a crafty blog?

I really have been crafty lately, I just haven't posted about it lately. But now I have something big. I got a spinning wheel! I ordered the Otium from Heavenly Handspinning and have been trying to get it to work.

Trying is the operative word. I tried myself out the other week when I got it. I think some of the words I was saying were making my husband blush. First, I couldn't treadle. Then when I got the hang of that, I couldn't get the yarn to go on the bobbin. Then, a piece broke on it. I was pretty angry because that meant I wouldn't get any practice, but I emailed Jan Ford, the company owner, and she was nothing but nice. I sent pictures of the part that had broken and she sent one immediately at no charge. It came in last night and I got to work on it. I started getting frustrated because it wasn't going well again, but I had Jason talk nicely to it and fiddle with it a bit and I started to get it. Here are the results: The darkness of the picture and of the wool hides the lumps and uneven twists. :) I was just happy to finally get yarn on the bobbin. Now I just need to practice, practice, practice.


I picked up spindling again while I was waiting for the wheel part to arrive. I wasn't ready to lay out cash on a spindle when I wasn't even sure if I'd like the wheel, but was itching to spin,so I cobbled one together out of some junk lying around the house. I saw someone on YouTube make a one out of cardboard and a pencil, so I followed suit, except I used some leftover coroplast from the piggies' cage so I wouldn't crunch the whorl when I put it in my purse.
I am thrilled with the results. It spins like a tornado, and I've even moved past park and draft, which I thought I never would. I had a big breakthrough when I read about spinning from the fold. That made it so much easier to draft.

another mother in law post

I stood adjusting my Christmas party dress bodice in the mirror after fiddling with it on my dummy. I thought to myself "Hmm, I think I'll have to turn this into a princess seam" and that triggered a memory from that huge fight MIL and I had over the summer.

"Why, you were such a spoiled brat even your letter jacket said princess on it!" she screeched at me. I don't know how other letter jackets are, but the styles of the ones from my school had the last name emblazoned across the back, and most people put a nickname in small letters underneath it. I didn't really have a well known nickname and sure as hell wasn't going to put "Sugar Plum", my mom's diminuitive for me, on there.

I hung out with the stoner/misfit group at school. I wasn't a stoner or really even a misfit, unless you count that I didn't run with any popular crowds and wasn't very well known. I loved hanging out with the group because even though I wasn't just like them I felt accepted by them.

There was one boy in the group I used to walk to class with a lot. I never fancied him romantically, and I don't think he fancied me that way either, but I think he appreciated me talking to him as an equal, as he was very,very obese. While I never witnessed him being picked on, I'm sure he put up with plenty of it. I treated him the same as I'd want to be treated, and always greeted him with a big smile, and sometimes a hug. He was very sweet and dubbed me "princess". So, since that was the least dorky sounding name I could think of, that's what I had put on my jacket. This was before "princess" and "Hottie" became associated with Paris Hilton and moms dressing their daughters like cheap hookers.

I'm pretty sure Robert was the sort of person MIL wouldn't have openly taunted about his weight, lest she be branded a witch, but I'd bet Greg Louganis' gayness she'd have said plenty of mean things out of his earshot. That's how she operates. I'm really surprised she worked up the nerve to call me a brat to my face, but I think she did it because I was emotionally vulnerable and Jason wasn't there to defend me.

The whole situation with her makes me sad, and not just because I know I will never be truly favored in her eyes. Even though she's not the type of person I'd be friends with outside of family, she has her moments when she's happy and and tolerable to be around. She doesn't make any stabs at mine or Jason's parenting skills, appearance, lack of Catholicism, etc . But then it's as if she realizes she's not being bitter and gets mean again. I hope I never get like that.

My first time being tagged!

I was tagged by Miss Kitty at E &P for a Seven Weird Book Facts meme. I have to come up with seven weird book facts about myself,tag seven other people, then let them know they've been tagged.

1. The scariest book I've ever read is Alas Babylon by Pat Frank. I first read it for an English class, then re read it later and both times didn't sleep well for days afterward. Horror novels and movies never scare me, but this book did because it seemed so real that it could happen tomorrow.
2. I read The Macmillan Fully Illustrated Dictionary for Children a lot when I was a small child. Consequently, it drives me nuts how atrocious people's spelling can be these days.
3. I'm currently reading Virginity Lost: An Intimate Portrait of First Sexual Experiences by Laura M. Carpenter. It's a drier read than I expected, but I still find it interesting. It's nice to read something about sex that goes beyond "Just don't do it!"

