Sometimes I think I'm so smart.  Like the time I thought it would be a really good idea to knit a rug.  1st I made a really loooooooooong i cord ball.  I used all the red and yellow and orange yarn in the house. 

I thought it would take a really long time to make but it didn't.  Sitting and waiting for it to make itself did make it take longer.

Eventually I sewed it all up.

It looked great for a day.

But using differnt weight yarn that was made out of all different kinds of yarn made it bumpy and it never laid flat.  I took it apart and washed it after we got rid of our cat (That's another story).

Here's some of it, post felting.  It sat for about two years until I decided to cover my wreath form.

Ta da!

Is that for me?

This guy was an experiment.  I don't think I'll make more like him.  I was cleaning up after making him - and a few others - and left him on Matt's side of the bed.  Is that for me?  he asked, excitedly.   I was so surprised. I didn't know he wanted a stuffed animal. 

Yes, of course!  You should have it, I answered.  I've made so many and never thought to make one for Matt.  He's just really not a stuffed animal kinda guy.  Now the bunny lives on Matt's side of the bed.

OK.  After re-reading this post I have to add this:  It's on his side table, not on the bed.  He really isn't a stuffed animal guy - he just loves me.  :)

Potter Fest

For the past two years the Monona Library has had a Harry Potter Festival.  

What will probably be the last one is coming up on the 29th.

This year, these guys are prizes.

They are all leftovers from different collections.  The rest sold. 

I don't know why they didn't sell.  It just happens sometimes.  My guess is that it's because they were just a little different from the rest of their respective collections.

This guy is awfully cute.  He was a Pendelton coat at one time.  Maybe I should have mixed and matched his colors a bit more, like I did with his buddies.

His vintage button eyes are made of casein, a milk protein that was used more widely before plastic took over.

OK.  This guy I can understand being overlooked.  He's super wonky and just looks sleepy.  I was experimenting with his eyes and it ended up reading as eye bags.  He used to be overalls.

He was smaller than his comrades but I think he looks awesome.  I love sleeve wings.

Too intense. 

In any case, I hope they'll be appreciated a bit more as prizes. 

Korknisse

I used to have a hard time throwing away my yarn scraps.  Every Christmas time I'm reminded of why it's not  a good idea to hang on to them in case a project for them shows up.  Especially if you have a bunch of wine corks hanging around, you know, just in case.  

Not knowing what else to do with these, we made them into Christmas decorations.

Here's the pattern, in case you are ever in the same conundrum. 

Earlier Quilt

I was being ironic when I picked as many obnoxious floral prints as I could get my hands on to make this quilt.  Actually, they all sort of fell into my lap.  I answered an ad on Craigslist from a woman who was getting rid of a bunch of vintage fabrics. 

This one was a sleeveless shirt

Curtain panel

Another shirt

This one is my favorite.  I love the birds.  It was a shirt, too

This is from a different batch of fabric that a friend was giving away. 

The white was from a sheet that doubled as my Princess Leia costume from Halloween 2009 and the red edging I found at Dig N Save, pre-cut and apparently rejected.   I wanted to make a classic busy quilt just for fun. It has a very active life on the couch keeping us all toasty.

Knitting

Since we aren't gifting the OCD quilt, I've put it on the procrastination pile (which is huge) to wait out the holidays.  In this case, that pile means the couch.  

Notice the safety pins all over

The blanket is being used to keep us warm already even though it has no edging and isn't full quilted yet.  That's probably a bad idea, I know, but I get such a kick out of seeing somebody wrapped up in it.

So instead of working on the quilt, I've been knitting and knitting.  

Up until this year, knitting the same thing twice was unthinkable to me.  

It's so boring and repetitive.  That's why my socks have all been fraternal twins.

This is an old pair.  You can tell I got bored on the feet because they are totally different.

I think this year, because I've been making time to create more kinds of stuff - quilts, jewelry and stuffed animals - repetitive knitting is just fine.  

I've been making the same scarf with different yarns and have really been enjoying myself.  It helps that the stitch pattern is a no brainer and I can think about other things while knocking them out.  

 

It's also helped my with my embarrassingly large yarn stash.  I now know what to do with it and even have a project for those small leftover balls of yarn that I just can't get rid of.  

This morning

Last night

I'd love to make crazy randomly colored scarves - using the same pattern - but that will wait till after Christmas too.  Not everybody appreciates random messiness.

We helped Santa out and bought a new camera on Sunday.  

Look for the Etsy shop to start growing!

Always learning...

 Two big lessons learned today.

Lesson 1.  What looks like this before being washed...

...looks like this after.  Not at all quite what I had in mind but after about 10 seconds of mourning it's perfect tidiness, I decided that I love it.  It helped that Matt really likes it, too.  The only big difference to our lives is that instead of gifting it, we're keeping it.  It's too messy for the person we had in mind. 

Lesson 2.  Repeatedly poking a needle through three layers of fabric (Denim - sometimes 2 layers of that -  batting and then upholstery canvas) hurts like hell.  I finally started using a thimble even though it makes me feel like a Grandma.  I'm actually taking a couple of days off to let my thumbs and index fingers heal. 

I got about 1/4 of it done before wimping out.  

I picked an orange quilting thread.  

It don't think it's a perfect choice but matches the little orange dots on the backing fabric.  Maybe I'll be learning a lesson from this, too.

I'm bummed that my tidy OCD rectangles will get so messy but, on the other hand, I'm sure I'll learn to love it. That's just the way I'm made.

