March 2014A Right Brain Wannabe: March 2014

Mar 24, 2014

March #SewCrazyChallenge

Happy Monday to you!!

I finally found time to do some sewing over the weekend (along with learning very quickly that when Derick is gone I can make a MAJOR crafting mess).  Apparently having him around forces me to put things away...


I seriously woke up Friday morning to take my dog outside and frightened myself with how messy I was!

Messy or not, I was able to finish March's challenge with only a few days to go! I am so very excited about this little bag I made.  I am going to give the little bag to my friends little girl...I hope she loves it. 


I found the pattern on Pinterest a while back and as soon as we were told we could make a bag for this challenge, I knew I was doing this one.

It was simple, but has some super cute details.  I love how there a little pockets on the outside and the straps add a great texture to the already awesome fabric I found.

Seriously...spent $3.00 on this entire bag.  I'd say I hit the jackpot!

Before I leave you for the day, below is my quilting progress!


I know...just fabric strips.  But, they are all sewn together and ironed! Next step will be to cut them into squares and start assembling the quilt top!

I'm so in love with the colors and can't wait for it to be finished!!

Mar 21, 2014

Announcement!

I just wanted to reach out and explain my absence.

I'M ENGAGED!

With this said, the next couple of weeks I am going to be swamped with getting the planning started, but once I get my wedding planner hired then hings should slow down.

I do have some projects in the works for the March challenge, and some quilting things I'm working on.

I'll have progress for you soon I promise!

Mar 20, 2014

Book Review - A Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire


A Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn't drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

WHAT. A. GREAT. BOOK!  

I actually listened to this one in the car so it took me a long while to finish...I only go 6 miles to and from work on a regular basis.  I found myself sitting in the parking lot not wanting to go in because it was getting so good!  I'd relate this to a page turner that I probably would have finished in 2 days had it not been an audio book.  

I think it was a great mixture of drama, suspense, love, fight, failure and success.  The author really knew what they were doing with all the turn of events that happened in this book.  I wanted so bad for Abby to succeed and do what she needed in life to get far away from her past.  I wanted so bad for Travis to straighten up his life and realize that he could do better.  I wanted so BAD for them to be together and happy and realize life was OK as long as they were together.  Basically...I was rooting for all character at all times.  This book did a great job in helping the reader build a relationship and opinion about each character.  And...I literally just realized that this is a series and there are more books...oh man, I may be reading a lot in my near future!

**Warning, if you are easily offended by cussing and/or aggressiveness I would suggest not reading this book.



Mar 11, 2014

Book Review - Recovering From Life by Debra McKenna


Recovering From Life by Debra McKenna
Recovering from Life is the tale of 39-year-old, red-headed spitfire Stephanie McCarthy's rollicking road to redemption. A gifted freelance writer in Northern California, Steph works days hawking frozen foods while her life limps along. Until her husband, Kenny, disappears into the crack ghetto. His descent into addiction catapults Steph onto a wild ride that feels unendurable--but ultimately leads to her own self-discovery.

Marooned in a state of financial doom, legal tangles, and emotional turmoil, Steph navigates the pitfalls of her new path, which takes her into the realms of drug dealers, high finance--and hot romance. With her wisecracking buddy, Lee, and other surprising allies at her side, Steph begins to rebuild her world as she stumbles into her own blind spots and wrestles with her faulty guy-radar.

When Steph at last spies the "Welcome to Reality" sign at the end of the road, she realizes that her job is to heal from a life she never chose--and to recover from the one that she did. But while she rides that roller coaster of recovery, Stephanie has one hell of a good time.

Recovering from life was a story about a woman who was stuck in the middle of trying to figure out how to juggle the stressful life she was being dealt along with staying healthy and putting her self first.  Stephanie had her life figured out...she had the husband, the dog, the house, and just started on building her career path of becoming a full time editor for a magazine.  Yes, she had some bumps in the road, but both her and her husband were survivors of substance abuse and were moving forward in life.  Or so she thought.

Little did she know that her husband had fallen off the band wagon and had taken everything they had worked so hard to get along with him.  The moment she thought it was over, it wasn't worth sticking it out, she realized she really needed to take a step back and get her life back in check.  Through some ups and many many downs, Steph and her closest friends came out the other side the best was they could.

I felt that this book was a good read, and the Debra did a great job of connecting you with a character that is probably very familiar to many in this world.  The book stayed light hearted, while throwing in some pretty funny loop holes, and did a great job conveying that these are real struggles, and they are not easy to overcome without a lot of support from great people in your life.  

I look forward to reading more from Debra in the future!


Mar 7, 2014

Sewing Convention / Blogging Conference

As you can tell by my blog roll, I am very addicted to reading blogs.  Especially ones about sewing / crafting / cooking.
It helps me escape my every day life and take a look at how others live and what they do for fun.

Recently I found that a lot of my favorite bloggers have been attending or will be attending a Sewing Convention / Blogging Conference this year.


I'm sure I am missing some, but what are your thoughts on the idea in general?

I'd love to attend something like this just to soak up the knowledge, meet some new people, and maybe start expanding my skills.

