Bad, bad bad.

Maybe it's a winter thing, maybe it's just a matter of some random firings of neurons, but whatever it is, I have a mega case of projectitis right now. Since I don't have a functioning camera, it's hard to show you, but I can share the source of the problem: Sunset Magazine. If you haven't seen this magazine, you probably don't live in the west. Because otherwise, it's pretty much the must have magazine for any home. If you're a foodie, it's got you covered. If you like wine tasting, sightseeing, shopping, gardening, or making crafty stuff, you're covered. The major problem is that one issue is so chock-full of fantastic ideas that your brain may very well explode. And we all know how messy that is.
Well, in my case, the mess of an exploded brain looks a lot like 50,000,000 fabric scraps all over the living room floor, and 15 balls of yarn on the couch.
I've been in a hat-making frenzy, crocheting up at least 10 darling, unique hats in the past month. Then yesterday I started one that is knitted, since I couldn't figure out how to do a spiral looking hat with a crochet stitch. I'm sure someone out there can tell me it's possible, but I was boggled.
In addition to the hats, I sorta went overboard with the cookie baking. As a person who doesn't eat cookies (much) 3 big batches is probably pretty ridiculous. But I can't help myself. They're so fun to make, and I enjoy wearing my darling little vintage Donna Reed apron that I got at Burning Man last year (some camp used aprons as fencing, if you can believe it and they were giving them away!)
So you can see, I was already pretty busy when I cracked open my Sunset magazine.


First I saw these rock paperweights, I thought of a million possibilities, and how fun and easy they'd be.
Then I saw little lavender saches, and etched glasses. Imagine, a trip to the dollar store and some fun designs! What an amazing project!
Oh, and then there was the yummy bath scrub recipe, and a "bath bomb" recipe, and really cute old silverware that was stamped with herb names to use in your herb garden. Easy-peasy to make, and just darling! And this terrarium! OMG is that not awesome!?
Okay. Enough. As you can see, I have a million things I want to do and about 15 minutes of spare time in the next few weeks. These will just have to be filed away, for some later date when I'm, I don't know. Unemployed and without any other responsibilities!?

Greenhouse!

Well, it's winter, and miss Monotonia needed a greenhouse. It's one of those things we've been talking about for a while, but the materials can add up to a lot of money, and it hasn't been much of a priority.
But just the other day a disassembled greenhouse came up on Craigslist, for free. We jumped on that and now Nitro's busy building. Kaya, of course, has been a great help.

Autumn Creativity!

Projectitis is beginning again in earnest.
I've begun crocheting a hat out of to die for soft alpaca yarn in a pretty cornflower blue that my husband's grandmother got me one year for Christmas, and I've been hanging onto it, waiting for the perfect small project (I only have one skein) to use it on.
Since I finally figured out that my favorite hat was crocheted, not knitted, replicating the pattern has been simple, and I'm thrilled by the results. I've even edited it a little bit. As soon as I finish, I promise to post pictures.

I've also gotten excited about Christmas stockings again. Several years ago, I made a couple dozen very unique stockings, out of fun co-ordinating non-holiday materials. The pattern is one I created myself, with a very exaggerated funky foot shape and wilde embellishments. They're super-fun and a great way to use up leftover fabrics. I made one this weekend, and have another cut out, ready to sew. I'm just struggling with a way to make them hold their shape when hanging. I could always stuff them with some filler, but that's not my favorite solution. I'm thinking I need to make them a lot more finished, lining them and adding some of that stiff stuff in between the lining and outer shell. It's just a bit of a pain to do that, for something that's just a holiday decoration.

The purse making stopped; I guess I got tired of them. Partly. The other part is that the nice magnetic snaps are so expensive, and other snaps pull out to easily. I have a bunch of purses here at home that need to be fixed because the snaps pulled out, and they're not fixed yet, because the nice snaps are too pricey. I was hoping to find a good place to buy them in bulk, but so far I've had no luck with that. So the motivation on the couture clutches has petered out.

Cards

I've been making lots of cards lately. Mostly because I keep thinking I'm going to "plant" my hummingbird stamp somewhere as a letterbox, but haven't made a decision about that yet. It's one of my favorite stamps, and the fear of losing it is great. So I have been making tons of impressions of it, so that if it does disappear, at least I have something of it to keep.

The cards have been selling really well at the orchid shop, which is really nice, though not a huge money maker. I made about 15 new orchid cards last week to put on the rack, and today I've been whipping together more of the hummingbirds. This is just a small handful here. I don't think any two are alike, which suits me, as if I've done something once I really don't care to do it again. I love to explore new ways of displaying the stamp in a way that is bright and fun. Some work better than others. I learned straight off to not try to stamp onto the card, since the texture of the paper makes a clean impression difficult, and if it was messed up, then the whole card was trash.
Other projects have been at a stand-still, mostly due to time. There's been some skirt-making for bellydancing and a lot of graphic design work, but nothing notable, and nothing truly my creation. Summer is not a good time for me to be crafty, as there's too much to do outside!
Stay tuned, however, as I just bought some great new fabric scraps to make more purses, as well as some awesome bamboo handles to try out a new style of purse.

