Sarah’sTim Blog

Thinking

Things I think about: food, coffee, being passionate about my work, quilts, fabric, Loki, Tim, classes, going back to school, work, work, work, am I eating enough fruit, going to the farmer’s market, Web 2.0, interns, photography, SPEA, The Commission for Sustainability, recycling, living green, whether I can see the New Pornographers in concert, being a good person, travel, friends, organic food, allergies, natural leave-in conditioner, exercise, switching to gmail, having a baby someday, paint colors, books, The Clash, religion, gardening, health care, family, whether I should get new highlights, crosswords, publicity, and politics.

In no particular order, and not meant to be inclusive or exclusive.

Spring Break 08

Tim is getting close to wrapping up his first Spring Break in seven years, while I lived vicariously through him for the week, in part inspired by a few days of glorious weather.   We worked in the yard, slept, watched hoops, had movie marathons, read, slept, played pool, discovered the card game Killer Bunnies,  worked a little, went to Bedford, made crazy dinner combinations and slept in some more.

Thiên and Mark have received their quilt today!  This is the fourth queen sized quilt I’ve ever made, and the third I’ve mailed.  Talk about stress.  When they ask at the post office how much to insure it for, I want to tell ask them what two years of sweat, tears and love really costs.  Oh and hundreds of dollars in supplies.  I know unwrapping a black garbage bag isn’t very glamorous, but it beats water damage.

Little crocuses are popping up everywhere here, I can’t wait for spring to start for real!

Horizons and Roots

Its huge! Inspired by Denyse Schmidt’s Roots quilt, this twin sized quilt is perfect for cuddling in the living room.  Even though its March and Spring Break is in session, there is still snow on the ground.  I wasn’t sure about the brightness factor of the yellow, but I am pretty happy with how this turned out.  Now it just needs some more use and maybe another wash to really break it in.

Snowy Night

We had our biggest snow of the season, oddly coinciding with the first day of Spring Break.  More snow than a dusting, but still considerably less than a blizzard, for which I was hoping.

Finished Thiên’s quilt today!  Will try to take some good photos tomorrow and then mail off on Monday.  This has been about a year and a half in the making.  I am so happy for it to be done and almost on its way home.

Waves of Binding

I finally sat down tonight and after careful measuring and some inventiveness, the sticking point on Thiên’s quilt is solved. The binding (the last step!) is cut, pressed and sort of carefully folded waiting to be sewn on.  My fingers are crossed that there is enough binding.  Lord knows my math has been known to be wrong.

I am updating my booklist, rediscovering crossword puzzles (who knew Tim and I could be a good team?), and hoping that all my Texan friends go out and vote in the primary tomorrow.  Yay voting!

IHQS2008

Spent the morning and afternoon at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show, as a volunteer and visitor.  It is so fun to be inspired by all the different quilts.  The one above is by Heather Walker.  I’ve never made a quilt that wasn’t meant to be used, but maybe someday?

Off to iron some binding before a late Friday afternoon meeting.  At least its at the Lion!

Horizon Quilt

Oh so close.  All I have left on the brown and red horizon quilt for the living room is the binding.  It took forever to decide on a quilting pattern, but I am really happy with the results even if the horizontal lines are a little crooked.  That’s part of the charm, right?  Right?  I will take more pictures after a trip to the wash, but I wanted to show off the back of the quilt here!  There has been progress on Thien’s quilt too. It feels so close, but I am at another teeny-tiny sticking point.

Tomorrow I am volunteering at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show, not to be confused with the November Bloomington Quilt Guild Show, which I am co-chair of a committee (and fairly screwed up 1,000 publicity fliers with a typo - but we’re hoping no one notices!)

Its been a cold winter, and while I was excited for snow, I am getting itchy for it to start warming up a little bit.  Feeling a bit cooped up, though I’m fairly certain I have more than a month to go.

Cuttle Fish

Found at Saraga Oriental Market while shopping with some teen volunteers for funky Japanese candy to give away as prizes at anime night. Only .99 cents, I don’t know how I managed to pass these up. Also, did you know Hello Kitty also makes a cake mix? At least we think it was a cake mix, the instructions were only in Japanese.

Usually when I go to quilt a quilt, I buy a super large piece of fabric to put on the back. It is easier, and usually by the time I am done piecing the front I am ready to move forward. I am working on a brown quilt for the living room and actually pieced the back today! I love how it turned out, and maybe next weekend will have a chance to quilt.

Oscars tonight, and maybe a little reading. Oscar Sunday always reminds me of working on quilts. Seems like a strange connection. Ashley! We didn’t do a ballot!

Graph Paper

Did you know you can print graph paper using excel templates?  I often use a lot of graph paper and handfuls of colored pencils to doodle, plan, measure and determine possible quilt patterns.  I have quilting software I use, but there is something deliciously grade school about it all.  Plus, I get to do it sitting at my desk.  I am finally starting on a modern quilt for our living room.  Browns and reds with a shock of orangy-yellow.  Thank god the new quilt shop here has opened.

Miss Potter

Top for gender neutral Baby Shutta?  Done.  I am loving this quilt, it is so simple but has been fun to plan and start making. I need to dig around to see if I have any white batting.  Most batting that I like using and is easy to find is cream colored.  But if you have any white in your quilt, a cream colored batting can dampen the brightness of the white fabrics.   If done that way, it might not be noticeable to most people, but it would bother me.  My only question at this point is to border or not to border.  I am leaning to no border.  But maybe a small white border would look good too?

Tim and I recently watched Miss Potter on DVD, and in the special features there was a story of her real life (much different than the dvd-hollywood version), and love her even more for her very forward ways and thinking towards green space, independent farms and environmentalism - all way before her time really.