an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.
A very sweet reader just sent me a link to this amazing "coming home" video. This young couple was separated for seven months just like Paul and are going to be and had their reunion filmed. I really loved it and encourage you to watch if you have seven minutes. But beware, your keyboard, shirt and face will soon be covered with tears.
Or maybe that's just me.
I had to make a choice this week about which fall project to tackle first.
And the quilt won. Mostly because I am going to be traveling for a lot of October and figured the sweater would be a good adventure for while I am up with my parents in Sacramento. I am hoping to find a knitting/yarn store near them to ask for help and get started. I really appreciated all your advice last week on knitting – I'm excited.
And I am also really excited about this quilt.
I picked up fabric, a rotary cutter, cutting mat and ruler a few days ago. Cutting the fabric was easy. I made blocks that were 5×11 inches (if I did it again, I might go smaller). Sewing the blocks into strips was also easy. Getting the strips to all line up correctly? Not so easy.
But of course, I knew that would be the case. I have some practice with carefully lining up fabric from when I made our chevron headboard, but that was on a smaller scale and I was dealing with pre-printed fabric. Not Sewn-by-Impatient-Elise fabric.
I bet you can guess where this is going…
And you're right. I'm rolling with it. Imperfect match-ups and everything.
When I sewed the first two columns together I realized they were a bit off. And I took an hour break to decide if I was going to rip it all up and start over or if I was going to press on. Because OH MAN, I wanted them to be perfect. But DUDE, I not want to start over.
So I compromised with myself and I focused harder on the other strips. I am working on keeping my seam allowances the same. I am ironing every seam. I am pinning as much as I can. And it's improving. It's not perfect and it's not going to be. (And I know the puckering and wrinkles shown above are probably making quilters out there cringe. I'm sorry!) But I love the subtle fabric colors. I really love the style. I think it's going to be rad with our headboard and I know it will set the tone for our next bedroom.
And my other quilt, from last January? I'm still a fan. It's going to stay in the rotation for sure. Maybe for summer? We'll see.
Anyway – lots to do. I am about 50% done with the top. Then I need to get the layers and actually quilt it all together. I have a plan for how I am going to do that and it's different than the hand-stitching from last time. It might be too ambitious, but I think it will work out anyway.
Hopefully I'll have more to share next week.
Tomorrow is the last day to shop the print & poster sale.
I still have seats available in the Blog 2.0 workshop which starts Monday. More details here.
I was reading blogs this morning and saw Summer's post on zucchini chips.
"Rad," I thought, starring it for later and making a mental note to pick up zucchini at the grocery store tomorrow.
Then I realized I had everything for these in my kitchen.
And for the first time ever, I got up from the computer and whipped up a recipe immediately after I saw it. These took about two minutes of prep time. I don't have a dehydrator, so I just stuck them in the oven at 190*F for about an hour and a half. I am sure I could have shortened that time by just baking them instead of drying them, but this worked for me and they were super good.
Thanks, Summer.
It’s two months later, but I finally have my Week in the Life album to share. I took a pretty minimalist approach to the documentation process and just focused on taking a lot of photos and writing a blurb about what I did Monday – Friday. (You can see all the posts here : M, T, W, Th, F.) The plan all along was to get the text and images off the computer and into something but I didn’t have a plan of attack.
Which is why I was pretty excited to make my second Kolo project a digital album. (You can see the first project I took on with Kolo here.) I uploaded my images to their photo book online program, selected templates, dropped in my photos and copied in my text. I spread the upload/design process out over a couple days (the program saves your progress) and the album shipped in about a week. I was very pleased with the quality of the printing. At the end of this post, there is a 5 minute video which shows how I used the program.
For my title page, I combined a self-portrait from the week and some of the text from this post about my thoughts on the project.
For me, this was definitely a project where the photos were the most important. I chose simple layouts and repeated them throughout the album. Not every photo that was taken each day made it in, but a lot did. I especially liked the template for a row of photos because I thought they told the best chronological story.
As mentioned, the only text in the book was what I jotted down here on the blog. I chose to keep it all in a block and paired it with photos from the appropriate day. Each day ended up with 3-4 two pages spreads depending on how many photos I had.
Overall, I am so pleased with the result. It was nice to upload, arrange and send to print. Because I didn’t save any scraps of paper or handwritten thoughts, the digital format worked really well for me and this project. I will definitely be participating in Week in the Life again (hopefully capturing a week Paul is home next time) and may use the same format or experiment with something new. Because the program was so easy to use and the quality was good, I am going to be making another album (topic to be determined!) soon. I am also hoping to work with Kolo to develop more templates for the program. I will be sure to share when they are available.
