sweet nothings

My pillow is finished and now {for a little bit} I'm going to show it off.

My partner likes things modern and bright. She also likes vintage inspiration and linen. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do for the longest time. Mostly I was waiting to go to Hart's and hoping that inspiration would hit me there. In the mean time though {life has been busy lately} I found this tutorial. While the colors weren't quite right I really liked the idea - it had a great vintage-y charm to it.

So with this in mind I finally made it Hart's. Staring at me right when I walked in was the rack of Anna Maria Horner. My goodness - I'm sure the ladies at Hart's did this on purpose. I didn't even really make it past this rack. I had to touch these lovely fabrics and then it was all over. Lukas helped me pick out the colors and I think he did stellar. We added in a little bit of Hope Valley from Denyse Schmidt as well. I've got my fingers crossed that my partner will like the fabrics - Anna Maria wasn't on her suggestions list.

The tutorial called for using fusible fleece. I thought this method might work well for trying something with the voiles. Let me tell you... sewing with these is tricky. I've read of others using lots of starch to help. The fleece method worked for me {if you don't look too closely at the seems}.

I rounded the pillow out with some white, handkerchief fabric. Also tricky to sew with and cut and really do anything with pretty much. But... surprise, surprise it all just came together. {ps. in the picture above you can see the quilting for my Mendocino quilt - it's about half done}

Monday it will go in the mail. Making the journey to my partner - I hope she likes it!

i'm famous

Well... not really, but I certainly felt special the other day when I saw this. {ok, you do have to scroll down a bunch till you see my name or you can just search my flickr name, MeganL, when you're on the page}

I'm a regular reader of the Pioneer Woman. She posts great recipes {with pretty pictures}, funny stories about her and her family, and just general enjoyable reading. I'd followed along when she's been posting photography assignments. But, I never really had anything to share. Well, that was until she posted the latest assignment - Dogs. Now I immediately knew what I wanted to share. It was the perfect picture to submit to the assignment. Rocky has such a sweet, pitiful expression. I thought, just maybe the PW would pick it for one of the pictures she show cases on her blog during the assignment. I thought just maybe - but I was hopeful. And so when I saw she had posted the first group of pictures that stood out to her I quickly scrolled down the page. The pictures were great! And then... more scrolling... and scrolling... to a picture I recognized - it was mine!

So, I know I promised pictures of the flea market loot and new place... but those will just have to wait a little longer. We move on the 14th and then the flea market loot will be unpacked and I'll be able to get pictures of the place then too. Up next will be pictures of the pillow I made last night for my swap partner.

pillow talk

I love looking for sewing inspiration on the internet - there's just so much of it. One of the best places I've found are the numerous groups on Flickr. I can look daily and see new and different stuff! Really, it was all of these inspiring projects and seeing all the beautiful fabrics that made me want to make a quilt. {gosh, that was really the last time I blogged about my quilt?!} I'm pretty sure I found the quilting bee I'm in now too through flickr - actually, maybe through a blog, but both great resources.

I had fun looking through the Pillow Talk {Swap} group pool too. Such great pillows to look at and done with such great fabrics. I jumped at the chance to join in when swap number two got started. I got a partner assigned and started "stalking". Our partners are blinded so no one knows who is making a pillow for them. It makes for some fun sneakiness and for posting little hints along the way while still keeping things a surprise.

This past weekend I finally had a chance to go to Hart's {my favorite fabric store}. I even got to see Tina there - she's a member of the Bay Area Modern Quilter's Guild too and she works at Hart's {lucky!}. {ps. see the side bar for a couple new badges - one for the quilt guild, join us if you're in the area, and one for the pillow swap} I picked out a couple Anna Maria Horner prints. I just couldn't stop feeling them! We'll see how easy they are to sew - might be a bit slippery but I've got an idea to combat that. Also picked out a bit of linen and some Hope Valley and some lace and buttons.