4. I'm a card carrying member of the Bathroom Readers Institute. It all started when I got Jason an Uncle John's Bathroom Reader for his 19th birthday in 2000. He's legendary for his "private library time" so I thought it'd be perfect for him. Now we're hooked on them. We have quite a few to catch up on, but there's at least 7 of them floating around here. Where else could you learn about the history of Photography, dumb criminals, and odd world customs in the same volume?

5. Despite being a grown up, I love childrens' illustrated books and had several long before the boys were born. Some of my favorites right now are the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems, and the Walter the Farting Dog series.

6. I read things to the kids that are way,way above their reading level, like the unabridged Alice in Wonderland and the Hobbit. I keep the sessions short so they don't get overwhelmed, and often stop and explain words, but I don't dumb things down. In the area I live in, I think a lot of people don't read to their kids often and it's so sad because it's such an easy thing to do.

7. I'm as happy as a pig in slop at a used book store or library sale. I never leave those types of places emptyhanded, and usually leave with at least a stack.

The people who I want to tag don't have blogs, but I'll see if they'll let me publish their memes on here later

1. Anthony
2. Jude
3. Monica
4. Bryan
5. Jason
6. Natalie
7. Scott

Remembrance Day

In Flanders Fields

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

---

Too good to pass up.

I love going to what I call the "Fancy" Kroger, the Kroger signature store. It's not scary and huge like the Super Wal Mart down the street, and they have several ethnic foods. I always try to get one or two new things from there, like Jamaican Curry powder, Heinz baked beans for fry ups, or Patak's curry sauces.

I credit Jason for spotting this one and for 50 cents, it was worth it. I collapsed in immediate giggles, and couldn't resist pointing it out to the cashier.

Note that it's "spicy" and just try to keep a straight face. I decided to fix it for dinner last night, and couldn't resist making little meat balls purely so I could say "Jason, let's have cock and meaty balls for dinner!" The boys heard me say that, of course, so Malcolm is still saying "Why I can't have cock in my mouth?" I have to keep myself from laughing so he'll stop.

Not quite cats

Jason and I had discussed getting a cat closer to the first of the year, since Korshka disappeared a few weeks ago and there've been no signs of her. Our plan was always to fetch her from my mother in law's once we weren't paying set up fees for phones, internet, rent, etc. but that changed when she went missing.

I've been getting really lonely here,and since having our dog Addy in the apartment wasn't an option, I went to the apartment office and started asking about pets. Were I to have a cat, the deposit would be 400 dollars, half of which is non refundable, and an additional 10-12 dollars a month on pet rent. That isn't completely out of our budget, but I would have had to wait until after the holidays to get a kitty because we try not to spend more than 2 or 300 bucks at a time on anything that isn't groceries or rent so we have a cushion in case we have something unexpected happen (Like when Hurricane Ike hit and we had to completely restock our fridge).

I didn't want to wait that long. Emotionally, the holidays have always been a difficult time for me, and there's nothing like a furry little pal for a pick me up. We're settled in where we are, have steady income, and have settled into a predictable routine, so I knew taking on the responsibility of a pet was something I could handle. I asked some more questions, and found out that there is no pet rent or deposit necessary for a caged animal such as a hamster. I'm not terribly fond of hamsters (Been bitten one too many times!) so I immediately thought of guinea pigs. They're big enough if one of them scampers away, I'd be able to find them, and not so fragile and delicate as to have a heart attack from one of the kids giving it a gentle pat while it's in my lap.

So here are my two little males, Marley and Hendrix. We got them from Citizens for Animal Protection, a shelter in the area. Those were such great names Jason and I decided to leave them as is.

They really don't shoot lasers out of their eyes! I just don't know how to use the red eye feature on my camera. Plus, they were really excited about dinner time. These guys can really pack it away too, Hendrix(the brown and white one) ate a quarter of a carrot and Marley ate a huge sprig of parsley as fast as he could get it in his mouth. I'll try to get better pictures in the weeks to come.

Anyone of sound mind and body getting a pet should seriously consider getting them from the shelter if at all possible, especially for little guys like these. Not all shelters even take them but it might surprise you who does. When I was perusing the pages at Petfinder, I saw they had rats, mice, guinea pigs, and even lovebirds at the local SPCA.

