Hipsta-cation

Like I said, a little obsessed with Hipstamatic in these parts. Here's the view from the road.

Beach Blanket Bingo

What could be nicer than a family trip to the beach, with a picnic packed and a nice picnic blanket? I started making this quilt in June -- my plan was just to do a quick and dirty patchwork quilt. A broken sewing machine (so happily repalced) and some serious binding procrastination threw me off track, but I finally finished my hand sewing last night. And I couldn't be more delighted.

What makes me most proud is that this gorgeous quilt cost me almost no dollars. The fabric on the top is all either scraps or garage sale finds, the back is a piece of solid gray from a garage sale and the binding is a very light denim, also thrifted. And the batting? Through a strange set of circumstances Aaron and I found ourselves in possession of a couple of Snuggies. While Snuggies are awesome in theory, the fabric they're made of is truly horrid. So rather than junking them, I used one as the batting for this blanket. It worked like a charm -- not as thick as a proper quilt, but with enough heft so it won't blow away at the beach.


So yes, think of me going to the lake, sitting down with my quilt and kicking back. And feeling proud that I finally finished something. Hooray!

Low Tech Tech Cozy

I got one of those fancy new iPhones. Yep. Before you judge you should know the following: this is the first smart phone I've ever had and I did not stand in line for it (they were just released in Canada last week). My crappy flip phone had got to the point where it only had a two hour battery life after a full night's charge and since I'm hoping to work a little bit more come this fall, I really needed access to email when I'm out and about with the kids. And they're just really cool. And I'm already addicted to the Hipstamatic camera app. Yes, I just said "app."

Anyway, after getting the phone through my wireless provider (thankfully my contract was almost up so I got this baby at a fraction of the actual retail price in exchange for signing up again plus I didn't have to wait in line to get it) I went to my local Apple Store, breezed past the 300+ people waiting in line to get a phone of their own and asked the nice man there where the cases for the phone were. They didn't have any. A quick trip to the online Apple Store illuminated the fact that the store in the mall wasn't just sold out, but no one makes decent cases for the new iPhone yet. If you have one of the old iPhones there are dozens of cute cases (including some really lovely Kate Spade designs). For the new one? Nada. Not a problem if you're like my husband and carry it in your jeans pocket, but if you have a big crazy disorganized purse and don't want your phone scratched to pieces, this is bad news.

I really want a decent protective case that still gives me access to my phone, but until that happens I whipped up a little slip cover for my phone. It took exactly two minutes. I folded a piece of felt, sewed up the sides on the machine, trimmed the edges with pinking shears and slipped my phone into it. Not a perfect solution, but so easy. Like, so easy.

On a side note, Aaron bought a case for his iPad (yes, we're turning into that kind of family) that is basically this, just in really thick wool felt (it would have been too thick to put though a sewing machine -- it actually offers a bit of protection beyond being merely scratch proof). It cost $45. For a felt envelope. Seriously.

FAB! (Ric)

In an effort to stop using the same five or six prints for every single thing I make, I bought some new fabric. My super awesome friend Heather directed me to a fab sale on Westminster quilting cotton over at Fabric.com a few weeks ago (sorry, it's long over) and I went a little crazy. This stuff was super cheap -- I'm talking less than $3 a yard. So, I took advantage, getting a hodgepodge of stuff with no particular project in mind. If I was thinking I would have bought from a single collection so I could make a fancy coordinated quilt, but who am I kidding? I'd way rather just stick this stuff in the stash and mix it up with my existing stash of vintage and non-vintage fabrics when the right project comes.

Speaking of which (and speaking of those same prints that I use every single time), I'm patiently hand sewing the binding on my picnic quilt, which I need to finish next week if I want to take it on our summer road trip. Oh binding, why? Why?