L-5 Chatanooga Charlie

I've had a bit of a bad week (minus the fantastic Elly Sienkiewicz class). My cyst near my left year, who has been my friend for at least 5 years, decided to get infected and I had to go to the ER to get it removed. Not fun. The good part is that since it's on the side of my face, I couldn't see them do anything. The bad part is that it might grow back and I'll have to get it removed again. I am glad that it's gone for now though, it was really uncomfortable. I will be better when it starts healing and I don't have to tape gauze to the side of my face though!

This block, unlike my ER visit, was fun. I cut the triangles a bit too small, so I used my handy dandy "Add an Eighth" ruler and it came together really well. Foundation pieced on some stuff I got from Joann's which I do not like at all. The fabric is Perched in Sunset from Nest by Tula Pink for Moda.

95-18-0-2207

Big News!!

Whew! It's been busy. And I haven't even been sewing or knitting!

Chris and I went on a lovely trip to Portland. I love the city. We didn't see very much of it, but just walking around was pretty fantastic. We ate a lot, walked a lot.. and probably most exciting...

We're engaged! We got engaged at the Japanese Gardens and it was all pretty fabulous. We've been dating for 8 years now, and everyone who I called responded with something like "FINALLY". Here are attempts of taking photos after we got engaged... We were in a rush and I had the wrong lens on... whoops!

And here is a better photo of the two of us.. after dinner and on the Burnside Bridge..

Portland, you're great! Thanks for the fantastic weather while we were there!!

Monster Post

Alright, apparently I did not want to post for an entire month after NaBloPoMo. Here is a mosaic of what happened in the month of December.

Lets see, included in there is the Christmas Tree, Napa, Corgi Faire (where Lucy won 3rd place in corgi limbo), stuffed animal, graduation from Puppy 2, Birthday cake, Freddy's visit and Lucy's new water bowl.

Yesterday I worked on a couple projects, the quilt top you see above, and my clapotis. I finished it! Here is a photo with half dropped stitches and some that still need dropping. I still need to weave in the ends. I'll take proper photos in the new year.

Have a safe New Year's Eve!

NaBloPoMo: Day 23

Ok, other new thing is that I bought a car yesterday too. First big purchase by myself, first loan, first CD player in the car....

I gotta say I love the car.

In other news, Lucy got a bath today. She was not happy with me.

NaBloPoMo: Day 4

I voted at 7 am this morning. I've been antsy all day about this election. I don't think I've ever been this excited about an election before.

When Lobsters Attack...

This is how I feel:



Ok, maybe not embarrassed that I'm dressed up as a lobster, but I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with school, reffing and finding furniture for my house. I've been doing a teeeny bit of sewing, hopefully more this weekend!!

Linky Meme

(photo doesn't have anything to do with this post other than Cheri asked how my ripple blanket was progressing....)

Ok, I've been tagged by Julo. I don't mind answering meme's (I think I secretly enjoy them), but I don't really like tagging people, so I don't really like meme's as a whole. But I love reading other people's meme's. I just don't like tagging people to do them. Is that strange? Anyway, this is one of the more interesting meme's that I've been tagged with. Here are the rules:

Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written. But there is a catch:

Link 1 must be about family.
Link 2 must be about friends.
Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are… what you’re all about.
Link 4 must be about something you love.
Link 5 can be about anything you choose.

Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better.

Since my blog is relatively new (almost a year old), we may have to stretch a little to fulfill all the requirements... Ok, here we go!

Link 1 - This post from Mother's Day. We have a very strong female gene in our family... Out of the 8 cousins on my mother's side, there are 7 girls and just one boy...

Link 2 - Haha, I forgot about this post. This is from when I went down to San Diego with a few of my college friends. Oh the picture that Justin photoshopped is fantastic. Interestingly enough, this post includes answers to another meme....

