Baby Stella Takes a Trip...

I've been coveting and hoarding this adorable fabric for about 3 years now. It was just too sweet and too pastel for my little guy. So when my cousin recently had a little girl (whom she named after our Gram) I knew the time had come - it was time to part with it. I absolutely adore the little house fabric on the back - which was honestly the toughest piece to let go of :)

So anyhow... this is what I've been working on. The pattern is called A Trip Around the World and is shamefully easy to do. Once you've got all your cutting completed it goes together in just a few hours! Here's a great link on how to get started on your very own - Tripster. Your results will vary drastically depending on the fabrics you select. I quilted it on my Gammill Classic Long Arm - which is really my favorite part. I love the art of free motion. Binding, however, is another story - I absolutely Dread doing binding!! And then, for some fool reason I decided to to hand stitch the binding... Ugh! What was I thinking... I'm super slow at it and don't find it as relaxing as most folks do. So in the end when I had finally finished the binding I was so sick of the project that I hurriedly got it all boxed up. Today I realized I hadn't taken any photos... after it's been squished up in the box for a few days waiting for the post.

So you'll have to excuse the creases...

Here's hoping Baby Stella will get years of enjoyment out of this sweet little number!

(Click on each photo for better detail)

Reversible Patchwork Bag Tutorial

Head on over to Pink Penguin for the how to's on this truly fabulous drawstring bag!

Her directions are uber clear with really terrific photos... it's so totally worth the trip -
you'll be ever so glad you stopped by! Have fun and sew like the wind :)

Cool Kitsch!

What's not to love?? Mini Gumball Machines?? GET OUT!!
I love this kind of shit. I love anything that's either miniaturized or mega enlarged.
Most of you know about my mini lunch box collection.... But. Did you know about my miniature sewing machine collection?? Auyup... they're awesome and I can only imagine your envy.

I'm thinking these would be too hip for H-Man's 3rd birthday party... coming up in February.
Love, love, love it :) If you're like me and are dying to pick some for your next shin dig --
here's where to snatch'em up.

Twilight Wrap Up... Done and Done

Alrighty... So Thankfully Book 3: Eclipse was far and away better than New Moon.
I didn't have the urge to stab myself or slap someone through the whole read. What a relief.

Book 4: Breaking Dawn. A Whopping (nearly) 800 pager. Didn't love it... didn't hate it.
But boy did my wrists get tired propping up this sucker.
I'd heard all kinds of things about this book like:
- die hard fans just hated it
- it was all sexed out ... ie: hot and erotic
WTF?? Hmmm... did these folks get a different copy than I did?? Honestly I'm at a loss as to why die hard fans or any other fans for that matter would hate it. It's a whole lot like the other books and not nearly as obnoxious as New Moon... so beats me.
And as for the sex - What Sex?? The book I read didn't have ANY sex whatsoever. As in NONE. I've read more graphic tales scrawled on bathroom walls. Sure there are a few references... implicit ramblings toward intimacy - but they're about as steamy as the kissing passages in the previous books. We're talking a "G" rating here folks... perhaps a "PG" if you're a complete and total prude.
Good grief - the birthing scene is more perspicuous.
I didn't totally dig the pregnancy/daughter storyline - but what are you gonna do.
The ending is a bit anti-climatic... but really, did anyone actually anticipate anything different?
I'm looking forward to Book 5 - written from Edward's perspective. That should prove to be very interesting.

All in all - it's a good series and a nice read. I'd recommend it (suggesting that folks skip Book 2 altogether and vie for a synopsis of it instead). I'll most likely reread Books 1, 3 & 4 at a later date.

So now the big question is.... what's next?? I'm stumped - if you've read something cool or interesting lately please speak up... share with the class. I'm in desperate need of some new (or least ways new to me) titles and/or authors.

Twilight... To Finish or Not to Finish

I'm a pretty avid reader... usually getting through 3 to 5 books a week, depending on how crazy things get around here. I'd heard about the Twilight Series, but honestly had totally stayed clear of it once I'd seen it labeled as "young adult". Teenie bopper characters and situations sounded like a whole lot of 'Ick' to me.

Then, awhile back (easily 6 months or more) Lea over at Notes After Dusk wrote something intriguing about the series. I can't recall what exactly it was and can't send you over there to read it yourself because she's since strip mined her blog and started over again... but it was enough to pique my interest, reconsider and willingly file it away. Where I admit, it sort of got forgotten about.

Most recently my friend Holly mentioned that she was reading them, bringing the idea back into the foreground. So this past weekend while out, about and looking over the books at Sam's Club I found the first two books. I figured what the hell... Lea's totally too cool for school and she's got good taste. In addition to that Holly's reading them - they can't suck completely can they?

Hmmm... alright. So I liked the first book - Twilight, quite a lot. Although, the last 50 pages or so were a little too "teen" inspired for me. The vampire fodder is pretty light and watered down - which was disappointing. Meyers has some great concepts going and would have greatly enjoyed and appreciated further development of those. Edward is a terrific and really interesting character. Bella, er, not so much. In my personal opinion The Cullen's and Edward deserve a book of their own.

Onto Book 2 - New Moon. Ugh. Bella didn't bother me quite so much during the first book, but ghads. 350 pages of her teenage angst and Major insecurities -mooning, and pining, and whining dragging on for what felt like an eternity (and more than 3/4's of the book) was really more than I could bear. Adding to the fury... No Edward. No Cullen clan. Just Bella, Bella, (gag) Bella. Talk about a Bummer. By the time the author finally throws Edward back into the story it's too little too late. I did like the Jacob Black and werewolf angle... but Bella truly bored me, not to mention seriously grated on my nerves. I kept secretly hoping Victoria would successfully track her sorry ass down and put me out of misery.

So now I'm ready for Books 3 and 4. Someone please tell me they're not as lame as book 2. I'm hesitant to suffer through more of Bella's "I'm not worthy" saga - which honestly after book 2, come on, she's so completely and totally Not. Please tell me she redeems herself in book 3.

Maybe you love Bella - in which case you could explain how a sophisticated 110 year old vampire could dig a whiny ass 18 year old girl who's about as emotionally mature as a 12 year old. Seriously, I keep hoping Eddie will just "drink the wine" already.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Will I want to shoot myself if I finish the series? Or just Bella?

Gone, Gone, Gone...

Are my readers. I'm quite sure that since I've been MIA for nearly 3 months now, my faithful readership (which was probably pretty pathetically small to begin with) has dwindled all the way down to squat by now. What can I say... I've been sick. Really, really sick. Just puking and sleeping with no left over time for blogging - heaven forbid arts and crafts and kitschy krapola.

The skinny: Just about the time of my last posting I found out I was in the family way. As in Major Pregnant. And wouldn't you know it, within about 5 days of that news all hell broke loose when I had to (quite literally) move into the bathroom. So now that I'm finally 17 wks along and have managed to punch out almost an entire paragraph of mindless dribble without my gag reflex kicking in - I'm hoping the worst is over and I'm gearing up for some serious creative action.

So without further ado --- A Quiz!
Cuz afterall... 3 months of feeling chained to the porcelain throne for 20 hours a day makes the scenario provided in this quiz sound like a whole helluva lot more fun to me.

I could survive for 1 minute, 9 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Created by Bunk Beds.net