crafty adventures

currently, again :)

2010-12-16T11:33:00.000-04:00

reading: Anne (still!), Tess (still!), cookbooks
listening to: Pop2K on Sirius (Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, Salt N Pepa!), new Arcade Fire
covered in: glitter from opening Christmas cards
making: custom tees, birthday cards
cooking: cookies, soup
loving: social times with the best girlfriends one could ask for!
missing: Julia, easier times
wishing for: peace

another drive by post

2010-06-26T22:20:00.000-03:00

Too busy to update on what I'm doing! Renovating our old house for renters coming on July 10th, planning the renovation on our new house, work, work, working!!!

listening to: shuffle (seems to be bringing up lots of Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Dave Matthews Band), Sirius Lithium channel (90s alternative, see above :) )
eating: swiss cheese, eggplant and spinach wraps
making: curtains, end tables, Adirondack chairs, secret presents
wearing: shorts and wedge sandals
watching: It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia, Seinfeld
reading: yard sale books, Agatha Christie, Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Looking forward to a more sane life after the 10th!

busy, busy...just not much to show for it

2010-03-01T16:45:00.001-04:00

So, I've been going non-stop for the past few weeks. Where are all the pictures of finished objects, you ask? Well, there are none. Here is why:
1. The one big, major project is not finished, and is top secret for a special someone's (already passed) birthday. If you think this person is you, you're wrong, because the person it's for cannot yet read. You may still get a fabulous birthday present, just not this one.
2. I've been working like crazy on our taxes. Wow, could anything be more boring? On the plus side, I'm just about ready to file now, and it would be great if I got a refund. Not sure if that's going to happen yet, but I'm always optimistic.
3. I've scrapbooked over 1000 photos. Once I finished, I realized I still had lots of digital photos to print. How many? 750. I'll be a while. Anyhow, I've filled 4 scrapbooks already. How does one photograph photographs? Okay, I'm going to try anyway. Here are some of my favourite pages:

4. We bought a new house! Well, it doesn't close until March 11th, but it's as good as ours! As the new house is MUCH smaller than our current house, I've been spending a ton of time going through stuff and giving away boxes of things (mostly clothes and craft stuff). I'm about to go through more right now! Don't worry, I will post numerous renovation/demolition/redesign pictures while we're fixing it up.

Anyway, I hope that tides you over until I have more to show for myself. Meanwhile, Maui and Jazzy say hi.

currently

2010-02-05T10:50:00.003-04:00

listenening to: Dan Mangan, Old Man Luedecke, The Dears
eating: grilled cheese sandwiches
making: quilts, wrist warmers/tattoo covers, custom tea cozy
wearing: layers, scarves (it's COOOLD!)
watching: Dead Like Me, Nurse Jackie
reading: Your Money of Your Life, Black Beauty, jPod
missing: my girls in Ontario, my nephew

"We're not Elvis anymore. We’re not Frankie in his wild years. We’re not Tina’s glorious comeback. We’re not us, we’re not us." - Dan Mangan

"As you go around life's bends, I hope there's always a breakfast at the end." - Old Man Luedecke

Happy birthday Quinn!

2010-02-05T10:27:00.005-04:00

So, I'm a few days late, but my wonderful nephew Quinn turned 1 on Sunday! (I did call, I'm not that bad of an aunt!)

Here are a few of my favourite pics of his first year (in no particular order):

Okay, maybe that was more than a few :)

I renovated an apartment!

2010-01-29T12:09:00.005-04:00

So, last September (hmmm, around the last time I updated this blog, I see), Chris and I bought a tri-plex. The first couple of months were pretty uneventful, then December hit and we had some tenants move out.

No problem, I thought, we'll slap on a coat of paint and wash the floors and rent it out! Boy, was I wrong. First of all, one coat of paint became 2, then one coat on the ceiling became 2, then we replaced the sink, found a hole in the bathroom floor, replaced all the windows (meaning cleaning the floors and carpets numerous times). Not to mention the various layers of dirt and grime. I am still reeling at having scooped someone else's soapscummy hair out of the drain.

Just when we thought we were done, we decided to cut out an attic hatch out of the ceiling and blow insulation into the attic. No problem, just a little dust. Except that the it was more like soot and it gave us the Black Lung. Everything had been spotless the day before, and now we had to clean everything again, top to bottom. Well, one late night and one afternoon playing hooky from work to finish up, and the keys are handed over.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. But I would insulate the attic FIRST.

Also, it's been so long since I've used Blogger that I can't figure out how to move the pictures around. The afters are first, and the befores are second.

Beefy and Confused T-Shirt Offer (Glitter Only)!

2009-09-06T09:44:00.005-03:00

Sorry friends who read this blog, this post isn't for you :)

Are you beefy and confused? Proudly wear it on your chest!!!

Finally, you can wear your own beefy and confused t-shirt! Everyone who sees it will wonder what it means, but only us insiders will get it.

How does it work?

1. Pick one of these American Apparel styles:

2001 Unisex Fine Jersey Short Sleeve T-Shirt
2102 Fine Jersey Short Sleeve T
BB301 Poly-Cotton Short Sleeve Women's T
2001ORG Unisex Organic Fine Jersey Short Sleeve T-Shirt
2102ORG Organic Fine Jersey Short Sleeve T

2. Choose a colour and find your size (note: light colours work better).

3. Choose an ink colour: brown, purple, red, black, green. Choose a placement: Top centre (as in photo), Bottom right (your right when wearing :) ).

4. PM me on Glitter with your choices before September 21st, 2009.

5. I will place an order with AA at that time.

6. Once your shirt is ready to be shipped out, I will PM you with the total to send me by PayPal.

7. Once I have received your payment, I will send your shirt out to you!

8. You can strut around town in your new shirt, knowing that Glitterers rock!

I'm aiming for an October 27th, 2009 mail out date, but if I cannot make this for any reason (i.e. the shipment from AA takes longer than usual to get to me), I'll let you know by PM when I will be sending it. I'm going away from October 29th to November 2nd, so if it's going to be after that, it would November 10th.

Prices / Sizes (all are in US Dollars):

2001/2102:
S-2XL = $10.00
3XL (2001 only) = $10.00

2001ORG/2102ORG:
S-2XL = $10.00
3XL (2001 ORG only) = $10.00

BB301:
S-XL = $10.00

Shipping:
To Canada = $3.00
To USA = $6.00
Everywhere Else = $7.00

NOTES!!!:

- I also have 2 prototypes available for $10.00 each plus shipping (as seen in the picture below). They are both XL ladies Old Navy shirts in grey with purple writing. These will be mailed RIGHT AWAY (as in Tuesday :)) to the first two people to respond requesting them.

- This offer is only available to members of Glitter! That is why you MUST send me a PM through Glitter to order. I'm only marking up the prices a TINY bit, just to make sure that I cover my taxes and shipping and conversion rates, etc. I'm keeping the prices in US dollars because I normally do business through Etsy, and I want to keep everything in the same currency.

- If you're more comfortable doing business through Etsy, let me know and I'll create a custom order for you. The reason I'm doing this through my blog and not my Etsy is that I don't want to artificially bump up my sales with this promotion. It's a Glitter special!

- If you really don't want an American Apparel shirt, let me know. I don't have a whole lot of other options where I live, but I'm happy to try to find a thrifted shirt or something similar. I also have access to Old Navy, Michaels (those horrible fitting Jerzees shirts!), and Joe Fresh Style.

- Sorry it took me so long to get moving on this! I was worried that the beef shower momentum had slowed down, but now that it has become a reality, I think we all need to celebrate it!

- Did I forget any details? I hope not! Let me know if you have any questions.

- No beef was used in the making of this post. I'm a vegetarian, that's a vegetable bouillon cube :)

new look for my Etsy(s)!

2009-08-12T20:11:00.004-03:00

Now that I'm actually starting to put some effort into my Etsy shops, I thought it might be time for a more professional look (not including anything made in Paint). I commissioned the very talented Alex Clark of notastupidblog to make new banners and avatars, and she exceeded my expectations! Check them out!

I've updated feetup.etsy.com with pretty much everything I have in stock, and I'm in the process of getting all my clothing up on handsdownapparel.etsy.com. It takes longer than you would think to photograph everything and come up with (not so witty) descriptions! I feel like Elaine.

all that Jazz!

2009-07-19T16:03:00.004-03:00

We got a cat! Well, it's been a couple of months, but what with the year-long hiatus, I somehow missed blogging it.
Her name is Jazz, Jazzy or Jasmine, and she's eight years old. We didn't know how either her or Maui would take it, but they seem to tolerate each other pretty well. I keep catching them on the bed together, or sharing the dog couch, so I like to pretend that they're best friends when I'm not home.

She's pretty cute :)

ahead of schedule

2009-07-19T15:41:00.004-03:00

If you know me, you know how ridiculous the title of this post is. You may be waiting for a birthday gift, or a purse commissioned in February, or even a phone call. But, for once, I've finished two items on my to-do list WELL ahead of schedule.

This is a quilt I made for my friend Christina's baby shower AUGUST 1ST! I actually finished it LAST WEEKEND! Amazing!

I love this tree fabric, and I'm trying to think of a garment I could use it for that wouldn't look stupid :)

I also signed up for the Artist Trading Card swap at the gallery again this year. The event is AUGUST 7TH! That's almost 3 weeks away! Can you believe it! 40 ATCs ready to go!

This one is my favourite, as the grain and knots in the wood look like mountains and the sun.

Now, what are the odds that I can keep this up?

Sappyfest 2009 - Craft Sale August 1st

2009-07-19T15:29:00.003-03:00

Well, this week I made the executive decision that I needed a mini-vacation. Well, no vacation of mine would be complete without making it into an opportunity to do a ton of crafting beforehand, so...I'm attending Sappyfest in Sackville, NB not only for the amazing lineup of bands over 3 days, but I'm also exhibiting in the craft sale!

Details:
When: Saturday, August 1, 2009, 12 - 4 PM
Where: Bridge Street, Sackville, NB
What: LOTS of new coasters, t-shirts (men's, ladies' and child sizes!), onesies, tea cozies, oven mitts, potholders, plus the old standbys (frames and trays!)

Hope to see you there!

one giant comeback post

2009-07-14T10:20:00.011-03:00

Why blog once a week when you can blog once a year? You know it's been too long when you can't remember your login or password for blogger.
Well, I figured it out, and now I will proceed to create my longest blog post EVAR. I did a lot this year! I just didn't really have much time left over to share any of it :(

Last summer I made a quilt for my good friend Christine's wedding gift:
Then I went to said wedding, where I helped with many crafty wedding preparations:
I made these shirts for the bridesmaids:
I also met Fernando on this trip! My new second favourite dog!

