Too Uncreative for a Title, So We'll Just Say, "Hello"

Hello, internets.

It's been awhile.

A long while.

No hard feelings, I've just had other things that I'd rather give my attention to for quite some time. (And other things, like overactive and demanding nearly-three-year-olds, that keep my attention distracted like it or not.)

It's possible that this foray back into blogging might not last all that long, but I am starting to get a little of the writing itch back. Maybe it's the need to start expressing myself in writing again or the demands of motherhood are starting make me feel a little batty and I need to reconnect with others experiencing the same thing, but I want to attempt this writing thing.

Since I haven't written anything of significance in quite some time, I thought it would be a spectacular idea to start ANOTHER blog as well. Makes sense, right? One thing that has been keeping my attention diverted is my love of all things crafty. I was taught to knit in August and I decided to teach myself to crochet at the same time, and I am in LOVE. I've also been trying out some other things as well, and I decided it might be a good idea to chronicle my crafting endeavors in their own place. It's not much right now because I've barely gotten a crack at the layout, but if you ever want to see what else is going on, check it here:

Tales from the Rainbow Room

I hope to look back in at some point in the future and see how far I've come as a Crafty Chica. If I can update regularly, that is :)

Well, that's it for now. All I can muster as the little one and her little playmate need attention (along with the fifteen puzzles that they have scattered around the den). Until hopefully soon....

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.