I'm back!

After months of not blogging,I'm back!We have internet access at home now. Here's a short rundown of what happened. We got back to the states in February, stayed with my mother in law for 5 months while Jason job hunted and looked for a place for us to live. We now reside in an apartment in Houston. It was nice to not have to worry about lodging when he didn't have a job, and I am glad for the hospitality extended to us, but my husband and I don't get along very well with his mom so it was better for us to move out as soon as possible.

Oh jeez, and I know I said this would be short but now I have to vent about something that happened there.

We had a huge argument the week before we moved.The kids were misbehaving and she tried taking me aside to tell me how I could handle them better and I snapped. Of course, this meant crying a lot and then she layed into me. She went on about how dirty our apartment in Denver was. And, it was. I was depressed, and mostly alone with a new baby, worried about moving, so I let everything except the baby go to hell. I wasn't able to take the dog out as often as I should have and so she peed on the carpet in some places. I'm so ashamed of it now. She went on about how dirty our car was, and how we shouldn't ever let the kids eat in there, and talked about how I shouldn't still be nursing Malcolm, and how I let the kids walk all over me (I don't, but she always takes over and I try to keep ugliness to a minimum in front of the kids). About how I was a spoiled brat because I took flying lessons as part of Civil Air Patrol, and that's why my parents don't have any money, and why didn't I have a Driver's license already, and how I needed to be more active and how I was too heavy. Then, the icing on the cake was when she said "All you ever do is sit there and knit". I told her I have depression and anxiety problems, and living out in the country with only her as a companion didn't help, and knitting was my outlet. "Oh, I thought it was a nervous tic, you always having to have your hands moving" she said with a sniff.

Needless to say, I'm still hurting over it. My ire isn't so bad I'll prevent her from seeing the kids, but I see a lot of biting my tongue and drinking when I get back home in my future.

I'm glad to be able to articulate my thoughts here. Thank you to anyone who took the time to read my rant. I promise there will be more knitting/crafting content soon.

No knitting related content today. I have a couple of projects I'm working on, the main one being the Monkey socks by Cookie A. from Knitty. Jude, if you're reading this, I really am working on your mitts, I'm just being a perfectionist about it. The yarn is not behaving and needs a few more stern talkings to.

So, here are a few pictures of the boys on Christmas day opening their presents. I hope we didn't go too overboard. I think if the stack of presents is higher than the kid then that's too much.

Here's the first thing we opened. We decided Mal got to open the first thing, and that's the Little Mermaid dvd my mother in law sent. Mal needed a little help getting started, but once he got the hang of it he started ripping paper like a pro.

Normally, I don't buy the BX brand toys because they're very obviously cheaply made but this was too adorable to pass up, especially for 4.99. I love how they have just about everything you need for a sushi platter, complete with a dab of wasabi paste and some pickled ginger.

We saw these at the local German toy store, and figured we'd better buy each of the boys one now before we got back to the States and couldn't find them. They are genuine metal capguns, with working parts that can be oiled,and a holster. Jason had these growing up and can attest that they last forever. You can't really find cap guns like this at Toys R Us anymore. I wasn't so sure about getting them because I don't want to encourage violence, but then they always seem to find creative ways to smack each other with their nonviolent toys, so I gave Jason the go ahead. I think he had more fun playing with them than the boys did.

The rest of the day we just lazed about, noshing on the sausage basket my mother in law sent, and watching movies. I saw Christmas Story for the first time and it was so great. That one is definitely going to become a tradition in our house.

I hope everyone else's holiday was as nice, and have a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Normally, I get really stressed out over the holidays. I seem to pick up on everyone's nervous energy, and it also distresses me to see how badly some people get the "Gimmes". Presents are nice, but even if you're not religious, there should be more to Christmas than who got the biggest box.

However, this year I'm looking forward to it. Wyatt seems to really get things this year, and has been reall yexcited about the Christmas preparations. We put up a tree and lights, and have been present shopping. He got a real kick out of visiting Santa once he realized he was the one who delivered presents.

I have everything wrapped and sitting in my closet waiting for bows and ribbon. Growing up, my parents waited to put presents under the tree until Christmas Eve, so it was a lot of fun waking up and seeing presents there. I'm not doing stockings because I ran out of time to knit some but I am going to leave some candy in their shoes and tell them it's from Santa.