Also last summer, I also participated in my first Artist Trading Card swap. I made 60 tiny Cloudy and Gerber Daisy silkscreens:

Then it was time to get ready for craft sale season. I did two sales last year, Three Oaks and Colonel Gray.

I then went on to have my most successful month ever on Etsy, selling lots of coasters, oven mitts and tea cozies:

Over Christmas holidays, I took a very brief trip to Halifax for a visit with Bonnie while she was passing through:

(it's fun traveling with a photographer!)

In January, I took on a huge custom order for a screen (this thing was HUGE!):
I also spent an inexplicable amount of time organizing my craft room and closet.

Before:
After (and amazingly, it still looks like this months later!):
How could I forget! Christine came to visit!

Then in March, I got a much needed vacation to visit my BRAND NEW NEPHEW! Quinn Allen Calof, born January 31, 2009:

We visited The Container Store TWICE which made me very organized and happy.Then I organized my sister's closet. Hey, I know I'm a geek and I've never claimed otherwise!

We got up at 5:00 am to wait in line for tickets to the Price is Right! It was totally worth it. Unfortunately, they don't allow cameras during the taping.

I call this face "Red Ross." Yup, geek!

I was home just long enough to get caught up at work, then took off again for Ontario for Lisa and Jordan's wedding, the Home Hardware Spring Market, and other various visits:

Maui wasn't too sure what to think of Fernando at first:

I think they were friends by the end of our visit!

There's a zoo in Waterloo! Who knew!
The door isn't the only one with issues :)

Vintage HH catalogs:

We stopped in Kingston on the way home for a Bubba's poutine for old times sake. It was alright, but not as good as I remembered. It must taste better at 3:00 am after a night at Stages :)

Ok, this post is getting huger than I had envisioned. I'll leave you with my Canada Day cupcakes, and with promises to keep much more up to date!

P.S. You can see many, many more of my pictures from all the above life events at my flickr!

WWKIP Day!

2008-06-15T21:45:00.004-03:00

I know, I know, I've disappeared for another 3 months. It's been a combination of start-itis and business (haha, I wanted that to be busy-ness, but guess what that becomes!), and a healthy dose of hiding out. No longer!

Saturday was Worldwide Knit in Public day, and I met 4 other PEI knitters in Charlottetown to do our part. Thing was, it was rainy and windy, so we ended up inside the Confederation Centre. However, there was an Anne of Green Gables event and the place was overrun with kids and hot dogs, so we retreated to the upstairs lobby, which is just barely in public.

I also attended a baby shower for my good friend Emily, and I made her this quilt:

I finished these gloves last month, and they're my new favorite accessory!

I FINALLY made a new silkscreen! I've been working on this for a few months (the flower in the picture is one I got for my birthday in, um, March):

And, also finally, some new shop items! I have many more "in progress", but these are the finished items. I look forward to making many more tea cozies, as well as some cup cozies. What else can I make a cozy for? Cozies are great!

That's it for now! I've been doing lots of gardening, but I don't have any "after" pictures yet, so it'll have to wait!

Now you can wipe up your spilled drinks, too!

2008-03-27T22:25:00.012-03:00

This is my first time sharing a pattern! If you try it, let me know how it goes!

Martini Dishcloth

Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter Cotton

Needle Size: 4.5 mm/ US 7

Finished Size: Approximately 20 cm / 8 inches square

Cast on 39 stitches

Row 1 (RS) K 39

2 (WS) K 39

3 K 39

4 K 39

5 K 39

6 K 3, P 33, K 3

7 K 39

8 K 3, P 33, K 3

9 K 39

10 K 3, P 33, K 3

11 K 15, P 9, K 15

12 K 3, P 11, K 11, P 11, K 3

13 K 15, P 9, K 15

14 K 3, P 16, K 1, P 16, K 3

15 K 19, P1, K19

16 same as 14

17 same as 15

18 same as 14

19 same as 15

20 same as 14

21 same as 15

22 same as 14

23 same as 15

24 same as 14

25 same as 15

26 same as 14

27 same as 15

28 same as 14

29 same as 15

30 same as 14

31 K 18, P 3, K 18

32 K 3, P 14, K 5, P 14, K 3

33 K 16, P 7, K 16

34 K 3, P 12, K 9, P 12, K 3

35 K 14, P 11, K 14

36 K 3, P 10, K 13, P 10, K 3

37 K 12, P 15, K 12

38 K 3, P 8, K 17, P 8, K 3

39 K 10, P 19, K 10

40 K 3, P 33, K 3

41 K 39

42 K 3, P 33, K 3

43 K 39

44 K 3, P 33, K 3

45 K 39

46 K 39

47 K 39

48 K 39

49 K 39

Bind off, leaving a long tail.

Use tail to make a loop, either with a crochet chain or braid.

Weave in ends.

Voila!

Note: This pattern is for personal use only. If you're not a knitter, but would still like one, I'm now selling these in my Etsy shop (see link at right).

30 green cakes!

2008-03-17T12:38:00.008-03:00

Well, I don't have pictures of all 30 birthdays, but here are quite a few!

1978
1980
1981
1982
1983 (I might be off on a couple of the dates, but I'm pretty sure I'm close)
1985
1986

1987
1989
1990
1998
1999 (my first and last birthday involving tequila!)

2000
2001 (our Matrix phase)
2002 (green drink - check, fake green carnation corsage - check, fuzzy slippers - check)
2007
2008
It's my lucky day!

laziness

2008-03-16T22:03:00.003-03:00

Well, I'm not lazy in life, but lazy in blogging. I just can't be bothered to post these pictures on flickr, Facebook AND Blogger. So here are some links:

Another day in my life
Skating with the dogs

Here are some funny videos from the skating (you can tell they're funny because I'm cackling):
stop!
chase

And here are some crafts!

neckwarmer:

martini dishcloth (my first dishcloth!):

placemats and coasters:

fabric greeting cards:

Since I have an unnatural love of mason jars (seriously, I buy jarred pesto and tomato sauce just for the jars...one night I was madly scrubbing the label off one and Chris asked what I was doing, I just muttered, "must get clean, need jar for buttons," now my buttons smell a little like pesto), I fell in love with Martha Stewart when I saw this idea: chalkboard paint on your jars and lids! Now there's no question how long things have been in the fridge for, just whether or not it's okay to eat two month old spaghetti sauce:)

MIA

2008-03-02T16:22:00.002-04:00

Whoa, where did I go! I can't believe I haven't posted since December! I've been kind of MIA in the head (if that makes sense) with colds and crafter's block. Still having trouble forming full sentences. Here's a point form summary of what's going on with me:

Reading: Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
Listening to: Once soundtrack, swapped mix cds, CBC podcasts
Watching: Lost, Sex and the City marathons
Eating: Mrs. McGarrigles blueberry and rhubarb jam (YUM), avocado sandwiches, failed dinners, poached eggs
Knitting: booties, late birthday gifts
Sewing: baby quilts, tea cozies, little pouches

We're having a crazy storm today! We didn't realize how bad it was and tried to go out for breakfast. Luckily, they closed AFTER they served us.

Maui wants to go out, but every time I open the door and she gets a blast of wind in her face, she looks at me like this:

It's time for another installment of...

2007-12-18T22:51:00.000-04:00

a day in my life!
I spent the morning drinking coffee and packaging up a couple of Etsy orders (yay!), then took a trip to the post office. I came home and had my second cup of coffee, which is when I discovered that it's document your day day again!

Here's the scene immediately after finding out :)

Then I got to work on one of the commissions I have to get done for Christmas. This one: 24 banners, one for each year that the Montreal Canadiens have won the Stanley Cup. It has been a fun job, but it has made me wish a few things: that the person it's for could have been a fan of a less successful team, or one with a less complicated logo (why not the Dallas Stars?). On the plus side, by the end, I've gotten much better at applique. On the minus: I never want to applique again!

I came upstairs for lunch to find that Maui has been having a VERY strenuous day:
I had my lunch of leftover lentil soup, with my lunchtime Entertainment Weekly ritual:
It looked like a nice day, and since the weather has been crazy windy and miserable for a few days, I thought I'd take Maui for a walk to the mailbox.

This snowbank wasn't there yesterday, and Maui doesn't like it:
It's VERY WINDY STILL:
I thought it was neat that my shadow was this long at 2 in the afternoon:
Our little house :)

While I was bundled up, I thought I'd survey the damage done when the wind knocked over our barbecue yesterday. Survey says...need a new barbecue!

The metal snapped!While I was doing this, Maui had a little rest in the snow:
I thought about cleaning up the barbecue, but decided I have too much to do and got back to work instead. Big surprise, I've taken on too much this time of year again!

I started work on a custom tile frame:

And two hours later, it was glued!I put the final coat of paint on the undersides of the two ottomans I'm making for a custom order, yup, due for Christmas too!

Then it was tea time! I got to try my new holiday spice tea from my secret snowflake, Steph, and it was delicious! I was wishing that I had digestive cookies instead of Nilla wafers. The Nillas get really soggy in tea :(Time to start dinner! This is how my pie crust came out of the box :(

After some doctoring, I fixed it enough to hold quiche filling. Not too bad!
Time for a move in Scrabulous while dinner bakes!(my move was "copes" on the triple word score :) )

This look says, "Stop taking my picture and feed me!":
I think the quiche turned out okay! The filling is green and yellow peppers, red onions and mushrooms. Chris said it tasted like an omlette.
In all our silliness, Chris and I can't compromise on our milk. I'll only drink skim or 1%, and he will only drink homogenized (yuck!). Since he started drinking it, he's been buying it in cartons, but I decided yesterday that he drinks enough to warrant buying bags. So, I found a way to tell them apart so I don't end up drinking his glue :)
Remember the banners from this morning? Here are all the components, ready to be assembled.

I got them all glued, now "all" I need to do is applique the blue parts. That includes all the numbering. I'm just glad the Canadiens had their biggest winning streak in the 70s, 7s being the easiest number to cut and sew :)
Edit: I almost forgot! While I was madly gluing, I was listening to As it Happens on CBC, and they played Roch Carrier reading a part of The Hockey Sweater! It was very fitting, as it talks about how the Canadiens are the best team ever. I felt very Canadian :) Then I started upholstering the ottomans. It was almost 10 by now, and I didn't think I was coherent enough at this time of night to do the velvet, so I just did the padding.

And...it was time for Home Heist! I love Colin and Justin!
Since I only had about 10 rows to go, I decided to finish my Shocking Pink Coif. Which is neither shocking nor pink. But, I think it will keep my ears warmer than my Calorimetry, which just doesn't stay on right.
Anyways, that's it! Home Heist is over, and it's time for bed!

in the useless posts department...

