The Image of I

The following poem is the result of an exercise in my grade 12 writer's craft class. We had to read this poem by Margaret Atwood called "This is a Photograph of Me." Anyways, the purpose was to write a poem about ourselves or something... basically if someone found a picture of you, what would it look like. Or something like that... Anyways, I FINALLY found the poem I wrote for it, and thought I'd actually post it. And with a picture too, because I like pictures - blogs without pictures just aren't as interesting :p Also, I ganked the image from some iPhone website lol. Credit to the original artist and all that. Beautiful piece. I wish I knew who the artist was, actually. Eeeee horsie! lol.


The Image of I
by Lore Challis ©

At the bottom of a puddle lies a picture
I guess it fell out of someone's belongings,
As they rushed into the great unknown
They happen to inhabit.

It's somewhat faded
And lines cross the surface of delicate paper,
Evidence of abuse and discare.
And along one edge is wear of teeth and burns.

It's an image hurt, and beyond repair.

Removed from the puddle
The image shines with an inner brilliance...
An inky black mare,
Rears against a threat in proud defiance,
And what the threat is, is pushed aside.
The invasion of humanity, a threat to life itself.

Tall buildings enroach on her land,
Reminders of the scaring capture,
Where abuse lives in their hands.
A silent killer lurks towards,
Pollution clouds to clog her lungs,
Like words to bury in the head,
Abuse from those that are on top.

The threat has stilled, she turns and runs
Avoiding the fight if she can.
Unworthy opponents they are all,
Yet the most dangerous, sadly.

A streak of black on jewelled tones
Her hooves are thunder's rings
She sticks out, but no one sees
The caution flaming in her eyes.

None dare approach without their warning
For she does turn with short hesitance to attack
Striking friend and foe
A loner from all she knows
There's no where to fit in.

And so she moves,
Alone and lost
She's moving through life
Awaiting the day when
Humanity will take her life away.

*Poem may not be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the author.*

Online Fabric Stores

Okay, so this post will be a shorter one, as I don't have a lot to say.

Online fabric stores - while I haven't used them (yet), seem to be a pretty good alternative to fabric stores or a lack thereof.

So basically, just google them, find one that looks good, has what you want, lots of selections, etc. I looked at a few, and these two looked pretty good

http://www.fabric.com/

http://fabricmartfabrics.com/controller/index.php


Now before buying from these stores I suggest you know EXACTLY how much you will need. And then maybe add 1/2 to a full meter of extra just in case. Because it would really, really suck, if you need to order more and they don't have it. Which leads me to also mention that most of the online stores will (and should!) list how much of the fabric is available for sale. Although DO NOT count on that being exactly correct, because I don't know how they update that etc.

So that's about all I have to say about online stores, if I use one at some point I might do another post on it, but yes, there it is.

Maybe my next post shall be something more interesting for the people who don't read this for the sewing stuff lol

Quilting Tools

Above: Some of my sewing stuff. I didn't even realize the majority of my stuff is green lol. You can see pencils, eraser, scissors of various sizes, cutting mat, embroidery hoop tape measures, ruler, scissor sharpener, and fabric for my current quilt project.

My friend Aline asked/suggested this to me after my last post about quilting, so in this post I'm going to talk about the tools of the trade, so to speak. So there is pretty much an ENDLESS amount of tools, toys and crap you can buy for sewing/quilting. I'm serious. I found this thing called a Fabric Value Finder. First thought through my head was "What is this? This thing tells you the true cost of fabric? What the hell? ...I can't make this shit up!" So basically, it's a piece of hot pink plastic that tells you whether fabric is light or dark. Yeeeuuup. I'll copy and paste directly from the website for you. "The Value of a fabric is the amount of lightness or darkness in the fabric. The Fabric Vale Filter helps determine the amount of value (lightness or darkness) between fabrics. The fluorescent pink acrylic plastic filter cancels out the color in the fabric to let the light or dark value of the fabric to show. This filter helps you avoid over matching fabrics with similar values. How to Use: Hold Fabric Value Filter in front of you, close one eye, and view fabrics through the filter." From: http://www.quiltersrule.com/notions/qr-fvf.html