We aren't doing anything terribly fancy on Christmas, since all our friends have moved away. We're just planning on lying about, watching movies, and eating Mexican food. I have lots of new sock yarn to play with :) .

Today, I'm taking Wyatt to the local indoor pool since admission is free from 10 am to 3 pm. Jason's not keen on swimming and there's no way I could watch both of them by myself so he's keeping Mal. It'll be nice to have some alone time with Wyatt. I try to make sure I have time with him each day but it's hard to fit it in sometimes because Mal gets so jealous. I think I'm doing ok at sharing my time with the kids considering I grew up as an only child. I suppose it's a learning process.

Well, I'm off to do some straightening up, Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate. :)

Drink, Feck, Arse

Right after I finished the last post, I realized "Crap, I have a knitting deadline". I agreed to knit a little pair of socks for another crafter's little girl (I'll post the link to her Etsy shop at the end, I don't know how to change the hyperlink to say her name instead of the whole address). I thought I had a lot more time, so didn't start the socks until the last minute. I managed to finish a pair with no problems a day and a half before I wanted to deliver them.

I'm a perfectionist, and even though we were trading, I treated this like it was a job someone was paying me for. Katie isn't a knitter, so I'm sure she wouldn't have spotted tiny mistakes, but I wanted these socks to be perfect.

I looked them over, and saw some little holes by the heels where I picked up stitches after I did the short row heel. I thought it wouldn't be a problem, that I could just tighten them up, but I didn't want the socks to look patchy inside so I decided I'd thread in a lifeline, and cut the heel out and carefully unravel it and do an afterthought heel instead. I was a little nervous about this but I took a deep breath after I put in the lifeline and snipped. Here's what it looked like pre-snip:

What a dumb thing for me to do! I must have snipped it in a wrong place beause I was having a lot of problems picking out the yarn without yanking stitches I wanted to stay intact, despite the lifeline. Not having a lot of time left, I accepted defeat and just started a new pair of socks outright because I didn't write anything down for the other socks so couldn't remember how many stitches I'd cast on, or where I made my increases and decreases.

Here's where I work in the post title: I arsed up the heel, so I said "Feck!" and felt like drinking. Instead, I busted ass and knit both the socks at the same time. I'm not clever enough to do both socks on two circulars, so I did them each on one circular doing the magic loop method. I'd work a few rows on one sock, then a few on the other. This of course made it feel like the sock would never end, but it ensured they would look the same and I wouldn't have to cast on for another sock and possibly not finish it. I did these with an afterthought heel.


Here they are knit up, toe grafted, and with the waste yarn cut with the live stitches waiting to be placed on the needles. To do this I worked the cuffs as long as I wanted them, then knit across half the stitches with the waste yarn, turned my work to purl back over them, then picked up my working yarn and kept knitting the sock down to the toe. I grafted the stitches together after I decreased to the number I wanted. Some hate grafting toes closed and will do anything to avoid it, but I actually look forward to it because it means I'm at or very close to the end point of the sock.

Katie loved the socks, and her reaction was worth scrapping the bad socks and starting over. I really enjoy making things for people who value hand made gifts. And, I got two lovely customized sweatshirts for the boys out of it, which I totally forgot to take pictures of them wearing.

Here's some yarny goodness drying on my radiator. The colors are courtesy of lemonade and orange flavored kool-aid, the yarn is white Regia 4 ply.

I'm off to knit more socks. Happy Holidays everyone! :)

An update

While I was knitting the other day, I started thinking about this blog. When I opened my account again, I was so surprised it'd been a full 4 months since I'd written! Ever since I had Mal, it seems like time goes by so much quicker than it should.

While I've dabbled in other crafts, knitting has always been in the background. I have scads of yard because I absolutely can't resist the yarn fumes. As mentioned in the comment by the blog title, I will hunt out yarn no matter where I am. I took a lovely trip to Edinburgh recently, and despite not knowing where I was, and being terrified of getting lost, I started asking around about where I could find yarn since I hadn't been able to find a dedicated yarn shop near the hostel I stayed at. As soon as I walked into the yarn department at Jenners, I felt at home. When I visited Sweden in 2004, I found a yarn shop by accident. I saw the display and couldn't resist going in. And, of course, within a week or two of moving here I knew where both the local yarn shop and the yarn department at Hela were located.