2007-11-30T10:58:00.001-04:00

Did you know that pop expires? It has a shelf life of something like 6 months, and the expiry date is on the lid. Well, one thing about having a DIY wedding is that you are left over with all kinds of beverages that can't be returned, such as beer in soggy cases, wine that's already been chilled, pop that came from a supplier that doesn't take returns on pop...
So for the last 5 months, we've been drinking as much diet Pepsi, Keith's and Yellow Tail Chardonnay as we can, which isn't a lot since we don't drink at home very much, and we drink milk with our meals. So, last night, I went for the pop, and noticed on the lid that it expired in October. What happens to expired pop? The lid won't come off. And when you run it under hot water, the pop bubbles up through the little holes in the lid (we have glass bottles here). Then, by the time you get it open, your hand hurts so much that you just want to hold the cold bottle against it instead of drinking it. Then, when you drink it, it's really flat. Then you blog about it for no reason.
All this reminded that I haven't blogged about the wedding yet! Of all things to blog about, I think your wedding should be one of them. Does anyone care anymore? I kind of want to do it for myself, just because there are details and funny things that keep popping into my head, and I want to document them. So, I'll get on it!
Happy Friday!

documentation

2007-11-27T12:40:00.000-04:00

Well, craft sale month is officially over. Overall, it was very successful, with only a few stressful bits, but I'm really glad to have tried out new sales. I saw some repeat business, which was great. Here are pictures of my booths from the last two sales. I really think my best display was at Bluefield, where I had a 12 foot table. If I can afford to do that for all the sales, I really think I should next year.

Colonel Gray:
Bluefield:
I also had a visit from the Mom! I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of her here, but she has a few so maybe I'll post them once she figures out how to email them to me :) It was great to have her here, and she was a huge help for the last 2 sales. We had lots of fun, we went to a new knitting group, for dinner at Mavor's, Vesey's Seeds for tulip and daffodil bulbs, which we subsequently planted on the coldest day she was here, and had a Settlers of Catan marathon. We made the rounds of the yarn stores, which hurt my wallet a little!
She also brought me a couple of things she thought I would get a kick out of, which I do!
My first bag (complete with the contents) that I made when I was about 9 or 10:
The sun, moon and stars jacket, in all its quilted glory!:
I tried to take a picture of it on, but it's really hard to get a shot of myself 1) not making a silly modeling face, 2) not standing weird, and 3) in the shot.

I'm trying to take a personal day today, even though I have a lot of work to do getting my Etsy updated and working on some custom orders. I seriously need to organize my craft room, since it's pretty much un-usable in its current state of madness. Which requires that I update my Etsy site and get my merchandise stored and ready for mailing. It also required putting away my new yarn purchases, which became documenting my yarn stash and posting it to Ravelry.
Why is documenting yarn so fun? Because it's easy, it serves almost no purpose, and I can't get paid for it. Perfect procrastination material. So, if you're on Ravelry, you've probably already seen my stash update. It's pretty sad. Lots of Patons and Bernat, just because I find them really easy to buy too much of. I do have a couple of nicer yarns that are just waiting for the perfect project, but probably not until after Christmas.
I did actually finish some knitting in the last couple of weeks. I knit another Odessa hat. I love this pattern, it's easy enough to get rolling without too much concentration once the pattern is established, but it's not nearly as boring as stockinette. But, I have a hard time getting it to fit my head. The last one was a little short, and I added an inch to this one and it still just isn't right. So, it's going to be a gift! I hope her head is more normal shaped than mine! Mom and I also knit some bunnies while we were playing Scrabble one day. The pattern is here. It's a super quick and fun knit! It's funny that we both used the same needles and type of yarn, and hers is about twice the size of mine. Beware of the giant bunny!

We also both knit scarves from $3 Bernat Max in a day. Probably the most rewarding thing I've knit in a while!
Anyway, I've kind of been MIA for a few weeks, but now that this crazy month is over, I plan to be updating more regularly!
m.

November is Craft Sale Month!

2007-11-03T21:46:00.000-03:00

For me, at least!
Here are the craft sales where I'll be appearing this month:

November 3-4 - Rachel's - Cavendish
November 9-10-11 - Three Oaks High School - Summerside (I'll be in Band Room B again, for anyone who visited me last year)
November 16-17 - Colonel Gray High School - Charlottetown (now confirmed, I'm in the gym!)
November 24 - Bluefield High School

Here's a little preview of what I've got ready for this weekend. I should have a few more frames and bags ready for Three Oaks!
Hope to see some of you out! If you're not on PEI, don't fret, I'll have the leftover items for sale on Etsy on November 25th, plus many more to be added in the following weeks!
Wish me luck!

progress

2007-10-30T22:20:00.000-03:00

Things are coming along! My first sale is this weekend, and I don't have as much done as I'd hoped, but I think I'll have enough for a nice display. I have one day of work left, then I'll be madly finishing frames all day Thursday. Set up is Friday afternoon, so I also have to figure out my display setup before then. I got a hanging rack yesterday, so I think that will be a better way to display my totes.
Here's what I've got on the go:

Cut-out frames:
Assembled frames:
Tiled frames:
Everything is coming along!

2 new bags and a sneak preview!

2007-10-21T17:13:00.000-03:00

I'm back! What a great weekend! I'll post about it once I've uploaded my pictures. For now, here's last week's post that I missed!
I finished off 2 new bags from the beige corduroy and Pucci-like print.

And....here's a little sneak preview of the first two new fabrics for my new handbag line! I probably won't get started until after/during craft sale month, but I had them in mind for a few months so I wanted to pick some up before they were all gone.

You may remember the second fabric from such bags as Julia's Knitting Bag and Tweed Evening Bag with Silk Lining. I love the fabric, and it was very popular at the sale last year. When I saw it at the fabric store again, I thought I'd get some more, as I'm looking for a tweed-like material for one of my fabric options. I'm super excited about the plaid, too. I can't wait to cut into these!
I picked up some new screen printing ink in Halifax this weekend, I can't wait to try it out!
So many crafts, so little time!

roadtrip!

2007-10-17T09:49:00.001-03:00

So, I actually did do some work over the last couple of weeks, but my camera battery died on Sunday night so I didn't get any pictures. I killed a couple more fabrics, and (uh oh!) bought two new ones! I'm very excited about my new line of bags, I really want to start, but I'm pretty committed to destashing first. I've got to get my butt in gear for the craft sales next month, though!
We're going on a roadtrip tomorrow! I can't wait! We're going to Halifax for the Halifax Pop Explosion. We've got tickets for 3 nights of shows, Apostle of Hustle and Grand Theft Bus on Thursday, Matt Mayes on Friday and (woohoo!) Eric's Trip on Saturday! I hope I'm not dead on my feet by then, I'm not much of a late night person :)
I'm a little nervous about this trip because I'm going to do a little shopping. I've been waiting patiently to get to the art store, MEC, 2 great yarn shops and MANY good restaurants. I think I may have to leave my credit card at home!
I don't feel too guilty about it though, because I'm actually knitting something with the yarn I bought last time I was there! I got it from The Loop, I was looking for some sock yarn that wasn't wool, and they helped me pick out a self striping cotton/wool blend by Opal. I'm knitting the Anastasia socks out of them, but I think they're going to be a gift, so I probably won't post them here until after they're received! I also bought some pretty purple Cascade Superwash, and I just started an Odessa hat out of it. I've done that pattern before, but it ended up a little small so I gave it as a gift. I'm going to make this one a little taller to accommodate my big forehead :)
Time for pictures! Since Yahoo photos is closing, I got my pictures moved over to Flickr (you should do this if you have Yahoo photos, they gave me 3 months free for my pro account!). There are some good oldies there!

first socks and friday night geekdom

2007-10-09T10:13:00.001-03:00

I finished my first pair of socks! I'm so excited! It also became really cold here in the last few days, so I've been wearing them every night. I need more!

I actually like the yarn a lot more now that I can see them on. I still have the majority of a ball left, maybe I'll make some socklets or something. (It's hard to tell, but in the second picture I have my feet up on my craft table while I was sitting on my stool. I almost fell, it was scary!)

Friday night, we watched Sicko, but it was over by 9:00 and I didn't know what else to do, so I organized my ribbon boxes and made LOTS of gift tags. It's a good way to use up ribbon! What am I going to do with them all though?

And finally, the Mom received her birthday gift! Sorry it was a little late! I found these beads in Halifax back in June, and they reminded me of Mom.

I did lots of woodworking over the weekend, but made the mistake of going for a hike yesterday afternoon in the cold. It was a great hike, but after dinner I was too pooped to do any more work, so I cuddled up on the couch with my second pair of socks! I'd call them about 25% done already! I really meant to get some mosaics done, but I'll plug away at them in the evenings this week.

miscellaneous stuff

2007-10-03T10:34:00.000-03:00

I feel like I've been really busy for the last month or so, but I don't seem to have anything to show for it! I guess that's not true, now that you've all received them I can talk about the HUNDREDS of photos I made into mini-albums for the wedding party and our parents. I felt like I was drowning in photos for a few weeks. Now I just have to finish our own album. We got the one from the photographer, but I'm going to add pages to it for the reception photos.

I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I made a special knitting bag for socks. I'm obsessed with sock knitting all of a sudden (though I still have to finish my first pair! I won't let myself cast on a new pair until the first one is finished!), and I've seen these cute little bags all over the place.
I also made another bag for my Etsy shop. Just one! I can't believe it! It looks like a tote, but it's actually pretty small, about 8" x 5". It's so cute, I really want to label it "the cutest handbag EVER," but that doesn't leave any room for the next cutest handbag that I make, so I'm leaving it open ended. It's just labeled "adorable."

I also made some stamps. I've been wanting to do this for a while, but my drawing and carving skills aren't the best. I saw a tutorial on a kids craft site for making stamps with that craft foam (I don't know what it's called!), so I just cut some squares and used a hole punch for the circles. So easy, but so many possibilities!
And finally, I've added some photography to my Etsy shop! I know I'm not a professional photographer or anything, but I've got some photos that I think look pretty good hanging in my house, so I thought other people might like them too! And it's another way to get more people to see the shop by having items in another category, since photography falls under Art while the rest of my items are under Housewares. Anyways, I thought it might be worth a try!

I almost forgot! I went to a knitting group for the first time on Monday! I've always wanted to go, and I found out about a couple of different groups a few months ago, but I've never ventured out. It was a lot of fun, and I met some new people. It's held at the art gallery, and I found out about some other events put on at the gallery, so it was a very informative night! I'll definitely be going back, it's held every two weeks.

adventures in screenprinting

2007-10-03T10:19:00.001-03:00

I've been wanting to learn to screen print for a really long time now. I finally got my stuff together, and I made my first successful screen this weekend!

