Checkerboardskirt

2011-09-30T14:35:00.007-05:00

Oh hi, internet.

Just popped in for a quick update while I'm at home between opening and closing shifts at work (barf).

Firstly, I made a lab coat for a stuffed shark for some dude on reddit a few weeks ago. Don't ask me why. It was a weird project and I tend to like those. Anyway today, I finally saw the pics he took and they are great! (I can't believe it actually fit.) (I am AWESOME.) Here is the photo montage!

Next, I've been mostly working on some stuff for my friend Sara's new business.

(item tags)

(preliminary fun brand work)

That's kind of it. I'm also working on something special and secret for a good friend's upcoming baby. But I'm not quite ready to reveal it yet. I'm also trying to do more of these tutorials as I have time. It's my goal to get completely through the list by the end of the year.

Bi-monthly update

2011-09-03T18:50:00.006-05:00

Hello there, internet. Once again, I've neglected this blog in favor of reddit, spoonflower, hulu, and twitter. After working what seems like all the time, I don't usually have the energy to get creative with words for you. I can barely sentence! :sigh:

Nonetheless, here are some short sentences which tell you what I've been up to and what I wish to be up to. That was the longest sentence in this post.

Here's this: I want to make many! It looks wonderful and fragile!
http://www.moredesignplease.com/moredesignplease/2011/3/4/diy-doily-lamp.html

Here's this fabric I designed! I like Russian nesting dolls a lot and wanted to make some fabric that looks similar to my Matryoshka tattoo.

I am so in love with Spoonflower and its infinite possibilities. Maybe I'll actually purchase something from them larger than a swatch sometime.. So far, I've been really happy with the quality of prints they offer, I just can't currently justify paying $18/yd. You can see my shop here if you like. If you have never perused this site, I highly recommend it. Just don't look at the prices. They recently revamped the site (it's particularly noticeable on the shop profile) and I love it even more now!

Lastly, here's a dinosaur crochet baby hat pattern I found recently. Talk about falling hard for something. This hat is FREAKING ADORBS. Below is a crappy phone-shot of mine. I've got multiple pregnant friends in my life right now and they're all getting one of these badboys.

I think that's enough for now. See you in 2 months!

So I just moved..

2011-06-23T09:28:00.003-05:00

..like three weeks ago. I've been meaning to post these pictures for ages, but I've been busy! Sue me, blog. Jeez. Anyway, the new place rules. It's a two bedroom duplex and my only roommate is Samwich. I. love. it.

I've been arting and crafting a lot lately so expect some updates (I hope?) soon.

Tonight the neon answers flare, Occasionally we stop and stare past tiny paintings, painted where the clouds were wrong,

2011-03-09T19:29:00.005-06:00

With killer stares and sideways frowns,
In keeping with, the universe all upside down, twice (twice, twice)
And broken legs and arms in slings,
You cry secretly, you won't wear my diamond rings why (why, why)?

A billion cares, a thousand stings
we lie frequently,
Choose the chapter where he starts
Fight (fight, fight)
Two millionaires have bought this town and changed everything.
I found you in a lost and found,
Why why why!

-Architecture in Helsinki, "Tiny Paintings"

Random update!

I've obviously been out of blogging for a while. Since July, I've gotten a full-time job at Christie Cookies here in Nashville. I get to do their graphic design in addition to their regular business, so I've kept myself pretty busy for the past several months.

Here's one thing that I did complete out of no where the other day. A good friend of mine inspired me with a beautiful painting of 64 doors so I thought I'd give it a try. But naturally with robots. And on a miniature scale. So it goes. Enjoy!

Acrylic paint, 2.5 x 2.5"

DC, finally

2010-07-13T16:30:00.005-05:00

Here are some photos I took in DC. My camera's getting worse every time I try to use it, and maybe I am too.

National Portrait Gallery, from the floor.

Renwick Gallery, part of the Smithsonian Museum.

Wild Bill, Presidents' exhibit of the National Portrait Gallery.

Close up of a silk installation piece at Renwick. It's kind of dumb that I don't remember who the artist is.

Perty houses.

Virginia has the best welcome sign. But their interstate only goes up to 65.

Tiled wall bordering a park in Stacy's neighborhood.

Prettiest dessert I ever did have! (Red Rocks)

Awesome concrete-writing fail. It looks like it says "fuck everything", but it actually says "luck everything". Rawr!

4 days is not enough. This was my second trip to DC. Not pictured is the Thao and Mirah show we went to for Stacy's birthday. Divine!

2010-07-13T13:20:00.006-05:00

Hello all! This has been some absence, huh?

Well, I've been busy going a few different places and cleaning up my craft space. There are about 12 different projects that I've started just cluttering up my table so before starting anything new, I'm working on getting rid of that stuff. Also, I'm working on finding a job (which is not what I want to spend my time on, but so it goes..) as well.

Below are some photos of things I've been working on:

Was: Pillow Case

Is: Dress!

Close up of paisley pattern. I love the warm colors!

Here's a pouch I sewed today. It's only been in cut-out pieces for like, 6 months.

Yesterday I finished a skirt that had been in pieces since I lived at my other house in Murfreesboro (almost a year!)

Yikes, I'm a little behind.

In other news, I finally deleted my myspace account yesterday. I forgot all about that! I wonder if I still have a livejournal/xanga/deadjournal out there somewhere. (Yes, I had an account with all of those sites. I was young, leave me alone!)

Next post (immediate, I swear) will include photos of DC and possibly East TN. This interface is not conducive for adding lots of photos in each post.

Recap of Etsy party

2010-06-25T11:50:00.005-05:00

Well, it's been an interesting and eventful weekend/week! On Friday the 18th, we had our Etsy Craft Party in honor of Etsy's (sixth?) birthday. It turned out great. We met a lot of people with many different interests and talents. I repeat: it turned out great. Here are some pictures my roommate Sara and I took of the event.

We received a box of party supplies from Etsy because our event was one of the top 50 on Meetup.com. (18th to be exact.) This box had some really cool stuff in it, which we were able to share with our guests. We got a silk-screening kit, a ton of glass paints, and various etsy and Pabst themed handouts.

Here I am freaking out about the kit we got.

Glass paint pens in my TheCraftateria jar I started but did not finish. Hopefully I'll have a better picture of the soon-to-be finished jar.

Cookie decorating supplies.

I made a banner for our porch from fabric scraps. It will hang there forever.

This is the result of the silk screening.

It seems like no one had really had any experience with this before, but after a try or two, we were all instantly hooked. I would love to be able to make my own screens. Perhaps a new hobby is about to be formed. (Because we all know I don't have enough things to learn how to do.)
A new friend brought a button-making machine. I love her.

Brooke (roommate #2) did henna!

She also made these marshmallow treats. They were stupid cute.

There was even someone doing face painting! Our party was just shy of a county fair.

We made a lot of new friends, and will definitely be doing more parties like this in the future. Of the new friends we made, one of them is hosting a book making party next month! I'm pretty interested in this and hope to be able to attend. Hopefully there will be a post about this soon!

Up next: Washington DC!

Craft Party!

2010-06-18T13:34:00.002-05:00

Well, you probably have noticed my absence from this blog, despite having all the free time in the world. This is due to (among other things) the craft party that my roommates and I are hosting as The Craftateria. I'm pretty excited for everything to get underway, but also a little stressed.

Yesterday, we found this write-up in the Nashville Scene, which is awesome! (However I'm a little afraid way more people will show up than anticipated!)

I can't believe we made the Scene!! Crazy!

