Craftapalooza

Meathead

Hey! Thanks so much for the comments re the footrest! The only reason I did a class is because the store wouldn't sell the pattern possibly because they had adapted the idea from a kaffe fasset book, see my previous post....so if you guys are keen for a pattern, maybe start emailing them! Might be able to persuade them! It's surprisingly easy to put together gives a wow effect doesn't it.

One of the first ever knit-a-long's I did was for Larissa's Meathead installation. I think it was also around the time that Al and I had met in blogland and we both signed up.

Larissa's at it again. This time for a book. Here's my version, wish me luck for inclusion in the book! If I don't make it then I'll be giving the hat away here on the blog, it's too small for me and too hot for the weather here in Perth.

The details:
Smaller size knit double on size 15 (10mm) Brittany straights
Lambs Pride Bulky - Brown Heather
Embellishment - red leather, felt and fabric doodad
Pattern notes - well for some reason I made a decision to knit my K2tog through the back loop. Don't know why, just did. I'm not sure if I like the effect or not. But I'm not reknitting! Nice pattern, quick knit.

Here's the flickr group.

Craaaack!

Looky, looky....finished the footrest. There's not often something I make that I feel like bragging about it. But this little baby I ♥ !! I walk past her and smile, saying that she was only finished hours ago. I was up early this morning sewing on the base and stuffing her. Sorry for the slightly blurry pics, I was in a rush before work to photograph her. I've included my toes for scale, sort of. I'll try and take some more pics another time. She's stuffed with bean bag beans. Some more pics here.

She was sewn in 2 lessons, 3.5 hours each, and I spent another 2-3 hours at home sewing her.

AND I'll be posting off my ornaments tomorrow. Here's the final packaging.

Music for the day. Soundtrack to "Leonard Cohen - I'm your Man", specifically tracks sung by Martha and Rufus Wainright and Antony.

Homework

It's been eons since I had actual homework. You know something I HAD to do. Well I don't HAVE to but I've paid for this course and the 2nd and final lesson is tomorrow and I want to get my money's worth! There's also the dreaded unfinished WIP syndrome and I have enough of those already, so this foot REST is going to be finished! I've also ordered a new sofa, insert small dance here, that will be coming late December.

So this week inbetween catching up with friends and dating I've been sewing, sewing, sewing. Surprisingly once all the pieces were cut, the sewing doesn't take long at all. I can piece together a wedge in about 30-40mins now. 6 down 2 to go. It's a little matchy matchy for my liking, but I still love it. I'm already thinking of making another.

WOOT! WA's getting daylight saving!!! About bloody time.

Today's soundtrack at work...Betty Blue. Just beautiful.

Well, wherever you are, have a fabulous Friday. Spud says paws up, relax and allow yourself a belly scratch.

Homework

I know, I said you might not hear from me again this week, well I changed my mind.

I have crafty homework this week for the footrest. Last night over about 3 hours, in between cooking and watching crap TV, I selected and cut 56 more strips. I know to you hard core quilters this is nothing, but to this little duck, it was work! Tricky little suckers. I got completely sucked in by colour choice, pattern selection and then making up the 7 sets for the foundation piecing. Absorbing and oddly intense. Lots of thinking and switching. Probably the most ambitious sewing project I've taken on.

Tonight and tomorrow night sewing wedges.

wash that date right outta my hair...

Well hello ya'll, hope you all had fabulous weekends. Mine, was a mix of great and just plain odd! Don't think I'll share the odd here, but let's just say, dating can be interesting and need to get better photo's of my dates before meeting them!

The great? Well I finally cleaned my house, dusted, washed, vacuumed and tidied. Feels sooo good. Should do it more often :)  I also had a crafting feast. Finished my ornaments for the Holiday Ornament Swap. Now I just need to work out packaging and post them this week. I'm pretty happy with the results. Link to the flickr group and more pics of mine here.

I'm doing a course at a local fabric and yarn store, Calico and Ivy. A magical Moroccan footrest (that's for you Gayle ;) , NOT a foot stool). They've adapted a pattern from Kaffe Fassett's "Passionate Patchwork". Man I had a crash course in foundation piecing. Funny being in a class environment again, those old anxieties about performing creep up on you. So I've made one wedge and have another 7 to do by Saturday, eeep. Not happy with the colour mix in my first wedge. Think I need more dense colours and less white. So we'll see how the other 7 work out and I might resew this one.