The original picture:
The screen:

First print (oops, not enough ink!):
Second print (a little better):

On white:
On canvas:

I made 3 new screens last night, these ones I'll be trying on tile and wood. I hope they work, I need to get in production mode for the big craft sale in November!

how much stuff do I think people have to carry?

2007-09-05T09:59:00.000-03:00

Yes, I finished more tote bags this weekend! This black twill was bought for a tote bag for me back when I took the bus to work and hated carrying a lunch bag AND a purse. I only needed about 1/2 metre of fabric, but it was buy 1 get 2 free, so I have a whole lot of it left. It's super sturdy, though, and I tried to jazz it up with some different fabrics on top. I also made a couple of smaller purses, mostly to use up some smaller pieces of fabric. And I'm totally hooked on keychains, these are some fabric ones, but I've also got some cute wood ones on the go.
Julia got her bags! I hope they last a looonng time!

My next goal is to learn silkscreening. I bought a kit last weekend, I just have to figure it out. I'd love to have a better way for decorating my bags, stenciling can get pretty tedious.

totes are us

2007-08-23T16:38:00.000-03:00

There was more stash-busting fun last weekend! Julia ordered 2 tote bags from me, so I thought I'd use the opportunity to use up some denim. Hers are a surprise, so I won't put up pictures until she gets them, but here are the rest. I also realized that I have a ridiculous stash of ribbon as well as fabric, so I tried to use some of that up, too.

I also made myself a laptop bag. Now that I'm needing more computer time, Chris has let me use his laptop, but his bag is hideous and huge! I needed something cute, you know, just in case I need to take it somewhere.

I made a couple of other things, too, but they're all gifts so they'll have to wait!

I'm also working on my product photography, and I'd love some feedback! My makeshift lightbox seems to work well sometimes, and I've been working at altering the brightness and contrast a bit for the times it doesn't.

A stash-busting rampage!

2007-08-13T10:24:00.000-03:00

So Friday night I pulled ALL my fabric out of the dresser and spread it all over my cutting table. The time had come to KILL my fabric stash, and I finally got some momentum. I started with the napkins from Value Village, moved on to some tea towels from Wicker Emporium (bought on sale because the pattern was so cool, but sat in the closet for 2 years!), then finished off the tan ripstop (still have lots of blue!), and finally killed any ideas of making a lampshade from the blue flowered brocade.
I also got tired of searching around my sewing room for my pincusion with a mouthful of pins (I know Mom knows what I'm talking about!). So, I made 2 pincushions, one for the sewing table and one for the cutting table. When the one on the cutting table gets empty, I'll switch them. Genius! Also, a great use for the little 5" squares of fabric that I can't seem to throw out. (Note to self: need to kill that tan cordouroy, I hate working with it!)
It's a little sad to retire my old pincushion, one of the first things I made. Does anyone remember when this sun and stars fabric was popular? I'm thinking about 1994. I remember there was a girl at my highschool who had pants made out of it, so I got Mom to make me a jacket with it (which was so cool! I have to find it, I think it's in the closet in Merrickville). I think Gill had something in her bedroom made out of it, pillow cases maybe? I lined my sewing basket with it and made this pincushion. Anyways, the basket was thrown out years ago, and I think I'm over the pattern now, so it's time for retirement :)
I also finally finished these coasters that have been sitting on my workbench for months, just begging to be polyurethaned. You know, because coasters can talk.
I finally learned to use my router yesterday! It's a lot easier than I thought, and will be even easier once I get the right bit that I need.
It's so hard to come back to work Monday morning after a weekend full of momentum. Maybe I'll sew something tonight (right!) :)

a day in the life

2007-08-05T19:09:00.001-03:00

Here's a pretty typical Saturday in my world - in pictures.

I woke up and went to my freelance bookkeeping job. I didn't take any pictures, because I'm sure my clients wouldn't like their financial statements up here for all to see.

I got home around 1:00 PM, and had lunch. Mmm, leftover couscous and re-heated coffee from breakfast.

Then, because we got our wedding pictures this week, and I can't stop looking at them, I looked at them again.

But! I actually have things to accomplish today. Like going to the bottle exchange with all these bottles.

I said, "Maui, let's get in the car!" so she went and lay down in the grass.

While I was waiting for her, I noticed that our lilies have bloomed.

She finally got in the car, so I took her picture. She's saying "Let's get going mum! We've got bottles to return!"

(Notice how quickly a day in my life evolves into a day in Maui's life? It's just because it's easier to take her picture than to take my own!)

Since I didn't go to town after work on Friday as planned, I thought it best if I went to the bank in Hunter River to deposit my paycheque to avoid going into overdraft (too late!).

Since the bank is right across the road from the Confederation Trail, I thought we'd go for a little hike.

Maui loves this babbling brook. Too bad it's a pretty big drop.

"Can't I go in?"
For good measure, here's a video of the brook, just so you get the full experience of the babbling.

Time for a drink and a self portrait!

When we got back to the car, this strange dog came up to us and tried to jump in the back with Maui. I tried to tell him to go home, but he just kept trying to get in the car. When I tried to leave, he jumped in the front seat.

I didn't want to just leave him there, so I put him on my leash and walked to the nearest house. They had a backyard with a fence, so I thought maybe he got out. Then this chocolate lab starts barking like crazy and trying to get under the fence, so I'm thinking they aren't friends. I went to the door, but the woman who lived there didn't know the dog. She put her dog inside and put this strange dog in the yard, and I went to the gas station down the road to see if anyone was missing a dog. The man at the station asked what it looked like, and when I described it he sighed and said it was "Hunter River's dog." Apparently it wanders a lot, and goes up on people's porches and tries to get in their houses. He said it does live somewhere nearby, so I should leave it and it'll find it's way home. I didn't feel good about it, but when I got back to the house with the fence, it had somehow found a way out of the yard and was already gone. Talk about drama!

Home again, and time for a snack!

My new favorite thing to make (now that I have a mini food processor) is dip. This one's cream cheese, sour cream, feta and garlic. We made the same one the other day but added roasted red peppers, and it was a big hit.

Just as I was sitting down for my snack, a crazy storm came rolling in.

The power kept going out, and thus the satellite as well.

Forget patience, I just want to watch Tori and Dean: Inn Love!

It died down for a bit, and I took a shower (I'm nervous about showering during a thunderstorm ever since an ex-boyfriend got electrocuted once). A few minutes after I got out, it started up again, and this time SCARY! The lightning was simultaneous with the thunder, and it was that crazy loud thunder that sounds like the house is crashing in. I was Blair Witch Project-scared.

Once I was pretty sure the power was back for good, I made dinner.

The pot on the right looks like baked beans, but it's actually toasted pine nuts in an olive oil/honey/curry sauce. I copied it from an Italian restaurant in Charlottetown, and it's so easy to make! Mix together with egg noodles and sauted red, yellow and green peppers, and you get my new favorite comfort food!

Then I dug out a shirt that I started ---3 years ago--- to work on. I love this fabric, and every time I see it in the closet I think, "Why haven't I finished that shirt?" But I never work on it. Well, last night I finished it!

Yes, I have another one the exact same but green. I meant for this one to be different, but it didn't work out.

Then it was time for some couch time. I got out my knitting and started watching The Cider House Rules, and I got through the first hour and a half before I noticed it wasn't over until 1:00.

No way was I going to make it through that, so I went to bed. Anyone know how it ends?

The rain finished, but there was lightning in the distance all night. I tried to take a picture, but have you ever tried to photograph lightning? Impossible!

So, that's my day in pictures! Pretty uneventful, really, but that's pretty much the story of my life, and I like it that way (minus the scariness). Oh yeah, and normally Chris is there, but he was away for the weekend, so it was just me and my girl Maui.

my dress lives on!

2007-07-30T10:29:00.000-03:00

As Mom will attest to, I only had virtual scraps left over from my dress. I loved the fabric so much, though, that I wanted to make something of it that's not hanging in my closet in a garnment bag. (Who are we kidding, it hasn't been dry cleaned yet, it's actually hanging exactly where I left it when I took it off. But I plan for it to be in a garnment bag!) Behold, a new purse and card pouch!
Also, keeping in lines with the great de-stashing, I made a couple of shopping bags for sale from some material I bought years ago. I must have bought at least 4 metres, because I've already made a dress, thumbless oven mitts, lined numerous purses, now 2 totes, and I still have a metre left. Why did I buy so much? It was probably on sale :)
The totes come with their own little pouch so you can fold them up and stash them in your purse or glove box, or wherever.

I'm also lovin' Etsy mini over on the side bar! --->
It shows my latest items for sale!

I'm back - with a clearance sale!

2007-07-21T11:21:00.001-03:00

EDIT! I'm no longer retiring, but the stash busting is ON, and I'll be changing formats once the current stash is gone.

So, here's what's in my Etsy shop for now, I'll be adding lots more in the coming weeks! Ask me for details on any items, or make me an offer if you think things are ridiculously overpriced.

Etsy
Buy Handmade
inahandbag

Happy weekend!
m.

cabled purse

2007-04-25T11:52:00.000-03:00

After months of planning, I finally got my stuff together and made this purse. It's everything I've ever wanted in a purse - big pockets for my address book and other junk, a cell phone pocket (so I don't try to answer my sewing kit when my phone's ringing), and a key ring so I don't have to dig around for my keys anymore. I'm not sure why I picked out blue zippers, they don't really go, but I didn't want to go back to the fabric store so I used them anyways.

birds on a wire

2007-03-23T16:07:00.000-03:00

I've been busy crafting, but not so busy posting!

Here's a stencil on canvas I made for over the bed. I know birds on a wire are kind of overdone, but they're personal to me because we have a flock that's been hanging around the house for the last couple of months.

Here's my new headband, which is Calorimetry from Knitty. I love it soooo much! The yarn is from Gill from last Christmas, but I'm glad I waited for such a good pattern to use it!

I've been working on tons of little flowers! I still have about 30 to go!

Finally, some gifts that have finally arrived!

Slippers for Gill:

Jewels for Julesia!:

I'm hoping to get my dress mostly done this weekend! Gotta go get sewing!

more for meeee

2007-02-26T21:22:00.001-04:00

I finally finished my new mittens! AND the very first time I wore them, someone asked me for the pattern! I think that's the sign of a real knitter, when someone wants to copy you :)
(I also tried to make a light box, which didn't really work but at least I got one pretty good picture!)

I also finally made some Fetchings for myself! This is a great pattern, and I should know since this is my 5th pair!

I also made myself another pair of mary jane slippers since my old pair wore through. I think it was because I used cheap yarn, but Mom thinks it's because I like to run to the end of the hall and slide over to the stairs. Either way, I added some leather footprints to the bottom to prevent it from happening again :)

That's all for now! I have made a couple of other things, but they're for gifts so you'll have to wait!

