Christmas Tree Skirt

I started this in the Holiday Magic Lab at my favorite place, Stitch Lab. I got the ball fringe sewn on today. I have a few more things I'd like to add, but for this year, I think it's done!

Coffee table

I got this cool door panel at Roundtop this fall and turned it into a coffee table. Not pictured is the glass top. It's a fun addition to my living room, plus more surfaces to pile stuff on!! :-)

New paint

I painted the bedroom this weekend. While I do love the Kimono Violet, it felt too energizing in the bedroom. So I went with Serene Breeze, a soft aqua color. It feels much more peaceful now, and looks so lovely with my mirrored gray dressers. I can't wait to finish putting the room back together.

I had just enough paint! :-O

Katrina Rib Sweater

I don't often write about my knitting on this blog, but I haven't been knitting much lately, and there's a bit of a personal story to tell about this. In 2005, I bought the Katrina Rib pattern to help support folks affected by Hurricane Katrina and of course to feed my need to hoard all things knitting! I bought yarn a few years later to make the sweater. And in 2009, I went though a horrible divorce (as if there's any other kind). A few weeks after the announcement that my then husband, now rat bastard, was divorcing me, I started this sweater. I kept thinking knitting will help. Each stitch will help ensure I keep it together. I worked on it diligently for a few months, and then I lost my knitting mojo. It was no longer a joy to knit, and it got pushed aside. I'd pick it up here and there, but not work on it consistently. Finally I started to enjoy knitting again and decided that I should really finish this sweater.

I think there's a nice symmetry that I started this during the divorce, and that now 5 years later I do feel like I've come out the other side. I think this sweater just wasn't meant to be finished until I felt like I had stitched the last piece of myself back together. So this sweater and I have been through a lot together. There's some rough parts in it, and maybe a couple of small holes, but my life is in these stitches. And in the end, I have something beautiful to show for it. Who could ask for more?

Thanks to the support of my dear friends in monthly craft night for encouraging me to finish, and for being there to make me laugh and acknowledge a big moment. Thanks for everyone who has had to listen to me talk ad nausem about the horrible divorce. It's helped me process it.

16-30 book a day

I realized I never published the last bit of the 30 books a day. One of the things that struck me about this is how often I repeat some of the same titles. :-)

16th Can’t believe more people haven’t read --Charlie Bone series! I think it's better than Harry Potter

17th Future classic -- hmmm... not sure I have one for this

18th Bought on a recommendation -- hmmm tough since I don't buy books usually

19th Still can’t stop talking about it -- Robopocolypse. It wasn't the best written book, but I'm convinced the robots will take over the world! 

20th Favourite cover-- Beautiful Ruins

21st Summer read-- Harry Dresden or Stephanie Plum series

22nd Out of print-- Foxes of Harrow

23rd Made to read at school-- Great Expectations...I still can't bring myself to read Dickens!

24th Hooked me in to reading-- Probably Little House on the Prairie. Emily of the New Moon made me want to be a writer.

25th Never finished it --The Brothers Karamazov

26th Should have sold more copies--Graffiti Moon

27th Want to be one of the characters--That's so hard to choose! Probably almost any book I'm reading!

28th Bought at my fave independent bookshop--I don't usually buy books.

29th The one I have reread most often--It's tough...I go in cycles with rereading...Gone with the Wind, Foxes of Harrow, Dubliners, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Tolkien are all ones I reread. It's gotten to where most of the books I own are ones I reread.

30th Would save if my house burned down My Winnie-the-Pooh books from when I was a kid.

Swimsuit coverup

I've been wanting a swimsuit coverup for awhile, and just couldn't bring myself to buy one when they seem so easy to make. A long time ago I bought some knit sheets with the idea of using them as fabric. Well, that was a disaster. It was really crappy fabric and just tough to work with. I did make a coverup out of it, but the size wasn't quite right. So at least that pain served as my "muslin".

I used this set of instructions, but was kind of frustrated that there wasn't a good feel for the size. So I found a similar set of instructions that had a better measuring scheme. So in the end, I came up with a wearable coverup!

Just notes for my self, the two front pieces were 14" and the back piece was 30", all were 40" long. I sewed the casing 17" from the top.

