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I've moved! As noted in my last post, I'm now blogging from a new web address. Click on the image below to be taken there. Thanks for visiting!

Thought Bubbles

You may have noticed I've been on a bit of a blog break. Here's why: I've been writing xhtml and css! Is that Greek to you? If it is, then let me explain: it's coding for websites, and it takes time. It takes some trial and error, some thought, and lots of tweaking. And there isn't much about it for me to photograph!

I mentioned quite some time ago that I was thinking through what I wanted this blog to be, who I was as a crafty person, and so on. Well, I've let all that marinate for way longer than I expected, and I think I have some sense of direction now. I'm not talking about huge changes from what you already see here, just a little freshening up, a little more intentionality and focus on my part. One step in this direction involves moving to a more "permanent" blog home (and a name change).

I've been working on pulling that together as of late, hence the coding. (I like to hand code my sites from scratch, crazy lady that I am.) Planning for a new website has been getting pushed aside for more entertaining projects, but a disadvantage of having small children who collectively don't sleep well at night is that there isn't much room for doing needlework or other such things. The hidden benefit has been that, when my son wakes up for the 76th time before 10 p.m. and I decide to wave the white flag and just go to bed with him, I can play around on my laptop while I cuddle him back to sleep. That has been happening a lot lately, which means that all the fussing with domain names and css and web design is finally finished!

So, what does that mean for you?


Well, this will be my last post at this address. I'll keep this site live to avoid broken links and to redirect anyone who may find me via old posts, but for anything new, you'll have to follow me to my new home. (All my current archives will be transferred there as well.) That means if you want to see my second memory pouch or more on the stamps I carved to make the image above, you'll have to click on the link: june at noon.

I've enjoyed being a part of the online craft community so far, interacting with all of you, and I look forward to continuing the journey together at my new site. Hope to see you there!

The Honest Scrap

Well, it was a slow crafting weekend, what with my spider monkey children and all, but I did manage to finally finish the small projects I had in the works.


The finishing should have taken an hour or so, but it ended up taking an entire day of very brief stolen moments. Sew a seam here, stop toddler from stealing baby's toys there, zip in another seam, feed a baby, and so on. But I did it! They're done! And I will write a full post with photos and details soon. For now, though, I am going to play along with Alison, who sent me the Honest Scrap award.


To participate I have to list 10 honest things about myself for your reading pleasure. I rarely do these, but I like Alison. ;) So, without further ado:

1. I really like the color red, but my favorite color is green. For cars, however, I prefer white.
2. I don't know how to drive a car with manual transmission. My husband does, and when we were young he drove me to school sometimes.
3. In high school I was part of the "drama crowd" and played "Ophelia" in a "rewritten" version of Hamlet.
4. I was one of a few students who could read and understand Shakespeare.
5. I can also read music. I play the piano, started when I was seven, but I don't have a piano or find much time to tinkle the ivories nowadays.
6. I worked as an in-house editor for two publishing companies and later stayed at home to work as a freelance editor for a handful of other publishers.
7. I am very good at deciphering illegible handwriting.
8. After publishing/editing burnt me out, I spent two years working at the front desk of a dental office, where we tinkled a different set of ivories. Thanks to that job, I know way more about teeth than the average person, way more than I ever thought I would.
9. Speaking of teeth, I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but I am a sucker for cookies or brownies.
10. I often talk way too much, and with carefully crafted paragraphs I can turn a 10-things meme into a 32-things meme in a single breath. I type at least 120 words per minute.

I'm not going to tag anyone else, but why don't all of you consider yourselves tagged. If you participate, leave a link in the comments so we can be nosy and learn about you too!

Back soon with some crafty posts and some bloggy news....

We Shall Have Some Pie

In lieu of a post about crafting, because there is absolutely none of that being done around here right now, here's a little story:

About five weeks ago we heard some thumping at the door to our deck and soon discovered that a stray cat (we've seen her prancing around the neighborhood) was trying to fight with our indoor cat through the glass. Hmmm.

The next day I was sitting on the couch and glanced out the door to see this same cat ... and a second cat. Why, suddenly, was my deck the new cool hang out for neighborhood strays?

Then the following day, my question was answered. I spied one, then two, then three baby kittens emerging from beneath the cover on our outdoor loveseat.


Mama Cat had babies under our deck furniture and had been living there with them for the last four weeks, totally unbeknownst to us. (We pieced this together after talking with a neighbor who had been feeding Mama Cat for the last year.)

Ah. Now what?

