chimesblog

I’ve been reading the Denyse Schmidt Quilts book that Adria let me borrow and saw the heating pad project and just HAD to do it. I hardly make anything for myself, but it annoys me that I have my heating pad out in the middle of my living room and it’s so not cute. It had some weird 90s pattern on the cover.  Not a fan.

Well, now, it’s stylin’!  I used the original cover for insulation and quilted the patchwork piece to it. The original cover had a snap closure on it, so I didn’t have to mess with putting a closure on the new cover.  Pretty smart, eh?

My grandpa had given me a bunch of things that my granny (great grandmother) had left behind when she passed in 2002.  I’ve been using some of her materials (embroidery thread, fabric, pins, etc.) to create some of the things I’ve been making.  I’ve had 10 quilt blocks that I’ve been hoarding that she had made a long time ago.  The fabrics were impossible to match with modern-day or even reproduction fabrics.  The block pattern was too complex for me.  So, I’ve been sitting on them.

Last weekend my mom and I went to Valley Junction and found some really amazing vintage blocks that matched pretty well.  So, I finally got out the blocks and made a quilt top.

Here it is!

Again, going through my scrap box and found some scraps that Adria had given me from her Hello Betty quilt.  I had enough left to make a large block and I decided to finally cover the 18″x18″ pillow form I’ve had lying around.

I did another wonky log cabin block because those are just too easy and addictive.

Here’s the finished product. It doesn’t go with anything I own other than the chair in which I photographed it.

I’ve been working through my fabric scraps and I came across the Heather Ross Mendocino scraps that Adria had given me a while back.  She had leftovers after making a really cool mendocino quilt.

Here are a few of my favorite ones … They’re 5″x6″

I’m going to add 5-6″ of white fabric around each block to make it look like they’re floating and make a larger quilt out of these.  So excited! 

If you want to see all the blocks, I’ve got them posted on Flickr.

I’ve been realizing lately that I have undergone a lot of changes in the past year … and for once my outward appearance has reflected it.

Before January 2009, my hair was the same since 8th grade.  Between chin and shoulder length. Various shades of blonde ranging from golden to platinum, curly and thick.  The only change was whether or not I had bangs.  I didn’t dare do anything drastic (aside from the time I colored the underside pink and black — but the top was still blonde).

In January of 2009 I cut my hair super short.  I kept randomly cutting it shorter and more asymmetrical as the year progressed.

I went through a breakup last fall and I colored my hair super dark to remind myself that things were different and that more importantly that I was different.

Anyway, a while back I was talking with my boy and his roommate and they said they hardly remember the long-blonde-haired Calee, even though that’s what they knew for so long. I didn’t realize until then just how different I look now.  I mean, it’s probably partially the attitude that I have too — so much different. I feel like I can conquer the world.

I went out last weekend with my friend, Shelly, and we both looked pretty hot. So I took a few pix of myself for my “mugshots” album on facebook, especially since I looked like a total rocker chick.

So I started going through my facebook pictures and noticed just how much I changed. I found the album of “pinups” that I’d taken a couple years back. One photo in particular showed me with my “rocker” look.  I had my bass guitar and a killer look on my face. This used to be my go-to super-hot photo.

So, then or now? Ignore the camera quality … webcam vs. a nice cam.

I even got a new ID last week for work. I lost my old one, so I now have an ID that looks like me!

It’s been so long since I had a weekend of hermiting and crafting.  The cat’s away so the mouse will … be lame and stay indoors on a Saturday night?

This used to be my typical Saturday night: run, shower, laundry, movies, crafting, sleep.

Lately I’ve been doing things.  Like a lot of things. I went to a concert last night with Shelly (I will blog about this later once she gets pix/video up), I’ve been going out with friends to Welch Ave., Fong’s, The Lift, etc., we had prom last weekend … eeeeep! This is entirely too much stuff for me — it’s been fun — but I need a break!

So, I’m hermiting.

Tonight is going to be a craft-a-thon. I’ve had a request for 2 tea wallets and 2 market bags since posting on facebook that I was going to have a craft-a-thon.  I’ve got a Ziggy Stardust tea cup I want to finish, some potholders, a zip pouch and I have a couple of new hot projects that I’d like to crank out quickly to stash bust my scrap fabric.

Anywho — as I finish things, I’ll be posting pix here of what I accomplish tonight. Let’s hope I do a few more things so I don’t look like I spent the night thinking about crafting and not actually crafting.

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1. Two Bags for my niece

My mom requested that I make Emee a couple of bags for some of her toy sets.  These need handles, but I haven’t come across anything that I’d like to use for handles just yet.  I made these bags out of a skirt I had in high school that I never wear anymore.  It’s really cute purple fabric that shifts to blue in the right light and has a metallic silver brocade on the edges.

