I should really buy a thimble.

You guys! The quilt is done!! 

It's all machine quilted. Except the binding - I hand stitched that down on the back. Oh hey - look! The back!

I loved doing this. It totally fed into my OCD and was a great creative outlet. I'm hooked.

And just for fun - here are some process shots:

Figuring out how the blocks go together...

They have become as one!

And finally laying it out on the backing and batting.

So, I know you guys all read this blog purely for the thrilling quilt related updates and now the quilt is done... but never fear! Court has commissioned a custom quilt for her living room. So there will be plenty of quilty updates in the future. Plenty.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go bandage my fingertips.

I'm still alive.

Don't fret, dear readers - I'm still alive and kicking.

It's been one hell of an almost month. I've been in tech for a show, the manfriend's been in tech for (it feels like) 17 shows. We've barely seen each other for the last week and a half.

But I have so much money coming in right now, I'm thinking about withdrawing a bunch of $1 bills, making a big pile, and just rolling around in it. It's a nice change from December, which kind of makes it all worth it.

And, because I don't have anything else to say, I present this as my new favorite thing:

Holiday Hangover

Christmas happened. NYE happened. 2012 fucking happened.

But first! A holiday recap!

It was a wonderful Christmas, but also a Christmas I never, ever want to experience again. Suffice to say, the manfriend's mom isn't doing too well, so that made for a hard, emotional visit to Michigan. But it was also delightful to see everyone again and we found little pockets of fun. And big buckets of bourbon.

First of all, we had Barclay with us. For 15 hours, round trip, in the car. That's a lot of dog and a lot of hours.

He found ways to entertain himself.

We were tasked with making the Christmas Eve dinner. In the manfriend's family, that means roast beef, spinach bacon salad, mashed potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding. He tackled the meat, I tackled the rest.

Good looking man and good looking meat.

Barclay supervised.

Christmas morning was your typical handing out of gifts and littering the room with wrapping paper.

My favorite part of the morning was breakfast. I know you're shocked. On the drive in, we stopped at a deli in Ann Arbor called Zingerman's to buy - wait for it - fancy bacon. We showed up with a quarter pound each of cherrywood smoked and applewood smoked bacons. It was the best bacon I have ever had in my life. Ever. For anyone who's interested, they have a bacon of the month club...

My second favorite part was inheriting this beauty from the manfriend's mom:

We got snowed in at his mom's house an extra day, but still made it to The Motherland. You may know it as "Kentucky." It was a brief, yet rejuvenating 22 hours.

Aside from the Curl Catastrophe, New Years Eve and Day was super fun. We went to two parties, ate too much, drank too much, danced like the nerdy white people we are, got home at 3:30am, and passed the hell out. In the morning, the manfriend made this salty-protein-hangover-cure breakfast:

~~~

In so many ways, this was a great, wonderful year. And in so many ways, this year was total shit. But I guess that's just how years go. I quit two jobs and I'm broke, but I'm happier now than I have been for a long time. The manfriend and I traveled to New York City, Mackinac Island, DC, and each family outpost twice. We've grown into our relationship and I am disgustingly happy with him every single day. I only hope 2013 has more of the good and less of the crap. But as long as the manfriend is around, it will all be ok.

OMG FEELINGS.

Quick! Look at this picture of me using the stand mixer while wearing curlers!

Happy 2013!!

Crap I've Made from Pinterest, Vol. 2

The problem with Pinterest is that everything looks so damn easy. Everything is just three steps, calls for ingredients you already have, takes only 15 minutes, and voila! You too can have a fully lined tulle ball gown and beef bourguignon simmering away by the end of an afternoon. No heavy lifting required.

Bullshit.

And yet...

I was seduced once again by the siren call of big, bouncy, curly hair. If you know me at all, you know that all I want in life is Big Hair. For Christmas one year, my mom gave me the entire Big Sexy Hair system (shampoo, conditioner, mousse, hair spray). I figured it was only fair because it's her fault I have this hair. My never-ending quest for big hair even led to me having a perm for much of high school. Not an 80s perm, but still. I willingly smelled like rotten eggs for a couple days every few months. All for Big Hair.

I have curlers I never use because it never seems to work right (and they're velcro - I think that's a big part of the problem), but when I saw this on Pinterest, I just couldn't resist. And who doesn't want to look like that with curlers in their hair?

It was New Year's Eve. I had a new Chanel-style sweater from Target. I had two parties to go to. I wanted Big Hair. So, I bought curl spray gel stuff and followed the instructions on the site. I dutifully separated sections, sprayed and combed the gel through, rolled each section, sprayed on a light dusting of hair spray, and warmed it all with the hair dryer.

I let it sit for an hour. One hour.

And then... I took out the curlers.

When the manfriend finally stopped laughing, he said, "Well... honey... at least your hair is long."