Some of the other random stuff I found at the same place as the fabric value finder that is rather useful - and some that are rather "Whhhhy?!?!" inspiring - but not enough for me to go indepth into are as follows...
- Suction cup things to stick on rulers to make it easier to move around etc. This actually has some merit, because I have days that getting the ruler picked up is a pain in the butt.
- Finger condoms - er Finger Cots rather... It looks like a mini condom for a finger, textured for your pleasure... Er... ability to hold a needle rather.
- Magnetic spool caddy (essentially.) It goes on the end of a spool of thread, and holds needles etc.
- Ruler rack to hold your rulers.
- Designing paper (advanced graph paper basically) for creating your own blocks etc. Also come as sheets of vinyl that you can use dry erase markers on.
- Magnetic wands to help pick up dropped pins and needles. I'll be honest my family just uses my mom's magnetic bracelet, and it probably works better... seeing as how it picks up almost all the silverware in the dishwasher in one go...
- Marking pencil remover - Oh, but if I'd had this in high school.... oh, wrong type of marking pencil.
- Quilt soap - a very mild detergent. I use this type of stuff when I wet/wash fabric before preshrinking just get dust and stuff from the store off it. Except I use "Forever New"...which I bought and use on my bras lol.
- A chenille cutter to make your own chenille fabric. I have a thing from high school fashion class where we made our own chenille pillows. I'll post it one day if I find the instructions again.
- Plastic shape templates - squares, rectangles, French curves, waves, swirls, animals...the list goes on and on.
- Extension tables to attach to sewing machines - my machine came with one, handy.
- Marking pens/pencils are always handy. As is stuff like tailor's chalk... or just regular pencils, pens, pencil crayons. I find chalk etc brushes off or rubs off too easily.
- Bias tape makers - they have like little ones you just pull the fabric through, and others that are machines. I also found this nifty blog entry here where she uses a pin in fabric and an iron to make her own bias tape maker for any size bias tape you want
http://creativelittledaisy.typepad.com/creative_little_daisy/2007/11/diy-version-of.html

Okay, so now I think we're into the "big" items. Scissors, rotary cutters, cutting mats, rulers, etc that have quite a bit I can talk about. Also, I'll make a note now that I'm going to be talking mainly about the OLFA brand because that's what is most readily available where I've been looking/buying what few of these I own... lol. I'm not getting paid by them or anything... And it's the only one I knew off the top of my head, but they seem to be a good brand. They're an older company as well if I remember, so well established - they do safety knives etc as well as this crafty and artsy stuff www.olfa.com

Pins!
You could use typical straight pins, but they're kind of short, and most have small heads. Quilting pins have larger heads, and are usually longer. Mom and I have a few containers of these heavy duty quilt pins that are a heavier gauge, called T Pins. The other type of pins to use are safety pins - also known as "basting pins" except "basting pins" seem to cost about three times as much as safety pins. They also sell the typical bendy snappy metal hair clip as binding clips, and again they sell for much more than you could buy them at the dollar store. You can also buy curved/bent safety pins... or just bend your own. I usually only use straight quilting pins, I find the safety pins a bit too flimsy when I try to bring them back up through the layers.

Cutting Mats!
Okay, so we have one of these, and it's huge... like 1m by 1.5m or something. Self healing, also a bonus. They come in variety of sizes, and not all are self healing, so check that when you're buying. Most of them come marked with SOME form of grid ruler system on it - such as 1"x1" squares with measurements from 1/2" to 1/8", some have protractor type lines for angles as well. Watch when you buy them because some are metric, some are imperial and some have both. They do seem to like to slide on the table a bit as well, similar to a cutting board, so maybe put some scrap fabric under it to keep it from doing that. Or duct tape. Duct tape is your friend, but the insanity of what can be done with duct tape is for other posts :-p
So you have self-healing, not self-healing, and pinnable cutting mats. Oh, and they even have ones that rotate so you can use the angle lines etc easier. Or something. I don't own one, and I haven't really looked at cutting mats since we already own one. A pinnable one could be handy though. I can't stick pins in our current one, but that would help keep the fabric in place. These mats aren't overly cheap, but they're fairly priced I guess. Especially if you watch for sales and get the kits for half off or so - these kits usually include a cutting mat, a ruler, and a rotary cutter, maybe even a knife or two.


Rulers!
Okay, so rulers. There's tons of these. You have your typical straight rulers that you can pick up at any store. The 30cm/12" long by 3cm/1.5" tall ones made of metal, wood, plastic, whatever. These work pretty good for basic measuring, line drawing etc. The next step you're into the fancier stuff. OLFA has a line of frosted rulers (the frosting makes them easy to read on both light and dark materials) that range from the 1"x12" to square rulers as big as 16.5"x16.5". These rulers are marked in 1"x1" squares, and have lines down to 1/8" of an inch for precise measuring. Some also have protractors on them so that you can cut on angles - I own one of these types, a 6"x12" with the angle lines. Haven't used it yet, but I hope to find it very handy. These rulers also come in a variety of shapes - rectangles, squares, right triangles, other triangles. Most of them are non-slip, which is also helpful (until you need to buy one of those suction cup gadgets anyways lol.) Costs for the OLFA ones, online anyways, run about $6.49-$29.99, and I know in store they're more expensive. Other rulers handy to have are a meter/yard stick (I think these can run around $30.00 for a nice aluminum one, but look around), and I've seen my mom use dad's right angle marker thing out of his workshop as well lol. I know there are other ruler/other use implements available out there (like things to use to poke out corners, or fold corners or something lol) you just have to look for them.

