Chemistry Couture

Mapping the Mind for Anne

Anne is a wonderful member of two bees I am currently a part of, Snip.Sew.Send and the Stitchin' Bee.  June was her month for S.S.S., and she requested that we make her a map block.  It could be any kind of map using any technique.

Mine is finally done and on its way to Anne, who hopefully will forgive me for being so very very late.  I did enjoy making this block, though, and since it might seem a little abstract, I'll give you my thought process for coming up with the design.

When Anne sent out her introduction for the Stitchin' Bee, she mentioned that she is married to her best friend.  I find that incredibly romantic . . . and I have read many many scientific articled about pair bonding between two humans, what causes it, and how it is sustained.  For instance, did you know that when you see someone you are in love with your brain sends out bursts of chmicals called oxytocin and serotonin?  These chemicals give you a sense of euphoria, and you are literally addicted to the other person . . . the process also occurs when drug users get a fix :) 

For some couples this chemical reaction occurs for only a few years, for others it can last through their entire lives.  Thinking about this made me remember a book I bought some time ago about human brain development and function: Mapping the Mind, by Rita Carter.  I love this book, its like a cool text book/coffee table book hybrid.  Very easy to read and lots of nice pictures, but very informative and interesting.

The cover of the book has a "map" of brain function.  So this is the image I chose to recreate, using embroidery floss in the colors from the "map of the states" fabric Anne sent to us for inspiration.  I didn't sketch it out first, or anything, I just kind of started working on it.  I did fold the fabric sometimes to get a straight line to follow, but otherwise it was all freestyle.  I really like it.  I think of it as an homage to Anne and her husband, as well as a nod to my love of both science and sewing.  A union of left brain and right brain, if you will. 

So there you have it.  Possibly the coolest and nerdiest quilt block I have ever made.

Forgive me, Anne!  The block is on its way.

It's Been So Long

Guess what!  My dad fixed my computer . . . because he's AWESOME. 

Sorry I've been away.  Theres been lots of craziness going on around here and I just haven't been able to keep up with all my projects.  Hopefully I'm back on track.  Well, I will be as soon as I finish the quilting bee blocks that are already a week late.  Oh my.

Among other things, I started a new job (and I LOVE it), my computer went kaput, and Randy and I broke up.  I know what you are thinking, but honestly the most devastating thing was the computer crash.  I LOST the pictures I took of the last few blocks I made for other people and picture of my niece, and picture of friends from Texas.  Sigh.  As for R and I splitting up . . . sometimes things break and they can't be fixed.  And that's all I have to say about that.

I finally got a picture of all the amazing blocks the ladies of the Sitchin' Bee made for my month.  Behold the moderny goodness:

These ladies are friggin awesome.  Many of them also sent me blocks for the Quilts of Valor quilt top. 

I just need to put them all together, make a samwich and send it off the be quilted by one of the volunteer long arms.  My modern quilt top will be quilted by ME, however, so it may take longer.

Alrighty, then, I need to get crackin on those late blocks.  Sorry ladies.  I'm so ashamed :(  Sometimes life just throws you for a loop and all the fun things gets put aside for a little while.  Back to work!!!

Computer Crash

Just in case you're wondering where I've been.  My dad is on the case (Happy Father's Day, by the way!).  I should be back online soon! 

This One's For Kate

Thank you to the very few people who replied to my last post.  As always, most of you remain silent, which I will assume means that you like this blog just fine :)  To those who sent me a suggestion, thank you so much!!!  I aim to please, so there will be some more interesting things on the way.  Life is a little bit hectic right now, but I should be back on track soon.

So this one's for Kate, who said she liked the science tidbits.  I totally stole borrowed this from PhDcomics.com and the brilliant Jorge Cham.  The nerd in me thought this was hillarious, maybe you'll think so too!

Fiona de Mayo!

