Sailboats of the Sky

Sometime last year, I looked over at my husband and said “Hot air balloons are the new owls. You heard it here first!” I think Past Maegan was pretty proud of herself for that proclamation (Past Maegan gets a little full of herself), but it does seem to be coming true. I see them on gift wrap, greeting cards, swimsuits, calendars, and so many other doodads and whatnots.

Even though both are still flying around today, owls and hot air balloons have a sort of yesteryear charm to them. In the case of the latter, there’s just something so lovely about flying around in a basket under a giant balloon. Also, maybe a bit terrifying.

1. Up, Up, and Away by Kayajoy, via Spoonflower

2. Couple Hot Air Balloon Card, via theadoration

3. Hot Air Balloon Garland by Claire, via youndheartslove

4. Hot Air Balloon Fabric, via marsearch

5. Retro Hot Air Balloons by Suzy Ultman for Robert Kaufman, via studioFAB (also an adorable ModCloth dress)

6. Personalized Rubber Stamp by Kirsten, via hunnyscoots

Leaves, Trees, and One Happy Bird

I think it’s pretty fun that I finished my “tree” quilt on Earth Day. I’ve been working on it since December, when my friend and I made a deal to swap a painting for a quilt. Her specialty is painting trees, so we had a great theme to work from.

I struggled to find just the right fabric, to find just the right pattern, to find just the right backing, and so on. And then I struggled with my sewing machine, big time. The fabric bunched, the bobbin ran out at the worst possible times, and the thread tension went wacky. I couldn’t get the tension right, no matter what tricks I tried, and wound up taking the machine apart (for the first time) to try and fix it. I vacuumed it out, I fiddled with the bobbin case, I changed the needle, and nothing worked. In fact, I made things worse, so I put the machine together and took it apart several times over. (Have you ever cried on your sewing machine? Just asking, for a friend.)

I scoured the Quilterweb(tm) for just the right pattern and settled on Lemon Squares from Faith’s Fresh Lemons blog. Since I was using mostly Lotta Jansdotter’s Bella fabric, it didn’t really lend itself to the fabric color arrangement laid out in the pattern. I realized that after I started cutting, and kind of panicked, because I do love following a pattern. In the end, I just made the squares that I liked and added some sashing. I’m totally surprised at how it turned out, but I’m really pleased.

 

If you look closely, you can tell I’m still trying to the hang of quilting, but I’m pushing myself a little further each time. While it isn’t a large quilt, it’s the largest I’ve made so far. I learned how to piece more complicated blocks, to select fabrics for each block, to make a scrappy binding, and I even made and improv square! (You can see it at the bottom right in the photo above.)

For the back, I used part of a twin-sized duvet cover I found at Target on clearance. I really like how it looks with the rest of the fabric and especially with the scrappy binding. The texture was a little smoother and less cottony than usual quilting fabric, so it was a little more trouble to work with than the usual, but the end result was good. All in all, I’m excited! I just need to come up with a name.

Next on the list: a low volume baby quilt and a high-contrast purple and yellow quilt!

 

Bathroom Window: Mini Before and After

When we moved into this house, it immediately felt homier than any other we’d shared. But it was also in need of the most work. As I think about it, that’s probably why I liked it immediately–it needed me and I needed it. I needed its high ceilings, its rooms full of uneven wood floors, its wall to wall windows in every room (26 in all!). It needed someone to scrape the gum off the floor, to paint over the scribbles on the walls, and tend to the overgrown brush in the yard.

One room in particular needed attention. No matter how much we loved the house when we moved in, Garrett and I were a little scared of that room–the hall bathroom. Everything was a different shade of white, from the three types of tiles, to the original bathtub, to the cheaply updated sink. Not to mention the trim and the walls and the wobbly toilet. It had something of an “abandoned sanitarium” vibe.