Summer!

The projectitis has mellowed these days, as the sun is shining and the days are longer, I find myself playing outdoors much more than in the past months. Not that I've stopped the creative pursuits altogether. I did make a lovely collar for my dog -- we got the standard black collar, and I've embellished it with a pretty brocade trim, sequins and beads. Maybe there will be a pic later.

I've been making more cards out of my hand-carved stamps, but there haven't been any new stamps lately.

The cool thing on the stamp front is that I was interviewed in our local entertainment weekly paper about my favorite hobby of letterboxing, and about stamp carving. Here is the article.

The other cool thing was that our dance troupe had our annual big extravaganza evening of dance & music (and yummy cookies) and it went off really well, and the costumes that we worked so hard on looked fabulous and it's such a relief for it to be over now, too. We had fun, and the audience had fun, and it was worth all the trouble and time and expense.

So yeah, I've been busy, just not busy making cool projects to share here. I'm sure there will be more very soon!

So inspired.

Last weekend I traveled to Venice Beach, CA for their annual garden tour. It's a benefit thingey for the Las Doradas Childrens Center, and it's an amazing tour. I mean, who hasn't walked the canals of Venice and thought "Ooh, I want to see the inside of that house, I want to see their garden!" Well, we got to. AWESOME experience. One thing that particularly inspired me, perhaps because it's something that's in reach for me, something I could make myself, were these lovely art pieces constructed mainly of succulents, tillandsia, orchids ...epiphytic plants and others with low soil needs, mainly. Some of them hung on a wall, or even constructed whole walls, the colors and textures of the plants creating beautiful shapes and harmonious patterns. My mind was blown. One home had business cards for the place that created these beautiful live art-pieces, so I checked out their web site. Holy moley, I'm fired up! I spent most of today at the orchid shop playing with different ways of arranging plants and cut flowers together to make centerpieces. It was a bit indulgent, since we don't sell that sort of thing, but I justify it by saying that it beautifies the shop, no? Anyway, check out the site if you're ready to be awed!
www.bigredsun.com

Head Case.

Oops, I meant "head piece."
Today was all about finishing up loose ends. Literally, really. The headpiece I've been working on has been in the same stage of nearly-finished for several weeks. I got stuck, and just sort of put it aside until this morning when I stopped by a friend's house for some advice. And woo-hoo, it's finished. Finally. Perhaps someday there will be photos.
In the meantime, I met another amazingly creative person who's making some beautiful things. I want! Well, I want it in a very unrealistic way, because I can't imagine where I'd wear them. I'm rarely out of my workout clothes. :) But check out the beautiful stuff here: http://liaisonbykatherine.blogspot.com/

Work, ick!

Ah well, the creativity has slowed down considerably. I'm using it all up on work stuff. Ick!
But I am working hard creating stuff for my Relay for Life team -- Relay for Life is a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, if you didn't already know that.
I did sketch a bit to come up with some new purse ideas. I really love the clutches I've made so far, but it's not a pattern of my own design, and I feel a bit awkward about selling them. As in, I feel as though it's stealing and I ought not to. So I sketched a bit, and then realized that a drawing wasn't helping too much; what I needed was something three-dimensional to really see how it would work out. So I got a bunch of paper out and created the shapes with paper and sort of taped them together and ... hell, yeah! I really like it! So, eventually, I'll get all my sewing stuff out again and start working on a new series of clutches that are all my design.
Oooh! And in other news, my husband brought home a 4-drawer filing cabinet last week. I'm ecstatic, because the clutter factor in this little house was getting out of hand. Inside my filing cabinet? You'll love this.
Top drawer: All the dog magazine back-up files.
2nd drawer: Knitting supplies -- needles, yarn, etc.
3rd drawer: Fabric scraps -- all in baggies to keep each project together (scraps from each bellydancing costume, for instance, are in their own bags, to easily find all coordinating fabrics) and embroidery stuff (thread, hoops)
4th drawer: Iron, projector, sewing box (with all thread, needles, sewing machine parts, etc)
The whole thing is just awesome. I wish I had a whole room full of filing cabinets like this. Imagine how organized I could be! Imagine how clean the house could be, if I didn't have paper bags, piles, boxes of projects all over the place!
For instance, right now I'm not making any more purses because I don't want to create a new disaster in my living room, because it makes *living* in that living room near impossible. BUT if I had a clear place for everything to put away, or to find it straight off, I wouldn't have to make such a huge mess, and would be more likely to create something in whatever time I have available. Actually, some people may say this is B.S. That I'll always create huge messes where ever I go. I'm *dreaming* if I think something like filing cabinets is going to make my house clutter-free. Those people may possibly be correct.

