I Hate Coming Up with Titles Some Days...

I'm just popping in to say 'hello'! I've been busy trying to fit in a little adventure, work on some projects, working, and getting ready for school to start, which was yesterday.

A couple weekends ago, Chad and I went to see the Blue Angels and all the other planes and jets at an air show. Or, as they call it here, the AirSho. My back had been hurting, so I wasn't up for walking around too much but missing out was out of the question. While he walked around to all of the aircraft on exhibit taking photographs, I camped out where we wanted to sit, sketched, and watched my surroundings.

I will have photographs to share, if they turned out, once I develop the film. Yes, we took all of our photos on film. I don't have the equipment to capture high-flying aircraft with digital, but I do have a couple lenses for my film cameras. I've talked before briefly on my thoughts on photography and may go in to it further in the future. Besides, I have other things I want to buy/save for than to spend money on a fancy DSLR. (Like art and sewing supplies and in the future, help pay for our dream home/farm.)

In other crafty news, I put together a muslin for a dress based on the Sorbetto pattern for Colette Patterns. The dress has a circle skirt and I want to add sleeves. My first muslin was a failure. Not a complete failure, but just doesn't work. I have some tweeking to do with it before I will be showing anyone other than Chad, or making it out of good fabric. One thing I'm thinking of scrapping is the circle skirt. So for now, I'm going to walk away from it for some time until I work out where I want to go with it (and frankly, have the time to fuss with it).

Now that school has started, I have to work out how to fit in everything else. I'm going to try to update at least once a week and hopefully have things to share, other than talk about homework and how annoying my fellow classmates are when they text the entire class period. I only have one studio class this semester, which is ceramics, so I should have stuff to show from that at least.

Until next time!

Inspiration: Places of Faith

I attended a wedding yesterday afternoon. It was quite nice, which says a lot because I am not usually one to enjoy weddings. The love between the couple was very evident and helped bring up the atmosphere. Maybe because I'm also deeply in love is what made the difference. Whatever the case, this post isn't really about this wedding, or weddings in general.

Sitting in the church, I was taken in by the details of the architecture. This is not unusual for me. I get lost in carvings, patterns formed by brick and stone, the grains of woodwork, and so on. I tend to take many photographs of these details, and did so yesterday, however I will not be sharing them as they are not the best quality. Photographing the interior of a church is a challenge for most people and my digital camera doesn't have what it takes. Besides, I'm going to translate what I photographed into sketches, and hopefully into fabric.

When I find something that inspires me, my mind races with ideas. One of these thing are places where people express their faith. The beauty that results from this faith is enough to just take in. It's even better when ideas come from these expressions. I've felt this growing up and in my travels to other countries. Particularly in Brazil when we toured church after church. My travelling companions got tired of it, but if you go beyond the surface, you would find each church is different from the next.

Enough of my rambling. Here's some imagery for you to enjoy.

Istanbul, Turkey (Source)

Interior of the Taj Mahal (Source)

Interior of the church I was in yesterday (Source)

I plan on sharing from time to time my inspirations, so stay tuned for more of that. Hopefully this week I will have time to dedicate to actually creating something. My weekends are now booked for the rest of the summer and the fall semester is creeping up on me. Must carve out time now, or I'll be sitting on the same projects come December.

A Longer Introduction to Me

Hello! I love doing these blog tours as it's a great way to find new people to stalk follow. Thank you to Lily's Quilts for putting this together!

My name is Katie. I'm 29 and will be celebrating the big 3-0 in December. I live in my hometown in Minnesota with my boyfriend of two years, Chad, and two dogs, Jameson and Angus. Jameson is a Boston Terrier and Angus is a Scottish Terrier. I do post photos of them from time to time.

I'm currently working part time for a large corporation (full time this summer) and go to school full time. I'm majoring in art and minoring in apparel and textiles. I already have a degree in human resources, which was a complete waste of time and money, thanks to our recession. Creating was always my dream though, so it took being laid off and unable to find a job in this economy to prompt me to finally follow it.

As far as quilting goes, I only made small projects until last December when I completed a large wall quilt for a final project. It needs some tweeking and I do have plans to share it here. I'm working on two QALs right now, but those are at a stand still while I try to find time. I first learned to sew in middle school and didn't start sewing again until a year ago and I'm still learning things with each new project I try.

I also garden, cook/bake, knit, crochet, photograph with film (and develop it myself), paint, embroider, draw, play music, read lots of books, and love to watch sports, reality tv and old movies. Clark Gable is my favorite actor of all time. I try to learn something new every day and greatly enjoy word and math puzzles to keep me sane and my brain active.

I have no interest in politics or the negativity I see from time to time on blogs.

My blog will tend to be all over the place, as I do have a variety of interests. My goal in life is to one day work for myself using my art and sewing background while tending to a small farm. Luckily Chad is on board with that as well. Our only difference in opinion is the amount of animals we would be tending to.

Well, I think I've rambled enough about myself. Feel free to stick around for future postings, peek at old ones, and ask any questions you may have. Thanks for stopping by!