We ignored it for as long as we could, and even in the middle of the night, we’d happily take the extra steps to go to the second bathroom at the back of the house rather than risk the inevitable goblin attack in the hall bathroom three steps away. Eventually though, we took action. After weeks of fussing about what color would go with seven shades of white, I finally just grabbed a bucket of our leftover paint and took after it. (If you’re wondering, Valspar’s Filtered Shade isn’t so bad.) After adding that bit of color, the light bulb lit up and all sorts of colorful accessories were suddenly perfect for that space.

Until this week, though, the dilapidated mini-blinds were still hanging.  I was finally convinced of what to do about it when I saw this photo on Design*Sponge. The first photo connected the dots between that window and the chevron fabric I’d had in my cabinet for two years. After 45 minutes of measuring, sewing, and dusting, I had this:

And it only took two years to get that from this:

(This is a cropped photo from my phone. Boo to me for not taking more before pictures of the house!)

There’s certainly more work to be done, but I’m happy to have this little project  completed. No goblins would dare live in such a cheery room!

The Ties That Bind

Five years ago, almost to the day, we were standing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Crews were working to complete the set-up, tourists and townies were milling around, many like us were happily taking photos. A few marathoners were looking in awe at the patch of ground that symbolized completion of a hard-fought journey.

We had recently arrived in the city on a visit to test the waters, trying to decide if we could make the cross-country move and call it home. I spent our first day there feeling overwhelmed. Boston was big and busy and people lacked the southern graces that tempered conversations at home. The T felt new and exciting, but also unfamiliar and claustrophobic. The city streets were teeming with people and buildings and smells that disoriented me. What can I say, I’m simple folk.

On this day, we were making an epic walking journey, starting from where the 57 bus dropped us off at Kenmore Station all the way to the North End. And in the middle of our trip, we came to stand at the Marathon’s finish line. At that moment, the fog lifted. The city I appreciated from a distance came into focus, it became real. I knew–like millions of people in the country and around the world–that this finish line was a special place. For over a hundred years, people from all walks of life crossed this line and felt a sense of completion. They had proven to anyone watching that they could succeed at an immense feat of training and willpower. If you met a person who had completed the Boston Marathon, you were in the company of a powerful human being. And nearly an entire city took the day off to cheer them on, for every inch of 26.2 miles.

As we stood there, I could feel the history of Boston. I could feel the vast  pride of its citizens. I could feel the heartbeat of a city populated by people who were born in its borders and in counties far away. I felt how lucky I was to be there.

We did move to that city. We tested cannoli, we tested the water on Revere Beach, we tested ourselves against the frigid, unending winter. Boston is where our marriage took root and it’s where we faced some of our greatest hardships thus far. I was in the midst of the city when my husband called and burst into tears as he told me my father had died. Shaken and still uncomprehending, I couldn’t force myself onto a stifling train, so I just walked across the city. It was my only companion as I passed through crowds of strangers. It was steadfast and ageless when it felt like my life was crumbling. At Copley Square, I sighed heavily as comprehension slowly came over me. And I went into the ground to catch a train home.

I’m writing this because I treasure my time in Boston, though it was brief.  It is a strong, beautiful place. It’s citizens are tough and they are resilient. Boston is hurting, and Bostonians around the world are hurting to be there, to heal the brokenness and embrace the broken. And while I have less of a claim to the city than many, I want to be steadfast for Boston like it was for me.

Mod Baby

Spring has been unusually coquettish this year. Typically, the daffodils bloom in late February, followed by the dogwoods, and then the azeleas. By the end of March, spring flowers are belting out their final notes and in April we pull out our swimsuits and kayaks live outside until October.

But this spring has tiptoed in so daintily that it almost went unnoticed before it darted away again and we were back in our heavy raincoats. It has finally, slowly, washed over the state and brought with it a tide of glorious multicolored blooms.

It has also brought a persistent case of spring fever, which I’ve only been able to treat with a lot of gardening and intermittent quilting. I should note that, in my case, gardening has mostly been about pulling things out of the ground rather than planting things in it. So while our house was previously hidden behind some unruly, mismatched bushes, it is now free and bright and open. You can see the daffodils, lilies, and irises that were hidden under the shrubbery that had accumulated sometime in the house’s 70 year past. However, you can also see the house, which is a bit shabby chic. Emphasis on the shabby. But it’s well-loved.

