know!

Photos via each Etsy shop.

Finished quilt!

This weekend was the much-anticipated baby shower and the delivery of the handmade name banner and quilt!

I'm home sick with strep, so you'll have to delight in the pictures and small captions since I'm too wiped to post any of my usually am!

How it started:


Then I learned to applique. Which, incidentally, was not easy.



It's quilted with a stipple and backed with turquoise minky.



Best part? I finally managed to bind it without it looking like poop! (Credit for that goes to this amazing tutorial.)



Ok, I lied. Learning how to bind wasn't the best part. The best part was seeing her face when she opened it.


Um, Kathleen, you know it's for the BABY, right?


And check it, Chris likes it too!


I can't wait for baby Josie to get here and roll around on this! It was made with love by Aunt Noodles. I think Kathleen knows that, too.


The End.