artsy-crafty babe

It's going to be a busy month

It's not October yet, but it will be tomorrow. Yay! October is one my favorite months. Not only does it contain Halloween, but also my wedding anniversary. A few months back we were planning a weekend get away to New Orleans for our anniversary, but I guess that isn't going to happen now. We'll probably just do the typical dinner out with no kids, which is always a treat.

I'm just now realizing how much I have to do. Tomorrow is October and I haven't even started on Halloween costumes. I still haven't decided what Alex is going to be. I would like to take the easy way out and just buy him a costume, but I haven't found anything that's cute and not covered in fur. It's too hot down here to wear a fur covered costume. I was thinking maybe a frog, but I don't know. Lily wants to be Fiona from Shrek. That shouldn't be too difficult, but it does involve making a green princess dress. Besides the costumes I have to complete my Back Tack project. I'm still waiting for my fabric to arrive for this (that's my excuse for now). Then there's the Halloween mantle scarf that I wanted to make. I need to get that done ASAP so that we can enjoy it for a little while. Umm, I wanted to make some clothes for myself, but that will probably be put on the back burner for a while. I also wanted a new purse, again, another project on the back burner. And last but not least, my sister-in-law wants me to make a duvet cover for her daughter's room. Do you think that's enough to do this month? If I fit it all in it will me a miracle.

I am happy to report that it isn't going to be in the 90's today. Hooray!!! Perhaps this little fallish snap will get me in the mood to complete all my October projects. I can only hope!

Dish Towel Apron

I finished up my Tie One On for this month. I hate being this last minute, but it's done. This was super simple to make. I used napkins for the ties and the pocket. Both the beige dish towel and the two napkins were on clearance, so this was super cheap - probably around $1.50 in materials! World Market was having an awesome sale. All the clearance stuff was 50% off. I bought a few more dish towels to make more aprons. Actually, I couldn't make up my mind, so I bought 4. This wasn't my first choice, but I thought it was nice and 'fall-y'. I need a little fall boost to get me in the spirit. My only gripe is that the ties are too short. I still have 3/4 of a napkin left, so I think I'll add to it when I get a chance. I'd like to be able to tie a big bow in the back. This apron turned out larger than I thought because the dish towel was so big, but that's okay. I'll have to keep that in mind for the next one I make. Overall I'm pleased. I may try to make another one tomorrow night to give to a friend as a gift, just because. The next one will definitely be more colorful.

I've been slacking

Crap! Sunday evening I wrote out a long post about the weekend -the hurricane, the rain, the lack of electricity, our socially active Sunday, but it's gone. I thought I saved it as a draft, but when I went back to finish it up and publish it, poof! it was gone. I'm too damned lazy to go through all that again, so I guess you'll never know. Don't worry, you didn't miss much. It was one of those bore you to tears posts, much like this one.

I don't have anything exciting to write about today, it was just another boring Monday. I'd like to give you hope that I may come up with something interesting soon, but I can't promise anything. I'm feeling too tired and run down to work on any crafty projects.

I'm totally bummed that it's fall, yet we're still having temps in the 90's. I am so freaking tired of this heat!!! Enough already! I'm finding it very hard to get into my fall groove, and that frustrates me. It's almost October and I haven't made my Halloween mantle scarf nor started on costumes yet. My time is just about up for September's Tie One On apron. I should be able to do that, it's an easy entry this month. My excuse has been that I can't find an interesting enough dish towel, which is true, but perhaps I should see that as a challenge to overcome. Okay, I am going to finish that apron before the end of the month. I think it's just the kick start I need to get the creative juices flowing. Ahh, I feel better already.

Oreo

Today our kitten Oreo is going under the knife for the ole snipperoo, or nutectomy as I like to call it. I have been waiting for this day for some time now. I hope it helps him calm the hell down. I love this little cat, really I do, but he is as annoying as hell!!! He's 5 months old now and I can tell that his hormomes are beginning to rage. Yes, it is time to nip this in the bud. Really, I'm only being a responsible pet owner.

This little cat was Lily's birthday present. As you can see from the picture she adores Oreo. Yes, she named him, but Oreo wasn't her first choice. Her first suggestion was Michael Jackson. She has no idea who MJ is, but at the time we got the kitten that's all we heard on the news because it was during the trial. Little did she know how appropriate the name would be - black & white kitten, likes children. After that I told her to make up a name. She's really good at that. When I was pregnant with Alex she suggested I name the baby Mastadia or Gabelle. She then later gave those names to her imaginary dragons that lived in her room. What she came up with for the kitten was Couchee, pronounced cou-chay. Who knew Lily spoke french? We scratched that one. I suggested she think of something that was black and white, so that's how Oreo got his name.

Good luck Oreo! I hope that all goes well.

It really is a sickness

I CAN'T STOP BUYING FABRIC!!! What in the world as gotten into me? Yes, I do believe that it is a sickness. My latest purchase is downright embarrasing. I ordered *gulp* 34 yards of Amy Butler Charm fabric. What in the hell was I thinking? Why in the hell do I need that much fabric? Do I have any plans for that fabric? Nope. Well, I do for one particular pattern, but the rest of it is just eye candy. I ordered 15 different patterns. This is pure insanity. I think I need help.

