Good news/Bad news

In a bit of a bummer of a mood tonight. I'm saying no to some boots in the same way that pretty much everyone said no to hitting the town tonight - well, to be fair, half of them worked till late and the other half got started way too early and were ready to be taken home to bed by 11, but I'm a smidge miffed. If this was real life, I would say "sad face" because I'm not actually very good at frowning. Although what I've actually done is gotten into bed and started watching all the episodes of Good News Week that I missed back at the start of the year because I work monday nights, and it's funny, so I'm smiling plenty.

Distractions.

I'm glad that I was able to get all my insecurities about quilting out last night. Usually they pass very quickly... I am easily distracted, by such thoughts as "who decided that tissues come concertina style from a box, whereas toilet paper comes from a roll?" and then... sorry got distracted... and then I forget about them and move on. It was only because I was actually sitting there, quilting, that I had too much time to think on it and it started to properly get to me. But it's out now, and that's jolly good. And I did get my quilting finished, and tonight, I decided to think the opposite. Having quilted two last night, tonight I ate chocolate muffins and watched mythbusters and browsed on eBay for boots.

It would seem the mere thought of having to fill bobbins is enough to put me off of quilting for the evening. Well, that and the lure of vintage cowboy boots. There's a couple of really really nice pairs ending in the next few hours and I'm trying to decide between staying up and ninja bidding right at the end or just popping in a random number and hoping for the best. I'd probably either not win any of them, and miss out, or accidentally win them all, and have no money left.

So old it feels new...

After so long piecing backings without much pre-planning, and before that mainly piecing quilts by cutting long strips and sewing them together, it was nice to get back into the swing of chain piecing for my third mingle quilt.

This is, sorta, what it's gunna look like. I'll keep shifting the fabrics till I'm happy: I worked my way through dozens of variations already tonight.

I think my problem is that I'm not quite sure which fabric print is the one that most needs the even spread. Instinct tells me that it's the one with the dark brown stripe, surely, but when I'm shuffling them about I'm most concerned with not having the brown circles and the purple and green stripe together, which makes it a bit silly that I put one of them inside the other. Whoops. And then, looking at this picture, it's the dark green that stands out the most, so I'm a bit confused.

And what do I do when I'm confused? CGI rendering of course.

The shading is way off in that, because I just chopped squares out of the above photo and it's always darker at the top of the shot. But I like the more random* seeming one. I'll try it in real life tomorrow. I didn't want to sew my start blocks yet because I wasn't sure which one might end up in half, but I'm 99% sure it will be the ones shown in half there, no matter where all the others are. So that's about 14% sorted then.

In other news, I bought pair #2 of yesterdays boots, and I'm still seriously considering #3 and 4. I think this kinda progress deserves many new shoes, since I paid about that much for these fabrics.

*the pattern is actually almost as regular as the top one, just 180 swiveled instead of duplicated as is, with the center ones swapped so it wasn't touching itself*


*because eww.

Another post about boots...

I have a dream boot, a boot that is perfect in every respect, that fulfills my every criteria for a boot. It is a cowboy boot in a beautiful caramel-ey tan colour. It has slight curves at the top where the pull tabs are. It has a round toe, and the sole doesn't extend past the leather very far, if at all. It has a low heel, about an inch, which is fairly square, without too much of a cuban slant, but doesn't have a spur ridge sticking out. It has a little bit of embroidery, but nothing too ostentatious, in the same colour as the leather. It has a 14" or 15" shaft height, and it doesn't have a seam up the back.

Today, for the first time ever, I saw my perfect boot appear on my computer screen.

Tragically, this doesn't mean that my perfect boot exists. All it means is that I have taken a stock photo of my actual boots, and stretched them to be tall.

What I want to know is, why can't Ariat do that? I didn't even use fancy software, I just did it in Paint. All I want is my boots, which are youth size 5 Heritage Ropers, with a 14" shaft height, instead of an 8" one.

About the closest they do is the Crossfire, with a square toe, wide stiched sole, slightly cuban heel with a spur ridge and white flame stiching and flame pull tabs, with a very deep v curve at the top. Womens Heritage Ropers are 11" tall, and that's not enough when your legs look like twigs.

Mythical CGI non-existent boot to the left, availiable but not quite what I want Crossfire boot to the right

So, naturally, I've completely changed tacks, And, having spent the last 4 hours looking at pretty much every boot on eBay, I have this advice:

If you ever feel like looking for boots on eBay, go and bang your head against a wall until you get a concussion, and then go to the hospital. Don't take your laptop with you. Do not look for your mythical "perfect" boots on eBay. It will make you wish you had banged your head repeatedly against a wall, because it will make you feel as if you had, without the chance to get medical assistance.

Seriously, it's a bad idea. I ended up with 31 peairs of boots in my watch list, though I've since had a measure of my current boots and feet and have ruthlessly culled all the ones that I wouldn't fit into, leaving me with 15.

Of these, I am seriously considering four pairs.

First is the Melissa Button by Frye, and I'm worried it's a little too equestrian and not quite enough cowboy. They're at about $100 and postage would be about $45.

 

These are random vintage boots. I'm waiting for a reply about postage costs - They're buy it now for $45.

These are from Germany, and to get two pairs, this blue/grey pair and a pair in purple, would be about $110 including postage. I'm waiting on an email as to whether or not there is a seam up the back. If there isn't, I'm getting both.

As a result of all this, I'm gunna stop buying fabric for a bit. Not because I want to, but because I'll have spent all my money on boots, and wont be able to afford any fabric. But I've still got some care packages on the way, so I should be fine.