You can kind of see the pink robot, right?
So what do you do for fun?
Me? I catch up on crafting while listening to the New York Public Library's webcasts - including DESTROYING THE COLOR LINE: John Hope Franklin and President Bill Clinton and PIERRE BAYARD & UMBERTO ECO with Paul Holdengraber:
How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read. (I highly recommend the Clinton one.)
I'm off this week and lazing it up. I've finally started on my Yoshimi cross stitch (thanks a million plus Erin!) and I've been working on Drunken Argyle. Lord I hate picking up stitches! If I had any foresight I wouldn't have cast off across the back but just set them on another needle. It doesn't help that I can't find my size 1 addi turbos anywhere so I'm using some old ones that I think came from a friend's dumpster diving, or from my grandma's basement, which is pretty much the same thing. :)
Also a most wonderful and lovely member of my weaving guild gave me a quilting hoop! So I'm reevaluating how I'm going to finish my quilt. I was thinking of doing a tie off method, but now that I have a hoop maybe I'll look for a lasso kind of stitchwork. I think that would be fitting with my cowgirls.
This 'n' that...
I've got some photos that have been sitting around on my desktop that I've been meaning to share.
A clipping my mom sent me for the Ellie Awards.
Squares for my cowgirl quilt and some knick knacks from my grandma's.
I have no idea what you do with that clapper, but now I have one in case I need one!
Snacks I found at Whole Foods - they're vegan!
Quilt progress!
Thank you Cass!
Cass sent me the most lovely swap package (for the knitters coffee swap)! She reused the box I sent hers in (hence the "never ending swap box!") Which reminds me - I have this blue puffy envelope I've had since high school that I send things back and forth in (it's perfect for CDs) - mostly to my brother, but I've let one friend and my mom in on the action - both with a strict warning on the history of the envelope and the importance of keeping it going only to people who will send it back or on to someone else who would keep it going within our little loop. It's been all around the U.S. and always puts a smile on my face when it shows up in my mailbox. I hope it does the same for those I send it to. This box definitely did with my hilarious pirate packing tape showing up on my doorstep. And I have to say - genius stuffing a bag with newspaper for padding - ecological without getting newspaper smear on everything!
And then the goodies!
Such wonderful goodies! The coffee looks delightful! I think I'll take the holiday blend home with me to Pennsylvania to enjoy over the holidays. The coffee mug is the perfect size for our household. The little notepads are super mod - I can't decide whether to use them at home or take them in to cheer up my office. The chili pepper loofah is already hanging over my sink and the adorable sheepy made me wish I had set up a tree this year. It's definitely going on next year! (It's hanging from my warping board right now.) I LOVE the fabric - especially since Cass pointed out that it looks like little abstract sheep. So true! Shawn and I were just lamenting our stinky dog house - so the candle came just in time. (I already have an air purifier going in our bedroom and vacuum every week - if anyone wants to share ideas for un-dog-stinking your bedroom [without actually stopping your dogs from sleeping in bed with you that is] I'd love to hear them.) And there really should be a way to send texture over the internet so you could all feel how soft that yarn is. I'm thinking an really nice scarf.
And speaking of the coffee swap. Now that Cass has her package, (in two posts) I can share some other pictures with you.
I had so much fun making this apron! I'm glad you like it Cass! The pattern is from Doodle Stitching and I cannot recommend that book highly enough!
Just in time for Halloween....
I bring you Zombie Pug!
Poor little thing did need surgery, but she's taking it like a champ and the doctor says everything went super smoothly. Now we just have to figure out how to pin her down four times a day for her drops. Shawn is pretty sure it's the most challenging thing he's ever done in his life. I'm inclined to agree. (Pills, not a problem, she seems to think they're candy. Drops, nigh impossible.)
Also - It's not nearly done, but it looks like it is. Here's the top part of my quilt! Still up: figuring out how to get the back to be the same size, cutting the batting, and, you know, actually quilting it.
Fabulous weekend!
First off, I came home to this fabulous package from Germany!
Getting international mail is always exciting and this package was extra special because all I was expecting was the beautiful handmade sachet and the lip balm (which is amazing!), but I also got some of the cutest magnets, a sweet card and some fabulous beads! I'm so excited to make something with them since I haven't done anything with beads in a while. Thank you thank you thank you Süßstoff.
This weekend Shawn's dad was in town and they laid some hardwood floors out in his studio and ripped up the moldy ones in our guest bedroom, bleached and relaid new floors. While Shawn probably would have preferred that I helped out, my sanity instructed me to hide in my craft room. Stress levels on big projects like that run too high for me and I didn't think they needed any extra cooks in the kitchen.
So instead I finished book one of the Dark Tower, re-made my favorite shirt (my last one got a hole in it, but when it's an iron on transfer, you just make another!), and started the quilt.
Frenchy.
This photo doesn't do it justice, but this is my new Frenchy bag (I did the smaller bag with the longer handle). I love it. I took a class at CraftORama and I can't recommend them highly enough, super awesome shop and people. I didn't necessarily need the instruction, but it's a great way to make myself actually sit down and do things. Also, while I was there I saw that they had more of that cowgirl fabric I loved (and the brown polka dots and the green polka dots - to keep it from being tooooo girly for our bedroom). So now I just need to decide on a layout for my quilt and figure out how much fabric I need. And then make myself not actually work on it until I finish Drunken Argyle....
The kindness of strangers
Ok, maybe not strangers, but people who you don't really know all that well, but remember that you knit and obviously don't think that poorly of you.
So I got an email from a name I recognized, but couldn't put a face to, offering me some yarn since she was moving. I walked away with three plastic bags of yarn, a bankers box of patterns and a dress form!
There was a lot of nice sugar n' cream yarn and some miscellany that I'll be sharing with local knitting friends along with the patterns. The most exciting yarn was this cotton classic, which I love working with, and is a perfect and lovely red, just in time for the red scarf project. I had a fleeting thought that I would use it on sizzle, until I remembered that I actually don't look good in red. There was also some lace weight cotton that I had another fleeting thought of using for the red scarf project. I told my dad that I had this great yarn, but I didn't know if I'd be able to find a gender neutral lace pattern. He burst out laughing and I put that yarn in a drawer for next year and a woven scarf. I told my mom I couldn't believe someone just up and gave me a dress form. She said, "That sounds like something you would do." It's true. So a big thank you to the lovely bestower of these fine treasures and to all of you out there who do the same! Crafters are the best!
I made something!
Amy Butler's Madison bag. Pockets and key fob were my own addition. I'm pretty happy with it. It's not perfect, but I was in desperate need of something I didn't have to rummage through and it fits the bill.
Also, new art from The Black Apple:
Le sigh...
Back to work tomorrow. We worked hard and got a lot done. Shawn's studio is coming along nicely and my craft room is completely up and running. Even though I had two not so perfect items, I had some encouragement from a woman I took a sewing class from. And, better yet, I have something finished that actually turned out! I made this wrap skirt from this tutorial, which further proved to me that I'm not yet where I'd like to be with my sewing skills. There were a number of things that were taken for granted that I would have like spelled out, but I think I figured them out well enough.
So now the sewing machine is all packed up until I feel like tackling the changes, but the warping board is hung and the loom is calling. Drunken Argyle is also scolding me from it's bag in the corner.
