Wasting time

DSCN1344
Originally uploaded by Pearliepie.

I have three big projects that I should be working on right now, but bleh. I have no crafty mojo.

Here's the second quilt block I was working on in my big crafts in progress list. The three projects I'm currently working on also feature embroidery quite heavily, and I'm getting sort of burned out on the needle and thread.


This is the make or break point- either I push through this bleh moment and finish on time or I continue to sit in front of the computer, feeling more and more guilty and becoming less and less likely to finish. Guess I'd better get my rear in gear, yeah?

Tree square

Tree square
Originally uploaded by Pearliepie.

One of the teachers I work with was diagnosed with Leukemia this year. The school has really pulled together to support her. Her students have started fund raisers to help with her medical copays, because she has to be in hospital so often, and the staff all decorated a muslin square to be sewn into a quilt for her.

I thought it would be fun to document my progress by taking a picture every time I ran out of thread. In the middle of the experiment I misplaced my camera, so there aren't many pictures of the top in progress, which was the most interesting bit. Oh well.

I did the outline of the treetop first with backstitch.



Then I got bored with green and started the trunk.

When the trunk was almost done I went back to the treetop and started filling it in.
I used two colors of thread held together for a blended look. The bigger circles are stain stitch, filled web stitch and button hole stitch.
In the middle of the trunk I used a raised rose stitch to look like a knot in the trunk. The rest of the trunk is modified long and short stitch to represent bark.

Hooray for crochet!

I haven't left my ugly yellow chair for days now. Crochet is the only thing on my brain. I even dreamed about crocheting last night.


So far I've done four dishcloths (I'm sending away three of them for a swap), countless learning swatches, a tiny flower that I've somehow lost, and four practice circles for a really cool blanket from the Craftivity book.


These are my two favorite circles. I'm going to try starting all three colors in the middle of the spiral next time, I think. And the other one has three colors in it, not two. It's a shame I couldn't get the camera to pick up the true colors because they look so nice next to each other. For now I'm going to throw these ones into the wash next time I do laundry to felt them. I think they might become coasters, but we'll see what they do in the wash. I'd like to lightly felt the blanket I make, so I want to see what happens to the yarn in one wash cycle.

Oh, wait- I did get out my sewing machine to make a little needle roll for my hooks. It's pretty small, but I only have seven hooks so far and I don't need anything bigger.


I love crochet! I hope everyone will be happy with scarves or hats this holiday- I don't see myself losing interest in making things with hooks and yarn anytime soon!

Summer crafty

So far this summer break I've met my goal of working on a project everyday. I have not yet reached my goals of a blog post or a finished project everyday, but I'm getting there.

I needed to send out a thank you card for a beautiful capelet that one of the glitter girls sent me, so I went a little crazy and made a whole stack of cards.




The mermaids are my favorite. I used parts of the illustrations from The Water Babies and some random lady illios I had laying around for inspiration.

On Friday my friend Laura and I sat around for hours teaching ourselves to crochet. Well, teaching ourselves the "real" way to crochet using patterns and all that. I should have something crocheted to show soon!

Yesterday Rocket Boy and I drove around with my sister looking at houses. We've got a realtor lined up to start showing us some and hopefully we'll be in a house of our very own by the end of the summer! It's a little overwhelming, to be honest. I had a little bit of a freak out this morning because I act like a spoiled three year old when I'm faced with any sort of long term change.

I'm off to do some more crafty things- Maybe I'll finish another project today!

Still hibernating

Of course I did not do what I said I was going to do in my last post. Oh well.

I have been crafting though! One of my students gave me a beautiful blank book for the holidays. I wanted to turn it into a photo album or something because the pages are a beautiful shiny black. Then I decided that it's perfect for my sister and I to send back and forth to each other while she lives out of state. We're filling the pages with letters and art and scrapbook type things. Here's the inside front cover. I used a library pocket from a used book I bought years ago and some of my favorite stamps from my collection.



Then I wrote her a letter and made a little letter pocket to put it in. I was making a stamp for the corner too, but I sliced my hand open with the exacto knife and abandoned that project for awhile.

Before and after

So, I'm ready to get started on making some holiday gifts but uh, this is what my crafty space looks like.

So, my first project of the day is going to be cleaning. Whoo! Hopefully I'll be back in an hour or two with an updated picture.

Ahh. SO much better. Although, I didn't really clean up all my beads. I just moved them off the table and onto the hutch. That's okay, because organizing my beads is on my list of things to do. I just haven't done it yet because it will be a whole weekend task. (Excuses, excuses)
Okay- I'm off to make a pattern (that's why the open notebooks are on the table. I don't plan on leaving them there!) and a holiday monster.

Go ahead Mr. Wendall

One post in the last month? Bor-ing! I've made a little challenge for myself- one post a week for the next 3 months. We'll see what happens.

I've been in a pretty deep funk, to tell the truth. I think it's the month of November. I don't know why, but every year in October I get all excited about plans for the upcoming holidays, and then BAM! it's the first week of December. It stresses me out because I never get everything I planned on doing actually done.

I have been crafting lately though! Here are some ATC's I made for a glitter swap. I found this great dog stamp in my stash of stuff and decided to make a set of cards around it. So I present Wendall the Wonder Dog! There's Wendall walks at sunset, Wendall swims in his dreams, Wendall catches a bitchin' wave, Wendall dreams of being King, Wendall contemplates making lemonade, Wendall leaves the weeds, and Wendall in Bat Country.








I started by laying down a layer of watercolor on one big sheet. I was just playing around with the colors, enjoying the process of painting. Then I cut the big sheet into ATC size (3.5 by 2.5 inches) and decided where to place the stamp. I colored Wendell and the other details with colored pencils and gel pens (for his collar and any spots that didn't stamp shiny enough). Then I added crepe paper or other collage stuff. I think they all came out pretty nice, but Wendell in Bat Country, my homage to the late, great Hunter S. Thompson is my favorite. I almost didn't send it to be swapped!

I can't wait to see what I get in return. I love swapping, but I'm so bad about it- I almost always send late because I freak out about my stuff not being good enough.