And I'm the one who pays for it

When Eilonwy and I discussed what our daily topics for NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) were going to be, I suggested doing crafts on Wednesday, because that was the night I was trying to make my weekly craft night. I thought it would be motivating and I'd get my craft on and then talk about it.

In case you haven't already figured this out - I have done little to no crafting this month.It's the third Wednesday of the month and thus far I have talked about how I can't finish anything and yay! I pinned some fabric! and a craft project I actually completed back in October.

Not very impressive.

Eilonwy, on the other hand, has made multiple sweaters and done cool art projects with her kids. I'm a little jealous. But you know what? That's okay. I don't know how to knit and I don't have kids. That's not to say I couldn't still do my own hand and foot print art, but it wouldn't be the same. Eilonwy and I are in different seasons of our lives right now. and there is nothing wrong with that.

Come to think of it though, Malcolm and I did do some paw print art back in April, at an event at our local pet supply store.

This was the only paw print I could get out of him before he made it abundantly clear that he was not interested in this project. I framed it and put it up in our kitchen anyway. 

So what did I make tonight? A very long drive. It should have taken me 2.5 hours to drive to Williamsburg, VA, but it took me 5. I left later than I should have and got stuck in rush hour traffic. 

No crafting for me tonight. Instead, I listened to the entire cast recording of Hamilton, chatted with my mom on the phone (with my earbud/mic), and jammed to some tunes. 

Now, I sleep.

I'll be there someday, I can go the distance

I am pretty awesome at starting craft projects.

I am not pretty awesome at finishing them.

Sometimes I finish them. The odds of finishing a craft project are increased based on the simplicity of the project or the time it takes, as well as my confidence in my own abilities.

The odds are also increased if it doesn't involve me using my sewing machine.

My parents gave me a decent sewing machine a few years ago for Christmas. I've successfully made a few things with it, and I'm definitely grateful to have it. But I'll be the first to admit that I need to practice a lot more. There are probably things I'm doing wrong related to the threading or tension or various feet. Since I don't have one of my sewing mentors nearby, I'm stuck figuring it out on my own. Way to go, me. Should have taken advantage of the opportunity when I lived closer to those people. (Hi Mom, Grandma, Fran and Eilonwy!) My parents also gave me a sewing how to book - should use that more often. Maybe even go through it in order, like a textbook.

Oh and Malcolm has varying reactions to the sewing machine. Sometimes he doesn't care. Sometimes he does.

Jewelry goes quickly, at least the styles I make lately, though there are some more complicated designs I'd love to try sometime. My jewelry stuff currently lives on the shelf under the coffee table, so I really ought to bust it out and make more things while I'm just hanging out.

And then there are all the random crafts I've started or purchased the materials for. Sometimes I get the materials and then don't have the time to do it immediately, so eventually it gets stashed away and I forget about it for awhile. Sometimes I just work on it when I remember, but that's once every several months - this goes to the time factor involved in actually finishing it. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood.

This school year, I decided that I wouldn't be taking a dance class in the evening. The friend I was taking the class with last year had a baby two weeks ago, so she wasn't going to be dancing for a few months, and the studio was in her town, which is about 30 minutes away from mine. So, for time and money reasons, I chose to implement a craft night at home during one of the nights Blake is gone for class (he's still working on his Masters). I haven't been able to do it every week, but I have had some success in working on or finishing projects.

Knowing I wanted to blog about crafting tonight and if I didn't do something I wouldn't have anything to talk about, I decided to work on a project I started two years ago. The pieces were in two different places (some in the embroidery box, some on a shelf on a bookcase in my living room) and I thought I still had some embroidery to finish.

Apparently I finished the embroidery back in . . . um . . . whenever, and the next step was pinning all the pieces together so I could sew them. So I did.

Then I realized a few pieces might be set up wrong side out, so I unpinned, flipped some things, and repinned.

The next step will be sewing.

I'm going to go make some snickerdoodles instead.

A three headed dog! A three headed dog!

For Halloween this year, I turned Malcolm into Cerberus. Or, for those less familiar with Greek mythology, Fluffy from Harry Potter.

Finished product!

I bought two plush toy dogs and cut slits into their sides to thread a collar through. I tacked those slits down a bit for security. Then, I severed all the plush limbs and tacked the stumps down to the bodies, so instead of full bodies, they were supposed to be necks. Then, attached the new collar to the non-plush dog!