I know I know, thats not quite right.  But my friend Fiona came to the US for the first time (from Germany) two years ago today.  So I have dubbed this day "Fiona de Mayo" and I think it is so very clever and funny that I decided to share it with you.  I apologize for the cheesiness.  Onward we go.

I wanted to share some happy pictures with you:

This will be the new quilt for my bed.  I made it one a whim one night (well, over two nights really) and now it needs a backing and some batting and a few months of quilting and it'll be good to go.

Fabric for one of my bees.  I'm not sure that orange is supposed to be in there, but I might just see if I can get away with using it.  I do love me some orange.

More fabric for another bee hand dyed by Rick himself!

My niece, The Bean.  4 months old.  Just before we went to a festival to see a painting pig who refused to paint.  Not the best picture of her (or me), but that red hair is just irresitable!!!

I noticed that I'm getting anywhere from 40 to 60 hits a day now!  Most of you are silent readers, and I think most of you are checking out the Fabric Covered Letters tutorial.  So I ask you now, is there anything else you have seen on this blog (or would like to see on this blog) that you would like a tutorial for?  Or maybe a quilt-a-long?  Let me know . . . or just stay silent.  I appreciate your readership either way :)

Parcels in the Mail Box Make Me Happy!

I've decided that instead of calling packages "packages," I will now call them "parcels."  I don't know why, but it just sounds nicer.  And much more British!

My pin cushion swap parcel arrived in the mail last week on a day that I really needed some cheering up.  Lynsey, if you are reading this, I know I sent you an e-mail saying thank you, but you really can't know just how happy this made me!  It was delayed in arriving because of the volcanic eruption that closed down British air space for a week or so.  But, really, the timing was perfect in the end.

Lynsey sent me a whole mess of goodies, including this oh-so adorable chicken pin cushion in one of my favorite colors!  You can check out her etsy site if you want to nab one of your own.

These tags (which I'd seen on her blog and totally LOVE) are almost too cute to use.  They will be used, though.  One day.  For something very special.

Buttons galore!  And some trim as well that I didn't get a close-up of for some reason.  The thick trim that you can see in the first picture has already been set aside for a project.  Now hopefully I can get through everything else I want to do so I can use it.

And last, some beautiful floss and a post card!  Seriously, check out Lynsey's store and her blog.  If I had a door that needed propping open I would totally get one of her chicken door stops.  The only real door in my loft, though, is a sliding barn-style door! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  I went to a festival with my parents and my 4-month old niece (I can't believe The Bean is growing up so quickly!  She can already roll over on her own).  We went to see a pig who paints, but he was refusing to paint that day.  I watched the somewhat disappointing Mayweather v. Mosley fight.  AND I got the worst sun burn I've had in years.  Its uncomfortable to do anything but stand around in a very loose nightgown.  Urg.  Still, it was a good weekend.

Fabrics for May

May is my month for the Stitchin' Bee!  I'm so excited.  I've decided to do something a little different from my usual M.O.:  I'm sending all of the ladies a bunch of solids and asking for a 12.5 x 12.5" modern block.  The exact interpretation of "modern" is up to them!  The solids were colors I already had (budget, people, buuuuudget!).  Some of them work nicely together, some clash a little . . . I'm leaving it up to each sewer to decide which colors she wants to use in her block.  I can't wait to see what they turn out.  Everyone did such an amazing job on Kelly's beach quilt, I'm so proud of our little group!

Once again, the colors aren't quite right on my camera (I really need to figure that out!).  What appears to be a bright orange on the right is actually a nice pinkish coral.  The dark color is a charcoal grey.  There are two shades of aqua, a nice cream (which looks kind of yellowy here), three shades of purple and a bright yellow.  What do you think?

April Block for The Stitchin' Bee

I finally finished!  Kelly sent out her fabrics for The Stitchin' Bee a couple weeks early, and I'm so glad she did!  She wanted us to use the comic strip fabric and the other colorful stripes and polka dots she sent to create blocks for her "Dysfunctional Family Quilt."  She is lucky enough to live near the beach in Florida and needed a beach blanket/quilt that will accomidate her family, some toys, and maybe a picnic :)  When I think of the beach I think of Mexico and tiles and mosaics, so I used little bits of all the fabrics Kelly sent to make a mosaic block!

