Home Economics: Sewing Project, continued

Eventually, all the blocks were sewn into rows, and each row was sewn together to make a quilt that is 6 blocks across and 8 blocks long. My mother, the magician, somehow quickly made a lot of 2 1/2 inch strips of the yellow material using some curious folding technique that I don't have any pictures of to share...
These two pictures show that the strips were first sewn together to make a continuous edging, which was then ironed down the middle to make two evenly-sized halves.
The next step is to make the fringe, which is done by cutting into the fabric "seams" that are sticking out on one side of the quilt. This takes a long time and tires out your arm and hand, so it should be undertaken occasionally, with good breaks in between. Once all the fringe is cut, and it is sent through the washer and dryer (clean out the lint trap in the dryer OFTEN when this is done!), it will look fuzzy like the picture below. This is a wee pillowcase made out of 10 remaining squares that I couldn't use for the quilt: Once this project is done, I will post a picture of it before sending it up to Gainesville for M's baby shower! -G

Home Economics: Sewing Project

I don't make baby quilts very often. I've made the following:

-Sometime in the 90s- a primary color quilt with animals, given to my sister T when she had her daughter.

-Sometime in the 00s- A couple of box-quilts made from funky fabrics. 2 themes: yellow (for my friend AEM) and blue and green plus frogs (for my friend ABS). Both had boys. I told them that one quilt was a lifetime supply. AEM is pregnant now with her second, a girl. (I sent her a squirrel book for the kids this time.)

-Sometime in the 00s- I got inspired to make a butterfly quilt, then gave it to my friend C who was expecting a girl.

In the last few years, I've made another from grey, black, white, and orange t-shirts. It is really cozy. I've waited to give to someone who is an alumni of my old high school (which had the colors orange and black for its teams) but no opportunity has presented. So, it is in the closet.

Recently, my mom made a flannel quilt for my cousin's new baby boy, which was blue with cowboys on it. I thought it was really cool. So when I found out my friend M was expecting, I wanted to make the same kind of quilt.

I chose monkeys and bananas as a theme because M likes bananas, and because I wanted something that wouldn't look either girlish or boyish. Besides, who doesn't love monkeys?

It's a cool concept in that the quilt has a smooth side and a fuzzy side. This will be explained better as we go along.

The project requires:

-3/4 yard of 4 different fabrics (flannel) (Or, 3 yards of flannels in whatever quantities you prefer)

-1/2 yard of same or coordinating fabric (flannel)

-patience

-time

-a sewing machine

-definitely some scissors or one of those pizza-slicer-style fabric cutters

Step 1: Cut all of the fabric (except for the 1/2 yard) into 6-inch squares.

Step 2: Sew the squares together so that the outside of the fabric faces both ways. In other words, take 2 6-inch pieces with the pretty sides out and sew them together in an X formation. See the picture for additional information.

Step 3: Put all the squares together into different patterns so you can choose how you want your blanket to look. Keep in mind that you can buy different quantities of different fabrics to come up with a certain look.

For this project, I decided that if we did rows like stair-steps, it would look nice.

This is what my layout looked like when the individual rows were sewn together but the entire interior of the quilt was not.

Step 4: Sew the squares together so that all of the seams are on one side. In other words, you have one side of a strip of flannel that is smooth, and the other side has the jagged edges of flannel. Use at least a 3/4 inch seam for these rows. You can see some examples of the jagged sides of the flannel on the second picture here.

This is where we end the home economics class for today. When we go to my mom's house, we will learn how to make the binding and sew it on to the outside of the blanket. I've chosen a lovely bright yellow for the binding.

