BUSY!

I've been too busy to post so I'll have to give some brief updates. First here is a scarf that I had been making for myself out of some left over yarn but when my friend Carolyn came to visit she claimed that I was making it for her and I folded.


Right after Thanksgiving I went to Memphis with Bad Veins. They had one show at Ardent Studio which was really cool since there have been a lot of famous recordings made in that building. Their second show was at the Hitone which apparently used to be the karate studio where Elvis used to take karate. We did go to Graceland and it was pretty depressing to me. I loved Elvis and Elvis movies when I was younger but Graceland was sort of disgusting. It's so commercial and it just doesn't make sense that one person is that famous.


We also went to the STAX Museum which was really cool! That place is filled with so much awesome music history. It made Graceland look like something made up by Hallmark.

I've been working on some Christmas presents that I can't present until after Christmas so hold onto your seats.

Oh Snap!

I've gotten to a point with this painting where I've been working on it for so long that I can't see it anymore. It's mostly finished, there may be a few touch ups here and there but it's time to let it go. I'm not sure it turned out quite how I thought.

I think I'm going to work on small 4x6in. paintings for a while. My goal is to make a total of 130 of them and ultimately have a show. I believe I have about 10 or so completed at this point. This is an example.


I'm hoping that posting this goal will light a fire under me to actually complete all of them. I must also quit giving them away as presents to friends that probably don't want them anyways.


This is my new camera case.


It is fashionable as well as functional. I was having a hard time finding a suitable case for my new camera so I figured that I could just make one and it pleases me very much to make something out of $1.00 worth of felt. I feel like I really pulled one over on "the man" with this one.

P.S. One of my office fish died over the weekend. We had a bathroom funeral where Abi, a co-worker, sang a fine song. The other fish has some sort of fungus which means that I need to go buy medicine for him, let me remind you that I purchased him for .25 cents.

Awesome, Awesomeness

This is the newest addition to my desk. I think this tiny fish tank has improved the quality of life in my office. I actually hope to slowly make my office look just like the fish tank. I'm thinking of starting with the red lamp, that seems like an easy enough find.

I purchased two tiny fish because all of the other fish were too big. They were .25 cents a piece. Their food was $3.99. Apparently they are only sold as food for other fish so I figure that I saved their lives. How nice of me. I've been trying to decide on names for them. I've been thinking of Dwight and Angela from the show The Office but that seems too easy. I need to get to know their personalities I guess.

Cotton is weird

Last weekend I went home to South Carolina to meet my new nephew. He is so tiny and adorable. I'm pretty sure he may be blind after the about of pictures that I took of him with my new camera. Bad Veins went to NYC while I was in S.C. and Ben took the camera with him so the logical thing for me to do what buy myself a new one. I had very big ambitions to make Westley tons of presents but my new job has been taking up a lot of my time. I did get to finish a few things.

My favorite has to be the fire hydrant. It didn't turn out as cartoon like as I had hoped but it still cute and made with love...so cheesy.

I also made him a few onesies
that are way too big for him but he'll grow into them.
My sisters house is right next to a cotton field, I didn't realize has funny that is until going home to South Carolina this time and realizing that we don't grow cotton in Ohio. Cotton really did look sort of silly to me this time through the eyes of a "northerner", it looks like something that Dr. Seuss would make up.
Here is one more adorable picture. He is just so damn cute. I went to Babies R Us with my sister for what felt like an eternity. I sat in the rocking chairs watching all of these babies go by and frankly a lot of them just were not cute. Westley on the other hand is adorable. Just look at him.

Hat Update

One of my first posts was about this hat. It was my very first hat and it turned out to be much bigger then I had expected. Sarah was kind enough to send me this updated picture of Carly. She has grown into it a bit but she'll probably still be wearing it when she is four.

My new NEPHEW!!!!

Westley.
My family has never felt so far away as it did today. It will be a long 10 days until I get to finally meet my new nephew Westley. I have many projects in the works to keep me busy. His early arrival has given me a good kick in the pants. He is named after my grandfather Charles Wesley Middleton, but when my sister called my mom to ask her how to spell it my mom told her that it's spelled with a T. I thought this was wrong and it turned out that it is actally spelled wrong on my mother's birth certificate. My sister went with Westley anyways. So...he is sort of named after my grandfather.

Busy Week!

First a friend at work is having a baby girl in a few weeks and I started a hat for her last weekend but before I knew it Friday, baby shower day, was fast approaching. Thursday night I finished the hat and started bunny #2. The hat turned out big...I can never win with this pattern.

I took the monkey pattern and altered it a little because I liked how the body was all one piece. I feel like she didn't turn out smiley enough so I told the mother that it was okay to hide her if she thought it would scare the baby.


Then I had to finish up two towels on Friday and Saturday which were a wedding gift for my friends Rick and Ellen. I took the pictures in a rush so they turned out terrible. Booooooo. I used patterns from Sublime Stitching. I'm going to swear them off soon and make my own I promise!

Oh yeah, my interview monkey was very lucky!!!

My Interview Monkey

I'm so excited about how cute he is. I made him on Thursday night the night before my interview for an internal position at Girl Scouts. I gave him a tie for the interview and took him to work with me. He was very professional, but would not answer my phone for me or bring me tea. Making these little guys could become an addiction.

Scarf and more importantly BUNNY!!!!

First of all I finished a scarf for my friends birthday. It looks a lot like the other scarf but the color is a little greener and I've perfected fringe. Now onto bigger and better things.




Well, actually it's smaller. I was in a book store on Saturday waiting for my glasses to be ready at the eye doctor and I came a cross The Cute Book that one of my favorite blogs has used to make really cute monkeys. Since the whole world seems to be deciding to have babies I thought it might be fun to try my hand at making some stuffed animals.