Since the Summer of Babies is close at hand, my social calendar is brimming over with shower invitations. The first one just happened, I made a little Mod Century quilt for a baby boy. It was so fun to make, and I loved every bit of the fabric.

After I started to add the binding, I second-guessed my selection of red, wondering if turquoise or grey might have been better suited to the collection of fabric. When it was finished, I decided that I really liked it. With every quilt, my goal is to try something new, and for this one, I stitched his name on the back. That way, I had to resist the temptation to keep it. (Kidding!)

The little things

There are no pictures to share today, just words. There hasn’t been a lot of time for photos lately (or maybe there has, but I’m not sly enough to recognize the moments when they come). What there has been is a lot of six day work weeks. I don’t work in a salt mine, or anything of the sort, but a six day work week is mentally taxing and sometimes, in the few quiet moments, your brain defaults to a shadowy place where you wish it wouldn’t go. I’ve been trying to enjoy peaceful moments as they wander in and out of my day and wanted to list them here as a tiny monument to those little good things in life.

1. I’m savoring the taste of my coffee right now. I think little fairies came in my house and swapped out my coffee last night, because I have never made coffee that tastes this good. Or perhaps I just really appreciate it this morning. 
2. I have six windows in my office, and sunlight is streaming through all of them.
3. I  rediscovered my favorite childhood candy and it is just as good as I remember it.
4. I found a pretty new planner on clearance and it is amazing! There’s room of three times as many lists as my old one!
5. There was time at work this weekend–between manic bursts of activity–to attempt embroidery. I started the day with the basic materials and no idea what I was doing and ended the day with a near-complete project that I’m not embarrassed of!

Two big things I’m grateful for are my husband’s new job (he started Monday) and my sister-in-law’s big interview. She’s out of town to interview for three days and, whatever the outcome, I am so proud of her. There are so many changes on the horizon right now that it seems a bit frightening. I don’t respond well to uncertainty–which is one of my greatest flaws, I think–but I’m optimistic for the future.

And so are some of my musings. I hope all of you are well!

Homemade Valentines

Garrett the Husband decided to make me some homemade valentines this year. I have a fondness for those cheesy, almost nonsensical vintage ones, with the puns that don’t really mean anything. And if there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s hilarious nonsense. I’m pretty sure he could make a living at it if someone would let him, so I’m sharing these in case any of you have a job opening for a Hilarious Nonsense Contributor or Director of Non Sequiturs. Or, you know, if you just need a chuckle. I’ve been on a quilt hiatus due to some six day work weeks and a bit of oral surgery, but I do have a few new squares to share. More to come later!

Best & Brightest: Emerald City

There is probably a good reason why magazine editors think green is a curse on a magazine cover. (It’s true!)  Yet, I love green. Especially as spring peeks coquettishly around the corner. Granted, spring comes sooner for some than others–we’ll be picking daffodils before too long in these parts–but I think we’re all looking forward to the best parts of the season right now.

And, looking on the horizon, it seems like the design world is opening up to green after all. Pantone’s color of the year is Emerald.* At first, I wasn’t as excited at this announcement as I was last year’s, but lately I’ve seen a lot of great uses of Emerald and its cousins (kelly, mint, and seafoam) and I’ve come to appreciate for how fresh and surprising it can be.

In that spirit, I present: The Emerald City in Spring.

1. Love in Mint Green Water Bouquet by Amy Butler (Photo: trendysisters)
2. Echino Spring Leaves by EtsukoFuruya (Photo: Tomodachikitty)
3. Katie Jump Rope in Green Ribbon by Denyse Schmidt (Photo: Bolts and Yards Fabric)
4. Hyperreal Garden Radiant Bouquet in Emerald by Art Gallery Fabrics (Photo: Taylor Jayne Fabric)
5. Hello Pilgrim Leaf Scatter in Aqua by Lizzie House (Photo: Sew Fresh Fabrics)
6. Simply Color Mod Blossoms in Grey by V and Co. (Photo: BeeYourself Fabrics)

*If you haven’t heard of Pantone, they’re the company who makes sure that every variation of every shade of every color is standardized. So, for example, when a fabric designer prints samples of their new fabric line, Pantone can make sure that the shade of pink the designer is looking at is the same as the one the printer sees. More or less.

