Summer Break

It's been a lovely summer break around here. There's been so much going on, I took blogging off my to-do list. I've barely even surfed around to see what you all have been up to either. I just started poking around a few days ago when we got back from a nice long vacation. You've all been so busy! So many interesting projects going on out there. I'm ready to jump back in with both feet.

Here's a bit of what I've been up to:

:: getting oodles of lovelies from Sew to Speak ::


:: working on this slouch hobo-style bag for myself ::


:: hitting the beach. hard. for two weeks ::


:: knitting this hat from One Skein for a friend's new baby ::


:: burp cloths made from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern collection ::


:: got some lovely new yarns ::


:: turned them into felted bowls for thread ::


:: owls have taken over a few ::


:: turned some of Xander's monster art into this canvas wall piece ::


:: finished this custom order for Kate ::


:: the inside is as fun as the outside ::


:: we grew our first hanging tomato garden ::


:: and discovered wasp-larva covered tomato caterpillars ::


:: completed a challenging (and fun) custom order ::


:: a gig bag for Elisa ::


:: she has already taken it on tour with her ::


There it is. The brief history of our summer. For the next few weeks, we'll be busy getting Xander ready for kindergarten. Celebrating my birthday and Quinn's birthday. And Kevin and I will be taking a short trip to Vegas without the kids (of course!).

But I'm sure I'll get a little crafting (and posting) squeezed in there somewhere.

(sick) ambition

I've never been a fan of folks who go on and on about how crappy they feel. And, I feel like I've mentioned my ailments too much recently here. So all I'll say now is that I took a rare day off from work this week to try and rest up. And, I decided to get back to my crafting routine despite not being 100%. Too many ideas were clogging up my noggin.

I started by working on the little pleated clutch in the photo above. I had thought about working with pleats in linen for a while now, but couldn't find a good online tutorial for it. I finally just went into it blind. With mixed results. For one thing, the cute leopard is supposed to be all the way over on the very right hand side of the bag. How did I not notice that mistake until I was finished?! Rusty!

Next, I knocked out this fantastic dragon bag, a custom order for Carrie, that I am going to hate to part with! I came up with a new design that really complimented the Alexander Henry fabric. There's an outside pocket to the left of the dragon for her cell phone.


It also has two pockets inside. The bag is reversable, so Carrie can use this side if she wants a little less dragon.


My felting frenzy continued. I knocked out five more bowls, and am now trying to figure out how to embellish them. Beads? Cord? Embroidery? Who knows. I'll try something. I also started thinking about how to execute this idea I've had running around the noggin: knit fire.


We have a fireplace upstairs that we wanted to get operational this winter. But when the chimney guy showed up to inspect it, he called it a 'widow-maker'. Eek. Maybe not then. So, I've been thinking about a knitted/felted fire art installation in the hearth. We'll see. The to-do list is long.

I brought the bowls outside to dry a bit in the sun. I've always been happy that X and Q have an interest in my projects. They like helping me pick colors, sort zippers, fold fabric, whatever. I let them touch everything except for the needles, pins and blades. And they both really like the new felted bowls. So, I assumed when all of the bowls disappeared that they had been comendeared by one of the kiddos.


Yep. They were being used to feed Rody the horse. And the puppies. And the dinosaurs.

Finally, I recently checked out this new fabric shop on High Street called Sew to Speak. It's all goody-goody goodness. I did my best to restrain myself, but ended up walking out with four yards of black and grey canvas, and these two goodies:

:: Giraffes from Alexander Henry ::

:: The most amazing Japanese import linen/cotton blend from Echino ::

Ah. The love. The only down side is that I really can't start on anything new until I knock out some more of these custom orders. It's a nice problem to have.

felt frenzy

It was a nice weekend - all things considered. Kevin had to work a ton of overtime, Mother's Day included, so the kids and I were on our own most of the time. As a bonus, I now have strep throat (what the heck is going on with my immune system?!), so we were pretty much stuck inside too.

The upside is that I had plenty of time to indulge this felting frenzy that I've been on since Thursday night. Thursday night, Lynne showed me how to knit in the round, and I've been knitting up these little bowls almost non stop since. I gave the yellow one to my Mom for Mother's Day.

Other presents included cards from my kids, an upside down tomato plant from my Mom (no place for vegetable planting in my small, small yard), and crafting cash from Kevin. Hopefully I'll be feeling better soon and I can head out to the store and spend it.

what happened?

Was I really gone for over a month? I know I slipped into digital world for a bit, reading things like this, and this, and this.
But I didn't think it had been a month!

Still, I did find time to do some non-pixel related work:

I finished up this scarf. Just in time to put it away for next winter, now that Spring is here.


I'm working on this sweater for Lynne's class. I'm predicting I'll finish up in the fall, just in time to put it on. (Just kidding, Lynne!)


I took a trip to NYC with a girlfriend to visit another girlfriend. While there I picked up these fat quarters from Purl Patchwork.


And this book from Purl Soho I can't wait to have a reason to knit those angora booties! (I'm talking to YOU, Erica!)


Jason turned me on to these stickers from Sticker Robot.


And we were in the local newspaper last Saturday for a story I submitted about meeting Barack back in March. The title of the story in the paper was "Flirting with Fame". Yep, Kevin teased me about that.

