Update time! I haven't finished anything, but I thought I'd let you know how the quilting is going. And as an aside, I've officially hit the 1st quartile of my weight loss goal. 28% done!

Quilting is...part awesome, part satisfying and a whole lot of exact cutting and sewing. I definitely have not hit exactness. In fact, I think it will be a miracle if I ever get near perfection. However, I am determined to make a series of potholders until I am pleased with the results enough that I would give them away to someone other than a family member. I'm going to become a potholder factory.

I took some pictures of my in-progress potholders. Tonight I finished making the binding tape (a weird process that required a tool I didn't have, which slowed me down), so hopefully in a few days I will have one finished, accidentally too small potholder (I didn't understand the seam allowance, so lost about a half inch on each side).

Here's the potholder with half of the quilted lines (front and back). My lines are not straight. But, for my first try with quilting and the walking foot on my sewing machine, it's not terrible either:

And here's the potholder with all of the lines in. That excess batting/backing has already been cut off in preparation for binding. This is the part where you can see my in-exactitude glaring at you in the face. My squares were not perfectly sewn together/not straight. And the hatching meanders across the potholder in an uncomfortable way. It's in the center of some squares...and not so much for others. The horror. Note that the edge squares are bigger - this is not a seam allowance error, this is on purpose. The binding will cover up the excess amount of square to make it look exactly correct.

So I just need a ton more practice. For a while, potholders. Then table linens. Pillows. Eventually, a real quilt. They say it takes 1000 hours to become an expert at something...just 100 potholders to go...

I feel a bit weird talking about dieting here, it feels weirdly personal and yet is something every woman talks about all day every day at the office. I also have a sister who is strongly against dieting, so sister, take cover or stop reading or whatever.

Let's back this diet story up, back when I started dating loml I was a fairly healthy weight for my height. I was maybe a few pounds to the heavier side, but truly, I was in a good place. And then loml and I ate. And he recognized my true joy in sweets and treated me with them. And then we moved in together and my eating habits took a further nosedive into unhealthy land. And in that process I gained almost 25 pounds. Kind of a lot for a short girl. So it's time for those 25 pounds to go. I can eat what I want, just not so damn much of it and not so often.

Enter myfitnesspal.com and calorie counting. I suck at getting to the gym regularly, so I have yet to work that into this plan. It seems possible that I'll need to exercise once my inevitable plateau hits, but for now I'm just being conscious of what I put in my mouth. And really enjoying it. I have one cheat day a week where I eat whatever I want and don't care what calories are involved. For the rest of the week I mostly manage to work in anything I want (for example, some really fantastic eating and a weird tasting abandoned apple has enabled me to schedule a Kinder Hippo and Smart Ones ice cream sundae for later).

The only thing that is really drastically reduced is how often I eat out. Because nothing is healthy at restaurants. Or two things are and they are meh. This is actually producing a fun side effect of us cooking more at home. A lot of chicken, some kind of icky pork chops, beans and rice, oh my! For my first recommendation...those skillet sauces from Frontera? Those are tasty. Pick some up.

So I'm dieting. It feels good. If I don't want to go to dinner with you, it's not you, it's me. But I'll cook for you.

I have spent the past 19 waking hours or more knitting. I tend to get myself in to the following predicament: I plan a project for an impending baby, I knit like a snail for five months and then suddenly the baby is imminent and I've got half a project. So for the past five months, I've been snailing on this:

In case it's not clear, it's a baby blanket, with a little hood so that you can burrito wrap your baby (maybe even good for use as a towel). This baby girl is going to be born a Phoenix Suns fan, so I went with purple instead of pink.

And then the last bit of my knitting spree, I whipped up these little cuties to go with the blanket:

I've made these guys before, but with a button clasp instead of ties. And I think the bow turned out far cuter.

Hopefully my cousin doesn't read this blog as this baby present is shipping tomorrow and the surprise would be ruined. I'm pretty sure I know all five of my readers though, so I'm not too worried.

Now I need to find my next knitting project...

I thought I would throw together a quick post tonight - loml gifted me with the awesome umba box for my birthday. I've received three so far and I'd love to share the goodies I get here. It is honestly the best surprise every month. In the future if I can't find an exact image online, I'll take my own. But for this quick consolidated post, you'll have to make do with descriptions.

Month 1:
Stationery from PoochiePrints. It is quite lovely and the lined envelopes rock my world. I think I have two cards left...not sure how I'm going to convince myself to send them off.

Month 2:

As well as a lovely drippy tree branch 5x5 from this shop.

