AKA Martha Stewart

SO, remember a few posts ago when I said I was procrastinating finishing that crazy star-heart quilt??? Well......

IT'S DONE!!!

I saw the quilt hanging on the wall at a fabric shop in Payson, and asked the lady if it was too hard for a complete BEGINNER. And I explained to her that as in "BEGINNER," I meant like NO. Quilting. Experience. What. So. Ever.

Are there nuances of this word that I am unaware of?


1. I bought 25 different coordinating fat quarters, stacked them, and then cut & "shuffled" them, so they made the background, the heart, and the star. Each block is made up of 20 different pieces.

2. I sewed each block back together and then trimmed the blocks to one consistent size. Each block took me over 1/2 hour to finish!

3. After finishing all the individual blocks, I arranged them in the order I wanted them, pinned them together & sewed them into rows. I finished it off with a border. So technically, the quilt isn't completely finished, but the top layer is. Now I'm going to take it somewhere to have it quilted and bound. (I AM a beginner! Like a Martha Stewart mini-me. Maybe someday I'll be amazing like her. ....Plus a personality, minus the prison time. :)




Anyway, DO YOU SEE WHY I WAS PROCRASTINATING THIS PROJECT??? I finished it at like 2:00 this morning, and I was so elated (and delirious) that I almost posted right then, but I was seriously already a cross-eyed hunchback from sewing so long that my weekend was just a blur with the drone of a sewing machine as a soundtrack (wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh), so I decided to call it a night. Although my mom did get a pix msg at 2:00...

So I've come to realize how addicting this hobby is. Like last week, before I even finished this quilt, I was already looking for my next pattern and fabric! And it's sort of a love-hate hobby. It can get pret-ty monotonous (20 pieces/block x 25 blocks = 500!!), and for quite a while you feel like you're getting NOWHERE, but it is so fulfilling and satisfying to see what you've accomplished when it all comes together. I'm proud of me. :)

"Up to Some Devilment or Other...."

I just had such a BLAST this summer with Rio. I'm sad it's already over! I should have named him Tarzan or Mowgli. Or HUCK. He would LIVE outside if I'd let him. No baths, living off the land, survival of the fittest... What a life!

"The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn't stand it no longer I lit out. I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied. But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So I went back.

The Widow she cried over me, and called me a poor lost lamb, and she called me a lot of other names, too, but she never meant no harm by it. She put me in them new clothes again, and I couldn't do nothing but sweat and sweat, and feel all cramped up. Well, then, the old thing commenced again. The widow rung a bell for supper, and you had to come to time. When you got to the table you couldn't go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn't really anything the matter with them..." (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, -Mark Twain)


Rio is ALL BOY. His favorite things in the world are trucks and bugs, animals and trackhoes, muscles and motorcycles, dirt and tools. He sure keeps me busy. I love it.

...But I can't promise I'll ever sivilize him.

Tagged: "Carli in Images"

Okay, so I got tagged by two different people to do two different (somewhat annoying :) "Me in Images" posts, so I kind of combined them; here's a handful of random facts--in images--about me.

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1. Favorite room? My Bedroom - I'm a person who appreciates my personal space. :)

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2. A Fan of? Dashboard Confessional. So sneakers or flip-flops? I'm starting to panic! Remember she asked you? Remember to breathe... Been to 3 concerts, know the words to every song (but NEVER sing into a hairbrush :), have sweet DC memorabilia, sport a "Swiss Army Romance" ringtone, and CAN'T WAIT for the new album he's working on!

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3. What are your children doing right now? Singing "Once there was a snowman, tall, Tall, TALL!" HE NEVER STOPS! :)

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4. Closet? Yes, I color-coordinate my clothes on a delightful rainbow continuum. Once again, I'm a little OCD about a few things...

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5. Dream Vacation? Going back to Spain! I lived there while studying Spanish Language & Culture at the University of Granada. WOW. Memories of many sensational experiences I will NEVER forget.

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6. Item you could not live without? As Dierks Bentley would say, "Every mile a memory!" I run 5 miles with my iPod Shuffle every morning! I would go insane without my little musical companion to keep me going.

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7. To get from here to there? A 2007 Chrysler Sebring. I LOVE MY CAR!!

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8. Self-Portrait? *Mwah!*

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9. Yard? Well...my parents' yard, anyway.

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10. Something you’re procrastinating? Finishing a star/heart piece quilt I started. There are 25 different fabrics that I had to cut and shuffle and am now piecing back together into 25 blocks. It's SO much work--I don't know if I have the energy! Perhaps I'll post a photo of the finished quilt...if I ever stop procrastinating and FINISH IT! (gulp!)

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11. Collection? I have this obsession with BUYING books I read. Like, it bugs me to just check a book out from the library or borrow it from someone, I have to HAVE it on my shelf. Dumb, I know. But I suppose it's a telltale symptom of true OCD nerdy-English-Teacher Syndrome. (sigh)

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12. Favorite Shoes? Okay, I know many of you are looking at these sweet checkered VANS going, "I'm admittedly jealous, but WHAT in the world does she even wear those with???" My answer to you: EVERYTHING! (And I'm honestly okay with you ending that question with a preposition.) These shoes are just ME! I wore these babies to BOTH Dashboard Confessional AND Dierks Bentley (haha, can you see that?). They just go.

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Okay, now to pass this burdensome post on to someone else: I tag KALIE, AUBS, and CANDACE.

Men have NO clue!

Okay, you HAVE to listen to this marvelous story! (click here, and listen, don't just read)

Why do we women feel that we must go to such absurd lengths to impress stupid MEN?!

(Thanks for the laugh, Krystle! :)

I SWEAR I don't sing into my brush like it's a microphone...

Er, uh, yeah. Parents Beware: Children watch EVERYTHING you do. Maybe he shouldn't be present when I'm getting ready in the mornings anymore? At any rate, Rio's an aspiring artist, and I'm not about to hinder his bravura. But really, I won't let him humiliate himself--like the mothers of some American Idol hopefuls do--if he sucks later in life. :) But look at the kid--of course he won't suck. Backstage passes, anyone?