Wordless Wednesday - "Fun" at the Shore

I know it's been almost a month (gasp - a month!) since my last post, but I had to put this picture up. We'll call this a Wordless Wednesday, because there were almost no words.

I'm at the beach with Livers and my parents, and while watching Livers play delightfully in the surf I happened to look up and saw this about 15 feet away:

P.S. That's not a dolphin.

I don't think I've jerked her out of somewhere faster, even when she's in trouble.

Because I Really NEED Another Project....

I saw these quilt blocks on Flickr awhile back and have been in complete awe since them. Methinks I might be getting gutsy enough to attempt something like this on my own. I have done a little bead embroidery practice before, and while not that difficult to do it is VERY time consuming and certainly not something I can easily do with Livers around.

Seriously, I honestly don't need another project. I just started taking up knitting (I think I'm in love) and will be starting my mom's quilt very soon and a large mixed media collage for my office, so I definitely have my free time filled up. I will definitely keep you posted if I decide to take the plunge!


1. Red Block, 2. Orange Block, 3. Yellow Block, 4. Green Block, 5. Blue Block, 6. Purple Block

Livers' Completed Quilt!

I finally finished Livers' rainbow quilt about two weeks ago, but between family and friends visiting, helping my parents, assisting J in his newfound beer brewing hobby, and spending time with J after Livers goes to bed, this is the first real quiet time I've had to sit and discuss my work.

I must say, that for a second quilt, I'm pretty proud of myself (and very motivated to start my next one!). The mistakes are relatively few. The only ones I really noticed are with the blocks around the border. For whatever reason they ended up smaller than the rest of them. Luckily they are all uniformly about a half inch smaller on the edge than the other ones, so it ends up looking intentional.


I'm particularly pleased with how the binding turned out. I have never hand-bound a quilt before, let alone attempted mitered corners, and I was needless to say nervous with the venture, but it worked splendidly. I was most nervous with how to hand sew the final step of binding, but I found a great tutorial on how to use a ladder stitch to sew it, and it worked great. I think it ended up being my favorite part of the entire quilting process. I found it very cathartic to sit on my sofa and watch TV and just bind away. Once I got the hang of it the process went very quickly. It only took me a few hours to do, and it was done in a day.



The flannel backing was a good choice. It is so soft and comfortable, and I could personally wrap myself up in it and read a good book all day. I wish Livers felt the same. She has formed a very strong attachment to her baby blankets, and even though Mama worked very hard on making this for her, the sentiment is lost on her. I will often cover her up with it at night when she's asleep so that it at least gets a little loving. Maybe one day she'll grow into it...


The process was very fun, and I hope to start my next (and very ambitious) task within the week. My mom wants me to make her a quilt for her king-sized bed, and though it will take FOREVER, I'm looking forward to it. It will be made with simple 5" x 5" blocks, but with a quilt that size it will total over 500 individual blocks. I guess I need to start cutting fabric!

A Rainbow Quilt for Livers

I've been working on a quilt for Livers on and off for a couple of weeks, and this afternoon I got the top finished. She enjoys rainbows like I do, so I decided to make something special for her (and get some quilting practice in to boot) using 4" x 4" squares from eBay that I had stocked up on a while back. My original intention was to use them in the quilt I'm making for myself later this year, but the fabric quality of the squares was less than that of the fat quarters I've been purchasing, and I didn't want to mix them.

With the whopping two quilts that I've worked on I've never used a pattern I've found but instead have come up with something that would work with the materials that I had. I would've preferred that her quilt had more color squares, but I didn't have enough of them available that I really liked, so this is what I came up with.

Overall I'm pleased with how it is looking. It definitely has its imperfections. I incorrectly measured the sashing between the block rows and had to trim off of the ends of the edge blocks, so all of the ones around the border are smaller than they need to be. I'd like to say it gives it character :) I'm cutting myself slack, because this is only my second quilt and I have to learn somewhere.

I worried that the blocks would be a little dull, but once I added the white sashing I became very pleased with how bright and cheery it looks. Livers definitely likes it. She has been going up to the different squares while I've been working and telling me that this one is her "favorite," though they change every time. It has been driving her mad not to touch it, either, because she's very tactile and must get into everything!

Since she is going to use this as a blanket in her crib I wanted to back it with something very comfortable, so I chose a light blue flannel. I pulled out the batting for it today, and it was so amazingly soft and thick. I can't wait for her to enjoy it! The binding for it is black with small white polka dots. I really enjoy the contrast of white and black with the bright colors.


I wanted to take her picture next to the quilt, but as soon as I asked her to stand she decided she must have her camera to take pictures of it, too. She uses my old beat up one that I had before my Panasonic. Almost everything she takes turns out blurry, but she absolutely loves to try and take pictures.

A New Skill Set

I don't have a DSLR. I wish I did. Hopefully one day.

A big reason why I would like one is because the macro lenses on those bad boys are awesome, and I love to be able to take really detailed close up shots. Unfortunately, point and shoots have their limitations. Last summer I bought a newer point and shoot, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5. I absolutely love the camera, and it takes great pictures, but I've been stumped on how to take awesome close-up shots.