Frog Skirt

I've been working on cleaning up and clearing out stuff in my studio. I have a bit more work, but the sewing machine was calling me today. So I made a skirt out of this frog fabric I bought a while back. It's so cute!

#BookADay--Days 1-15

I don't have Twitter, so I can't tweet my responses to this cool campaign, but I thought this was fun! 

1st Favourite book from childhood -- This is a tough one...It depends on how old I was...Could be Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne, Morgan and Me by Stephen Cosgrove, or Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.

2nd Best bargain -- I picked up Faeries by Brian Fround and Alan Lee from the bargain bin, such a lovely book

3rd One with a blue cover -- The Foxes of Harrow by Frank Yerby, or Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins

4th Least favourite book by favorite author -- Hmmm....maybe Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

5th Doesn’t belong to me -- All the books at the library!

6th The one I always give as a gift -- I don't give the same book. If I give a book, it's always different.

7th Forgot I owned it --- I don't usually forget I own a book. More that I forget I don't have a copy of something. I probably forget which painting books I have more than fiction.

8th Have more than one copy -- I've bought multiple copies of Siddhartha because I kept losing or giving away my copy.

9th Film or tv tie-in -- Gone with the Wind!

10th Reminds me of someone I love -- Winnie-the-Pooh...actually doesn't remind me of anyone in particular, just that I feel loved reading it.

11th Secondhand bookshop gem -- The Foxes of Harrow by Frank Yerby...I love this book. I don't know where or how my parents had a copy, but we all used to reread it often. I finally got a used copy for Christmas a few years ago.

12th I pretend to have read it -- Great Expectations. It was assigned for 9th grade and I don't think I ever finished it.

13th Makes me laugh -- The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Sometimes I cry from laughing so hard.

14th An old favorite -- So many of these. I've mentioned a few already....Winnie-the-Pooh, Gone with the Wind, The Foxes of Harrow, Little Women, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

15th Favourite fictional father -- This is a tough one. The father in the Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle is pretty funny. Maybe Matthew Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables.

Art Deco Dressers

I saw this Ikea hack a while ago and though it would be a great way to get the mirrored nightstands I've been wanting in my bedroom for ages. I hesitated because I wasn't sure I wanted white, but when I went to Ikea, they had the dresser in gray. Woot!

So I started with two of these:

Then I ordered the Jasmine overlays from O'verlays.


I got mirror cut at Lowe's. They sell mirrors in 24x30 sheets, and will cut it for you. This is about an inch and a half too short, which is fine since the overlay covers it. However, I thought it looked weird from the side, so I got some balsa wood and filled in on each side. I wish I would have seen these instructions before I started. But it all worked out. :-)

So I spray painted the overlays gray. I used Liquid Nails to glue the mirrors to the drawer fronts, and found industrial strength glue dots (!!! so fabulous each dot hold about 4oz, and they are capable of up to 8 lbs) to adhere the overlay to the mirror. I was a little worried that the cut edge of the mirror would be sharp and I might cut my hand open and closing the drawers, but it is actually ok.

Here's the end result!

Mostly Updated Bathroom

Having new tile in the shower prompted me to paint the bathroom finally and also the vanity. It looks so much better. I wish I had the money to replace the tile and vanity, but for now a fresh coat of paint helps a lot.

I still need to find new hardware for the vanity, and a travel themed stencil to use as a border along the top of the walls, but the paint made a big difference!

Condo Woes Day 5

Days 3 & 4 were spent tiling the new bath/shower. I was a bit worried it wasn't going to get done, but it did.

Day 5 the plumber came back to put on the trim. Unfortunately the new dual shower head I got leaked, so I went back to my old handheld. But after 4 days of using the shower at the gym I'm all set to go at home!!

I'm pleased with the pencil line accent and the new shelves. I wasn't able to put a niche in the shower since the electrical box is on the other side. Note the lovely raised shower head that someone even taller than me can fit under. :-)

Condo Woes Day 2

It was a busy day! The plumber installed a spiffy new water heater complete with a drain pan and flood stop. This gives me some serious peace of mind that 40 gallons of water aren't going to flood my place and the neighbors. He also installed the new valve for the show and raised up the shower head.

I took out the old gross looking insulation and added a layer of new. And hauled 256 pounds of tile up to my 2nd story condo!!

Everything is ready for the tile guy.