-GALA

OK, So Here's What Happened Part II

My sister's marriage didn't go as planned. It's not really right to rehash the details but let's just use the phrase "irreconcilable differences" and leave it at that. I live in the house still, with just my sister, as she is the sole owner of it. We're working together to get the garbage cans in and out on the appropriate days and keep the place clean. We've coordinated our grocery shopping and cooking to share what we can, when we can. She handles the heavier yard tasks while I try to keep the weeds at bay (and put down that funky fabric to keep them from coming back). It's a process, and with the weather as hot as it's been, I haven't ventured outside to do yard work this weekend. I mean, why stress myself? So now, it's the Sister's House, and we enjoy ridiculous movies and TV shows when we are together. Today, we're taking turns vacuuming. I'm doing laundry and cooking, and she can help herself to whatever I've made. That's the agreement. Work is nutty. We're having layoffs about every 6 weeks now. I anticipate more in about 2 weeks. I am not sure who there has what plans for me/my position but it's hard to plan that far ahead. I keep myself occupied with meeting up with my writing group and seeing my friends. Being in Tampa is great because I've had friends here for years: from college, from doing theatre, from former jobs. Just about every weekend, there's a food date and accompanying extracurricular activity. Yesterday, I went to Ybor City with Justine and had lunch. We ran around and laughed about all the adventures we've had in all the different places there.

The weekend prior, Mindy came up and we had breakfast and then birthday massages. Then, we went to our respective homes and napped. We can agree that it was top drawer. My friend Cherie recently took me out to dinner for my birthday. Again, the conversation was top-notch and the gluten free hamburger was great too. My b.f. Claudia visited a few weeks ago and we were off to St. Pete to see our friend Lisa, whom we met on our trip to Ireland in 1995! I am very thankful for all of these friends- and the others here too. Plus, both of my sisters are here, one brother-in-law, two grandparents, a niece and a nephew. My parents live about 70 miles inland, too. I find it wise to simply enjoy my time here and enjoy having a steady paycheck while it lasts. After all, I have so much to be grateful for, so why grumble about it? Usually when I lose something I end up with something better. I just have to keep that in mind. -GALA

OK, So Here's What Happened....

