Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Kitchen Aid Mixer

Weston got me a KitchenAid mixer for Christmas and today I was finally able to use it.
Isn't it beautiful?

So I made pizza crust.

I was pretty excited about it. And it was delicious. I will definitely make it again. It took practically no time to make (minus the hour it has to rise) and was pretty darn good. I was very happy with my mixer and my dough.


This is the dough hook that my mixer uses. It also doubles as a lethal weapon. Watching this thing spin is about as amazing as the pizza crust.

Kuspuk pictures



Oh it is wonderful. And wearable. I'm pretty excited. Just needs a zipper, hood, and bottom seams.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Friends Again

So the kuspuk and I are friends again. After a talk this morning and then again tonight at class we made up and it is almost done. I only made one other mistake which was easily fixed and now it is beautiful. I have to do the pocket the zipper and the bottom edge and the kuspuk is wearable art. How exciting.

Pictures coming soon.

Long day

I work today from 1 to 7 then I have quilt class until 9:30. AH! It is going to be a long day. I worked on my kuspuk last night and it was incredibly frustrating. Mostly because I don't know how to read directions. Two of the pieces that I cut out were supposed to be cut on the fold so they are one piece. I decided to ignore that comment and cut them normally. Which means that I had to seam them together after I realized my mistake. Which was frustrating. AND I just hope it works out in the end. So we will see how it turns out.

I did take pictures of my shrug and my apron to show everyone. If you have ever tried to take pictures of yourself in the mirror you know that it is kind of hard, so don't make fun of the pictures too much! :)


Sunday, July 27, 2008

Unmotivated

Last night after the whole ironing board fiasco, I finished my apron. I LOVE it. I topstitched all of the blue trim with a beautiful half daisy pattern and then sewed on the buttons and it looks awesome. I am going to wear it to work all week (we have to wear aprons there) and show it off. It's also my last week working at the quilt shop. :( Which means there are only three-ish weeks until I have to check in to my teaching job.

I have yet to start my kuspuk, which is bad news bears since I have my second class tomorrow and I am supposed to have the first four or so steps done. I don't know why I am so intimidated by this project. I think it has to do with the fact that I have never really sewed any clothing and I haven't had much luck working with patterns where you have to cut out pattern pieces. But I really need to start. I don't want to be as unprepared as I was for last class (I showed up without scissors, which are pretty important if you are going to cut fabric) or a pencil to trace my pattern with. AH! So I would like to be on my game tomorrow. We'll see. I have been cleaning the house to avoid facing the project. I really should get started.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Ironing Board Blues

So when we moved my ironing board didn't make it back to AK. Not sure why, since I wasn't there for the packing, but I was sans ironing board in my new house. Which makes quilting a bit difficult. So today I had a break down and had to buy an ironing board. I had seen the one I wanted at WalMart (ahhh...) but it was $45 so I decided to wait and go to Fred Meyer. So then I went to FM and they didn't have the extra wide boards. So I wound up going to WalMart and buying the one I wanted. Why was it so expensive you ask? Well, it is 22% wider than a normal ironing board and it has a rack on the side for the iron to sit on. AND as if that wasn't enough it has a rack on the bottom to stack things (not sure if that will be useful or not). The only downside was it took me about 7 minuets to figure out how to open it. There were no directions and even with my two college degrees, I had a bit of trouble. But I am back in business baby.

7/28 So this is embarrassing, but a bit funny. I realized that I misspelled minutes. I ALWAYS do that. For some reason I always put minuet, which is a ballet not a measure of time. When I was in college I actually had to put a sticky note on my computer screen with minutes spelled correctly and a picture of a clock so I would remember how to spell it. This is why I explain to students that spelling is important, and that I am not the best at it. I always ask that they politely correct me if there is a spelling mistake. I think it is important that students know that teachers are bad at things too. Like spelling...or reading directions....

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Shrug me

Well, I finished my shrug. It is beautiful. And it FITS! I'm SO excited. I love it. I'm trying to decide if I want to add a closure to the front. I think a cute hook and eye piece would be nice, but I don't know. I don't really know where to find something like that, and I'm not sure my shrug needs it. I'm pretty proud of myself right now. I'm also excited that now I can start a new project. :)I will get pictures up of the shrug when my camera turns up again. I'm not sure where it ran off to.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Beer Brewing

So Weston and I received a beer brewing kit for our wedding. Since we moved to our new house he has been dying to brew his own beer. Fine. So Josh comes over tonight to brew beer with him and at first I was excited. I get to hang out with Josh and Weston and knit while they do something they enjoy. Perfect. Except then it started to smell. Not too bad at first. But then the smell kept growing. And I was forced to head to my room because it became overpowering. And now I'm in the bedroom with the door shut, widow open, and fan going at full blast and I can still smell it. I went into the kitchen to throw something away and almost puked. It is HORRIBLE. I hate it. I don't like beer, but this isn't even just a beer smell. I can't describe it, except to say that it is awful. If you have seen the Seinfeld episode with the smelly car, I feel like I am trapped in that.