Also made a couple of ornaments for an overdue gift to a blogging buddy, it's a surprise so you'll have to just wait and see who its for. I think these are my favourites. I've had this piece of red velvet for about 7 years and finally found the perfect use for it. I made the felt and silk beads, they're rustic, a nice contrast to the velvet. I'm a yoyo wh*re at the moment. More to come on the clover yoyo maker soon. More pics.

More? Yep. I made this bag about a week ago. Based on something in my memory from a Japanese craft book. Made on the fly, so it has its quirks. I needed a bag I could wear out in the evening and dance and not have to have my hands full. Fully lined and has a wadding sandwich to make it squishy. Thought it's probably a little too thick, the Echino fabric from Al is lovely but it's quite a heavy weight so I didn't need the wadding. Seems I like to make stuff bulletproof.

Some more good. I doggie sat/visited my friend's miniature Daschunds this weekend. I couldn't get any pics of Jemima, she wouldn't stand still long enough. But here's Mabel. She is just too cute.

There are a bucketload of films I want to see at the moment and just haven't had the time to get to. I'm listening to the new Magic Numbers, "Those the Brokes", it's growing on me and I've hammered the new Scissor Sisters, "Ta-Dah", damn fine album.

Hey, any of you Aussie readers get the new Donna Hay? Who's gonna give the caramels a go? Tempting. Also love the relish recipes this time as well.

Ok, have a great week. Not sure if you'll here from me again, I'm gonna be up to my eyeballs in strips of fabric and foundation piecing.

procrastinate

[proh-kras-tuh-neyt, pruh-] verb, -nat‧ed, -nat‧ing. –verb (used without object)
1. to defer action; delay: to procrastinate until an opportunity is lost. –verb (used with object)
2. to put off till another day or time; defer; delay.

Sunday morning, haven't blogged on a Sunday in eons....but my motives are a little sly. The house needs some serious tidying. I've had blinkers on all week about it and I know that if I get my act together and do it I'll feel a whole lot better. So I started putting stuff away and then walked past the computer and well, here I am.

Last night was a friend, Maree's, birthday we went out dancing. I love dancing. I forget sometimes how much I love it until I'm there and remembering just how much fun I have. It helps to be with people who also love it and get into it and aren't shy about it. I was with peeps like this last night. For me it's a form of meditation, the music's loud, too loud to think, the base is thumping and it's surprisingly relaxing.

So this morning I'm avoiding the house, here on the computer. I need to be dressed and out the door in the about 45mins....

Here's the before and after from last night, I'm going to enter it into the SPC this month which is GLAM.

Left: before leaving to go out last night, right: this morning. Feeling rough and tired.

Well, have a great Sunday wherever you are...

warts 'n all

Warning....navel gazing post...

Hello! Seems my posting here is a bit shabby at the moment. But I'm finally at the point with the blog that I don't mind. I used to feel the pressure (self imposed) to post frequently, to be witty, creative, original, posting regularly about my fabulously crafty life! Not that it wasn't true, I do have a pretty great crafty life. Saying all that, now that the blog and I have been together over 2 years we're starting to get comfortable with each other. You know that feeling with friends, that no matter what you won't be judged, they accept you for all your quirks and you don't have to explain yourself to them. I'm extremely fortunate in having friends (flesh friends and blog friends) like this. I don't need to mention names you know who you are!

I'm at the point with the blog where I feel comfortable with just putting out here what I want and be damned with people's opinion of me. It's interesting, sort of like a peeling back layers. It's like making friends, you meet them and there's the honeymoon phase, then you slowly get to really know each other, you might go through some bumpy spots and then over time you can't imagine them not being in your life. There's no bullshit, just upfront great stuff. So that's how the blog is for me now. I still don't show all my warts, of course you're going to see most of my flattering parts here :) and a grrls gotta keep some secrets!