So, since I haven't quilted in a while, and won't for the forseeable future ( I'll be away from my machine for a couple of months when they pack the household goods) , I've decided to turn this into primarily a knitting blog, with my other craftiness and personal opinions thrown in.

I have a monster cold courtesy of Jason, so I'm off to reward myself with the sweet bliss of a Nyquil induced stupor. Cheers !

Long time, no blog

I haven't been doing so much quilting lately, and may not do any more for a while. I started sewing together some circles for the denim quilt today, and now my machine doesn't want to pick up the bobbin thread. I can't figure out how to fix this because this machine is different in that it has a drop in bobbin. Grrrr.





I have, however, been getting back into knitting. It's always been something I enjoyed, and I found it to be a little more portable than quilting while I was chasing around the boys when Jason was in Mississippi. I knew how to knit before I knew how to quilt, so I don't have to concentrate quite as hard on it.





I'm making a scarf out of Gedifra Chandra yarn. I can't remember the color number, but I saw the ball out on display and had to buy it right then. It's very soft, the label says it's a wool,polyamide and acrylic blend.





I had a hard time deciding how best to play up the colors in it, so I stuck to a simple design. I hate it when only one side of a scarf is pretty, so I decided to knit it as a tube, and I have one side plain stockinette, and a simple cable running the length of it on the other side. I wanted it to be easy enough I could find my place again in case the boys took my attention, but not so boring as to be mind numbing.






This was my progress after a couple of hours working on it. The colors are a bit washed out because of the flash, and I don't think a camera could do them justice anyhow. I went back to the shop and there was a whole bag of this yarn, so I bought two more balls just to be sure I'd have enough to make the scarf nice and long.






I've been trying to figure out how to knit socks. You can get high quality sock yarn anywhere here, including the toom (a super K Mart type store) and Hela ( think of a Home depot, PetSmart, Michaels, and Wal-Mart all in one store). I think I'll stock up before we move from here so even if we're on a tight budget when Jason gets out, I'll still have some crafty things to play with. So far, I haven't had much luck, but I think I just need to keep at it and eventually I'll get the hang of it. I need to teach some people around here to knit so I have someone to commiserate with in person! When the boys are old enough, I plan on handing them some needles and yarn since they're always wanting to get into my stash anyhow. They may not think it's cool, but I think at least having knowledge of knitting, crochet, sewing, and cooking will fall under the "Can't hurt to know it" category.

This one's for you Miss Kitty

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a rant

I'm listening to a news report now about why not to leave a child in the car on a hot day, and I find it highly distressing that it's only illegal in twelve states. TWELVE! Why is this not illegal everywhere? I understand what a pain it can be to take a child into the store, especially if it's only for a few things. However, I think that falls under the "It sucks to be a parent sometimes, but oh well. What can you do?" Children getting severely injured or dying because of being left in a hot car is such a preventable tragedy.

Another disturbing part of the report mentioned that in most cases of a child dying in a hot car, a person just plain forgot them.Excuse me? How can a person, whether they are a caregiver or the parent, forget a child ? I've done weird things like forget my wallet at home or leave my purchases at the check out counter when I'm distracted by the kids, but I've never once forgotten one of my kids. Also, if it's a caregiver and they are so easily distracted that they forget a child in the car, they shouldn't be minding the child.

Phew. I need to go have some carbs and calm down, this report has me seething, and I need to keep it together for my little chitlins.

only 13 more days left

Jason left for 7 level school yesterday morning at oh-dark-thirty. It's been a day, I miss him already, and I'm not just saying that because I've had to deal with the boys all by myself. :) Wyatt did ok, I'm not sure how much he understands Daddy being gone. He's more concerned with the Iron Man action figure that's going to be his special present from Jason. The last time Jason was gone for any length of time Wyatt wasn't even a year old yet.

I didn't finish quilting the skull quilt in time, so I made something for Jason to take with him. It's a pinup girl on a tiny little pillow. I was embroidering furiously to get it done in time since I was determined Jason would have a memento from home to take with him. I think she turned out really well, and I'd be interested in doing a wall hanging or quilt of a whole bunch of pinup girls. It was fun looking for pictures of vintage posters and tracing different ones. I had to be careful doing the google search because I found a couple of links that lead to really trashy stuff. Yuck!

