The Final Thread

Sunday hummed by as I worked incessantly on my Not-So-Mystery Quilt so as to get it off the living room floor (wish I had taken a picture to show you that our living room/dining room looked like a craft store exploded.) Between the quilt, apron, knitting, I promised Chris that I would get some of the crap off the floor. My hopes, as stated earlier, were to finish the quilt face at least.

BOY DID I GET A LOT DONE!!!!!

Look at me go!!! Woohoo!

I'm a sewing MANIAC!

2005 Little Miss Homemaker


The Not-So-Mystery Quilt
Ok, so I told you in a previous post that I would explain why it is what it is...the Not-So-Mystery Quilt. It all started November of 2004. *cue fog* I got a bug up my butt to start quilting, and what a great opportunity because the Super Mega JoAnn's had just opened and Chris' friend Woody had just had a baby. (Who obviously needed a handmade quilt from mua!) What a great opportunity to learn, especially since there was a class starting
on my birthday! Happy Birthday to meeeeee!

So, I took the class and learned all perfecionistic ways of quilt makers, and how they can hide their mistakes. The class took place in three parts; cutting, peicing, finishing. Mary, my quilting teacher, was a nice lady. She was super patient and so dedicated to helping me finish my first project. In fact, she gave me her cell number for when I needed a little extra assistance (And boy did I!) The only catch turned out to be not finishing before Christmas. Thankfully, we would be meeting up with Woody, Krissy and Baby Alex again in January for a wedding.

Being there from the very beginning, Mary was as excited about seeing it take shape as I was. When I finally completed the quilt, I had the hardest time giving it up...(it was my first afterall.) And you would think I'd learn from this experiend, but no (see Knitting below.) Nevertheless, I gave it away and promise Mary that I would just have to join another quilting class to learn more, (and keep one for myself...just maybe.) *Check out the goods! --------------->

My friend Emily and I signed up immediately and picked up our class supply list. After visiting, oh maybe 18 billion fabric stores (some repeatedly), we each painstakingly picked out our four fabrics. On the first day of class, we showed up with our fabrics and an eagerness to get this mystery started. Mary, bless her heart, though a good teacher with a pattern from a book, is NOT such a great pattern-writer-downer. We immediately noticed that there were five (5), NOT four (4) fabrics used in the pattern. Little did we know this was just the beginning of a long and mistake filled experience.











Each month the new instruction sheet inevitably had 3 or 4 mistakes on it. So, each month I would call Mary and double check what she meant against what the instructions actually said. Needless to say, in the end there was a block created in reverse that messed up the entire pattern and the worst piecing instructions I've every laid eyes on. Anyway, so I spent one long Saturday afternoon figuring out what I could turn this expensive mess of fabric into. My queen size quilt has turned out to be aproximately a twin and only a slight resemblence of what it should have looked like. (Oh and if I can find one of the other girls in the class that actually succeeded at assembling this right I'll post the picture.) So, long story short, the only mystery is how I'm going to get this quilted with such a small machine.

Oh, Oh!!!! AAAANNNDDD, I ran out of stupid thread one row from be done with the quilt (above). So, I had to run to the craft store and get some more thread. This trip turned out to be a good thing because I ran into Luann and asked about the stoles. She had printed the embroidery out, but it was WAY too big. Luann promised to find some other font that would go smaller and give it another try. She also helped me pin the waistband on my apron so I could continue with that project.

All the while, the boy is watching football!

The Boy: How's it going hun?
Me: Good...bla bla bla.
The Boy: That's nice. Looks good. DAMN! The Vikings lost!

Anyway, I got a little further on the apron pattern, but I'm thinking of altering how the rest is put together cuz I think there's got to be a better way. All in all, its turning out really cool and I can't wait for it to be done. I may have to shorten it some so that it doesn't look like your suppose to be wearing a dress though.

AND FINALLY THE KNITTING!!!
It's coming along... I swear! Dang I wish I could post picts of it... but you know it would spoil the surprise, so instead, I post my VERY FIRST knitting ever. Which again, I did not learn to keep my first, and have given it away as a present...again! Oh yah, and I bought this kit at Target in Colorado Springs. If you've read Crazy Aunt Purl's blog, she actually shows pictures of the display. (*waves to Aunt Purl*) However, this kit was not present. She had some ugly nubby pink baby thing. So I must show her that there was something "worthy" of my time. :o)

I found that the cotton yarn was hard to work with for a beginner, but the DVD that was included was super helpful. The worst was the instructions which were in knitting latin with very little explanation and absolutely no references to websites or books or helplines if I got stuck. (Good thing I had some nice old ladies where I was knitting...)