Group Quilt Progress

I cut lots of fabric tonight. I did buy a fancy new rotary cutter, which made the task a little exciting! Yes, rotary cutters are exciting! The first cut is my favorite... the way the sharp blade glides through layers of fabric with such ease and comfort, something about it warms my heart just a little bit.

Now that the border pieces are cut, it's time to sew them together. Hopefully, I'll have the bulk of it (or all) sewn and ready one week from now - though, I have been overbooking myself quite a bit lately and fear that things might be done in two weeks instead. Updates to come soon!

Happy Bastille Day!

We are celebrating Bastille day tomorrow at work, so I decided to prepare Quiche Lorraine. It really is my favorite dish to bake, so I'll use any excuse to bake a quiche! As usual, I prepared the dough with some Parmesan, rosemary, and thyme.

After preparing the crust, I quickly snuck away to catch a showing a Valley Girl at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

I can not believe I have never seen this movie! Especially since I'm technically a valley girl myself at the moment. I was pretty impressed with Nicholas Cage's performance in this movie! He's a little Hollywood punk rock boy dream! Who knew? I love a sappy love story, especially one that takes place in my home of Los Angeles. The scene above was shot at a restaurant called, Dupar's, which a short bike ride away from my apartment. I've only been there once, but this movie might have inspired me to go back! And now, back to the quiche...

Don't forget to celebrate Bastille day and wear your tricolour clothes! Vive la France!

Disconnect The Dots

Let the polka dot obsession begin. On the way home from work, I made an impulse turn into Joann's and bought the best of their polka dots. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a selection available, but I did okay. I didn't fall in love with these dots, but I think they'd make good fillers in my potential polka dot quilt.

These polka dots are really taking over my thoughts. As I began planning my outfit for a friend's wedding this weekend, I got stuck deciding between two particular dresses.

That's right. Polka dot dresses! Still not sure which one to wear, but either way, I really do wear my dots thoughts.

So It Begins

Another quilt or a possible quilt back for my scrap quilt? I'm really not sure yet.

Because I spent so much time trying to avoid matching dots touching with my scrap quilt and this quilt right here, I decided to break my own rules and start sewing polka dots together. This could be a potential back for my quilt or a whole new quilt altogether.

Scrap Quilt Top

I think the quilt top is finished!

Of course, I might add more, but I think I'm done with it. Right now, the top is 72"x92". My only fear is of how much this quilt might shrink when I square it off with the batting and eventually the back. Speaking of, I'm at a real loss of ideas for the back of this quilt too. I know I want to add my librarian embroidery, but I'm not sure what else. I'm also not sure what type of stitching pattern to use when I quilt the layers, but I guess there's plenty of time for me to think about that. In about 5 weeks, I'll officially be halfway done with library school, so I'm glad to almost officially be done with the top half of my quilt! After I graduate, snuggling up in this quilt is going to be as good a feeling as holding a diploma.

Shark Cupcakes

My niece and nephew had a birthday party this past weekend. It was a beach themed pool party, so I made shark cupcakes.

Tomorrow a quilt update!

Pie + Tart = Part-Tie

I'm so glad blueberries are in season.

There was a birthday/pot luck bbq at my friend Brian Tartan's place over the weekend and I decided to go with a nice blueberry pie.

Well, it started off as a pie and ended up being made in a tart pan. I decided to keep the blueberries a little on the tart side (but still sweet), since it was in this pan. So, it was a hybrid of pie and tart and we all called it a part.

Whatever you call it, it was gone in minutes.

Fabric Covered Box

In my quest to organize everything in my apartment, I came across lots of boxes. For some reason, I tend to hold onto boxes and bags, in hopes to re-using them; though they just end up piling up and taking up lots of room in my closets. Instead of throwing them all away, I decided to keep a few and use them to organize my stuff. But first, they must be covered in cute fabric!

If the box has writing on it, it might be a good idea to give it a quick coat of paint. Since this box was going to be kept in my bathroom drawer, I didn't really bother.

I also only covered the front, to save fabric. As you can see, the writing on the box shows a bit.

It's a nice little caddy for all of my hair products and lotions. Best of all, it cost virtually nothing to make.

Summer Cleaning

Since school has been out, I have been a little confused with all the extra time on my hands. I'm just not used to it. My brain has to constantly be busy, or else I go into deep cleaning mode. Well, during the past few days, I have thrown away many bags of junk and organized all of my closets and drawers in a very librarian-like fashion. I have even cataloged all my books online -really. I have also tried to cute-up all my drawers, starting with my bathroom.

I was going to show what this looked like with all of my stuff in it, but decided against it. Too messy for the world to see. A few dabs of glue and some wrapping paper later...

All organized!

More on bathroom organization tomorrow.

Group Quilt

As requested, here pictures of the group quilt I am helping out with.