Arbor, part 2

Yesterday we really jammed through the arbor project. I'm exhausted today! But hooray, we have a really sweet addition to our home. I can't wait to plant wisteria to grow up the sides and make our little home feel like a fairytale cottage!
You can see here, the first pieces were cut out. We decided to not follow the complicated instructions from the book. Yikes, that's usually a recipe for disaster. But my husband insisted that the way the book instructed was way more complicated than necessary, and would take many days more than we had available (which was just 1). So I designed my own arches, and cut them out very carefully with the jigsaw while he worked on the framework and made the vital measurements.
We placed the frame near our back door, and leveled it out. Then big, long, metal stakes were attached to the legs, and pounded into the ground so that it wouldn't blow away. And finally, it was attached by boards to the side of the house. It may look funny at the moment, but it's going to be part of a whole fence, when we're finished.


But after cutting out 3 big arches for the top beams, then 2 small ones for the bottom frame, I got really sick of cutting out arches. So, instead of 7 for the crossbeams at the top, I ran out of steam at 6. I don't think it matters. The one disappointing part, however, was that those crossbeams are supposed to be notched so they set upon the beams below. But after trying to cut out 1 beam with notches, and being a remarkable failure at it (believe me, it's hard to get those little rectangles to be truly straight and even), we decided that they could just be nailed on top of the thing. It doesn't look bad, exactly, but it's not really how it should be.
I got really tired of the project after this point, so I went inside to do some sewing for a bellydance costume, and when I came outside, the latticework was attached to the sides, and we sat down for a moment to discuss a gate. I don't have photos of the gate, which is too bad, because it's really cute. It has an arch on top and on bottom, and a diagonal beam across the center, to keep it square. It has a black metal latch and swings inward. The whole thing is so pretty, I can't believe we made it in a day!




And while I'm uploading photos, check out this project from 2 weeks ago that Nitro built! (He should post his process here, I may bug him about that!) The little 4-wheeler was his as a child, so it's super tiny, but we needed something to toodle around the ranch, and also to clean out manure from the horse pen. He built this awesome little trailer out of an old wheelbarrow. It lifts from the handle in front (which is off an old frying pan!) to dump all the manure easily.

Arbor!

Today we are building this arbor, with a few modifications to keep costs down. It's from a book I got at the library. I'm nervous about this project, as it looks like we may have bitten off more than we can chew. But as we progress, I'll be sure to update on progress. I'm hoping to get most of it done today.

What a day!

Too pretty outside to do INDOOR projects so we worked on the garden today! We planted veggies, added some new pretty bushes for color, and now we're heading back out to gather some rocks -- we're going to continue with the rock wall. It's going to be SO BEAUTIFUL when we're done!
And you can see that my husband and I both have tomato plants in pots. I got an heirloom tomato and he got a roma tomato. Mine is the one with the trellis made of willow branches. His is a store-bought trellis. He tells me that my silly home-made trellis is going to fail. This is one project that we'll have to keep tabs on.

Project day!

It's been go-go-go-go here with work and the like, so the fun projects were put on hold. I had an unexpected day off today, and my head said "Work on your portfolio! Take care of the animals! Clean the house!" and some other, less responsible part said "No! MAKE STUFF!" Actually, it's *sorta* responsible since these projects do have a deadline ... there's a performance coming up and I'll need to match everyone else and have these costumes together. Also, the pieces of these projects are all over the house, and it would be nice to put it all away, which can't happen until they're finished.
So here they are ...
First is the nearly-finished "belly drape" that goes underneath the coin bra. I just need to punch holes in a bunch of coins so all that bare chain is dripping in coins.
And then there is a hip scarf... originally a pillow case, it was cut in half, then embellished to match my blue skirt. It's getting close ... but I think it needs more. Other girls have lots of coin belts and the like to really dress it up, but those things are EXPENSIVE and I think that I can punch holes in a bunch of pennies and link them together in some interesting manner. Sounds like a lot of work though! Maybe I can come up with something else.

A flurry of creative planning!

Friday was spent shopping ... in an amazing twist, our heroine brought all the bits & pieces for 3 separate costumes with her into 3 different fabric/craft stores and planned for each costume's next step. I spent way too much money, but it's all justified as stuff I need!
But now I have all these things for all these separate projects, and it's hard to keep everything straight, so now I have paper bags lined up against the living room wall. Each is labeled:
1. Blue Flounce costume hip scarf
2. Blue Flounce costume headpiece
3. Black Flounce costume headpiece
4. Black Flounce costume belly drape
5. Purple Flounce costume headpiece

The hip scarf is priority, as we'll be wearing that costume sooner than the others, but I started working on my belly drape yesterday instead. My neighbor used to make jewelry and glass stuff, so when he started showing me all his bits and pieces that I could work with, I went bananas with the creating! Now that I see all the stuff he's got, I want to make all sorts of things! But I must focus on one project at a time. After these 5 things get done, maybe then I can start making jewelry out of all the lovely things found in those tackle boxes!