Tape Measures! And not the ones sold in tool stores (for the most part)
THESE!!! MUST HAVE!!!! HAVE LOTS!!! They love getting lost, or tangled, or bent, or cut up, or whatever. Have lots. They're cheap enough lol. They have many different types - fabric, fiberglass, etc. I own the type that you fold/roll up, and at least one fiberglass one in a case that you pull out and it locks, and then you push the release button to put it back in. I also reccomend checking your measuring tape against your rulers. I have a ruler that is about 1/8" off my tape measure. And I have tape measures that are about 1/8" off each other. So check them when you're going to be working with both so that you don't cut something and then end up freaking because it's bigger/smaller on one of your rulers.

Rotary Cutters and Circle Cutters!
I'd recommend investing in a quality rotary cutter. I have one from the dollar store and it's wobbly as hell and doesn't have an evenly sharpened blade, so I end up with bits of uncut fabric and have to use scissors to touch it up. A steady hand and steadily applied pressure is also key here, but it saves a lot of sore fingers and hands if you don't have scissors rubbing on them etc - just don't cut yourself. Rotary cutters are a round blade on a handle and you push it along to cut the fabric. As I said, requires a fairly steady hand, and a ruler lol. There's a few different models offered by OLFA - an easy change blade, an ergonomic one, the classic one and even ones with decorative edge blades.

Circle cutters do exactly that - cut circles. You adjust it to be how big you want, then cut out a circle. They have compass styles, and rotary styles...yup... I don't own one of these. Yet. lol.

Scissors!
Okay, now scissors I can talk about. Not really about brands, but just there's so many types of scissors, and what to do and not do with them, etc. Now then, scissors and sizes - we'll start with the smallest. Technically stitch/seam rippers aren't scissors, but they're sharp and I don't have enough to say to give them their own section. So, anyways, stitch rippers are small (or smallish... some have longer handles) and pointy and sharp. Yep. You can buy fancy expensive ones, but I own those and I personally go looking for my cheapy dollar store/Wal-mart one because I can't get the blade of the expensive one into my stitches. Moving on! Embroidery scissors are small, usually 1"-5" long blades (although personally, anything over 2" should not be embroidery scissors) and are good for getting into stitches to cut them, as well as clipping threads etc. Next up would be the smaller/medium scissors, the 5-7" blades. I use this size for cutting out most small cutting jobs - so I'll cut out quilt pieces, but I won't cut out around a pattern for clothes or whatever. That's for the shears. Shears! Okay, so, these are 8" or bigger. I use 8" shears (I got a pack of 2 pairs, one is 5" scissors and the other is 8" shears, for $5 on sale), and my mom was given a pair of 12" blade tailor's shears by my brother - we don't use them often due to the size, but we use them occassionally. So as I said, I can't say much for brands, I have some of the "This brand is better than that brand" or "I would rather buy brand name than generic" but that only applies to certain stuff. One of the best pairs of scissors I had came from the dollar store. Now I did invest in "higher quality scissors" for fabric eventually (my 2 pairs in a kit for $5.00 on sale scissors) but I bought them on sale. Scissors can be expensive - as in over $40.00 expensive. So just try stuff and what not. Now then, for sewing, you will need at least 2 pairs of scissors. One pair for fabric and ONLY fabric, and another pair for general use like cutting paper patterns etc. Why is this? Because you want fabric scissors sharp. And comfy. I always want comfy scissors (mainly because I hate having the base of my thumb rubbed/pressed against to the point it's horribly sore.) Cutting paper etc dulls scissors, so you want two pairs, and a scissor sharpener. Or have your scissors sharpened professionally. Mom and I bought a scissor sharpener and I'm possibly using it wrong, but it seems to dull them more then sharpen. Also, you'll probably eventually want to own different sizes - you don't need two of each size, though, just two pairs of regular sized scissors, about a 5" or 6" blade - embroidery, 5", and larger shears. Scissor cases are also cool, and you can make your own. I just found a nifty and fairly easy looking one at this blog here http://wildolive.blogspot.com/2009/01/january-workshop-for-you.html

Quilting Frames and Lights!
I've yet to use these, but my mom says we have frames. You set them up, put your quilts on them, and quilt them. There's different types, like ones that stand on the floor, and have the quilt wraps around two bars to create tension for you, large embroidery-type hoops so you can sit with it in your lap (great if you don't have space like we don't lol), hoops on stands, stands that go on either side of a chair so you can sit in your Lazy Boy and quilt, there's lots of different ones.

