The Gauge

Dudes....seriously.

You know, working full time and having a baby can really get in the way of one's blogging. 

Yep!  Powell's offered me full time and I jumped at the chance.  We are having some adjustment issues at home, but I think this is all for the best.  After the mess that the business left us in, I simply must work.  Lucky for me, I LOVE my job and look forward to going to work every single day.

Ashley and I are not able to see much of each other these days.  I work at night and during his weekend, he works during the day and during my weekend.  The upside of this arrangement is that one of us is almost always with Elinor.  The downside is that I didn't recognize him the other night when her walked out of the bathroom and I thought I was being burgled.  Then I thought, "Oh!  Ha!  That's my husband!"

My job consists of cashiering (fine), shelving (nice), sections work (can't WAIT for that to start) and talking to people about books (the bomb).  Powell's is categorized into about a gazillion sections because it is so large, and then particular people are in charge of the maintanance of each section.  I hope to find out in the next couple of days which sections will be mine.  Hoorah!

In terms of making stuff?  Yeah, I haven't quite figured out how to fit that in.  I must, though, because it is one of the major things that keeps me going.  With a baby who is running all over the place, hungry (for food AND attention) all the time, and just fun to be with, it's not easy to fit anything else in.  I know we'll figure it all out.  I know we will because we have to.

I've come up with a blog project that I can incorporate with work to some extent.  This blog is important to me, and though it is another thing that I need to work to find time for, I will.  As soon as I finetune the details of some of the projects I want to do here, I'll create a schedule I can work with.  Elinor, for her part, seems to think it is slightly less devestating when I'm looking at the computer and not at her, so that's a start!

New blocks on the block

Well, hello there! 

Work, work, work.  Powell's  needed extra shelving help, so I am working 10 days in a row.  I love it!  It feels so good to be productive, to be helping my little family financially.  We are still able to swing it so that Elinor doesn't need anyone to watch her other than her dear old mom and dad.  It feels like we're striking a really good balance.

Except that Ashley and I don't see much of each other...that part is decidedly uncool.  We'll figure it all out, though.

I made some more blocks!  When I amass a few more sets, I'll put them in my yet to be completed Etsy shop.

I love making these.  So many possibilities!  This particular set has letters, numbers, birds, and a puzzle.  Oh, and they are Elinor tested and approved.

Extreme close-up:

Still figuring out my camera....

Seriously....I need to find my camera handbook, because I can't take a decent picture unless the conditions are perfect.  Shutter speed?  Umm...yeah.  That seems like something I should have a better (read: any) understanding of.

At any rate, here are the fabrics (blurry) for my latest project (awesome)!  I'm making a quilt for my small friend, Simon.  He loves orange and "rainbow colors".  I went with orange.

I'm going to make Amy Butler's Lotus Brick Path quilt.  I love the look of it and it's simplicity.  I laid all the squares out this morning (which apparently was Elinor's cue to bulldoze through the lovingly placed arrangement) and I think it'll be a perfect quilt for a boy.

Piecing it Together

A few weeks ago I took a hand piecing class at Cool Cottons.  As I previously mentioned, this class changed my whole attitude about quilting.  Suddenly it all started making sense!  I think I just needed to work on something slowly and methodically to really begin to understand the process.

After learning a nine patch in class, I came home and tried a few different things.  My first attempt was pretty wonky, but I loved working out the small details:

Then I tried something a little more cohesive and traditional. 

After that I felt all jazzed up, so I designed something myself.  This will turn into a little wallhanging for Elinor.  Do you see the big "E" in the middle?

I've made a couple of other little projects, too.  I'll share those when and if the sun ever reappears in Portland.

Making all of these projects completely by hand has made me feel ready for my machine.  I've done plenty of stuff on my machine, but anything beyond simple straight lines has always scared me.  Last week I whipped up a double size Log Cabin quilt top, which I need to find a good backing fabric for (I think I'll use a nice soft flannel).  Then on to the whole finishing process, which is still a bit of a mystery to me.  Good thing for good teachers.

Little Studio

I was lucky enough to spend some time at my little studio today.  Seriously, it's little.  It measures nine feet by seven feet.  I love it though, very much.  It got me through last fall and the beginning of the winter, without a doubt. 

Elinor and I spent days on end there before she was mobile.  She would nap, we would nurse, I would hold her and look at my things.  I never got much done, but I needed that little space of my own.  I think of Christmas every time I walk in there because we spent so many hours sitting in our chair together, listening to carols and thinking, crying (both of us, more often than not), and planning....always planning what to make when things felt better.

Now things feel better.  I am able to get things done when I'm at my studio!  Elinor doesn't come with me much anymore, since she would have the place destroyed in about three minutes flat.  Sometimes I bring her anyway since it does feel like our place when all is said and done.  We really got to know each other there.

I only get to go to my studio (which is an ActivSpace) once or twice a week, but that's okay.  I like knowing it's there, and I will hold onto it for as long as I can.

Some pictures!

Today I made a bag out of some leftovers I had kicking around.  I think it'd be a great knitting bag for a small project, or maybe something in which to carry your yo-yo and an apple:

I haven't decided on what sort of handles to use, so here are some paintbrushes filling in for the moment:

I took a few pictures of my first foray into hand pieceing, too, but I'll save those for tomorrow....Wednesday.  Does anybody else remember "Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day"?  Is that an East Coast thing?  I literally think of it every Wednesday, though I don't think I've heard it since I was about seven years old.

Anyroad. 

On a lighter note!

My new job at Powell's Is GREAT.  Loving it, loving it, loving it.  I feel right at home behind the counter (naturally) and am sort of absurdly excited to meet new people and not be their boss.  I'm looking forward to the cool events coming up, too.  During my first time solo at the register Alexander McCall Smith will be reading and signing (I checked out this book to get ready!) and next month Salman Rushdie will be there.  Should be some good times!

