the quilting saga.

i am not exactly sure what originally caused my quilt obsession, but some time in my childhood i came up with the notion that i wanted to make a quilt and that idea never left me. i started many a quilt during the years, but at some point in the process i always stopped. it was not until i joined the peace corps that i actually managed to piece together enough little bits of fabric to get past the inevitable hump that tries to block you from finishing a quilt. i have always been fascinated by crazy quilts. "crazy" meaning that instead of a structured repeating design, every square is a mish-mash of fabric. sounds simple. no problem. i thought "crazy" was just the design. oh no. crazy is how you feel when you are putting one of these together. every single little piece of fabric is stitched onto a backing fabric and then every edge of these itty-bitty pieces is embroidered, so it will not unravel. and that is just making the squares. right.

anyhow, my stint in the peace corps exposed me to lots of gorgeous fabric. i sewed and sewed and resewed. and i saved every single scrap, no matter how small. being enamored with quilts, i of course was once again planning a quilt. i started the quilt in 2004, sewing by hand in my little hut. then in 2005 i moved to a "modern" house with electricity for a few months and used an electric sewing machine. wahoo! after relentless periods of sewing like mad, i returned from africa with one hundred pieced together squares. although these still needed a LOT of work, somehow that hurdle of creating 100 squares was enough motivation to get me through the entire quilting process. and it was a HUGE process. holy bananas.  after i moved back to the states, i settled in seattle, where i diligently embroidered edges with a hand-me-down sewing machine. the sewing machine did not fit in my little car when i moved across the country, so i bought a new machine in 2006 and continued the mammoth task of embroidering edges. 2007 was the year of cutting all the squares to size and piecing them together. finally in 2008 i put together all the layers, quilted them together, and finished off the quilt. 4 homes, 3 sewing machines, 2 continents, 1 quilt. the finished product is large enough to comfortably cover a queen-size mattress. 

 the african crazy quilt.

so, having cut my quilting teeth on such a massive project, i have since found smaller quilts to be a "simple" process. okay fine, they are not exactly simple, but they are sure a whole bunch easier than monster-sized bedspreads. plus i now know what i am doing, which helps.

wowsa, wowsa, wedding quilts.

after the peace corps quilt, i came up with the brilliant plan to create a quilt for each of my best friends' wedding gifts. three quilts. fantastic. and then they all got married within 12 months of each other. gasp. let us just say that i did a whole bunch of quilting in a short amount of time. naturally when my brother informed me that he was going to be a daddy, my brain went into instant hyper-drive planning the perfect baby quilt.

the baby quilt bonanza.

and then i opened an etsy shop and realized that maybe, just maybe, i could convince people to BUY my quilts. this added a whole new dimension to my quilting, because i discovered that perhaps i could feed my quilting habit without sending the mister and i into financial ruin. fancy. i have not actually yet sold one to someone outside of my family, but i am hopeful. the only thing i did not calculate was how much this quilting obsession would take over my life. let us just say that i am putting together fabric combinations in my sleep. two years ago i had never before finished a quilt and now i have completed seven and have more in production. egads!!!

bohobe.

i am still coming to grips with the fact that i am a capable cook. i did not grow up in the kitchen. well actually, that's not true. i DID grow up in the kitchen, but i was stealing cookies, not cooking. in the last few years i have not only become comfortable in the kitchen, i have actually become obsessive. pair that with a desire to do less shopping and suddenly i find myself baking our daily bread. whaaaaat?!?! yup-a-roni. like my current shopping reductions it all started during my peace corps service, where i learned how to bake bread on the stovetop. this education was strengthened by my peace corps mom. she quickly seized on my clay wedging skills, transferring them to kneading bread dough. in the process, she also taught me how to make bread in the oven. so now, armed with my limited bread making experience and my overzealous kitchen confidence i decided it was high time i start baking bread. after all, how hard could it be?

i did a little internet searching and found the ny times no-knead bread recipe that was supposed to be foolproof. it was. the first time. the loaf turned out so lovely it was featured in a january post. the second  attempt resulted in a gooey sticky mess that refused to do anything it was supposed to do. i chalked that up to letting the dough sit with a lid over the bowl rather than the requisite plastic wrap. fine fine. as it was an unrecoverable failure i dumped it in the garbage with little fanfare. bye bye yucky dough. after having discovered my plastic wrap "mistake" i confidently started on attempt three. twenty hours later i discover that it too failed. foolproof? either i am a fool, which is certainly possible, or this recipe is not proofed. with a bit of research i have come to the conclusion that my use of bread flour was likely my downfall - apparently when a recipe says "all-purpose flour", you are supposed to actually USE all-purpose flour. right then, no bread flour when making bread. huh? well that makes no sense. i need a recipe that fits in to my logic-based world. after some more internet searching, i opted for a lovely beginner's bread recipe. it does require kneading, but i find this to be a relaxing process. the bonus is that from start to finish only takes about 3 hours. not bad for homemade bread. after three successful loaves of bread, i think this is the recipe for me. i am not yet exactly sure about the economics behind it all, but it seems that i will be able to extract six loaves of bread from a bag of flour, so no matter how you slice it, there is a whole lotta money savings going on. better yet, we are eating good in this neighborhood.

death to shopping.

four and a half years ago i returned from my two year tour as a peace corps volunteer in lesotho. my experience in southern africa was life-changing and mind-altering, but somehow living in a tiny village, in a mud hut with no electricity or running water, was not enough to extinguish my yearning for STUFF. what stuff? any stuff. don't get me wrong..i joined the peace corps, not a nunnery, so while i lived a simple life, i did not see a need to completely eradicate consumption. whenever i went to town i invariably wandered through shops to peruse all the goodies and often ended up buying things that were far from necessary. on one hand i was supporting the local economy, on the other hand i was simply engaging in the consumerism that comes so natural to americans. you can take the girl out of america, but apparently you can't take the america out of the girl. at least not this girl.

before i left lesotho, i promised myself that i would do my best to continue living a simple life. nothing extreme...i was not about to turn down living in a house with electricity and indoor plumbing, but i wanted to try life with less possessions (not zero possessions, just less, less, less). upon reentry into the united states i felt that immediate tug to consume like a starving glutton. on my first day back i went to target. it was like sending a lamb to the slaughter - i wanted EVERYTHING. then within my first 12 months, i bought a car, acquired furniture, and bought a condo. and i have been wallowing in the murky waters of consumerism ever since. i might not yet be in need of a twelve-step program, but i am surely on my way to being addicted to shopping.

since i have no desire to be featured on the discovery channel as a hoarder, this past friday i drew the proverbial line in the sand. i have forbidden myself to go shopping. the only exceptions are food and any other items which the mister and i agree are needed. my goal is to save my time, my money, and my sanity. most importantly this will present me with a little more time and energy to enjoy the things that we already have. since my declaration i have cleaned up the clutter that was taking over our house and happily unearthed goodies about which i had forgotten. like a scandalous quantity of tea light candles -- thank you ikea. candles make me feel warm and fuzzy, so the past few days i have been merrily burning my way through our heap of candles. i have barely made a dent. i also rediscovered a stash of coasters. i dont know about you, but my mum ingrained in me that one must always use coasters. not surprisingly, i get excited about the wee little buggers. little did i realize how many we have acquired. so now my curiosity is overwhelming. i cannot wait for the myriad of possibilities that await me within the world of stuff that is our home. i am going shopping...in our closet.