So far, I've only contributed a square, but I hope to make more of a contribution soon, with the border and back.

As you may have noticed, it's a lot different from the quilts I've made in the past. This is my first time working with a quilt group and the other members are so talented, that I tend to stay a bit quiet. I'm not sure if my quilting style is for everyone. Either way, I am really enjoying being part of a quilting group! I'm learning so much and making more of an effort to sew my lines straight and get all my seams to match!

Summer In The Valley

It's very hot here in LA. I have been crafting, though it has been way too hot to post. I did get a new toy to play with...

I had been patiently waiting for this food processor to go on sale. It originally cost $200, but I snatched it for $100! A deal that even made my mom proud! So what's the first thing I made with my new toy? A nice cool drink to make the heat a little more bearable.

I pureed a nectarine, an apricot, and a handful of raspberries, then stirred the mixture into some cold sparkling wine. It was pretty refreshing, definitely a drink to make for a brunch with the girls.

A Pumpkin For Andrew

I know it's not halloween or fall, but my nephew, Andrew, loves pumpkins.

Tomorrow is my Andrew's birthday. Along with his other gifts, I decided to sew him a little pumpkin too. Why a pumpkin? I have no idea, but the boy is totally obsessed with them. He just loves pumpkins. And I know it's not the cutest pumpkin, but I think Andrew will appreciate it simply because it's a pumpkin.

Mexican Crock Pot Casserole

Sundays have become crock pot days in the Annette household. While my Internet was down two weeks ago, I experimented with things around the house, and made an enchilada/burrito-like casserole in my crock pot. Enchilada sauce, tortillas, cheese, refried beans, chilies, chicken, sour cream, and green onions.

I let it simmer for about 7 hours.

It turned into quite a sloppy mess.

The tortillas disappeared, so I had to heat up some fresh ones. The casserole turned into a whole other beast, best eaten like a burrito. Although it looks messy, it was really good. So far, this crock pot has never let me down.

The Huntington Library

Last week I attended a tour at the Huntington Library. I went a little photo crazy in the gardens.

I'm Making A Lasagna

Quite possibly the best lasagna I have made, actually.

One layer of sauce (with extra lean ground turkey), then noodles, then cheese and spinach. Another layer of noodles and sauce, sprinkled with cheese.

Bake at 350, for 40 minutes, until the cheese turns to a golden brown color.

Usually, I bake the cheese and sauce layers next to each other, but separating the cheese and sauce with the noodles let each flavor hold it's own, rather than blending together.

Split Peas And Grilled Cheese

It might be a little too hot for soup these days. It's never too hot for grilled cheese, 5th grade lunch lady style.

The next few weeks are going to be a bit busy with school-work. My apartment is filled with library books and my brain is filled with distractions. If only writing papers was as fun as sewing quilts...

Blue Monday Sunday

I've realized recently that I'm almost half-way done with school, yet my library school quilt was far from half-way done. So, I neglected my research papers and got busy with quilting this weekend. I realize papers deadlines are coming up and this is a bit scary, but quilting is so addicting. Once I get started, it's very hard to stop!

At this point, the quilt is approximately 54" x 95" and covering most of my living room floor. I got home late enough to catch Saturday Night Live last night, so I stayed up and realized that I should get started on my embroidery for the back of the quilt. Oh dear. Not only did I stay up late enough to finish SNL, but I also got through Midnight at the Apollo and a slew of infomercials.

Today I will continue to embroider, as I celebrate my 10 year anniversary with my little blue car! Off to get a car wash, oil change, and possibly a cupcake!

Sew 'N Sew

I've been feeling very charitable lately. In the past week, I have donated blood, ran a 5k marathon for women's cancer, and joined a quilting group at my work, that raffles off a quilt to raise money for a women's shelter. I have worked on a few squares for the quilt, below.

It's a whole new experience working with a quilting group. I guess I'm a little worried that my work might be too messy for the group. I have such high respect for those who sew perfect seams, but personally, I love the flaws in handmade. I just hope my little squares are good enough. The quilt we're working on is really neat, it's not my usual style, though I'm really excited to be working with such a talented group on a quilt for such a good cause.

New Fabrics

This means new projects! Good design and patterns inspire me to get up and get crafty! Somehow my old fabrics get more exciting with new pattern combinations.

I try to make a habit of purchasing a big batch of fabric twice a year, just to keep things fresh. Luckily, I haven't run out of storage room yet, but if I do that just means more projects, not less fabric.

Fabric Pouch

I just got a new shipment of fabrics in (will be pictured and posted soon), so I've been anxious to sew something. Anything. I'm still re-working how to incorporate my new fabric into my scrap quilt, which may consist of cutting and shredding what I have, to add these new ones in. I may just do that.

In the meantime, I have scratched my sewing itch with this pocket pouch.

Coming soon: new fabrics and a new pocket project.