Whoa!

Did you think I've been slacking on the projects since I've been quiet? Oh, no. Quite the opposite, in fact. I've not had time to photograph anything, and so I haven't been updating.
But yesterday I did start work on a new stamp -- soon to be another card. A friend mentioned that his mom loves owls, and since I did a hummingbird stamp already I thought "Oooh! A lot of people are into owls and may love to have an owl card!" So here ya go! I started to create one. I must say, though, that whoever it was that recommended this pink carving stuff (Speedball Speedy-Stamp) really got it wrong. It doesn't crumble, I'll give it that much (several other varieties crumble, making it hard to do fine work) but it's really bendy, really flexible. So if you're trying to carve any thin lines, they bend away from the knife, rather than get sliced. The only reason I used it was a) I had it laying around; and b) I was out of the orange stuff. And you know how it goes -- once you're in the grip of projectitis, you sorta have to just go with it. No waiting around for proper materials! In any case, I think he's looking really cute, and hope the cards come out well. I did sell a couple orchid cards already, and that makes me happy. $2 isn't much, but it's $2, and it's more than I had before. :)

Other projects lately involve the paying, work kind. I've got a couple magazine deadlines looming in my future, so I've been busy designing. Also spent an afternoon making beautiful headpieces for my bellydancing troupe. Hopefully I'll have photos of those soon. There were also orchid centerpieces to create for a benefit dinner, and several more of the "couture clutches." LOTS more of them, in fact. I got really gung-ho with those, and if not for all the work I have to do, I'd probably be making lots more. They're really awesome.

don't let me forget about these

What a simple thing. I could totally make something like this, and I am going to. Later. When I don't have so much else going on.

Oh, I do love the accessories

The purses are coming out really awesome. Every single one has something I adore about it, and something about it that sucks. The process of learning how to best assemble them is really not going as smoothly as hoped. For one thing, the smaller purses are very difficult to sew; it's like they require a very tiny sewing machine to fit inside the opening to topstitch that final seam. In my first attempt, I hand-stitched it, since the machine was just too cumbersome. But hand-stitching is too time-consuming. Another problem I encountered is my own darn brain. I went ahead and finished the purse before inserting the magnetic snap. Which meant that I either had to undo everything, so I could reach in between the lining & the outer fabric, or I had to sew on a little regular snap. I did decide to sew on a regular snap, but that turned out badly as well, since it really is important to sew through the stiff stuff sandwiched between the outer & lining, but important to not sew through the outer. In any case, it looks sloppy now, and I'm sad because in all it started out as my favorite purse, the most professional looking and pretty.

In case making a gajillion purses wasn't enough stuff to do, I got all inspired talking with a friend and want to make hats, too. I bought a pattern for some hats from the goddess of everything (I don't know what else to call her!) -- Amy Butler. Her fabrics are beyond belief. And I have to admit, I often wanted to be a wrapping paper designer growing up. More so than anything else, but I never voiced this desire, because I didn't really believe there *was* such a thing. But I still want to design fabric, wrapping paper, wallpaper ... anything with repeating patterns. And I know I'd be really good at it, but I have no idea how one goes about that sort of thing. Anyway, as it is, there are too many other things I am digging doing right now, so I will just let that one be on the back burner a while.
Whoa, that was a ramble. But see, Amy Butler's work kinda does that to a person! For more inspiration, check out her inspiration page ... full of beautiful photos and links that will get your creative juices overflowing!

The pattern I got is similar, but not exactly like the hat I really want to make. But I have never made a hat before, and am hoping that after doing several of these, I can edit the pattern to be closer to the hats I want to make. I'm fairly certain that this pattern will teach me the basic construction of a hat, and I'll be able to go wild with my own designs. The same thing happened with the purses. Now that I understand how it works, I am editing each one a little bit to be more like what I envision. It's really quite fun to learn something new this way.

pictures

Here is a photo of the first silly hat, midway through.
There has been a second, blue hat that was started, but due to lost stitches during transport (oh, I should have capped the ends of the DPNs!) I'm feeling like just starting over. I very well may do that, since I just discovered that the original hat that I'm trying to replicate was crocheted, not knitted. And I'm much more confident crocheting, so it would be a good idea to start over.
Another project we've begun is starting some seedlings in the house. Here they are!
Additionally, I have a shot of the kitchen as it's being painted. Well, sorta. You can see an old project ... a shelf that we made using brackets that were originally designed for hanging plants from, not for shelving.

Another project I forgot to mention

Yesterday, I got motivated and created a new blog ... like I need to waste more time on the internet. But this one is GOOD! Check it out: http://mbgardeners.blogspot.com/
It's for local people to get together and exchange vegetables that you've grown. Like a farmers market without money. You trade stuff you don't need for stuff you do need.