Sadly, Malcolm didn't win anything at the Howl-o-ween dog costume contest we attended, but he's still number one to us! We enjoyed parading him around and receiving compliments and chuckles, and he enjoyed hunting through the boneyard for Milk Bones.

Test run of the costume-in-progress OR Malcolm's face when you have a cookie for him

Malcolm is a great sport and a very cute Cerberus. 

Look, I made a hat, where there never was a hat

Continuing the theme of developing my inner domestic goddess, today I got my craft on.

My ward (congregation) had a women's Super Saturday activity. The church's women's auxiliary, Relief Society, used to focus even more on homemaking skills - cooking, crafting, parenting, etc. - even to the point of calling informal meetings held on days other than Sunday Homemaking meetings. It changed to Home Family and Personal Enrichment meetings when I was in my late teens. In recent years, it's just been changed to activities or meetings. These meetings or activities don't have to focus on traditionally feminine homemaking type skills, and I enjoy when they don't.

But I also enjoy when they do!

Today, I was able to visit for a few hours with church friends, which is especially nice now that I work in the nursery and the only ward member I regularly get to talk with there is my Blake. He's wonderful, of course, but part of the reason for meeting regularly with others is the fellowshipping with others.

And I was able to do it while getting my fingers covered in modge podge and paint!

I made our first Thanksiving decoration:

A simple Nativity:

I especially like nativities wherein Mary (or Joseph, in the case of this one!) is holding the baby Jesus, because, let's be honest, would you really want to put your newborn in a food trough any more than you had to? A high school friend's mom made that point to me once and almost exclusively owned nativities like that. I may add fabric of some sort for a head covering.

And two framed temple silhouettes, one of DC (the first temple we attended together and frequent now) and Logan (where we were married):

Red and green background for our wedding colors!

It was a great and productive morning!

Sweet cherry pie oh yeah

True to personal form, I'm nowhere near where I wanted to be on my sewing project yet. I did acquire the necessary freezer paper, even though it took me two grocery stores to find it. So, what am I making?

Plush Adipose babies, a rather darling Doctor Who character

So far, I've cut out four of them, and embroidered the face for one. Since I didn't finish them for Saturday, my new goal is sometime before Christmas.

Also, today I made a cherry pie, and Blake called it "probably the best looking pie I've ever seen." We'll find out tomorrow if it tastes as good as it looks!

Everyday is a winding road

I had schemes tonight y'all. I was going to come home from work, fold the laundry, make dinner, greet Blake, eat dinner with him, then I was going to work on a sewing project. I purchased the fabric last week, my tables are clear for such things, and I had a good couple of hours to get started. I anticipated having everything at least cut out by the end of the evening.

Life, as John Lennon would say, is what happens when you're busy making other plans.

The website I was going to download the pattern from? Expired four days ago. And there is no cached version.

No problem. I'm feeling inspired. I'll modify and free hand.

Then I, randomly, find a tutorial online about an easy way to cut patterns out of felt. Using freezer paper. Which I don't have on hand.

So, tomorrow, I will drop by a grocery store on my way home, purchase freezer paper, and actually get started on this project. Ideally, I'll have pictures of the finished project for next Wednesday's post.

I guess tonight's project is doing something about all this folded laundry . . . 

Sew, a needle pulling thread

For our daily post prompts NaBloPoMo, Eilonwy and I chose "projects" for Wednesday. She has a great post about a lovely hat that she hacked the pattern on so she could wear it while her hair was in a bun.

I have an embroidery project I started in 2006.

I pulled this out to work on during LDS General Conference about a month ago. I might have touched it more later that week, but since then it's just been sitting on top of the small bookcase on which we usually put our mail. (Our mail has since been collecting on the dining room table.)

Yeeaah. . .

I will openly admit that:

1 - My house gets a little cluttered sometimes.

2 - I'm not crafting nearly as much as I would like to be.

3 - I moved in to this apartment over a year ago, and the office/library/guest bedroom is still a crazy, disorganized mess.

4 - We still haven't painted that hutch we bought a year ago.

5 - I took a break before I wrote number five to send Sisterpants some information she asked me for two weeks ago.

And you know what? That's okay. My house is mostly clean. Blake and I are fed and dressed every day (he dresses himself and cooks breakfast for us each morning). I'm getting to my projects and hobbies when the mood strikes and time is available. A lot of energy is going into work lately, where I also have several projects and many demands on my brain power. Both at work and at home I feel like I'm trying to play a lot of catch up and if at the end of the day only the urgent and important things are done? I feel good about it. 

