Not here...

I'm not here today. I mean, I'm here, both physically and mentally, but not...blogilly. I'm over at Craftionary today, doing my first ever guest post! Did you ever do one? It's kind of weird writing something up that's going to be somewhere else.

Anyhoodle, if you fancy seeing my tutorial for this:

...then head on over and take a peek. Later taters!

Winter Weekend

I have had such a lovely cozy weekend I don't want it to end. That whole resolution about doing the 'work' sewing during the week and the 'me' projects on the weekend has worked out quite well for my mood. I get so much more accomplished, too. Win-win.

We had some icy snowy messy crap Saturday morning. It's not the fun kind of snow that's pretty to look at - it's that crusty crunchy stuff that's a pain to shovel. It made for nice days inside sewing and stitching away. I didn't get anything finished, but I got things done, which isn't exactly the same.

Remember a few weeks ago I got gushy about the new toy I bought myself? Well, it arrived, and I spent some time playing with it. Please meet Persephone, my new Accu-Quilt cutter:

I have wanted one of these for stinkin' ages but I couldn't justify the cost to myself, especially since you have to get the cutting mats and the dies too. BUT they offered a great deal on their Facebook page a few weeks ago and I went for it. With the purchase of the cutter I got two mats and two dies for free. I threw in a couple extra dies that I liked (the apple core and the tumblers) and that was that.

This is so easy to use it's almost ridiculous. I pulled out my scraps and cut away with the tumbler die. I may have gone overboard, but they'll all get used. More to come on that front.

Overall it's been a quiet weekend. Today was the Patriots/Ravens game. I stayed in the other room quietly sewing. It was best to stay out of the way of the brother and the nephew while all that was going on. When the final kick thing to tie the game went bad, they decided that the best thing to do was make snow angels. Or, in this case, crunchy snowy ice angels.

I'm glad I sew and do quiet things. I would not want to be expected to show my devotion like this. I was freezing just taking the picture.

I'm going to go work on my ripple afghan for a bit, and then read for a little while. A quiet end to a cozy little weekend...cheers, all!

A drunkard's path of a post...

I think I had too many imaginary blooming snowballs, because my drunkard's path is a little too sober. Yeah, try and figure that one out. I have no idea what I just wrote. I made one boo-boo but it's not really one because it looks fine and didn't make anything go off-kilter, so it looks different than it's supposed to be but it's still a drunkard's path block, and I can probably make a run-on sentence out of anything if I tried. Phew...

So my mistake? I'm not entirely sure. I just think it's wrong because I couldn't make it look like any of the samples. Or maybe you need more blocks to make it look inebriated. But it's also entirely possible I'm shape-challenged. Either way, though, I like it.

To me it looks like four little gingham boots walking in a circle, so I guess it is kind of a drunkard's path, just walking in circles through a polka dot blizzard. My curves came out nice and sweet this time too:

Because I did a Google search for it I'll probably have the Feds at my door, BUT I had a few moments of intense concern that this block resembled a certain...historical symbol representing hatred and intolerance (but originally did not mean that until a certain group used it to represent its twisted view on mankind). I figured if it too closely resembled that...symbol I'd redo the whole thing, but it doesn't actually look like that so a redo was not required for cultural sensitivity purposes. If you have no idea what I'm talking about then just ignore this paragraph. Even though at this point you've probably already read it, so all I can say is 'sorry.'

I went back to proofread this and my first honest thought was "WTF did I just type?" Hence the title.. But you can't say you weren't warned---'rambly ramblings'--it's right up there in the header.

I'm very looking forward to the weekend--happy happy Friday to you!!!!

My First Fail of 2012

Over the weekend I was working on what was supposed to be a cute little Valentine's Day project. I had sorted out another tutorial I was working on (you'll get to see that next week), and was in that mode of "I can make ANYthing!" I have been largely uninspired thus far by what is out for V-day crafting. So I got this "bright" sparkly idea... It's not really a fail but it's pushing it...it's definitely a 'not how I imagined it' kind of thing...

Sooo....I bought a package of heart shaped doilies, and some fine red glitter. I had a 3-D heart shaped idea in my head but it was way too messy so I went in another direction. I didn't exactly know WHICH direction but I figured I'd figure it out as I went along. I sprayed Elmer's spray adhesive on the doilies and generously sprinkled them with glitter. My mother said, and this is a direct quote, "You're putting glitter on doilies and calling it a project?" At this point I had no idea what I was really aiming for but I kept plodding along.

When I have no idea what to do with something I've made a bunch of I will invariably say "I'm going to string it up and make a garland!!" So I took some jute (twine?) and strung them up, and used some cute old-school thumbtacks I found in the junk drawer:

It was too bland. So I wrote some Valentiney sayings on scrapbook paper and pinned them up with miniature red clothespins -

Haha--that was the last one I made--I was running out of ideas.

So, yeah...not awful. But not fabulous. The worst part? I had glitter in my underwear and up my nose, I had to soak and scrub my hands forEVer to get the glue and glitter off, and you know what? The FREAKin' glitter is 'raining' off of the hearts. You can see how some of the edges are bare... it's quite annoying. I should have remembered my glitter misadventures from when I was younger. I love the stuff, but it clearly despises me.