Christmas, finally!

2007-02-06T14:54:00.000-04:00

Gill and Grant's package finally arrived! Now you can all see what each other got and compare and fight!
Gill and Grant and Dad got mosaic house numbers. This is my new plan for sellable goods on Etsy:

Gill and Christine got fingerless mittens (Fetching from knitty.com - I just bought yarn to make myself some!), and Grant got the boy version:

Bonnie and Maureen got bath mitts with handmade soap from Moonsnail Soapworks in Charlottetown:

Chris and Christine each got Wilco stencilled t-shirts, but I forgot to take a picture of Chris's. It's grey and blue and asks "you still love rock and roll?"

The Mom got a knitting bag and matching needle/hook holder:

Everyone with pierced ears got earrings! Unfortunately, I had a really hard time photographing them:
So, another Christmas has come and gone, and it's already February! See you in 10 months!

just for me

2007-01-24T19:41:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm still waiting on one Christmas package to arrive at its destination, so I thought I'd post some pictures of things I've made for myself over the last few months.

This is the toque I knit on Christmas and Boxing day out of the yarn Chris got me for Christmas (picked out all by himself?):

This is my new mini-purse and camera bag. I love the camera bag, but I don't like the strap on the mini-purse. Live and learn, I guess:

I had to replace the little tray that came with our bathroom set because it got all warped and weird when it got wet. Like a tray in your bathroom that holds your soap and cup isn't going to get wet. Oh well, we can test my tile design to see how it holds up!
Finally, I made myself this needle holder (as seen on http://www.splityarn.com/). It was really fun picking out a book at Value Village for this project. Since I was only concerned with the size, I didn't even look at the title of it until I got to the cash. As the girl was ringing it in I realized it was called "Political Wives." I didn't read it first.

I have one sock and one mitten done for me too! I have to redo the cast off on the sock since it turned out too tight. I desperately need the mittens as it seems that the leopard print fleece mittens I've been wearing for the last two winters are shoddy merchandise. I wonder where I got them...

trip to ottawa!

2007-01-19T16:08:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm home! While it's nice to be back, I seriously wish I could just bring you all back with me. It's so nice to be around people who love you all the time! All together now, awwww!
I've got pictures!

A very Manx brunch:

Lots of shiny hair at Patty Boland's:

Hugs!

More hugs!

Some fake measuring:

Self portraits galore:

Here's the whole set:
ottawa pics

I miss you all!

I can't wait to post all the presents, but someone hasn't recieved them yet, so I'd better wait!
m.

guess who got a scanner!

2007-01-05T13:17:00.000-04:00

Now I can post all of the embarrassing photos I've taken of all my friends over the years! Just kidding, if anyone wants me to take any down, just let me know, I don't want to humiliate anyone :)
Here's a preview:

Here are the photosets!

old school
new school
high school
horsin around
animalz

Enjoy!

I sold something!

2006-11-27T15:42:00.000-04:00

My first internet sale...the coasters and trivet set. I plan on making more of those since they were pretty popular at the craft sale, and I'm planning a few different styles (different types and thicknesses of wood). But that won't be until I get back on the horse (mitre saw). On the plus side, I can knit again, even with the stiches! I've got lots of gifts in the works, and now I'm only a week behind!

mitre saw 1, fingertip 0

2006-11-18T22:51:00.000-04:00

So, now I know that this symbol means DO NOT put your fingers under the blade. I must have misunderstood this before, because that is precisely what I did today. How it happened is kind of a blur, but 45 mins in the emergency room and 3 stitches later, I have learned my lesson. And that lesson is that your index finger is crucial for typing. From now on in this post, I will ignore my typing errors (and you should too!).

If you're keeping the real score, it's:

mitre saw 1
kitchen knife 1
margot's pride -2

I also plan to lose one fingertip for each province, just to check out the emergency room wait times. So far PEI is WAY ahead of Ontario, but that's probably because I actually needed stitches and not just tape and a tetanus shot.

So, on to the real business, and that's that I'm in business, for real this time! The craft sale was a huge success, I sold all but one frame, lots of purses, all but one set of coasters, two trays AND an ottoman! The magnets, while completely unoriginal, were great because everyone leaned in close to see them, thus examining everything on the table on the way back up! Oh, and someone offered to buy my ratty old screen that's been moved, painted and broken more times than I can count! I couldn't in good conscience sell that to someone, but now I know for next time: make screens to sell!
I made a few contacts with shop owners in Charlottetown, as well as ACOA's Women in Business Initiative. I was debating whether to enter another sale next weekend to see if I could sell my remaining items, but I think I'll give it a rest for a while.

Here's my final setup (well, it changed each time I sold something, the table was pretty bare by the last day!):

I'll be putting the remaining items up for sale on Etsy tomorrow, I think I've had enough typing for tonight. Work on Monday's gonna suck :)

Oh, one final funny thing...here's a picture of the truck I was following on my way to Summerside on Saturday:

Three Oaks Craft Sale!

2006-11-07T13:15:00.000-04:00

If you've been wondering where I've been for the last 3 months, it's locked in the workshop getting ready for this craft sale! Getting down to the wire I start to get so stressed out about having enough stock that I have to remind myself that I actually LOVE making crafts. Actually, one day last weekend Chris was the one to remind me, that's how stressed out this sale has made me.
Then this Sunday, I realized that I'm pretty much ready! I have a few last minute things to finish, and I'll be bringing some hand-sewing to finish while I'm there, but I actually have a lot done! I set up my display on the dining room table, and it looks so much better than I was expecting. Lise loaned me some tablecloths, so I won't have to use my bedsheet for a table cover. My poor old screen is getting lots of use as a backdrop/hanger, and I fashioned a purse hanger that I'm pretty proud of (that's the empty black thing on the left).

Here's a little preview of the items I'll be selling:
Craft Sale Photoset

Wish me luck!

slippers for the mom

2006-10-04T15:07:00.000-03:00

how far can you stretch a metre?

2006-09-24T19:49:00.000-03:00

I fell in love with this fabric at the 50% off sale at Fabricville this week. I was only supposed to be buying supplies for my upcoming craft sale, but I couldn't resist (it was 50% off!). I had a little fabric left over, so I made 2 purses and cut out 4 more! I wasn't cheating after all!

Here's a close up of the bags:
And yet another handbag:

This project has been on the table for a while! I started cutting out the stencil last month, but the writing was so tiny and I kept making mistakes, so I shelved it for a while. I got the urge to finish it last night, and it turned out great!

I finished one more project this week, but I can't post it until it has been received by the birthday girl! Happy birthday to The Mom!

Funny story...the power went out at 5:00 today, no big deal, it's pretty bad weather. We got out the candles, ate hummus and pasta salad for dinner and started a game of Scrabble. I kept looking out the window to see if any of the other houses on our road had lights on. Every time I looked, someone was flying a kite at our neighbour Ricky's house. I didn't really think anything of it (windy weather is great for kite flying!) until it started to rain really hard. It didn't click in until the Maritime Electric truck came down the road. They stopped about halfway down the road, just past Ricky's, and got in the little bucket thing to get up to the lines. We couldn't figure out what they were doing. Then we realized the kite was stuck IN the power line! It had stayed up that whole time by itself! Chris was mad that he missed 2 hours of football for a stupid kite. I just felt kind of dumb for thinking someone would stand out there in the pouring rain to fly a stupid kite :)

how bout this new look?

2006-09-20T13:37:00.000-03:00

Much easier on the eyes if I say so myself!

gonna sell some bags!

2006-09-17T16:42:00.000-03:00

This is quite possibly the most anti-climatic grand opening ever! I've now got 5 bags up for sale in my new Etsy shop, which I'm secretly hoping don't sell because I want to save them for the craft sale I'm doing in November. I suppose I could just not put them up there, but I at least want to have something to show people when I hand them...my new business cards! I got 2 made, one for the handbag shop and one for the home furnishings shop (which is still sadly empty...and, oops, I don't have a copy of it saved on this computer).
So these are the latest bags I have made:

padded tote:

brown cordoroy handbag:

green and paisley handbag:

stencilled khaki knitting tote:

The link to Etsy at the right should be working now, but here it is again anyways:

inahandbag.etsy.com

Somewhere in the middle of all these bags, I've been finding time to knit too! Here is my latest work in progress (that I'm pretty sure won't be done until Christmas at the rate I'm going!):

And these little slippers only took 1 weekend! They are supposed to be a little more mary-jane-ish, but I got a little carried away knitting in the round (which I finally get now!). Now I know for next time!

my craft room rocks!

2006-09-01T17:12:00.000-03:00

So, whenever I use the flash on my camera, the colours go all off, but when I don't use it, everything's blurry. So here are the weird colour pictures of my rockin' craft room!

This is the same desk I've always had, but I got that filing cabinet at a yard sale for $10 on my way to the dog park one Saturday. I've always wanted a filing cabinet! Now my papers and bills and stuff aren't in a box in the closet labelled "desk stuff."

I got this desk at Value Village a few years ago, but I repainted it (it was baby blue) and added the new handles.
So organized, finally! I've got two bookshelves!
This is la piece de la resistance. I needed a big cutting table, but I didn't have any room for it, so I was going to get one that stores away, but we really don't have enough storage for that either. Also, this room was meant to be the guest room too, with a murphy bed, but we scrapped that idea. So, I decided to make a murphy table instead! This thing is great! Last weekend during the great fabric destashing (I cut out about 15 bags, soon to be for sale on Etsy!), I had 5 different fabrics all spread out, with handles and clasps all over the place, and I still didn't lose anything! THAT'S how big this table is! (3 feet by 6 feet if you were actually wondering).

So it's done! Now all I have to do is use it!

the land of long lost projects...

2006-08-26T17:02:00.000-03:00

Have I dropped off the face of the earth? Nope, I've been a busy bee! I couldn't take the guilt of all the half finished projects I had stashed all over the house, so I finished everything, except for two shirts that I'm not sure what I was thinking when I cut them out...

First, my shopping bag! I took it for its inaugural trip to the grocery store last night, and even with the Bin too, I still came home with 5 plastic bags. A lot better than before, though!

That project wasn't on the shelf for too long, I (Mom) just started it in June. This one was on the go since March!

It was originally going to be Knitty.com's Tubey, but I decided that since the yarn was so HATEFUL, there was no way I was going to do the whole thing. I couldn't even fathom making it with long sleeves, so I just stopped at 3/4. Here's the back (it's really hard to take a picture of your own back!):
It was my first time using double pointed needles, and that doubled with the fact that the yarn was so splitty resulted in one sleeve ending up about 20 stiches bigger than I started with. I tried to do a little repair/alteration, but it's still a bit wonky, so I'm going to try washing it to see if it magically shrinks into a normal shape.