I'll be sure to take tons of pictures, but it may be a few days before I can upload because I'm driving to DC tomorrow!

Bloglovin'

2010-06-01T21:36:00.001-05:00

Follow my blog with bloglovin

Treasury love!

2010-06-01T17:31:00.004-05:00

Quick update to announce more random treasury love!

Also, I'm working on a custom shirt (larger size) of the same design for this girl. (FYI, she makes some pretty badass jewelry.)

Lately I've been working on the above custom shirt and a couple special edition black robots. One is for a friend and the other will probably end up on etsy.

I'm hosting an etsy party at our house on June 18th and I'm thinking about making something cute to wear. After all, it's an etsy party. How can I not wear something I've made? Remember that purple flowered fabric I have? I think I should use that, but I'm still not sure what to make. Leaning towards a simple dress to showcase the fabric, but I don't know.

2010-05-29T18:51:00.003-05:00

Minor update.. I finished the robots!

Etsy Craft Party, Nashville Style!

2010-05-25T14:04:00.002-05:00

While perusing facebook this morning, I happened upon the Etsy Craft Party and signed Nashville up!

If you're in the area on June 18th, please RSVP!

Do I love you, my oh my! River deep, mountain high!

2010-05-24T17:25:00.003-05:00

Well, it's back to the daily grind after a pretty spectacular weekend. Here's just a quick update since I just found out about this: My etsy shop with my roommate was featured in a Treasury! It's nearly over, but here's some linkage!

More later with photos!! (But not of the pants. They turned out fine, but in my haste, I didn't take pictures.)

PS, I can't get that song out of my head, so here. Suffer with me.

Sunshine Award!

2010-05-15T21:28:00.003-05:00

Hello all! Quick update before I head out for the evening..

A fellow blogger Angie gave me the below Sunshine Award, which I think is pretty cool! I am passing it on to 7 other bloggers that I enjoy reading.

Rules for accepting award:

1. Put the logo on your blog within your post.

2. Pass the award on to 7 bloggers.

3. Link to the nominees within your post.

4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and the link to the person from whom you received this award.

I am passing this on to:

April

Rachel

Oops I Craft My Pants

Fabulously Funky

Lisa

Embroidery As Art

A Whim of Mine

On another note, I began Wedding Pants for a friend today. So far, so good, though I'm somewhat nervous about them. Mainly the bound pockets. I plan to tackle them tomorrow and hopefully I'll be able to get some good photos. Wish me luck, I may need it!

2010-05-13T12:10:00.007-05:00

hello!

Being newly jobless seems to work sort of well for me. I have been pretty busy lately with some sewing projects and a few random art projects. So far, I've been spending about 5 hours a day working in our workspace. I'm finding that staying busy and trying to keep a regular work/sleep schedule is helpful. It's such a weird feeling to not have to be anywhere! Below are some pictures of what I've been up to lately.A couple friends of mine are getting married in a little over a week. The Bride asked me to alter her dress, which is a vintage taffeta beauty. I have no idea what era it is from, but I'm going to blindly guess the 50's. It's lovely. I changed the neckline from a high V-neck to a scoop and altered the underarms so that there were less..stains.

I'm pretty proud of it, I hope she likes what I've done.

I'm also making the pants that the Groom will be wearing. From scratch. I should be cutting these out today and hopefully won't have much trouble with them. There are two bound pockets on the back, which is slightly intimidating since I haven't done those since..probably my costume class back in school, but everything else seems kosher.

I love the hand of the fabric he chose.

Here are some unfinished robots I've been working on from my very own Killing Machine pattern. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this army yet. Probably etsy I guess?

Army of sentinels!

Here are some collages that needed work. I finally finished a few up! I am in love with the bird one.
After I am done with sewing these things, I plan to develop some stickers to sell on etsy. Below is a button/banner I designed for TheCraftateria.

Finally, my next project will be something from this fabric..

I've got 2 yards. Ideas?

"If you're not going to be here on Friday, don't bother coming in on Monday" -Burns

2010-05-03T19:34:00.004-05:00

"Woohoo, four day weekend!" - Homer Simpson

Well due to some unforeseen circumstances (mainly, I was fired.), I will be updating here a lot more often. To anyone interested, I was fired from my job for applying for a new job. I got a severance package and I'm no longer working where I didn't want to be. It will probably be awful later but right now, it's not so bad.

I just won a Polaroid Cool Cam on shopgoodwill.com, and if I can ever find some film, I'll get to use it! If anyone has any suggestions for a cheap place to by Polaroid film, I'd love to hear them.

Not much new has happened in the way of crafts lately, I've just been catching up on some projects that have I've been behind in. I'll be working on a pair of pants for a friend's wedding and some new projects shortly, which I'm really excited about. My roommates and I are selling stuff at a convention in October so I'll be periodically preparing for that by making stuffed robots and some other things. (See the original robot post here.)

More later!

2010-04-20T11:02:00.003-05:00

Hello! Long time, no see.

I only have a minute to post this: the lustiest thing in the world. It's a sewing machine that custom matches thread to whatever fabric is being sewn. Of course this is probably just some engineer's pipe dream right now, but it's a fantastic idea.

As that lady says in Napoleon Dynamite, "I want that."

fin

Come on baby, don't be cold as ice

2010-04-01T22:24:00.003-05:00

Short update before I hit the hay:

More collages.

Spring Optimism #10

2010-03-18T22:02:00.013-05:00

Not having to wear panty-hose for another seven months or so.

You may or may not be able to tell that I'm running low on optimisms for spring's arrival. I'm still pumped, but less about specific things than the overall idea.

In the past few weeks I've been working quite a bit lately on collage and found art from vintage childrens books and encyclopedias. I'm kind of in love with the idea; there's a lot I could do with this.

This one's my favorite. Prairie dogs!

Spring Optimism #9

2010-03-17T11:44:00.000-05:00

Starting a garden.

Spring Optimism #8

2010-03-16T11:19:00.001-05:00

Breezes that don't make me want to kill myself!

Spring Optimisms delayed

2010-03-15T08:48:00.003-05:00

I bet you thought I abandoned this idea, but alas, I just had a busy weekend. The past two days were filled with much crafting (pictures later), a great show with Rachel, parties with home brewed beer and fire pits (yes!), and being an extra in a friend's movie. The last was my favorite, I think. I've never done anything like that before, and it was a really great diversion from my regular activities.

Spring Optimism #5 - Patio seating.

Spring Optimism #6 - GLEE returns to the airwaves April 13.

Spring Optimism #7 - Seeing everyone around you come out of their winter shells.

Spring Optimism #4

2010-03-12T08:26:00.001-06:00

Being able to leave the house with wet hair.

Quick short post

2010-03-11T13:33:00.001-06:00

I discovered yesterday the amazing and very dangerous site Spoonflower.com

I am in love.

See the dino fabric I made!! I really want to make a dinosaur sun dress..

Spring Optimism #3

2010-03-11T11:00:00.001-06:00

Thunderstorms with actual thunder.

Spring Optimism #2

2010-03-10T08:38:00.001-06:00

Not having to keep track of a coat, gloves, hat, and scarf when you go out.

Spring Optimism

2010-03-09T09:58:00.002-06:00

In honor of spring starting anew in a mere 11 days, I'm going to post a short entry each day about something I'm excited about.

Spring Optimism #1 - Feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin for the first time this season. This happened this morning. It was majestic as shit.

Not much on the craft front lately..I just got an iPod touch and it's hogging my attention.

Long weekend update

2010-02-28T20:11:00.010-06:00

Source.

