We've Moved!

i've decided to move this blog to a new location, full of rainbows and butterflies.  okay, maybe not rainbows and butterflies, but still...  the new blog, which is crafty involved but not exclusively crafty, will be at http://thebestestpebest.blogspot.com/
see ya soon!

Stash Buster Quilt - Square Count

It's about a week later now since I came up with this "brilliant" idea of a project, and I have pretty much hit the bottom of my stash tubs (amazing, right?) My squares are pretty much cut out and ready to go. That is, until one of two things came to mind. One: my mom made mention of going through the fabric scraps in the garage. Even if there are measly scraps in there, they could still have 3" square potential. Two: In the coming months/years, I have plans to sew wedding gifts for a number of friends that are already currently engaged/married, thus leading to fabric square variety. Those will require purchasing fabric that I do not already have. I'm not entirely sure how to go about continuing from here, but I guess we will see as these gifts get better planned out. For the time being, the square count currently resides at 312 squares.

Stash Buster Quilt - Progress

Whelp, two nights of ironing and cutting so far, and it seems as if the stash pile hasn't changed much! The amount that has gone BACK in to the fabric tub seems to drastically changed - as in not much has gone back in! I still have a whole lot more to cut! Here is a quick snap shot as I counted out the squares in piles of 10 to see how many I had so far after night two. 136 so far! A few are duplicates of the same print, but where i couldn't decide between which I wanted, so i made both! For example, I couldn't decide between the bunny and kitty picking cherries, or the bunny feeding the kitty cherries. Truth be told, i totally DID have fabric with such activities happening! WHY i bought it in the first place... I really don't know. But I guess in the next few nights, we'll embark on how many more squares I'll have after the 136 marker.
And if I ever get motivated, I might come up with a more creative name for this blog... Now that I might actually start using it again. Because right now, it sounds like a giant ball of cheesy lame-ness.

making things happen

THIS is my mess. My box(es) of fabrics I have collected over the years that needs some serious SOS... I've been so technology plugged in with working on my business, I haven't had much to work on otherwise. That's where this hot mess comes in. I'm about to embark on probably the biggest pain of an adventure than I can think of at the moment. Every fabric is going to become part of a quilt. ONE 3" square per fabric. That's it. The goal is to help reduce the mass amounts of "bits & pieces" fabrics I have, while still putting them together... AND help me do SOMETHING not attatched to a computer.

I'll try and so some sort of check in every so often, so that this blog gets going again. Hopefully... In the end, perhaps I'll enlist Lisa to help me quilt this bad boy with her machine quilting skills. Until next time, I'm off to do some happy stash busting.

CRAVE world wide giveaway

i love excellent giveaways, and so should you! CRAVE is having a huge giveaway, including an all expense paid TWO DAY one on one workshop. PLUS 6 other vendors working together to create an excellent treat for the winner :)
you can check it out and get yourself entered here: http://cravemyphotography.com/blog/world-wide-giveaway/

What is In the Works:

Here's what is in the works from by emily, with love:
- beaded socks (and lots of them)
- baby quilt for a friend (its a surprise, so i can't name names yet)
- crocheted baby props - before baby boy peterson get photographed
and more exciting
- new selling experiment.
not sure how i like working with etsy to just have things sit and then expire.
so i'll be doing lots of product photographing, and hopefully have something to show for it in the next few weeks. stay tuned for more info!
p.s. you can see the detail shots from our bella vista craft fair 2010 over at my freeze frame blog! just follow the link!