Then there's this purse. It started as a pillow case from Value Village, and I cut it out MONTHS ago (now that I think about it, it was BEFORE Christmas!). It was meant to be for sale (really, I have no need for a shiny evening bag these days), but I'm in love with it! I'm going to put it up for sale, and if it doesn't sell by the time the listing runs out (I think Etsy gives you 3 months per listing or something like that), it's MINE!
Front:
Back:
One more, and this is perhaps the most embarrasing. Last year before I moved, I cut out a bunch of patterns from fabric that I bought specifically for said patterns, but bought 3 metres too much of all of them. We're talking 4 metres of green knit, 4 metres of PURPLE STRIPE knit, and 4 metres of some weird stretchy polyester stuff with weird writing on it. I gave the leftovers to Mom for Guides or church or whatever she could do to get rid of it, and I only moved with one bag of cut out patterns. Well, those patterns sat on the shelf for a couple of months, then I started a green zippy sweater (the rest of them I never touched!). I got as far as the zipper, then I got caught up in painting the little house so we could move in, and I put it back in the bag.
That was last August. I just finished it Friday.
I always forget how much I hate sewing knit fabrics. So, other than the pink terry cloth that I bought on sale that's sitting in my closet, I vow to never buy another knit fabric as long as I live! So I ditched the purple stripe and weird writingy polyester shirts, and now I have no more guilt (except for the terry cloth).

The other big thing that's happening here is...my craft room is done!!!! Well, that's a bit of a lie, I still need to put some trim around my super-fantastic-bulletin-board-thingy, but I hope to have that done tomorrow. So I'll be posting a huge entry dedicated to my wonderful dream craft room.
How wonderful is it? So great that on a sunny day, I just spent 5 hours cutting out handbags. Then I drew up some plans for some deck furniture, and just as I was about to go outside to figure out how much wood I need from the pile of scrap decking, it started pouring. So now I'm back in my wonderful craft room and I will never leave.
m.

knitting bag for Julesia

2006-08-07T17:39:00.000-03:00

I finally finished this bag for Julia! It was one of those projects that I cut out, then let it sit for a bit. Then I started putting it together, then let it sit for a bit. Then decided it needed a flower pin to be complete, so didn't finish it until the flower pin was done. Now it's finished, shipped, and recieved! Happy Julia!

shadow box frame

2006-06-23T20:30:00.000-03:00

It seems like a while since I've done a just plain old craft that wasn't part of the house! This is a shadow frame I made for Mom for Mother's Day (only a little late!). The picture is from the Second Line at Gill's wedding, taken by Brian Sherman. Luckily, I made it home with more than a few sets of beads, so I was willing to give one up for the sake of crafts!

MacGyver ottoman

2006-05-29T11:08:00.000-03:00

So, this Saturday, I finished an ottoman that was the ultimate test of my MacGyver crafting skills. I started it on Victoria Day thinking, "Alright, so I need to cut some wood, stain it, upholster the top half, screw it all together, it'll be a sinch!" (Who says sinch anymore but me?!)
Well, the process was quite the opposite. First off, I used an old cedar fence post for the legs. I thought the sanding would be the hard part, but no, it was the fact that my mitre saw doesn't fit a 4" post, so it had to be cut by hand. Hello, carpal tunnel syndrome.
So, the rest of the woodworking went pretty smoothly. Here's a shot of the posts post-finishing (yup, I only finished the part that was going to show), I thought the transformation was pretty cool.

Then came the upholstery. I started it Friday after work, and the first part went following to plan. I did find a new way to cut 4" foam that works waaay better than an exacto knife, and that's with a hand saw. Much easier to cut through 4" foam than 4" cedar.
So Saturday morning I got up thinking, "Alright, just the buttons, then put it all together!" I was sooo wrong. First off, you're not supposed to use a thick material like velvet for those "cover it yourself" buttons. Thank goodness I bought 6 of them, even though I only needed 4. When I screwed up 2, I got to the last one knowing it was my last chance. Luckily it worked, and "all" I had to do was thread the cords through the upholstery.
Well, I had a 4" needle thinking that would get through 4" foam. Nope. I tried pushing the cord through with a knitting needle. Nope. Taping the cord to the end of a bamboo skewer and pulling it through. Nope (there is now a wad of electrical tape somewhere in the middle of my ottoman). I thought, if only there was a way to make the skewer into a giant long needle. Well, there is! I decided to try drilling a tiny hole in the skewer with my Dremel. I really didn't think for a second I would have a steady enough hand to pull it off, but somehow it worked! Here's my ingenious new invention:

I then made use of the CSI gunshot-trajectory-method to find the hole in the underside of the top section, and used giant nails as toggles to keep the cord from sliding back through. Yeah, the underside of this thing is not pretty.
It's now 2 hours later, and sure enough, all I have to do is screw it all together, and this part really was a sinch, although it took almost an entire carton of screws.
I would like to welcome you to the newest addition to my family, the MacGyver Ottoman:

Isn't it precious?

crisp curtains

2006-05-15T14:08:00.000-03:00

Well, these pictures are cross-posted from the house blog, because I couldn't decide between the two...house/crafts/house/crafts...why not both!

I made these new curtains for the bedroom and theatre room. I'm calling them my 2-metre/2-hour curtains. Here's how to make them: Buy 2 metres of fabric. Cut said fabric in half. Hem all edges. Cut holes for grommets along one side. Snap grommets into place. Hang new curtains!

The bedroom (this is some pretty rigid upholstery fabric that kind of looks like cordoroy):

The home theatre room (these are chocolate brown cordoroy...mmm, chocolate!):

Then I ran out of grommets, but I really could have kept going! I've got some big plans on the way for some new furniture, stay tuned!

New Orleans - part 5

2006-05-08T14:46:00.000-03:00

Well, I woke up Monday and headed over to the hotel to start sewing. Nope, just dreamed it. Yup, I dreamed that I was still sewing. It took me a few minutes to get over it, then I was able to wake up stress free!

We took a walk down to the (newly discovered) pancake house, where I had the best blueberry pancakes I've ever had. They didn't have blueberries cooked right in, but were folded in half with kind of a blueberry jam in the middle. YUM! The restaurant was called Betsy's Pancake House on Canal St., just so you know :)

Brian and Julia had to leave for the airport in a few hours, so the four of us took the streetcar down to the waterfront to check out Riverwalk. We saw some cool boats, one of which had a helicopter landing pad on it!

Then they left to take the streetcar back to the guest house to check out, and Chris and I headed to the Mom's hotel to hang out by the pool for a bit.

Bye, Julia & Brian!:

Then Chris, the Mom and I did some sightseeing. I was very glad to have an extra day after the wedding to kind of decompress, and we saw a lot of the French Quarter that we hadn't been to yet.

Then Monday evening, the Mom, Dad, Kathleen, Dorice, Chris and I went out for dinner to celebrate his birthday, which was the previous Monday. We ate at the Red Fish Grill, and most definitely the best part of the meal was their signature dessert, chocolate bread pudding...mmmmmm.

We didn't really have any plans for the night, so Mom, Kathleen, Dorice, Chris and I decided to do the New Orleans Ghost Tour. Our tour guide was Scary Mary, a wonderful little old lady who reminded me a lot of Maude from Harold and Maude. We got lots of little tidbits of history as well, and again saw some sights we hadn't yet seen.

After the ghost tour, we went for a drink in the lounge at the Royal Sonesta, which (other than the girl in the silver bikini outside the front door) was so classy I couldn't believe we were on Bourbon St :)

The next morning, there wasn't much time to do anything before heading to the airport, so it was back to the gas station for more muffins and milk. We took a cab to the airport, and the cabbie took us off the highway and through the Lakeview neighbourhood to see some of Katrina's devistation. I kind of felt weird taking pictures of this part, but here's one of the water line on a house:

It's incredible that if you only went to the French Quarter, you might not even know that there are still areas that are nowhere near back to normal. The guest house had about 4 feet of water, but they were able to recover fairly soon after the hurricane since they're on the second floor. We saw so many homes that were abandoned, still with broken windows and trees down. Our cab driver had a nice story, even though he is still living in a trailer on his lawn. He went to stay with his daughter in Minnesota for 3 months after the hurricane, and her church got together and donated a van for him to use for his cab so he could go back and start working again.

So, that was our trip to New Orleans! The hospitality we received was amazing, from the guest house owners to the (numerous!) cab drivers, to just friendly people who say "hi" when you're walking down the street. The sprit of the city is amazing, and it was such a suitable place for Gill and Grant to get married. It was so much fun, and so wonderful that I still can't stop thinking about things that happened there! I swear, I look at my pictures every day:)
Here's the link again, and there are lots more photos than I've posted here:
photos

I also want to give a HUGE thanks to my Mom (THE Mom), who helped me sooo much finishing off the bridesmaids dresses. This was, by far, the biggest project I've taken on, and even though I thought I was all set before I left, there were so many unexpected changes to be made. If it wasn't for the Mom, Jen B's strap would have been all twisty, Mairead's bust would have been too loose, and Jen H's dress might have fallen right off :) You took out so much of your time in New Orleans to help me out, thank you so so so much.
Also, thank you to Nicole in Toronto for seriously coming through on very short notice to do Julia's alterations. She did such a great job, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Well, I think that's it! If you notice any spelling errors, PLEASE let me know, I'd hate to look stupid on the internet :)
Thanks for reading!
m.

Oh yeah, and now that I'm back I can't wait to get going on some projects for me! But first I've got to catch up on all the birthday, wedding and Mother's Day gifts that I've missed/will-miss-if-I-don't-send-out-today!

New Orleans - part 4 - wedding

2006-05-08T13:56:00.000-03:00

So, we were all waiting up in the suite for the call. We got it - 2 minutes. For some reason I was the one wearing a watch (which I hardly ever do anymore!), so I timed us down to the second. We all filed out and into the elevator, and met the groomsmen in the lobby. We all lined up, and then it started!
Maybe it was because Mairead was right in front of me and she was having a hard time holding it together :), but I started to tear up walking down the aisle. Then I got up to the fountain and got in line, and felt fine, until the band started playing Oh Canada when Dad was walking Gill down the aisle. Oh Canada makes me cry every time I hear it (I know I can't be the only one)! You should see me at hockey games!
Once she got up to the front, the ceremony started, which was great. They had a friend of theirs do the ceremony, and he had just the right amount of official wedding type stuff and personal stuff. I think at one point he compared them to 2 monkeys or something, but it was great:)

At the end of the ceremony, he explained a tradition, of which I really don't remember all the details, but it involved everyone waving a hankerchief in the air:

The hankerchiefs came in handy for what came next: the Second Line! I guess this is a tradition that is done at weddings and at funerals to send the person/people into the next phase of life. The whole wedding party and all the guests file out into the street and, accompanied by a brass band, parade through the streets of the French Quarter. There were police escorts to block the traffic and everything! It felt like something from a movie...people were coming out of houses and restaurants, people were taking our pictures, we kind of felt like celebrities! (the first two pictures are from Brian Sherman - gotta give credit!)