I got it bad now.

Hoo boy, with the beautiful spring weather and an energizing morning at the gym (and inspiring visit to the remnant box at The Cotton Ball I've got a really bad case of projectitis today.
Here's the deal, the shop I work at part time requested of me that I create more cards! Also, they wondered if I could transfer my stamp images to things like shirts and aprons. Well, that got me on a roll with ideas, so I went to the Cotton Ball to look for embellishments and any fabrics that have an orchid motif on them (it's an orchid shop). That's when I got distracted by the remnant box and decided I didn't need orchid motifs, and I would make purses. I bought a lot of remnants. Let's just say, I bought more than enough, considering I already have several storage bins full of fabric. But I did get really inspired, and got some pretty amazing fabric pieces.
So what's the status of these projects? Well, I cut out one little wristlette (I bought this pattern YEARS ago, and finally am going to make the darn things) so that if I screw up, it won't be wasting tons of fabric. It's going to be a fuzzy animal print and black velvet combo. Very sexy. By the way, I just discovered the pattern can be purchased online from the artist's site: http://www.radbags.com/
I've bought several patterns from her, and the graphic designer in me wants her to stop hand-writing and illustrating the directions, there's another part of me that finds it absolutely charming. Also, every single thing I've seen from her is delightful, clever, charming ...pick an adjective, she's got all the good ones.

And for the cards I've drawn an orchid image onto the carving material. But this is the last of my carving material, so I'll need to buy more. I'm a bit trepidacious about carving this one, with all those fine lines. But I'll just have to TRY to be patient and slow.

Also, I need to buy additional materials for the "couture clutches" ... that's what I get for jumping into a project without thinking it through. I decided *not* to drive into town for the materials I need today. I already was in town earlier today, and will just have to wait until tomorrow to get little magnets and the extra-heavy stabilizer to make the little guys keep their shape.. Ooh! But I did already sew the lining together and made my very first boxed corner! I may sound totally lame right now but -- OH it's MAGIC!

boredom= not enough projects!

Did I mention the kitchen got painted? Mostly, anyway. All the walls are done, and now I just need to finish the trim, and the inside of the cupboards. I would have done that, too, if not for the fact that I couldn't find the can of paint. Oh, don't laugh, this is a common problem in a project over-full household. We have a shed, and it is over-full of the tools and detritus from too many projects. I know there is a can of green paint in there somewhere!
In other news, the funky hat was finished, and I must say it's darling if not a bit TOO SMALL. Darn it. I'm pretty sure it would have fit fine if not for the multitude of dropped stitches that occurred in the first row. It's something I wasn't *sure* of at the time, since the yarn is pretty hairy, but now that the hat is too small, I'm convinced that's what happened. I started another one, and it's 3/4 of the way done. Yeah, I rocked through those hats in no time. That's what happens when dance class is canceled and it's raining outside. There's NOTHING to do but knit and watch Oprah. Ugh.

project failure

Today I sort of got carried away with a project rather than get real work done. See, I went to Michael's to get something I needed, and ended up getting this really great idea for a Valentine's gift for my man. I bought this iron-on printer paper which turned out to really suck. Not sure if it's just me or what, but the ink bled *really bad* so that my really awesome art is pretty much unintelligible. I'm pretty disappointed, since I was so excited about this plan. The only thing I can think of to solve the problem would be maybe to not use such small art, but even then I think the quality would still be bad. I knew that stuff was too good to be true!
What I'd really been looking for was iron on letters (which they had) but I want *really small* iron on letters, like 12 pt. That was not to be found, and I'm sure they'd be a pain in the ass to work with even if they'd been available. This transfer paper seemed like the perfect solution. Oh well.

Oh, and speaking of Michael's: Talk about disappointing to see that they have a whole freaking wall of birdhouses, ready-made, just waiting to be embellished. I don't know why I bother with the *struggle* of putting together these silly things, when you can buy one for next to nothing.
And another Michael's-related rant: Am I the only person who has a love-hate relationship with scrapbooking materials? Like, I LOVE the beautiful patterns, and awesome little doo-dads that are all coordinated and so pretty without any effort, but I hate the fact that people buy this crap and think they're *creating* something when they use it. Sorry ladies, it seems to me the creativity part was done for you. But you are using your glue & scissors exceptionally well, so good on you! So yeah, I get all gooey, like I want all this fun, pretty stuff, but then I get angry at myself and think that really what I should be doing is applying for jobs at the scrapbooking factory. I want to make that stuff!

Playing Catchup

There have been a few finished projects that haven't been photographed, so I think I ought to catch up. Also, I am considering creating a sidebar of projects I *want* to do, but haven't had a chance to start. I'm hoping that maybe I can perhaps use that as a way to plan ahead, have a goal and follow through with it, rather than just starting projects willy-nilly without proper planning or allowing myself enough time to do the job correctly. Maybe it will help my crazy brain.