It's been a while since I felt like I needed a break from my weekend, which is my current sentiment. Roommate's birthday was Thursday, so we went out to dinner at the beautiful Margot in east Nashville, followed by drinks at Red Door. Twas an evening to remember, and I hope someone did.

Friday night Boyfriend played with his band Vermicious K'nids at my favorite east Nashville bar, 5 spot. I found a new band to love called Elsinore, from Illinois. I'll be checking them out in the near future.

Finally, last night (Saturday), K'nids played at some house show at an Alice in Wonderland themed party. That recap brings us to now, Sunday evening. I's exhausted!

Below are some photos of things I did/finished this weekend. I may party a lot, but at least I am productive..sort of.Stuffed giraffe for my cousin's upcoming infant..

I'm probably going to try to mail it tomorrow..

if I can convince myself to not keep it.

Glass beaded bracelets for etsy.

PS, this is not Boyfriend's band, but is something I found while googling it. Hilarious. Also, this. Because you should be more pumped about the new Alice in Wonderland coming out next Friday.

More later, mabes!

2010-02-24T21:28:00.002-06:00

So I've been toying around with etsy a bit today (surprise?) and I finally figured out how to make a Treasury list! Excuse the shameless self promotion..

Take a look here!

Nothing means nothing to me.

2010-02-24T08:28:00.006-06:00

-dr. dog

Quick update while at work..

Cupcake Death pouch made for a swap. Hope she likes it!

Custom felt brooch I made for a swap. I uploaded it to etsy!

Found art with silhouette scissor cutout for swap. I really hope she likes this; it was hard to give it away.
Measures 3 x 4", super tiny! I did the cutout myself!

2010-02-23T08:48:00.003-06:00

Well, this will be a short update since I'm at work.

Last night at Mercy Lounge, my boyfriend's band, The Non-Commissioned Officers, won a battle of the bands and will be playing at Bonnaroo this year. Excitement ensues! This may be the year I brave Bonnaroo after all.

You can find their music at this website. They originally formed as the soundtrack for a movie called Make-Out With Violence, which was just picked up by a distributor and will hopefully be going to DVD at some point in the future. It's a zombie love story, and I don't have to tell you that it is quite awesome.

Hopefully I'll have a makey crafty update tomorrow.

My dear you are artificial, just like your intelligence.

2010-02-16T09:55:00.004-06:00

-Dadbot

I just bought this for an upcoming baby shower. Adorable!!

Not much else is new, as you can imagine in one day. I did make something for Boyfriend for a belated Valentine's day gift, which I'll post a pic of once I've given it to him. Hint: I'm getting a lot better at using the x-acto knife. As a general rule, I'm not good with sharp edges. I'm hopelessly clumsy.

Hopefully after the other baby shower gift I'm working on and the 9 swaps I'm supposed to make something for, I'm hoping to get back on track with making (and actually posting) things for TheCraftateria. Does anyone else have trouble with posting items on etsy? I have trouble talking about the things I make.

In any case, I've been working on some graphics for some cutesy sticker sheets that I'd like to sell and use for packaging if I ever sell anything again, so maybe you'll see that in the near future.

:)

2010-02-15T09:31:00.003-06:00

FYI: I should not have gotten up today. The streets are a disgusting icy mess. I got passed by a large SUV on probably the curviest/hilliest road in Nashville, the jerk.

In lighter news, I had a really nice weekend and managed to finish the dress from hell. (See previous post.) And, it's only 34 days until Spring! And, I'm making spinach lasagna for dinner!

I've got a couple of new projects up my sleeve (two of which are for baby showers this coming weekend) so stay tuned.

Stay warm, don't drive anywhere, sleep in.

I drink much more than I ought to drink, because it brings me back you.

2010-02-13T10:13:00.010-06:00

-Jeff Buckley

Happy Valentine's Day.

Do you remember that guy who ate an entire plane over a span of 40 years for the Guinness Book of World Records? I was reminded of him this morning when I looked at my everything bagel and noticed a tiny piece of the purple sparkly sheer fabric currently being used on a dress stuck to the cream cheese. This fabric is everywhere in my house. It's in the bathroom, it's in my bedroom, it's in the kitchen. Once I saw Sammy track some of it onto my bed. And now I have to think that I've probably inadvertently eaten enough of this awful stuff in a week to create a second dress.

Observe.

Below are some photos of said dress. This dress has been a pretty painless project with a couple small exceptions. First, the turnaround time requested was just stupid short. I got this project on 2/5 and need to drop it off tomorrow, 2/14. Uncool. Second, I did the sleeves the wrong color, to my nauseated surprise. Just read the instructions wrong, woopsies! So I got to do those twice in record speed. On the bright side, at least I realized this before I attached them to the dress and sent it on. That could have been super worse. I could have spilled coffee or bleach on it. I could have accidentally set it on fire. I could have dropped it into a shredder. But I didn't.

I do not posess a dress form large enough for the recipient of this dress, so this is perhaps a little misleading. It more than likely will not look like a baggy mess. Mess, sure, but baggy, not.

Since it's due tomorrow and still currently in...eight pieces, I suppose I'll get going.

whitney OUT.

2010-02-04T08:35:00.012-06:00

Snowy crafty update!

Above are a couple of photos I took of previously completed projects as well as one I'm working on now. The skull and bird are part of the embroidery installation I'm working on. Can I even call it an "installation" if I don't currently have a place to show it?

I've got a couple more ideas I haven't started stitching and some I haven't even drawn yet.
Pretty soon, I'm going to run into problems finding the supplies I need at Hobby Lobby. Tiny embroidery hoops are surprisingly rare.

The other photo is an applique I'm working on for a swap. It will hopefully be a zippered pouch soon.

Seeing as Nashville was pretty incapacitated over the weekend by the 4" of snow/ice, my roommate Sara and I were overly productive. Below are two pairs of earrings I made for TheCraftateria. I really fell in love with making earrings for some reason (despite almost never wearing any), so you'll probably see more of that coming in the future.

In the new projects category, I have a couple baby things I need to make before the 20th and 21st. One's a girl and one's a boy, both with giraffe/safari themed nurseries, so I'm going to make them both giraffe stuffies. I'm starting with this pattern and adding to it, I think. I'm thinking I'm going to applique the giraffe spots onto my main fabrics for a little more detail. Maybe. This depends strongly on how long it takes me to do the following project:

I was petitioned to make this dress (View C, top left) for some high school kid in a play. She needs it by 2/14.

I have to venture down to Murfreesboro to get the fabric tonight so I can get started on it. It looks simple enough, but the fabric choice may be a little difficult if it is actually pink sparkly lace like I was told yesterday, and the lack of fitting time kind of sucks. We'll see. I'll either be swearing a lot in the coming posts or..slightly proud?

So fresh and so clean, clean.

2010-01-26T10:01:00.011-06:00

So here it is mid-winter in beautiful Tennessee. I'm over it. We don't get snow, we get rain and mush. Occasionally we get ice on our unsalted backroads. It's gross and mean.

My skin, hair, and nails are so dry that no (however copious) amount of lotion or product is going to fix this. It's lame and I'm sick of it. And: Glee is not back on until April. April?

I've decided to start thinking about Spring so I'll be good and ready for March 20th, the official first day of the season. This includes first and foremost: the ever appropriate cleaning. Our house has not gotten as untidy as I would have expected for three ADD crafters like ourselves, but it does deserve a good wipe down. I'm probably going to be putting some supplies for sale on our etsy site in order to declutter.