I have a bucketload of crafty projects on the go at the moment, a zillion ideas in my head. Living singularly makes my time allocation interesting. My time is spent juggling (ignoring!) housekeeping, keeping in touch with friends, crafting, blogging and dating. This is no whoa is me post. Just that I've noticed being single yet again that my time is more precious. I can't rely on anyone but me to tidy, feed the cat, feed myself etc. Sometimes I wish for a partner to share stuff with and miss intimacy, but the flipside, I also enjoy being able to completely suit myself and not consider anyone else. I don't think either situation is better or worse, both have their merits!

So sorry, no craft to show you here today. Just some shoes I bought recently. Aren't they pretty. They go well with my tan ;) I do have craft in progress but haven't had the time to photograph it. The photo above was taken as I walked out of the door this morning rushing to work.

Have any of you seen Children of Men? Wowzers, knocked my socks off. Wasn't expecting it to be so great. Thoroughly enjoyable. Kate's more eloquent than I am and read the comments.

A new friend introduced me to a remix of Queen of Japan singing the Kiss classic "I was made for loving you"...takes on a whole other meaning and I love it!

I ♥ my new bracelet by Liana Kabel! Check out her gorgeous tape measure pins and other yummy recycled plastic goodies.

Lastly, Amy Butler responds to recent copyright questions about her designs that have popped up in blogland. Excellent response.

Hmm I think I must have been channelling the Hormonal Menstral Goddess with this post! LOL.

Stuff meme

OK, I'm not a meme person, but lacking content for the blog at the moment, this sort of fodder will do. So, thanks Sooz...hope you learn something interesting ;)

1. Flip to page 18, paragraph 4 in the book closest to you right now, what does it say?

Wood is made up on long tubular cells like a bundle of drinking staws glued together. This structure makes wood much stronger in one direction than the other and it's much easier to cut along the cells or grain (ie to rip) than it is to cut across them (ie to cross-cut).

WTF! I was doing some research on resin making for Miss Dot and had left out my copy of "The Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Crafts", Volume 1, published mid 1970's.

2. If you stretch out your left arm - as far as possible, what are you touching?
The cat's manky computer bed. Ewww. Needs a clean.

3. What's the last program you watched on tv?
Jamie Oliver's latest show, can't remember the name. It was a distraction whilst I was reading and thinking.

4. Without looking, guess what time it is.
9pm.....CLOSE, 9.12pm

5. Except the computer, what can you hear right now?
Anthony whopping it up singing "Fistful of Love", man he can sing. Kate, SHUT UP, he's lovely.

6. When was the last time you were outside and what did you do?
Umm I got out of my car and walked indoors :)

7. What are you wearing?
My favourite bonds grey tracksuit pants, they're getting little holes in them, but I love them. A short sleeve pale blue tee...Bare feet and notice, no mention of underwear. Damn, can you tell it's been a year? LOL

8. Did you dream last night? If you did, what about?
Umm I don't think I did dream, but I did have a lovely lullaby of sorts.

9. When was the last time you laughed?
Tonight, reading something, can't remember what.

10. What's on the walls, in the room you're in right now?
Not a lot. I rent, umm my pinboard.

11. Have you seen anything strange lately?
Aaah. Define strange?

12. What do you think about this meme?
LOL I like Sooz idea of doing it in pictures. Umm it's ok.

13. What's the last film you saw?
AAAH that would be last night, "God on my Side", by Andrew Denton, with Q&A with said man after. Thoroughly enjoyable if a little terrifying.

14. If you became a multimillionaire, what would you do with the money?
Pay off friends and immediate family's mortgages. Grab my passport and travel, travel, travel. That's my first knee jerk answer.

15. Tell us something about yourself that most people don't know.
Umm depends who we're talking about. My real world friends or my bloggie friends ;) Since a teenager I've often had crushes on girls but until recently didn't really think anything of it. Penny took a while to drop.

16. If you could change ONE THING in this world, without regarding politics or bad guilt - what would it be?
Damn, ummmm. Well after seeing "An Inconvenient Truth", probably people's attitudes in general to environmental issues, looking after this place for future generations.

17. Do you like dancing?
HELL Yes.

18. George Bush?
Why'd you do it George?

19. What do you want your children’s names to be, girl/boy?
Not having any. Haven't given it a lot of thought.

20. Would you ever consider living abroad?
Done it :P would love to do it again.

21. What do you want God to tell you, when you come to heaven?
That's assuming...

22. Who should do this meme?
LOL should. Umm not going to tag, you wanna do it, go for it :)