When we got back to the hotel for the reception, everyone was parched (dancing through the streets will do that!), so there was a long line up for the bar :)
After a bit of mingling, the happy couple was announced by Julia, and out they came dressed in swim suits and Grant in a life jacket. The proceeded to get in the pool and do a sychronized swimming routine! Yup, a synchronized swimming routine...it was a bit dark by then, so of course none of my pictures came out :(
The meal was great, and the reception was really relaxed. The courtyard was such a nice setting, there were tables right beside the pool, and the weather was perfect.
The toasts started with the Moms, who both had very nice speeches. Then the Dad enlightened the Americans with some French translations (beau-frere = good looking brother for me!). The best man, Greg Lee, then gave his HI-larious toast, which included a spot-on imitation of Grant on the phone with Gill :) There was a "surprise" from 2 of the groomsmen, which was a very touching rendition of a-song-I-can't-remember-the-name-of :) Mairead then gave her very emotional toast, which brought back some memories of visiting her and Gill in residence at Queens.
I was supposed to give a toast as well, but after Mairead's there really wasn't time. I was just going to talk about the Picnic Cart, the Comical Head, Smedley and the Pussycats and "I'm not Sipowicz", and tell Grant that since he doesn't have any siblings, he's welcome to torture me, especially since he can learn from the best! Oh, and of course welcome him to the family and all that ;)

Some cute pictures from the reception:

Then there was cake, champagne, lots of photo ops, and another cockroach (this one on my shoulder!), then the couple left and the crowd dwindled. I guess it all had to be over by 11, since there were rooms that had windows out onto the courtyard noise was a factor. The Mom and I went up to the suite to get our stuff and tidy up the room (man those bridesmaids made a mess...mostly just underwear and clothes everywhere, including mine:)).
Julia, Brian, Chris and I left to get a bite to eat, then took a cab back to the guest house for some much needed sleep.

Almost done! Part 5 coming up..

New Orleans - part 4

2006-05-08T11:12:00.000-03:00

It's Gill's wedding day! It was raining when I got up, but the sun came out and it was a beautiful day!
I decided to splurge on breakfast, and got Subway. Finally, a huge cup of coffee!
We got to work as soon as I got to Mom's room. She had done the fitting for the last dress the night before, and had just finished up the alterations on that dress. We had 2 to go, so I did one and she did the other. Kathleen and Dorice were finishing the sequins on Gill's dress. It was down to the wire!
Gill called the room at one point, and croaked "I need a bandaid." She sounded dead! I said, "Happy Wedding Day!" They were checking out and leaving for the Maison Dupuy, everything was on!
I left to get showered at 12:30, and the Mom was still finishing the last dress. I owe her, HUGE! I was supposed to be at the hair and makeup appointment at 1:00, but Gill had told Julia and I we could be late, they can only do one at a time, right?
So, Julia and I left the guest house at 2:00, and I really didn't want to walk the whole way this time. With the most half-assed cab flagging EVER, we got a cab and got to the hotel.
Of course, there were still lots of girls left to get their hair done, so Julia and I went to the bar to get lunch. The kitchen came back to the bartender to make sure that I really did want a BLT without the B, which I did, so we got our order and took it back to the hair and makeup room. It was very low key, lots of nail-polishing, salad and fries eating and a few drinks going around :) At one point, a cockroach came crawling out from under one of the tables. I thought it was funny that the first cockroach I saw was in probably the nicest hotel we'd been to!
We were definitely running late. I got my makeup finished at the same time we were supposed to be starting the photos, so I headed right up to the room where there was frantic steaming and ironing of the dresses, finishing makeup and lots of ribbon knotting and flower pinning.
Finally, my huge project for the last 6 months was finished. As soon as the girls had on the dresses, it seemed like they weren't even the same pieces I had been toiling away at in my sewing room. They were just out there in the world, on these girls, fitting great. They all looked beautiful. (Sorry, I know that was cheesy, but after over 100 hours of work, I think I deserve a little cheese, and not just toasted American cheese sandwiches:))

We made it to the photo shoot at 6:15, right when all the guests were arriving. There goes the suprise! We took our photos and went back up to the suite to take a load off our feet. This was definitely when most of us discovered how uncomfortable our shoes really were:)

I'm going to make the wedding and reception its own post, just because I think it deserves a page all to itself :)

New Orleans - part 3

2006-05-07T00:41:00.000-03:00

So, Saturday started much like Friday, cheese sandwich, walk to the Mom's hotel, fittings. Mom and I got to work doing as much of the alterations we could handle before heading to the Jazz Festival. We were joined by my aunt Rosalind and cousin Audrey, who helped with some stich ripping. Rosalind was finishing Audrey's hem, and Dana was adding some extra lining to her dress, so we had a veritable bridesmaid's dress sweatshop going on. Finally we stopped working around 12 noon, and headed off to the festival. I had really wanted to get all the sewing done by Saturday, just in case anything went horribly wrong Sunday morning, but oh well.
Saturday was super hot and muggy, and incredibly windy. The first thing Chris and I did when we got to the festival was get some food, but it was so windy it was hard to eat. I'm so smart, I got a plate of hummus, which ended up all over my arm. The tent we were eating in started to blow away, and later in the day we saw that they had taken the tents down altogether. We met two super nice men from Florida who told us all about all the different stages and suggested which acts we should see.
We walked around for a bit and found where the Jazz and Gospel tents were, then we headed to the main stage for Galactic. It was way too crowded where we were, right beside the path, so people kept bumping us walking by. Finally we threw in the towel, it was just really hard to enjoy the show. We headed over to the Jazz Tent for some shade, and found 2 empty seats! Yay! Then I looked over and saw the Mom with Kathleen and Dorice, so when the act ended, we got seats beside them and held onto them for the next few hours. Mom, Kathleen and Dorice kept us well fueled with iced coffee, beignets and Dove bars, yum! We knew it would be super packed for Herbie Hancock, which was the one act we really wanted to see that day, so we stayed in the seats through the next act, which was awesome. It was a tribute to Nina Simone by a vocalist named Jhelisa, and she was amazing. It was nice to cool off and get out of the wind, which was blowing all the dirt around. Then was Herbie Hancock, who was wonderful, as always. I got a couple of pictures, but they are incredibly blurry. Boo.
After Herbie Hancock, I thought we'd check out Dave Matthews Band, but the sound was really bad at the back due to the wind. So we just left and got in the cab line early to get back and cleaned up for the rehersal dinner.
Julia and I ended up walking to the rehersal. I made a great entrance in my cute black dress, new necklace and hair up, sporting my backpack and flipflops :) It's so hard to clean me up! The rehersal was noisy and confusing (21 people in the wedding, most of whom enjoy attention!), but we got it down and left for the dinner at Acme. Acme is an oyster house, so not a lot of vegetarian stuff, but they had some good pasta which I filled up on.

Larry had prepared a great slideshow, with lots of embarrasing pictures of Grant, and not so many of Gill (he should have asked me for some!).
We left right after the slideshow to go get changed for the Umphrey's McGee show. We got "the best cab driver" :) who waited for us while we got changed, then took us on a shortcut to the bar. At this point, it had started raining hard, and there was a tornado warning. It was still crazy windy, which prompted Julia and I to break out a rendition of "It was a hard night last night" on the drive.

It was a hard night last night
It was a hard night last night
The fence blew down in a storm
The windows on the house broke off
The door blew off the wall
And I have this horrible cough
It was a hard night last night

We got to the bar and found that we had only missed a couple of songs. I'd never really heard much of Umphrey's before, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting. We met up with a few more wedding people and hung out with them for most of the second set. Julia and I decided to leave right before the end, and we got a cab right outside the bar. It was the first time we were overcharged for a cab though, he told us right off the bat it would be $15, which was way more than the meter would have been. Oh well, it was still raining and we just wanted to get back.
So speaking of things that could have gone horribly wrong...The power had gone out at the guest house while we were out, and it went out again about 15 minutes after I went to bed. Thank goodness for the trusty alarm clock on my phone, but really, with the tornado warning, what if Mom's hotel lost power and we had to sew everything by hand! Yup, I'm dramatic...it was fine :)
Part 4 - the wedding day - coming up!

New Orleans - part 2

2006-05-07T00:21:00.000-03:00

So after waking up Friday morning, I headed down to the gas station a couple of blocks down Canal St. and bought bread, cheese, muffins and milk. Yup, we ate a lot of bread, cheese, muffins and milk for breakfast during our trip. Had I walked down 2 more blocks, I would have found Betsy's Pancake House, which had the best blueberry pancakes I've ever had. But, we didn't find it until Monday, so toasted cheese sandwiches it was.

I then walked down to the Mom's hotel to do some fittings and alterations (and a swim!). 5 of the girls had a fitting, and all but 1 of those needed alterations of some sort. So, of course I procrastinated, thinking that I had lots of time after the Jazz Festival that night to get down to business. I went back to the hotel and met Chris, Brian and Julia and we got a cab ride to the festival from a cabbie who lives in the guest house! He gave us a great deal :)

The festival was great. The weather was hot, but not too hot, and the only lineup that was long was for drinks.

We saw Keb Mo and Bob Dylan on the main stage, but by far the highlight of Friday for me was absolutely Ani Difranco. Her setlist was GREAT!!!:

Shy
Manhole
Studying Stones
Two Little Girls
As Is
Sunday Morning
Untouchable Face
Names And Dates And Times
Spoken Word: IQ
Swim
Red Letter Year
Fuel
Gravel
78% Water
Swandive
Recoil
Shameless
Little Plastic Castle
Evolve

So, we went back to the hotel and I got cleaned up to go sew all night. I started walking to the hotel (the buses and streetcars were free, but never seemed to come when I needed them!), then a cab pulled over and gave me a free cab ride since it was on his way! He wouldn't even take a tip when I got out.

