delight in life

the topiary

I've always thought topiaries were a bit too formal and fussy for me. I don't know why my mind changed, but now I think simple circular ones are very pretty and much more interesting than a plain pot of ivy.

Making my topiary was actually quite a simple process. I went to the garden store, wandered around for an hour and came home with a 6" ivy -- plus 3 plants, 2 seed packets, and 2 terra cotta pots.

I repotted the ivy and then raided our spare closet for a wire hanger.  It only took about 10 minutes of wrestling to get the hanger unwrapped into a basically round shape, which I then stuck into the pot around the ivy.

Using baker's twine, I grabbed runners ("branches" of ivy) and started tying them to the hanger. If I were starting again, I would have been more selective in the plant I brought home and picked out something with longer runners.

Mine, as you can see, doesn't reach all the way around the hanger yet. There's already plenty of new growth on the tied down runners, and the stuff in the middle that was too short to be tied is now getting long enough. So before too long, I think I will have a super-looking, full coverage ivy topiary!

finally finished.

I am done I am done I am done! I still can hardly believe it, even though I'm dragging the quilt around with me everywhere, like a toddler with her blankie.

With the help of my lovely assistant Chris, I was able to get a shot of the whole quilt. Maroon and gold were my high school's colors so they feature prominently, as you can see. I think my favorite parts of the whole thing are the small patches of red and yellow pieced into the green and yellow borders.

Turns out I am quite horrible at blind stitching. I ended up sewing the binding on with some bastardized hybrid of blind stitch and something I think may be called a ladder stitch. And after sending it through the washer and dryer, it looks like it may need some repairing in the next month or two. But I'm ok with that.

And my corners! Oh wow my corners. I didn't get the whole mitering thing at all. This one in the photographs was by far the best attempt. The other three look like a 6-year-old tried to fold a fitted sheet and then stitched it closed.

You know how marathon runners, when they finish, they're slobbering everywhere and sweaty and generally kind of disgusting? But who really cares because DUDE they just ran 26.2 miles without stopping? That's kind of how I feel about this quilt. It has flaws all over, but I did it. By hand. By myself. (Most of it, at least. Mom helped at the beginning.) And now I have this great fabric scrapbook of some really fun memories, in the form of a super blanket that is perfect for watching tv on the couch or drinking tea on the porch. I couldn't be happier with it.

it's too early for this

It has been a really long freakin week. Work has been kind of insane. Especially today. It's 5:30 am right now and I've been working for two hours already.

So. I'm exhausted and do not have much to say right now. EXCEPT. EXCEPT. I finished the quilt last night! It is keeping Oscar and me cozy and warm while I type away in the wee hours of the morning. When I come back after a nap I will go into more detail and of course share pictures, but you guys, I am so happy. So, so happy. And kind of in shock.

next. (already?)

I went to Joann's last night to get the final supplies to finish my quilt (now that I know what I'm supposed to do!) and was so upset to realize when I got home that I hadn't purchased enough binding material. Luckily, I had purchased all the necessary supplies for my next quilt so I went ahead and started work. I now officially have two quilts in progress, which may qualify me as crazy.

In order to narrow down the colors and patterns I wanted to use, I snipped these swatches from all the options and played with them till I got a combo I liked. Now I'm just plugging away with my rotary trimmer!

My knight in shining armor is going to pick up what I need from Joann's today so I can get started on the finishing. (He is the best, am I right?) My goal is to have it finished this weekend!

PROGRESS

My shoulders ache. My hand is cramped. My fingers are tender. My right index fingertip is numb. I have about 73 needle-inflicted stab wounds all over my hands. I'm exhausted because I was up way too late last night, hunched over my quilting hoop.

BUT I HAVE FINISHED QUILTING. To be clear: I have not finished the quilt. I have just finished making the 3 zillion tiny stitches required to hold that beast together. THIS IS HUGE.