You can buy lights that hook onto frames, onto tables etc to provide more direct light for quilting. I'm thinking of buying mom one of these for her birthday since she's blind as a bat lol


I think that covers most stuff... if not, let me know what you want and I'll see what I can do, but really, what tools you want to use depend on you, what you want, your comfort level, your skill level, your sewing needs, your space, etc. It also depends on what you can find and afford. There's all kinds of crazy shit out there.

RECIPE!!!

Okay, so it's not reeeeaaaallly a recipe, however, the salad is yummy, and if you need a recipe to make this I should smack you with a clue by four right now.

The video is a Kraft commercial for Zesty Italian Dressing, and it's Michelle Kwan's Triple Combination Salad

So basically, your fave lettuce/greens mix, blackberries, green beans, potatoes, and zesty italian dressing. Mix, and voila, yummy salad. I was skeptical about the blackberries and the dressing, but it's actually really good. And you may get two posts today too. I got the quilting/sewing tools written up and saved in my files hehe.

Quilting - The First Entry of Many Long Ones, I'm Sure

**Author's Note: I have for the most part put images in as hyperlinked sentences/words. Also, those images belong to their original people and all that, I haven't made that much to have pics of those lol.**


Above quilt is from The Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts

This is one of those never ending topics as you can literally go "OMG LOOK AT THIS FABRIC I FOUND!!!" and you'd have a massive post all of its own. So quilting. I'll do a bit of background on myself and quilting for now, as well as a bit of info about quilting, and maybe some tips and the basics etc.

I haven't been quilting very long - I am a beginner. Sewing, however, my mom has had me doing since I was old enough to hold a plastic needle without taking my eye out, and stitching with yarn on that plastic canvas stuff. So probably since I was 4 or 5, and shortly after that I would have advanced to mucking around with real needles and thread on scraps, learning how to actually do stitches. I started doing stuff like crossstitch and embroidery around age 8, and shortly after started progressing into learning how to use the sewing machine and sew stuff from patterns. My mother was taught sewing, quilting etc by her mother and grandmother, so I'm probably a 4th generation sewer/seamstress at least. Quilting however, is something I'm just really getting into since my mom hasn't done a lot since I was younger. Now we'll move on to quilting.

What is quilting? A lot of people see me sewing and go, "Oh, are you quilting?" to which I give them an evil death glare and go, "No, I am sewing. This is a shirt." Quilting =/= sewing. Well, okay, it does, but it doesn't. You have to sew before you can quilt. Quilting is when you have a quilt top/top layer, then batting/insulation, then a backing/bottom layer, and you are sewing them together to get a design/hold the batting in place, and it makes it kind of puffy/defined. Quilting can be done by hand or machine, although a lot of people prefer hand quilting when they go looking, but the majority of non-sewers haven't a clue what the difference is. To me the difference is that with machine quilting the stitches are closer together, and in hand quilting they're a bit farther apart, resulting in spaces between the stitches. But again, that's not something a lot of people notice, and only happens because of how a sewing machine works. I think... lol.

As for types of quilts... if you can dream it, then sew it together or appliqué it, you can do it. Designs range from traditional, to contemporary, to an art medium, to anything between these. There are traditional patterns like a log cabin or a wedding ring, or a Dresden plate, and there are newer quilts used as art mediums - an example would be a quilt I saw online (and can't locate again *sad face*) of a solider in uniform handing a woman in funeral attire a folded U.S. flag that, due to the quilt, I am assuming came off the coffin of another soldier. A lot of quilt blocks also have multiple variations, so if you go looking for one and keep finding the "wrong" thing, look again, because it might be a different pairing of two patterns to make a new design, or the same pattern but different ways of putting the blocks together in a larger design (see this different log cabin quilt from the link above...) Traditional quilting is sewing pieces of fabric together to get the design - no matter how small or awkward the piece. Appliqué quilting is where you make a background and then sew shapes cut out of fabric on top of the background, and then go around and do the quilting, or the appliqué process is the quilting. Not all quilts are quilted by sewing. There are also tied quilts. These days there are two forms of tied quilts. One is like the traditional 3 layers of the quilt and then you take pieces of yarn or ribbon or something and put it through the layers, bring it back up, and tie it. The other way is to actually have quilt blocks (I'll get to these in a bit), typically made of non-fraying fabric like fleece, and having the edges cut so you can tie the blocks together. Some quilts are actually just one type of fabric, plain or patterned, possibly the same for both the top and the backing, and the design done in the quilting is the artwork of the quilt.