I don't have a picture of the pillow all put together. I was in mid construction when I took this photo. I wanted to show my friend Monica how it was going (that's her in the chat window to my left). I embroidered on a plain broadcloth square, used a piece of leftover batting and batiste for the back, then quilted around. Then, I used some leftover red batik for the outer backing and a ruffle. Oo-la-la! The red batik is leftovers from the skull quilt, and I thought the deep red color kept it from being too frilly for a man.

Here's another picture I did before I decided to go with the lovely lady in red. I will probably finish her and make another little pillow. I'm taking a break from embroidery for a few days though. It was difficult to keep the purple in my hair from rubbing off onto the picture (because I often reach up and scratch my head), and also to keep sticky little fingers and the furry childrens' hair off of it.

I suppose I could put off some of the crafting I do but it would make me crazy to not have an outlet. I've (willingly, I might add) sacrificed so much of myself to have kids that I'm not going to put off the artistic part of me just because it can be a real pain to keep them away from my things. I just choose crafts that are appropriate for being around the kiddos. I read somewhere once that in order to teach kids to love books, you need books all around the house and children need to see them being read. I see my crafting the same way.

Dollhouse

Wyatt did something that was incredibly cute the other day. We were out on a walk to the store and he found some pinecones, and carried them around the rest of the day. He had two little ones which he told me were the babies, and a big one that was the mama. He said "Where's the daddy pinecone? He's at work!"

So, I've decided to make Wyatt a dollhouse. I don't want to build a big heavy one since we're due to move in a few months and I worry about something tipping over. I'd rather build one than get something premade, because most of those are plastic, they wouldn't ship such a large package here, and they usually look like the Pepto Bismol fairy threw up all over them. Also, this will give me a chance to use bits of things I find to make some furniture. For the main parts, I'm using these wooden crates and painting them. The bigger crates run about 12 bucks a piece, and the small ones are about 7. I thought of attaching them but I'll leave them be so Wyatt can arrange them how he likes and I can use them later as storage boxes.

We had some leftover paint from Wyatt's room, so I got to painting the box straight away. It was really relaxing just slapping the paint on. It's a lovely shade of blue and I'm glad I get to use it again as it's not enough to do another room, but an awful lot to chuck out.

Here's what it looks like so far. During the week I'll probably round up some cardboard, fabric scraps, and the like and make a bed, table, and chairs. What I really need is to find some popsicle sticks. Then I would get to play with paint again . :)

I'll leave you with another picture. You can tell these two have life so hard, right?

Skull quilting progress

I've taken out the skull quilt again. Jason's departure date for 7 level school is approaching fast, and if I want the quilt done for him to take along, I have to haul bum.

I was afraid to do it by machine, but I realized this was the only way I'd finish it on time. I don't have a walking foot, and it's a pretty cheap machine, so I was worried. I made a couple of practice quilt sandwiches and the results weren't too bad so I gave it a go.

The samples showed me that now is not the time to try to learn free motion quilting. :) I need a better foot for that anyhow. So, I decided to just to evenly spaced straight lines. They aren't all across the top in long lines or a grid. I treated the shapes as their own sections. I'm terrible at explaining, but it'll be easier when the whole thing is finished.

I only have one itty-bitty section of straight line quilting left, then I'm going to echo quilt around the outside of the large design. My back, shoulders and left hand are throbbing. It's just your average sewing machine, so I'm having to shove the bulk of the quilt through the miniscule throat space. Also, not having a walking foot, I'm having to use my hands to keep it feeding evenly. I think the only reason it's working at all is it's a thin cotton batting I'm using. Were if high loft batt, I'd be toast. I'd love for the qulting fairy to drop a longarm machine and table on my doorstep, but I don't see that happening anytime soon ( I can see her saying "Ooops, sorry, we don't ship outside the contiguous 48 States").I'm seriously considering getting one of the Flynn multi-system frames.

Anyhoo, here are pictures.

Here is the back.









And here is the front. I must say, I'm really happy with the way it's turning out and I don't often say that since I'm such a perfectionist. Sure, it won't win any shows, but no one will be looking that close at the stitching anyhow. I think reactions will be "Whoa! Skulls! Freakin' awesome!" Or at least hopefully "Whoa! Skulls!
They're ok. "

Long time no post

Goodness, I just realized it's been a long time since I've posted. Not that anyone misses me in the blogworld! But that's ok, I have a great life in the real world so my ego isn't too damaged by not many people commenting. I sure am glad that my whole life doesn't center around the internet and the computer. I talk to people online (most are my friends that have mobved away), but I don't think I'll ever be the type to use the digital world as a substitute.

