Artsy Crafty Fun, Fun, Fun!

Finished!

This is my completed block for the color component of the Take it Further Challenge. I decided NOT to continue on with the embroidery in the interest of time. I'd really like to focus on completing these challenges within the time-frame since meeting deadlines can be an issue. In addition to managing my time better, that also means knowing not to bite off more than I can chew. And as a total newbie to embroidery, I knew that three days before the end of the month was not the time to try my hand on a nearly finished piece.

I have actually sewn this block into a pillow but have not been able to take a good picture. I hope to do that Friday when I will be home during the day when the sun is shining!

Coming Together

Laying out the pieces for the log cabin block. There was math involved. It was hard! But I was reminded how much I like puzzling out patchwork and how satisfying it is to see a block or pattern come together.

My crafting and cutting table is right in front of the only window in our apartment that gets decent afternoon sun. So I was very much in the way of Miss Fey--as you can see:

TIF: Idea Sketch

A sketch I created on Publisher to help me think about how I want to lay out my TIF piece. I've been so enamored of the log cabin pillows that I've seen floating around blog land and thought this was a good opportunity to try my hand at one. The words I intend to embroider (this may take a while) and I also want to embellish with some more decorative stitches or motifs. If you haven't guessed, I decided to go ahead and combine the two parts to this month's challenge--partly for time and partly just to see if I could.

I need to get cracking--only seven days until this month is OVER!

***If you click on the picture, you can see the whole thing.

 

Beginnings

Thread and fabric for the color component of the TIF Challenge.

Red Velvet Cake

My birthday was Jan 7, and Michael baked a cake for me. He asked what kind I wanted, and I chose red velvet. I do like red velvet cake quite a bit (a new taste acquired since moving down South), but find that most bakeries make their red velvet cake with a yellow or butter cake base which I really don't like. The recipe uses a whole bottle of red food coloring and with a light cake base you can really taste the chemical-y flavor of the dye. Which is gross and I really don't need a reminder that I am practically poisoning myself with this much food coloring. So the kind of red velvet I like has a German chocolate cake base. In fact, the recipe that I've liked the most comes from the Cake Mix Doctor. I might have posted about it before. So it's very easy and pretty fail-proof and Michael aced it. He made the icing and decorated the whole thing himself. Which begs the question, why isn't he in the kitchen more? Hmmm....

I also chose red velvet cake because I was annoyed with him. While we were home my family threw a bridal shower and of course there were games. I had to answer all these questions correctly about Michael---and he TRICKED me with his answers. :) I have definitely asked him what his favorite birthday cake is and his answer has always been either his grandmother's coconut cake or red velvet cake. So those were the answers I so confidently gave during the shower and guess what. I was wrong. He told the girls his favorite cake is yellow cake with yellow icing!!! This is just the beginning of how I was misled. Any time I answered incorrectly, I had to add another piece of gum to my growing lump. They chose BubbleYum--my jaw hurt the next day!

Anyway, I chose red velvet cake. It was very yummy. We ate the whole thing. It was nice to know that there was a piece of cake waiting for me at home after a long day at work.

Take it Further Challenge

As part of my afore-mentioned resolution, I am trying this year to follow through to the finish all those creative and crafty endeavors that I tend to start and then abandon when something else strikes my fancy, or when I am annoyed with my imperfection. I thought it might be a good idea to sign up for one or two challenges or craft-a-longs that I see all over this wonderful blogosphere.

I've already mentioned that I signed up for the Quilt-A-Long that Amanda at CrazyMomQuilts is hosting. I lost a little ground by being away for the holidays, but I'm hoping to make that up this weekend. While I was perusing all the wonderful blogs and bloggers who are participating in the Quilt-A-Long, I stumbled across another creative opportunity and I decided to sign up.

Sharon B. at In a Minute Ago is hosting the Take It Further Challenge. It is a monthly challenge that is centered around a concept and/or a color theme. The idea is to take the concept and interpret it on fabric or paper. I waffled a bit on whether or not to sign up but then decided to just do it. And I'm very excited about this project and the opportunity to develop my creative (and timeliness) muscles. I have to confess to feeling a little bit out of my league, though. There are 277 participants and everyone that I have checked out so far seems to be a really accomplished fiber artist. And I am not. I am very much a beginner. And I don't really even know how to embroider. I pretend sometimes, but it isn't real! So I was freaking out for a little bit after I had signed up and then realized just what I was doing. I have gotten over myself and am now just very excited. It is so cool to see how everybody is interpreting this challenge!

This month's concept is, and I quote, "Ask yourself who do you look up to and admire? Why? What is it you admire about them? Take the idea, develop it into a resolved design during that month and apply it to fiber or paper." ACK! This threw me for a little bit of a loop, I have to confess. But then I read the rest of Sharon's post and thought some and looked through what the other participants are thinking about and thought some more and I think I have an idea. I definitely want to do this as a collage. So I am going to be raiding my outgoing magazine collection this weekend! I can see the collage getting away from me,though, so I am also going to work on a project that incorporates the color theme that Sharon posted which is this:

This color scheme is outside of where I normally go, although I do find it very attractive. I can work more easily with fiber and fabric if I think color, rather than concept, so this will be the part of the challenge where textile really comes into play for me. I am hoping that as we go on I will feel more comfortable applying abstract concepts to fiber based projects.

Here we go! 