How has your crafting been thus far? Had any botched jobs yet?

La Nina Made Me Do It

I love snow. I adore it. I long for it. It keeps winter interesting. I don't like 18 inches in a storm. About six is good--it makes everything quiet and pretty, it isn't impossible to shovel...it's a good amount. Due to stupid weather patterns this year it looks like we won't be seeing many flakes, if any at all (which I guess is fine since for the past few years we got hit with a few hefty storms). So I had to take matters into my own hands and make my own snow. It's inside too, which is better because I don't have to bundle up to see it.

This was maybe one of the easiest things to make ever. It's not even really made so much as hung up... I apologize for the dimmish photos--this window in the kitchen is awful for taking photos near - no matter the time of day or year the lighting just doesn't work.

The little puffballs are a few pom-poms strung up on thread. The friction of the two keeps the pom-poms from sliding down. The larger flakes are glitter covered plastic flakes I got at Michael's for a dollar, strung on varying lengths of thread.

The photos are horrible, but when you see it in actuality there is a hint of gift-shop-wiindow-at-Christmas about it. This actually would have been monumentally better in the window over our Christmas decor but better late than never.

Even my dad came in and said "Wow, that looks really pretty!" He usually doesn't comment unless you're shoving what you made in his face and saying "Look at this and comment!!" (aren't most men like this?).

Here's how it looks a bit from afar - you can see how it all delicately hangs --

I walked into the kitchen late last night, and the recessed lights set up in the 'ceiling' of the window made it look so pretty - almost as though you were watching snow falling outside, gently lit by a street light. No picture - I couldn't get it to show up without the harsh flash, which would defeat the purpose.

My original plan was to crochet a bunch of snowflakes and hang them up but I got really bored, so I made four. They didn't look that good with the others hanging up there, so they're just stuck to the window right now.

I love how the light shows through, and makes it look like it's glowing :)

I don't really have much else to share. I think I inhaled a pound of glitter this afternoon, and I'm hoping that craft works out well because if it doesn't it's going to be extremely annoying to be coughing up glitter in August. I've been chugging through some sewing, but nothing too fun. My first repeat of my rainbow ripple is done. I've kind of been lazing about all weekend, eating candy, drinking tea, and forcing the dog to snuggle with me. How am I ever going to get up the will to go to work tomorrow?

Linking up here:

Skip to My Lou *** Sumo's Sweet Stuff *** Pinkapotamus *** Ask Anna *** Sew Can Do *** Craftomaniac *** Homemaker on a Dime *** C.R.A.F.T. *** Running With  Glitter *** Sarahndipities *** Sugar Bee Crafts *** All Thingz Related *** Creative Itch Boutique *** Funky Polkadot Giraffe *** Chef in Training *** Tip Junkie *** My Girlish Whims *** Sew Much Ado *** Blue Cricket Design *** Free Pretty Things for You *** Tea Rose Home *** Someday Crafts *** Somewhat Simple *** Fireflies and Jellybeans *** Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom *** Today's Creative Blog *** Between U and Me *** Creation Corner *** The Shabby Nest *** While He Was Napping *** Tatertots and Jello *** Be Different Act Normal *** To Sew With Love *** Sugar Pink Boutique *** Craftionary

Cloudy Flower

Ever see those text clouds that take common words from a blog/site/etc. and smoosh them into a shape? I was bored, and  I saw a site, and now I'm going to make you look at the one that was generated for me:

Some of the word placements are interesting - how 'sewing things' is kind of front and center, and 'little time' is kind of prominent on the lower right. I don't know how these are generated but I'm wondering if its the most common words that are largest.... I'm also wondering when I've used the word 'don.'

There are a few different options you can play with - shape, font, color - but I went with something slightly Valentiney. Give it a try - and let me know if you do! I'd love to check out your clouds :)

Blooming Snowball

Wouldn't 'blooming snowball' make an excellent beverage name? I don't know what it would be made of, but I would order that all the time if it was really a drink. Not ALL the time, I'm not an alkie, I usually get iced tea, but if I felt like a drink I'd totally have that, not that I want a drink that often. But wait...is there tequila in a blooming snowball? Because then I don't want it.

Sorry. I had to pause and think of what I'm supposed to show you. It's my next quilt block. We were introduced to curves this week, of which I was not a lick afraid. The pattern itself was quite simple, and I've sewn a gajillion curves with bag gussets and the top of my wavy tote and all that jazz, so I wasn't intimidated at all. I think the parts cut on the bias did get stretched a bit, and that's why this one doesn't lie completely flat right now in that top part:

 

I don't think you can get the full impact of this block unless you have several of them made up and joined together--it would probably make the niftiest pattern of interlocking petals. I actually like this one better set on point (tilt your head about 45 degrees to see) - I like the big white curvy cross that it forms.

 

This block, according to the directions, was going to finish at 12 inches. My other blocks are all 12 1/2 inches. I played with the pattern a tiny bit to get the extra space, which might be another reason it's a little bit off. But it's good enough.

OK, must trot. I want to squeeze in a little reading time before bed. Have a good Friday!