Nothing more wonderful than a gift

There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.  ~Martin Luther

Today I handed off a labor of joy to some good good friends. A quilt as a wedding present- something I always hoped to do, and I finally have done it! And it felt great!

Based entirely off the wedding (invites, ceremony, dresses, flowers) I managed to get it to them only nine months after their wedding. But hey, I'm new at this quilting thing, so I get to take that long to finish something.
Here it is, just the quilt top pieces, partly sewn and pre quilting and such:

Can you see the embroidery hoop in the lower right corner? That's because I embroidered flower traced from the into 8 squares:

Husband designed a square for their names and wedding date:

And the back matched the color of the bridesmaid dresses, with some leftover blocks thrown in:

All pictures were taken post washing- so the crinkly goodness shows extreme. I free motion quilted this sucker, which was a first for such a large project. And it was fun! Really fun! I know there are lots of mistakes, but none that take away from the overall awesome-ness of the project.
Finally- the binding. I found the perfect striped binding online and couldn't get over the cute factor:

Not a great picture to show off the true cuteness of the binding. Just the same, I stand by my statement of cuteness.

Handing this off to our friends was the MOST fun I have ever had giving a gift. There is nothing like a quilt. NOTHING! So fun to make, so fun to give, so fun to use. Nothin' better.

Fabric Love

I've discovered a line of fabric I MUST own all of. This has never happend to me before. But I must own this. I'm so worried I won't get my hands on every last piece of it before it disapears off the shelves.

Prospect Park by Kitty Yoshida. Oh sweet fabric, you will be mine.

soon

I have a huge quilt coming together... but now pictures because its a gift for good friends and I'm going for the surprise factor.
But soon. It's keeping me plenty busy. With the hubby out of town for a few nights, I'm expecting to make some major progress.

Finishing Homework

Homework Machine

by Shel Silverstein

The Homework Machine , oh the Homework Machine,

Most perfect contraption that’s ever been seen.

Just put in your homework, then drop in a dime,

Snap on the switch, and in ten seconds time,

You homework comes out, quick and clean as can be.

Here it is – “nine plus four?” and the answer is “three”.

Three?

Oh me…

I guess it’s not as perfect

As I thought it would be.

I had a flashback this Friday. A flashback to late night science projects, late night history papers, late night dioramas, late night math cramming. This Friday night found me desperately finishing the homework for my mod-pillow quilting class at Modern Domestic. 

A mess of fabric. Improvisational piecing taught by Elizabeth of the blog Oh, Fransson!
And I found it incredibly hard. A fantastic exercise in getting things right but not "perfect". I had to let go my symmetry and grids and just let the pieces come together. 

And come together they did. 
I three squares done early in the week and felt pretty good.

Then, the week exploded and nothing more got done. The second day of class loomed closer and closer, until...
Friday turned into a late night sewing frenzy with pieces going together until 3:30am. But I finished them. 9 blocks of improved goodness. I "squared" them up. Laid them out. Admired. I mean- look at them. Even with the bad lighting I find them awesome. 

I got the sashing between them. Snapped a picture. Dragged myself to bed. Homework completed. Just in time. I spent class Saturday morning yawning. 

Coming soon- a completed pillow. Both the front and back are quilted, I just need to sew them all together.

Goodbye 2010

A Song for New Years Eve
by William Cullen Bryant

Stay yet, my friends, a moment stay— 
     Stay till the good old year, 
So long companion of our way, 
     Shakes hands, and leaves us here. 
          Oh stay, oh stay, 
One little hour, and then away.

Before we hit the town we hosted a (fancy) dinner for good good friends.

Out came the fine fancy china, a gift from my mother-in-law.  I gave in to temptation and made napkins to match the china. I again used the purl bee tutorial, but increased the dimensions by 2 inches. Bigger napkins are tres tres fancy.

A beautiful fancy table. Ready for dinner, conversation, laughter and toasts to what has been and what will be.

The food. Oh my goodness the food. In courses! In fancy courses!We started with roasted red pepper soup then on to roasted pear halves stuffed with goodness over a bed of lettuce.

Our fancy main course consisted of a root vegetable gratin and stuffed pork roast with apples. Then, a dessert that allows a small glimpse of nirvana in each bite. Coconut milk, palm sugar, vanilla, bananas and pineapple. Warm and served over ice cream. A recipe from our honeymoon in Bali. 

A sweet and delicious goodbye to 2010. And everyone loved the napkins. 

 Happy New Year.

holiday

Success. Place mats for my parents. I spent a quiet, wonderful, peaceful Christmas afternoon finishing the hand sewing on the binding while Dad cooked dinner and we all relaxed.. So I left 8 finished mats in the hands of my parents.

Pieced with scraps. Carefully quilted. I have a new understanding and love of my walking foot.

The blues are surrounded by Kona Cotton- something gray.Then I bound them in two different blues. Four in the dark and four in the light.

This project made me feel like a real sewer. A real quilter. Rulers and rotary blades. Changing feet on the machine. Staying calm and enjoying the process as it came together. Even learning something- mostly about tension on my machine. (I clamped the tension down for some of my quilting without meaning to. REAL noticeable different in the quilting and the strain it put on the fabric on those few mats. But I refrained from pointing this all out as they were being given as gifts. I'm sure I will be the only one to ever notice it.)
Of course, we need some close ups. 

8 matching place mats for my parents. Next to making my table pretty with these... I can think of no place I would rather see them than on my parent's table. Merry Christmas.
Made with some inspiration from the tutorial here.

A new tradition

Sufganiyot are widely consumed in Israel in the weeks leading up to and including the Hanukkah holiday. At Hanukkah, Jews observe the custom of eating fried foods in commemoration of the miracle associated with the Temple oil.
 -wikipedia

My first soofganiyot (or sufganiyot, if you prefer).

Oh fried goodness. Oh delicious little sugared things.  Some with jelly, some without. These have officially become a holiday tradition in the Chandler house. Husband and I are having fun figuring out what the holiday season will mean to us and to the family we hope to have some day.

I used the recipe in 1,000 Jewish Recipes by Faye Levy.

 Hot and fresh- I've perfected the oil temperature.

A team effort in the house- frying and sugaring. A pleasant day in the busy month of December. Happy Hanukkah.