In other news, I got a cat, who's awesome. Her name is Samwich, or Sammy. This crappy photo is courtesy of my blackberry!

This is what I've been up to lately.

There's a few other embroidery things I've done that aren't pictured. Maybe I'll win the lottery and buy a sweet camera and upload the new pics!

Up next:

Baby stuff for 2 babies I know being borned soonish. I think one is a girl and I know the other is a boy. I have no idea what to make. Suggestions?

Stop me oh, oh stop me. Stop me if you think that you've heard this one before.

2010-01-21T12:41:00.002-06:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've updated this thing.

January has been an exciting month for many reasons, but work hasn't been one of them.

December was a great month, full of holiday cheer (booze), parties (booze), and the usual festivities (booze). In light of this, I decided that January would be a detox month, on the way to drinking less during the work-week. That was my new year's resolution.

This has gone pretty well on the days that I've not been stressed out at work. The boo on this is that I seem to be constantly stressed out at work, or have been more so this month. I've had a few irate customers, a few idiot ones, and a co-worker that makes me want to cut myself so far. It seems that the last..8 or 9 days at work have made me want a vodka tonic more than air.

In other news, I'm working on a sweet art project involving embroidery and bleach! Maybe pictures soon (If I can get it in gear!). TheCraftateria has also been doing better this month. I think and hope we're getting more traffic than we did when we first "opened shop". We've got more plans up our sleeves, so stay tuned for that!

whitneyout.

2009-12-26T19:41:00.002-06:00

Hi! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas (or whatever holiday you may celebrate..) I had an excellent holiday seeing friends and family.

There are major updates and improvements on our etsy site theCraftateria!!

Check it out here!

The Craftateria, hey!

2009-12-05T10:34:00.003-06:00

Well, we (my industrious roommates and I) have finally gotten it together enough to upload some stuff to our etsy collective, TheCraftateria.

Check it out! I'm going to be promoting it and (hopefully) adding product as much as possible in the near future.

It would have been, could have been worse than you would ever know.

2009-12-05T10:30:00.000-06:00

Though it makes me a little ill to know that Christmas is coming up, I have decided to think about it anyway. This year, I'm aiming to have a hand-made Christmas. I'm going to attempt to only buy hand-made goods from others or make my own presents (in hopefully a non oh-look-at-this-crappy-home-made-thing-you-made-me way).

You should too, you industrious, clever thing!

Some ways to do this:

etsy.com

http://www.renegadehandmade.com

funkyfinds.us

Suuuweeet pig.

2009-10-29T15:48:00.008-05:00

This is what I feel like.

Happy Halloween. I was informed yesterday that I have the H1N1 virus, yay. So I'm stuck at home cursing my body and watching way too many movies. I'm feeling better today than I have most of the week, so I decided to try to use my down time to be productive.

Lately, I've been working on lots of felt stuff. Check these out! I hope these will be going in TheCraftateria at some point soon. It is still empty thus far. :/

I also made a bracelet with one batik side and one embroidered side:

2009-10-13T20:30:00.008-05:00

Update #2. In a week. (holy shit.)

I've been really obsessed with embroidery lately. Pictured above is a coffee-cup cozy thing for a girl I know.

My roommates and I are starting an etsy together: TheCraftateria. It's still pretty empty right now, but we've got someone who's going to help us out with it. (Someone with actual photography skills, I can't wait!) So uh..stay tuned.

PS - I wish basement cat would help me with my hobbies. So bad.

undersized undead update..

2009-10-12T19:40:00.004-05:00

Mini Update!

I have been trying to draw a bit more. And I'm really inspired by Halloween, as well as my favorite horror genre. I made a zombie paper doll.

Eh, eh?

Another small update will happen later..

Look both ways when you cross the road.

2009-08-20T12:31:00.017-05:00

Okay, so all of my possessions are officially under one roof, and have been for several weeks now. It is the best feeling ever (except for like, donuts); thanks for all the well-wishes!

So now that I have use of the internet again, there are about 14 things that are going on that I should update on, both craft and life related. First off, I haven't had much time to do many crafts or sewing projects. (Even the ones I've obligated myself to do. :/ ) Second of all, I lovelove my house, roommates, and living 12 minutes away from work. Aside from some minor life snags (mainly dental woes), things are pretty good right now. Also, it was 83 degrees today. Things are pretty nice.

Below are some random pictures I've taken over the past few weeks:

This is my first craft project as a Nashvillian. No, it's not done.

My first meal in the new house was pesto from a packet. It tasted alright, but looked like a Nilbog disaster. I shan't buy it again.

Our first (of many) roommate cake!

I made change-of-address cards for friends and relatives, and don't care who knows it. They turned out adorable, damnit.

Other random shots:

Lamp and jewelry on my dresser. Or, art.

A few shots of my room..

Our living room..

A super blurry shot of our weenie tree, made for our 50's luau.

My first...Elvis bathroom? It is, indeed.

That's it for now; I'll have more of a craft update soon.

I’m not what you think I am I’m the king of Siam

2009-07-30T21:19:00.004-05:00

Well well, we meet again.

I don't have much of an update tonight because I'm moving tomorrow A.M. and almost everything I want to play with is packed. I'm actually quite anxious about this move, though I'm sure it will go fairly smoothly. Utilities are all turned on (new house), the house I'm leaving is in relatively good shape (though I'm sure the panic will set in when I wake up tomorrow..), and I totally fixed the hole I tore in the paint in my bedroom. Still, despite everyone that's helping me and the excitement to move to the new house, I still kind of feel like I'm doing this on my own. Oh, and I haven't heard back from the future landlord yet regarding when I can pick up the key, which scares me a ~~lot~~ little. Think happy thoughts..

In any case, not much crafting or sewing going on right now, I've resigned to playing DS and trying to imagine how much I can fit in that box over there. Have I mentioned how much this moving has consumed me?

I'd like my first new-house-happy project to be the Coin Quilt I linked earlier. It might be nice to start off in a new house with a new blankie. (This would be a small adult sized blankie, of course. I ain't got no baby.)

One last thing before I sign off for the night because cute animals lower my stress level, and perhaps they do yours too:

Look at those ears! want!

I promise to post a real post as soon as have all of my possessions under one roof. :)

Zippered pouch porn..

2009-07-19T20:23:00.012-05:00

Every post seems to start out about the same, so I've decided to start out this and possibly future posts with something a little different. Probably a little random because it tends to be my style.

First, random: Remember Marriedtothesea? It's been a couple years since I followed this webcomic, but today we reunited, however briefly. Their comics along with the original Toothpastefordinner, range from probably-too-smart-for-me to omg-hilarious. In any case, here's a recent gem:

I am still unsure of how to properly give credit to authors of sites and images without "hotlinking". So I have not linked this image. However, I hope it's pretty evident if you've read anything above: this ain't mine, it's Marriedtothesea.com's.

Now on with the update..

Another "art scarf" made while I was on vacation..

Yes, it's a little wonky, no judging. That's a geometric interior pocket you're seeing.

Finally onto the most recent addition:
(I'll probably have a tutorial of this up soon, but I need to supplement some photographs..)

Today, despite the amazing cooler-than-ever-imagined-for-Tennessee weather, I stayed inside and sewed. At least for a large chunk of it. (wtf, I know.)

This is what I came up with: probably my favorite rendition of the patchwork zippered pouch. It's clutch sized and holds my cellphone, cards, dollars, and chapstick.

Measures about 4 by 8" and has 33 of my favorite fabrics.

You put stuff in this area of the pouch.

