Wow - now there’s a post title I never thought I’d write! I pretty much hate baby showers. I’m not really one to fawn over cute baby stuff, and am easily annoyed by people who can’t stop saying how adorable something is. I mean really, it’s baby stuff. It’s inherently cute. Does it really need to be repeated over, and over, and over, by a dozen people? When it comes right down to it, that’s pretty much what a baby shower is. Fawning and stupid games. Ugh.

On Saturday, I hosted a baby shower for a friend. I wanted to keep it as un-annoying as possible. Of course I knew that there would be some of the requisite fawning, but wanted to try something a little different. Inspired by Stephanie and Kathy, I thought it would be fun to have each of the guests stencil a onesie for the baby-to-be using freezer paper stencils.

I cut out the stencils ahead of time, and let the guests do the ironing and painting.

It was a huge hit! Everyone loved the idea, and had a great time being creative with the paint. The mom-to-be was thrilled with all the neat onesies, and I was thrilled that I didn’t have to make people smell baby food in diapers. :)

I’d definitely recommend this as a get-the-guests involved baby shower activity. It would also be great for a group of kids, as a birthday party activity or a girl scout/boy scout/4-H activity.

Lest you think this is going to become a quilting blog, it hasn’t been all quilting, all the time here lately - there has been some knitting too.

You see that? That’s a swatch. A swatch of Noro Cash Iroha, which is quite a lovely yarn. But. (yeah, there’s always a but…) I really, really wanted to use this yarn for Sahara. It’s not 100% silk, but it has enough silk in it to be drapey when knit up. Here’s the thing - I got gauge on size 6 needles (the top 1/4 of the swatch). The fabric was really tight though. I didn’t like it at all. So, I went up to size 7 needles. Ah, a much better fabric. Except my gauge is completely off now. Completely off.

So, what do I do? Recalculate the pattern for my gauge? This wouldn’t be too difficult, although I’ve never done it before. I’m hoping it might be as simple as knitting one size smaller than I’d typically knit, but it probably won’t be that easy. Or, should I save this yarn for something else? I don’t really want to do that, because I have no idea what I’d use it for. I don’t have enough to make an hourglass sweater. And I really want to make a cute short sleeve sweater or tank for spring. Also, I love the sequins that I bought to string along with the yarn for the trim.

Sigh. This is my least favorite part of knitting - trying to substitute yarn in patterns that I like without spending a bizillion dollars on fancy expensive yarns called for by the pattern. It’s especially frustrating when I buy yarn with a pattern in mind and it doesn’t end up working out. Like this Noro. And the Malabrigo. (In case you’re wondering what ever happened to SKB - it still looks like it did in that last picture. I haven’t the heart to rip it and I’m not sure it’s fixable)

Yesterday I spent some time piecing the blocks together for the baby quilt.

Laying out the blocks was the most fun part of the project… they are totally random.

I realized after sewing them together that there’s a slight lack of yellow in the upper right corner, but I’m just going to call that a design feature!

Here’s another closeup. These are such great fabrics!

I also tried my hand at actually quilting one of my blocks from quilt class. Notice how there are no pictures of it. Let’s just say that it didn’t go so well. I tried quilting the block with straight diagonal lines, but the fabric got all wonky because the feed dogs would pull too much fabric through on the bottom. I either need to get a walking foot or a darning foot for my sewing machine before I quilt this thing. I’d love to quilt this with stippling (sp?), but am hesitant to try it on a gift quilt for the first time.

Last Thursday was my second quilting class - Quilter’s University 102. The class description says “Learn strip piecing, chain piecing, basic paper piecing and more! Proper pressing techniques (not ironing!). Continued focus on accurate ¼” seams.” Sounds like good stuff to know for quilting, right? Well. The class did not cover ANY of the above items, with the exception of the ¼” seam and pressing - kind of a no-brainer.

Instead, we learned to make these:

A flying geese block. I did not know what it was called before this class (so, I guess I did learn *something*), but I did know that this is by far my least favorite, most disliked quilt block of any that I’ve ever seen. I just don’t like it. And, if I had known that this was what the class was going to consist of, frankly, I would not have wasted three hours of my time.

