The End (of 2010)

There has been so much going on this past month, I have been doing so many things and seeing so many people. And I guess it is the season! Well perhaps by now--was the season
Happy New Year!

Noro

I'm working on a Noro Sekku stole right now. I am in love with Noro at the moment, and have recently knit myself two pairs of gorgeous wrist warmers. I can't wait until I can wear this, I'm not sure I can knit fast enough!

This pattern was my inspiration, but I'm not quite following it. I took some guidance from these pattern notes, and I really loved this person's stole.

disorder among other things

Things have been crazy, and it probably just means that I need to sit back and relax a while. take a look at the bigger picture. stop getting frustrated. (Yes this is a picture of my son with a huge mouthful of dirt and rocks. He thought it was hilarious)

A few things-

1. I seem to have given up on house work lately. My excuses: It's not my house, I cant really change things to how I would really like them, so why bother cleaning. It's like being her maid-my mother that is. Disorder and chaos ensue.

2. I keep trying to make things. I cant help it. I am working on the balance between crafting (0r doing anything) and mothering, and all I can say is that it is hard.

3. Growing children! Tabitha is 2! We had a lovely birthday dinner for her even though celebrations are always a gray area to negotiate.

My Mr. Man, father to my children, was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. He hasn't practiced since he was in his teens, but he still has so much of it instilled in him. I tend to notice it most when we argue, and also around any kind of Holiday. Don't get me wrong--I am not against their practices or beliefs, I just think that the lack of celebrations is kind of a bummer.

I can understand the mentality behind it, I mean people should go out of their way more often to make every day special and show their loved ones that they love them all year round. Some do. Some don't.

For my daughter's first birthday, I didn't do anything special. But I am seeing so much change in her all the time and I feel that this two year mark has shown so much more change than number one did. So we had a little celebration.

I made her a backpack just her size. Didn't really use a pattern, I just tried to make as few raw seams as possible. The straps are adjustable, and there is a main pocket and a front pocket. I did not iron it at all during any point of its creation. So be it

She likes it!

Ocotillo

I have thought about doing a linoleum block cut for a while, and finally got the supplies together and more importantly, my ideas together. Ocotillo is definitely a special desert plant--looks like a cactus but bursts out with leaves at certain times. Searching through flickr images of ocotillo brought me to a photo with a comment about the plant being protective of its new growth much like an animal with its young.

Anyway I love the concept of the tender young leaves springing out from a sea of thorns.

It feels great to be doing something kind of artistic and reminds me of how much I loved taking art classes when I was in school. I did a lino block cut in high school, except it was a "suicide" print with different layers of color.

I did do a little stamp for my little logo, although I did it in a haphazard manner late at night, and feel like I should do it again, better. I'll show you anyway.

some knitting spree..

As I sit here knitting at my computer, waiting for it to slowly upload photos... the children are asleep, and I can feel this nagging that I have to hurry and do whatever it is that makes me happy right now because I'm not gonna get the chance soon enough again. I can't say that I like the feeling. I have been telling myself that I need to stop it and realize that being with my kids does make me happy and to embrace it while they still need me. Who cares if they don't wear hand-knitted sweaters? right?

And now is my cue to blame it on the weather, because it's just so flippin' hot that we just can't go outside. Then when it does cool down enough to venture out, mosquitoes just demolish me, and the kids. And Tabitha's been sick. I am definitely the victim of crummy circumstances.

Well here's what I've been up to besides griping about the kids DRIVING ME NUTS...

The purse strap

I got this purse, (well actually it might be a travel bag or something) at the good ol' goodwill outlet store, and it has been working out for me really well. But first I had to make a strap for it, because I'm a long strap kind of person. I just need them to be long so they can go over the shoulder. I sewed together some scraps from the black & white baby quilt I made, and I really like the results.

Projects.

Quilting. Knitting. Sewing.

I am a project starter, and though I do finish projects, I generally have a whole lot of things going at once so that it takes a while, and then suddenly I have all of these things done.

I am just starting this baby sweater from Vintage Baby Knits. I am doing it in a kind of awful acrylic from the thrift store and though I wish I had the funds to buy beautiful yarn, I like the fact that I may be saving this yarn from the landfill for a little while longer. ( you know Thrift Stores have to throw a lot of stuff away..)

And plus, It's my first sweater.

As you can see, I also have this quilt that I have been quilting by hand in spurts, here and there. At the moment I am keeping it out on the table to encourage its completion.

Then there are these little pouches that I had to send off to Michigan to find new homes. Which is really cool, but I had to photograph them first. I used an old vinyl tablecloth to line one for my friend to use as a makeup bag, and the other is a gift for her pet-sitter! My first sale!!!

hopefully I will be doing more of that in the near future.

late night baking

This was impulse baking at its best. I made these nearing 11:00 while the kids were still up for some unknown reason. I guess it was a result of their little bedtime boycott.

I used this lovely recipe for these very indulgent treats

black and white baby quilt

This will be my second quilt ever complete--third started--and one of many to be made in the future.
It's for my sister's son, due to be born sometime in October. I hope he likes it!

The design is based on a tutorial here, but made it a little bit smaller (I think).