On to more exciting news, I am almost done with my shrug. Had I not been chased to my room by that horrible smell, I might be done with it. But alas, the knitting was a casualty to the smell war and it is still in the living room. I also worked on organizing the sewing room a bit more today. Still not done, but it is getting there. I just hope the house smells normal in the morning.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Pictures of house


Bathroom. Has two sinks and a very large tub. Plus, the toilet flushes by pulling this thing on the top. Very strange, but I'm starting to like it.

Weston's gear closet. It is the third closet in our bedroom.

The bedroom. It has three closets and it is a lot bigger than the picture looks. It has a nook over in the other corner that could hold a small crib or something, if needed.

This is the kitchen. It finally has food in it after going food shopping yesterday. And pots and pans!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Wallet




This is a cute little wallet that is made with less than a fat quarter of fabric. It took a little bit to get together, but now that I have made one it will be very simple to make others. I plan on using mine to keep all of my reward cards in so that I have them all in one place and never have to go searching all over for them. These would also make great gifts because they are easy to make and use so little fabric.

Grocery Sack



I hate plastic bags. They are out of control. If you go to the store for a few groceries, sometimes you wind up with as many bags as groceries. And they just take up space. So I have moved to not getting bags as often as possible, and when I do need a bag I bring my own. So I was excited to take this class and learn how to make my own grocery sacks. I figure they would make great gift bags for Christmas and then they are reusable! I'm happy with how it turned out. The inside of the bottom leaves room for improvement. I will try to make it look a bit nicer on the next one. They are great to use up scraps, as it only takes four 18" squares.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Slumber time



This is the pillowcase I made this morning. It is very cute. It has all enclosed seams, which means you can't see ANY raw edges, which is pretty much unheard of on a pillowcase. I learned a really neat trick for the green part where you sew it into a tube and turn it inside out...a bit hard to explain (which is why I don't write directions for a living) but VERY easy. If I wind up making a mate to this pillowcase (have to see if Weston likes it first) I will take pictures as I do it and post a tutorial. (I'm getting so advanced!) Again, a very easy gift and adorable. It only took about an hour and some change to make, and a lot of that time was spent ironing the prairie points. Haven't figured out a way around that yet.

Summer Apron


This is the apron that I started last night. I love it! It is SO cute and will only continue to get cuter as I finish it. I have been thinking about ways to make it easier to make for the next one I make and I can not wait. Wouldn't a year of aprons be a fun gift (with four for the different seasons)?!? They are super simple and very quick to make. So get to baking!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Officially employed

I went to HR yesterday and signed my contract for the 2008-2009 school year. Crazy. I now have a job that actually pays a salary and benefits and all that jazz. I'm really grown up. How stressful.

I have been cruising right along on my shrug. I only have 6 more increase rows, then I cast off the sleeves and finish the bottom. If I didn't have to go to work today (BLAH) I would probably be able to get it finished. Oh well, I can probably finish it on Friday.

This weekend I was supposed to go to a bunch of mini quilting classes at Quilt Tree. I was really excited about it because they were little simple projects that would be great for gifts. Unfortunately, I got a call the other day and three of them were cancelled. LAME. One was a potholder, one was a little bag, and one was a chicken pincushion. So that is a bummer. But I will still be making an apron, a pillowcase, a grocery sack, a quillow, and a wallet. So we will see how that goes. Quite an eventful weekend! Then on Monday I have my kuspuk class.

Ok, I should get ready to go to work. I still have to shower and walk Frito a second time before I take off.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Knitting Along

I finally gaged my shrug yesterday. I had to go up two needle sizes, and I'm pretty sure that it will turn out my size now. This is still a guess because I don't think I knit large enough swatches (I get bored of them very quickly) and I'm not that great at counting stitches, so I'm still crossing my fingers. It is SO pretty though. The two yarns together look so neat, I'm very excited. Because I had to go up in needle size, I need to get new stitch markers because my old ones don't fit on my needles. So I will do that today and hopefully make a lot of progress on it today. I do have to clean up the house (the best I can, according to Weston) because my MIL, her mom, her sister, and her nephew are flying in tonight and they are stopping by our house after being picked up at the airport. Should be interesting.

On the quilting front, I was super excited to unpack my quilting books! It was like Christmas! So now I'm swimming with new ideas. For example, Leah and I are going to do our own block of the month quilt. It is out of the book "Seeing Stars" and is amazing. I'm really excited about it. I love star blocks, and this quilt has so many different ones that I can not wait to make. In other exciting quilting news someone signed up for my quilt class!! She called me the other night to ask about how much fabric she needed to buy. She sounded very excited about the class, and I am very excited that people are beginning to sign up! My career as a quilting teacher is starting! I think it will be quite interesting when I show up and people realize that I am the teacher. Most people who teach quilting are a good 10-20 years older than me, so it might be a bit of a shock to the students. It will be fun though. I'm actually going to make a small baby version of the quilt from some fun fabrics in my stash so I can have sample blocks in different states to show how they should go together.