A quilt block is pretty much exactly that - one block of a quilt top. Or for those with no quilting knowledge, one complete section/repetition of the pattern that makes the whole design of the quilt top. Sometimes the blocks look kind of ugly by themselves, but make a nicer pattern once all the blocks are put together in the quilt. Take this image for example - it is 4 blocks wide by 5 blocks long. A block by itself would look rather ugly or unappealing, but together it makes another pattern that is highly appealing. Quilt blocks can be pieced together (different pieces of fabrics sewn together) or they can be a square of fabric with emrboidery or cross stitch on them, etc. Quilt blocks are usually squares between 12 and 18 inches in size when finished, but custom sized blocks or other designs can be bigger or smaller depending on what the person wants. The designs for quilt blocks range from highly simple (as in large, plain squares of fabric sewn together OR a postage stamp quilt of very very small squares of fabric sewn together) to blocks made up of many, many pieces with different shapes. My advice with these is start with simple stuff, and work your way up, or you can start harder, it's all really the same in the end. You can find lots of free patterns on the internet, or you can buy them at local stores etc, or make your own. You can also buy quilt top kits that come with the fabric precut for a certain size quilt etc. Batting comes in different thicknesses, different fibres and different sizes. Some batting comes in small "craft size" sheets (usually only meant for stuff like table runners, or wall hangings, maybe a crib or lap quilt), some comes bagged, sized to make one quilt, and other batting comes on giant rolls at the stores and you buy just enough for one quilt. Backing is usually just one type of fabric that is put on and bound and quilted with the top. You could do reversible quilts and technically have two tops, I've never done one of those except for baby size, but I did it very simply, and still found it was hard to pick a design to quilt because you usually do something pertaining to the pattern in the fabric/shapes in the blocks.

Some quilts can be made out of panels purchased at the store. These are usually designs printed into fabric, and come in varrying sizes, and usually make a baby sized blanket/wall hanging or smaller. These also usually have backing fabrics that match in the store. Basically with these you slap 'em together with some batting and quilt around stuff in the designs.

This is where we start getting into the tips and basics etc.

Fabric selections of today help a lot in new designs with all the patterns, textures and designs available. You can certainly mix and match types of fabric, it's all up to you. Some designs are easier to mix and match fabrics, and usually people will go with a quilting cotton. Quilting cotton, in my experience, is a bit heavier of a cotton. Broadcloth also works, it's a bit lighter, and I personally have found I don't enjoy mixing the two, mainly because with use they won't wear evenly, but I will do it depending on what kind of look I am going for. The log cabin quilt on my bed is probably over 100 years old, and it's shredding (which is why I'm working on a new quilt) but it's comprised of many types of fabric, the cottons and silk-like thinner types being the first to wear. Fabric types would also depend on the use - while I prefer softer fabrics like cotton or fleece for baby blankets (not receiving blankets though, those are cotton flannel), my mother likes to use a heavier polyester for simple crib quilts (where the tops are just squares sewn together) so that it will take quite a beating and lots of washing - we still have one from my brother or sister I think, or maybe it's mine, but either way, it's been kicking around for at least 20-30 years. Fabric isn't cheap - I know currently I've spent probably $100-$150 or more on fabric for my quilt top alone - and going to specialty quilting fabric stores is usually even more costly. Cheaper stores will sell fabric for about $8-$10 per meter/yard for quilting cottons and broadcloth (Wal-mart possibly even cheaper lol), but the more expensive stores will charge between $13 and $20 per meter/yard for quilting cotton/broadcloth. Also look out - a non-speciality store will sell you under 1/4 of a meter/yard, but a speciality store will usually say the smallest size they can sell you is a "fat quarter." SO, what is a "fat quarter"? Fat quarter: A piece of material measuring about 18" x 22". Traditional quilting fabric is 44-45" in width. A yard is 36" (a meter is 39".) A regular quarter yard is 9" by 44"; a fat quarter is made by cutting a half yard (18" x 44") in half in the direction of the length (splitting the 44") instead of the width (splitting the 9"). Stores also susually sell bundles of fat quarters that compliment each other so that sewers and quilters can just grab one of those and use them. Apparently there is also something called a "fat eighth" but I'd never heard of it until I found this website... http://www.wasiq.org/wasiqterms.html

You can buy fabric online as well, I haven't done that(yet), but just make sure you know how much you will need BEFORE you order! Nothing is more annoying than running out of fabric and then getting to the store or whatever and finding there isn't any left, and you're trying to find something similar or complimentary. My rule of thumb is always buy a bit more than you need - not A LOT more (I make that mistake all the time) but usually a half meter of extra (or if you think you may need a lot, or are having a bad day, an extra meter. Occassionally if there's only 2 meters left on the bolt I will buy all of it just to be safe.) Worst comes to worsse you have to find something else to make hehe.

