Timewarp

I hope everyone had a nice weekend, and a happy Easter if you celebrate. Mine involved eating two servings of baby food: prunes and peas. (The prunes were easily one of the most disgusting things I've ever had, the peas were actually quite nice by comparison!) I kind of had a crazy weekend in terms of bloggables, starting with a shopping trip on Saturday. My original plan was to get this:

Hmm, that's not the picture I thought it was, but it does show some useful things. I got size 5 DPNs, not realizing I had already done so a few weeks ago, a charm I picked up on a whim, and some safety eyes. I also got that K hook, which will be explained momentarily.

Before you look at the next picture, explanations are in order. Remember how I made four ruffly scarves a while ago? And how I said I didn't want to make any more? Yeah, that's not going to work out:

My mom wants me to make a total of seventeen scarves for the members of a committee she runs. They're all going to be that white and blue ruffle yarn, except that black and white one, and a regular striped one using that blue yarn and white I already have. I totally would have said no, except she offered to pay me, and then I had this really great idea. (Well, I thought it was great....) A few days ago, I found this pattern for an Avatar blanket. And I really wanted to make it. Except the yarn for it would have cost about $40, taking into account I already have a few of the skeins I needed. Can you guess where I'm going with this? I asked my mom to buy the rest of the yarn I needed in exchange for making the scarves:

We had a pretty good coupon, so she agreed! Yay! I'm super excited to start working on it, and even more excited to have the finished product :). Right now, I'm going to focus on getting the scarves done. There was only enough yarn in that color for about half of the scarves, so I'm going to use up what I have right now, then start on my blanket! Speaking of which:

I'm already done with two of them, and I've also done a few inches on the third. 

I also bought a few other things: floss for the next segment of my HP cross stitch, and this frame:

Boy, am I glad to have this done! My aunt's birthday is this weekend, so it was perfect timing. Although the back is sort of ugly (yeah, I don't know why I used shiny duct tape either) I hope she'll like it!

I put one set of safety eyes to good use:

After finishing the head, making a new hair roll, and stitching down the collar and chest piece, all she needs is a crown! (And no, I have no idea how I'm going to pull that off.)

Just one more thing, I promise. I finally finished off the HP charm bracelet I've been collecting for for a while:

After messing around with spacing for a while, I decided not to use all the charms. In the end, I've kept the owl, crystal ball, dragon, "hippogriff," goblet/cup, tiara/diadem, and key. Basically, I left off the ones that take more interpretation. (Hey, they made sense to me!)

I'm pretty sure I warped time to get all this done. Seriously! Anyway, this is probably one of my longest posts, so I'm going to stop here. See you tomorrow!

You can't polish a turd!

Last night I got a request for two turds:

Believe it or not, this request came from my mother! She has a joke with two friends about not being able to polish a turd they have at work, so I got stuck making those. They're actually the hair roll from the Queen Amidala pattern I was working on last weekend. Since it was short notice, I just gave her the one I had already made, plus one I whipped up last night. I'll just make a new one for Her Majesty.

I'm going to be gone for the rest of tonight and most of tomorrow, so I might not have a post up. If not, have a great weekend!

Queen Amidala of the Naboo

I had a decent amount of this fabric, which I found in the basement:

My original plan was to make this dress, but I had forgotten the details of the instructions, and I actually didn't have enough. So.... I improvised! First, I was going to make a skirt, but it was a lot shorter than I liked, so I added a ruffle, which I didn't really like, so I sewed the bottom shut, added a strap, and called it a bag:

Before I got to that point, I cut off two pieces, one of which I used to make this maxi dress for my cousin's doll:

It started out strapless, but I thought my aunt and uncle might not appreciate that, so I made it a halter:

It goes well with the strings on the back of her neck.....

Can you spell creepy?! Speaking of creepy, check out the inside of Queen Amidala's head!

I started her last night, and here's what I had this morning:

I had and issue with making the hair/skin division even, so after a few tries, I just decided to do a sort of duplicate stitch over the parts that weren't the color I wanted them to be.

 I used an empty cardboard box for the base, and colored it red so it wouldn't show as much:

This morning I got up at 5 for a trip to my state's capital, but because of some cruddy weather, it got canceled, and know I'm stuck at home all day. (I'm not bitter, I'm not bitter, I swear I'm not bitter!) Luckily, I was able to put the time to good use, and I worked on patching up her hair.

Look's pretty good, eh? It took me over an hour, during which I realized I could never be a hairdresser is real life:

I got so frustrated, I had to resort to drastic measures. Anyway, due to my lack of safety eyes, I can't go any farther on the head (hence the cut yarn) so I did all the other pieces instead:

I have to admit, I didn't think the collar would fit around her neck, but I made it work. However, I was not as happy with the sleeves:

I like the shape of the one on the right a lot more, but I figured it would take forever to make two that matched. I just stuck them on under the collar, and they look fine. I haven't decided if I want to do the whole pipe cleaner thing. I think it might look better if I crocheted a little border instead. Finally, I made her hair:

which happens to look a lot like dog poop. And not in a good way.... I lost count of my rows five or six times, so I just guesstimated for the length. Once I get the eyes, gold metallic thread, and possibly clay (I might  have something that'll work) I'll be able to finish Her Majesty, but for now, I have a date with the TTT:

Have an awesome day!

