New Pillows!

I finally busted out the sewing machine and made more pillows! Now available at Fabricate.

Leftovers

I made a bag and it has a zipper!

Pillow!

I finally used this fabric I bought a while ago. Hoping to finish a
few more projects for the store this weekend.

Sewing!

I can't find my pin cushion so I decided to make my own and a few
extra to sell at the store.

Yay Saturday!

Today was a good day. We had the chance to sleep in, clean the house a bit, and work on some of our own projects. Then we went to see The Fall, mostly because I was really wanting popcorn but luckily it turned out to be a really good movie that made me cry big alligator tears. I recommend seeing it at a theater near you.

Now I'm spending a quiet evening at home. Ben is upstairs working music and I've been downstairs working on a mixed CD for my long lost friend Wendy who lives in NYC. I thought it would be fun to post the play list here and encourage you to seek out these artists yourself. This isn't really news to me but I really love music. I'm not quite sure what I would do without it, I've relied on it so much in my life. I've had fun looking through all of my Cd's and going though ALL of my itunes library to sum up some of my favorite songs from the last several years. Wendy and I sort of lost touch so I'm trying to make up for some missed music sharing. Here goes.
1. For Now - Shesus (i couldn't really find a solid link for this band...they are local and broke up a few years ago)
2. New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down - LCD Soundsystem
3. New Resolution - The Heartless Bastards
4. Lola - The Raincoats
5. The Light - Mirah
6. The Lucky Ones - Viva Voce
7. Sweepstakes Prize- Mirah
8. Diana Ross -The Concretes
9. St. Apollonia - Beirut
10. Accused of Stealing - The Delgados
11. Abigail, Bell of Kilrona - The Magnetic Fields
12. 100 Knives - Mirah
13. Reminders of Then Everythings - The Moldy Peaches
14. Sentimental Heart -She & Him
15. Lonely Lonely - Feist
16. You Really Gotta Hold on Me - She & Him
17. Corrina, Corrina -Bob Dylan
18. It's a Wonderful Life - Sparklehorse
19. Go- Sparklehorse w/The Flaming Lips (daniel johnston cover)
20. Make Your Move - The Delgados
21. I Turn Around- Bad Veins (you probably won't find this one anywhere for now)
I also made this cozy CD holder. It's not quite square but hey...I tried okay. I've learned that when it comes to sewing I don't really have a plan when I start so that usually leads to issues. I'm also banking on the fact that I don't think Wendy reads my blog. Wendy, if you've started reading you'll receive your CD in 2-3 business days.





Finally Self-Portrait #105 went all wrong so I gave up on it. That's going to happen I guess so there you have it.

The Craft Pad Is Here!!!!

But first...self-portrait #49. Ben knocked on the bathroom door this morning to tell me that my package had arrived. I love that he knew it was important enough to interrupt my morning bathroom time.

Receiving the Sublime Stitching Craft Pad made my day but then I realized that I couldn't start another project until I finished my long neglected sewing machine cover. It actually needs a few finishing touches but that will require a trip to the store on another day. I got far enough to rid myself of the guilt of a neglected project. It's far from perfect but will serve its purpose.

Now the package!!!!!















It's so cool! There are so many great patterns that compliment the Sublime Stitch-it Kit that I already have.














The packaging is so fun. I highly suggest visiting the Sublime Stitching site and getting one for yourself!

Walks, Onesies, and Wrapping Paper

I made this discovery while taking a walk today. The car I pass daily and admire it's fun fruits and vegetables but today something was different. I'm not sure if it's a political statement or the driver just thought that was a good place to keep a gas can. I'm thinking political...but the message is still a bit unclear to me. Maybe my few blog readers will have some insight. I feel like I'm on a scavenger hunt when I walk through my neighborhood. I can never tell what I'll find each time.

One of my coworkers/friends is expecting a baby boy mid this month. I have another gift up my sleeves but I wanted to have a gift to give at the shower so I whipped up this onesie using one of my favorite Sublime Stitching patterns. I've used it a few times but it's so perfect for many occasions that I can't resist it when I'm combing over my pattern selection.

Here's a close up for your viewing pleasure. Then I had the opportunity to do one of my favorite things...make my own wrapping paper out of old magazines. We've gotten a good collection going on between our old copies of Real Simple which we canceled to try out Ready Made, Rolling Stone, and National Geographic. Here's how I do it:
1. Pick out a color pallete that works by combing through each page until I have a few good pages.
2. Then I lay the face down on the floor and tape them all together side by side until there is enough paper to cover the package.
3. Wrap it up!
4. Make a cute bow using strips from the leftover paper edges.

You should try it.It's fun and the environment will thank you.

Snow Day Part Two

This snow day has made me productive. After packing clothes, toiletries, and all of the important necessities, I started working on packing my entertainment bag. I recently bought a drawing pad so I could keep up with my 365 self-portrait challenge while on the road so I don't bore my one or two readers with more photographs of myself.
I did, however, start thinking how flimsy it would be floating around in my bag so I decided to make this cozy felt cover for it today. My sewing machine didn't like this idea as much so there were a few snag along the way but it'll serve it's purpose.
I've also been getting my supplies organized in my studio and I finally found a use for these two mason jars that used to belong to my grandma. She would approve.
This is a sneak peek at my next project.

Word Search

My spell check isn't working so I've decided to make it into a game. How many misspelled words can you find in this post?
Anyways, I haven't been as productive as I would like but I'm trying to fix that today. I have the day off in honor of President's Day which is pretty funny to me since I probably can't name the most ten recent presidents. Sad but true. I started the day off watching the final episode of My So Called Life. I've been watching the entire season on order from Netflix and reliving how uncomfortable and awkward being a teenager really was. After some reflection I retrieved Ben from his studio and we went to lunch at the Blue Jay with Rick where we talked about how artists represent themselves on the internet. Should they use myspace, should they have a site, should they have a blog. There is no real road map to follow because technology is changing so fast and it's turning the art and music world upside down. It's sort of exciting to watch but nerve wracking to be a part of through Ben. I'm feeling sort of talkative today which happens when I have a few days from work to let my mind clear of all of it's clutter.

This weekend has given me some time to play with my sewing machine. Last week I made this pillow cover. It's not perfect but it was good practice. I apparently didn't iron it enough on one side. The iron and I have a bad relationship because I neglect it so. The pillow has two different sides so I can flip it when I get tired of one side...that and the fact that I didn't have enough fabric for an entire pillow.











My second pillow cover was more successful. I made it for the couch in Ben's studio. I ordered the fabric from Lucky Kaeru Fabric & Supplies. It's hard not to go crazy buying fabric when it is this cool.

Holy Hell It's January!

This blog post was supposed to happen a long time ago but the holidays and this new position of mine have sucked all of my spare time so I've decided that I need to make a list of goals for this year to make sure this doesn't keep happening. I generally hate New Years resolutions so I decided to make goals. That's different right? Before I commit the list I'd like to finally show of some projects that I finished over the holidays. There are more to come but unfortunately I just finished a few and have not given them to their new owners...yes...I know the date.


The first projects are gift card holders that I made for some of my co-workers. They were really fun and added a personal touch to the impersonal gift card.










This is my standard baby hat which, of course, turned out too big despite my efforts to make it smaller. Luckily my nephew has a pretty big head and looks really cute in over sized hats.
I seem to be out of shape and have grown tired of writing this post. My first goal of the new year is to post my goals for the new year before the end of the week.

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.

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.

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!!!