So some more basics/tips in no real order...

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS PRESHRINK YOUR FABRIC! ALWAYS!!! Mom and I were in a fabric store one day and a woman was telling the employee about how she NEVER preshrunk fabrics she used. We wanted to kill her and call her crazy. She does sewing for a living and she never preshrinks her fabric because "time is money." Time may be money, but when your clients may or may not take the time to listen to your care instructions of "Wash with cold, hang to dry" and their clothes shrink every time they get them from you, do you think they'll come back? No. You don't even have to WASH wash it first, just get it wet and throw it in the dryer. You can do that while you work on some other project. And no, washing/wetting it, then hanging it to dry usually will NOT shrink it. It must go in the dryer, and it must have SOME heat. I don't reccomend using the dryer for drying stuff like quilts or bedspreads or comforters after they're done though, because it takes a toll on the batting/filling. Not unless you use air dry or the delicate cycle. Now, not all fabrics shrink, and not all can be put in the dryer. Read the label on the bolt of fabric, or ask an employee if you're not sure. Some fabrics are dry clean only - like silk. Usually for me, if it's shiny the rule is no dryer. Also be careful with stuff that has coatings (this is another point as well.) Stuff like bridal satin may be able to go into the dryer on delicate or air dry, but usually I'll just wet it and hang to dry to get dirt and protective coatings off it. And avoid putting stuff with plasticy coatings (and for sure not pleather/vinyl) into the dryer because it ruins them. Same goes for fabrics with metallic/pearlized touches, or any real embellishment - ex. a cotton blend with stars that have metallic gold accents. Dryer heat is not their friend really. Same with screened on prints. That is what causes them to crack etc. Air dry, or delicates cycle!

Never/rarely use a dryer on a setting higher than air dry/delicates with anything that is sewn with invisible thread because this is usually plastic. Plastic + heat = melty melty.

Cotton is one of the WORST fabrics for shrinking, so ALWAYS preshrink cotton and cotton blends.

ALWAYS read the washing instructions for fabrics. Some things treated to be flame retardant or whatever, have specific washing instructions so that you don't compromise the coatings.

ALWAYS straighten fabric. Now, there's a few ways to do this, but the most common is ripping the fabric. Yes, that's right, I said it, ripping. Most fabrics that rip (I've had a few exceptions) will rip with the grain line, therefore becoming straight. Of course you always occassionally get those fabrics that rip oddly, or the ones with prints that make the fabric look crooked (or a combination of the two...) Now for stuff like bridal satin etc that WON'T rip, you should pull out a thread or two a short distance from the cut edge and then cut the fabric on the resulting line. Some fabrics should be "straightened" by cutting with the pattern on the fabric. Other fabrics, don't even bother trying to straighten lol. For quilting, edges should ALWAYS be straight before cutting stuff like squares and rectangles - I personally will rip these pieces the right size and then cut them into the other side needed. Some fabrics will only rip one way, others will rip both. It's usually a good idea to rip the edges that were cut/ripped at the store. DO NOT rip along the selvage edge of the fabric (unless it actually rips that way, but usually most fabrics won't.) To straighten by ripping simply cut about 3/4" into the fabric about 3/4"-1" away from the edge and then rip. If it only goes about half way and it ends because you've ripped it straight to that point - it happens if the fabric has a curved shape to it from cutting, very similar to this ) - go back to the top, and try again, about 1/2"-3/4" from your new edge. Do this to both ends of the fabric.

Be warned that some stores rip fabric - leaving a straight edge - and others will cut their fabric - meaning you need to straighten it at home. Now usually it's not toooo bad, but I have had it where I once lost almost half my fabric and considered myself lucky that I didn't need a lot.

A yard is 91.44cm or 36". A meter is 100cm or 39". Fabrics are usually around 45" wide, or 60" for some. Some can be narrower, some are wider.

Take your time picking out quilt patterns, etc. This is a big investment etc.

There are tons of toys/tools for quilters. Fancy rulers, fancy sewing machines, tools to make certain types of stuff for quilts/crafty decor sewing projects (seriously I found a fat cats ruler tool! Srsly!)

A good way to protect your fingers from getting stabbed by the needle - especially if you have issues wearing thimbles like I do - my mom paints her finger tips with some nail polish, then let's it dry fully and then starts her quilting. You don't have to worry about it getting lost, falling off, or hindering your sewing because it just forms a protective layer over your finger. Of course it won't stop a good forceful stabbing motion of a needle, but it'll protect against most minor pokes.

