Christmas in June

This is a quilt I've been working on for over a year now. I pick it up between projects and work on it here and there. Since I'm still a beginner in all this stitchery business, there are some things I have to teach myself as I go. This book, being a sampler, has a ton of different techniques.

So far I've taught myself needle-turn applique (at which I am horribly slow, I don't do well stitching by hand), paper-piecing (that was a fun night), and different embroidery stitches like french knots and the stem stitch. I actually google these different embroidery stitches and then watch the video 100 times until I finally get it. I'm having a problem squaring up these blocks to size, so it's always interesting when I have to put two blocks together. I think, geez, how did that happen?



I don't know why these pictures are sideways, but I'll work on that!

Here are the first three sections all put together. The book comes with a CD from which you can print out photo transfers. I print them, then iron them onto white fabric. I taught myself that too :). When I complete a block, I just have to be careful not to iron the transfer again, or it sticks to the ironing board, or the ink gets all over the iron and the picture gets ruined. These are the kinds of things beginners like me do.



I spent yesterday devising schemes to print out the photo-transfer pictures and the paper-piecing patterns. My printer is out of ink and I really didn't want to buy any, so I drove around town thinking of all the different places to print for free. None of them worked, and I finally broke down and sent my fiance to the store for some stupidly expensive printer ink. It's been over 100 degrees here for the last week, and I feel all my productiveness being drained from me. All I want to do is lay on the bed under fans and read quilting blogs and suck popsicles. Which is what I've been doing all day, coincidentally. My first day off after six days on. I'm sucking all the laziness I can from my day off.

I have a friend in town yesterday and today. When friends come to town in Las Vegas, it seems like your normal life gets put on hold and your rock-n-roll life comes out. Instead of spending my evening cleaning my bathroom and working on my Xmas quilt, I get to spend the night at a Bacardi Open Bar wearing roller skates and a cowgirl hat. Life in Vegas is so hard. Sigh. Last night I got off work and we went hiking. Hiked up to the top of Lone Mountain, which is a horribly steep hike that basically goes straight up. Gorgeous views of the city though. I thought that would be a fun cheap way to spend some quality time with my friend. It was, until I saw the Parking Ticket I received. Sat on top of the mountain for a few hours drinking beer and enjoying the view. I'm definitely going to miss the Las Vegas lights when I leave.




Here's me and my wonderful fiance kissing on top of Las Vegas. In the blur of lights on the top right you can kind of see The Strip. It was super windy last night, which made things interesting, to say the least.

Until next time...