Month 3:

Mine is made with a lovely gray/black leather. It smells fantastic and is clearly well made. I'm not sure what I'll use it for just yet, but..something. It wants to be used...

Ah, Sunday. I just spent my day being the most domestic kind of gal - I did laundry, I tidied, I vacuumed, I cut up a pillowcase and tested my sewing machine tension and then I cut out 72 two by two inch squares. I have 48 more to go. Then there are a few bigger squares...and then I'll make my first go at quilting. I'm pretty excited to see if it works at all. If it does, I'll have some potholders that really don't match my kitchen (but made with fabric I really like). If it doesn't go well, on four out of four potholders, I'll be pondering another investment in a class at Lill. Fingers crossed everyone.

In other news, I dipped my toe in to the world of wedding dresses and came out with this information:

1. I'm not sure who a full skirted dress would look good on...but it's not this girl. It adds so much volume and I look like a marshmallow.
2. There was a dress in the store that did not fit over my hips. While I do not pretend to be a small girl, I am definitely well within the average range of sizes. I wonder how many of those dresses sell.
3. My general idea of what I want is close to what looked best on me. So that's a win! But I still have no idea what I want to wear...
4. Except that I do not want to wear a veil. I did quite enjoy the tulle blusher/birdcage though (not the traditional birdcage). That was one decision I did make.

Off to await the pot pie that loml has been constructing for a large part of the day. Does anyone else find that a recipe preparation time is generally half the actual time needed?

Hey! Remember when I wrote a post about my sewing class and how I had sewn a rectangle? Well, since then I made a whole bag. And graduated.

To be fair, there was no graduation. But I think my bag kicks ass. It's reversible too! It was pretty difficult to get a good picture of it, I have 20 pics of me wearing it in the hall mirror. And all of them are big piles of suck.

I really liked the class and have a few follow up projects planned. A couple of them are just straight test projects - I need to learn how my machine works (we used Singer's in class and I have a Brother). I foresee some tension issues. So I'm making fake curtains from old sheets and a bunch of totally random old sheet projects. Anyone need something made out of an old sheet?

The other project is from an awesome book I got for Christmas...a few years ago now: Dare to be Square Quilting. I'm going to start small and try to make some potholders. Loving textile crafts.

I've officially had my first terrible etsy transaction. (To be completely honest, I have a second kind of bad one also happening at the same time, though this second one does appear to be the fault of the USPS).

When loml and I discussed marriage/engagement/rings, I asked him if he would wear an engagement ring as well. He is promising the same level of commitment to me that I am to him, so if a ring = ownership, then we own each other. He agreed, we found a ring pretty quickly on etsy and I purchased it. This was on December 5.

The store in question had a stated 3 week lead time. Though she was also, at that time, not taking any orders to be fulfilled by the holidays (makes sense as they were basically three weeks away). So I was imagining getting a ring some time in early January. We still have not received it. That makes almost 9 weeks.

I emailed the seller multiple times: through etsy and through her normal email (you receive the seller's email in the invoice when you place an order). I never received any response at all.  Not even an "I'm behind, so sorry, it will be 4 more weeks". I started to research the situation and the seller had closed a previous store for dubious reasons ('split business' though making the same rings + new ones?). And it appeared at the old store there were quite a few disgruntled customers. So now I have no ring, I'm out a substantial amount of money and it appears this seller is...not all that reliable.

Next step...researching etsy's issue reporting. They have a "non-delivery report" which is basically a mediator - etsy sits in the middle and tries to resolve the issue.  However, since I paid via paypal, the only way to get a refund is to go through paypal.  Which has a deadline that issues must be reported prior to 45 days post purchase. 45 days had passed. So I open a non-delivery report. The issue mediation says it can last up to 5 weeks - I figure after that time, I can go to paypal and beg for my money back.

Three days after my non-delivery report, I got an email from paypal that my item shipped. And a few hours later, a sob story email from the shop owner that the holiday season was tragic for her family, she asked someone to help her respond to emails/they clearly didn't, etc. I feel heartless now giving her a negative review, but I think I have to. She non-responded to all my emails, which were sent after her store had reopened (she closed/didn't take new orders for much of December). Even if you are behind, a 3 minute email explaining would have done wonders (and you clearly can write emails as your novel of an apology attests). I wouldn't be disgruntled had I received a new time estimate. She could have written a quick form email and sent it to all her waiting customers - and clearly it was necessary.