Tutorial soon!

I can only think of a title if I have a song in my head.

2009-07-01T21:05:00.004-05:00

The city limits don't actually start in the water, but should.

Still in Ponte Vedra, Fl and enjoying my vacation... I am however a tad sunburnt and starting to feel the major pangs of craft withdrawal.

I'll keep this short because the benedryl is starting to kick in: I tried to eat a datil pepper today, not knowing what I was about to embark upon. I'm not too phobic of spicy food, but this was by far the hottest thing I've ever put in my mouth ("that's what she said," I know). My lips were numb for about 5 minutes.

When I get back after the inevitable movie night and bike ride I'll go on, I'd like to make this scarf and I don't know, twenty or so of these? Those on top of the other things I'd like to make (see previous post).

More later, but I'll try to actually wait until I have some craft related update rather than just "Oh, I'd like to do a little of this, and maybe a little of that later.."

PS, we ate here tonight, and it was magnanimous.

Girls in cars and girls and fun, Hot pizza from the kitchen, Daytona Beach, Daytona fun, This town is really bitchin'

2009-06-30T08:13:00.004-05:00

Well, I'm actually on vacation in Ponte Vedra, Florida but it's also pretty bitchin'. I'm taking a break from the sun today because a) I've gotten too much in the past two days and b) it's cloudy. Just seemed like the best idea.

The house we're staying at has gotten progressively more decrepit throughout the years (I think this is the 14th time we've stayed here, so I have a small frame of reference), but I think we're all having a pretty wonderful time regardless. I for one couldn't have gone on vacation at a better time. There are beach cruisers and kayaks, both new additions this year. The house sits on a plot of land that extends to a private beach, and has a pool on the opposite side. We have been playing Hand and Foot, a commitment of a card game involving any number of people.

The we've eaten pretty well also. (At least in my eyes.) Day two was grilled chicken kababs, grilled corn on the cob and steamed purple snap beans. Day three we ate deep fried turkey with green bean cassarole (a la me.) and mashed potatoes. I'm not sure what beholds us tonight, but I am more than likely excited about it.

There will be some mojito making at some point with fresh mint from the garden here, which is equally if not more exciting than the food. (Did I mention the garden? There's a really nice herb and floral garden here.)

The only downfall so far has been the upstairs air conditioning, which decided to die yesterday. That and the fact that I hastily overpacked with too many shorts and not enough shirts. :/

Despite this relaxing atmosphere, I can't wait to get home and sew up some goodness. I was sort of on a roll before I left; now I'm bursting with ideas. I hope I don't come home smelling like one of the bikes here; I don't want my bike to think I'm cheating on her.

I plan to sew several more of those zippered pouches I made last week so that I can put them on my etsy shop.

I also found this Coin Quilt, which was love at first sight. It looks like an excellent use of scraps as well as a good way to showcase different fabrics.

I also found this wallet pattern that I can't wait to try.

Friends, I love you more than lightning.

2009-06-21T22:52:00.011-05:00

Action shot! I was quite excited.

Whew, long time no postie.

So I've been talking about the dress I was working for a good friend's wedding. It was (somewhat surprisingly) done in time and turned out pretty nice!

It was a nice and successful wedding as well.

In other sewing news, this week I was playing around with some patchwork strips I made a while back. Lately I've been getting bored with just patchwork, and wanted to try something new. So in my testing, I figured out a super easy way to make patchwork look different and unique (I think anyway). I also like this because I think it looks more complicated than it is. That's right, I invented "Pleats".

I made a couple of zippered pouches in this way thanks to this tutorial:

These may end up on etsy, but I doubt it. Perhaps later..

Oh, my pregnant head.

2009-06-07T12:05:00.008-05:00

B5324

On this sunny 80 degree Sunday, I decided to wake up with an angry migraine. In lieu of lounging in the sun like I'd like to be doing, I'm trying to stay in and feel better. So since I don't feel like doing much of anything, but would still like to be slightly productive, below is the exciting progress on my B5324 dress. It's looking like this will work out. Beware the particularly precarious photography.

This piece is called the "upper front" which is appropriate, but sounds weird to me.

Here it is in pieces..

Here is is in fewer pieces. I am physically unable to hold a camera steadily when the flash is off, but I promise this dress is not blurry in real life.

The pattern and instructions for this dress reminded me of why I don't usually buy Butterick patterns. The instructions include several steps that I skipped, and there were several pattern pieces I didn't end up using. Despite the sort of confusing pattern, I'm pretty happy with how this dress is coming together, and especially the fit I've achieved so far. All with just the right amount of "character". It lacks the installation of the skirt lining, a hem, and a whole slew of handstitching, but should be ready for the wedding I'm attending next weekend.

Why all the history now?

2009-05-31T12:01:00.013-05:00

So uh, major update. I've been meaning to get on here and post but a few unforeseen things (migraines? trip to DC) have come up.

Here's the shell from hell that I've been trying to not ever see again. We have a love/hate relationship in that I hate it so much, but it keeps coming around.. Here it is being fixed for the 3rd time. I hope that this one is a taker.

About the same time I was working on that, I was commissioned to alter 4 bridesmaid dresses with proved to be the most oddly constructed dresses I've ever had the misfortune of "fixing". It was a scary stressful time to try and make these dresses fit their recipients.

Four solid examples of bridesmaid dresses that shouldn't exist.

A good friend of mine is getting married in a few weeks, and I am hoping to wear the below dress to the wedding: B5324. For a while, I was a bit against Butterick patterns because I've had trouble with them in the past, but this one seems to be fairly simple. I just cut out the fabric I'm using and plan to start stitching it today. Pictures hopefully to ensue.

I'm attempting to make this strapless! Fingers crossed.

In the past 2 weeks, I've also completed something I started about 2 years ago. This is my favorite backpack and I'm sad to say that I no longer have the pattern for it. It's from a small child's pattern, but because it's been a couple of years since I bought it, it may not be available.

It sits pretty high up on my back since it's a kid pack. I still love it!

Also, some brief pics from my trip to DC:

Kind of a blurry shot of the ceiling of the Franciscan Monastery.

We were not sure what this was because it was just an empty hallway with these really neat evolving lighted walls. This was taken around midnight; no one was around. We think it was an office building.

Easter eggs at the Eastern Market.

Serenity at the Monastery.

I'll have to post more photos later; it's too nice outside.

In the absense of your smiling face, I travel all over the place.

2009-04-19T10:54:00.003-05:00

Formal gown is done. There are a few things I don't like about it, but overall I'm relatively satisfied. I am turning it in in a few hours.

Hate things:
*Blind hemming on satin is almost always noticeable from the front and thus not blind.

* I measured the waist of the top several times, but still managed to make it slightly too big and had to put buttons further in to compensate creating asymmetry from the back.

* I had to use an air erasable pen to mark for the buttons, which did not air erase, so I had to use water to blot it away. The water I had to use left ever-so-slight watermark stains on the fabric. (Finding this out hours before turning it in, #$%@*.)

*Lavender is more than likely the worst color ever discovered and should never be worn. (I forget who discovered lavender, but I think they were shot shortly thereafter. With good reason.)

On a slightly less hateful note, The Hate Machine is done!

I love him.

Finally, on my favorite note of all: there's a zombie movie being shot in Smyrna next Sunday and they are looking for zombie extras. I might be able to cross off "Be an extra in a zombie movie" from my bucket list.

I've been watching you and I've been wondering.

2009-04-09T11:27:00.004-05:00

Not much of an update; I haven't really done much since the last entry, however I did complete a drawing that I'd been working solely on at work.