So let's list the completed projects:

1. Beledi dress: as you can see, a triangular section was added (to both sides) from the armpit to the hip to make this dress fit a normal-sized human being. It had previously belonged to a 5'2" size 0 sort of woman, and it was handed down to me, 5'9" ... you can see the problem. Fortunately for me, the arms were sewn together with French seams which allowed me to simply rip it out, and put it back together using a normal seam, giving me about 1/2" more diameter in the arm. Otherwise, I'd have had to do another pair of triangular inserts in each arm, too.

2. Love stamp: I mentioned it being completed previously, and you saw the original drawing, and the transfer to the stamp material. Here, you can see the carved stamp material along with the stamped result. Stamp carving is one of my favorite things to do, and thanks to a friend, I've learned to not rely on the imperfect carving tools available, but to really get more precision from an X-acto knife. It really helps when you're trying to get tight corners dug deep.

3. Sari silk purse: This was an imperfect result, probably because I'm an imperfect knitter and so one side looks really good (the side shown here) and the other side looks something like the loose skin on the stomach of a person who's lost 300 pounds. Ugh. That's disappointing... who wants that hanging on their arm? 

4. Silly hat: The silly hat is coming out really well. I love DPNs (double-pointed needles) because it just seems like magic the way it works. It's not magic, but my puny brain finds the whole process of knitting to be just miraculous. I can't believe someone invented this stuff. I'm about 1/3 done with it, and having some minor issues deciding how to incorporate the silliness, so I'm taking a little break to think it through. I don't want it to be just like the hat I already have, but I want it to be flattering in the same way, and silly in the same way: not *too* silly, but definitely not normal. On a related note, I really like this website for fun knitting patterns and information.

I finished something!

Yesterday I finished the sari silk purse. I will not post a photo. I'm really bummed by the result. I think because I used a new ball of yarn on the second half, and the second ball of yarn was *way* different from the first, the second half came out a bit larger than the first half, and so when I put the two halves together, one side is all puffy and saggy while the other side is a lovely pac-man shape. Um, never thought I'd say the words "Lovely Pac-Man Shape" but it was a nice shape for a purse, and it didn't come out that way. I think I'll still use it for transporting my stuff to and from dance class, but I don't think it will ever be my funky bohemian purse.

Finishing the purse did get my knitting needles moving, though, and so I've started a little hat. It's going to be similar to one I bought a while back, one I get tons of compliments on and everyone always asks "Did you make that?" and it's embarassing to say no, when I easily could have made it. So I'm making one. Maybe I'll make TONS of them and all my friends can have matching silly hats. That would be the best.

Inspired

Oh boy, as if there weren't enough things that I wanted to do, today I visited Morro Fleece Works and had my world rocked. Firstly, there is an itty bitty storefront that has beautiful handspun yarns of the most incredible colors that you want to *eat* them or make them part of your *self* in some intrinsic way. Of course, you just have to settle for touching, and maybe making something with them, but they almost seem like they're ruined when you knit something out of these yarns, since they're so perfectly beautiful just hanging there in long shanks from the ceiling. And then there was a rack of the most perfectly wild hats, and hanging on the walls were rugs that were just mind blowingly beautiful. But the coolest part was getting the grand tour (the owner is a sister of a friend), and I simply can't describe how every surface, floor to ceiling every eyefull made me want to drop everything I do and make something out of these beautiful things. Alpaca, angora, and some other crazy sheep wools... all beautiful colors ... oh man. She is teaching a felting class tomorrow and if not for the fact that I have 3 million other things to do tomorrow, I'd be dropping everything. Looks like such a blast ... I actually think I want to make felted birdhouses. I mean, if I as a bird I would like to live in one. It seems cozy. But maybe just an invitation for bugs and stuff. Maybe not really a good idea.

on the back burner

No projects begun this week, thanks to working away from the home and being overwhelmed by dismal rainy weather. It's too hard to motivate on days like these. 

I did finish the love stamp, and made several cards out of it. I'm not happy with the result, so I may make a new valentine stamp next week.

Other projects were put away. I'm trying to tidy up the house. When it's icky outside I spend more time inside and so the clutter begins to be more bothersome. I put the knitting into it's crate, I put the fabric in the closet. And the stamp carving tools are in their drawer. It's like pressing a "reboot" button. Once everything is de-cluttered, I will operate much smoother. 

Clean house?

I visited a friend the other day and marveled at the cleanliness of her house. Not that it was just clean, but that it was absolutely clutter-free. I seriously envy people who have clean, clear spaces in their homes. Dust-free, and doo-dad free, too. But then I had a revelation: she doesn't make anything! So she doesn't need boxes of fabric, boxes of broken jewelry, bins of yarn, of paint, of carving tools, of ink pads and pens. She doesn't have a closet full of bellydance costumes or silly hats. So while I can lament the fact that I have *too much stuff* I also have to remind myself that I like it this way. I like making things, and I can't imagine a life without projects cluttering up the house.