We decided to allow the kitties to live on our deck for a few more weeks, until they were old enough to be weaned. We named them and came to enjoy watching them throughout the day as they played together and huddled in a little heap at feedings and naptime. When they were ready (eating food we put out and climbing our umbrella were indications!) we brought them in, helped them adjust to humans and indoor surroundings (with help from my sister, the Cat Whisperer), and then found good homes for all of them.

One of them just happened to find his home on our sofa. He looks like he's adjusting quite nicely, don't you think?

Here's hoping for a much more interesting, creative-type post next week. Have a good weekend!

Chopsticks

After stitching up the sushi napkins for my sister's birthday, I used another tutorial found courtesy of One Pretty Thing to make some complimentary chopstick rests. Three of them I really love; one of them is not my favorite, but I was limited by the rub-ons I had. Overall, though, I really like the look of them.



I had a red pouch on hand that I acquired at some point. I think it might have had a gift card in it. I saved it thinking I might use it for something down the line, and this seemed like the perfect thing to carry the chopstick rests. I removed the tag that was on the bag and restitched it, then used white floss to freehand stitch a few Japanese-looking flowers and leaves. It was a simple touch, but I think packaging and presentation can be just as important as the gift itself.


The whole project was quite easy and very satisfying. It required minimal effort but made a pretty big impact and went along with my napkins perfectly. I just wish I knew more people who used chopsticks so I could make some more!

As usual, more photos (copious amounts, actually) on my flickr page.

To Do: Done

When I bought the fat quarters to make the pocket organizer in the last post, I had a hard time deciding which ones I wanted to use. My daughter's room colors are based on a mobile we hung in her room:

I knew I wanted the more saturated pinks or oranges but wasn't sure which combination I liked. I ended up just bringing home a bunch of different fabrics so I could test them out. Since I only made one organizer, I had extra fabric, which meant I could make a couple of pillowcases to go in her bed.


Ultimately, my indecision led me to create more work for myself, but I couldn't let such cute fabrics go to waste, could I?

Freebie Friday!

You thought I wouldn't make it in time for Friday, didn't you? Ha! I'm sneaking in at the last minute, but I'm here.


A couple days ago I finally got around to making these great kitty toys. I put them together as a gift for my sister's kitties, mainly because my sister loves sushi and I thought they were cute. They are super quick to whip up and take very little fabric. The green for the nori belt isn't quite right, but I didn't feel like going to extra effort to get the right green for a couple of cats! I cut up an old terry wash cloth to make the "rice" and used other fabrics I had on hand for the egg, shrimp, and wasabi. Also, I used peppermint oil instead of catnip because catnip doesn't do it for her cats but they're batty for peppermint.

The pattern is not my own, but it is free, and you can find it here. Meow! Happy eating Hama, Higa, and Molly!

Bits and Bobs

I've had this list of projects to finish. I purposely started with the biggest things so that if I got caught up in busy-ness in December I could squeeze in little projects here and there with minimal stress. But a couple weeks ago it started to really bother me that I had a list of small projects looming over me even though I still had one big project to go. It bothered me more than the idea of getting all the little ones done and having one big one hanging in the wings. So I reordered my list. I'm still working on the bigger one, as mentioned in the last post, but I've been making time for the other bits as well.

Here you see what I've been up to today.


I made corner bookmarks to go with a book purchased as a birthday gift. (These recycle old envelopes! I used fancy paper and stamps. Some of the ones at this link are so impressive. I decided to keep it simpler, but I may enjoy exploring more creative options some day.)


I made knotted bracelets as another part of the same birthday gift. (Couldn't find the width of cord recommended so used 2 mm and it worked out fine.)


And I made a notebook as a stocking stuffer for Christmas. (I particularly like this one, for no reason other than that I like to look at it)

These were all great projects in that they were very easy to do (check out the tutorials!), took minimal supplies (most of which I already had), and were very satisfying when completed. I will definitely keep them in my bag of tricks for future quickie-but-impressive gift needs.

I also made some homemade peanut butter dog biscuits but did not take photos. For some reason our family always gives gifts to each other's pets. I ate one to see what it was like, and I have to say it's a good thing dogs aren't terribly discriminating in their tastes. (At least, the ones I know aren't.)

I've one more small project that I hope to complete tomorrow, and otherwise it's back to the larger embroidery. Almost all of the gifts are wrapped, the cards are mailed, the candy is made. And there are still eight shopping days 'til Christmas!



P.S. Thanks to One Pretty Thing for all the great links to these and other projects.