Quit Slackin' and Make Shit Happen

Last week I packed up my ish, woke up at 11:30pm California time and headed out for an early flight back home. It was weird going back home because I am so used to North Carolina, that I forgot what it was like to live in California. I haven't been home for 8 months, which I cannot believe. My husband would literally go years without seeing his family, and I always thought that if I ever had the chance to hoof it cross country, I'd probably come home every 3-4 months at least. Well, now that I have a job, and I'm in school full time, and I have two pupperonis that need loving, I realize how hard that realistically is. Not to mention the $650 price tag that comes with flying from our teeny New Bern airport into Los Angeles.

Anyways, I had a grand old time. I miss my family, I miss my nephews, I miss the weather. Running every morning and not being covered in a fine layer of sweat was bizarre. I was actually cold a few mornings, and I haven't felt that for months.

My sister has had a chalkboard on her wall for a while, and she was patiently waiting for me to return home so I could decorate it for her. I've never decorated a chalkboard before ever, and I was surprised how easy it was.

I have to say, the hardest part about creating this chalkboard was finding the perfect quote. We googled and were on Pinterest for some time. We didn't want a seasonal one (which is what the majority of them were) because I don't know when I'll be going back, so I finally found a tutorial, and a free printable, and we were set! Here is the website I used to get the printable, and here is the website that I used the tutorial from.

If I had to do this all over again, I'd...

1. Do no use the chalkboard markers to create your grid. Trust me on this. Or you'll spend hours erasing the little tiny lines with a magic eraser. Use a piece of chalk to create the grid.

2. Screw the math that girl tries to explain. Take the width of your chalkboard, say it's 48", and divide is by 8 - the answer isssss SIX! So your boxes across should be 6 inches apart in the width. Then take the length, say 96" divide by 8 and you have 12. So each box should be 12 inches apart lengthwise. This makes WAY more sense to me than the math equation in that tutorial.

3. Stick to the grids! I went a little cray cray and did some free handing, and I think that the spacing is off.

And that's it! I currently have 8 windows in my garage that are screaming for me to paint them and write seasonal things on them. So I must be off. : ) 

Where art thou Gidgie?

I have been extremely busy lately getting my house ready for my family to visit. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I've been patrolling Craven County for the best curtains, home decor etc. etc. So, I've been everywhere, but on here. I have been crafting, but I've recently becoming much busier than I was before, if you know me personally, you know why I don't have time to sit around and craft all day anymore. Sadly. :(

But! I did promise to talk about the quilt I made, and I sat and tried to come up with a pattern for this quilt, I really did. I could do it, but it makes me look like an idiot. Seriously. I was drawing it out on graph paper, and just thought, wow. People are going to question your crafting abilities, and maybe your mental state if you post this. So if you really really really want a pattern, let me know and I'll email it to you, so I'm not embarrassing myself with my horrible excel and graph paper skills..

Anyways, here are some pictures of the quilt in my extra bedroom and the process. I'm still having mixed feelings about it, I'm not sure if I love it, or if the colors are a little too, I don't know, off? I think once the room is finally put together, it will all tie together nicely.

I used these 5 prints, that top bright one is the quilt back. All of these fabrics I bought at Joanns on Veterans Day last year, for 50% off, 

so I've had this idea in my head for awhile! 

I always lay out my quilts before I sew them together. You'll notice that the quilt got bigger because my husband kept telling me it was too small, so I kept adding on columns and columns! The little squares are 3"x3", the bigger squares are 6"x6" and the green rectangles are all 3"Wx6"L.

I ended up with: 

*9 - Little Square/Rectangle Columns

*8 - Big Square/Rectangle Columns

*Borders

I find that the easiest way to make a quilt is to sew the columns first. So I assembled anything vertically first (for some reason I always confuse the meaning of rows and columns.) So, I sewed the pieces in column 1 first, then labeled it some masking tape, then moved on to column 2, and so on. After all the individual columns are sewn together, I sew them together. So 1 with 2, 3, with 4, and so on. Then I sew the bigger pieces again, 1&2 with 3&4, if you've ever worked with a large quilt, this helps with the handling! 

I hope this helps anyone who wants to sew a quilt because it makes it go by SO fast. Now that I'm better at sewing and assembling, I look back on my first quilt and laugh at my self. I think I've realize why that quilt took something crazy, like over 24 hours to make.