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2. Potholders

I started making a string quilt a while back with a bunch of random scraps, but I wasn’t pleased with what I was getting. So I decided to make the blocks into ugly potholders. The potholders have been lying around for a while awaiting the binding edge, so I’m sewing the binding on tonight.

Here’s what my potholders look like …

As you can see … I’m pretty excited that I finally finished these.

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3.  Lil Zipper Bag

Over the summer I’d made some little zipper bags with some fuschia and gold Heather Ross mendocino fabric that was given to me by my friend Adria.  I love this fabric sooo much, might I add. Definitely one of my all-time favorites. Anyway, for whatever reason I’ve had one little zipper bag sitting around unfinished. So I finished that off tonight as well.

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4. Ziggy Stardust Tea Cup

I made Mark a cute tea cup for our 2-month anniversary with the lyrics to our song on it … and I decided I wanted one that’s similar for myself. Yes — I said — FOR MYSELF. I never craft for myself. I wrote out the lyrics to Ziggy on a teacup last week … but decided that it needed to have a bit more pizazz, considering it *is* Bowie. So, I painted it up. I’m not too happy with the results, but maybe it will grow on me after I bake it. I like the one side, but I think if I would have left it a bit simpler it would be nicer … oh well. This can end up on craftastrophe I guess.

As you can tell by my face, this is the side I’m not too happy with. I dunno what to do with it just yet … Probably just bake it and hide it away in my apartment.

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I think that’s all I’m going to get to tonight, but I’m going to continue tomorrow and get 4-6 tea wallets done, possibly some dis-cards (Denyse Schmidt style) and maybe another craft for myself — heating pad cover.

One of my favorite blogs, a la mode fabric, just turned one. She’s having a fabric giveaway of absolutely adorable fabrics (what else would you expect?).

My favorite, of course, being the blush mendocino set.

Anyway, go here for details! Contest ends February 28.

I took today off since I had to take my mancandy to the airport at an obscenely early time and wanted to sleep/clean/catch up on crafting the rest of the day.

Needless to say, I didn’t get a whole lot of cleaning done (I did put the dishes away!), but I got a little sleeping and a LOT of crafting done.  I finished off both sets of wonky log cabin blocks I’ve been working in — one with my repro fabrics, and the other with Wonderland and Amy Butler fabrics that I’ve been hoarding.  I have 17 of the repro block and 24 of the Amy Butler/Wonderland blocks.  I’m going to make a queen-sized quilt with the AB/W blocks, but not sure what I’m going to do with the repro blocks.

Here are some of the more fun blocks from the repro log cabin set (8″x8″).

And here are some cool ones from the Amy Butler set …

Eventually I’ll make these into quilts, but until then, they’re just pretty patchwork pieces.

I can’t believe I’m already into week 3 of my half marathon training. So far, so good. I haven’t missed a run yet and I’ve been keeping up with my cross training on my off days (except last Saturday — but I danced my ass off at prom).

Today’s a cross-training day, so I’m going to hook up with my favorite trainer, Jillian Michaels, for some hard core cardio in my living room.

Anyway, my runs have been pretty decently paced so far. I ran outside for my first 6-mile run (in the snow) for week one and managed to keep it at 8′25ish per mile.  Last week’s 7 mi run was on a treadmill and averaged 8′17/mi.  So pretty decent.  If I can keep my pace no more than 8′30/mi on longer runs, I think I’ll have a pretty decent time for the race considering I’ll likely step it up a notch.

Here’s my training plan for this week:

Are you ready for this awesomeness?

Every year Ames has a throwback prom to raise money for American Cancer Society and this year’s theme was Night of the Living Prom. Zombies. Prom. Zombies. Prom. Prombies?

Of course, I had to cram myself into this awesome black dress I bought for last year’s prom that isn’t made to actually fit a human being. It’s a size … ?? I don’t know. 28 inch waist with 24 inches for a chest? Hmm.. yeah. I turned the back into the corset and laced it up to fit me. Frankensteined a dress for zombie prom.

Mark and I decided to do 80s glam punk — Billy Idol style. I made Mark a shirt out of a PBR t-shirt and some fabric scraps. And of course, I made us a corsage and a boutonniere.

It was a good mix of zombies and prom goers. We had a fabulous time. The band showed up in Ghostbusters costumes (complete with proton packs) and played the ghostbusters song! Thriller was played halfway through the night and a group of us danced to it. I didn’t learn it, but I jumped in and improved anyway.

That’s about it. Free beer and punch. Lots of dancing. Lots of fun times. Undead. And alive.

Here are some pix!