This Omnigrid ruler is my new favorite tool. Six-and-a-half inch squares are easy-peasy! The squares are for a new quilt for our bed. Our bed is currently covered with this quilt, which was originally supposed to go on a spare bed. A twin size spare bed. You can probably guess what the problem is. The quilt just barely fits the top of the mattress, which leads to some crazy half-asleep tug-of-war in the middle of the night. I usually wake up in the morning with all of the sheet, while Shawn has all of the quilt. So I’ve been slowly working toward a solution.

You may remember this fabric that I picked up in Kyiv. I’ve been gradually picking up other pieces that go with it. Many were purchased on our trip to Portland last spring. And last week, I got my birthday present from my mom, which included (I’m sure you guessed it) several yards of fabric. Two of which match my Kyiv/Portland collection and put me into the necessary variety and yardage needed to make a quilt top.

So I’ve started. Photos to come.

In random life-in-Nassau news, I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but we have a security company that sends guards around throughout the day to check on all of the Embassy residences. While this is comforting, it can also cause some problems for us because Laika really doesn’t like strangers in the yard. And now our house is known by the guards as having a “scary dog.” I’ve seen guards turn and run at the sound of Laika’s bark. And they often enter the yard with their nightsticks drawn and ready for action. (All of this despite the fact that Laika is never out in the yard unsupervised, or not behind a fence that prevents her from actually getting to the guards.) One of the guards just came by and Laika was playing ball, which meant that she didn’t care that there was a stranger in the yard, just throw the stinkin’ ball already! So we could actually talk with the guard, who asked us what kind of dog Laika is. Apparently all this time, some of the guards have thought she was a greyhound, which quite a few people have mistaken her for. But my thinking is, if they’ve been that scared of her all this time thinking she was a greyhound, what are they going to think now that they know she’s a doberman?

And finally, look what came today!

My very own Kona Cotton color card! (Insert squeal of delight here.) I need to pick fabrics for my quilting guild challenge quilt and with my mom’s expert advice, decided that the only way I could pick the perfect set of blues (it’s a monochromatic challenge) was to have the actual swatches in front of me. A few of these colors are going to be making their way to my house pretty soon:

The guild takes turns meeting at different member’s houses. Today was actually a full-day meeting because we were putting together a quilt top to be auctioned off to raise money for the Cancer Society. But I couldn’t go until I got off work, of course. And the house it was at was way on the eastern end of the island, so another guild member, Irene, offered to pick me up downtown and drive us out there. (The eastern end of the island is fairly densely populated and the streets twist and turn, so if you’re going someplace new, it’s really best to go with someone else.) So we drove and we drove and we drove on the main road until we finally got to the right street to turn off. Then we drove past several houses and finally went through some gates. The road turned into a nicely bricked drive (very unusual around here), but I didn’t really think about it. Then we parked the car and Irene pointed out to me that we were parked next to the guest house. I vaguely questioned why Robin, our host, would have a guest house.

Then Irene looked at me and said, “You don’t know who Robin’s husband is?”

“No,” I said. “Who’s she married to?”

“Brent Symonette — the Deputy Prime Minister of The Bahamas.”

What??? I’ve been having lunch on Wednesdays for the past three months with the wife of the Deputy Prime Minister??? Needless to say, she’s amazingly down to earth. I would have never figured it out if Irene hadn’t told me. But how crazy is that?

Oh, and the house is really nice.

Wow. I really digressed there. Anywho…the point of this little entry was supposed to be to show you what crafty goodness I’ve been working on. So let’s go.

I finally finished the quilt that I feel like I’ve been working on forever! It’s currently covering the bed in our guest room. I have a matching quilt top pieced, but my fingers need a break before I start quilting that one. Sometimes I wish I had a machine that could do the quilting for me, but that just doesn’t seem as special as hand quilted ones.

While trying to get this house organized, I also put together a set of bedside organizers from this book. They’re pretty spiffy - a set of pockets for each side of the bed. They’re connected with a piece of fabric that runs across the bed, under the mattress. Ingenious!

Shawn had requested a new bag for work that didn’t “look as girly” as my other bags. So after many discussions about color/style/features, I came up with this design for a Man Bag. He claims to like it so far. And it goes to work with him every day.

No photo, but a few days ago I made a pair of yoga pants using this pattern. I didn’t really check the measurements on the pattern to my body before I started, which was a little bit of a problem. I know it says it’s an “adult” size, but I would call it an “adult small.” So I ended up adding some gussets in the center front and center back seam after the fact. However, it is also important to remember that the fabric will stretch while you wear it. Which I learned when I wore the pants yesterday and they were practically falling off me by the end of the day. So I think there’s going to be a little more fidgeting with them - perhaps removing the gusset in the front (it looked a little weird anyway). Since I’m using my serger to do all this, it’s not really a big deal to make these adjustments. Overall, I really like the pattern and it’s a good way to use an old (extra large) t-shirt.

That’s all I’ve accomplished for now. As you can see, I was pretty excited to get my sewing machines back (in one piece!) after packing them up in April. But don’t you worry - there are more projects in the works.

(And Laika loves to help.)

Socks! I was on a big sock knitting kick for a while, but hadn’t done any knitting projects at all for a while. Then I found this yarn (although they don’t seem to have my particular color any more) that my mom had sent me quite a while ago and decided it was time to get a-knittin’.

