My Favorite Christian Holiday Has Passed

Can you believe it, Christmas is over?! It came and went so quickly - aside from stores setting up for the holiday. They start that in July. :| I'm okay with the holiday passing by because goodies come around less and less. However, I will mention that I am going to begin baking again! I've asked my Ma over to bake - you know, these are activities that we enjoy doing together. Is it all that insane? :D

All right, I'll move on. Ed liked the beret that I crocheted up for him. it was part of his Christmas gift. I would show the hat with a photo of him instead of my model, but he is burned out from me taking his photo so much. I doubt I'll ever get a decent one of him again! LOL When he has the beret on, he looks like a fella in the military. It looks nice and he claims it's comfortable. Whew! 

As some of you know, I try to crochet after dinner to keep me from eating. Well, I eventually put down the hook and took up the fork and spoon. I've been eating so much ice cream that it's crazy. I thought I would try switching up my hobby to keep my interest and my body out of the kitchen! So, beads it was. I made this beautiful bracelet with glass bugle beads, seed beads and semi-precious amethyst stones.

These pretty earrings also have the semi-precious amethyst stones as accents. Both of the pieces can be considered "green" since I used the beads from pieces that I took apart. The vintage tear-drop green beads were also from a piece that I took apart. When stones and glass become too heavy to wear around the neck on a string, it's nice to break it up and make smaller pieces from them.

I just love the Swarovski crystals too. I'm a sucker for the aurora borealis finish on ALL beads. I just can't stop looking at them! The blue color of these beads are so cheery for spring or summer jewelry.

I mentioned in my last entry that I was going to work on a "flying geese" table runner. Well, I was finally able to get into my sewing room just yesterday. I frantically started cutting my fabric up and I didn't realize that I was following the wrong instructions. I cut up my fabric in all sorts of strip widths! I had to start the project over with some other fabric I had in my stash. This morning, I cut the new fabric choices into strips and I was extremely careful to follow the correct instructions.

What am I going to do with all of my erroneously cut strips? ...coasters, of course. I love making quick projects. In between making the coasters, I plan on working on this "big idea" I have. My goal is to be finished by December 31st, but it might just be January 1st. That wouldn't be bad. Either way I'll be bringing something new into year 2011. I plan on revealing my "big idea" here, next Tuesday. It's very exciting so please check back!

Have a great New Year's Eve!

Until next Tuesday...

Clay, Clay and More Clay

Ooo... two more days until Christmas break! I'm very excited for this. I have been subbing in the school district recently. Because it's not my routine schedule, I'm a little tired. But I have good news - I was offered a permanent position in the AM! I'm so glad for this, as I have been applying for various part time jobs with no luck. My search stops here!

As busy as I am, I have made time to play in my sewing room. Although, I am not sewing. I made some snow people decorations for the tree from polymer clay. These people were not my idea; I think I saw them on an etsy shop. I'm glad that I made several because I was able to gift one to my Aunt-in-law with her card. I actually gave her this cute snowlady.

Here's the snowman.

I saw a tutorial on youtube to make Hello Kitty. All the kids at work have Hello Kitty all over their jackets and back-packs. When I saw the tutorial, I thought it was too cute to pass up. Yes, it's lumpy and crooked. I need more practice, but she's still adorable! I REALLY need practice painting whiskers. The tutorial showed black wire. I could have used the wire I had and then painted it with black enamel. I plan to do that next time. I suppose I'll be able to use these figures at work with the children I support. I plan to make some googly-eyed type monsters with goofy clothing that the boys might have interest in.

The Christmas holiday is just around the corner. I haven't had too much time for baking and I think it's a good thing this year. I do plan to bake some throughout the winter since I missed the "big bake" this year, however. 

Upcoming projects: Flying Geese table runner. "Flying Geese" is the name of a quilt block. I'm not going to appliqué geese to the runner. :) I'm getting my fabric ready next Monday, just in time for quilting on Saturday, January 1, 2011! I don't know if I will have much to blog about next Tuesday. I'm not sure how much time I will get in my sewing room. We'll see.