If you can't sew and you plan on buying a quilt - $300.00 is a GOOD price/deal (or a poorly done quilt...) at the low end, but really, you can expect to pay into the thousands of dollars range for quilts.

Also, if you're quilting with others, or by yourself, or are buying a quilt - check the stitching. My mom was quilting with a bunch of older church ladies at one point when my brother had a janitorial job at this church, and the stitches weren't even, they were big, they were kind of sloppy and all over the place. A lot of people don't think this matters, but it does. Which is probably why so many people have changed to using sewing machines to do the quilting lol.

I think that's it for now. Everything else can go into other posts etc, and this is getting long lol. Also, you can leave comments if you want me to go over anything else :)

Since Everyone Else Is Doing It... A Post On Death.

I was scouring my brain to think of things to do my first few posts on, aside from talking about me. My biography can wait. I was trying to avoid the topic of death, but that seems to be one of the few things I know quite a bit about. Death and I are drinking buddies (and those are always interesting dreams, to be honest.) And with a couple happening recently, I've been thinking about it a lot. Not that I don't ponder it often anyways, what with occassionally having suicidal tendancies in some form, or just general pondering of what comes next.

I attended my first funeral at the age of 5 or 6. I barely remember it, so most of this was related to me later by my mom. It was no one I knew - a high school teacher of my mother's. This was a learning/teaching opportunity for my mother and I, not a really mournful event. Before the funeral my mother explained to me what the correct behaviour was, and that failure to behave in such a way would result in me sitting in the car by myself until the event was over, and quite the spanking back at grandma's when it was over. It went over without a hitch for the most part. I don't recall having a huge understanding of what was going on, who these people were, why they were crying.

My dad's adoptive mother died when I was 8 (And yes, I did just say it right out on the internet that my father is adopted ooOOoo. All his other siblings talk about it, it's not something to be ashamed of *rolls eyes*) Once again, I don't remember much. Mom told me to not run around the graveyard no matter how much my little cousin bugged; I remember the casket was blue, perhaps with a flower pattern? (I've had dreams/nightmares involving that casket); standing at the graveside wondering if it was over yet; having french vanilla ice cream at the luncheon after; my parents searching all over the city to find out what kind of roses to use for putting on the casket at the graveyard. None of it made sense really. I do know I was kind of in the dark about the whole thing, mainly something that was getting under foot more than anything.

I believe age 8 is about when my neighbour Harold died of cancer, but I don't really remember that either - just that the day my parents tried to tell me for some unexplainable reason I sat on the couch crying and refused to talk to them when they tried to tell me. I also remember the day of, not understanding why there was no body, and being utterly terrified of having to go watch the body be cremated (Apparently this is what they did in Australia, as told by my mother, who was told this by my exchange teacher at the time when I had some issues with it at school.) I also think I was wearing a hot pink dress (probably the last time I wore pink lol) and I remember going for a walk through the cemetary with Harold's son-in-law and grandson.

Somewhere around age 12 I believe, my (used to be) best friend's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She died suddenly near the end of the season, and my best friend decided she hated me because we had a wedding the weekend after her mother died and we weren't at the campground. She left me a rather scathing note, and pretty much never spoke to me again. We tried, but at that point we were both changing too much.

Age 13, grade 9, my maternal grandma died. No one realized what this death was about to start. Grandma's funeral meant new clothes, family drama, being subjected to what seemed like hundreds of people I didn't know attempting to hug me (yes, that went over so well it was put to the funeral director to find me somewhere private so I could sit and read so that there wasn't a second funeral of some poor well meaning person.) I think this was also where my dislike of ministers really started. You're right, I don't HAVE to be the rock of support for anyone and pretend I don't have emotions. However, I AM the rock of support for everyone, and really, I don't have emotions, so shut up and give the grief counselling to the person who wants it.

In the 3 months after my grandma died the death total was at 5. I think that year we averaged out at about 11. For the next 4 years, this was the pattern. 5 deaths in 3 months, averaging 10 or 11 a year. It's tapered off in the 6 years since grade 9 however. My grandmas (paternal and maternal), my mom's best friend and a woman I regarded as something akin to a second mother, a neighbour, some other relatives, a few guys from school, an uncle, an aunt... It's so hard to remember seeing as how the death count since grade nine currently sits at al most 60. Methods of death? Pretty much everything - old age, serious illnesses people don't dream of (cancer, hepititis C), car accidents, other accidents, suicide, perhaps even a homidicde, miscarriage/stillborn...

