Hi Friends.

Ok ok, things are a little fishy right now with my domain name. I'm sorry, I'm working on it. After I get this all figured out, I'll come back and show you my latest project(s). In the meantime, why don't we make some biscuits? 

I really like biscuits.

Especially since they have nothing to do with domain names. Some people might have biscuits in their domain name.  Not me. Also, some people might have a great recipe for biscuits that they would post on their blog after rambling on and on about biscuits. Again, not me.

I just really like biscuits.

Love you mean it!

Um, P.S. is my entire blogroll now gone? Seriously? I don't really have a backup plan for that...

OMG

It's totally a new post!

Ok I haven't been totally ignoring the blog (again..). If you'll notice we now have an updated About Me section and three new sections: About Beautiful Ordinary, Hire Me, and Contact. I also haven't been totally ignoring my sewing machine either, but the project I was working on was rather...well, boring. Ben's clinical portion of his quarter starts tomorrow (that's not the boring part!), and I was making him scrubs (boring part). Sorry babe. Although, focusing on the positive, I was able to brush up on some basic apparel making skillz while sewing three tops and one pant. Initially I was going to make two pairs of pants, but I'm sooo not the biggest fan of sewing pants and luckily found a $3 pair at the thrift store. Yay for not having to make two! Oh, and while two of the tops are your basic blue, the third is from Moda's "Goodnight Monkey" line featuring monkeys and bananas!

Aside from Scrubsland USA I've been deciding what to do with my life. Pretty much. It's a big decision. Lots of research involved. Well, I seriously found my solution in the craziest way possible; I Googled it. I asked Google if Google thought it was a good idea for me to get a Bachelor's degree or a second technical degree. I know, what the heck was I thinking? But, against all odds, it lead me to Western Washington University's Fairhaven College for Interdisciplinary Studies. Which is awesome for many reasons, the main one being: UPSIDE DOWN DEGREE PROGRAM. It's a category of concentration within the college that allows you to transfer a (seemingly) non-transferable degree into a Bachelor program. Specifically designed for people like me who want to expand their original discipline but don't want to go back and take all the general education blah dee blahs that a regular transfer degree would require. SO. That means, pending acceptance, I will get my cake and eat it too. How freaking great is that?? My degree comes from regular Western, I can take classes at regular Western, I can create my own program, I have access to regular Western perks...ahh. I'm stoked.

So that's what what right now. I hope ya'll had a great weekend! I'll come around more often, I promise.

EQ7 Debut!

What's this you say? Electric Quilt is a computer program that helps you design quilts and blocks. Man, I would give up my graph paper in a heartbeat for this program. Plus you can use fabric swatches to see an incredibly accurate finished idea. I can see myself playing for HOURS. Anyway, it's latest version is coming out soon, and you can enter to win your very own copy, and if you have a blog you can win an ADDITIONAL copy for a giveaway! HOLY MONKEY. So, go here, do the stuff, and good luck to you. 

But mostly good luck to me. ;)

xoxo

FNSI--For Reals.

If there are any Friday Nite Sew In peeps still out there, these were my projects for 4/16. If you're asking, "What the heck is Friday Nite Sew In?!" Please check out the button in my left side column. I'll make an arrow since sometimes I forget which way is left (see also: previous post about not knowing how to read a calender...).

<==== Left. (yay me!)

Project #1: Rylyn Jane's quilt - added borders, ruffles, and batting/backing.

If you'd like to know how I made this guy, check out the "Postage Stamp Quilt Along" button in my left (see above) sidebar.

The borders, ruffles, and orange stripe squares are actually bed sheets! There are many schools of thought on using bed sheets in quilts; I happen to love it. So I'm doing it. So there. =)

Have you ever used bed sheets in your quilts? What did you think?

The other squares came from April Cornell's line Spring Magic by Moda. It came as a honey bun, and if you read the quilt along tutorial you'll see how great a help that was. I actually have another postage stamp quilt in the works, with a completely different color palette and no honey bun cheating.

Project #2: Mom and Dad's quilt - finished piecing the top.

Hello, biggest quilt to date. This queen size mutha is a design all my own. It's pretty simple, but I wanted it that way because I knew I was going for a scrappy look. My mom picked out (most of) the fabrics, which was a fun shopping trip. I, of course, have added my own bits here and there (hello, Carolyn Gavin print!) which I think adds my signature without being too blatant.

This quilt is so big that I literally could only work on the individual blocks for each row two columns at a time. With the help of a bunch of graph paper and white out, I made a last minute decision to add the horizontal sashing. I love how it turned out. It really balances the scrappyness, gives it cohesiveness. What do you think?

Well, that's all from me for now. If you haven't yet, check out my previous post. It's like a FNSI twofer. 

xoxo

Friday Nite Sew-In

Okay, so I know this was posted a week ago as FNSI....since I apparently can't read a calender! I had a busy night tonight and have to work tomorrow so I may not get around to posting what I did on the actual FNSI till tomorrow evening. Please enjoy this project for now and check back later! ;)

xoxo Kristen

Hey ya'll, tonight my bf and I decided to hit up a sock hop. Yup! A fifties style party with a band and everything! I thought, hmm....what to wear, what to wear! And then I remembered this dress I got at the thrift store the other day.