So, I had Mom's key from earlier in the day, but apparently this hotel had serious problems with keys deactivating, so I couldn't get into the room. So I waited in the lobby for a bit, tried calling everyone's cellphones, then waited a bit more. Finally, Gill and Grant got to the hotel, but they didn't know where Mom or Dad were. So, I waited in their room for a bit, then they were leaving, so I went back to the lobby just as Mom was arriving back with everyone else. It was now almost 10 PM, and I just plain don't do a good job working after 10. I start to make mistakes, and have to redo things over again, so it's just not a good idea. I started working on the dress that needed the most work, but Dad came up to the room to go to bed, so I figured I'd be better off waiting until the next morning. Nobody's fault (except maybe the hotel's faulty keying system ;) ), it just sucked that I barely got anything done the one night when I had no other plans!

Part 3 coming up!

The ultimate crafty adventure in New Orleans - part 1

2006-05-06T23:24:00.000-03:00

Well, I'm back from New Orleans, and, sewing aside, what an adventure in itself! The city was wonderful, and I can't believe the hospitality we received. Although the city isn't fully back up and running, everyone we came in contact with made such a huge effort to make our stay memorable, and it most definitely was. From the JazzFest to our guesthouse to the wedding, everything was perfect, and we couldn't have asked for a better vacation.
If you don't feel like reading my entire entry (warning - it'll be long!), here's a link to my photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueandyou/sets/72057594127445012/

So, why is this a crafty adventure, you may ask? Well, with 10 bridesmaids, none of who live within 1400 kms of me, most of who live over 6000 kms away, there were bound to be some last minute alterations. And, man, were there alterations!

Our arrival in New Orleans was greeted with a band playing in the airport! Unfortunately, I didn't pull out my camera, but, I promise, that was the only time during the trip that I didn't take a picture when I wanted to :)

We arrived at the Canal Street Guesthouse, and were greeted by Cathey, one of the owners. She gave us the tour, which included showing us where Julia and Brian's room was, and sure enough, there they were, playing Scrabble on the balcony! The guest house was awesome, it had everything we needed (plus wireless internet in our room!), and it was so comfortable we felt like we were staying with family. Here are some pictures of our room, the "Cowboy Room".

The other owner, Mr. Sam, came over while we were on the balcony and told us some VERY colourful stories about the guest house's former life. Apparently, there was a bar downstairs that attracted all kinds of junkies and hookers, and the guest house was a rooming house that was in cahoots with the bar. Needless to say, it was pretty shady. Luckily, this was 10 years ago, before Cathey and Sam bought it, and the bar is now closed, and the guest house is now AWESOME. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone going to New Orleans.

So after checking in, the Mom called me to bring over my sewing machine. So, I brought it to her hotel, where her and Dad had a suite, and set up what was to be sewing central for the next 3 days.

Friday night was pretty tame for me...Chris and I went out to dinner, then met up for drinks with Julia and Brian at a courtyard pub that had a flaming fountain in the center. Yup, a fountain with running water and flames coming up from the top. Cool. Then I went back to the guest house to go to bed (we'd been up since 4:30 in the morning!), and Chris, Julia and Brian went to see Galactic.

Stay tuned for part two!

Phew!

2006-04-24T10:41:00.000-03:00

Hear that big sigh of relief coming from over here? That's the sound of me finally finishing the bridesmaids dresses for Gill's wedding! I only leave on Thursday, I had plenty of time left :)

The last five dresses:

Ten little flower pins:

One of ten little purses (I plan on embroidering everyone's initials on them so we can tell them apart...something to do on the plane ride!):

My favorite part...the strap detail on my dress! Hate strapless bras? Here's my solution: the strap for the dress has 2 little hooks on it, one hooks to the dress, the other to my strapless bra, thus making it not strapless anymore! The one strap holds up everything, and it works so much better than I had imagined, I want to make all my strappy dresses and shirts work like this!:

Only 3 more workdays to go!

always a bridesmaid...

2006-03-18T17:06:00.000-04:00

1 down, 8 to go! I can't believe how well this dress fits me, and it's for Rebecca! I've decided that if I don't get my own done in time, she's out and I'm wearing this one! I almost wore it down to the basement to change over my laundry, then I felt a bit like Monica in the wedding dress episode of Friends!
I'm wasting precious sewing time by posting this, so I'll just say I'm terribly sorry for how disgustingly dirty my mirror is. Ew...
Also, check out the shoes! They're from Payless!
flower 1:

flower 2:

mittens!

2006-02-12T09:58:00.000-04:00

Here's my first try at mittens! It was promptly followed by my second try, since when Bernat says "one-size ladies" they actually mean for gargantuan ladies with man hands. No offense to any ladies with large hands, but they fit Chris! So, I started my second pair, which may turn out to be kid-sized, since I'm not too sure yet if I got the hang of altering patterns. Won't we be cute with our matching mittens...

I learned to crochet this weekend!

2006-02-07T13:18:00.000-04:00

Well, I was in the magazine section getting my Jane fix for the month, and I noticed a little booklet magazine titled "Learn to Crochet". It looked similar to my "Learn to Knit" booklet, so I thought it might work.
Saturday morning I took the plunge, and it was easy! I made a headband, because that's how wide my crocheting ended up. About 3/4 of the way through, I realized I was doing it wrong, since he picture in the book didn't have horizontal lines. I figured out what I was doing wrong, but I kind of like the lines, so I kept them. Maybe I made up a new stich, maybe it's just wrong...
Who wants one!

all about maui

2006-01-29T21:10:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, this is supposed to be about crafts...but for anyone who hasn't seen this girlie in a while, here's a big dose of Maui!

wet dog:

upside-down dog:

action shot!

mean face!

snow dog (at St. Paul's dog park):

just one of the lovely shots taken while trying to capture "mean face":

mad wet dog:

"Stay away from my bone!":

cute dog:

a new necker!

2006-01-29T20:58:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been pretty tied up since Christmas with the bridesmaid's dresses for Gill's wedding, but I've found a little time for some knitting!
This is a new necker I made with the yarn Gill gave me for Christmas (Crystal Palace Musique - colour Heath) (pardon the redeye and the bamboo growing out of my head!):

close up:

I made these wristwarmers over Christmas, my first try at cabling!:

That's all for now, back to the dresses for me!

what did you get?

2006-01-08T10:22:00.000-04:00

Finally, I can post everyone's gifts!

Bonnie and Maureen got embroidered pillow cases:

My cousin Audrey got a super-soft scarf:

Mom got a jewellery hanger:

Christine got the necker from a few pages back, as well as a stecilled modest mouse tee:

Grant got a tiled tray:

And finally, Gill got a biz-start-kit with stencilled tee and stencil to make more, stamp, stationary, and tags:

This was the most fun I've had making presents by far!

funny toque

2005-12-05T19:35:00.000-04:00

It's so frustrating, so much of what I'm making right now is for gifts, so I don't want to put up the pics and give away the surprises! So, for me, I made a toque. It was really easy and only took 2 days. Now I'm working on a sweater that I'm pretty sure won't get finished until my 12 hour drive home for the holidays. I need to be patient!

wavy scarf & sunglasses case

2005-11-28T14:09:00.000-04:00

Well, this wavy scarf from knitty.com took 2 weeks and 2 days to finish, so why did it seem like 2 years? I guess just because I wanted it so bad...shopping is so much better for instant gratification than knitting...but homemade is so much nicer!

Since it's not sunny all the time anymore, my sunglasses spend much more time in the bottom of my purse then on my head, so I made this little cordoroy case. Lesson learned: do not embroider on cordoroy.

when obsessions collide...

2005-11-20T09:42:00.000-04:00

So, with all the knitting I've been doing, of course I would need to make a handbag to hold my projects when I travel. And by travel I mean driving to Summerside. None of my handbags (all 200,000 of them) were the right size, of course, and it needed special pockets to hold my needles, so I HAD to make a new one. Here it is:

I also really wanted to make this jewellery hanger that I saw in a couple of magazines this month. It turned out great, and now my 5 necklaces are all tangled up on my dresser anymore!

knit-o-rama!

2005-11-05T10:09:00.000-04:00

So, last WINTER I decided I wanted to learn to knit. I got my mom to teach me, and she started me with a ball of her leftover yarn. I really wanted a skinny scarf, which I thought would go really fast. Well, this OCTOBER I finished it! I guess I put it down over the summer, because, really, who knits a scarf when it's hot out! Anyways, here's the result.

I guess the sense of accomplishment from finishing this one project got me obsessed with knitting, and now I can't stop! At least now when I'm watching TV I feel like I'm getting something done too. Unfortunately, my attention span for a project isn't that great, so I've got a few on the go at a time now, but I've finished another scarf and a neckwarmer (or, as I started to call it by accident and it stuck, a necker!).

skinny-roll-scarf (or why you shouldn't knit scarves in stockinette without a border - oops!)

necker!

So, now I'm in the middle of another necker for myself (the other one is an xmas gift for someone), and this scarf, which was my first try at ribbing. I liked the yarn in the roll, but now that it's knitted out, all the yellow ends up at one side, and I'm not too sure about it. Oh well, learning, learning, learning!

I also found out yesterday that the have some craft supplies at Value Village! Since I've been breaking the bank shopping at real stores, I was super excited to find yarn, needles and binding for $6.49 total! Check it out!

So, those are my first few adventures in knitting! Next up, my new embroidery obsession!

bye bye 70's

2005-11-02T14:33:00.000-04:00

i wasn't even out of diapers in the 70's, yet a lot of my furniture comes from that era! i was pretty tired of our orange and brown wood trimmed couch, plus the material was really scratchy, so i went on a quest for new fabric to recover it. i went to fabricville and brought home some samples to test their "dog-fastness"...whether they 1) match the color of the dog and 2)dog hair comes off easily (tested by rubbing the sample on the dog and shaking). i thought i had found the perfect material until i got back to the store and there was only 5 metres of it! i bought it anyways (the 70's couch has 2 offspring - an armchair and a loveseat - which also need recovering), i mean it was only $3.75/m, and it's soft like a teddy bear, I couldn't pass it up! i found another roll of not-quite-as-soft material, also in dog color, and bought it up at $5.00/m. after 3 weekends of broken needles, swearing and wormy looking frayed bits all over my house, here is the result!

ugh...check it out before!

stay tuned for the armchair in teddy-bear-soft-dog-coloured material!

laptop bag

2005-11-02T14:26:00.000-04:00

here's the last bag I made. it's a tote for my sister's laptop. although it's one of my more complicated looking bags, it was surprisingly easy to make...once she told me how big her computer is. i had wanted the whole thing to be a surprise, so i tried to figure out the dimensions by looking it up on the apple website, but all they had was the screen size. so after some VERY unsuccessful use of the pythagorean theorum, i just called her and asked...surprise ruined!

new adventures in crafting

2005-11-02T13:12:00.000-04:00

So, this is where I'll be posting about all my crafting adventures, successes and failures. I've been so obsessed with crafting lately that I thought I needed a place to share everything.
Welcome!