However, the whole idea seems a little overwhelming and intimidating to me.  I'd obviously attend by myself seeing that I am the only one of my friends that really sews.  If you can even say "I sew" yet...really I'm still learning.  And I'm still learning this whole blogging thing.  I'm not even really sure if I'm good at it...or want to pursue it enough to attend a Sewing Convention / Blogging Conference.

Is there an experience level at which you must be in order to really get anything out of something like this?

I'd love to hear from people who have attended one, your level of experience, and if you think it's something beneficial.

I'll keep you posted on if I plan on attending any.

Mar 6, 2014

Mr. Dino Quilt!!

Dum duh duh dum da da dum da duh dum!!!
That was my trumpet entrance.
You hear it?

I do.

All rise for the welcoming of ...

MR. DINO QUILT!!!

Mr. Dino Quilt


Mr. Dino Quilt

Mr. Dino Quilt is so great.

I love the colors. I love the size. I love what I learned from the project. I love that my nephew is going have my first major project.

A few things I learned:

1.  How to finish off a knot in a quilt

2.  Lining up seams when piecing the quilt together is important.  The seam ripper is OK to use.

3.  Fraying the edges of a rag quilt SUCKS.  I have bruises and blisters to prove it.

4.  Washing something with so much fabric can possibly be a disaster.  He came out SOAKING wet and weighing close to 50lbs I swear.  Three rounds of drying later and he was still soaked.  I had to hang dry him over night and pray that I didn't ruin him.  All is well tho, he survived.


Welp, I think I'm addicted to quilting. I already have my next one lined up and ready to start.  This next one will be a true quilt, and as you saw in a previous post, the experience hasn't started out all sunshine and butterflies.  I plan on trying to salvage what I can and learn as I go.

Here goes nothing!

Mar 4, 2014

Fabric Bookmark

Morning!!
Hope everyone stayed warm last night...looks like we are actually going to get above freezing today which is wonderful.  I'm starting to get cabin fever.
I also have to get to the UofA tomorrow for some work events and the warmer it gets the safer the drive will be.

Since we couldn't get to our regularly scheduled events yesterday I decided to whip up a quick bookmark last night and use up some scraps.

This was the first time I 'winged' something and you can definitely tell.  I had to use the seam ripper so the photos of my fabric show a little wear and tear.

I think it also shows that we all make mistakes and can learn from them!

I started with two different fabrics and some interfacing.  I made a triangle out a piece of paper and cut it out of all of my fabric choices. 2 of each.


I ironed on the interfacing to the fabric I wanted on the inside of the bookmark. I figured giving it a little more support wouldn't hurt!


Enter my fabric that I had to remove the seams because my first attempt was a fail.
Take your two opposite fabrics, put them wrong sides together, and sew just the bottom of the triangle.


 Turn it right sides together and top stitch on the bottom of the triangle again.  Do this to both sets of fabric.


 Line up your triangles, with the fabric you want on the the outside of the bookmark facing each other.  Sew along the two top sides of the triangle.  Flip the triangles inside out and top stitch again on the two top sides of the triangle.


Ladies and Gents...you have yourself a corner bookmark!


I could have measured the triangle to fit a little more snug, and the bottom corners didn't turn out 100% perfect.


But...I feel this was a great project for my first time 'winging it'.
I'm super proud of myself!

Mar 3, 2014

Alphabet Magnets

Heyo!  
Happy Iceday Monday to me?!  This weather is insane, 60 degrees on Friday to ice on Monday.
Yeesh.


I know it's been a few days since I last wrote, I apologize for that. 
I know you've missed me!

The real job duties have been getting in the way of my creative time and inspiration this past week, and I have a feeling it will this week as well.

I travel occasionally for work and when I do, it's hard for me to keep the juices flowing, much less have a sewing machine close at hand.

Do you travel? How do you keep things flowing?

Any-who...I wanted to share with you the alphabet magnets I made for one of my girl friends who just moved into her new place.  I wanted her to have a little house warming present and I think they turned out great.

Earlier I shared with you my fabric snag but here are my fabric choices again.  I'm loving the aqua trend these days, I even painted my nails to match :)


For this project I started by going online to find some cute font I could duplicate on fabric. I needed a K and an M.  I wanted something with clean lines since I was going to be cutting it out of fabric.  I chose to make them about 8 inches tall since I wanted them to be a pretty big statement on her fridge :)  I cut out the letters using my pinking sheers to add a cute edge.


I needed a front and a back cut from each fabric, some interfacing, and a filler to make the letter have some depth along with being sturdy enough to stand on their own.


For the magnets themselves I found these cute strong magnets on Amazon. 30 for around 8 bucks and they are the perfect thing for a project like this.  


It took me a while to figure out how I was going sew them into the fabric without having visible stitch lines. Eventually I came up with the idea of stitching them by hand into the filler.  It may not be the BEST way, but it works.


After everything was sandwiched together, making sure I lined up the pinking sheer cuts as much as I could, I sewed them together using about a 1/4" hem allowance using an aqua thread for a little contrast.


I think they turned out great!  I have a feeling I will be making more of these in the future.


Hope you had a great weekend and I'll be sharing an update on Mr. Dino quilt real soon :)