adventures in crafting

First and foremost, HAPPY 23RD BIRTHDAY KATE!! Interestingly, Kate is sorta my inspiration for this post. Kate is most definitely a 21st century domestic goddess...she cooks, cleans, sews, and does it all without chipping her manicured nails. Personally, I have been an amateur artist since I was in elementary school, but never in any practical crafty sense (like sewing or crocheting etc). Well, as a sophomore in Delta Gamma, pretty much all of the girls in my pledge class knew how to knit so I learned in about 4 minutes (it is SO easy) and it has been one of the most rewarding non-academic skills I have picked up in college. Since then, I have made a point of trying to pick up new crafty skills as often as possible.

My latest crafty endeavor is making a quilt! I was going to stay mum on this because it was going to be a surprise for Noelle, but I really want to track my progress so I had to dish. The quilt is a basic "log cabin" pattern, which looks basically like this:



Noelle's color scheme for her apartment is pink and Tiffany blue, so I chose my color palette accordingly. I guess I should mention here that I have never sewn anything before or made anything out of cloth. I've HAND SEWN buttons and small holes in my clothes, but nothing I would be proud to brag about. I signed up to take a beginners class at a quilting store right down the street from my college (so convenient) and my first official class begins on Tuesday, I'm psyched! Today I went by the shop to get a quick "cutting lesson" where the instructor taught me the proper way to cut my fabric strips and use all my new, fancy quilting tools. She was also nice enough to give me a short lesson on how to use my mom's sewing machine. She assured me that my lack of skill would not be a problem, but also suggested that I practice using the machine at least once before Tuesday. Check out my fabric cutting skillz:



I am such a diligent little quilter. After my 30 minute cutting lesson, I stayed in the shop for another hour to cut all of my strips for my quilt. Isn't the second pink one ADORABLE? It's retro looking female faces, love it! I can't wait to share my progress after Tuesday night's class!