Condo Woes

Ever since moving into my condo, I've had a mental list of projects. The bathroom was on the list, but  low on the list. At least until February 7th, when I learned the downstairs neighbor had a water spot on their ceiling. Unfortunately there was a lot of back and forth. They rent, so their property manager contacted the HOA, who contacted me. I contacted the property manager for more information, and he put me in touch with the neighbors. I wasn't convinced it was my fault, so I told the property manager if when he went in to look at it/fix it, to let me know if it pointed to me. I didn't hear anything back until March 20th. The HOA sent me another email with a picture telling me that it was my responsibility to resolve it. If this were a comic book, the HOA would be my arch-nemesis. Anyway, I took a deep breath and scheduled my plumber to come take a look. After much back and forth between the property manager, neighbors and me, I schedule the plumber to come on March 24th. No one was there that day. Turns out they had all kinds of job stuff going on, and I slipped their mind. I'm angry, but get things rescheduled for April 2nd. 

This works, and unfortunately water is leaking between cracks in my tile around the faucet.  So the bathroom moves up on the list. I'm only taking care of the shower/tub. Lucky me, I am also replacing my 16 year old hot water heater, and my electrical box, so that limited me from redoing the entire bathroom.

The demo started today. It took less than an hour and a half to demo it. Amazing. Good bye weird bone colored tile, and grungy caulking.

Lampshade

I have been wanting to learn how to make lampshades for quite some time. I decoupaged a lampshade a few years ago, and I painted on one before, but it's tough painting on a 3-D object. So, I found a class. It was a pretty easy process. It's a little tedious, but I liked it, and I think as I make more it'll get easier.

This shade is made from fabric, but I could use paper. I'm excited to experiment more. I even made bias tape out of the fabric to cover the seam.

Stay tuned for more lampshades!

Zinnia Skirt

I took another fun, wonderful class at Stitch Lab. I made this cute skirt from a Colette pattern, Zinnia. I learned how to do pleats, and made my first buttonhole. My Gram used to send out clothes to have the buttonholes done. She would have been amazed by the automatic buttonholer on my sewing machine.

Dotty

I bought this knit fabric a few weeks ago thinking it would make a cute skirt. Only took a couple of hours to make, and now I have a new spring skirt!

Encaustic

I took an encaustic (wax) class a few years ago. I haven't done anything since, except buy supplies! :-P I took an encaustic class tonight at a cute little place called Craft. It was taught by a fun instructor, Christine. We did this on artist trading cards and postcard sizes. It was loads of fun, and my head is swimming with lots of fun possibilities.

Embroidery

I started work on Reginald, the hummingbird pirate, quite a bit ago. It's actually a pretty decent size, especially compared to the small projects I've been doing with the stitch clubs. I was almost done when I showed him to my embroidery teacher and we had a great conversation about color. The floss I chose worked with the fabric, but maybe a little too well as it didn't stand out enough. Part of it I think was the challenge of embroidering on a printed fabric, and part was maybe being a bit color shy and not picking colors bold enough. I had the right hue, but maybe not the right saturation. She helped me pick out some colors to do essentially a shadow or highlight to help what I had done stand out.

I don't know how well my camera picked it up, but the top branch has some shading with a teal color and the bottom branch doesn't. I can't believe the different between the two. I really feel like I'm painting with thread and am excited to finish the piece. I think in some ways it's going to look even better because I went back with another color and added another layer. I love how the addition of the teal was just enough to make that branch pop out. My brain is dancing with ideas of how I can paint with thread. :-D

Fall Stitch Club

I pared down the embroidery for the fall stitch club and just did a few of the designs and made them into a handy bag. I loved the fabrics for these.

Dining table and chairs

So during my kitchen remodel LAST YEAR!! I bought an unfinished table and chairs. I didn't start painting it until late September. It's been a giant pain in the arse. Lots of fiddly details to paint around, and I have no desire to ever paint such a thing again. :-P I put the final coat on this past weekend. I'm not overly happy with it. I did a sloppy job for starters, but no will notice that but me. The colors somehow aren't quite what I had in my head. It's not bad, but I think in the end I would have been happier with stained wood. Ah well. Maybe in a few years, I'll strip it and stain it. In the meantime I have a put together dining area. Woot!