Friday, April 27, 2012

Trying Something New

 Willie left for Germany a week ago tomorrow. I think I'm finally through moping about it! Although I found out I've got absolutely no days off for, well, as long as is scheduled, which is until NEXT Saturday. I do sort of have the evening off right now though, and coincidentally enough, Willie asked how his quilt was coming along. So yeah, I guess I promised that.

For my last two quilts I've been going out of a book my sister-in-law gave me for my birthday a couple of years ago. But, finally, I think I've moved past the quilting section. It's very straight-forward, but doesn't leave a whole lot of room for change, and they don't teach you anything fancy (except for applique, I guess, which is pretty cool). So, I started going through some of the books my grandmother gave me. Most of them are the same sort of idea, being various patterns to go off of, like I used for the Buffy the Vampire Star Christmas Table Runner. BUT I discovered a chart that says exactly the yardage of material you need for any given number of triangles, squares, and rectangles of any measurement you can think of. Which means I'm trying my hand at designing my own quilt right from scratch!

The pieces are going to be huge, I realize that. But hopefully I can make up for it with my fine stitching and maybe even some neato embroidery like Jillian Tamaki or Anna Maria Horner seem to enjoy doing.

 The colours are a bit off, since I'm using crayons... but I was inspired by a cushion in soft grey and eggshell that was sitting on a chair when the same sister-in-law draped her bright orange-red jacket over top. So that's where the red/grey/peach idea comes from, even though I intend for the peach to be, well, much less peach.

Also, it snowed pretty hard the other day. I think I might like the last snowfall of the year just as much as the first one. And it reminds me that I must get the snow tires taken off of my car.
 
That's all for now. I might still scrap this whole idea and find a pattern I like after all, but it's nice to be ambitious for the moment.

And now: Cabin in the Woods!!!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Today's Life

I'm watching Tiny Furniture. It's like the story of my life, only my mom's more of a gardener that an artist, and I wear pants more often.

And lots of other differences.

Haven't been working on anything lately, although if I can find a way to be productive while driving, I'll be set.

Today will be fine, and I just have to get through commuting to Hamilton for the next two days to know that I can do it.

That's that. Getting the cross stitch out. Slump over.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

A Day for Doing Things

 I had this rule where if it was a weekend, I was really going to take the day off if I could. And if I had to go in to work, then I would work on my own stuff only if it wasn't a full shift, and only for the amount of time to do eight hours of work in a day. But here I am, on a Saturday, before a full shift at work, getting things done.

Well mostly I'm waiting for my dog to wake up and insist on going outside RIGHT AWAY before I commit myself to anything too time-consuming, like having a shower.

I haven't been crafting much lately. Since that whole glass fiasco, I decided that the best present for Katherine would be a cross stitch pattern that I was making when we lived on Quinn Street. She was always so excited to see it coming along, and planning where we would put it once it was done, so it always sort of weighed on me that I never finished it. UNTIL NOW!

 Of course, when one openly makes something like this, one gets a lot of comments such as "you know, that would look great in OUR kitchen, too," so maybe that's where this sudden cross stitch craze came from. The huge one I'm working on will never be finished, and takes so much obvious effort that maybe people won't just ask for it. I mean heck, this one's not completely filled in, is the size of a photograph, took me three years to finish (although an intensive three weeks at the end covered most of it), and was about $300 to frame (although I got it on sale).

Also shipping is a pain. But I think I've got the hang of it. All I can say is, I'm never getting anything framed again.
Of course I had pictures of the finished package, but thought maybe Katherine would appreciate my not putting up pictures of things that had her address written on them in block letters.

 Oh, and I DID team up with my mom this Easter to make that pie I said I'd never make again. With two people it goes much faster, and with far fewer meltdowns. We actually got it on the table when it was still light out!
In other news, this is my fiftieth post! I'll drink to that.