Kurt Vonnegut (I call it "Kurt I" because I plan to do a "Kurt II" with Kurt Cobain if I continue to be slow at work.)

Below are some of my favorite Vonnegut quotes that I hope you'll enjoy:

"Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand."

"I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center."

"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward."

"Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before... He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way."

going to get my gun, everyone's got one

2009-04-05T22:14:00.008-05:00

I couldn't sit still this weekend; as a result, things got sewn and stuffed.

Though still practically headless, and with two left feet (woops!), Robbie is almost done. And my does he have character! Did I mention his feet? This I realized after stuffing most of the body.. Nonetheless, I'm still a proud mother.

I'm still not sure how I'm going to attach that antenna I haven't made yet, but hopefully that will happen soon.

I've also been working on the formal gown quite a bit this weekend because of its rapidly approaching due date. The skirt lacks only a hem and hook/eye closure, while the top has quite a bit to go. The pieces went together easy enough, but I'm still scared of the idea of sewing a button hole on satin. To justify this fear, I should tell you that I've had to do an embarassing amount of unsewing on this project. My fingers are crossed.

I went through my stack of already-started-but-abandoned-halfway-through projects and found this skirt to work on when I got sick of staring at lavendar. The pattern: McCalls 5473

(I may secretly hem it tomorrow if we're slow at work!)

On an non-sewing related note: I recently stumbled onto a blogging etiquette article online which I incidentally can not find now, and which opened my eyes to "hotlinking". (Sort of, as I'm still not clear if linking without images on your site but to images on the site in the link qualifies as hotlinking. I really hope not because I do that often and haven't figured out how to get my point across with just measly words.) So in hopes of making my blog a little more "outside link source" friendly, I've removed a few images from earlier posts that were from external sources in hopes that there's not some internet person really upset with me. Luckily, I don't think this thing gets the bandwidth I'd like it to..

So uh..if anyone has any incite on "blogiquette" (yes, I wish that were mine), feel free to comment.

2009-04-02T13:20:00.007-05:00

Here’s an update on the stuffed robot I’ve dubbed “Robbie the Hate Machine”. Things are going pretty well and he’s coming together more easily than I thought. I have yet to figure out how to put some kind of antenna on his head, but that will come soon hopefully. I figured out that I am going to have to hand sew (expletive.) his feet on because I don’t think I can sew that narrow of a circle on the machine.

Lately, I’ve been feeling like I need more art in my life. I keep seeing things that other people have created and thinking I would enjoy sketching again. Also, I discovered the luxury that is Micron brand pens. Below is a drawing I did for someone that was a pretty cool project to finish. I call it “Girl in Red”.

Also, as stated previously, I finished the Entrelac scarf. Here’s the proof. I redact my statement earlier about it reminding me of Neapolitan icecream. It now makes me want salt water taffy.

So that is what I’ve been working on for fun. Below is what I should be doing for..not fun / work: a formal outfit for some wedding.

It’s going to be a tea-length A-line skirt with a fitted gathered-strap top. (This top includes button closures.) So far, it’s just fabric, and it’s due in about two weeks. I can’t remember the number on the pattern; otherwise I’d post a picture. I’ll just describe it for you: it’s a pattern for a skirt and a top, it’s on brown tissue paper, and it appears relatively simple with the possible exception of those button holes that I’m about to have to do on satin.

I hope for my own sake that I have updates on the last project soon.

It’s about to storm and I can’t wait.

(Not a picture of today. )

Domo arigato, son!

2009-03-21T21:53:00.002-05:00

I plan to make this drawn robot into a stuffed robot.

Can you believe I didn't go to art school?

I've started the pattern and plan to cut fabric later today when I get back from Chattanooga.

Hopefully success updates will ensue. If there aren't updates, it will be safe to say I scrapped the project..

I got the idea from Cotton Monster. (Check out the bra!)

Also, I finished the Entrelac scarf, but have not taken pictures of it yet. I decided to donate it to Knitforthecure.org.

We were just children, and everything was easy.

2009-03-03T14:22:00.004-06:00

This is not craft related, but I find this screen shot from Niagara Falls' tourism website uber enchanting:

Where are the unicorns?

I might like to go there.

2009-02-21T16:26:00.004-06:00

So Eric showed me this cool banner thing in Photoshop today, and I've been playing around with that.

2009-02-18T14:11:00.004-06:00

Here's an update to the Entrelac scarf:

I can't believe how much this scarf reminds me of neopolitan ice cream. I just added the second skein so I suppose I'm about halfway through. It's 70 degrees out, this sunny windy February day, so that possibly justifies getting ice cream..

Also, I randomly found a couple more knitting related charities I wanted to add:

warmupamerica.com - Accepting knitted or crocheted afghans, or afghan parts, i.e. blocks that you haven't assembled into a full fledged blanket. I love this because not only does it promote keeping donations local, but there are no (as far as I could tell) stipulations to what types of yarn or blankets they want.

savethechildren.org - This charity collects tiny knitted caps to be given to premature babies worldwide. They also ask that the contributor write a letter to Barack Obama asking him to consider women's and babies' health on a larger scale. Though I care about both women and babies, I'm a little on the fence about asking the government to spend anymore money on programs we possibly can't afford even for a good cause, so I may hold off on that for now. But I'm totally down for knitting baby hats.

out!

Well now your back's going to hurt because you just pulled lawn duty..

2009-02-14T13:21:00.005-06:00

Two weeks?! Geez, I didn't realize how unproductive I've been.

Here's what I started yesterday at work:

The pattern can be found here, and is surprisingly easy. It feels like knitting something M.C. Escher would have drawn.

I'm now in hardcore efforts to use up old/unwanted yarn.
My goal is to get rid of about an 18 gallon sized storage container of yarn before I move in July.
The ways I propose to do this are as follows:

warmwoolies.org - Takes various knitted items in wool, and only non-white acrylic baby blankets. A weird combination sure, but appealing because I have a lot of non-white acrylic yarn, and baby blankets are or can be essentially..large squares. Bad news is I would have to mail donations.

h4ha.org - (Hugs for Homeless Animals, noobs.) This one is great; you can pretty much knit any blanket out of anything, and deliver it to a local participating shelter. You can search for local shelters on their website, which is the jam because you can keep your love local and not have to ship. You can maybe also play with the animals if you sweet talk the people at the shelter. I am looking into this.

knitforthecure.org - Knitting items (pretty much anything as I understand it), incorporating the color pink in some way. Items are auctioned off and the money goes to breast cancer research and treatment, I believe. This seems pretty cool and certainly has a great motive. The only drawback I can see is that you have to mail donations, and I think it may only help those in Los Angeles. I couldn't find anything local about this. (There's a good chance that the above scarf will go to knitforthecure.org if it doesn't get sent to my Grandma, my ultimate yarn benefactor.)

orphan.org / Red Scarf Project - Similar to Knit for the Cure, but with red and scarves only. Oh, and it's for the Orphan Foundation, not boobs. Apparently participation is in the fall, so I may have to make something and hold onto it for a while. Also something I would have to mail.

At this point, I have such an excessive amount of yarn that I probably won't discriminate between charities; I can mostly participate at least once in all of these things.

God help us all / does anyone want any yarn?

Zombie, zombie, zombie? Hey, hey, hey, hey, oh, oh, oh,

2009-01-30T10:33:00.006-06:00

Not so much crafting or sewing going on lately.. Things have been a bit busier than I can wrap my mind around. While I digest my ideas and obligations..here's some random news.