In the meantime, I'm knitting scarves like Christmas is coming.

Way Back Machine

During October I participated in the Habitat for Humanity Restore Art Auction.

I donated 3 stuffed animals,  and, at the last second, I included bio's for them.

The auction went pretty well.  It was fun to have my work in an art opening and it felt good to support the Habitat for Humanity.   The only bummer was that they forgot to include the bio's.  Two of the three Woollies were sold.  I was a little disappointed that the bio's weren't included because I think they would have helped to sell them for a little more.

So I thought I'd post them here because it was so much fun to put together and there really isn't anywhere else to share them:

This set includes one (1) Super Hero Wannabe who is just figuring out how to use his sleeve/wings for good.  Our hero is constructed out of wool jackets.  His muzzle is the flap of a pocket.  His mask is the lapel from another jacket.  His nose is made of Casein – milk protein that was more widely in use before plastic became popular.  He doesn’t sport a label but won’t let that hold him back.

One (1) Sidekick who could probably run the show but she’s too nice to let our Super Hero feel bad.  She too was once a Herringbone coat and also has a pocket mouth.  Her eyes and nose are a mix of vintage and thrifted buttons.  Her label identifies her as “Stafford Executive” but her ric rac keeps her from getting too snooty about it.

One (1) Patchwork Villain who turned to crime for the thrill of it.  His patchwork is from some very old and some not so old jackets and skirts.  He’s a bit of a mixed up kid with buttons from all over the place as well.  He has yet to live up to his label, which promises ‘Satisfaction Always’.  His deep secret?  His label came from the main fabric of our Super Hero – they have more in common than they could possibly imagine.

Salvaged for these little dudes:

10 Wool Coats

2 Wool skirts

8 Vintage buttons (From school assignments circa 1941 & 1959)

Each Woollie is stuffed with 100% wool stuffing to keep away dust mites (They hate wool).

You're welcome

Here's a test swatch for the OCD quilt.  I tried hand quilting it.  I think if I do the whole blanket this way, I'll make the stitches further apart so that I can finish in this decade.  The backing is a  heavy cotton from IKEA.  I was going to use it for chair covers since but I haven't even begun to consider working on that project, this one wins.  I do have the chairs, though.  But I am NOT a hoarder (spoken like a true hoarder)!

My big worry is that the rectangles will fall off or fray in the wash so I'm going to throw this one through a cycle and see what happens.  If they fall off I may go through and zig zag them on with a blue thread.  That promises to be a colossal pain because I've already sewn all the squares together.

 I used jean top stitching thread because I like the weight of it for this but I don't like the color so I'll be using a different thread if I hand stitch it.

Getting there...

Oh.  I found this pair of acid washed, pleated front Bill Blass jeans at Dig N Save and cut them up for a border.  They will never grace anyone's ass again.                                                                                                        You're Welcome.

Puzzle Pieces

My daughter dropped the camera on the floor last night and now it works - kinda.  It's still held together by a rubber band from a bunch of asparagus and it thinks it needs a new battery all the time BUT I was able to get a picture of the OCD quilt.  It's all denim from jeans.  I put it together like a puzzle and now I have to sew it so that we regain the use of our dining room table.  This means I'm still procrastinating on my couch but at least I'm using some denim, right?

 I realize that this isn't really like a Japanese Boro Quilt - mine aren't really random enough - but those quilts are so amazing that I am going to add some links to some pictures.  They just blow me away.  I've heard that what collectors tend to show are the back sides of the quilt.  I can see why.

Fibercopia 
Harvey Antiques - Check out those prices.
Reference Library - Shows the front and back.

Camera

My camera is a family camera.  It's also several years old.  

I mention this because it is in the process of dieing an inconvenient death.  

Just look at the difference in the quality of the pictures. 

Before

After

With that in mind, I am not really going to have any good, new photos until after Christmas.  Santa is bringing us a new camera.  I'll see what I can do with old pictures in the meantime:

Older picture, obviously.

Etsy?

A few years ago I opened an Etsy store.  I listed only my jewelry.  No bites.

I truly think that you have to have an established customer base already to sell things on Etsy.  I let the shop go having learned that Etsy is a dead end for me.

So, somebody please explain to me why I just opened another one.

It means I have to have an inventory that's just for Etsy, I have to keep up with the site, I have to deal with shipping and taxes.  Yet, there it is.

I only have one item on there right now.  I plan to list a wider variety of items:  stuffed animals, jewelry and maybe even some vintage stuff.  Maybe that will justify my many trips to Dig N Save.

If I mention my Etsy store on the tags that are on things I sell locally, maybe someone will check it out, right? 

I used Marilyn Monroe logic:
"Ever notice how 'What the hell' is always the right answer?"
— Marilyn Monroe

Apparently

 When I have a cold, I usually play Sudoku.  Something about completing the patterns while sitting under a quilt on the couch is comforting when I don't really have the energy to do anything. 

 

But this time, I got into sewing little rectangles onto jeans instead.  

It's weird, I know but it's fun.  

After a while my husband asked if I was making a quilt.

 Apparently, I am. 

I honestly had no idea.  I was just keeping myself busy.

Now that they are becoming a quilt, though, it brings to mind (vaguely) Japanese boro quilts. 

I didn't stay too focused though.  I made this little dude, too.

I gave him to my son.  

I think I'll make some more.  

I didn't know denim would be so much fun to sew.