Despite the progress on some of those long-term ongoing projects, this weekend was one of distraction.  Here's the lowdown:

I got a wild hair to make another wine crate birdhouse. This is my second birdhouse created out of an old wine box -- I love how the winery name & label is stamped into the boxes. And I love using random old *things* to embellish each house. This one isn't so random or old -- the copper was new, leftover from the copper bra project. Even the box was fairly new, and not as rustic as I like, but at least the nail used as a perch was from grandpa's old mess of stuff. Hopefully I will find time to make more of these, as I think they could sell. However, my assistant insists that next time I *plan ahead* better, which is an idea I continue to resist.

We also went to a favorite garden center where I saw some other stuff that I want to make, including other birdhouse ideas and this chandelier that's been converted to hold succulents tops my taco. How cool is that!? Okay, the photo is a bit hard to figure out, but I promise you that it looked really neat, and that it would be an awesome addition to my garden. Especially if we ever build a shade structure over the back porch.

But speaking of home improvements: materials were purchased to fence in the back yard -- something we've talked of doing for ages, since we'd like to get a dog someday. So it's definitely more important than things like trellises and pathways, and now that the materials are purchased, I guess we ought to get moving on that. I've been tasked with designing and building a gate, while my partner in crime (the crime of projectitis!?) will do the un-fun post hole digging and fence construction.

A new stamp

Don't ask me why I'm starting a new project. I just am. But see, this one has a timeframe attached, so I ought to start now! I want to make valentine cards to sell at the flower shop. They don't currently have any cards, and I know for a fact that people buying flowers also need to buy cards. So I will make bunches of them by carving a stamp, stamping blank card stock, adding some sparkles, and then I will sell them at the shop. It's my plan, and I think it's a good one. Plus, I don't have any other paying work to do today, so I have to come up with some sort of income-generating way to spend my day.

Currently, you can see at the bottom of the picture where I drew the image I wanted. Then I transfered that image onto the rubber stamp material (the orange stuff) and will begin carving out the small spaces with an exacto knife. The larger spaces I will carve out with a special carving tool that is a V-shaped blade. It's not as delicate for the small spaces, but is easier for me to carve out big chunks of material. 

The more I look at this image, the less happy I am with the design. I better either stop looking at it, or re-draw it. It's not technically "projectitis" if I take the time to re-draw it though. Projectitis demands that I keep moving forward with a project until I'm sick of it, regardless of the quality of the outcome.

On the nature of inspiration.

Or the inspiration of nature?

Either way, it was a beautiful day yesterday, and I managed to get most of my "real" work done in time to put some time in on these projects that have been hanging around for way too long. Inspired by the lovely weather, and to be honest, by wanting to be able to post here "I finished it!"

Well, nothing's finished, but I did work quite a while on the beledi dress, so that the seams that had been ripped apart for expansion have had the panels inserted and it now absolutely fits. I re-applied the trim along the edges, too, so now you can hardly tell that it's been altered. Well, you can tell ... but it sorta looks like it was made that way in the first place. Amazing. Now I just need to lengthen it along the bottom of the dress. Since there is a front and back panel, and I've finished the front panel (to my satisfaction, but not really a fantastic job), I'm practically done! I ought to have pushed on and finished the back panel, but to be honest, I was losing my patience with the whole thing, so decided to do the dishes instead.

As for the recycled sari silk purse, I've progressed a bit on that, as well. Actually, I was nearly done last night until I realized that I did it all wrong, and had to undo all my work of the past two days. A word about the yarn: I don't mind that each ball of yarn was wildly different colors, but I do mind that the spun quality was vastly different. It was as though one ball was composed of only VERY short, frayed strands, so it came apart easily, and makes the yarn look really fuzzy. The other ball had a very smooth, tight twist to it, so that the knitted result was also smooth and tight. It was also much easier to work with, because it didn't unravel, or get tangled in itself as much. I was pretty disappointed in that, and if I was making anything but a purse, I'd probably have returned it for something else.

Ongoing projects

Today I just sent off the orchid logo to the client. I made several, and I hope that at least one of them is what he's looking for. It's funny how the paying jobs get finished long before any of the ones I've done for fun. Perhaps I need someone telling me there's a deadline, and then I'll have a compulsion to finish a project, as well as the compulsion to start it!

Here are some ongoing projects around the house, ones that I don't think will ever be finished, but constantly just dabbled with.

1. Rock garden wall. Our back yard is a steep hill that is continually sliding toward the house. I've terraced it somewhat, with rocks found around the ranch. I hope to eventually build these little walls all the way up the hill, and alongside the whole house. Then, when that's done, I might be more inclined to spend some money on plants. I rather enjoy building the wall. Collecting the rocks, placing them. It's hard labor, exhausting. But I enjoy it, and sometimes think I could spend all day doing it.

