Above are a few pictures from my latest quilting project, "Winter Wonderland" (designed by Jazz Cat Designs), which I started a couple of weeks ago. Not that I needed another quilting project, mind you. Goodness knows that I have several going on as it is...but I've been wanting to get out of the house some and these classes always make me feel a little better. Some peace and quiet time to myself. The original design for this is lighter in color. Something that looks like Frozen...which is nice, but not my style. I have a darker sense of things, so my color palette is opposite of what the designer originally intended. I wanted my quilt to remind me of snow falling at night...something beautiful, but also dark and mysterious...otherworldly (which is what snow falling at night makes me think of), hence the midnight blue background. I'll try to keep posting as I'm working (but don't hold me to it, we all know how good I am at posting things on a regular basis).
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Ok, so I haven't posted in a while. I know...terrible. But, the holidays were hectic, and then came my birthday - so I am just now getting back into the swing of things and into my routine. I'm sorta getting better. Kinda. Almost. Anyway, I was completely tied up during the last few months with making Christmas presents for pretty much everyone I knew and between the stress of that and everything else in life, it didn't leave me much time to actually sit in front of my laptop and prattle on about the things that I was doing. However, I'm glad I'm handy with a needle (and a woodburning tool, and a sewing machine, and a glue gun...goodness!). Without those skills, nothing would have been done...
Anyway, now that all of that is behind me, I'm glad to say that I am finally working on some projects for ME! I have started a wonderful sugar skull cross-stitch and I've actually started going back to my quilting classes (yeah me!), so I have begun a wonderful new quilt called "Winter Wonderland (my color palette reminds me of snow at night) and I'm starting to feel a little better about crafting again (the holidays had me a bit stressed about finishing everything to the quality that I had in mind as well as just getting them done on time!). Still, I know that ultimately, the holidays will roll around again, so I have already begun to think about what I need to start making for this year - and maybe, if I start early enough, I won't feel so stressed about getting everything done on time. I'll just start in the next month or so and stretch it out, so that I can take my time. I think that will help. I hope. so little time. That is certainly how I've been feeling lately. What's worse is that I've been suffering from tennis elbow (lame name for that particular ailment by the way), so I haven't been able to do all the various cross-stitching and sewing projects that I need to finish in time for the holidays. Oh well, they still need to get done. Some other things that I've been working on are some wood projects. I've taken up woodburning and now my dad has gotten me into making wooden cooking utencils. These idle hands of mine sure aren't lacking in things to do, that's for sure. Luckily, my father has most of the woodworking tools I will every need to do what needs to be done with creating the utensils...now I just have to figure out a way to get them out to the public. I still have this hair-brained dream of opening an Etsy shop and selling my nifty handmade items...maybe as I continue to get the homeschooling and housekeeping better organized, I can finally get to working on that little scheme as well. Time will tell. But, first, I so have to finish these Christmas presents!
I know. It's barely August and here I am already thinking about the holidays. Well, I sorta have to. Since I am making a good portion of (read - ALL-) of the Christmas presents that are going to be handed out this year, I need to get a full head start, so that come November I'm not panicking with only a few things done. This year I'm thinking some cross-stitches (I found a great book at the local library that has some designs from Ed Hardy!), a few purses/bags made from old jeans, some felties, and other found objects that can be turned into art/crafts. Since our budget has become drastically reduced with my becoming a SAHM, I have to be really thoughtful about what I am going to be spending our money on. Unfortunately, mostly that will only be on the house and living expenses...Christmas presents and the like are going to have to be produced using alternative methods. Luckily, I'm handy with a needle and a sewing machine and I have a TON of imagination, so I'm thinking that I will be OK when it comes to creating fun things for family and friends. Now, I just have to make my lists, gather the supplies from around the house, and get started! Thankfully, due to my non-idle hands, I've already got some things underway.
Harvest time is quickly coming upon us and I'm noticing that I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed with all the prepping that comes with getting things canned for the winter. And most of it isn't even from my garden!! Most of everything that I've been getting have been from friends and family. Now, granted, I'm doing up my own jalapenos (to make jalapeno jelly) and roasted chilies, but I have also received a ton of crabapples from a neighbor and some pears from my parents. We are not going to be hurting for fruit this winter it seems. Which is a good thing...now if I could just figure out how to get my hands on some meat to stuff my freezer with...
So I've been cleaning out my public school classroom and packing up all the books and resources that I have collected over the years when I came across a professional development book that I have long despised. Well, as I was thinking about the waste of paper and saving trees, I pondered about what I could do with this rather thick book that I was never going to read again. I didn't want to throw it away (being a composter and semi-environmentalist, I had a hard time with that idea), and I couldn't GIVE it away (most of my almost former colleagues agree with me about the uselessness of this particular text). An idea came to me when I was reviewing some of my pins from Pinterest (I mean, who doesn't love Pinterest), and, BAM!, an instant lightbulb about how I can creatively turn this rather tedious book that will never be read again into something inspiring and useful and beautiful! Hence, I have begun to tear out pages upon pages and doing something that I never thought I would do with a literary object. I am turning it into art. Maybe I can frame some of them and put them up for sale...who knows! But I am discovering that I can take a text that is tiresome and irrelevant and make it awesome. So, I don't know how it happened, but I actually managed to get a TON of quilting done this past Saturday. It was an odd little phenom, one that doesn't happen often, but I suppose a lot of it had to do with the fact that the boys were in the backyard cutting down a bothersome tree. This gave me the piece and quiet that is often needed to get my quilt on. I wish I could say that it went well and that everything turned out perfect, but that's just not my life, so I can't. I got a ton done, but I couldn't finish some of the things that I really wanted to finish. I still need a yard of fabric to finish the Star Wars quilt for the boy, several yards to finish my reading quilt, and batting to wrap them all together. Sigh. But, I still feel pretty good about what I was actually able to get accomplished. Now I just need to save up and get the rest of the fabric that I need to get everything all done.
I have put together the 2nd block for our Block of the Month club. Although I missed the class for this particular pattern, I think that they turned out alright. I only had a few corners that didn't match up exactly as I wanted them to. Ce la vie. I am adding my own little twist to the pattern by not alternating the colors like I should, but then, I wouldn't be me if I didn't change things up the way I wanted them to be. I'm still not sure with the colors, and I think, later on down the road, that I want to attempt to make this pattern again, but with a more floral motif. I don't know. I'm still undecided about this particular color palatte and so I'm still searching for ideas of how to do this bigger, better, and brighter. I suppose that is the glory of quilting. You can use the same patterns but different materials and each quilt turns out to be a unique piece of handmade art. |