'Twas the Day of Christmas

My Christmas was pretty laid back. I woke up late, watched tv, made crepes for breakfast, (my family called & talked about farting and saying the word 'ass' in church the previous night - that's a typical Kasiske thing), and then sat down at my sewing machine.

My neighbors are expecting a girl in February. Not only are they expecting a girl, but the Mom-to-be L O V E S pink, so you can imaging what the color is of everything that they have gotten thus far. As a Christmas gift to Baby M (and to the Dad-to-be), I made two gender-neutral burp cloth & bib sets. The monkey print is front & back, lined with brown. Apparent the Dad-to-be is obsessed with monkeys, so this was a perfect print! The dog pattern (they are Dewie's dog sitter if Mike and I are both out of town) is backed with a brown terrycloth (towel for those of you who don't pay attention to the name of fabrics) for the bib and burp cloth. I've been wanting to use that more - it'll help wipe up messes even better. It was just another something to experiment with!

These fabrics might make another appearance in the near future... (woof woof)

TubaChristmas!

When I left the house in the morning, it was a bit drizzly. I didn't think the weather would be great for tooting my tuba in front of the state Capitol. We had an hour practice to run through some songs, and then headed out to the crowds.
I was surprised at the turnout - not just of the Tuba Players, but also the number of people in the crowd. I was pleasantly surprised to see four people from church, several from work, and a neighbor or two.

Mike snuck behind-the-scenes to take a picture of me in action. Exciting, right?

It was fun, but next year, I think I'll skip the rehearsal. My lips definitely didn't work right until the next day.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Dewie insisted in dressing up like Santa. It must be a dog thing.

Mike's house is SO COLD that he grew a carrot nose. (Wait a second, the song says Frosty had a button nose!)

And I've been tinkering around with toys. Goodness, my job is never done.
I haven't done anything to get in the Christmas spirit. No tree, no decorations, no advent calendar. I think it was a combo of not being home for the first 2 weekends in December, and the fact that I'm celebrating with Mike circa Jan 3 and my family ~Jan 15th-ish. So I picked up ornaments at JoAnn's, some paint, and we decorated last night! Naturally, I only found the orange and maroon paint to be worth purchasing. Mike tried to put a "VT" in the top left bulb -- it was a little tricky. We'll need curved paint brushes next time.


These stocking ornaments are currently hung on a chandelier in the kitchen. So far, no tree. Will I get it up before the 25th? (Most likely before Dec 25, 2011!)

Knitting was my Therapy

What do you do on a plane to pass the time when you can't focus too well on a book? Crochet! And when I realized that I forgot my scissors, I decided to attempt to make my first hat. I liked swirling the orange and maroon so much that I made a matching scarf as well. (The scarf was finished in Austin.) I don't know if I could consider this a Christmas present, or if I strategically wanted him to have a hat & scarf for when I complain about his house being too cold!


For a moment, I ran out of maroon yarn. I searched my mom's knitting stuff and did about half the rows in this eventually-will-become-a-purse. It's still in NY for anyone that's interesting in picking up the needles.



So I knew I'd have enough for my hands to do, I picked up some red/pink/white yarn to crochet a baby blanket for a neighbor. After all, my 4 day trip home doubled and turned into a week and a half. Yes, I finished the blanket before I got on the plane.

Houston Quilt Show, Round 5

Of course this is the grand winner! It looks like there is black fabric with pink that lines the diamond and is in between the main section of the quilt and the border. Nope, there's actually NO fabric there. There is pink and black piping that is woven and sewn into the quilt. Is that a gray fabric used? Of course not! The background was a white fabric, the gray shades come from black thread that was used in the quilting. You can really see it in the second picture.



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Houston Quilt Show, Round 4

It's all in the details! Check out the piecing and quilting on these.

First, I love the color contrast. Second, look at the quilting. (A close-up is below.)

This one was amazing. It's a close-up of a boy. But look at the quilting. You can see kids playing and laughing. (You can especially see it on the left - his forehead and cheek.)

Look at the thin strips of fabric that make up each circle - AND the quilting that went into it. I definitely don't have that type of patience. That's crazy!

Houston Quilt Show, Round 3

Quilting can be so mathematical. All the symmetry, all the precision - who wouldn't love it? Here are some if my favorite mathematical and/or optical illusion quilts.

This one got an innovation award as being a quilt of the future. Yes, it's 3D, and those are quilted pieces that were cut and somehow adhered on a 90 degree angle.

This one had teeny-tiny squares. The center consists of small log cabins sewn together. Crazy!


This one is just nuts. Ok, so you see the block pattern from far away in the big picture. But check out the close-up image. The quilted circles make it look completely different close up!
This one was fun too. I'll forgive that there are two orange and blue boxes (ahem, UVA), since there's a blue and maize one in the center of the quilt.

Houston Quilt Show, Round 2

Round 2 Consists of Quilts for friends. This brought be back to 2nd grade, collecting Monarch caterpillars. I swear it moved as we walked towards it.

This one is for you, Mom. How's your outhouse-building project coming along?