I always buy way more fabric than necessary. So I had some extra little squares, so I decided to sew them together around the outside for a border. I originally wanted 2 borders, but I ended up almost not being able to use the backing sheet!

I ended up with:
-28 Squares sewn together for the columns
-25 squares sewn together for the rows

Now that I'm done with this quilt, it would have been a much smarter decision to add on the border squares to the actual quilt. I wish I would have sewn them on with the columns from the beginning, that way, when I finished the quilt, I would have been done with the border as well.

I hadn't finished the pressing the bottom of the quilt when I laid this one out, so look at what a difference ironing makes! I always thought ironing wasn't that big of a deal, but I pressed the crap out of this quilt!

I also got a new attachment for my sewing machine! I ordered this free range motion quilting attachment for my simple Brother machine, and it worked perfectly! I was a little scared at first, so I practiced on a piece of scrap fabric. It's really hard to get used to, because the faster you go, the smoother the lines are, but you can't move too fast, or everything gets messed up.

I also used two entire spools of fabric on this bad boy, and did I mention this part of the quilting process took me 10 hours??

I will never be able to make a quilt again without "quilting" the whole thing. This one feels like an actual quilt, it's surprising how much sturdier it seems. I need for it to sit in the wash with some downy for a while so that it gets soft. It takes so long to break quilts in!

Of course I forced my husband into the woods near our house for a picture, I was too short to show the finished product! Here is the top!

Backing

Someone on my Instagram said this is a super hero quilting pose. It sure is! My back was sore for days slapping this bad boy together!

Overall, this quilt was fun. I learned so much, just by having to figure ish out on my own. I hope my guests like it as much as I do!

Oh, deer...

Frankly my deer, I don't give a damn.

Oh how I wish there was a button that said that on Facebook. I'd be clicking it like a mad woman. Anyways, before we moved, I threw all my old bathroom stuff away, except for the framed picture I had, because I figured it could be a good project, someday. Fast forward to 6 months later, and it was still taking up valuable real estate in my craft closet, so I took it out and decided to do something with it.

I woke up this morning, put on my big girl crafting panties, and made THIS!

**The inside part of this frame (so not including the border) is 11.5"x11.5 because it was framed art, not a picture frame. So take that into consideration when you're buying an empty frame for your deer.

Oh what's that IG friends? You want me to make you one? Hahahhha. NOT. Make it yourself, by following these lovely directions below.

What you need:
-1/2 Yard Fabric - My favorite fabric for pillows and painting is Duck, it feels like a rough canvas material
-Paint of your choice - I used acrylic paint from Wallie World
-Printer, Scissors, Tape, Paint Brushes, and Pencil (only use a pencil if you're doing a dark color, for lighter colors, use that color in a fine tipped sharpie)
-Frame - Hobby Lobby has open frames, and if you buy just one item, you can check out with their weekly 40% off coupon
-Staple Gun

Step One: Download, print off, and cut out this template from yours truly. 

Step Two: Attach the template to the canvas with Washi Tape, 

and trace the template.

Washi tape is sort of like painters tape, it comes off so easily. They have it in the office supply section of Target, but you can use any tape. 

I use Washi tape because I keep all my templates.

Step Three: Paint & put a piece of printer paper under the fabric so you don't end up with that lovely blue stain like I have on my coffee table from another project.

 Get yourself some good brushes. My favorite ones are the straight angled smaller ones, I use those for the edges, and a teeny one that I used for the antlers.

Step Four: Replace the paper underneath the deer with a clean new piece, 

and let the deer dry completely. 

Paint will seep through, and if you leave the same piece of paper underneath, it will stick and when you remove it you'll be able to see it through your fabric.

Step Five: Attach to the back of your frame with a staple gun, 

then cut off extra material. 

It's okay to pull it taut, I did! Also, don't worry about how it looks on the back, no one sees behind your frames!

Step Six: Hang and enjoy! 

Please comment about how crooked that "W" is so that my loving husband will finally see that it IS crooked and rehang it. He doesn't believe it's crooked. He thinks the letters are crooked!!

This craft took maybe 30 minutes. If you're a little woodland creature lover like myself, it would be a great craft for a rainy day.

Happy Sunday! : )