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2008! You're here and I'm ready. My birthday is Monday, and one thing that I've come to appreciate about a birthday so close to Christmas is the proximity to the new year. I like being able to greet a new year knowing that I will have a new year of my own very soon. I can sync turning over a new leaf with turning a year older. It just seems so fresh.

2008 is the year I am getting my act together. And I am really, really ready. I need a new act. The old one is not working so well. I'm scattered and disorganized and tired and out of shape and and frumpy and anxious and grumpy and unhappy with my job. All of those problems I've created for myself and so I need to be the solution. With perhaps the exception of my job. That's a story for later, though. The first in order is an attitude adjustment. And I'm trying! I can be so pessimistic about people, but I am working at believing that we can created change as individuals and that we can inspire others to look for change in themselves and that together maybe we can even cause BIG good things to happen.

These pictures aren't recent, but as I was looking through them, I was struck by these thoughts:

Just like these shells, humanity can be overwhelming, unruly, and desperate.

But individuals stand out.

Some seem lit from within.

Individuals come together...

...friendships and families grow...

...and grow...

...and grow until there we all are again. I need to remember that somewhere we all have the same heart.

I'm not going to try to change the world, but I do think I can work on myself for at least this year. 

Gingerbread House Festival!

We had a gingerbread house "festival" at the library this past weekend. It came together kind of last minute, but thanks to a couple of local businesses we were able to put on a pretty decent program. It's kind of amazing what can happen with $50, kind co-workers, and some hard work. We had about 80 folks attend and they made some pretty awesome houses. I made a poster board frame and glued it to a cardboard base to make life easier for all involved. Especially because I could only give out 6 graham cracker halves with each house kit, and if you've ever tried to do anything with graham crackers, you'll know why there are so many recipes that call for graham cracker CRUMBS.

The program was a definite success and I was so relieved and pleased. Here are some more of their creations.

A village.

Pueblo style

Snow central

I like the mailbox; the creator told me that the circle of marshmallows is a hot tub.

Camel on the roof.

Lounging man. Some of the kids got really creative with the Tootsie Rolls.

I made royal icing for the binder/glue and decided against cutting any of the graham crackers into triangles to fill the open part of the roof. You need a serrated knife to do that, so I definitely couldn't let the kids do it themselves, and I was already annoyed by the waste from just getting complete cracker halves; I couldn't really face the thought of how many crackers it would take to get 60 pairs of triangles. No one complained.

quilt-a-long? i'm in!

Amanda Jean over at CrazyMomQuilts is hosting a quilt a long and I've decided to join in. I'm a little behind in starting, but I've finished two blocks this weekend and hope to get to the other two during the week. I really like working this way--each block feels like I've accomplished something, which is not how I usually feel midway through a clothing project or other crafty project. I've never actually made a quilt before, even though doing so has been on my wish list for a long time. I think it is so nice of her to break the quilt down to manageable bits and provide a photo tutorial for piecing. That makes the whole project seem so much more manageable! If you click over to her blog, you will be able to see all the amazing quilts and other projects that she has created. She's great!

The block above is block one in the  quilt-a-long. If you look closely you will see that I didn't do such a great job matching up the corners. It's not the end of the world, but I hope to improve as the project continues. I think I have a bit in block two, below, although it is very far from perfect. And the light is terrible in this photo--it was long after sunset and the light in the room is very yellow.

I love, love, love the folksy print I used in both blocks. As you can see, the palette is blue and white. I've always loved the simple, striking beauty of blue and white nine patch quilts, and that is actually what I originally had in mind when I purchased the navy fabric. But I never got around to that project and I think I like the variety that the prints add to the quilt. Or quilt to be. We'll see!

bah, humbug

This would be very much how I felt this weekend.  I've really tried to avoid shopping this month as I find the mall overwhelming in the best of times, and the holiday season is the worst. The kiosk folks can be especially pushy if you mistakenly make eye contact. And Target is worse, because everyone is looking for a deal and I think that everyone does most of their shopping at big box stores now, anyway. Grump.

Mostly I'm trying to adjust to a new work schedule--M-Sat. one week, then M-Th. the next--and recover from Thanksgiving while at the same time gear up for Christmas. Sometimes I'm there, sometimes I'm not. We haven't set up any Christmas decorations at all, or worked on our Christmas cards yet. The plan is for those to involve a camera and a cat, so we really do need to get a move on. The cat has a little bit to do with the lack of tree, as well. She's so darn nosy! And our tree is tiny--I'm afraid the combination could mean mess and destruction. Live and learn, I guess.

I'm really proud that so far I've been able to stick to a handmade Christmas; we shopped today for the 'Adopt an Angel' program that the library participates in and I don't think that handmade is all that kosher. Plus there aren't too many of my creations that I can really expect people to wear--beyond aprons and such-like. Anyway, the Angel program brought on the funk, I guess. The guidelines for our kids were pretty vague and slightly unbelievable. Also unbelievable is the amount of CRAP being pushed.  And bought. Bleh. Grump.

I'll be back later this week with a happier face and an actual crafty kind of post--I finally finished a couple of projects!!!

***The Scrooge clip art is by Jeff Bucchino, The Wizard of Draws. If, like me, you find yourself lacking both a suitable "real" photo and the artistic talent required to create some cool illustration, I highly recommend using what others have willingly provided. But don't steal! And always attribute! (That's the librarian and over-earnest English major speaking.)