And before I forget, I felted some pot holders/coasters yesterday. I had knitted a few to see how much they would shrink before I knit a whole set. Then I needle felted some flowers on them and OMG they are BEAUTIFUL! It was SO easy and so much fun to do. I can't wait to do some more needle felting. Ok, I should probably get my day on the go so I can get everything done.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Back in business

Yesterday a very nice guy from GCI came and installed the internet for us. Oh happy day! I forgot how much I used the internet until I couldn't use it anymore. It was horrible. But now, all is right with the world again.

I still haven't been doing any knitting, trying to put the house together is a big expedition. I am almost done. The only thing left to do is organize all of my fabric in my sewing room. Which considering the small amount of fabric that I own, shouldn't take too long. HAHAHAHA. That was a total joke. I own way too much fabric, ask Weston. But that's ok, I love it all and it will one day make its way into a beautiful quilt.

I should find Weston's camera today and be able to post pictures of the house later tonight or tomorrow.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Internet Thief

I have been dying without the internet. I didn't realize how much I love to check things everyday until I couldn't. So this morning I decided to check and see if there were any unlocked networks, and there were. So I have been surfing the internet this morning on someone else's connection. I know, I am horrible. BUT we are getting our own internet installed on Sat so all will be right with the world again.

I LOVE my new house. As soon as I find my camera, I will post pictures. For now you will have to take my word for it that it is WONDERFUL. Everything about it is just adorable and amazing. I am doing my best to get everything cleaned up and put away but that is a very long process. A couple of notable things about the new house: 1, there are two sinks in the bathroom. I didn't realize how much I would enjoy this! I get to have my own toothpaste and I never have to wait to use the sink. Awesome. 2, We have curbside recycling. Sure, they don't take glass, so I will still have to go to the recycling center, but other than that it is pretty much the coolest thing ever. The recycling container is HUGE too, so we won't have to worry about over filling it unless they didn't come for a month. Ok, I should probably get back to work. Blogging will resume with more normalcy on Sat. I also need to cast on a new project, I only have the cabled bag on needles right now and that requires a lot of attention so I don't always want to work on it. I found some fun yarn and books when moving though, so who knows what will be next!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

So long, farewell

Today we closed on our house. As I type this Weston is packing up stuff and getting ready to move into Anchorage tomorrow. I'm excited, but also having a bit of a quarter life crisis. In five weeks I will be starting my job as a middle school teacher, which is not just a job but a career. I don't know if I can handle that. So, this may be my last blog posting for a while because we won't have the internet set up at the new house yet. We have to decide who to get internet through, and I hate having to pay for stuff so it may take a while. Quick update, the elephant is finished, just needs to be sewed together. It is very cute. That is all I have done today. Well, that and buy a house.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

AK Statehood and other random facts

So for those of you who don't know, I LOVE Alaska. That might be an understatement. I can not imagine living anywhere else. And I have lived other places. My dad was in the Navy, so I moved around a lot until I was in 4th grade. Then last year Weston and I spent a short time in Spokane, WA. It was then that I knew I had to live here forever. I'm so glad Weston and I decided to get married in AK because no where else means as much to us. ANYWAY, I digress. I learned on the news this morning that yesterday (50 years ago) was the day that congress voted that we could join the union. Then on July 7, 1958 President Eisenhower signed the bill making us a state. And then we OFFICIALLY became a state on Jan (something, I forgot this part....a lot of dates to keep track of) 1959. How EXCITING! So don't forget to celebrate Alaska. It is awesome.

It is 6:30 and I have been up for 30 mins, much to Weston's dismay. I wake up really early because I am hungry and I typically eat and go back to sleep. Today I decided to bug Weston with my random facts about the state. I don't think he appreciated it. I asked him if he was going to get up and his reply was, "When my alarm goes off." I then told him that I was sorry I was bothering him, to which there was no reply. Normally he says that's ok when I say things like that...guess he was tired.

On a positive note, he did say that he was proud of me for finishing so many of my knitting projects that I have started. I told him it was because I wanted to put them up on Ravelry and the site makes it really easy to keep track of what I am doing. I also told him that I need his help to design a similar site for quilting. He then informed me that he thought Ravlery was for any craft....oh silly boys. I then had to tell him that it is a "knit and crochet community".

One other random Alaska fact. A lot of our law makers have been investigated and convicted of different ethical violations. Not something we are very proud of. Vic Kohering was recently convicted and is getting ready to serve his 3 year prison sentence in California. He decided to stand on the side of the highway yesterday and wave to Alaskans to "thank them" for his time here. Really? And then he told the news that he enjoyed representing Alaska and he hopes to represent them again. REALLY? Who is going to vote for someone who was convicted of bribery? I don't understand people. I am also confused about the judicial process. Granted, what little knowledge I have is from Law and Order, but I thought once you were sentenced you went to jail. No time to hang out, straight there. Kohering was sentenced a while ago, but has been given time to "get his affairs in order". This sounds like special treatment. But who knows, maybe everyone is allowed to do this.

Yea Alaska! 50 years in the 49th state!