dino baby quilt

its finally complete! baby boy no name has his quilt ready for him when he makes his appearance in to the world next month. this was definitely meant to be a "baby" quilt... but considering the size it ended up, i am sure it will be good for much longer. at least i hope so!
this quilt was pretty much a team effort to get everything for. i initially bought what PROBABLY would have been enough fabric, but i made the mistake of keeping the fabric folded when i cut it out, and when i went to get all the pieces ready, half of them were cut going the opposite way. and then all 3 sacramento joanns stores were sold out of the fabric. so guess who got to help find fabric for her own baby quilt? lisa, thats who.
details of the dino pinwheely design. i'm VERY happy with how the front all pieced together. there wasn't much seam ripping involved, which ALWAYS makes for a happy emily. and it was just so darn CUTE.
the back has the same dinosaurs, on while, in rows. simple, but coordinated. i do have to give joann's fabrics my love for all their cute fabric, and coordinating prints... but they know i love them. when i don't buy photo stuff... i buy craft stuff.
thank you, vanna. you made for a wonderful model. now its just time to figure out what in the world to craft next! oh right. i have baby props to assemble before next month. silly me :)

Safari Baby

i got a request from a favorite person of mine :) to make some baby related items. my best friend from growing up asked if she could commission me to make some items for her sister's baby shower. i've known jessica and her family since forever it seems, so i jumped at the opportunity to say yes! when i found out she was having a boy, it made me step out of the cutesy pink and purple kitty cat zone i found, and see what else i could create. and thus came the jungle/safari print. (please forgive the full quilt shots. nothing was doing it justice, but i felt it had to be included)

ariana's quilt

for ariana's 22nd bday, i decided she was in need of a quilt
mind you, the sheet that i based it all off of was bought some time last year to make her a quilt for christmas... i decided since christmas came and went, she would most definitely need one for her birthday (april 4th)
well, i managed to get it all together, piece by piece, and documented the whole process via my 365 project... therefore, she saw the quilt being pieced together, yet didn't know it was for her. i know, gotta love my sneaky ways. here are some photos of it for your enjoyment!

she love it :) so did her dog, and her mom. haha.
next up... well, i can't say. because its a bit more obvious than the last one. sorry, can't do any in progress photos during this one. but as soon as i have something else good, i will let you know :) maybe i'll post some cakes... once i get the E:// drive to show up again.

Too Cute to Pass Up

I blame the combination of 3 things.
joann's fabrics, discounts, and lisa being pregnant.
seriously, how could i NOT get this fabric?
initially i bought 3 yards of one fabic on tuesday...
i went back friday to get another3 yard allotment
but noooo. Joann's had to make the fabric be 60% off today, instead of not on sale so i could use my coupon. So yes, i jumped at the advantage, and bought the remainder of the matching fabric.
ensuring that lisa will have a boy. haha. lets hope that falls untrue.
i'm sure i have enough of the fabric to make matching quilts for lorelai and baby no-name if it is in fact a girl. my reciept was the best part i spent about $55 or so, but my savings was around $75. and technically, i only spent about 23, because i decided to finally bust out the visa giftcard i got for my birthday. i found this a very appropriate expenditure for that.
and now, i must not leave you yearning any longer. are you ready for the cuteness?
i said, are you READY for the CUTENESS?!
yeah, i wasn't ready for it when i first saw it either... i about died from the cuteness... and this was after a conversation with lisa about going to joanns and not wanting to buy fabric since i have nowhere to store it... and look what i went and did. haha.
on another note
we received information for bella vista's craft faire already, and we're already scheming ideas on how to make this year better. maybe we will get pity points for lisa being about 2 weeks to her due date and everyone will want to buy our stuff because of the baby-to-be. we are currently thinking up some new items to add to last year's combo of pettiskirts and bags. and thank goodness i won't need to be up till 2am the day before sewing bags. still have some from last year ;)
i've been feeling craftier lately, so perhaps there will be more updates on here. and maybe i'll get lisa to update hers more often. haha