And a quilt! Actually, two twin-sized quilts. Again, kudos to mom for buying me the fabric and pattern about two years ago. They were originally supposed to be for our guest room here in Kyiv, but then it turned out that we didn’t have a guest room. So the fabric sat in the back of the closet. But I’ve got my fingers crossed for a bigger apartment in Nassau, so I’m working on putting the tops together, then I can hand-quilt them while I’m in DC next summer without a sewing machine.

I ended up doing quite a bit of quilting this summer. With two pregger friends, I had to come up with some great, unique baby gifts. And quilts were the answer, complete with minky backing.

And just this morning, while I was supposed to be working on about 4 other things (oh, wait, I’m still supposed to be working on those things…), I finally finished my challenge quilt.

The story behind the challenge quilt is that before I moved to Kyiv, my mom and I picked out a set of fabrics that we both liked and decided we would each work independently to make a quilt by the time our tour here was over. And then it would be a surprise to see what we each came up with. Well, I caved while my mom was here and showed mine to her, ruining the surprise. (In my defense, I don’t have any sort of craft support group here to give me feedback when I make things. It’s not fair.) But there are a few other people who will be in on the surprise when I get back to the States - our “judges,” if you will - and I don’t want to completely ruin things for them. But I will show you a picture of the label on the back. It will give hints, but I’m just as proud of how it turned out as the design on the front.

And then there was some knitting to mix things up a bit. I used the Chullo Pouch pattern from Bag Style, although I only used two colors (recycled from old sweaters!) instead of the 7 or so the pattern called for. And I kicked it up a notch by making a lining out of some cotton twill so that I could install pockets and a zipper for security. I think this is going to be my fall/winter carry-all.

Finally, a project from last week. Again, while I was supposed to be doing other things. I’ve had a vision in my head for a while of the perfect dog toy for Laika. The main problem we have is that she seems to think that we buy toys for her so that she can destroy them as quickly as possible. The last two toys we’ve purchased for her promised to be tough enough for aggressive chewers, yet she managed to destroy them in under 30 minutes. And these were not cheap toys. The toys that have lasted for a while have done so only because I take the time to sew them back together every day or two. Not exactly a fun task for me.

So last week, I used the Wee pattern from here, modified it slightly, inserted a squeaker (left over from a destroyed toy), and now Laika has here own Wee. Although not as pretty as the one in the pattern. But it’s lasted for a week, which is more than I can say for most things around here.

I’ve also realized that I haven’t done a “crafty” post since we got here to showcase all that I’ve been working on. To be honest, I feel like I haven’t been super productive since we arrived in Ukraine. I initially thought that I would be doing nothing but crafting after arriving here, especially since I didn’t have a job. However, we got the puppy fairly early on, which turned out to be my full-time job. And the exhaustion of living in a foreign country has taken up much valuable free time. Even if my only task for the day is to get groceries, it takes 3 hours to actually get the groceries, and then about 3 more hours to recover from the experience. So not a whole lot gets done on those days. Anyway, here are the few projects that I have been able to get done in the past few months.

This is the only bit of knitting I’ve done. The pattern is from the Spring 2007 Knitscene. I haven’t been very motivated to knit lately. Maybe that’s because it actually took me three attempts to get this garment right…

These are two quilting projects I’ve been working on. The one on the right isn’t actually finished in the photo, but it is now. These were the first projects I started when we got to Kyiv, so they were both pieced and quilted completely by hand. It’s not as impressive as it sounds - they’re only 19 inches square! In other quilting news, I’m still making steady progress on my butterfly quilt - I’ve got all 56 squares put together, now I just need to embroider all 112 antennae.

I’ve decided one of my favorite things in the world is that moment when you’ve got your sewing pattern all pinned on the fabric and are just ready to cut. There’s just something so neat and organized about it. (And you know you haven’t made any mistakes yet. Not that I make mistakes…) On the left is the beginning of a skirt from a Vogue pattern made out of some gorgeous wool that my mom bought for me at G Street in Washington. And the fabric on the right is going to be a top from a Simplicity pattern with a few alterations to the neckline.

And my final project to share is a small attempt to jazz up my sewing area. What makes a space happier than matching sewing machine covers? Honestly?

Besides the hours of classes I have been through at FSI, the work that goes into keeping our household and personal affairs in order, and re-watching every episode of Gilmore Girls, I have been doing plenty of sewing and crafty things. I have a tendency to purchase supplies with the best of intentions, but then I end up with the stuff to work on a million different projects and no time. No longer a problem!

Butterfly quilt

I’ve been collecting fabric for this quilt for almost 3 years. After the move to Arlington, I decided it was time to start. I cut out the pieces almost immediately after we moved, but after two and a half months, I really haven’t made a while lot of progress. I just put together the first half square today!

Messenger bag

So I decided that I wanted a new bag for when I start Russian classes. Even if I’m stressed out about trying to learn another language, at least I can look good doing it. I originally wanted a Timbuk2 bag (actually, I’ve wanted one of those for a while…), but decided that: 1. I could make a bag for much cheaper considering I already had most of the fabric; 2. if I made the bag myself I could customize it just the way I wanted it; and 3. anything I made would be totally cool, because, hey, I made it! So here it is.

Sock monkey

Holy cow (or monkey), this was so much fun to make! I think maybe I’m just going to spend all my time making sock monkeys now - they’re so easy and the gratification is almost instant. I do believe that this very girly monkey is going to be for my soon to be niece (expected arrival of Nov. 4), Layla. Hence the cute little “L.”

Knitted baby doll

So I’ve got no idea who this is for. I saw the pattern in a book and just decided that I needed to make it. Mission accomplished. Somebody put some pants on that kid!