Birthday Fabric

Since my birthday is in January, I celebrate with parties since there is not much happening between New Years and Valentines Day.  I usually ask that people just bring a little food, and no gifts... because I just don't really need anything and I don't like making a spectacle of myself.

I was happily surprised with a great party and lots of friends and even some gifts... and they were things I LOVED!  One of my friends was even savvy enough to give fabric from Cool Cottons on Hawthorne... I'm so excited to have some new patterns and colors to play with... take a look:

What is so great about this is that I'm planning on making some "mug rugs" that I can easily use this fabric in!  I've been studying the binding process online and I found a good tutorial at VeryKerryBerry on single binding that should work great!  I need all the practice I can get on free-motion-quilting before starting to quilt my squid. 

Portlandia

Yesterday, on my walk, I saw a kilted man riding a unicycle and playing bagpipes!  I love Portland.  Have you seen the first episode of Portlandia yet?  If not, check it out ~ so funny, so Portland! 

Squid Quilt Top... Finished!

I was so excited last night to bring my finished quilt top to the PMQG meeting... and a little nervous.  I had so much I wanted to say about it and I kinda froze in front of the group, but I'm good at hiding it.  Not a big deal though... I'm just happy to be able to be in front of any group without throwing up :-) not only that, but everyone was really supportive and hearing their reactions made it all worth it! 

What I wanted to say was how much I enjoyed the paper-piecing, hand stitching of it all ~ so relaxing, addictive, and fun.  Plus I'm loving the new community that seems to be blossoming at PMQG. It's very inspiring, and motivating for me and sharing accomplishments feels great.  I started the squid in July, shortly after our meeting about hexagons where I first learned how to make them.  I've been addicted since then.  There are about 1400 3/4" hexies used in the quilt top.  I made them all first, then sewed them into rows, then sewed the rows together.  Altogether I have logged approximately 245 hrs. to get it this far.  The question asked the most:  "Why a squid?"... well, my answer to that is:  "Why not?"  Really, I'm just a weird girl and you just never know what's going to break out of my head!

There will be another "unveiling" of my squid for my birthday this Sunday.   I can't believe I'll be 42 already... time just flies.  I'm always amazed when I make it to another birthday.  Honestly, when I was younger, I never imagined I would live past 25 with the way I was living. 

I haven't really written much about my past, but as you may have noticed my web address is xstreetgirl.blogspot and there's a reason for that.   After being disowned by my family when I was 17 because of religious differences,  I spent many years as a homeless or squatting gutter-punk.  Long story short, I was somewhat depressed as a young adult and I made it my mission to OD so I could move onto something other than this life.  Soooo... I spent years drinking VERY heavily and doing every drug that came my way.  One day I found myself pregnant, and sleeping in an unused MUNI station in San Francisco, so I became even more depressed and wanted an abortion.  Fortunately for me, I just couldn't go through with it (even tho I'm pro-choice) and so I had to clean up my act while pregnant.  I fell back into old habits after my daughter was born, and I was an on again/off again homeless-single-mama for about 6 years until I stopped drinking, smoking cigarettes, and using meth in 1997.

I don't mind sharing this information with anyone... I'm a pretty open person and I'm in a different place now ~ but I still have no real regrets.  I'm happy to have had all my experiences... and still be alive with a beautiful daughter.  That all said, it's been an uphill battle with my health.  I'm not complaining, mind you.... just stating fact.  I can't complain about things I did to myself!  In particular, my liver needs a LOT of love right now... but I'm so much more healthy than I've ever been before.  Most of all... I'm happy and content.  YAY!

I guess the reason I bring this all up is to show how much my sewing means to me.  It is my new addiction... and it will not hurt my health (except for maybe my finger joints) and I'm so happy that I am here and that I can be creative... and that I can share it all.   So when some people think: "Gee.... you must not have a life with how much time you spend sewing"  I  come back with: "Gee... I have the best life ever!"

Almost There!

Woo Hoo!!  I'm almost there ~ done with the squid quilt-top that is.   I'm really hoping I can get it done before the PMQG meeting on Thursday, I want to bring it to show to the rest of the group.  I'm just so excited!  I think this is one of the first projects I've done that I'm happy with all the way through (at least so far).  I'm also hoping to get some feedback on how much to add to the sides.  I could add enough to make it a twin size quilt... or I could just at a small border all the way around and call it good as a skinny quilt.  Decisions, decisions.

So I'm already thinking of my next quilt.  That's because I'm going to wait to actually quilt the squid top until I get more practice with free-motion-quilting.  There is a quilt contest I could enter given by the Modern Quilt Guild and the theme is monochromatic colors... and a friend of mine asked me to make 2 baby quilts to put into her store (on consignment)... and so... I'm thinking of a monochromatic baby quilt! 

In the meantime, I'm going to try my hand at some "mug rugs" they are small little quilted pieces to use as coasters ~ and hopefully they can turn out really super cute like Megs here... hers are very inspiring.  I can use the mug rugs to practice quilting too. 

Sooo much to do.  So I'm ending this note here and am going to get busy on finishing my squid quilt!  Here is a progress shot taken about a week ago:

*sorry for the terrible photography!

Something A Little Different

Last week I was able to work a something a little different as far as sewing goes...  a bag for a friends birthday!  The squid quilt has me obsessing and I'm making decent progress on that too... but I was able to break away and work on this bag:

My friend LOVES penguins and I really wanted to make her something special.  I usually make pillows, but since so many people have been creating cool bags and totes, I thought I'd give it a try. 

I had started working on the tote when she asked for a little pouch for her camera, so I made one to match the bag!  The little pouch has a zipper and is lined in velvet... and of course, I had to put a penguin on that too :)

I wasn't too thrilled with how the zipper came out on the camera pouch... still a learning process between me and the zipper.  Luckily for the tote, it turned out much better!

Both bags are quilted... even the handles, and they are both lined ~ the tote even has pockets on the inside. 

The best part of this is that my friend was so happy to get this last night for her birthday, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside ~ just like a penguin!

A New Year

Happy New Year to everyone out in blogland!  So far... so good.  2011,  I'm ready.

I started and finished a quickie project last week for a friends birthday, so I can't show it off just yet.  I was happy to take a break from the squid quilt, but now I'm back to it!  Here is the progress so far:

I think I have 4 more rows to go, then I'm halfway done!!  WooHoo :)  After this I'm planning on making 2 or 3 baby quilts.  I need to practice free-motion-quilting, and I think baby quilts would be a fantastic way to practice! 

Other than sewing, I've been tweaking my diet... again.  I know that there are things I just shouldn't eat... but, I don't think I can go through the rest of my life eating so strictly.  So I'm testing my digestive system to see just how much I can handle.  Sadly, I think sugar is completely out, along with potatoes, gluten, and coffee.  I'm hoping honey will do me good and that I can have some starches as long as I stay away from potatoes... but that might be asking too much.  We'll see.  By doing these "tests", my joints have started screaming at me, headaches are back, and I haven't been able to sleep through the night... along with other little things.  So I'm pretty motivated to get back to eating right, and the new year is a good kick in the butt for those types of things.