Those of you in the PNW know that the weather has been ugly, especially when it comes to taking pictures.  I have loads of stuff to show, but I can't get a decent photograph of anything.  Let the sun shine.  Please and thank you.

Having said that, here is a little picture for you.  This was sent to Elinor by my cousin Krissy.  This chair originally belonged to Elinor's Great-great-grandmother:

It's a little rocker, just Elinor's size.  She loves it and was practically crawling out of her skin when we were unwrapping it.  Three times today we have walked into the livingroom to find her sitting in it (backwards) and casually browsing through a book (upside down). 

The Greatest Silence

I watched this movie last night.  Filmmaker (and rape survivor) Lisa F. Jackson documents the brutal treatment of women in the Congo.  I still feel totally in shock.  These women, so many women, have been kidnapped, raped and mutilated by foreign militia and the Congolese army for years.  While I was watching the film, I felt completely overtaken with the need to DO SOMETHING, anything to help.

I remember, years ago now, reading about Catherine Hamlin, who with her husband set up a hospital for fistula victims in Africa.  I was incredibly moved by her selflessness and devotion to this cause.  I was floored when I saw how these woman were suffering and how they were systematically denied by their husbands, families, and society.  At that point in time I was too depleted myself to feel that I could do anything, but it all seems to come back around, doesn't it?  Now I feel ready.

I contacted the Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo (where victims of sexual violence are taken care of, operated on, and rehabilitated) about what I, someone with very limited resources, could do for them.  I listed my skills and my desire to be of any assistance.  I hope it's enough to help.  I hope I hear back from them.

My thoughts are that I can start a quilting circle to make quilts to sell, or figure someway to fundraise with whatever skills I may have.  It seems too small, somehow.  I'm embarrased to say that I have never really spearheaded any effort to try to help someone I don't know.  Do any of you have advice?

Here are some blocks I made for Elinor. 

This was a really fun little project, by golly.  I just used what I had at home (most of my crafting stuff is at my little studio) so I didn't have a lot to work with.  I cut out pictures from a baby book that Lottie destroyed, some other pictures from a duplicate Golden Book we have, and also used some transfers, paint and decorative paper.  I think next time I'll use fabric, too.  Can't wait to try this again!

Someone else was a big fan, too.  She had a really hard time letting me take any pictures:

Ummm...is that dust behind the blocks?  Nice!

This, that, and the other thing

Driving mom to the airport last night was hard, but nothing like it used to be.  I used to fret about her leaving almost from the day she arrived, and subsequently get terribly depressed once she left.  I think it was a relief for both of us that I was okay with her leaving and that it felt right to be getting back to my family. 

The past six months have been so monumental in terms of getting myself together and I feel like it really came to light when mom was here with us.  Where I used to be tense (not to mention INtense), moody, fearful and judgmental, this time I just felt a real fellowship with her.  We have so much in common.  She is a quilter, seamstress, and maker of all sorts of things...creating things keeps her sane in the same way it does me.  Sometimes when I watch her working on something I see the same feverishness I feel when I'm really working something out through making things - our crafting isn't always gentle, but it's always therapeutic.

Midge looked for mom today.  I think she was happy to have me all to herself again, but she certainly seemed to think something was missing.  I wish every single day that the two of them (and me!) could be closer together.  We have to figure it out.  We will figure it out.

Look how cute they are together!  This was last August when I went home for my friend Kate's wedding:

That mom of mine is a looker!  For all of you who wondered where I got it.

I made Midge some blocks that I saw on Martha.  They are drying now and if there's light I'll photograph them tomorrow and put them up here.  For now, here's a Midge wearing a bib that I made out of a quilt block that my Aunt Jan and I made for a quilt that ended up smaller than we planned.  I have about ten of these blocks left, so I make anything I can out of them. 

What would YOU make out of the rest of the blocks?  The fabrics aren't exactly my style (we made the the quilt when I was 17), but I do love the quilt that we made out of them.  Lots of the fabrics we used have been in blankets/dresses/pajamas/pot holders dating from well before I was born, so there has to be a special project waiting to be made.  But what is it?  Hmmmm?

Bad pictures, good things.

The utility quilting class was fab.  The whole technique came much more naturally to me than plain old hand quilting (which I WILL like....someday).  Utility quilting basically employs embroidery stitches to tack (or "quilt", I suppose) your piece of work.  I love the simplicity and ease of this way of hand quilting.  I have so many thoughts about what to make now, and I feel like I could actually finish a quilt on my own (well, minus the binding....I learn that next month), which is very liberating!

Let me apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures.  The class was at night, and that probably isn't the exact right time to take pictures of handwork.  But anyway...

We practiced with two fat quarters and batting.  Our teacher suggested using a fabric with a grid (gingham, plaid) until we become more comfortable with our ability to be consistant.

Here is a closer, but no less crappy, view of my practice stitches:

We worked on fairly simple stitches that I'm very familiar with, but that really allowed my mind to wander and explore the possibilities.  I can imagine making a quilt of solid colors, utility quilted with a contasting thread.  Or wait!  A quilt made of all fabrics with birds, utilited quilted with the crowfooting (top of second picture) stitch. 

I love learning all of this.  I love the women in my class.  I love looking forward to the years stretching out before me and all of the warm blankets I get to make for my loved ones.

Speaking of loved ones, Elinor and mom and I got to have coffee with one of our very favorite people in the whole world today!  We met up at Redwing Coffee and Baking and caught up over some delicious treats and Redwing's own coffee, and enjoyed the art.