The spark of creation

As seen today on Blog Segullah, the following is a short video produced by lds.org, mixing the immeasurable words of President Uchtdorf with beautiful music and images.

It's inspiring and a wonderful reminder of the divine nature within each of us. I wish I created more. I write often, both here and in my daily journals (yes, there are two), but did you know I used to paint and draw? I wasn't particularly good, I'll leave that talent to my sister and aunt, but I still haven't cultivated it in years. I do have some sewing and crafting talent, and I've recently thought of several projects I want to do (some more utilitarian than others), but I'm probably not going to get to them before the sewing machine I have a love/hate relationship with moves to India (even I'm still the only one to have used it). Anyone have a sewing machine they want to give/sell me?

There are lots of things I like to create, and you probably feel the same way. I'd love to hear about those things. As Pres. Uchtdorf says, we all have the power to create. Every one of us.

Pay it forward and you will see

I've picked this fun little idea up from a couple friends. The first three people to leave a comment on this post will get something homemade from me at some point this year. There’s one other catch though, you also have to agree to do the same thing. So a comment, and an agreement to make something for someone else. That's it!

I know I have some international readers, but I won't let international postage rates deter me, should you comment first!

Also, I may be convinced to send something to anyone who comments, just because I can!

Making Christmas is so fine!

I told Eilonwy that I wasn't going to be doing a single craft project for Christmas this year. I guess I lied. I thought up this little project for the parents of my "nephew" and it wasn't all that time-consuming. Of course, I had to wait to do it until this no-schoolwork week.


I think it turned out well. I still didn't have time to do crafts or sewing projects for everyone this year, like I have in years past. One day I'll have crafty time during months other than parts of May, August, or December.

Help!

NaBloPoMo is coming up again! I had a lot of fun with it last year. November 2007 was also when I officially started using song lyrics as post titles. I've made an effort to never repeat a song, and so far so good. However, my fellow NaBloPoMo-er, Eilonwy, challenged me to use the same song for a month.

She issued this challenge weeks ago and I just can't come with a good song! So, here's where I turn to you! I need song suggestions. Songs that have some versatility and variety, so I can have 30 days of post titles. I have until Saturday to decide, so please don't be shy!

And, for fun, here's what I'm wearing today. (I apologize for the MySpace-bathroom-mirror-cell-phone-ness of it all.)

And I hate that I love you so

I hate my (roommate's) sewing machine. The piece that holds the spool of thread is weird, and with spools of thread I've been using, I can never tell how to position it. The bobbin randomly unwinds itself. The needle won't stay threaded. The tension is inconsistent. Everything can seem fine one minute and then completely unravel the next. For example, I was sewing a piece last night that (and I've timed it) should take me about five or six minutes. Something went wrong, and as I tried to fix it and resew, IT TOOK AT LEAST 20. I was not pleased.


I don't think that the sewing machine itself is out to get me, but it's certainly much cheaper and not as nice as my mother's machine that I love so dearly. I am quite glad, however, that I have access to a machine. I don't have a clue when my roommate bought it, but I was first one to take it out of the box and set it up several months ago. I'm still the only one who has ever used it. Despite the fact that it drives me absolutely crazy, I've been having a lot of fun the last few weeks designing and making several Christmas projects. (Pictures will not be posted for a while because not only did I not have a charged camera battery last night, but some gift recipients read this blog.)

For those who are receiving those gifts, please be kind. I did the best I could with the world's smallest rotary cutting mat, an evil sewing machine, and instructions that were weird. I had to completely scrap one project as a result, so no one's getting that.

Luckily, I had boxes for everything that I needed to ship, and everything was sewn, wrapped, and packaged by about 11:30 last night. I figured I'd run to the post office on my way to work, like everyone else was probably planning.

Then I remembered the 24 hour self-help kiosk and parcel drop at the post office about 3 minutes from my house. No one would be there at 11:45 at night! No lines! Brilliant! Sadly, the parcel drop was so full it wouldn't even open for me, but I did get everything stamped and ready to go, and it only took me a few minutes this morning to drop by again.

So I'm totally ready for Christmas! Except that I need to clean my house. And pack. And buy an international outlet adapter. And . . .

Being Crafty

Friday I was feeling rather creative, so I dropped by Michael's on the way home from work. After I spent a little more money than I intended, I busted out the roommate's sewing machine.

My dad was a little worried that I was spending Date Night with a sewing machine, but I sure had fun!