"OK, so here's what happened" was the working title of the BOOK I wanted to write about my time in Ocala. Yes, scary and backward Ocala. Family-friendly/ single-hostile Ocala. Wow. (That book now has a different title and is in the works under a nom de plume! ;) A lot happened when I owned the townhouse. A global financial meltdown. A severe loss of property value. Several sinkholes, some of which made the Orlando news! Yes, you could see my back porch on the Orlando news, thank you very much. A lot of really awkward social encounters with locals in the Gainesville/Ocala area. A lot of alone time. An operation, and complications from it that lasted for.... a year so far. And, that's all she wrote. I am making a new start now, but before I did that, I went through several transitions. 1) An aborted attempt at a garage apartment south of Gainesville ended in angst when the owner bug-bombed it and left it sitting unattended for about 3 weeks. I opened the door to dead animals everywhere (luckily, small ones). I gave the key back and got a refund. Later, they discovered mold on the bed used to furnish the place, so I'm glad I didn't stay there. I would have blown up in hives in no time. (I only blew up in hives in North Central Florida; it's a moldy place.) 2) A housesitting gig at my friend B's apartment over Christmas. I wish I had pictures. It was exactly what I wanted after time in a cold, half-empty townhouse: a warm yellow room with a big closet and a storage unit across town. Whew. I had gotten out from under the dark cloud of too-big bills and a townhouse in a town where I didn't care to stay and couldn't work either. Lots of Netflix Christmas movies kept me company on the days when I was there alone (which was most of them) and it was relaxing. Just what I needed in the midst of the holiday hubbub. 3) Next, I stayed with a woman I met on craigslist.org. She had a 4-bedroom house in Gainesville and an empty nest. I was in the middle of interviewing for a job in Tampa (yes, 150 miles south of Gainesville) and needed another temporary place. We agreed that I would pay for 2 months even if I didn't stay that long, although I ended up staying almost exactly that long. When I contacted her by phone, she sounded harassed. I didn't know how to handle this, so I started slowly with my credentials (I have a job in Gainesville, sold my house sooner than I expected, ended up staying with friends, and need a room to rent soon. I can provide references if you need them. I promise I'm a nice person.) and eventually she confided to me, "I put that ad on craig's list today, and you would not believe who's been calling me. Creepy men, mostly." "Oh, I bet they have!" I said and explained my similar predicament when I tried to rent a room in my townhouse. For a while, I ended up with a female roommate who had interesting ideas about what a clean bathroom entailed. A picture is included for your reference. Warning: the following picture made at least one of my sisters gag: In any case, we met and agreed that I would rent a room. In many ways, we exceeded each other's expectations, too. We had several good conversations over dinner or at other times while I rented the room. My friend B was looking to unload a TV and I found a new home for it in my rented room. I hooked it up to the cable and we were good to go; I could watch TV in bed like some sort of rock star :) I paid the amount we agreed upon on time for each of the two months. I even went to Lowe's and got a bejeweled Diva-style house key for me to use, which I gave to her when I left (and which she loved). The rented room was painted dark blue with white trim and a white door. I bought large curtains to put on the curtain rod above the closet; the closet doors were long gone. She offered me a heating unit for the room, which became my best friend on those cold Gainesville nights. I left a few of my prototype door snakes there. Two stayed in the rental room window to keep things extra cozy. She needed them for different drafty doors in her place, and I was moving from room to room so I didn't need them anymore. (I sewed a whole basket of them to give away as Christmas presents in 2011.) But perhaps the most notable move happened next. I moved into my newly-married sister's house to start a new job with a big new raise. She and I figured a while back that we'd live together when I "graduated" from Gainesville, but since she and her man had moved up the wedding date, well, we all live in the same place now. I suppose that in the interim, we could call this blog Gabi's Sister's House, but this is temporary of course. I pitch in with taking care of the dog, remember to set out the trash more often than not, and try to keep everything clean. This was the place where my furniture and other stuff have been stored since the move out of the townhouse. At first, the guest room was mayhem, but I am slowly whittling it down. There are a few more things I need to unload and then we'll be in the clear. So yeah, things were awkward in Gainesville. People wondered why I didn't just get an apartment, and I couldn't very well tell them I was interviewing for work elsewhere. But that secret's been out for a while now; I started the current job in March. I also fell in love with someone far away, which makes me want to remain as mobile as possible. I told him I'd need a serious commitment (read: engagement) to consider moving and so far he hasn't run away, run away quickly. So, you never know. Gabi's house is on the move once more....

Hooray, a writing blog!

At the artists' meeting last week, they pointed out to me that I needed to put my writing clips online so that people could read them.

Therefore, wah-lah! Last night and today I went through my clips and blog articles and so on to find my writing samples from newsletters, newspapers and magazines. These articles, along with my writing CV, which took me a long time to compile, can be viewed at http://gabiswork.blogspot.com. There is a link to this site on the upper right hand side of this page.

At first, I thought pdf's would look better on the blog, but then I checked a journalist friend's blog and hers were all added as entries... Given that she's a career journalist, I figured I should take her lead on this.

It's nice to have this organized, and hopefully it will benefit me in the future when I apply to work as a freelancer somewhere.

Yours,

Gabi

It's curtains for me now... and more.

Hi readers,

Welcome to my boodwah. You know, that word that's spelled boudoir. Excuse me if I can never get the French spelling for anything right without a dictionary- so today I decided to just sound the word out. Here it is.

I've made some improvements to my boodwah. Above, you can see the curtain rod and curtains. This only took a year to put together. At first I wanted palm tree print curtains but didn't find any I liked. Then I thought some beige canvas ones would be cool and "match anything," but when you're too lazy to paint, beige curtains really aren't an option unless you want to be bored out of your mind with your curtain choice. So, I decided on sage green. The ones on the outside are thermal and don't let in light. They also insulate the windows and keep the room cooler in summer, warmer in winter- and this will come in VERY handy. I'll just slide the thermals over and scrunch the pretty ones up in the middle and wah-lah! The room will stay toasty this winter.

