Owlishly

Felt flowers, the thread cape & crocheted trim dress...Finally.

Okey dokey, I've finally gotten a bit of time to get my pictures sorted & cropped, up on flickr, blah, blah, blah.  So here they are- proof that I actually have been making various things :)

The felt flowers that I was going to wear in my hair a la Frida Kahlo, but didn't end up using all of them.  I actually made like six or seven of them, but I couldn't find them all to take the picture.

The dress that I embroidered a tiny bit to add red to the colors already there

and crocheted trim on.

The cape I made out of thread from the Japanese pattern book...I can't remember which one right now, but I'll find it & update someday.

Detail of the cape.

And I think that's it.  I'm finishing up some patterns so they'll be up soon too!

Osito infant hat pattern

I just wanted to let you know that I've put my little infant bear hat crochet pattern that I'd made last fall up as a free pattern.  If you look over at the right sidebar up at the top, you'll notice Pages (I'll probably change that title eventually) and you should be able to click on the link to open up the .pdf of the pattern. 

Just a quick note, I didn't test the pattern.  It seems pretty straightforward and easy peasy, but if anyone does decide to make it and finds something amiss, definitely let me know please!

Fiesta time!

It's done. And matted, and framed.  Now all that's left is giving it to my mom :)

I had to cut the mat myself since the frame was on the longish side and it's a bit wonky, but hopefully that's not noticed too much. It was my first time doing it, so I tried doing it first with some fiskars cutting tool thingy but that wasn't working so well.  I ended up going to Joann's to get a mat cutter, and that worked SO much better.

Last night, I'd finished the embroidery and ended up using pants hangers with the clips to stretch it by hanging it on opposite sides and letting the weight of one hanger pull out the wrinkles after I sprayed it with water. I didn't really want to cut down the fabric either, so what I ended up doing with that was pretty effective in stretching it taut also. I pulled the sides over the back of the frame and sewed it back and forth to stretch the linen across and iron it out.  Then, since that made it pretty messy I used some brown paper from a roll that we have laying around, to glue it to the back of the frame and cover up all the fabric and thread, and general messiness.

Look on for detailed shots, they're kinda dark because for one, I took them at night, and secondly, they're mounted against the dark tan of the back of the frame. Had I had it to do all over again, I would've either gotten thicker linen, or doubled up two pieces of fabric against each other because it was so sheer.

*

*

*

*

*
What do you think? Now I can get back to crocheting!

I'm a colon

I was over reading Eydie's blog, specifically this post about what punctuation mark she is.  I think when I take those quizzes the results can be, and often are hilarious.  Here's what it says about me-

You Are a Colon

You are very orderly and fact driven. You aren't concerned much with theories or dreams... only what's true or untrue. You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched. You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren't subject to whim or emotions. Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice. (But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!) You excel in: Leadership positions You get along best with: The Semi-Colon

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

So that's it, it's SO me *giggle* only sometimes. I don't know why I'm even posting right now, but I'm feeling chatty about nothing in particular, and need to say something.

Well, I've got to go, my little boy is done drawing the background for my octopus, hopefully it photographs well!

I was tagged...

...a while back *hangs head in shame* and I'm just now getting to it.  A little because I'd forgotten, and a little because when I'd remember I was a) either away from my computer or (mostly) b) I don't know what the heck would be interesting enough about me to write about.

Sorry Val! I'm going to give it a go now if that's okay.  So the rules are as such:
1. When tagged, place the name of the person and URL on your blog
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write 7 things about yourself
4. Name 7 of your favorite weblogs
5. Send an e-mail letting those bloggers know they have been tagged

Now, about me-
1. I'm obsessive about know what time it is.  I seriously start to have an anxiety attack if I don't have my watch on.
2. I'm pretty darn pleased about the shape of my toenails. Weird, I know, but I've always been teased by my family about my second to being longer than my big toe.  But of my sisters & mom, mine look the best polished and pretty :)
3. I seriously thought growing up that I'd marry a redhead, specifically Benjamin- the second brother from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (one of my favorite movies).  When that didn't work out I moved on to dating other ones. My first 2 boyfriends had red hair & I was convinced it was in the cards for me. I was SO off.
4. I LOVE musicals, I'll watch any that come my way, and typically, I'll watch them over and over again.  Also, the dancing movies, specifically Fred & Ginger.  When I was little, I couldn't wait to be old enough to take  ballroom lessons, and actually was on the Ballroom Dance Team in college.
5. I hate Little Women, I'm pretty sure that it's because Jo didn't marry Laurie which I was so certain she was supposed to.  Of course my opinion may differ slightly now that I'm no longer 10, but probably not.
6. I'm really particular about scents/aromas I get nauseous super easily & pretty much the only perfume that I can tolerate wearing is Jessica McClintock.   Luckily, it's my favorite too!
7. I am always in awe of people who can cook.  I love to read about the science behind cooking and have tons of cooking reference books (but that may just be the reference librarian in me), but usually I read them because I think they're really interesting, and not to really learn how to actually make a variety of things.

Since it's super late, I'm going to edit tomorrow to finish it up!

Here's my edit- and unfortunately, since I did take so long to get to posting my seven things, I think most of the blogs that I read have already done their 7 things.  So in random order, these are blogs that I check on a regular basis- mostly crafty ones-

SheBrews
Still-Snarky
The Kidney Bean
Imagine
Floresita's Things I've Made
Susie Can Stitch
Roman Sock
MollyChicken

Okay, so that's 8, I know.  But because they've almost all listed their 7 things, I'm not retagging them so I'm just including one more since those are the one's I check almost daily.