Now I just have to...well actually, I'm not sure what I have to do. When Mom taught me how to quilt, she said about finishing it, "we'll talk about that when you get there." I guess she knew it would take four years.

what's in my bag

Every now and then I see the "what's in your bag?" meme float around through blogland and I always think it's fun to see what everyone carries around with them all the time. So here's my contribution!

Someone called me a bag lady at work today as I frantically searched for my company badge. I all but turned my bag upside down and shook it, and everyone got to see the mass of odd things I was carrying around. Time for a clean-out, methinks.
The cat stalking my ponytail holder doesn't normally fit in my bag. But everything else does! From the top left, clockwise: my Baggu shopping bags (in their pouch), wallet, a pair of shoes, Burt's Bees lip balm, a business card + Starbucks free song of the week, Starbucks reusable sleeve, a tiny adorable heart-shaped paper clip, pens, a necklace, checkbook, my beloved phone, a blue polka-dot Baggu pouch with lotion, hand sanitzer, etc.,a Starbucks oatmeal coupon, socks, tupperware container, disposable camera, another little Baggu pouch for my headphones, Starbursts, and finally a ponytail holder + mess of bobby pins.

Not pictured: 2 doctor bills, a lot of candy wrappers (apparently I am 6), and a fork.

All footwear and kitchenware will not be returning to the bag after this. But they'll probably be back next week! And this is why I carry an enormous purse: I get so much flexibility in return for the occasional arm pain. :)

haircut!

My hair usually looks all right from the front, but when things really get out of control, the back starts to fall apart. Last month I saw a few pictures of me from behind and thought WHOA - somebody needs to get that shaggy dog off my head!

I consulted Yelp, made an appointment at Humphrey's, and was very, very pleased with the results. When she asked me what I wanted I said "Do whatever you need to make it look good!" I think she chopped off about 3 inches in total, and I checked off one item from my list. Hurray!

plants plants plants

Apparently the weather system believes in checks and balances. Because after two weeks of snow, ice and nasty cold, things got good. Like, seventy and sunny good. I've been wearing shorts to bed instead of my normal super-stylish combo of a flannel nightie over fleece pants. We've been leaving the back door open. IT HAS BEEN SO WONDERFUL.

I finally got around to cleaning up the back porch. I threw away the broken pots, pulled up the sad little remnants of plants left to die, and stacked everything neatly. Then I went to the garden store to mess it all up again.

Since we are going to be moving in May-June, I had decided to not get too excited about plants this year, other than a houseplant or two. As I wandered around looking for the houseplants, I saw cute little mint plants for 2.49, and I remembered I needed to buy fresh mint for dinner that night. I figured I could spend $2 at Kroger for a few leaves, or I could buy a little plant and get months of mint. And then I couldn't decide between peppermint or spearmint, so I got both. And then I smelled the thyme and I couldn't resist that. And then I passed the rack of seeds and thought it couldn't hurt to try to grow some things before we move.

Luckily I managed to rein myself in before things got too out of hand, and I had a really excellent afternoon scooping dirt and filling pots. All hail perfect weather!

be mine

Happy Valentine's Day!

Chris and I are going out tomorrow night to avoid the rush and grab the 2-for-$10 Tuesdays deal at the movie theater. But! I made valentines and I can still share them today.

These are very simple cards. I've made elaborate ones in the past, but this year I just wanted to keep it easy. I started with those doilies, which I had in my stash from past valentine projects. At Paper Source I found these rad teal vellum envelopes on clearance, so I bought approximately one jillion of them. Some flat cards, a cute stamp, some cardstock to pull in the teal, aaaaand done.

In a weird coincidence, as I was looking on the website for the link to that stamp, I discovered this card is remarkably similar to one that Paper Source came up with for their workshops. Great minds think alike, I guess?

I wrote a short note near the bottom and sealed the envelopes with patterned tape and pretty envelope seals from K is for Calligraphy. I wish I'd gotten a picture of the envelopes all together because they were cute! Oh well. Next year! Happy Valentine's Day!!

ready to make some valentines