Today, however, I think I had a breakthrough. I went with Livers and my parents to Highlands, NC, for a day trip, and I was in awe of the flowers they have planted everywhere. I was in photographers' heaven at the opportunities to partake in photographic goodness, but I just could NOT get a decent close up (and I mean within a few centimeters of closeness) picture. I kept zooming in and zooming in, but my camera never could focus correctly or it would focus on something behind the shot instead. I then tried unzooming and just getting my lens as close to the flowers as possible, and voila! I finally started taking amazing shots. I would love to find a place near here with beautiful gardens to make sure that today was not a fluke and to test out my new skill.

Here are some of the products of my handi(lens)work:

A Return, and a New Direction?

For the longest time I've really not had the desire...or the time...to do anything with my blog. I haven't felt that there was anything I truly wanted to say and I didn't want to force myself to come up with something that my heart wasn't into. Those few times that the writing bug tried to bite, things like watching all three seasons of Heroes in the span of a month, working on a quilt for Livers and a skirt for me, going to the beach, and general life happenings sprayed their bug spray all over my ideas and ambitions and sent them running.

I feel that the bug might be coming back if I can work on my time management skills. Last night I changed my blog layout to get the dust off of Somewhere Over the Rainbow and in hopes of producing some ideas. I somewhat feel like taking this blog in a new direction--perhaps more crafting and photography, two of my great loves--but I am not quite sure. At the very least I want to incorporate these two passions of mine more readily into my writing, especially since I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head. In any case, I'm not exactly sure where my blog is going, but hopefully into wonderful places and to possibly new, unchartered territory.

As of May 26, 2009...

Until conditions improve I think I might stick with bullet posts. My brain is working best this way these days. We shall see...

1. We have (semi-)reluctantly begun potty training Livers, and it's been going surprisingly well. I won't go into any details, because no one really wants to hear that. I will say, though, that by the time this is said and done, one of two things will have happened to me: I will have gained 15 pounds from the Reese Pieces rewards or I'll cringe at the sight of them.
2. We had a Black Widow Spider on our front porch this weekend, which J kindly squashed to a pulp. What is with the poisonous critters trying to invade our space??? It's far too close for my comfort.
3. We had a "date" night Saturday, by which I mean we got to go out with friends sans child. We got to see the new Terminator movie. Luckily I didn't have the bar set too high because it was going to be all action, but I was a little sad that they didn't flesh out the characters more. I am a huge fan of the franchise and have watched the first two movies about eighty billion times, and I wish they'd return to that. Unfortunately it seems most movie goers prefer to have mind-numbing action rather than mind-blowing acting, which I find sad.
4. J and I did something that I haven't done in YEARS on Friday: stayed up till 3 in the morning watching TV. I don't know when the last time was that I stayed up that late for anything not pertaining to baby (and that was a LOOONG time ago...thank you good sleeper). We were watching a billion episodes of Season 1 Heroes, and I must say, so good. I've heard it goes downhill, but I'll judge for myself.
5. I've been in fabric collecting mode for such a long time that I've really not made anything. I'm going to start remedying this starting this weekend by turning this stack of fabric into a small quilt for Livers. She likes rainbows, too, and I had originally planned to incorporate this into the large quilt I plan to make later this year. Unfortunately I started to realize that the fabric I'd been collecting was of a better quality than these squares, which makes them useless for my plans. I'm glad that they will put to use.
6. To that end, I hope to start planning my design for the rainbow quilt in July. I've just about exhausted my resources for fabric. I'll keep using Etsy a little while longer, and we'll be going to the beach around Charleston in the next few weeks, and I plan to see if they have any fabric stores down there to try. After that I probably will call it quits for collecting. At almost a 100 different fabrics I would hope that would be enough!
7. Speaking of beach, Livers is JACKED UP to go. She asks to go all the time, so much so that it's the first thing out of her mouth in the morning and one of the last to escape at night. I'm looking forward to going with her and seeing how much fun she is going to have!
8. I watched the train wreck that was Jon and Kate last night, and the whole thing left me so sad. I saw them at a church a year ago, and I don't think I could've seen it turn into what it is. Say what you will about them, but I'm sending my prayers to them, because no couple should have to experience the pain of a breaking marriage.
9. Memorial Day Weekend was sadly pretty dull on the whole. It was pretty dreary and rainy, so we couldn't go outdoors much, and J had to help a friend demolish the kitchen and dining room of his new house for renovations, so it was mostly just me and Livers (which gets a little old when it leaves you with no weekend). This weekend is supposed to be much prettier, so hopefully we'll be able to enjoy it.
10. Livers and I did a baby bird rescue a la "Are You My Mother?" while at the park yesterday. An ugly little starling baby had fallen from its nest way up in a picnic overhang, and I couldn't let him flop around and die. Luckly there was another kid who was able to hold the bird so I could hoist him up to put the bird back in its nest. I was worried the mama bird wouldn't go near it since it could smell us, but I think everything turned out OK. It made me feel really good to give this little thing a second chance.
    

I leave with some pictures from the past week and a half or so. I've been going through old videos of Livers, renaming them so they'll make sense when viewed years from now, and I am amazed at how grown up she has become! She's no longer a cooing, pudgy little bald baby with a giant head, but she's becoming a constantly talking, active, thinning out toddler with a mass full of curls. It truly amazes me!

Roughly 2 years ago (above)

Roughly 1 year ago (above)

* * * * *

The past week and a half (BELOW):

On the phone with her agent. Apparently she's been watching Zoolander...

We can't all be winners...


She was running around reading wearing a shirt, a Pull-up, one shoe on the wrong foot, and later my belt as well. I don't get it.