Link 3 - This one is hard for me. I feel like I'm kind of all over the map. What defines me? I'm cheating on this one and using this post. This one just happens to include another meme (I guess I really do like them! Who knew?), and photos of quilts I liked from the quilt show. I think the quilts show a bit of what interests me and what grabs my attention. And looking back at that post, I still like them so don't worry, the interests are current! :)

Link 4 - Something I love? Just one? I LOVE to travel. I love going out and trying new foods, seeing new sights (and sites) and just absorbing the feel of the place. I love all the cultures that different areas of the world have to offer, and I love seeing how my priorities I have from growing up as an American are different from people in other countries. I had one big trip this year, chronicled in this post.

Link 5 - Corgis! I have corgis on my brain! Honestly I have had them on my brain for a while, but I haven't shared that information with all of my bloggy friends until recently. Last year when I was taking a photo a day, there is a shot where I went to a corgi specialty back in May. I think it was couple months before then was when I had decided that I wanted a corgi and that I needed to do more research. It's been a long time coming, but with Lucy coming home with us soon, it will all be worth it. Hurray! Here is the post about Lucy.

Ok, and now my least favorite part. Who to tag? Ok, I tag Melody, Kristine, Amy, June and Suzanne.

Happy New Year!

Wow, that was a nice break. I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays! Sorry for the lack of blogging, but with all the last minute frantic gift making I've been a little crafted out and too tired to blog. Another reason too, but that will have to wait for the (maybe) next post. Now that I'm back... lets go over my 2007 resolutions, shall we? I've been to scared to look at them until now.




1. Get an awesome calendar - I got two awesome calendars last year. Nikki McClure's and Lotta Jansdotter's
2. Take a photo everyday, and post it on flickr - Well, I started out well, but then I petered out. I don't think I have any after August. Still, that's 8 months. Pretty good! :)
3. Finish reading Moneyball - Uh, no. Did not finish this.
4. Make a quilted coaster - No, but I got a coaster when I suscribed to the sampler. So I didn't really need to make one after that. I'd still like to make a set though.
5. Finish Sampler Afghan - Hmm, that didn't happen either. But I am much further along. Out of 99 squares, I have probably around 80 of them complete.
6. Take my GREs - No, but I decided to go to SJSU instead, so I didn't need to take them
7. Finish making duro dress - Complete!
8. Join a ________-a-long - Joined many -alongs, but my favorite was the In Stitches Sew Along. Thanks Finny and Donk!
9. Go to a Sharks game - Check!
10. Do a mystery quilt - I started at least two, finished none.
11. Organize Closet - Done, but figured out that it's too small!
12. Go to Japan!! - So fun. Need to go back when it's not so hot and swelter-y
13. Knit a sweater - Didn't even come close on this one. I bought yarn to make a baby sweater... picked out a pattern, but that's about it.
14. Get new glasses - I did get new glasses, they're blue!
15. Improve my posture - Can't tell. I'm going to say probably not.
16. Apply to Grad School - I applied to SJSU, and I am now in their Aerospace Engineering Masters Program. Hurray!

So sorry, this was kind of boring for you all, and there are no new photos. Honestly it's because this is a cheater post because I still don't have my act together yet. Oh well. New Year Resolutions for 2008: 10 sit ups a day, and use less plastic. I ordered some reusable bags from reusablebags.com, so hopefully this will help when I go to grocery stores and other stores in general. I'm also going to make some bags, maybe with this pattern or this one or this one. I'm going to stick them in everything (cars, all my purses, etc) so I have no excuse. Maybe a few more resolutions coming too.



Oh! Since I'm posting, I should mention that the In Stitches Sew Along was GREAT, and that you should join the next sewing adventure. The book is Simple Gifts to Stitch, and details can be found here or here.

How I remember Nara, Japan (A photo series)

Contest submission for bittersweet's photo contest found here.

Happy Halloween!!

Boo!

Catch up

Wow, I haven't blogged in a while! Here's what I've been up to:

Favorite quilts at PIQF:



And a few more on my flickr.
Here is what I bought:

CUTEST FABRIC EVER.

