the cozy apartment

yay, spring!

Phew!  I was worried it was never going to get here.  Now I feel like stretching up to the sun, just to soak it all in!  It was lovely here for a few days, in the 70's (and sometimes 80's!) and so very sunny!  My plants are thrilled. 

While the plants do their thing out there, I'm pondering a quilt in here.  People like to joke that I never make anything, just keep buying fabric.  Um....that's partially true.  I do keep buying fabric, but I really do make things!!!  No, really!  In any case, I couldn't decide on which fabrics from the ridiculously yummy MoMo Wonderland line I wanted, so I bought a Charm Pack (brilliant marketing on Moda's part!  I hate cutting up fabric, they've done it for me!).  Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with it!  Bought some of the Snip Snip in Chai as a neutral (there are NO SOLIDS that match these colors!).  Here are my options:

1.

2.

3.

4. (stacked coins)

5.

6.

As you can see, I love me some repetitive line imagery.  There are so many choices, I'm having a tough time deciding.  #6 gives me the least amount of cutting, #1 was my original plan, but now I don't know, #2 is appealing, but how busy can a quilt be before making you insane?!  {side note:  I almost titled this post, 'MoMo Fabric, MoMo Problems'.  Yeah.  Really.} 

So, what's the consensus out there?  I know people actually read this blog (stunning!  thank you!!!), I see the numbers!  All you quilters out there, any tips?  Anyone?  help!........

of course, I did have some help with the fun part of arranging/rearranging:

Frustrated Fluffy:

It's exhausting being a cat, apparently.

we had a visitor...

Everyone was very curious.
 

Eventually, we were all able to relax and settle in for a snooze.

She's welcome any time. 

wait...what's that you say?

Did you say there's a freshly ironed tablecloth on the table?  Can't resist...must.....

Roll!!!

Ahhhh....

Much better. 

brrr!

WOW, it is COLD here!  I love it.  Love it.  I can't WAIT for it to be cold, all year long!  Maybe it was those Upstate NY winters that influenced me.  Love wearing jeans and sweaters, gloves, boots... something about it.  The way the wind reddens everyone's cheeks and makes the landscape more dramatic with swaying trees and dunes of snow.  No snow here, of course, but very chilly!  Not like waiting for the school bus in 2 feet of snow and 10 degrees chilly, but chilly for Oregon!  This week is going to be the coldest week in the area in over 3 years!  Woo hoo!  And sunny, on top of it all!  Great weather to brighten up this apartment!  Yeah, it's gonna be 15 degrees tonight.  And I'm sleeping with the window open a crack and 3 kitties and a snuggly hubby to keep me warm!

Since making the decision to stay in this cozy spot for a few more years, I'm more interested in changing things up.  Lots of stuff around here that needs to GO.  And this time I'm not putting those excess clothes up on eBay.  Too much hassle.  Goodwill, here we come!  Our furniture is in the same spot that the movers plunked it down on over 2 years ago.  We've been hesitant to hang much up on the walls.  That all changes now!  And the first thing to change is the bedroom.  We have nothing on the walls, it's been stark white for 2 years.  I've been biding my time to find exactly what that room needs.  Even though it'll be 15 degrees tonight (oh, my poor plants!!!), it gets *very* toasty in the summer, so I wanted something with a cool feeling to it.  I finally found the right fabrics!  They were right under my nose, of course, and now I'm really inspired to get a move on!

Cool, refreshing greens and light blue.  Cozy grey, a bit of calm in the brightness.  Amy Butler comes through again!  And the fabric to the right is the Echino Scene fabric that I bought a year ago.  That fabric is going to be applied to stretcher bars and hung behind the bed (no sun hits that spot, so it won't fade).  The other fabrics are going to be attached to 12 by 12 canvases and hung in rows on the wall.  And bits scattered around the room in pillows and a short curtain.  Who knows what else I might come up with?  The best part is that the blue and tan (in the fabric all the way to the left) go with the bedding we already have! 

Oh, and of course I picked these fabrics to go with my cat.  ;-)  Fluffy approves. 

cozy kitty

Sometimes I think we just keep the cats around for the cuddle factor.  Lemme tell ya, my kitties love to snuggle!  Especially Theo.  Boy, oh boy, can that cat snuggle!  In fact, the reason I picked him out of his litter (of very cute little kittens!) was due to his obvious snuggling capability.  While the other kittens pawed at my hands and tried to attack my hair, Theo just wanted to be petted.  Perfect.  Now he's the snuggliest cat I've ever met and will do *anything* to be held in your arms for some good, toasty warm snugglin'.  He's a snuggle bum.  He's shameless.  Every morning he wakes me up at 7 (or 5...eh..he's a cat after all) to snuggle in bed.  As I have my coffee in front of the computer, he will paw at my face, my hair, my arm and curl up between me and my keyboard, no matter how much I protest.  He will run around the apartment chirping until we pick him up for some love.  And then the purring...sigh.  I'm such a sucker for a cuddly cat. 

some sewing...

Yesterday was perfect.  Really, perfect.  Perfect new sweatpants weather.  I spent the day preparing to sew.  Then I sewed for probably an hour.  I had forgotten just how much prep is involved!  I haven't sewed since June, the last time it was cool enough to have the iron on for an extended period of time.  And yesterday was the best day!  It was blustery and rainy, perfect for crafting.  I'm just going to say it now, I HATE cutting out pattern pieces.  I'm a little too anal obsessive about needing to cut precisely and it drives me mad.  Mad, I tell you. 