The Force is with me....

I think I may have used some sort of magical force yesterday, because I did this:

And this:

All I have to do for the purple one is tack those ends down, which I'll probably do when I'm done with this. And yes, that is a tuba mouthpiece. I didn't feel like moving it. (It is only now occurring to me that if I had put the scarf on the other door handle it wouldn't have been in the picture.) For the other one, I have that little blob of yarn to do, then I'll be all done with that. And I think I'm going to take a nice, long break from ruffle scarves. While they are highly addictive, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. (By the way, I gave my friend the first two scarves today, and I ended up giving her both of them. I tried one on this morning and I wasn't a fan.)

Once I finish that business, I'll be free to start on my next project, which I've already done the prep work for:

OK, honesty time. I actually already started this, and I got half-way through the first row before I realized that I had started it one size too small. I ripped it out, highlighted the numbers I'm supposed to be using, then started the fourth ruffle scarf. Apparently they've become stupid-therapy for me. :)

I mentioned yesterday that I bought yarn to make Yoda:

See? Yoda yarn! Anyway, I was on Craftster on Sunday, and I found these awesome patterns for Star Wars mini amigurumi people/other things. I linked all fourteen patterns, but she has different deals for different numbers of patterns (that didn't make any sense). I'm going to get two: Yoda and the Ewok! Ewoks are my favorite. Seriously. I get more emotional over that one ewok dying than Qui-Gon, Padmé, and Obi-Wan combined. (Oh, right. Spoiler Alert!) I have everything I need now except the safety eyes (Michaels doesn't have them, but JoAnn apparently does) and the patterns. 

All the red lines in that paragraph are bothering me. Obviously, Blogger is not a Star Wars fan! :)

I've blabbered enough today. Go look at some yarn! See ya!

Endless Squares

That's all I have. An endless amount of squares that must be stitched around. (Actually, it's not endless. After a bunch of work today, I only have 10 left. But believe me, it feels endless!) The only thing I have to show you is this:

That's it. I wove a few ends in. And don't expect much more from this weekend. (After the endless squares, I move on to endless lines!)

Around the Bend

The Blossom Scarf is driving me around the bend! Literally:

I sat down around 5 and just worked on it, and I finished Row 3! All that I have to do now is weave in a few ends, then start on the actual blossoms. (Did I just say all? That's not the right attitude for this....) Anyway, I'm looking forward to the end of this scarf a little more than I should be. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it, either. I'm not sure if it's going to turn out well enough for me to wear it, but if that's the case, then I can't exactly give ti to someone else. 

After next week, I'll have a lot more free time, and I'm looking for a cool project to work on next. I would really like to get the Lithuanian Wristers finished started, but I'm still not sure how I'm going to make the beads go on the yarn.  I shall have a think on it! 

Slowly Crawling Along

Guess what I've been doing?

I know. It's super exciting. I'm about half way done with the leaves on this side, which would be great if there wasn't another side to do......

Anyway, I have this out on my floor, so I'm just picking it up whenever I have a few minutes. At this rate, it'll be done by next December!

And Breathe....

I'm back! I have lots of random things to show you, so let's get started:

 1. I made my first ever duct tape thing:

It's a rose, I swear.

See?

And that's just what happens when you leave me alone with duct tape. Not pretty.

2. I started a Blossom Festival Scarf:

I know, my photography has improved a lot.

I was cranking along on this for a few days (in early December) but as you can see, I came very close to running out of yarn. I put it in a drawer, and I have the rest of the yarn I need now, but I still haven't pulled it out. 

3. I made these things:

What are they called, anyway? They were both last minute Christmas gifts, along with this snowflake I made. I know I took a picture of it, but I can't find it!!!

4. I made this hat Saturday night:

Thanks to my tissue box for modeling.

This took me as long as it takes to watch Revenge of the Sith twice (don't ask) plus about half an hour. I still need to add the crochet border, and maybe something on top, but I'm too busy glaring at it. It turned out way smaller than I thought it would, so I now have to find a small person to bestow it upon. I am pretty proud of it, since it was my first experience with colorwork. (Although I do need a lot of practice!) I used this pattern, and I would definitely make it again if it was bigger.

5. I watched people open presents. I was a little worried about this scarf:

not being liked, but I had no worries about this one:

In fact, the seven year old recipient of the blue scarf absolutely adored it, and wore it out that night (with a black sweater, but I didn't even mind that much). The nine year old recipient of the pink scarf didn't really care. Later that night, I just laughed, because it was the exact opposite of what I expected to happen. In general, everything I made went over pretty well, so I was really happy!

