Projects

Sorry for the long absence but kinda not. Blogging comes and goes as does all of life and I've been too busy for it to be a priority.

However - I haven't been sitting around doing nothing! Work, life, more work, and then some fun side projects along the way. For example, pottery class! I took a wheel pottery class with my friend Elizabeth and have some pretty fun things to show for it.

Apologies for the messing dining room table too. Ha. 

I picked these up from the studio on Saturday and glazed, I think, 8 more things that had finally dried enough to be fired the first time. If you didn't know, items get thrown on the wheel, allowed to get "leather hard" in drying, bottoms cleaned up and trimmed, then dry completely, then get bisque fired once, glazed, then fired again. Its a process to be sure but i am pretty excited about how things have turned out and it has been loads of fun. 

I took my class at the Scenic City Pottery Studio in Tiftonia (near Lookout Mtn.). I highly recommend. David, the guy that runs the studio, is awesome. Patiently helps you and answers a million questions, gives you lots of practice time between classes, and is generally very friendly and knowledgeable about all things pottery, in addition to being a pretty talented potter himself. 

I think morning coffee tastes better when you drink it out of a mug you made!

Len Foot Hike Inn

Both my mom and Chad's uncle Jay asked for time - not things - for Christmas. They wanted to DO things with us and how could we argue with that? Since they are pretty hilarious when gathered together in the same company, we decided that it would be fun to pick something that the four of us could do together.

Enter: The Len Foote Hike Inn at Amnicolola Falls State Park in Dawsonville, GA.

Mom suffered through a hike to Mt. LeConte with us a couple of years ago when we all swore we'd never go again and Jay suffers through that hike most years, with us in tow at least once more and probably again this fall. We knew that hiking would be something they would both enjoy as long as it wasn't too strenuous (me neither!) and it was something that was on my mom's bucket list.

Off we went last weekend and enjoyed a hilarious, cold, invigorating hike up the mountain!

Good fun these folks are. 

I would HIGHLY recommend this hike to pretty much anyone. It is about 4.8 miles of rolling hills. There were only a couple of places that made me lose my breath or where we needed to take a break. It is generally very flat or gentle slopes, crossing a couple of little creeks, and hills. 

The Inn itself is SUPER nice...think hot showers, great food, mostly comfy beds, and an incredible view of the GA mountains. Quite a shock to our Mt. LeConte hiking systems. 

The cost includes a bed, dinner, and breakfast - plus snacks and hot/cold beverages all day. Lots of games to play in the Sunrise Room or you can hike around nearby. 

Go make some memories with folks you love!

Not a post about quilting.

I found this tutorial a while back on the Birch Fabrics blog and thought to myself..."keep that! you'll make one someday". Well, that day came today!

I made myself a little fabric bin to hold all of my essential oils and book. Since oils shouldn't be kept in the sunlight, the window sill of the kitchen where they lived for a hot minute wasn't the best place for them but I didn't want to just put them in the cabinet to roll around.

Sorry for the lack in quantity of pictures. I got really excited and wanted to post about it immediately. The tutorial was very easy to follow - it probably took me just an hour or so including making my own pattern out of a cereal box and cutting out the pieces. The tutorial has 3 sizes and this is actually the smallest one. It was the only one my cereal box would fit so I gotta go find more pattern materials so I can make a bigger one for my fabric scraps!

Here it is full of all my EO stuff! Yay!

#snownooga

We have been having wintry type weather for nearly two weeks now. I fully realize that there are folks in other parts of the country who have it WAY worse than us but I was getting a little tired of rescheduling things, having to work from home, hearing people complain...and yet, we didn't actually get any snow (or enough to really matter). 

Well, things have changed! 

It snowed!

Started snowing last night about 5:30pm and didn't slack off until around midnight. I am like a little kid so I was pretty much awake all that time checking out the window. I'm actually a little thankful that it stayed cold enough to stick around until this morning. 

We got out in it - while it was very actively snowing around 8:30 last night - and played some...even taking Gwen on a 3 block walk. She loved it...lots of snuffling and digging. 

We ended up with about 7 inches in the yard which is pretty much the most snow I've ever seen. We got about 6 inches two Christmases ago but this is pretty stellar.

My favorite back yard tree...lots of snow on the limbs. 