And this I bought to make a Denyse Schmidt "Day at the Beach" quilt like this one. I'm SUPER excited. When I found the template, I told the lady I was so excited to find it even though it's pretty plain compared to the rest of them and she said "Yes, that's pretty plain." Oh well.

And look what the nice people from Soak sent me!

Can't wait to try it out. I've been hearing good things about it.

And last but not least, June tagged me over a week ago, so here it is:

I'm only doing the name game since I did the other one before.

Tag 2: The Name Game

The Rules

List one fact relevant to your life for each letter of your name. Her instructions are “to write your own blog post containing your name game facts. At the end of your post, choose one person for each letter of your name to tag. Don’t forget to leave a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.”

L - Lacrosse player. I played lacrosse in college and I still referee now.
Y - Yarn. I started knitting back in my second year of college, and it's really fueled all the other things that I do now. I can't imagine that I'd be sewing, quilting or crocheting now if I didn't start with the yarn and knitting back then.
N - Naptime. I LOVE naps. Actually, I just love sleeping. I'm one of those that believes that any sickness can be solved just by sleeping some more :)
N - Nintendo. As nerdy as it sounds, I've been spending a lot of time with my nintendo ds.

Man that was hard. Why doesn't my name have easier letters? At least it's short.
Ok, I'm not really one for tagging, but I'll tag Kristine, Oiyi, Sara and Liz, although you guys all have good excuses not to do it what with the fire and babies and sucky october and what not.

In Stitches: August + a forgotten Japanese Goody

So after totally falling off the wagon for July's In Stitches project (I promise I'll get it done someday!!) I've finished August's a couple days early! Woohoo! Good thing it's probably the easiest project in the entire book. Anyway, here it is.

It's the square potholder. Can't decide if I really like it or not. Like June, I used insulbrite instead of the batting. Haven't tested it out yet, but I've used insulbrite for other potholders and it keeps the hands much cooler than regular old batting.

I think it turned out ok. I did not participate in the theme, Happy Hands, mostly because I just remembered at this exact moment and am too lazy to get my camera out and take more photos. Lets just say that if I did Happy Hands, it would be taking a Totino's frozen pizza out of the oven. God I love those things.

I was super excited last night when I realized I forgot to share something I bought in Japan! This is the lone Japanese book I bought there. It translates to (literally, my Japanese is not good enough to catch those nuances): Adult Couture, Dress, Smock Blouse. If you're interested, the ISBN is 978-4-579-11149-7.

This is the cover. I looked at so many books, and this is the one that I liked the best every single time.

The patterns remind me of Built By Wendy, but distinctly Japanese. I even got bf to say "Oh yeah, I can imagine you in those clothes. Seems like something you'd like". This also may have been a result of standing in the craftbook section of the book store for half an hour, refusing to leave until I found a book I really really REALLY liked.

There's a lot of great patterns in here. I just have to find time to sew! If things go according to plan, I'm going back to school on Wednesday for my Masters of Science. I guess no more being a couch potato while buying more quilting books and fabric...

Back from Japan

I'm back!! I'm also exhausted. Here's a few of my favorite photos from my trip. I have to say that fabric shopping was fun, but really, thanks to superbuzzy, a lot of the fabrics are available online. I enjoyed it, but unfortunately for Chris it was like torture. I did bring back a book and some fabrics though, so I'll share those with you soon!

The last week in photos

So I went on trip to Yosemite for July 4th, and I've been having trouble getting back into the groove of blogging. Plus, I had to rush and finish my doll quilt (I'm in the early group), so I was focusing on that. Here are some photos that I have been up to...

Half Dome at sunset

At Vernal Falls

Sneak Peek at quilt for Doll Quilt Swap II, sent out today (one day late!)

Blocks laid out for SCVQA Back to Our Roots Challenge (more later)