cake balls

step 1.
pull up bakerella's directions
step 2. make cake.
step 3. get cake gracefully in to bowl. i did this by cutting in to chunks and moving it block by block.
step 4. mush cake blocks in to cake massacre.
step 5. open, and mix frosting in to cake mush, to make an even messier mush.
step 6. get cake mush to a good consistency (i think i used too much frosting in cake mush mix)
step 7. scoop out small portions at a time, and roll in to balls. place ball of cake on to wax paper on a cookie sheet.
this is like the lather, rinse, repeat directions on your shampoo bottle... you do it until you are out of cake mush.
step 8. be grateful you are finally out of balls to roll... because it took quite a long time, and made quite a mess. clean up like a mad man. refrigerate cake balls
now, in the original bakerella directions, these were directed to be cake pops. i changed course, and just let them be balls. i used the directions here to make the frosting coating you see in the final image. just follow the steps to make the "glaze" add the food coloring of your choice in to the mix for some color. it was supposed to be teal, but it definitely turned more blue than anything else. then dip your cake balls (after they've been in the fridge quite some time) in to the glaze. top off with some sprinkles, and you're good to go. i put mine back in the fridge. they are much better cold. warm, they turn in to a mess.

just ask the moms and kids that got to consume them. so there you have it, my quest in to making cake balls. as well, you also have a recent blog update on here... i doubt another one will be coming anytime soon, to be quite honest. i'm never in a crafty mood anymore. my life is 110% devoted to friends, photography, and work right now. until we meet again, this is emily signing off.

bella vista 2009

heres some photos from our craft fair last weekend.
ya know, the lack of sleep i'm still trying to recover from?

hahthis first photo goes to show the time of early-ness that we arrived.
taken an hour after we got there, 6:30 am.
still dark. still cold. and setting up tarp
here enters our time of labor needing to finish some things before the fair started.
we were generally all set up by 7 or so
and since i didn't get a fair amount of my bag holes sewn
(well, i could have if i wanted to pull an all nighter... but i felt like i needed that hour and a half of sleep that i did get...) you can see our booth in its entirety of loveliness
and lisa, sewing herself a quilt of my bags
view one of our booth.
the pettiskirt zone.
those things pretty much ate the table alive.
view two.
the chaos known as bag land.
seriously people... you had so many options...
why couldn't you buy atleast ONE that you came through and got your grimy hands all over?
view three.
flowers and scripture cases.
i think of the ones she sold
only two of the flowers went to kids.
one went to an adult.
and the other to my tweenage sister.
and here we all, in our booth of loveliness.
sure its not fancy schmancy like the soup smelling booth next to us
or shiney like the jewlery to the opposing side.
but for our first booth at our first craft fair
its pretty darn good. and served its purpose
---
i finally decided to start gearing up for our next craft fair.
although, i still slack at filling out the application to send to lisa.
(i'll try to remember to do that tomorrow)
but i have begun the square cutting of the flannel fabrics for rag quiltage.
the difference that a new rotary blade makes... haa haa
time to get back to that.

bedtime... way too late

shoot me now.
second round of bags...
if i counted right...
about 18.
i need to go to bed earlier... haa haa.
here is to hoping i make it to the gym at least once this week...

progress... times 12

on my ironing board hangs 12 bags.
12 bags that only need the hole in the lining sewn
and then they are good to go.
which means tomorrow, monday after school, and tuesday brings more cutting.
more piecing. and more sewing.
some of my current bags i don't love as much as i did originally due to little slip ups.
but i already have my eye on which one is going into the raffle on saturday at the craft fair.
just because i don't want to look at it much longer. haa haa.
on that note, its bedtime.
because if i stayed up much longer, i would have pulled being awake for 24 hours.
i imagine this will happen next saturday though...
having to be AT bella vista at 5:30 am.

the album. hopefully in order

i'm hoping this thing plays in order... like it is supposed to.
they show up in my photo bucket account in the order of the book, but earlier the slideshow was having issues. all letters, that aren't written in sharpie, were created using my cricut dicut machine and one of six font cartridges. other items used were ribbon, stickers, xyron sticker maker, sticky square thingy (can't think of the name right now...), and scrapbook glue.
enjoy :) now i'm off to bed, so i can sleep and then wake up to go to school. yuck.