All the little pieces were cut out, laid out on a navy blue background block, and then hand appliqued . . . hence my happiness at having extra time.  I did a few squares each night and then cut away the backing fabric behind the appliques once it was all done.  It ended up being a little larger than 12.5" square, so Kelly will just have to mark out 12.5 and sew along the line.  I would have trimmed it myself but I didn't want to compromise the applique and I wanted her to decide where the cuts should go!

My favorite part?  The little circles I appliqued on top of some of the squares.  I think it looks interesting . . . and maybe Kelly and her boys will have fun looking at all the different parts and patterns in the block.  Oh, just in case you are wondering, the comic strip says "Benji, don't pee in the pool!"

(sorry, the colors are just a little off on the pictures above.  Everything has an aqua tinge!  Thats kind of beachy . . . right?)

Jumping the Gun

I was trying to wait until I knew she'd recieved it.  Really I was.  But I just can't wait any more!

I joined a pincushion swap that I found on swapdex.  The swap itself was hosted by Claire (she has an etsy shop too!), and I got paired up with Lynsey from the UK.  We were instructed to make a pincushion and put together some odds and ends to send with it.  I used stuff I already had because my budget is SUPER tight right now. 

The fabric for the pincushion itself is some sweatshirt jersey I had left over from a project that I have yet to post.  I used this pattern, but tweaked it a little bit and added rice to the bottom to stabilize it.  I actually tried to make my own pattern, but my mouse kept looking all lumpy and gross . . . more like a rat, really.  Nuno's site is cute, she has patterns for a lot of small stuffies and pincushions, so check it out if you have a little time.

As for the rest of the goodies, there are some bits of ribbon, a few of my favorite glass-head pins, some of my most awesome leftover buttons (because Lynsey uses a lot of buttons!), and a much loved and now gifted copy of the Bento Box quilt pattern.  She hasn't made any quilts that I can see, but this is a great one to start with if she's interested.  She has some small children at home, and I imagine it would be a lot of fun to have them help pick out fabric or match up the fabric strips and blocks, etc.

Hope I didn't ruin the suprise!

April Bee Blocks and Quilts of Valor

The first one you see here is for Heather of the Snip.Sew.Send bee.  She sent me some orange fabrics and very simple instructions for this block.  I love orange, so it was very tempting to keep this one for myself!  One of the pieces she sent was just a little too short so I substituted in a strip from my own stash.  I think it blends in nicely.  It was fun to have such a simple, straightforward block.

The blocks below are for Amy of the Pretty in Pink bee (yes, I joined ANOTHER bee.  In this one you have to use pink fabric, obviously.  How could I resist?).  She wanted those cute little wonky stars I see everywhere and she sent out some Gawjus pink and orange fabrics.  I really loved making the wonky stars. I even pieced both of the centers.  Here is the tutorial she linked us to on the flickr page if you want to try your hand at some.  You can adjust the size of the squares to change the size of the final block.  I might make a couple for the Quilt of Valor I'm working on.

So, more on the Quilt of Valor.  Some of the ladies in my Stitchin' Bee have offered to make and send me blocks to be sewn into a quilt or quilts for injured soldiers (through the Quilts of Valor program, click the link if you want to read more about it).  A few of us know people (or are married to people!) serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, and I thought it would be nice to help out in an old-fashioned sort of way.  The blocks are supposed to be 12.5 inches square in either red and white, blue and white, or red white and blue fabrics.  If anyone out there would like to help out just send me an e-mail and I will let you know where to mail your blocks!  They do recommend that you use only "mature" fabrics, so no cartoons please.  I know, it's hard.  All of my fabrics are very girly and juvenile.  I like 'em that way.