in my spare time, I made a f***ing quilt.

I have NO IDEA how I did not post ANYTHING about this over the past couple of months. I literally started this quilt... almost a year ago I think? AND NO. NOT ONE POST.

Not a look I bought fabric! post.
Not a I washed, pressed and cut all these squares! post.

some sample colors that I wove together for your viewing pleasure.

Not a look how many squares I made or look now the squares are sewed into blocks! post.

NOPE! NOTHING! So I'll have to summarize my misadventures in my 2nd, yes 2nd! quilt.

Back last May, after I took my board exams, passed! and was waiting (im)patiently for my license to practice, I decided to go to Jo-Ann's because damnit, I had a coupon. I bought 20 fat-quarters of fabric, a couple yards of white fabric with tiny little birdies on it, and an Omnigrid 8.5" square template. I didn't know what type of quilt I was going to make, but damnit, I was going to make another quilt.

Seriously, nothing against my first quilt, but it's not exactly big enough for our bed. I'm afraid one night we're going to rip it in half because we always seem to be yanking it to cover our feets.  Here's where it gets confusing. 

Each fat quarter gave me 4, 8.5" squares of colorful fabric.I now have 80 colorful squares. I then cut another 80 squares from the white fabric. Every colorful square was sewed to a white square, then cut down into 8 triangles. You can see below how I drew, on each white square: Diagonally with a 1/4" allowance, then in half. This made a total of 640 squares. Unfortunately, I needed to sew an additional 10 squares from scrap fabric, but I found this out early, allowing me to incorporate them seamlessly into my quilt!  SEAMLESSLY. GET IT?

Every triangle was then pressed open into a square. Then came the hard part: Trying to decide how I was going to assemble all of the now 650 squares. So I'll leave you with some pictures... the first set is just showing how I actually assembled the blocks, and the last photo is of all the colorful blocks! There were so many patterns to choose from, but that'll have to wait for yet another post...

meh, by the numbers.

Along with my crazy work schedule (two separate practices, sort-of adjunct faculty at one college and various temp jobs within a 20 mile radius) I've been attempting to get back a little to my arts and crafts roots. Whenever I have moments to spare, I've been making wine bags and tie purses. And kind of experimenting with headbands, but that's a whole 'nother story. In a couple of short months, I've amassed quite the collection: 62 wine bags and 7 tie purses. But while working on all these bags, I literally had no goals in mind. I was like "I'll upload them all to Etsy and see what happens!" Well....

Nothing happened. Which I was expecting... I guess. It's nice to have no expectations, and then when those non-expectations are shattered when someone buys something, you're super happy. But I guess I was expecting that too, and I was disappointed when no one purchased anything. Therefore crushing my expectations. Does that make sense?

So I started to embark on looking for craft fairs! Nothing is better than some solid one-on-one connections! The first one I participated in was more of a flea market than a craft fair. To be honest, most people were there looking for deals, not handmade items. But remarkably, I sold two wine bags! Then again, three people also asked me where the ties were that I was selling (which I don't sell individual ties). Then, on two separate occasions, people called my stuff decent.  Fucking decent. What the hell is that supposed to mean?  Here's my interpretation of decent.

I was supposed to participate in another fair today. It was cancelled because of the rain, and I can't make the rain date (poo). But, since that one was cancelled, it gave me the opportunity to sign up for the TRENTON PUNK ROCK FLEA MARKET! The spaces sold out in like, less than 10 minutes, so I'm jazzed that I am going to be participating!

I'm trying to go in with no expectations, but you can already guess that that's going to the shitter pretty fast. So during now and then, I'd love to be able to really really work on my table display. Maybe go to the Salvation Army and get an old fashioned coat rack to hang up some of my purses! You know, make that shit look professional! Cause honestly, if I don't sell much, EVERYONE IS GETTING SOMETHING MADE OF TIES FOR CHRISTMAS AGAIN.