And as promised, here’s the short video that shows how to use the backend of myKolo.com. I am happy to answer any questions in the comments!
disclaimer : the album for this project was provided free of charge by Kolo. Content idea and expressed opinions are all my own.
Bread no. 24 : nutella pumpkin bread
Adjustments : I halved the recipe & cooked in a 9×5 bread pan. I also reduced the sugar by about a third, substitued about half the white flour for whole wheat and added a bit more pumpkin.
Notes : super easy. I ended up baking mine for about an hour total.
Review : a perfect fall dessert bread.
madewell biker boots, new baggu bag patterns, harry potter art, madewell racerback tanks, west elm laptop holder, jewelmint* ring, & fancy bookends.
I'm happy to report my crazy "buy all the things" mentality which struck when Paul left has calmed down a bit this month, so a few of the items pictured are just on my wish list. But I was happy to score those Madewell boots during their boot sale a few weeks ago and can't wait until it gets a bit cooler to wear them. Just a tip if you're considering them too – they seem to run about a half size big.
I have been traveling with my laptop wrapped in a scarf which wasn't working out too well. I had difficulty finding a good case and was thrilled to see this simple and affordable one at West Elm. And speaking of carrying things, Baggu bags are one of my favorite products ever. I have a ton already but was so excited to see the new colors and styles that were released this month.
I am always looking for a good cocktail ring and was sent the one above courtesty of a college friend who works for the company. JewelMint is a jewelry subscription site that matches your style to different pieces. Before I took my style quiz, I picked the ring as my favorite piece. After I took the quiz, it was selected as my top match, which I thought was pretty cool. You can learn more about the company here. And as a gift to readers, they are offering 50% off one item in your first purchase with promo code EliseJoy50.
*while I did recieve a complimentary ring, I was not paid to mention it in this post. It's here because I really love it.
Lots of magic happened last week.
I got through my first real tough time of this deployment. Of course, the whole thing still seems long and terrible, but it does not seem unbearable. And that's awesome. That's magic.
I started watching Friday Night Lights on netflix instant. I am absolutely embarrassed to admit how many episodes I got through over the past few days, but I will say this – it's a fantastic show and just what I needed. And when I say "fantastic" I really mean magic.
I found my creative energy again. It always ebbs and flows, but I am so grateful for that magical burst last week. I am hoping for it to stay a little while longer.
I had visitors on Saturday. I needed to see friends and it was magic that it worked out for them to come down.
And last but not least, I baked my first ever round cake from scratch. This recipe is nothing short of magic.
Did you notice anything magical in your life last week?
Happy last week of September!
To celebrate, I am hosting a little print & poster sale. Buy any two 5×7 digital prints and I'll send you one free. Buy two 11×14 digital posters and get a third poster free. Just let me know in the notes to seller which print or poster (and which color) you would like for free. Please note, poster colors and quanities are limited but I will do my best to accomdate your requests.
You might not need three prints and posters – I totally get that. But they make fun gifts and have been known to cheer up a friend.
Thanks so much for your support and please feel free to spread the word.
pinned from tumblr & sadly no original source / pinned & original source.
Today is official the first day of fall. I've got big dreams for fall including two projects I would love to tackle.
no. 1 : I want to make that photo of a brick wall into a quilt. Exactly like that. This means buying pretty cream, tan, peach, gray and black fabric and carefully cutting rectangles. And then carefully lining them up. Patience is not a virtue I possess, so this should be interesting.
no. 2. : I would love to knit something other than a scarf. Which means I have a lot to learn. Does anyone know of a really good knitting tutorial or online workshop I can take? I am hoping to make a sweater just like the one above and will be purchasing the pattern as soon as I know I'll be able to make sense of it.
Oh, Fall, I'm happy you're here.
So. I'm learning that if I don't take a lot of photos, I don't have a lot to add to this album. Funny how that works. But what I lacked in REAL photos in August, I made up in iPhone photos, so I popped a bunch of those into the book this update.
Album by Kolo. See January, February, March, April, May, June & July.
And not related, but rad : moo.com is celebrating it's 5th birthday with 25% off all printed products. I've sung their praises a million times (they've been printing my business cards for the past year) and I always try to pass on a sale. And yep, I'm an affiliate. Here's what that means.
enJOY it 