Before and after: Behind the Scenes

Photoshop. It’s a tricky beast.

One of the reasons I love to blog is because it forces me to learn more about photography and Photoshop. But boy these guys are time-consuming. When I was prepping my quilting kit post, I tried three separate times to get a decent photo of my supplies. The first two times, I thought I had good photos until I looked them on my computer to find that the lighting was too weird, the items weren’t lined up quite right, or they were out of focus (my perpetual problem). I’m the type who likes to get photos right in-camera (as opposed to doing a lot of editing later), but they will never be so good that they won’t need a good clean-up.

Since every photo shoot has different subjects (people, landscapes, objects) and lighting situations (indoor, outdoor, shade, full sunlight, night), each set of photos you take will require different edits. Two great resources for me are the Clickin’ Moms blog and the Scott Kelby Photoshop books (I have this one).

Even with these resources and three photo sessions, I still struggled to get a decent final photo. I’m pleased with the final results (even though they aren’t perfect at all), and thought I’d share my process if it would help anyone out there.

The process is specific to a photo that:

1. is indoors
2. has good natural light that isn’t too harsh (not shining directly on the subject)
3. is of objects, not people

This was done in Photoshop CS6 for Windows, so if you have an earlier version, things could be a little different for you.

The first thing I needed to do, was get rid of the glare from the flash on the ruler. This is a bit persnickety, because it requires you to merge parts of two photos (with and without flash) so it isn’t included here. I’m happy to add the process if anyone needs it, though!

Next, I had to  straighten the photo. To straighten:

1. Right click on the eyedropper tool in your sidebar.
2. A box of options should pop up. Click on the ruler tool.
3. Draw a line across an area that should be straight, but isn’t.
4. At the very top of the page, click “Image.”
5. Go down to Image Rotation.
6. Click Arbitrary.
7. When the box pops up, click okay.  (A number will be pre-filled in the box, based on the line you drew earlier.)
8. Your photo should be straight now, but if it still looks a little off, feel free to undo and try again!

Since parts of the image were a still a bit out of focus, I sharpened the image. To sharpen:

1. Click “Filter” at the very top of the page.
2. In the drop-down, click “Sharpen” and then “Unsharp Mask.”
3. In the box that pops up, you have three settings you can adjust. Mine are set to: Amount: 60%, Radius: 3.5 pixels, Threshold: 3 levels. Make sure the Preview box is checked so you can see how this affects the photo.  I chose these settings because I’m sharpening objects that have a good amount of fine detail. [These settings would be really harsh on a photo of a person.]
4. After you’ve adjusted the settings to your liking, click okay and the settings will be applied!

My original photo was a tad on the dark side, so I increased the brightness. To do this:

1. Click “Layer” at the top of the page.
2. In the drop-down menu, click “New Adjustment Layer” and select “Brightness/Contrast.”
3. In the box that pops up, click “okay. “
4. In the box that pops up, increase the brightness to suit your taste. Here, mine is set at 7.

The final step I took was to bring out the colors in the photo by

1. Click “Layer” at the top of the page.
2. In the drop-down menu, click “New Adjustment Layer” and select “Saturation.”
3. In the box that pops up, just click “okay.”
4. In the next box, increase the saturation to your taste. Mine is set at 13. You can go up to 25 or 30 in most photos without overdoing it.

Branching Out

I started piecing the tree quilt for my friend today. I’ve alternated between staring at and ignoring a table full of little squares and rectangles for a few weeks now, and today struck me as a day to do something about it. I haven’t finished cutting yet, but I needed a clearer sense of what the squares were going to look like before I committed to all of those little pieces. And now I know!

I’m really looking forward to see how this comes together, because it won’t look anything like I originally planned. None of my quilts have so far–and I like it that way.