While the kitties slept, I cut and fused interfacing, cut again, took a break for lunch, cut some more.  Then it started pouring.  I thought, "Finally!  This is what I've been waiting for!"  Took a break and had chai and pecan sandies.  Oh, pecan sandies, the yummiest.  Those and Lorna Doones, yum.  Listened to the rain, read Bend the Rules Sewing (which I think I'm the last person on earth to purchase), dreamed of all those things I could make....and had a little brainstorm about what I'm making.  Finally, the pieces seemed to come together and I figured out how to sew the damn corners.  I'm making the Flea Market Bag by Grand Revival.  TOO CUTE.  It'll be a great little bag when I'm done...but I needed a break (and to watch House...love that show.  Love his character...mainly b/c he says things to people that I'd love to say, but I work in customer service...so no back talk for me!).
  So, this is one of the pieces of the bag, HOW CUTE are the owls?!  Of course, I couldn't very well use any of the hundreds of fabrics I already own.  No, I had to go out and find fabric.  Nice little Robert Kaufman "On a Whim".  I even liked the name of the fabric, since that's really how I bought it to begin with.  The pattern so far is ok.  The instructions for adding a pocket made absolutely no sense to me, so I did it my own way (It's on the other bag piece, a little fall floral from Jo Ann's.  I think it's so sad when a fabric doesn't have a name or a line associated with it.  I mean, no identity?  Even nail polish colors have names!   Sad.).  It's good to be sewing again, to struggle with a pattern and finally figure it out.  It's usually easier than my brain is making it.  I tend to take a more complicated approach. 

So....now that you've seen my couch, you'll notice that the cushions are sagging, and not just because my kitties are a little plump.  Do you think I can add something to the cushions to give them some shape again?  The couch is in good shape other than the sagginess, the frame is perfect.  I haven't unzipped the cushions to see what's lurking inside yet.  Has anyone else had this problem?  Should I use batting or foam or bean bag pellets?  Any help would be mightily appreciated!  I do love that couch, even the weird brown/green color that the manufacturer called "mushroom".  See, even nondescript couches have color names!  I might just have to name that fabric myself. 

45 degrees

You heard correctly.  Currently it is FORTY FIVE degrees outside!  I'm clutching my mug o' joe, huddled in my sweatshirt, blissfully taking it all in.  This summer has been mild, compared to last years' 108 degree days, and I'm so very, very grateful.   It's August and some of the trees are tipped with red already!  Now,that's not normal by any means, but, again, I'll take it!  The rest of this week is supposed to be in the 80's-90's, so I'm enjoying it while I can!  Oh, I can't WAIT for fall!  And I can't wait to get back to sewing again!  Who knew sewing was so ironing-intensive?  I really could use a new iron and perhaps an ironing board that's heavy enough not to wobble all the time. 
This past Saturday I started re-organizing my crafting/sewing area.  It was great getting reacquainted with all the crap supplies I have stashed away.  It made me realize a couple of things; a.) I need to stop buying new stuff (which is SO difficult when I see cute things!  Ak, I'm such a sucker for cute).  b.)  I need more space.  There is a spot to the right of my desk, about 4 feet wide, where I could put another shelf.  But, really, I love the empty white space.  It lets your eyes rest and bounces light back into this dark room.  Of course, I could always (DH, stop reading here!) pare down the supplies I have to correspond to the space available.  HA HA HA!
  Fluffy just LOVES spools of thread.  Part of my reorganization was finding a spot where she couldn't get to them (um, thread in the tummy = bad veterinary ju ju + foreign body surgery).  But she obviously has such a good time, it's hard to deprive her.  I need to run out of thread so she can have a spool of her own!  I mean, really, look at that fuzzy kitty having a good time.  She's so cute sometimes, I just want to pick her up and hug her, which she'll have NONE of. 

What a funny Fluff. 

Also, just 2.5 weeks till Yellowstone!  I have amassed some mighty cute clothing to bring along.  All sweatshirts and t's, the true sign of vacation.  The only thing missing is the *perfect* pair of jeans.  I'm convinced at this point that they don't exist.  Big fan of low-rise over here, due to a short torso.  Those at-the-waist styles just do not work for me...very Urkel.  (ak, did I date myself there?) Not a look I'm going for in the family photo album.  Have yourselves a great day, will check in again before the trip!     

it was a good day off...

not today, but I'm reminiscing about the great day I had on Thursday....let me take you back to a perfect, cloudy day....70 degrees with a slight breeze and...

three snoozing kitties...

a kitty snoozing while I sewed...

a break for supper (English Onion Soup from this show, which is fabulous, as is DH, whose cooking is equally so...good thing, too, since my cooking prowess peaks at popcorn and chardonnay)

and a finished project, start to finish 3.5 hrs, slowly but surely progressing!

So long, perfect weather, see you on the other end of summer! 

oh, and one more fluffinfoto for good measure...

Random post before I go to work

Vintage tablecloth fresh from the wash hanging to dry.  Wish I had a clothesline, this would look so pretty flapping in the breeze!  The colors are so bright when these pretties are damp, makes you wonder what the colors looked like back in 1940.  This baby is a pretty Wilendur, destined for demolition reincarnation as a number of totes, crafty projects and the like.  Bought this one on purpose to craft with, but it still bugs me to cut her up!  Since I don't have an oblong table, it's pointless for me to keep her in her solid state.  Sigh, that green...I love that green!

And, of course, a back lit Fluffy just for good measure.  Oh, my pretty Fluffini!  (yep, it's an Italian day)