I've been busy string piecing, something I don't think I'd have the patience to do by hand. I think things are turning out really well, I'm just worried that all my combinations are starting to look the same since I don't have a huge collection of scraps.

Since I'm going for a really scrappy look, I want to make sure I'm not using the same fabrics in the same places. I've been wanting to make some Ohio Star blocks, so I did some scrappy ones with some string piece blocks in between. I think I'm going to throw a few solid color stars in too since I'm starting to run out of long strings.

I'm so happy with the way this is turning out. They're 12 inch blocks so the quilt is growing nicely, and I love the scrappy stars. The best part is I'm making something out of stuff that I probably would have thrown out before. I'm not sure how big I'm going to make it, but I'll post pictures of my progress.

Jason and I went to the big annual summer happening, a.k.a the BASH, last weekend. I thought Wyatt would enjoy some of the rides since they have a few for little kids, but he screamed on every single one! Mal loved them though. I took him on one that was made to look like a hot air balloon , and I held him in my lap. Every time we'd go in the air, Mal would smile and clap his hands. We played a couple of games and won some crappy toys for the boys, ate caramel covered apples, frito pies, and steak sandwiches. It was a great day.

I got a very cute wallet at the bazaar there, made out of the Alexander Henry tattoo flash fabric I've been coveting. I really need to get on E Bay and buy some of this fabric. I think I want to make pillowcases out of it, or a quilt with really big squares to show off the print.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=62814 This is the etsy shop of one of the people I bought it from, it's called Sinner VIP. I also like the things Katie makes and finds at fatpatch. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=109655.

I love buying handmade things from people. I'm a crafter so I can appreciate the effort it takes to make things, and I really love having something that can't be bought at a chain store. Don't get me wrong, I loves me some Wal Mart, but it seems like handwork isn't appreciated now that things can be easily obtained at the store. Sure, I could have bought a wallet for cheaper than I bought the one above, but it would have been the same as everyone else's and I wouldn't have gotten to appreciate the crafter's work.

Well, I'm off to catch some zzzzzs, so I'll leave you with this

Made in Germany from American parts :)

He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty Wyatt!

http://thesurrealist.co.uk/movie.php?word=Wyatt

This brought me unexpected giggles today. It's a random movie quote generator where a name can be substituted. My post title is the most recent one I did.

I am disappointed my machine crapped out. I really wanted to do some string piecing with the huge scrap collection I'm acquiring. I know it could be done by hand but with some of the bits I'm using, I think a machine will be better because the stitches will be sturdier. I would love to have a nice Bernina, Janome, or Husqvarna, but that just isn't in the budget right now and would be difficult to obtain before we move back to the States in a few months. I'd have to order it and wouldn't get to test it in person, and have my mother in law send it here since authorized dealers don't send machines outside of their area. All those companies have overseas locations, but I'm pretty sure those will be 220 voltage.

So, since there are no repair shops in the area that I'm aware of and we're moving soon and I need a machine now, I put a cheap (94 US Dollars) Brother machine on layaway at the BX. I paid half today and will pay the rest of it when Jason gets paid again, or perhaps sooner if we have extra before then.

I found an adorable outfit today while I was looking at the machines. It looks like a minidress but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be a top. I don't think I'll do the minidress thing now that I'm not a size 4 anynmore. Plus,when I'm chasing the boys at the playground, I think the other parents can live fulfilling lives without knowing the exact brand and color of underwear I'm wearing. Anyhow, here it is.

I wasn't so sure about the yellow but Jason gave it the ok, and he has pretty good taste in clothes for a computer geeky guy. :) I want to get some wool roving and make felt flowers so I can pin them in my hair. I think yellow and orange will stand out great against my still purple hair. I think the empire style is really cute. I might have to try my hand at replicating this look when I get my machine.

I have explored some hand piecing ideas the past few days to keep my hands busy. Here is a star I made. It was a pain to trace all the shapes individually and not rotary cut them but it was very easy to hand sew having a line to follow, and I was also able to use some small scraps.

The points don't match up very well in the middle, but I'm ok with that since the star lies flat, and I managed to sew three quarters of it together while I was sitting by the tub while the boys were playing in their bath. Huzzah for multi-tasking!

a bit of strong language ahead

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3269485&page=1

What an asshat. Wait, that's an insult to people who are asshats.