2. Mares painting. This painting started as an effort to create a very serious, photo-realistic painting based on a photograph I found of some grey mares in a barn in Poland. The lighting was superb, so that the mares' backs looked almost like rolling hills, or just backlit outlines. The heads were barely visible, elegantly curved. I started it ... then felt like I wasn't having much success so I took a break from all that seriousness and started painting those little birds. Then I started in with the stripes, until I realized it looked like the opening credits of "The Partridge Family" so I need to paint over it, and get back to seriousness. But at this point, I'm just using the canvas for doodling.

3. Kitchen painting. Our 100-year-old farmhouse has 100 years' worth of paint in the kitchen. Many, many layers. So when we decided to paint the kitchen, I figured I ought to scrape off most of the old paint. Well ... I got as far as scraping off SOME of the old paint. Never did get very far in the painting department. I was gone one weekend and my husband got a substantial amount done, but only HALF the kitchen is done. The half with appliances, etc., that need to be moved has not been touched. It's got to happen. I keep waiting for a rainy weekend, but there's been about 3 years of drought here.

And the final project, which really will get finished, eventually, is the sari silk purse. I got the pattern here. Probably the only time I've ever bought a pattern, so I should really make that money well-spent by finishing the darn thing. I've attached a photo of the strap, which is maybe halfway done, and then I'll be practically finished. I don't know what's taking me so long, honestly. I think I just keep getting distracted by other projects.

Putting off Housework

I should be doing some house cleaning today but it's not really sounding all that fun. So I figured I'd spend the morning working on some *paying* work. The guy wants a logo and a web site for his orchid business in Seattle. I think I ought to start with a logo, get approval on that, and then work on a web site that works with the logo. So I spent a couple hours and came up with what you see here. I need to give him several options, and I'm not entirely thrilled with this one yet, but it's a work in progress. He wanted something "fairy tale like" which I'm translating into sort of whimsical, with sparkles. But sparkles don't do so hot for a logo that will more often than not be printed with ONE color because small business owners tend to be cheapskates when it comes to that sort of thing.  Anyway, if you do a Google search  for emerald city logos, there are some that are pretty much the same idea as this idea, and I'd like to come up with something different for the client, even though this is sorta what he requested.

The other project for today came about because I was putting away Christmas gifts. Um, I got distracted. I got these cool pens which are supposed to be good for coloring stamps instead of using an ink pad. So I had to make a stamp to try it out! It was a quickly carved little guy, and I suppose eventually I'll plant it as a letterbox somewhere.

I did finish the return address stamp, though I'm probably going to re-carve it. It just didn't come out all that great. My carving skills are hampered by impatience, I think!

current status

Should I skip the intros, and dive right into what projects are currently cluttering my living room floor? Or should I mention how December came with a burst of creative energy and very little time, so several projects were started, abandoned, or just came out terribly.

See, the thing with Projectitis is that planning ahead isn't something a person can do. When you're in the grip of the compulsion to create, you don't stop to think about the hows and whens and whys. You just start making stuff until the compulsion leaves you ... and leaves a giant mess on the living room floor.

So let's look at December. I had grand plans of sewing fabulous new Christmas stockings similar to those of several years ago, with more embellishment. However, I finished only two. They were taken down to a local shop to be sold (except they didn't sell).

A stamp was carved and Christmas cards were made with tiny "jewels" (and even sent!), and some were taken to the shop to be sold. There are LOTS still available, by the way. 

After seeing the beautiful chicken tractor my friend made, I was driven to make my own. Due to husband assistance, this was also finished. It's not finished in that photo, but I assure you it has been finished and even used!

You'd think that's enough projects for one December, but no... I had the brilliant idea of making my own Christmas tree. I thought I'd gather willow branches from the ranch, spray paint them silver, and then insert them into a rod that would act like a tree trunk. Well, in my *head* it was beautiful. Let's just say I have plenty of things to do differently next year. I won't even share a picture of it. So disappointing. And definitely not cheaper than just buying a real tree.

Current projects around the house? I shall list them, with status:

1. Belly dancing flounced skirt. Two tiered skirt with lined flounces along the bottom. Fabric has been purchased and washed.

2. Belly dancing beledi dress. Dress was acquired from a very tiny dancer. Since the rest of the troupe uses this dress in performances and the fabric is not to be found anywhere, I am altering it to fit me. Seams have been unstitched, fabric and trim purchased, fabric cut.

3. Return address stamp. I am carving a stamp of my home address to use on letters I mail. Half-carved.

4. Recycled sari silk purse. Half-circle purse knitted from yarn that was woven with the leftover silk strings recycled from a place that makes silk saris. I  have knit both half circles (front and back) and 1/3 of the strap.

A smart person would restrain herself from starting any new projects.