Because this review just showed up in her shop:

I placed my order November 30, 2011 and paid for this ring. It is now Feb. 6, 2012. I have yet to receive this ring for my husband and I have yet to receive a reply to my emails on when I can expect this order to ship. I was told back in December it would ship within 5 days. My husband really loves this ring and I was really hoping to have it by now.

Worst customer service experience I've had in a long time. And I imagine the ring is going to be beautiful. I guess this is a lesson many people never learn: no matter how good you are at your job or the quality of work, if you don't sell it/treat people well, you may as well be producing crap.

I have figured something out about myself - there is a very big difference between being creative and making things. I very much love to make things - but I need patterns. I cannot pick up yarn and suddenly have a hat - I need to be told how to do it. I am a maker, not a creator. I think, 5 years ago, I would have balked at this. But now? It fits, I love the distinction. And I can stop pressuring myself to be a creative type. I'm crafty, not arty.

In my sewing class (First Time Sewing at Lill) we are making a messenger bag/purse thing. So far I've learned a bunch of different seams/hems (rolled, french, straight, blind), learned how a machine works and cut out 16 pieces of bag from fabric of my choosing.

Piles of cut fabric on the right, sewn fabric on the left

The only bit of productive sewing (besides trying out all those seams and hems) I've done so far is to sew the pockets. And really, I just prepared the pockets to be sewn on to the bag (they are just flat pockets, but lined on both sides).

Here are my rectangles! Grey corduroy on one side, green pattern on the other.

At this point, I love this class.  Even though I spent three hours tracing, cutting and then measuring/marking hems on these pieces, it was my kind of three hours. I think I might be a sewer.  Seamstress seems too formal/skilled for what I'm doing, but sewer? No, I am not a place where dirty water/poop collects.

Back in December, loml and I got engaged. We picked out the ring together but he surprised me with a real Christmas tree and a ring under it. To be completely fair, I was in a super crabby mood that day and had been a bitch to him all night. And then when I saw the tree and got the ring, I danced around like a little kid. I'm so excited to officially be signing up for the long term with loml. And even just typing that makes me smirk - what a fitting nickname that has turned out to be...love of my life.

I want to be better about posting in the new year, but I clearly can't give myself deadlines or make promises to myself about how often (as you can see from my two New Years Day posts and nothing since). So I'll just promise to try.

I'm currently working, working out regularly, taking a sewing class and planning a wedding. There hasn't been as much down time as I had hoped...2012 starting off busy!

20 done, 12 to go.

From curious doodles, screen printed tea towel do-it-yourself embroidery kit

Happy New Year!

I lost track of time during the holidays and therefore left behind at least two Disney posts. I can summarize one of them in one sentence: I am a hotel snob and like a really good bed/pillows/bathroom and Disney moderate resorts does not provide that. End post.

The second post is the pintrading post. Disney has this fantastic gimmick - you wear a lanyard covered in pins around and you trade with park employees who also wear the lanyard. I have a really hard time putting in to words why this is fun. I researched it prior to our trip and decided against participating - it was just too intense. See here. Loml and I chatted about it occasionally and I ended up just deciding not to invest in a lanyard and pins to start me out.

And then one night in Disney, loml showed up at dinner with a pin for me. And it snowballed from there.  I ended up with this:

The spaceship earth mickey pin is where it all started. All things considered, I probably spent...$40 or $50 on pins. That's right - Disney is GENIUS. I bought a bunch of "starter" pins and traded all of those away. In the end, I have only 4 pins here that I originally purchased - loml's spaceship earth, the mickey and goofy nerds and the Epcot christmas pin at the very bottom (it spins!).

It took a full day to get up the nerve to actually ask a cast member to trade a pin (I was scared out of my mind). I found an old man, told him I was a newb and he treated me with love and tenderness.

Eventually, loml fell down the rabbit hole with me - he fully researched the world of cast member only pins and helped steer me in my trading selections.  I ended up with 5 "hidden mickey" cast member only pins - the two "bowling pins", the two weird eye license plate princesses and the weirdest of them all, Aurora's quote ("Okay, okay, I get the point"? Pin pun?).

Scoping cast pins was fun and the pin gimmick is just my kind of gimmick - hands off unless I take the initiative. It really is amazing to me how Disney can find something for every range of ages to drop money on. And I will do it again, next time I'm in the parks.

Cat bliss = warm radiator on a cold day.

Katie bliss = real christmas tree with a ring under it.