For your viewing pleasure, here is a sampling of what I bought:

Anybody know of a 12 step program for fabric-aholics?

Not exactly...

Okay, so my weekend didn't go as planned. I was hoping to have a Sunday night post filled with photos of all the crafting I did this weekend. Not a bit of crafting happened. Friday night I was too pooped to do anything. After preparing a fabulous meal of tacos, black beans, and spanish rice I was ready to hit the sack. I was too plump and content to put forth any energy crafting. That's okay, I still had the entire weekend ahead of me, right?

Saturday morning went well. I was able to clean up the house and start my week's worth of laundry. Things were going so well that I even made a trip to Whole Foods for some goodies, which was a complete mad house by the way. Upon returning I could stand Lily's whining no longer, so I gave in and invited her friend over to spend the night. It's a good thing we called because her friend had her bags packed since Friday afternoon. Lily and Ashton had it all planned out. Did I mention these girls are only 4 years old? The rest of the evening and most of Sunday was spent wrangling 4 yr olds, so no, there was no time for crafting. The girls did really well entertaining themselves, but required lots of maintenance. By the time Ashton left Sunday afternoon my house looked like a tornado had gone through it. Needless to say I spent the remainder of my weekend cleaning up and finishing that mountain of laundry I started the previous day.

I really hoped to get a little crafting in this evening while watching the Emmy's, but I was too tired. I think I deserved vegging out on the sofa for a while. Tomorrow starts a new week with new possibilities. Maybe this will be the week that I get something accomplished.

BOO!

Okay, it's officially Halloween season at my house. Yesterday I bought both kids their annual Halloween t-shirt along with a cute pair of fuzzy bat barettes for Lily and some Halloween window stickers for the house. I'm sure by the time Halloween gets here those window stickers will have been stuck to every window in the house and rearranged many times. This weekend I'd like to make my Halloween mantle scarf. I have all the supplies and my design plan, now I need to get busy. I'm pretty pleased with the design I came up with. I can only hope that the finished product comes out as cute as the design. Other than the mantle scarf, I may atempt to start on some paper mache halloween heads/pumpkins. I guess the size will determine their future. I think Lily would get a kick out of helping with that. As if that isn't enough to do, I have a top that I cut out last week that I should try to sew up. Hmm, it looks like this is going to be a busy craft filled weekend.

Basic T

This is what I worked on this past weekend. Nope, nothing stellar, but it is an accomplishment to me. I was finally able to get a good fit in a basic t-shirt. Yes, this top is still a little wide at the hips, it's a bit short in the front, and I'd like to make a shaped hem, but the important parts are right. This shirt fits me in the shoulders and bust, the hardest parts for me to fit. Now that I have this down, I can vary it to do many different tops. I give myself a pat on the back for this one.

Jewelry

I've never really been into jewelry, but I'm starting to develop a taste for it. Usually, I'm lucky to remember to put on my wedding rings before I walk out the door. Other than my shoes, they're the first thing I take off as soon as I get home in the afternoon. The type of jewelry I've taken an interest in is natural type things, like necklaces made from gems and stones. I don't care much for crystals and sparkley things.

Today I wore a turquoise necklace that I bought on vacation. I love this necklace. I have a hard time finding pieces the right scale and length for my frame. I think this one is perfect. I'd like to make some similar pieces in different materials with earrings and bracelets to match.

This is another favorite of mine. I think these wooden beads are gorgeous. I found this bracelet on sale at a local shop. I wish there were more pieces to match. I planned on going back to purchase another bracelet so that I could make a matching necklace, but I never got around to it. I'm sure it's too late now.

Here is my first attempt at jewelry making. For Mother's Day this past year Matt gave me a jewelry making class as a gift. I enjoyed it, though the selection of beads was wasn't so hot. This is the best I could do with what they had. There were lots of plastic things in obnoxious colors, which I wasn't too interested in. I would like to make more jewelry in the future, but at the moment my craft agenda is full.

Quilts

Quilting is new to me. It's something that I think I could really get into. It feeds my hunger for fabrics, my desire to combine numerous colors and patterns, and my need to have some type of needle craft that is portable. A few weeks ago I decided to come up with something really simple to try out, so I cut up some construction paper and came up with a simplistic design. I figured how much yardage I would need, then the next day I ordered my fabrics. I was so excited about it that I couldn't wait for the fabrics to come in, so I bought a cheap fat quarter bundle to practice on. It came out okay. This is what kept me occupied during the hurricane frenzy. It was nice to have something to do when we didn't have any electricity. I ended up using an old receiving blanket for the middle layer. I still haven't bound it. I guess I'll get around to it. I really don't know what I'm going to do with it. It isn't large enough to be a blanket, so I thought I'd hang it on the nursery wall. I think it will match nicely.

These are the fabrics I ordered for the quilt. I think it will turn out lovely. When I get out of my clothing groove I'll work on this. Rigth now I'm enjoying just looking at the fabrics. I always get nervous cutting into pretty fabrics! I've already told Lily that these fabrics are for her. The quilt will end up being about the size of a throw. Just right for a beginner project.