ETA: its not playing in order... to see the pages in order, you can go to: kasey's album
i'm frustrated... it skips straight to sophomore year spring term in the slide show, going past 7 pages. pleh. its too late for me to deal with this now.

its finally time

however many days, weeks, and months later...

its finished.kasey's album is to be delivered tomorrow.

i need to finish scanning the second half of the book, but that is it
oh, and figure out the binding thing so it doesn't have gaping holes
but other than that, it is complete.
down to the very last most recent photo of us.
she leaves tuesday.
wow. where has the time gone?
-mind you, i did get to go wedding dress shopping with her
she got to see me try on the bridesmaid dress (in the wrong color... lol)
and tomorrow we have movie night.
i hope for one last oreo sundae trip to dennys before her departure.
*sigh* i'll miss ya, mini me

baby shower bag

i've got about 35 minutes left to kill before my final class
i have my laptop on campus, so i may as well update this now.
haa haa.
this bag was such an up and down situation.
i was going to do it, set out, got the fabric.
and then life happened.
work, megan's wedding reception, cake baking, dance portraits, music circus and kasey's bbq all in one weekend. so that made me decide i was not going to do it.
i was not going to get it done. period. end of discussion.
fast forward to friday... i decided i was going to make the bag... at 2:00pm.
i had to leave for work by three. had to search for the pattern. luckily i generally got everything cut out before i left. came home, went to the gym, and then to denny's with kasey.
now its midnight... i started pinning and sewing. 4 1/2 hours later, i was done with the bag and all i needed to do in the morning was sew the lining shut.
morning comes... i decide to do the wipe case... thing is. i lacked ribbon. insert run to beverley's crafts... good thing its a short drive down the road to get the ribbon to made the edge pretty. 12:30ish i was done... baby shower was at 1pm and ariana was picking me up for it. yes, i even had time to photograph it before wrapping it. so here are the goodies

cake. yum

lets just say the cake was a hit.
kasey's dad came in saying how everyone was "bragging" on it outside.
:)
inside is layered swiss chocolate, red velvet, & classic yellow.
in between the layers is whipped chocolate frostingoutside is classic vanilla frosting dyed 3 colors.
plus red sprinkles to make the red stripe more red.kasey's niece keira (a little over 2 yrs) even finger tested the frosting to make sure it was okay... of course she did this while telling us all what each color was, and pointed at the yellow with a bit of force. yum. yum. yum.

stressed

are you kidding me?
our stove is broken?
i have a cake to make!

finally a reason to make a cake again.

i haven't had any reasons in a long time to make a cake.
last one i made was last minute, and fell apart because i didn't let it cool in enough time
so i dumped frosting on it and called it cake.
this one, is more exciting in my opinion.
reason - one of my bestest friends that i've known since i was 13 and a freshman in high school is heading off to germany for three years with her airforce husband. she decided she wanted a going away bbq party of all her friends and family as a last hoorah before she goes.
i asked her to let me make a cake for her, and she gave me the okay. the original plan was to make a cake, and then just decorate it like a german flag. but, as the thinking got further, it will look like a german flag both inside and out. inside will be layers of chocolate, classic yellow, and red velvet cakes (i think its the right order if you're talking bottom up), filled with chocolate frosting between the layers (husband's flavor preference) outside will be striped across like a german flag in vanilla icing (kasey's flavor preference). also, as a surprise to her, i ordered some red and gold m&ms (and have been buying black ones at michaels) that say "Kasey & Don Long" on some, as well as "Germany or Bust!" on the others. she knows about the cake, but is unaware of my m&m surprise. theres a few more things i'd like to do, and hope that i can get time to whip out.
so there you have my update of cake making... i still need to get some bags going. we got into the craft fair. and technically, i have 42 more bags to make in order to reach our individual goals. plus rag quilts if i can knock some of those out... in which i hope to. gah. summer is coming to an end, school is starting up, which means i will have less time than i do now.