I went to the fabric store to purchase all of my materials and I only spent $16 plus I bought some more yarn for a baby hat. Since I've never sewn I thought it would be harder but it was really easy and fun.





It's not perfect(you can see the thread through the face) but I adore her. It is the most girlie thing that I have ever made and I love it. I think it's so cute it's disgusting. I want to figure out how to make a felt elephant and a fire hydrant for my sister who is about to pop any day now. I'm addicted to these little critters. You will be seeing more very very soon. I need to name her. Any ideas?

NYC

I've been a very bad blogger lately but life has been very busy. Last weekend I went to New York with the nearly famous Bad Veins. I started the trip with a lot of ambition to take lots for pictures for an exciting blog post. I started off strong in the first day and then ended up only taking about ten pictures.

I did get to start a new project during the drive that looks a lot like the project that I just finished...I promise it's a different one.


I also happened upon this fine use of stickers. I just really admire the person that had such vision and drive to place all of the stickers on this advertisement. Most tourists in NYC take pictures of the Statue of Liberty...not me!!!

Bad Veins did have two good shows. This picture was taken at Union Hall. This room looks all cozy with the old wallpaper and the floral decor. They also played the Mercury Lounge but I slacked on my picture duties there.


Finally I found some graffiti by one of my favorite graffiti artists on the last day. We were eating in this diner in Williamsburg(where all of the hipsters go to die) and I looked out the window and there they were, two Os Gemeos figures. Os Gemeos is actually Portuguese for The Twins and they are identical twin brothers. They are from Brazil but their work is everywhere. There is actually a mural here in Northside by them. I will take a picture soon and post it. These are worn a bit but you can get the picture.

Jessica Scarf

This is the project that I refered to a long time ago but could not show because it was a gift for my dear co-worker and friend Jessica. Her last day was yesterday and I completed this scarf made from yarn that she had admired at work which I then stole and crafted this scarf for her. Don't worry, I have since replaced the stolen yarn with a rougher yarn more suited for string for name tags. This yarn was to soft and awesome to die that way. I unfortunately procrastinated on taking pictures until I put a pretty bow around it. Then I didn't check the picture quality until the scarf was given away. That is how you get these blurry dull pictures. Sorry I suck at this. My spell check won't work. I'm in a really bad mood.

I found my sketchbook and I like flowers!

I've been missing my sketchbook for a while now, mostly because I've been neglecting it and it was misplaced. It was funny to open it and discover sketches that I had forgotten about. These were done in May while I was in South Carolina visiting my sister. I had some quiet evenings to myself after everyone had gone to bed and that gave me a chance to get back into my journal for a bit. The first one is a is a sketch of my suitcase.
This sketch is a self-portrait. My sketchbook has gotten smaller since I've tried to make it more portable. I used to always have an 81/2 by 11 sketch book but it just wasn't' fitting into my life anymore. The smaller sketchbook is good for writing but not so much for drawing until I started opening it up all the way and drawing across both pages. It's really nice that way and it's a nice surprise to open a small sketchbook and find a big drawing. Anyways...enjoy, hopefully there will be more sketchbook entries to come. My sentence structure is much like a six year olds today. Sorry.
This has nothing to do with my sketchbook except for the fact that I took the picture because I was outside trying to get good lighting for the sketchbook photos. So yeah, this is what I wait for every year. This flower has the best color ever. My neighbor Cathy gets these Canna Lily bulbs for me every year to plant, mostly because I forget to dig them up and they freeze in the winter. The colors are so brilliant I can't even stand it.

YUM!

I've finished another dish towel, I'm sure you are all excited. I'm starting to grow tired of them but I only have one more to make and I'm on a mission! This one doesn't exactly fit my home decor so it will likely be a gift. It took me a while because I had to master the french knot.
For some reason it took me a while even though everyone says that they are SO easy. I could just hear those people mocking me with each knot that I had to cut out, but once I got the hang of it everything was magical. I didn't even have to call Kim. I see lots of dots in my future embroidery endeavors. I feel like I've got the hang of this embroidery stuff and I'm almost ready to abandon the Sublime Stitching patterns after the next cloth and create my own.

Two Down Two, Two To Go!

I just finished this towel a few days ago. It's yet another fun pattern from the Stitch-It Kit from Sublime Stitching. I have two more towels to finish! I don't really like coffee so it will probably end up being a Christmas gift. I'm feeling sort of bad for my friends and family because they are all getting something handmade this year.
I don't really like the way my pictures are turning out. I don't feel like I'm getting enough details...except the wrinkles seem to stand out just fine. Any advise? I even ironed.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

It's my moms birthday and in celebration I thought I would take some time to honor her with a photo tribute. Here are the top ten reasons why my mom is awesome.

Reason #1 She was a damn cute baby. She doesn't even look real. She is about 18 months old here, when I was 18 months old I looked like an old man.


















Reason #2 She was also a really adorable teenager with helmet hair. I'm still amazed that that was actually a style and what is more amazing is that my grandmother still fixes her hair this way everyday.



















Reason #3 She brought me into this world! This picture also contains Reason #4 She paid for my brother to get braces. There is a highway between his two teeth in this picture. Yikes!



















Reason #5 She made me look all pretty for my preschool picture.





















Reason #6 She also let me pick my own hair cut for my kindergarten picture. Yes, I remember requesting this one.



















Reason #7 She exposed me to the Chippendale's at a very early age.
















Reason #8 She didn't make fun of me for spending hours making my hair look like this. Sorry ozone! There is a hole in the environment in the shape of that hair! Nice windbreaker too.

















Reason #9 She's HOTT and she passed that on to me.


















Reason #10 She didn't kill me before graduating from high school, God knows she came close a few times and I deserved it.



Happy Birthday MOMMY!