Oh yeah! Perfect and fun and....um, I better try it on first.

Well, if you've never met me you probably don't know that I have (um, how do I  put this..?) some large knockers. It's a true case of Chesty LaRue. And while I would happily give some away to a willing recipient, that wasn't going to happen before this sock hop. 

Look at those tiny little pouches. No way was I getting any respectable amount of chest in there. I was so sad, because this dress has a lovely and adorable print that I just fell in love with.

A light bulb went off when I remembered that I know how to sew! Aha, large chest, you are foiled in your plots against this dress! So I turned it into a skirt. Yippee!

I get to keep most of my adorably printed used-to-be-a-dress!

As an added bonus, the bodice has enough adorable print that I added to my stash o fabric to be cut up and incorporated into something else awesome. Double win!

The sock hop was fun, and even though we were the youngest people there by at least 20 years, we danced and listened to good music and ate good food. With that, I bid you all good night as I leave you with this picture of the view from my deck (which is just off my sewing room!):

That's a peek-a-boo view of Lake Whatcom, the reason why Cascade dish washing detergent is illegal in my county. But that's another story. =)

My First Quilt.

My very first quilt EVER!, originally uploaded by beautiful ordinary.

Just thought I'd share this with you, it's the very first quilt I ever made! This is just the top before it was made into the sandwich and quilted. It went to my nephew Luke, and I hear it gets "borrowed" by his sister often. So I'm working on a quilt of her very own.
I finished this quilt in early 2009. Didn't quite make it before he was born...but eh, nobody's perfect! ;)

Hope ya'll had a great weekend!

So Flattered!

Thanks to Jenn for giving me this wonderful award! Yes, this is the same Jenn who sent me the painting Together which pulled me out of a creative slump. Read her dedication post here.

Well, part of the award mandates that I confess 7 interesting things about myself, so here goes!

1. I love coffee. This may have an affect on my tendency to be a night owl and not a morning person. I can be a snob about my coffee, too. I'm not the biggest Starbucks fan (which is generally what people think when I say I love coffee and I'm from Seattle). I generally prefer smaller roasters like Stumptown and Tony's and I would eventually love to travel to Italy to try coffee there, too. Hmmmm. Coffee. My drink of choice: Americano. I usually drink it iced, even in the winter. Something about not having to wait for the hot coffee to cool off. 2 Splendas, no cream. Perf. (perf is to perfect as vacay is to vacation.)
2. One of my favorite things is leaving the hair salon with "that" hair. You know, that totally-unattainable-at-home hair that only happens when someone else does it for you. Sigh. Plus, the head massage during the shampoo....to die for! I just had my bangs trimmed today but splurged on a shampoo and blowout so I totally have "that" hair right now. Yessssssss.
3. Both of my grandfathers led very unique lives in completely different ways. My mom's father was a magician, singer, and entertainer aboard cruise ships. Seriously. He had a top hat and belonged to a magician's society and everything. I grew up wanting to be a magician's assistant so I could wear sparkley dresses and play with bunnies. My dad's father was a senator in the Kennedy era. In fact, he was very close to JFK and worked as his right hand man. He was known as the "Silent Senator". Any Kennedy buffs out there? Well, Google it. He even has a Facebook page (which is creepy when he shows up in my recommended friends, because he passed away almost 20 years ago!).
4. My kitten is named after a Battlestar Galactica character. This is my boyfriend's fault. He desperately wanted her to have a rank, so we settled on Admiral so I could call her Addy (and pretend she was named after Kate Walsh's character on Private Practice, Addison Montgomery). This wasn't enough, so he gave her the full name Admiral Bill Adama from Battlestar Galactica. If you don't know the show (and people, I do not know the show nor claim to), this is apparently Edward James Olmos's character, and the same show they say "frack" instead of the eff word.
5. I'm a bit of a tomboy at heart. Growing up I played with the boys (especially when I could convince them to play Barbies, which usually involved a wedding with GI Joe). I still hang with the dudes. I just never related to the girly girl thing. Right now I'm probably as girly as I've ever been.Meaning, I wear dresses and skirts without an occasion, I'm not afraid of pink anymore, etc. but I'm still happiest in my jeans and hoodie.
6. After being a bartender in Seattle for a few years, I decided I wanted to try a new field when we moved up here. So I got a job working in a dog grooming salon. I had no idea how much I would love working with dogs! Now I really want one of my own. I love my kitten to death, but she def needs a playmate. Right? Cats like dogs, right?? =) (btw, that's not me in the picture. it's my lovely former co-worker and general manager of the bar I used to work at. super cool picture tho, huh?)
7. So this last one is inspired  by Jenn. I have a HUGE sweet tooth. One of my favorite treats is ice cream. One of my favorite flavors is super embarrassing to buy at the store. It's called "Take the Cake" from Dreyer's and it's basically birthday cake flavored ice cream. A close second is cookie dough, followed by Butterfinger, and anything with peanut butter and chocolate. My boyfriend says when it comes to food, I have the palette of a kindergartener. Whatever, dude! So what if I only like things that are YUMMY??!!

Okay, so there you have it!! Again, thanks to Jenn of Just Add Water, Silly for this award! I will post more pictures of my studio for you soon, girl!