I have one last super secret sewing project that I have to have done by the 14th, so I won't be working on other stuff much. I'm glad to be back, and I hope everyone had a happy holidays!

Glow-In-The-Dark Photoshoot

I'm going to start today's post with a little insight into how I get my photos. (Note: I don't normally put this much effort in. This project just didn't want to be photographed.)

Step 1: Take the picture with the lights on.

Mission accomplished. Now, let's show how cool it looks with the lights off!

Step 2: Turn the lights off, turn the tea light on, and take the picture again.

Ehh. That didn't go so well.

Step 3: Move the box near your open door, so a little light from the hallway will spill in.

Oops. Caught the laundry basket in that one.

Step 4: Zoom way in and flip the camera to cut out the laundry basket (rather then just cropping Step 3 later).

Argh! Never mind!

This one did like having its picture taken, though:

I like how you can see how shiny it is. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. Just because I feel like telling you, the box has a tree on all four sides, and the opposite sides are the same color, either red or green. There's a white stripe in between each colored section, and the top is a mix of all three colors. I love it!

Since these are done, I have a very important announcement to make.

I have officially finished all of the projects I am making as Christmas gifts this year.

That'll be all.

I also made the circle scarf I was talking about.. um.. sometime last week? I might put up a little tutorial next week, because it didn't go exactly as planned, but I do like it.

This choker is a great way to show some spirit (get it? spirit? like a ghost?) without going all out, or you could make it the focal point of an entire costume.

Picture from Crocheting with Cannon 

cotton threads.

To Do To Start:

• the house emblems on my HP cross stitch
• handsew a zipper to the brown skirt
• sew on ten sequins every day I work on these other things

Lame-O Post

I love this Halloween Party Banner! I've actually never had a Halloween party, but if I did, I would definitely make this!

Picture from Red Heart.

To Do To Start:

• the house emblems on my HP cross stitch
• handsew a zipper to the brown skirt
• do the decoupage
• sew on ten sequins every day I work on these other things

Tips for... yeah, I forgot.

Last night, while working on my decoupage projects, I found out a few more things that are good to know when you are doing this sort of project:

1. While glue is your friend, don't use it excessively. Try to only apply more glue once the entire area is totally dry, or the tissue paper will rip.
2. The tissue paper makes friends easily, so be sure you like the angle of it before you put it down. If you do need to take if off, you're probably going to have to scrape at it with your nail, and that's no fun!
3. (This one is probably obvious to everyone but me!) Don't try to put a light color (say, white) over darker colors (red and green) unless you're prepared to do some serious layering.
4. Try to avoid using big pieces. It looks a lot neater with little pieces, and it's definitely worth the extra time!
5. I forgot all the really intelligent things I thought of this morning. This is why I have to write stuff down right away.

I have been doing little bits and pieces of things, but nothing very substantial. I may have picture-worthy things tomorrow, but no promises. 

I'm going to spend the rest of tonight cross-stitching and trying to remember my other decoupage tips. It's not going to happen! :)

I really like this Boo Bunting because it's so versatile (wow! I used an adjective!) and can be made into bunting for lots of different holidays.

Picture from Prairie Yarn.

You could even make them green, hang them from the tips, and have Christmas trees. Seriously.

To Do To Start:

• the house emblems on my HP cross stitch
• handsew a zipper to the brown skirt
• finish the decoupage
• sew on ten sequins every day I work on these other things

I Heart Glue. You Should Too.

Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to talk about decoupage today, so here you go:

For those of you that don't know, decoupage is "the technique of decorating a surface with cutouts, as with paper." At least, that's what the dictionary says. I think of it as dunking ripped up tissue paper in Modge Podge and slapping them on something, but that's a little less scientific. I've actually only done it once, but it's not exactly something that takes a lot of practice. You kind of just have to do it!

The one thing you really need to remember is this: What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything? Glue. That's what. The tissue paper ripped when you were putting it on? Wait a little while, then use glue and add more. The tissue paper won't stay flat on the object? Once it's dry, lightly spread some glue in the offending area. Glue is your new best friend! You must take it on walks in the park, and eat a romantic dinner while it watches! (OK, so maybe you're dating the glue?) Anyway, learn to love the glue.

I'm going to be making something a little bit like this, but I'm going to have a striped background, and I'm going to use a Christmas tree, not a Jack O'Lantern. I am about halfway done right now, and I'm waiting for it to dry so I can touch it up.

I'm running out of adjectives to describe the October things. So I'm giving up. Here is an Autumn Leaves Fridgie:

Picture from Crochet Memories.

Go make it. I like it. (There will be no more discussion on this topic.)

To Do To Start:

• the house emblems on my HP cross stitch
• handsew a zipper to the brown skirt
• do the decoupage
• sew on ten sequins every day I work on these other things