Duchess "helped" me plan out the pillow and now it's all set to sew up. Well, just need to do the cutting and then it's set to sew.

weekend excitement

Any one else have the hardest time titling their posts? Really, this post will just be a random collection of the excitement from this weekend. Yesterday, in particular, was a great day.

It began with waking up super early for a completely boring sunrise. But, it got better - much better - as the day went. We headed to the flea market and totally scored! {pictures to come later} First stall we stopped in I found two cute green pyrex bowls for 3 bucks total and a cast iron pot for $7. What a deal! I also got a big pyrex bowl with green flowers on it for $2 - crazy when just a little bit earlier I saw a tiny one that matched this one for $10. And the best find of the day? It was a little cabinet hutch. The woman wanted $100 when we first asked how much it was. That was way too much so we turned to walk away. The price immediately came down to $70. Still too much so we did walk away, but were thinking about it. At the end we went back to check it over better. At $70 it was too much, but we bargained with her and walked away with it for $60. It's solid wood, rustic, and got good character.

And now... the best part of the weekend?! We've been looking for a new place to rent. The criteria we'd like it to meet - no neighbors above us, closer to the coast, gas stove in the kitchen, and allow a kitty {we've been want to get one}. I'd been practicing my positive thinking and it worked! We found a great place that really fits all the criteria and is cute too. We turned in our application on Friday and we signed the lease this weekend! I'm so stoked and even excited to start the moving process. It's so much fun to look forward to making this new place into a home. {pictures to come at some point I'm sure} For now we've been calling it the string bean 'cause the house is tall {duplex, we're on top}, skinny, and painted green. The name is quite fitting.

Lastly, I'll leave you with a picture from our trip to the beach Saturday morning. It was a nice morning even though the sunrise wasn't great. We got there in the dark and were greeted by this pile. We couldn't see it too well in the predawn lack of light, but saw it in all it un-glory when we headed back to the car. It just made me so sad! I can't believe people think this is ok.

happy love day

How has my Valentine's Day been? Let me tell you...

First off, me and my valentine woke up at the ripe hour of 5am and drove across the city. We got to watch the fog roll in and in the matter of a few minutes it had totally blocked our view. So, that ended up as a bust.

Then me and my valentine took a much needed nap. 5am wake ups are hard - especially since I'm fighting a little cold.

Activity number three of our highly "romantic" day was a trip to the laundry mat. Seven, I will type that again - SEVEN, loads of laundry. Yikes! What can you say... when we go, we go BIG! Good thing we went to the laundry mat or we would still be doing laundry if we had tried to do it here at our apartment where it costs $4 a load. Four dollars! And the dryer doesn't really dry either.

A little Valentine's Day dessert was made and quickly enjoyed {evidence, the above photo}. I finally used my little heart shaped ramekins that I've had for a couple years now. I got them for a buck a piece from Create & Barrel when I bought some glass tupperware.

Tonight we'll go catch the sunset over the bay. We'll cook dinner together. And we'll probably watch a little Olympics together. Nothing "special", but sweet and simple is special and wonderful and just perfect for me and my valentine.

Hope everyone has had a lovely day! Happy day of love.

hello february

January already gone - how quickly time goes. This will be just a quick little to mention two new projects I'm undertaking during February.

First up, is actually a new activity that I'll actually be doing for the rest of the year. I made up a little worksheet that I can fill in each month to keep track of what I'm spending money on. I think I've actually been doing ok with not over spending and saving, but since I don't actually keep track I don't actually know. Having a standard sheet ready to use each month will make this easier for me. Here's a link to the worksheet if you happen to be interested: Tracking monthly spending.

Second, lots of people out there do Project 365 - one picture a day for a year. I didn't think there'd be any way I could actually keep that up so instead I'm starting small. I could do one month and I just happened to pick the shortest month. Part of succeeding is setting yourself up to succeed, right? You can check out my "february 28" project in my flickr stream.