Yes, wah-lah. I mean, the word that's spelled like viola (but not referring to the musical instrument).

I also bought new drawer pulls for my beurow. You know, that thing you put clothes in. It's really spelled bureau but wouldn't you know it, these French words have me reeling again. You can also see the fan above. Notice I have no trouble spelling "fan." Isn't it pretty? It reminds me a little bit of Key West- but thank goodness this isn't Key West. Key West never gets cold, and how I love to wear clothes with sleeves and pantlegs. Thank goodness I'm far north enough to do that for part of the year!


Finally, we have an overall view of the room, with jammies stashed out of sight and everything matching. It's an event when it all looks like this, so I had to take a picture.


I hope you've all enjoyed my pictures. Enjoy your day, and remember:

When you're too lazy to paint, beige curtains are a "no" unless you're going to tie-dye them. That would be cool.

Love,

Gabi

Photographic Melee

"When I look back on my ordinary, ordinary life,
I see so much magic though I missed it at the time."

- Jamie Cullum, "Photograph"

I decided to update my framed photographs to stuff that's more casual, less stuffy than posed photos. This was inspired by a few things: realizing that I didn't have a picture of two of my best friends up because we never "pose" for pictures together (unless the poses are completely ridiculous and may include a feather boa); a desire to surround myself with something new and positive; and a move away from the ordinary. Please, I'm known as someone who's creative, so why these stuffy posed pictures in my house? I had to make a change.

Now the photographic menagerie includes the following:

- My younger sister and I under the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign
- Cherie, Justyn and I at Cherie's wedding, posing like showgirls on the beach
- All the ladies from our trip to England, with that post-Ewanspotting glow from our trip to the Piccadilly Theatre, where he performed
- Claudia and I at Justine's Halloween party years ago- she is a gypsy and I am cartoon character Daria
- A 5 x 7 of my old dog Buddy, taken with my Minolta
- Fun pictures from a trip to Miami with several great friends
- Mindy, Jen, Kris and I another Halloween when we dressed as slutty fans from various musical genres: Jen took country, Kris took heavy metal, I took punk rock (what else?) and Mindy was the Purveyor of Sin, with a tool belt full of the tools you need to sin: condoms, shot glasses, alcohol of some sort, and I forget what else...
- Niece and Nephew in New York, building a snowman
- A "real" portrait of me and my sisters (a classic, so it can stay). (It gets extra points for being in black and white).

Elsewhere in my house is a picture of my "best friend" from my youngest years: my dog Lance. He had been outsmarted by a ball of yarn and it was wrapped all around his middle when the picture was snapped. Either my mom or dad took the picture because he and I were born the same year and he looks like he still might be a puppy in this picture. Then again, my older sister may have taken it. It's unclear. It's just cool that I get to see him every day, because he died in 1984 and I still remember what the fur on top of his head felt like.

And then there's the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. I won a contest with a picture I took of them. Although they are so awesome, it's kind of hard to screw up a photo of them. Kind of like Venice, Italy. Is it possible to take a picture there that doesn't look cool, just because it's an awesome place?

Finally, I'm starting my collection of Italian wedding photos- a move inspired by several Italian restaurants. Naturally, these pictures are in my dining area. One was snapped of my grandparents just outside the church where they were married, and you can see their cousins in the background. It's funny how we know exactly who these people are even though they've been together over 60 years. The second one is of my parents, walking down the aisle in 1967. You can see how everyone in the church has their head covered- an old school Catholic thing- and it helps you see how the moment is frozen in time. My mom was a bottle redhead and says that they both had movie-star good looks back then. My dad is about as big around as a paper clip and has his Navy haircut. It's pretty cool.

I have to go get clothes out of the dryer and go interview for a job (!) so I'm going to stop rambling. Hope you are all doing well.

Gabi