I've been asked to come up with some clothing designs for a guy at work's side project, so I'm pretty excited about that. It's called Teaching Young People Obligations. I can definitely dig an organization/company that has the goal of bettering the community. I wish their acronym weren't "TYPO", but what can you do.. I don't know how serious he is or how far he is into planning this potential clothing endeavor, but this could be a great way to expand my (meager at best) portfolio. I'm going to probably start brainstorming on this this weekend.

On a completely different subject, I have come across several deals recently that I thought I'd share with any other frugal junk-eaters in the area:

Mrs. Winners (Nolensville) charged me $3.47 for a #1 meal that says it's $4.49 + tax on the menu. I didn't register the savings until after I drove off, so I am unable to give an explanation for this discount right now.

Subway (Nolensville) added chips and a drink for free with the purchase of my 6" sub on Wednesday.

Chick-fil-a (Brentwood) has Free Coffee Fridays apparently. I do not know if this is a universal Chick-fil-a thing, but I intend to find out.

Finally, possibly the most needed light-news I've heard in a while:

Let me hold it close and keep it here with me

2009-01-21T19:59:00.008-06:00

Today brought the completion of another garment that's been almost done for..long enough for me to wonder if it would still fit.

Admittedly, I'm a little rusty on zippers (unintentional pun alert). See below the first try's "zipper butt", a phenomenon which occurs when pieces of fabric seemingly (not a pun, but wishing it were) the same size end up vastly different sizes when applied to a zipper. The result is a weird bunchy pocket of fabric on one side of the zipper..

nogoodnik.

Other than that, this was quite the quick finish. The only way I'd be more excited about this dress would be it were maybe made of cake. Yeah, a cake dress would rock. This one's cotton though..still cool.

My final aim for this dress will be to have it fit when it's warm enough to wear it outside..

I'm better at hiding than deer are at vision.

2009-01-19T18:53:00.004-06:00

Amidst my shirt related excitement, I completely forgot to post this yesterday:

..more later!

Take my brain or what remains and throw it all away.

2009-01-18T14:50:00.005-06:00

Gigantic Western Button-Down Shirt is done!!

The cuffs on the sleeves proved to be pretty cumbersome, but alas, it is done.

In honor of the completion of this project, I might knit something from my never-ending yarn stash..

Spider inside my dreams, I think I love you

2009-01-11T21:34:00.005-06:00

I found this partially finished shirt in my UFO stash, and rekindled my love for the retro-tack fabric. All that it was lacking was a hem and having the facing stitched down. It's a pretty flimsy tissue knit polyester fabric, so it was a bit of a struggle to get all of the stitches so come out right, particularly the zig-zag stitches of the hem. Because this shirt was for me and I wasn't in a particularly anal mood, I didn't take any measures to unsew any imperfect stitches. I can not wait to wear this thing.

Heinous or awesome? Hein-awesome.

In other news, to my complete horror, I may have lost my zipper foot. I realized this while trying to complete another UFO: a summer dress, which only lacks the zipper. This missing zipper foot may be one more step in the direction of my dream machine. (If they still have it at Hancock.)

Probably doesn't fit anymore.

Also, the Giant Western Button-down Shirt is looking pretty shirt-ish. I'm almost done. Thankfully, it doesn't require any zippers..pictures later.

New Year, New Skillz

2009-01-03T18:44:00.010-06:00

Happy new year.
So, I'll keep this update short:

By totally ripping her idea off, I made this:
It turned out pretty nice. Also, extremely simple idea; you should try it.

gold silk shantung, beads, fabric glue, headband.

In a strange turn of events, I've done some real work on the Giant Western Button-down Nightmare Shirt. Though it's been a little scary and a major source of procraftination*, I am quite pleased with it so far. I'm not sure how this happened, but it's almost done.

Because I made this pattern from tracing an existing shirt, there were several areas that I wasn't very confident about, including the yoke around the neck, everything about the sleeve, and a few other crucial seams. The sleeve fit into the sleevehole perfectly, much to my surprise. You can see below how the yoke did not fit perfectly with the shirt front lines. Unnervingly, I won't know if I did the collar and neckhole right until I try to install them. I'll either triumphantly tell you when they work or..cut the shirt into tiny pieces swearing that it never existed, the bastard. (Fingers crossed!)

By the way the yoke was not lining up with the shirt front (see the middle bottom of the picture), this was lining up to be a shirt-tastrophe, but through sheer luck, it worked out alright.

I hope you can read that, suckers.

My button-hole fear is over. Throughout my entire sewing life, I have been terrified of any pattern requiring button-holes, no matter how cool the end product would be. I would not even try it. By some miracle, I was able to successfully stitch 15 fairly nice button-holes, with the 4-step button-hole function on my Brother. I am a button-hole badass.

Those of you who don't know what a lottery win this is for me, 4 steps to creating a button-hole are 3 steps too many. Most nicer machines have a 1-step feature which makes a button-hole the exact size of the button you provide for it. No guessing, no finger-crossing, it just does it. They are really nice, but also a bit more expensive. I was gearing up to buy a new sewing machine to complete this project, but now I don't have to. Just lovely.

My friend gave me this shirt, and it might be a good shirt-surgery project. I have a couple ideas up my sleeve, so stay tuned for that, and hopefully more.

*I do not know how to do the TM symbol, so until I learn, enjoy the asterisk.

Look Ma! No Pattern!

2008-12-21T11:24:00.012-06:00

While being at home for Christmas, I've enjoyed not doing much. I am starting to get a bit bored, however. I am looking forward to getting back to the normal swing of things.

This year, I was slightly less Scrooge-y than I have been in the past; so much so, that I wanted to make Christmas cookies:

I think they turned out pretty great, but I wish I had known about these:
..maybe next year.

Below are some hot-pantish PJ bottoms for a gift. This picture was taking just before they were finished; I forgot to get a shot of the finished product. The right picture is much truer to the coloring. They turned out pretty ridiculous.

I didn't realize until just now that one side has the chevron arrows going upward while the other side has them going downward. ~~Seems wrong.~~ Character!

I am planning on trying out some new stuff as well as trying to finish up some already-going-on-stuff in the coming weeks:

*I love this. It looks pretty simple. I'd like to make one for New Years so I can look all special.

*My cat is snoring.

(No I didn't make that.)

*Found this a while ago and wanted to do something like it, or maybe just knock it off completely:

*Want.
*Make!

the ice don't melt in mid-December

2008-12-17T11:32:00.005-06:00

I'll hopefully have a crafty update soon, but at the moment, I lack the camera for such update.

In the meantime, maybe make these?

Surprisingly easy and fairly tasty too.

This would be a good soundtrack for the baking of your BBB's.

(Found at dailypuppy.com)
Just for good measure.

I never give up, this boy is exhausted.

2008-12-01T18:15:00.011-06:00

After spending the entire day doing nothing yesterday (worth it.), I think I'll keep with the theme of procrastination.

I went through some pictures I've been meaning to post of projects in various stages of..doneness.

What I should be doing:

Apparently I deleted those picture from my computer already, so see this previous post.

What I did/plan to do instead:

Another calorimetry. This one's halfway done and I'm running out of the grey yarn.

I am a little stumped as to what color to use for the rest of it, partially because it's a little ugly and at risk of just getting uglier.

Also, I finished this scarf, which spent an impressively short stint on the back burner!
It's on etsy.

Here are some reminders to myself of what I ought to finish up, in no particular order:

Probably one of my favorite skirts.

The two fabrics are cut out for two separate but equal skirts. See the pattern here. I think it's View A.

