Fall Mittens

Yarn: Malabrigo

Needles: Us #7

Gauge: 4.5 sts per inch

Pattern: My own

New Project: Quilt Restoration

Thank goodness for friends of your mom who cast off treasures like this:

A finished quilt top in need of a little love... Oh bliss! I love quilts that are mostly white with all these cute little pattern pieces. Now I can get right to my favorite part which is hand quilting the layers together.

First I'm going to iron the top piece so that all the petals are flat and take out the old ties. Then I'll get some cotton batting to make the 'sandwich' with the backing fabric. I haven't quite decided about the backing fabric yet. Should I go simple and get a nice quality, whole cloth back that's just white? Should I get a cute little patterned fabric, like flowers or polka dots? Or should I piece together a back using the old fabrics I have downstairs at my moms house? Part of me thinks that piecing the back together would be the most resourceful, 'quilterly' and congruent with the style already set forth. There aren't too many non-cotton fabrics, so I don't think the maker was cutting up old shirts and dresses or anything! I'm not sure if these are feed-sack fabrics, but they certainly point that way. Perhaps she got a bag of scraps from the fabric store?

I think I'll investigate the fabrics downstairs first, to see if any would match, then go from there. I also want to add borders on all sides of the quilt top, since the motifs are currently quite close to the edges. I don't want anything too distracting though, no patterns. I would go with white, but trying to match the current color would be impossible and would probably look terrible. So I'm thinking a subtle, muted solid color like a light green, gold or coral. Something unusual to satisfy the artist in me. This is so exciting!

I plan to quilt around the outside of each motif and at the same time, tack down any loose tips. This is probably not the 'right' way of doing it, but I thought it would conserve time and thread. If I'm going to be going around anyway... why spend hours tacking down loose tips before hand? Not to mention tying all those knots?

Any suggestions for what I should do in the center of the flowers?

Etsy Update

I just added two new lace cuffs to my Etsy shop. Hopefully I'll have more time to update the shop while here in Maine. I'm really into the color of these photos. I think I took them this summer when I had a crazy tan from being outside all day, almost every day. I also can't believe I took them myself, holding the camera with my other hand! Not bad right?

Going Home

My apartment in a truckA few days ago I loaded all my possessions into a rental truck and made the seven hour drive back to Maine... with my cat. Thankfully my pal Sarah came a long for the ride and kept Louis (the cat) from jumping in my face. He chilled on the dashboard mostly while I admired the leaves and made small talk, unable to comprehend all I was leaving behind.

The time to move from Brooklyn hit me like a ton of bricks. Really? Leave the coolest place? (it is right?) Why? I have everything I'll ever need here. It's hip, happening and there's so much to do! Right. There's so much to do. At any given moment you could be doing something else much cooler, with much cooler people, wearing much cooler clothes or shoes. My friends are pretty rad, so I tended to focus on the shoes part and since I was almost always broke, buying such things was usually out of the question. Oh NY, how you inflated my insecurities!

My Marks family send off. They all came to wave goodbye, heart wrenching, but much appreciated!But I don't want to dwell on the darkness, because the city is a fabulous place, I'm sure in time I'll even be able to lift my "I heart NY" mug high, but it just wasn't working out.

Of course I have HUGE plans of doing everything I ever wanted in life in this new magical land of opportunity, but for now...I'm content to collect my thoughts, breathe fresh air, talk to people I haven't seen in years, invest in some new projects and find my smile.

Things I will miss:

• My pals and their kids
• The flea and these pickles
• The slate sidewalks covered in leaves and a little rain
• The Brooklyn Bridge
• Brooklyn being part of my addressThe Marks brought me a parting gift and as I opened it 2 year old Clarissa said "Happy Bithday Gimmie!" which just killed me!
• Bike riding in all seasons (ok, I didn't really do that, but at least I could!)
• Brooklyn Family Thanksgivings
• Being able to get almost anything at anytime
• Being able to drink as much as you want and still get home safely (hello subway/car service!)
• Things being open past 9pm!
• The skyline
• Parties on my roof

Things I won't miss

• Traffic
• Being underground
• Cockroaches
• The anger... in every line, street corner, subway car, driver...
• Carrying my bike up four flights!

Halloween Pairs

This post at from Aburn & Ivory helped me remember two things... one, it's almost Halloween and two, I really like group/pair costumes. It's much more fun to be in a coordinated group I think, rather than a solo act. I like staying in character too, which adds a little fun since the candy just doesn't quite cut it anymore!!

One year my friends and I were zom-bees, in our cute little bee outfits all deadfaced. Were were also a group of "Thriller" loving regular zombies once who strutted our stuff in the huge Halloween parade in the West Village. We practiced a lot and did our best Thriller dance, which was pretty great, but I did have to alter it a bit to suit the parade format. We did this several years ago and I'm pretty sure it was before the now famous dancing prisioners video. The night was unforgettable! Everyone goes nuts on Halloween in New York, but turn on Thriller and look out. Bust out in coordinated dance moves and thousands of people will cheer you on...Seriously. I don't think I'll ever experience an audience response like that again in my life!!

Other favorites I've seen around town: The kids from "Goonies," and a large posse of "Eliots" from ET with red hoodies on bikes.

I'm holding out to one day be Olive Oyl with my Popeye! Or maybe the Morton's Salt girl with the Gortons Fisherman... right??