And for Mike. There's no way I can replicate anything close to this. The fabrics were dyed a bit, and the blurry bikers are all quilted in!

For Lauren and Henrick. My houses-on-water wasn't QUITE as detailed... (Again, the water fabric was dyed to get that effect.)

For Jules. Did you think there WOULDN'T be a horse quilt in Texas?

For everyone else I didn't mention - because you all are twisted log cabins and if bound together correctly, you look pretty cool. I don't know what that means, but this is neat, and probably something I could do in the near future (though probably not as big.)

Houston Quilt Show, Round 1

I walked around the Houston International Quilt Show with my jaw open. I'm surprised I didn't drool. There were so many fabrics, colors, techniques, & interpretations. I apologize - I forgot my camera, so all I had was my iPhone. Some pictures aren't as clear as they should be.


Look at all of the different fabrics used for this one, especially on the bark of the tree. I love how the leaves are 3D.

I cannot imagine the time it took to quilt this peacock feather. The entire eye is thread - you can see it best in the brown of the bottom half. Each piece of the feather is thread as well. Holy canoli!


This one started as a one-month project that turned into three years. If you look at the details, you can see they stitched in images of the liberty bell, the "Don't Tread on Me" snake, animals, flowers, etc. The Pledge of Allegiance lines the border of the blue section.

This was a $10K winner - as it should be. She made and dyed the lace border. What!?!!!

Since I Can't Grow a Mustache...

Apparently, crazy facial hair has been a craze among a few of my friends for the past year or so. A few have grown mustaches enough to curl the ends with wax. One friend decided enough was enough - he was ready to end the mustache phase of his life. As in any of his parties, he went all out. Hundreds of fake mustaches to choose from laid on the "welcome" table, mustache clocks, mustache shot glasses, and mustache stickers were strategically placed around his house.

I opted to applique the glasses-with-big-nose-and-mustache disguise onto a t-shirt. I bought the shirt from the dollar store when I bought the black pirate shirt (hey - the party was hosted by the same guy, I might as well applique the next theme too). The rest of the fabrics were scraps from my bins.After laughing at Mike & touching his face for a good 10 minutes, I had to quiz him to make sure it was really him under this crazy 'stache. He went all out, shaving his head and his beard. I feel a little bad - I laughed at him for most of the night when I looked at him. I told him to dye it platinum blond like Hulk Hogan. (Somehow it did make him look more buff. Maybe it was that '80s look.) No worries though - it is safely shaved off and he'll return to his normal sophisticated beard.

Beerventures in Houston

When I saw that a beer can house on a list of "50 crazy houses" was in Houston, it became something that was put on my "possible adventure" list for when I visited. Once Mike told me that his parents are a few blocks from it, we ventured towards Beerland.


Don't get your hopes too high. Not all of these are beer cans. Some are soda. Regardless, there are a lot of 'em, and all liquids in the cans were consumed on the property.

There was a crazy gift shop that sold sombreros made out of cardboard beer containers (Think of the box your cans come in if you buy a 24-pack) and there were bottle top earrings. Someone even made a beer-related broach. I would have bought it for Mimi for Christmas, but I think it was made out of bottle tops - not from beer on tap.

Did I mention the lot behind the beer house is for sale? I'm sure you could get it for a great price! (The house kiddie-corner to this one put up walls that reached past their 2nd story.)

Sewing Skills to the Rescue!

I don't normally do sewing favors, but when the mom of a newborn asks for sewing guidance, it was hard to say no - especially since I was late in the baby shower gift for this neighbor (as in, I gave it to her 2 months after the baby was born). The hot dog costume (I did not make it, she bought it) came with no leg holes - the baby was supposed to have her legs curled up in it. However, babies grow and Baby M's legs didn't fit in there.

A seam-ripper of fun, a week break, and 10 minutes of sewing later, the hot dog was complete. Word on the street is that Baby M didn't like the costume, but I at least saw a picture of her in it. Pudgy legs sticking out and all.

As I mentioned before, Dewie was a fish. (To get it out there, I'm not one who would ever dress my dog up in clothes. I highly enjoyed being part of a school of fish though.) Mike bought a costume that was too small, so I pulled out a scrap of fabric, some scrap batting, and some Velcro to fix that problem.

Halloween Costumes x4!

I spent hours on my "Big Money" costume. If you haven't seen the commercial, check it out on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbU3VGgOCgk Now do you get the costume? And I even found Flo to take a picture with! Saturday, I went to a neighbor's costume party in my Sumo Suit. I don't have a picture of it, but I've had those blow-up costumes for years. I kind of forgot that none of the neighbors have seen me in it before!
Sunday was a dog costume contest in the 'hood. Though I made Swedish Fish costumes for Mike and I, brought my fish, and Dewie dressed as a fish, this school did not win (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) due to the fact that the 11-year-old judge likes sports and bikers over creativity. (I even put a fin & tail in my hair!)

Last but not least, I dressed as my boss on Monday. He kind of ruined it - normally he has a goatee and swoop in his hair (which really made my outfit). He was out of town the Friday we all dressed up at work, so I figured the day after Halloween was just as good to dress as him. No, I didn't wear the goatee all day.