So really, when I seem kind of cold and heartless about death... I'm better than a Hallmark card, okay? Trust me, I used to work there, I've seen what they got, it's not impressive really (Carlton Cards seems to have a better selection if you're looking lol) and I've spent many a time pouring over the selection with customers looking for the perfect card and being completely understanding in how none seem right. I have personally (and unfortunately recently) stood in a store absolutely FUMING with anger because the "loss of child" cards are so emotionless and insensitive, and have finally found something that works, and walked away before I started bawling when I tried to keep looking for others. I understand death is difficult to deal with, and they have to cover a wide range of people, but seriously, some are just "What the hell were they thinking?!?!" inducing. So really, if you're card shopping, and can't find anything suitable - go with a blank card, or a "thinking of you" type that isn't really death related and write your own thing from the heart in it.

Other than that, this post really had no direction, but I guess I will have my little bitchfest about death now...

I know it hurts. I've been there. A lot. Look at the body count above. But seriously - get over it. Sounds cruel, sound callous or whatever, but it's true. These people who throw their lives away once someone dies.. ugh. When my uncle died, my aunt refused to give back any of the photos other people had contributed for the photo boards. Her reasoning? "Well he wasn't YOUR husband! What do YOU need pictures for?!" Then again... this is from the same family where the daughter hosts a birthday party for him every year (first year after, fine. A couple after if you have a child that was small when the person died and they're just understanding death now, and you wanna do it again fine. But EVERY year makes you look crazy.) My aunt still kind of refuses to go to family events or whatever because she'll "be all alone with no one to talk to." This is not how you deal with death. Srsly. Get over it. The sooner you accept it and deal with it, the easier it is. I think... I dunno. My thing is typically 2 days and I'm done. Or at least I tell myself I am. Getting over it doesn't mean you're never sad again if you think about this person, but it means you've accepted it, and you can remember the good, and not be all "Oh woe is me, ____ has died and my life has no direction and I'm so lost and want to die because I don't have them." SO STOP FUCKING YELLING AT ME AND BITING MY HEAD OFF WHEN I SAY GET OVER IT! Also, stop fucking telling me I'm too young to know anything about death. You people make me want to kill you (and that would show you aaaallll I know about death and much, much more. Rage. I haz it.)

This got really long, so I think I shall call this the end. For now. And I hope Lir remembers it's his turn to buy next time. And every time after this. He makes enough, it's the least he can do -_-

Welcome to Nod

So while I was thinking up a title, I was debating what a different name/term I could use for Nod would be. Thought of Noden, but I belive that is something completely different so I'll leave that for later...

Anyways, back on track...

Welcome to my blog. This is the official welcome post by moi, but the poem was a nice touch to not leave it blank :D

The name of the blog was thought of originally for the fact I like sleep, have a lot of weird dreams, and also the jokes about sleeping that Trystn has to go with my name *pointed look* Upon Googling the term "Land of Nod" I discovered a few things - 1. The associations with sleep; 2. A company that makes stuff for kids; 3. A biblical reference to Cain and where he fleed/was banished to after he slaid Abel.

Now before anyone starts thinking this is a biblical blog - it's not. In fact, I would suggest anyone easily offended not read this blog, same goes for anyone overly sensitive etc. I am not known for not being brutally, bluntly honest. And I'm not Christian. I'm not sure where this blog is really going, except it probably will contain many, many occult twists and turns, along with craft/knitting, quilting, cooking and other random stuff. It has no general given direction. And now I've come in kind of a roundabout circley straight way back to the name.

Nod. A Hebrew word for "Wander"/"Wandering." I certainly like to let my mind do that, so there's no reason for my blog to not follow suit. Oh, and just as a side note - the Hebrew "Nod" seems to have no association with nodding off the sleep. Don't work like thaaat, sowwies.

Now also, when I say occult twists and turns, I'm not posting rituals or spells, so all the little fluffies can take a hike right now. It might contain essays or whatever for pretty much my own use, but who knows. You never know what's going to pop out of my mouth at the right/wrong time. I might even post the entirty of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows one day *gasp* That's right, I said it.

As for the crafting/knitting/quilting/recipe front, I like that stuff, and I like to share some of it, so if I try or find something neat, I will post it and y'all and gank it :D

That's about it for tonight, it's almost time for my foray back into Nod, sooo I think perhaps I shall leave you all with a very, very hard riddle...

How is a raven like a writing desk?

The Land of Nod

The Land of Nod
by Robert Louis Stevenson

From Breakfast on through all the day
At home among my friends I stay,
But every night I go abroad
Afar into the land of Nod.

All by myself I have to go,
With none to tell me what to do--
All alone beside the streams
And up the mountain-sides of dreams.

The strangest things are there for me,
Both things to eat and things to see,
And many frightening sights abroad
Till morning in the land of Nod.

Try as I like to find the way,
I never can get back by day,
Nor can remember plain and clear
The curious music that I hear.