Atlas seemed to think it was ok.

and Tabitha too!

frogged

no photos from CA : ( o well maybe next time!

What have I been doing these past weeks??
WEelll, we are currently in California visiting Mr. Dan! yay. but aside from that I have been working on a couple little crafty things, cooking things, and some earthy things too.

Ive taken another go at the crochet rag rug thing, and it has been rather enjoyable since I am now more proficient with the whole crochet method.

So I finally got around to trying out a no-knead bread recipe, and I am absolutely in love. I have read about no-knead bread here and there, but this post here finally got me to check out this book, and what a shame I never actually tested a single recipe while I still had the book out from the Library. No-knead bread rocks!
This also reminds me that I want to build a solar oven if the sun ever comes out...

Now the earthy part is our friends house where we are staying. They have a beautiful garden growing this summer: squash, melons, pumpkins, corn, tomatoes--though none have ripened since it has been so cold lately, peppers, onions, potatoes, beans, lettuce, dyno-kale, and lots of broccoli. Oh and we can't forget the delicious strawberries that Tabitha has eaten almost all to herself.
There are two chickens that we are going to eat soon, and two new baby ducks that have been growing before our very eyes. I hear that duck eggs are very good, and these gals are going to be a'layin.

Now wouldn't it have been wonderful if I had had my camera all this time? Well, Im taking some film pictures that I will have to get developed at some point s I may be able to fill in some pictures eventually.

And I wouldn't want to forget how sweet it is that Tabitha has been attatched to her daddy since we got here. She crys when he leaves without her now! I am going to be sad to leave him on the 15th of August. Well we have him for now!!

thrifty-quilty

I couldn't pass up these lovely handmade quilts that I found at the Goodwill Outlet store, which sells stuff by the pound! They may need a little tlc, but I just fell in love. I have come across some beautiful handmade quilts in secondhand shops before, but they have always been too pricey for me and my slim budget.

Quilting seems to be taking up a lot of my time these days. It has been a long way coming, but the quilt top (briefly pictured here) I made for Tabitha while I was pregnant with Atlas has at last been sandwiched and pinned and I have made a huge dent in the quilting that I am doing by hand.

Yeah! It feels really good to say this because it seems like this quilt has been looming over me for quite some time.

I will be patiently awaiting the arrival of winter so that I can enjoy all the quilty goodness I would like to surround myself with!

I couldn't really believe it when I found the hand-embroidered bird quilt. Thank you world, for the thrilling find!

missing daddy/dilly-dallying

Mr. Father of my children/life partner has gone on a little adventure without us. He has been gone for a couple of weeks already and we won't see him again until August, and we're missing all the little things that we love about him. While he is gone though, I feel like it will give me a break to kind of take care of myself. This may sound half crazy, seeing as how I've got these two little babies that need very much of me, very much of the time. Still, one less person and one less dog that the mama in me normally takes care of actually makes a bit of a difference.

In other news, I have been trying to get myself to really get some things made that I could sell at craft fairs this coming fall, which is the season for that kind of thing here. I really just need to take the plunge and put all fears out of my head--not doing anything is definitely worse than failing.

My mom is a great inspiration in that area. She started a glass bead business when I was in high school, just setting up at little craft shows after developing quite the hobby. She makes some beautiful beads. By the way she has an etsy shop--Glass Twigs, although she does most of her business locally.

Well anyway.. I guess I am off to fiddle with this pile of little fabric squares and zippers, and hopefully at some point they will become pouches for keeping all the little things in life.

late night mixing

My cure-all has always been baking. No matter what ails me, a visit with the mixing bowl has always made it better.

This is almond chocolate chunk cookie dough.

More

We attempted to teach Tabitha sign language, mostly before she turned one. I didn't really do a good job I guess, and she wasn't using signs as I thought she would be able to. She definitely understood some though--like milk, she would most certainly react when we showed her the sign for milk. We stopped using the sign so much when she stopped nursing at about 11 months, and I think it was really her father who only sometimes showed her signs for eat and more and a few other simple things.

A couple of months ago, shortly after Atlas was born Tabitha started using the sign for more, and more recently she has used the sign for eat! I was so surprised and excited that she had remembered even though I had kind of given up on it.

I now feel that signing with children is totally worth it and am certainly going to try a little harder with Atlas.

signing for more!

(I was telling her that I wanted one more picture when she did this)

A rug in progress

I love my t-shirt yarn balls.. so affordable!

One of my current projects is a rag rug. I have been thinking about and testing out different methods of making rag rugs for quite some time now. The first method I tried was a round crochet rug. My first obstacle was the fact that I didn't know how to crochet, so I managed to teach myself the basics and created two small rugs that were acceptable at first, but after some wear and washing, I realized that they were simply crocheted too loose and had formed big gaps. I proceeded to pull them out so I could put my "yarn" to another use. I did figure out that I liked working with T-shirt material better than sheets or other woven material--more stretch.

twined... and unfinished

I then discovered twined rag rugs, and twining was something I had recently learned in my weaving class so I built a frame and started twining a rug. And then I had a baby, and well you know, that kind of stuff can get put on the back burner.

So, my twined rug is to this day not completed but in the mean time I tried knitting with my t-shirt yarn and fell in love!