I'm a bit hampered by what to even start talking about with regards to Disney World. So I'll just start. I've been quite a few times and I plan to go again. As kids, Disney, for us, was a super special vacation, I went twice in my childhood. It's funny, I don't remember too much - I remember having an autograph book. I remember a real live duck visited the porch of our villa at least once. I remember a character breakfast that was Aladdin themed. That's about it. Those trips were awesome for me as a kid.

And I aged with a hearty appreciation of Disney still. It's pretty amazing what they do there. And on this trip, we took the Keys to the Kingdom tour. The tour where they don't let you take pictures while you go "backstage". We went into the tunnels under the Magic Kingdom. I learned a lot on that tour (like the fact that those tunnels are fairly small and packed with stuff, while golf carts buzz through full of maintenance staff). It takes a lot to keep the park running/clean (including a trash machine where they put all the garbage, it gets shot to a backstage location and processed). I'm not sure what else to say about the tour except that our guide Sean clearly loves Disney and at the same time was realistic about it (seemed like he had bad feelings about Eisner). On several occasions we met people who had been working at the park or their attraction since it opened. Loyalty.

Really, when you compare the cleanliness, staff and decor of Disney with Universal Studios - it's no contest. Disney wins in every category. It's hard to go there and not feel happy.

That being said...loml at Disney was something. He didn't like the pace or lines or the food (which, kind of a given, most of that food is mass produced fare). He felt the vacation was too long by several days. And he napped hard every day. But I think he liked it more than he expected. He was dreading long lines and we rarely waited in lines of any real length. The longest we waited was 40 minutes, for Toy Story Mania (good ride, worth it). After that, I think most lines were barely any wait to about 15 minutes at the longest. It was, really, a dead time of year. I think the lines were a big dread factor for him and once that was clearly not our style, he lightened up. He even said he'd go again...though he said probably only for a few days and then he'd leave. That's success if you ask me...

Ron Weasley and I were in love last night in my dreams (not Rupert Grint, Ron Weasley) and so now seems as good a time as any to talk about Universal. One of the most exciting parts of our vacation was our plan to visit Universal parks (both Studios and Islands of Adventure) to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for the first time. And to put the cherry on the top of the excitement, my Dad generously offered to send us in style - VIP Tour style. What this meant was that we walked around with a guide for 7 hours and she let us in the exit of every ride. We skipped every line. Even the wand experience line! It was pretty fabulous and we were on the receiving end of a lot of questioning glances...and one or two dirty looks. Really, most of Universal was fun, but it's really not so...magical as Disney. I highly enjoyed almost all of the rides we went on and feel like ET is the classic, lovable ride that I remember while the Simpsons was the new break out favorite. But who cares about that.

Hogsmeade! It was really everything I had hoped. They did a fantastic, fabulous job on it. Some pictures of the buildings and such can be found at my brother-in-laws iPhone blog here. In particular, Hogwarts. I don't want to run through everything, so here's just my main feelings:

• It just FEELS like Harry Potter.
• Dueling Dragons/Dragon Challenge is too adult for what Harry Potter is all about. I didn't know this at the time, but apparently that's just a ride that was already at Islands of Adventure re-concepted for Harry Potter. The new concept sort of works, but the coaster just feels out of place. Big Time. That being said, even if you don't want to ride the coaster, go through the line. That sounds stupid, but there was some fantastic stuff to look at in that line.
• Flight of the Hippogriffs = kiddie coaster that lasts literally a minute. If there's a wait, this is not worth it at all.
• The Forbidden Journey was awesome. Cool ride mechanics, neat story, you're in Hogwarts! Though, I do have one bone to pick: MUGGLES CAN'T SEE DEMENTORS. Again, the stuff to see in the line is fantastic, so even if you don't want to ride, go get in line.
• Butterbeer is insanely sweet. I kind of liked it but I don't think I could have had a whole cup. A few sips was enough.
• The Three Broomsticks felt true. Different styles of chair, lofty, wooden, just...awesome. 

Verdict: Awesome! Love! So glad I went!

I should warn you that these Orlando vacation posts will only get nerdier, so if this is too nerdy for you, watch out. I'm about to go way down in your eyes as far as coolness goes. Being cool is pretty damn stupid when you can be off having fun instead. Like these HP nerds:

loml + katie + hogwarts express = awkward picture of two slouchy nerds

I have Disney posts in me and I can't seem to get them out. I suspect this is because the beds in the Disney compound inhibited my normal 8 hours of sleep. The bed was hard, the pillows not great and my back, chest, arms, legs, all eventually got pretty knotted. I also had some pretty bruised/blistering feet by the end. This led to cranky time and the need for recuperation.

Disney world is not relaxing.