Now, I'm relaxing for a few minutes before going to bed after getting everything ready for the Munc family's trip to Chattanooga tomorrow. We were supposed to fly Skybus, and this is the second time I was burned by them in the past 10 days. *sigh*

Anyhow, I was able to put together these cute messenger bags for the kids. They outgrew the ones that I made for them when we went to Boston (on Skybus. *sigh*) last September.

Yes, that is paint on Xander's sleeve. Yes, that is chocolate ice cream on Quinn's shirt. That's how we roll.

I also made them cute little sunglasses holders and a small pencil/pen/stickers holder bag, but I forgot to photograph them before the sun when down. I also made these cute little travel pillows for them for the car ride down (yep, I'm pretty bummed about not getting on Skybus tomorrow). I'll snap all of them when we get back into town.

I promise not to wait another month.

a small disappointment

We're supposed to be packing tonight. But our flight to Chattanooga was canceled due to the first Nor'easter to hit us in '08. Lousy timing. The kids were really excited about the trip. We were supposed to go here. And here. And here. If we're lucky, we'll be able to leave on Sunday morning.

That is the second disappointment of the week. The first came late Tuesday evening when it was clear my choice in candidate wouldn't be winning Ohio's primary. I was much happier on Sunday, when Jason and I got to shake hands with him. Later, a friend of a friend quoted us in this article about the election.

In the two to three seconds I spent not obsessing about the upcoming election, I did manage to plan out a few new crafting projects. I ordered some new fabric from phatfabrics (pictured above), and am planning on doing something with this in the new master bedroom.

I also took a trip with Lynne to a yarn shop and picked out some nice wool for a sweater I'm going to be starting. Yep, you heard me right. I've been knitting for five weeks and she has me starting a sweater. I love that girl's optimism.

Finally, I found out this week that I'll be participating in my first quilt swap! I'm really excited and have been thinking about what kind of design to work up. I promise leave American politics out of it.

recap

I meant to post about three times this past week. But I never felt like putting down what I was working on and firing up the computer. So here's the Sunday evening recap.

Week three of knitting lessons got us started on this washcloth sampler. I think I might be brewing a nasty knitting addiction. I even took this with me last night when Kevin and I went over a friends house. Just give me a handful of cats and I can be *that* crazy girl now. Eeek.

It was a great mail week, something new showed up on three different days. I got the latest Craft magazine - chock full of cuteness, as usual.


I also ordered more of the Echino fabric from Repro Depot. After finishing the cheating quilt, I immediately wished that I had made it a little larger. So I picked up these two prints with the idea that I'll make two 5' x 7' blankets, one for Xander and one for Quinn.


I'd like to be one of those piece-as-you-go quilting types, but I feel the need to do at least a little bit of planning, if only to keep me from buying twice as much fabric as I need. I started working on this little sketch, and the next thing I know, Xander had gotten a hold of it and was putting little 'X's' in the three large circles I had drawn. I asked him what he was doing, and he said that he wanted that quilt to be for him, so he was making sure I knew by putting his initials on it. Nice.


And if that wasn't enough mail fun, I also got this hardbound printed book I put together from my 2007 photographs using blurb.com. I'm so happy with the results!

The quality of the printing is great - better than whoever Apple uses for their iPhoto books. And, blurb.com is way, way cheaper too.

The largest book you can get from Apple is 100 pages, and it will cost you $120. The book I got this year is 160 pages, and cost me $38.00. Yeah, I hate to say it, being the Mac-elitist that I am, but when it comes to book printing, I'm leaving them for blurb.

Here's a couple of more snaps of some of the inside pages:

:: Xander and Quinn shot in a makeshift 'studio' in our living room ::

:: Apple picking back in September ::

:: Shots from our trip to Mexico ::

Incidentally, all of the shots on the recap post today were taken with my camera in manual mode, not auto. I'm still sticking to my homework assignment of taking at least one photo a day in manual mode. I'm determined to keep the flash off as much as possible, which continues to be a challenge in the winter in Ohio.

One final photo - Quinn asked me to stop taking photos of all of the 'stuff' and take a few of her. As you can see, we spent a lazy Sunday day at home, in our jammies, and I didn't even get around to brushing her hair. She loves days like this.

'cheating' quilt complete

It's finished! The only thing I don't like about the 'totally cheating' quilt is that I can't seem to snap a good photo of it. I finished it up yesterday and got it in the wash today. It's now all full of dimpled, puckered quilty goodness. I love it!

I tied off each square with 100% wool yarn, and it felted a bit more than I had hoped in the wash. Still, I'm really happy with the results. Especially the binding. Which is hands-down the best I've ever done, thanks to a couple of tips from Lynne.

Xander and Quinn love it and spent evening 'sharing it' since it isn't large enough for both of them to snuggle under together.

Despite the lack of photos (hurry up, Spring! I need light after 6:30 pm!), I had a great crafting week. I learned the purl stitch this week in knitting class. Now I know what they mean by "knit one, purl two". I think I remember that from old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Strange.

I also took a photography lesson from Ray. I've had a Nikon D-70 for the past couple of years, and I've hardly ever taken it off of 'auto'. Kind of crazy since I took photography way back in high school and have at least a basic knowledge of camera theory.

For homework, I have to take photos every day on manual, for 30 days. The quilt photos are day 1. As you can see, there's lots of room for improvement.

something new

I'm so excited! I started Lynn's beginner's knitting class last Thursday. It was great! Very relaxing. It's been nice practicing this week at home by the fire, with a glass of red wine. ahem. My second class is this Thursday, and I'm hoping to have the whole skien knitted with no mistakes by then. Wish me luck!