Just now - about 3 hours after this picture was taken - this tree is mostly free of snow. Its been falling off and melting all morning which is both beautiful and sad. 

This is i the back yard!

Our street this morning. I love that you can see all the way up to Lookout Mtn. in the background.  Thankfully there wasn't too much traffic needing to head out. Chad was supposed to be off today but went in anyway - nice guy that he is - which was a good thing. Most of 3rd shift didn't come so he was relieving folks from yesterday's 2nd shift who have been at work for 16 hours.

Nice snow hat on the mailbox. 

Won't be having a fire in the fire pit and lounging any time soon. 

And now it is blue skies and warming up! It'll all be gone by tomorrow I'd guess.

Be brave.

Not sure I will ever sell it - or ever sell anything to someone I don't already know - from my Etsy shop but I just posted my last quilt there!

I wanna be brave and see where crafting - something I love - might take me in a direction that someday could provide some extra income for us. So, someone needs to buy this quilt. :)

St. Elmo Sweetness on Etsy

Quilt #3.

I finished my third quilt! This one is a bit smaller than the first one I made but would be perfect for a baby quilt! It is a little masculine but I spiced it up with some red and yellow to mix it up some.  I really like it because it is the first quilt that I "designed" myself by drawing it out on graph paper and then figuring out the layout. 

Here is a closeup of the fabrics. A yellow hounds tooth, a small red floral, solid light blue, a really simple dark blue circle print, and the veggie print which I am absolutely crazy about. If I could find more of it, I would totally make a veggies skirt. 

 I sewed the blocks together and then quilted in a primary red so it would show up on the back really well. I quilted diagonal lines across in both directions and I am really glad I took the time to go both ways. 

The edges of the squares don't meet up perfectly all over - lots of quilting lessons continue to be learned around here - but overall it looks pretty good. I'm proud of it either way because I'm learning so much and finishing projects (a.k.a. burning through my fabric stash so I can buy more!). 

I hand made the binding out of a bright yellow multi dot fabric and I'll never go back to buying store bought bias tape ever again. If you make your own, you have ALL the choices in what it will look like. 

I love the binding color and print. I am not incredibly pleased with the way I sewed the binding on. I think that I probably twisted it a bit as I was holding it to hand sew the back so it looks like it twists all the way around. While it isn't intentional - and I will figure out how to not make THAT mistake again - it looks OK now that it has been washed and dried. 

I really like how the quilting turned out like diamonds on the back. 

If you know someone who is having a baby anytime soon, this would make a great quilt for them! I'd be willing to sell it if someone was interested. Otherwise, I'll just give it to the next baby that I know coming along...or keep it for myself and snuggle under it on the couch. 

Just some details:

cotton fabrics

100% cotton batting

finished size is about 46"x46" square-ish :)

First twin quilt!

Since I started quilting - just a mere few months and 1 quilt ago - I wanted to make two twin sized quilts to replace the ones that cover the two twin beds in one of our guest rooms. I've had the same store-bought, "bed in a bag" quilts on them since probably middle school and hated them for years....but never took the time to find something else. And now, I've realized that I can do it for myself and they can be loud and bright and fun and not match anything else and eclectic and just perfect. So I quilted!

Thanks Mom for being my quilt holder in the sunshine today. And you are welcome for the gratuitous shadow shot. Figures. 

Fabric is Miss Kate by Moda and Moda solids as well.  

Straight line quilting through the stripes them free motion quilting on the wide border. There are some places on the back where the backing fabric got gathered a little but for my first time making a quilt this size and first time using FMQ, I am pretty darn proud of this thing and prepared to overlook all the imperfections!

I also hand made the binding and sewed it on by hand. A labor of love for sure but I'm super pleased with the results. 

And finally, when I got into quilting thanks to Danielle, I remembered that lots of my grandmothers quilted. I called my mom and asked her if she had quilts that they made and she passed me FOUR! Two twin sized quilts and two king sized quilts including the double wedding ring pattern on top. The two on top were made by my Grandma Sanders (dad's mom) and the two on the bottom of this stack were made by my Great Grandmother Benson (Granny B - my mom's grandmother). I'm so thankful to have them. I'll probably display more than use them because they are OLD and weathered a bit but I am so happy to have them now!