We also had a substitute teacher for the class. To give her some credit, she had very short notice that she’d be teaching. But, compared to the instructor we had for the first class, she was just not my style of teacher. She micromanaged everyone in the class, and never gave us a clear indication of what we were supposed to be learning or doing. The entire class was spent waiting for the teacher to come around and give us an indication of what, exactly, we were supposed to do next. It was extremely inefficient. She also expected us to have a book and other supplies that we were never told to purchase before the class. There was clearly a lack of communication between the store, the instructor, and the students.

All of this got me thinking about what makes a good crafting (knitting, quilting, etc.) class. First and foremost, I think it’s important that the activities taught in class are similar to what is described in the promotional e-mail/brochure/etc. After all, if you’re not learning at least the things that got you interested in the class in the first place, why bother? Next, I think it is extremely helpful to have a class handout. The handout should give the big picture of what will be taught, and also give details of any techniques taught. What good is a class if you can’t go home and repeat what you learned? Third, a good instructor can make the difference between a worthless class and a worthwhile one. This is kind of a crapshoot, unless you get a recommendation from someone who has taken the class and who has a similar learning style. Finally, the other students in the class can also contribute to whether or not you enjoy the class. Just one “crochety old (or young) lady” can ruin an entire class for the rest of the students. This is also a total crapshoot, as you have no control whatsoever over the other students. A good instructor can make a huge difference here, as well.

This quilting class failed on three of my four criteria - the activities taught were not anything like what I expected, there was no handout, and the instructor’s teaching style (hands on, micromanaging) was not my style at all.

What do you think makes a good crafting class?

My bedroom is getting closer to being my favorite room in the house. The furniture showed up last weekend, and the mattress was delivered today.

Here’s a picture of what it looked like before. Note the abundance of beige (ceiling, floor, doors, comforter, etc). Hello, my name is Cyndi, and I’m afraid of color.

And, after. It looks like a completely different room.

Unfortunately, the dog kennel has to stay, even though it doesn’t exactly add to the ambiance of the room. It’s the dogs’ favorite place in the house to go hang out, and I don’t think they’d like it if they couldn’t sleep in the same room as us.

There are still a few details to be finished up. Tomorrow, a painter is coming to paint the doors white. (all of the doors in the house are beige - the same as the walls. Weird.) I’m tossing around the idea of painting the window bench seat white too. Someday I’ll upholster a cushion for it. And, you may have noticed that the bed is missing one finial and the crossbars for the canopy. Those were damaged during shipping, and hopefully will be replaced soon. Although, I have to say that I like the bed equally well without the crossbars.

I also need to find some art to hang on the wall above the bed. Stephanie (who also just completed a fabulous bedroom makeover) got me thinking about creating something myself, either by taking a photo of leaves or ferns, or possibly using one that I’ve already taken and photoshopping it a bit. I’ll have to browse my iPhoto library and/or get out the camera and go for a walk this weekend to find some foliage to photograph.

Updated to add details, for those interested:

Paint: Restoration Hardware Silver Sage

Furniture: Durham, Southampton collection

Wall Sconces: Restoration Hardware Library Swing Arm Sconces

Bedding: Restoration Hardware Italian Pintucked Sateen, Eucalyptus (this, I am not as excited about as I thought I would be.  it looks great after 45 minutes of ironing, but after I took it out of the dryer, it was a huge wrinkled lump.  not what I was expecting when the label says ‘touch up with warm iron if needed.’  warm iron, my a$$.  try super hot steam iron with lots of pressure.  darn cotton.)

Yet another weekend full of plans, most of which were half accomplished.

Baby quilt: Surprisingly, I got a lot accomplished on the quilt in just a few hours today. I might end up liking this quilting thing after all. It’s certainly faster than knitting.

I managed to finish all the blocks. Now, to sew them together, bind it up, and quilt. Sounds easy enough.

Entrelac socks: I’m closing in on halfway with the first sock, and am not bored yet. It’s just a matter of finding the time to work on them.

Salina: Still going… Finished the cuffs, but didn’t get a chance to seam it (see baby quilt, above).  Who knows when I’ll actually get around to seaming it.  It should probably be soon though, if I want to wear it before spring arrives.