My Inner Martha Stewart

Those people who know me well, in particular my University roommates and friends, know that I secretly wish I could be Martha Stewart (even despite her stint as a jail bird).  I love when things are pretty, particularly when food is pretty.  I love when every thing has it's place and is organized in aesthetically pleasing containers with colour coded labels.  I'd love to be the person who is on top of every holiday and  birthday with homemade cards, and who has pretty and delicious contributions to every pot luck.  However, my attention to detail is severely lacking (I'm definitely more of a "big picture" type of person) and I have a hard time being patient enough to finish projects.  So essentially I like the IDEA of being Martha Stewart, but not the painstakingly meticulous work that it requires.

In University I used to spend hours decorating cookies and cupcakes to look just like the pages of Martha's Cupcakes cookbook.  Mostly around exam time as a way to procrastinate or for swim team swim meets.

Sometimes the idea of crafting is enticing enough that I decide to actually try it.  I've dabbled in sewing, crocheting and knitting. The number of finished projects is dwarfed by the number of started projects that typically end up in a knotted mess of yarn.  Or in most cases, end up spread across the entire house with bits of scrap fabric and crochet hooks in every room. As I get older, and once I started a grown-up job and had free time that wasn't completely consumed with homework and assignments, I decided that perhaps I was mature enough now to be patient, to finish projects and to finally discover my hidden talent for all things crafty and pretty.

I was half right.  I did in fact finish a few projects (go me!), however none of the hobbies ever stuck.  In Kenya, I learned to crochet and made a blanket for my grandma for Christmas. (sorry for the picture grandma! It was the only one I had of the blanket).  To be fair, this blanket was crocheted over 2 years and mostly during my summer in Kenya and my last year of University.  But it did get finished which is a win.  I'd like to note that my family has an insane talent for flukey Christmas' in the hospital and we are insanely good at celebrating in hospital rooms.

Last winter I learned to knit, and finished 2 whole knitting projects, which is a record.  My first project was the green basket weave scarf on the right.  You can see where I got lost in the pattern near the fringe and messed it up.  I like to think I recovered well though, since the rest of the scarf seems to be mistake free.  The hat on the left is technically my third finished project...it took me a few tries before I successfully knit a toque that was remotely wearable.  The first attempt had holes, the brim was big enough for  a sasquatch and the hat itself would have had to stretch to fit an infant.  Needless to say, it was a learning curve!  The hat was for my brother for Christmas, it matches his pond hockey jersey.  My original intent was to knit one for each member of his team (I think 6 in total?) but in good ol' KP tradition, I only finished one...but bought enough yarn for 6 and subsequently left the yard out for 2 months thinking I was indeed going to finish 5 more toques.  It's still on the to do list....

Which brings me to this weekend!  (Drum roll please....) I finished my first quilting project!  And this time, instead of finishing frustrated and sick of the project, I'm actually so proud of how it turned out and already looking forward to the next project!  Which is a good thing because I ordered enough fabric for 6 quilts when I purchased fabric for this one, assuming, like always, that I'd unleash a secret aptitude for quilting.  So stay tuned!  Tomorrow I'll have an entire start to finish quilting update.

Question of the day: Any quilting, knitting, crocheting, or cupcake decorating tips?