Until next time...

Merry Christmas!

More Little Wallets & Four Coasters

Holiday greetings everyone! So the holidays are coming up and I've been subbing more in the school district. What does that mean for my craft life? It's getting squished - but it's not gone! Attending sewing clubs and groups keeps me motivated to get at least one item finished per month. I like to blog each week so that's another motivation.

So this week, I worked on two more wallets. This time I added a trim to the flap. I used white and cream trim and I like them both the same. I still would like to put my "WizardGir1" logo tag inside. I think I'll have to hand sew them in.

And to keep myself away from food after dinner, I've picked up my crochet hook each night. I'm planning to crochet every night for the rest of my life. :) Okay, it's cool and I want to become really good at the craft. So I have to practice. If I am not crocheting, my other option is knitting or the treadmill! :)

These are coasters for my mother in law. I have no idea if she uses them, but I know she likes crocheted stuff. She crochets too, so I don't know if she'll like them that much. I'll find out.

We had a ton of snow come over the Twin Cities and the Minneapolis Metro dome caved in and then finally collapsed. We drove down to look at it before it collapsed. No photos of that, but I did see other things that were snapshot worthy! I thought the spare tire of this SUV was too cute to pass up. Click on the image if you can't see it that well.

Getting right into town.. there is this big brick guy on the rooftop. It's on the same block of the Utrecht art supplier that I shop at, so I see him at each visit. Isn't he just cute!?

Look how high the snow is! People were crawling over the mounds of snow all over the place. The snow doesn't seem to slow us down! The Old Spaghetti Factory is the best place to eat with it's fun ambiance. It has old cathedral stained glass windows inside. These are gigantic!

I thought this structure was neat to look at. I first noticed the heart pattern and then it drew my eye down the length of it. Some of the patterns look tribal to me. This is by the dome, btw. 

That's it for me today. It wasn't too elaborate of an article, but I promised myself I would do this once a week. I have had an itch to play with Sculpey polymer clay so that's what I'm going to do. Of coarse I'll take photos to share. The dishes can wait! :)

Art of Amiguruami

Well I can't believe it. Another week flew by! When I looked at my planner this morning, I gasped when I realized it was blog day. I thought "Ah, WHAT AM I GOING TO BLOG ABOUT?!" Then I realized that even though I haven't been sewing this past week, I have been crafting. Yup, I sat down with my mom and we started an amiguruami frog pattern. From the research I did, "amiguruami" is Japanese style of crocheting in the round. Geez, it's a lot of fun! You gotta try it.

This guy is made of 100% acrylic worsted weight yarn - the color is "olive", Vanna's Choice from Lion Brand. His legs are the same brand of yarn, and I think "fern" is the color. He's just an adorably goofy looking froggy. The style of his pupils is my creative edge to give him a Kermit The Frog look about it. I stuffed him with poly fill that the local craft shops carry.

I also finished up my winter hat. When I began, I found extra yarn that I had in my stash - there were no labels on the skeins. After I finished, I realized that it was left over yarn from my felted purse project. It's 100% wool. Do you know what that means? I need to hand wash it unless I want to felt it for a baby! :) The skein is soft to the touch, but it's itchy on the head. Next hat I make will either be a blend or 100% acrylic. (I love acrylic!)

When I went to quilting group on Saturday, I learned that my "Flying Geese" ruler doesn't make 2 ½ X 4 ½ blocks, (it makes 2 ¼ x 4 ½) which is the size I need for my table runner project. Needless to say, I didn't work on my quilt project. I'll have to cut strips manually and piece it together. I also need to work a little more on my art doll. I set her aside after I finished her skirt. Like I've mentioned before, I need to get new lace to be excited for the next step. :)


Until next week, Happy Crafting!