Almost "Red"y

Finally! I'm almost completely done with all the embroidery.  Yay! I didn't really take any progress pictures along the way.  I did have some of this girl, but I've finished and I think it's more interesting to see her done.

I'd finished this couple last week too.

Along with this scared (?) girl on the burro.  She's taken the longest of all of them, I think it's because her skirts are ruffled and my stitches have to be smaller to accommodate the curves.

This last hombre with the guitar is what I was hoping to finish before the party on Saturday, and now that I've spent the last 2 nights embroidering him I know there's no way it would've been done.

I'm feeling good about finishing this up, and then I think I'm putting the color red out of commission for a while.  I think when I mount it before framing it I'll take better pictures of it, and that way it won't be so wrinkly, because I do think it turned out pretty well. 

Super quick update...

I suck, I know. I don't have any pictures, but I finished up a little cape for my niece & made felt flowers for everyone's hair for the party yesterday. 

On the other hand, I didn't finish my mom's embroidery piece in time for the party.  I tried, my poor husband knows that I tried.  I spent all of Friday night working on it, and then Saturday morning I got up with my little girl at 6:45 and started working on it again.  She woke up her Daddy too, so he got up with us and took care of her to let me work on it again. I kept feeling like I was almost done, but then I'd start concentrating too much and taking my time so I just gave up.  At least on it being done for the party.  Maybe by the end of this week, dang it.  I wanted it done, and I was so close. 

Well, onto other things I suppose.  I'm going to finish the embroidery & a blanket I'm crocheting for my sister's sister-in-law's new baby.  I haven't felt very motivated to finish up my dolls either, I only need to take pictures of 2 of them, but I'm sort of stuck with how I want to take the pictures so I keep putting it off. I told you I suck :)

Messy, messy

I think the state of my mind is reflected in what my desk looks like right now :) 

I've been trying to finish up some things and it feels like I need to get them done all right now.  My main focus is getting things done for my sister's baby shower.  Since she was in the hospital for 6 weeks and the baby was in the hospital for another 6 weeks she never had a shower.  My niece's birthdate was supposed to be around February 10th, but since she was born in late November she's been kept away from everyone to make sure she's healthy. 

So it's going to be this Saturday and it's going to be a fiesta theme and I thought that my mom's embroidery gift would fit right in with all the decorating going on.  I've got almost 3 of the 5 finished so I think I can get it done by Saturday.  I've already embroidered a dress for my niece & crocheted trim on the sleeves & hem.  I'm making a tiny little cape for her too. 

With all the babies that'd been born in our family we've never had a preemie so it's an entirely new experience for us.  At 6 months my little girl was wearing 12 months sized clothes, at 5 months, my niece is finally getting into newborn sized clothes.  She definitely acts like a 5 month old though :)

Anyway, I'm hoping by this weekend my desk will have some of the things cleared.

Also, I'd forgotten to say, the pattern that I'd found for the doily from my previous post was from Smart Knit Crocheting.  The thing is, I don't like reading written doily patterns, I prefer the charts so much more.  I guess for me it's easier to find my place in the chart than it is reading and rereading to find it in written instructions.  I used size 3 crochet thread too, I wanted to see if I could make it a little bigger before attempting thinner thread. I'm still intimidated by that.

So I think I've waxed on long enough, my little one is waking up from her nap & I've got to see about getting snacks for her and my little boy.

Seeing Red

Here is the doily that I was working on, I'll try to finish it soon.  Otherwise, I have the tendency to selectively forget about things that I start to work on and then it'll never get done.  I need to have my sister print out the pattern for me since my printer decided that working was not an option right now.

Also, yesterday between the gazillion loads of clothes that I was washing from our trip I started working on my mom's redwork gift again, here's my progress-

So dang tired

We're back home, and I'm glad.  In fact we've been home since Sunday evening, but I'm so tired that I've been trying to do the minimum possible to just get by.  I still need to go grocery shopping too.  Ugh.  Thank you everyone for your kind words while we were gone, I definitely appreciated everyone's positive thoughts. 

While we had a nice visit with my husband's family I just didn't get any sleep and was increasingly testy each day.  It was strange, I was getting around 4-5 hours of sleep each night and believe me, I need at least a couple of hours more.  Also, as we were getting into our city limits, my father-in-law called to tell us that my husband's grandma was in the hospital.  As far as we know, it's nothing really horrible, she just felt off and wanted to be monitored.  Then yesterday, my dad called to let me know that my maternal grandma was in the hospital with chest pains.  Weird.  I know my grandparents are getting older, the youngest of them was born in 1930, but it's still weird to witness signs of their aging. 

Anyway, I really overestimated the time and energy that I'd have to crochet, and embroider when we were gone on our trip, but I did get some things done, or started.  I've finished my grapes boy & octopus boy except for the pictures and finishing up the patterns, and I started on a doily while we were in Wyoming and just about finished the ball (is that what it's called?) of size 3 thread.  I wanted a bigger doily and wanted to try it out in thread, but not the teeny tiny thread. At least not yet.   

It was pretty funny because I was almost finished with a round when we stopped in Barstow, CA to take a stretching/restroom break and I put the doily, thread & pattern up on the dashboard.  When we went back to the car, I guess my opening my door and my husband opening up his door created enough of a draft to send the pattern & ball whipping across the parking lot.  It was SO windy, and for some reason I didn't even think to secure it better, so I was unable to finish the ball or the round for our last afternoon of driving.  I suppose I looked pretty silly chasing the ball of thread across the parking lot, but it got away so quickly I just cut my losses.  I was just glad that I had the doily still.