This is a leaf structured scarf I started..I think right after I graduated.
I will eventually be for my friend Taylor, and is my own semi-tacky version of this.

What we have here is a dress I started..probably before the scarf.

It only lacks a hem and the installation of the zipper/hook-&-eye. It's painful how close I am, and yet..I hope I get to wear it sometime the summer after next.

Here's a picture I only took of a book that apparently is not visible anywhere on the internet (within the first 30 google image search pages) in order to email to a paperbackswap.com user only to realize that you can't attach pictures at paperbackswap.com:

I hope she sees it.

2008-11-24T11:38:00.008-06:00

Well, I finished the calorimetries for Stacy. They turned out pretty nice, although the second one (blue) is kind of wonky. I did the exact same gauge as the first, so by all means, this shouldn't have been too difficult. I'll admit, however, that I was watching Little Miss Sunshine during the crucial points of this project.. Perhaps I forgot to move a marker somewhere along the line..

Despite the asymmetry of the blue one, it still looks pretty nice. I placed the button on it a little further away from the end to sort of off-set the weirdness.

Enjoy!

Now I'm looking for a new project to start so that I can further push aside the stuff I should be doing. (See previous post.) There's this really great site called ravelry.com, which is a knitting and crocheting community that has just loads of patterns for pretty much anything you can make out of yarn. I forgot about it for a long time until today.

Weekend Recap

2008-11-23T11:13:00.011-06:00

In an attempt to keep on task, I'm probably going to start photoblogging here and there. This girl took up most of my morning. I'm not as avid a crafter as her, but I like her array of different interests.

I've had a hyper productive weekend:

I knitted the first of two calorimetries for Stacy: It turned out beautiful! I used a different gauge than called out in the pattern, which has a lot to do with how I finished it so fast. This is definitely one of my favorite projects currently.

Up next, the second, which I hope there is enough of this yarn for.

I plan to start on that second one today in order to play around with the gauge. I'm thinking that those yarns will potentially thicker than the gauge I used on the first.

I also finished a scrub top that I've had on the project list for some time now. It's been complete with the exception of pockets for about 2 weeks. Feels good to get that one taken care of.

I used a hanger for scale to show you that this shirt was in fact made for a giant. I tried to use a quarter, but you couldn't even see it in the picture.. I was almost not tall enough to get this entire shirt in the view of my camera.

Unrelated to crafts, but further evidence that my house is haunted:

Check out the ghost in this photo!

Next sewing project on the menu is another shirt for the same guy, who I've never met. It's an outsourced sewing gig I have.

This particular shirt might be a real thorn in my side, which might be why I have hesitated so hard about getting the pattern ready. I'm drawing the pattern from scratch based on measurements and tracing of the actual shirt. I'm still not sure how I'm going to get those sleeves done with out ripping the shirt to pieces..

I am unsure of why the sleeves are so short. This man has got to be 7 feet tall, but his arms are apparently about 1 foot long. I suppose this could be a 3/4 length sleeve, but I've not seen many men who have shirts like that.. Yes, I'm standing on the table to take this picture.

This is the fabric being used for the new shirt: Plaid is the main fabric and the light blue/periwinkle is the accent color.

Maybe I'll add a few rhinestones to the yoke! No plaid western shirt is complete with out a minimum of 75 rhinestones..

In closing, I'll leave you with this: one of the very few reasons it's nice to be up with the chickens.

I'm wishing I had a good Stick It quote right now..

2008-06-28T21:33:00.011-05:00

I accidentally watched Stick It, the gymnastics movie about rebellion on the uneven bars today.

Sometimes things like that happen when I go home for the weekend, where there's the magic of cable television. Woops.

In better news, I have a new second cousin, a little boy who's probably going to grow up to be a hunter. (News 'better' because he was born healthy, not because of the future hobby hypothesis..)

Also, I've finally gotten around to uploading some pictures I took on my trip to NYC, which I'll post below.

I think I could live there for about a year, which has become my tentative goal for the year after next. That gives me roughly enough time to save up for the first month's rent (har, har!)

Most of those shots are from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA, n00bs!), some from St. Patrick's cathedral, and some just from the streets. I have yet to upload my shots of the Mermaid Parade on Coney Island. They should be pretty good.

See also: 'flamboyant', 'glitter', and 'nudity'.

Off to research how many pages are involved in my "Must Read" quest. Or I might watch Terminator II, which just came on.

Off the charts, my mood ring is black.

2008-06-27T14:38:00.007-05:00

..has been for much of the day. I do not know what black means, because I don't feel sad or have any thoughts that go with general negativity. I'm actually sort of happy; I mean, it's Friday, and I'm about to be away from this place. It's a beautiful day outside, and I will actually get to see some of it this after noon.

So why the black mood ring? Perhaps it's the state of the world..price of gas..the fact that I can't have a pet..my student loans..who knows. Maybe my hands are just cold.

The countdown begins: Server has been down since yesterday around lunch at work, and yet I still have to be here.. It is currently 2:36 which means I have about 2 hours to go before freedom. (Possibly only an hour and a half..fingers crossed.)

Back to the "Must Read" list of books, I wonder if an audiobook would count? I found a site that has several! My initial thought is yes it would count: hearing the book would mean you know what it is about, could summarize it in conversation, look smart, etc. However, I think I may go with no it does not count: when hearing things being read aloud for long periods of time, listeners tend to block out what's going on and daydream instead. When I refer to 'listeners', I am of course referring to myself and no one else. My mind wanders.. It's doing it right now.

Through the course of today, I've had the leisure of reading several short stories from my Nonrequired book. I've also Stumbled across several cool sites. (But really, when do you not find something really on Stumble?)

I found this, which piqued my interest for a few minutes, because it combines two thoroughly awesome things: craft materials and break dancing. Word.

After work, I will be taking back the streets at a sports bar with some coworkers. I'll have the "Snake Bite". Guinness and some type of cider, which may sound as bad as a real snake bite, but is in fact quite tasty. I'm on the edge of my seat.

Also on schedule this weekend: finally getting around to going through my NYC pictures.

It is now 3:49 and I'm trembling with pre-weekend work apathy now. Time to shutdown.

In case those pictures did not load with links, the first is from gapingvoid.com, and the second was done on graffiticreator.net.

Books: For lack of a more creative post title.

2008-06-27T10:08:00.005-05:00

I found this slightly intimidating list of books "I must read before I die" and decided it would be an interesting goal to try and read all of them.

I perused the list and found that I have already read 14 of them, and I own but have not read 4 others. Also, there are many of these books available on Fullbooks.com, a nice site that holds lots of classics to read for free on your computer.

Now, if I read 20 books a year (based on the math that I have read 10 books thus far this year, and it is about half over), I could be through this list in approximately 49.3 years to complete this list. That being said, some of these books are incredibly long and probably will take more than my standard two-and-a-half lead time on leisurely reading a book.

This time frame of 49+ years alloted is not too intimidating, as I have the knowledge that I will die in September of 2076 at the age of 91.

I realistically anticipate that this goal will go unfulfilled, but I will try anyway.

I am currently reading The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007 Edition, Edited by Dave Eggers.
Is it on the list: Appropriately no..making it full-circle Nonrequired.

This is fantastic, by the way; I had heard of these collections before, but not bothered with them until I found one half off at the Strand in NYC. Not only is it pretty good reading, but also: it has a comic in it, along with some really entertaining "Best Of" lists at the beginning.

Out for now, maybe I'll work on this list after I finish Nonrequired..