Chicken Butt

Prove it

I've been crafty lately but have no photographic proof of it. I really need to take photos before I give this stuff away. Here some of things I've done lately (you'll just have to take my word for it):

• A Chan Luu style beaded ladder bracelet for my sister. I used brown leather, waxed linen and 10mm semiprecious round beads. I followed this two part tutorial (Part 1) from BeadShop.com. I made a three bracelets for myself before I attempted my sister's. She loves it and wears it every day. The knot in the leather already came undone, so I must have cut the ends too short and not gotten the cement in all the right spots. I'll try to take some pictures while I'm hanging out with sis.
• Assorted ornaments from felt, beads and embroidery thread. About 5 years ago I sewed a plush tree from muppet-like fun fur for middle nephew. They still love it, but all the fleece ornaments I made to button on the tree are missing. (Actually, one was given to me as a birthday gift last year and is hanging on the back of my front door. Middle nephew is a born re-gifter.) More ornaments were requested. I planned to go over and help them make some, but didn't get around to it before Christmas. I had a lot of my supplies out as I shared some of my stockpile with the boys in their Christmas craft boxes, so I played around a bit. It is so fun to fiddle with felt and floss while watching movies. I made about 7 in the end I think.
• Bags for wrapping Christmas gifts. This is the second year I've sewn bags for all the gifts I give Christmas morning. I spend way to much time doing this because I cannot stop myself from finishing most of the edges. I convince myself that it really won't take much longer to do french seams or learn how to use the snap tool I bought but haven't tried yet. At least this year I took them all home and will reuse them. FIrst year the boys claimed them and still use them to hold various toys. Last year my sister kept them, but she cannot use them as most of the gifts she wraps come from Santa.
• Last minute baby blanket. Used Tea Rose Home's Swaddle Blanket with Self Binding Method tutorial to make a last minute addition to a baby shower gift. This should have been really easy, except I decided to use minky fabric for the smaller center fabric. Minky sure does stretch. So I fiddled for hours trying to get the center to line up symmetrically with the flannel border. If I attempted again I would at least add an extra layer of flannel or maybe batting. It felt really thin. If I had just stuck with all flannel like the tutorial it would be perfect weight, but the plush minky needed so extra softness for those divets.
• Is it crafty to organize supplies? I wound all my embroidery floss onto plastic bobbins. I never really liked the Stitchbow system. This saves so much space, is easier to see all the colors and is easier to use the floss. I don't know anyone who embroiders, so I guess I'll bring the StitchBow organizer and empty bows to Goodwill. If I could improve organization that much for all my supplies I'd have room for everything and could buy more stuff.

Resolutions for 2012:

1. Take pictures of shit I make before giving it away.
2. Make more shit.

Too hard. Hey look over there...

I'm getting the itch to paint. I know myself a bit better than I used to though, and I think it is not so much that I *will* paint anything if I clear away my currently in-progress sewing projects, but that sewing got hard (and therefore boring) and I don't want to do it anymore. As usual, I want the results without putting in the work. Yep, I'm still a spoilt child. It's disappointing really, but since I haven't changed my actions from my old patterns, did I really expect different results. (Yes, yes. Definition of insanity, I know. See image below.)

Today I was taken by Jane Mount's paintings of bookshelves. (via TMN)  I'd love a custom painting of some favorite books. The hard part is which to choose. I like her HP print too, but since I already have the books on a shelf, I guess I don't need a print of the books on the wall.

So book portraits made me think of toy portraits. I want to buy my sister a portrait of Peppy, her ancient koala bear. She wants me to make a shadow box of him, but I think these custom toy portraits are awesome. (via Suburban Bliss)

This then brings me to paintings I want to paint. Ages ago I bought a tabletop light box to take pictures of stuff I've collected and saved. My plan was to take pictures of everything and that possible I could actually let go of some of the physical objects if I had nice images to trigger the memories they store. And from the photos or from life I would paint the objects that I love or that interest me. Little paintings made regularly to get me back in the habit and learn how to paint with acrylics, which are so different than oils. I love the idea of painting a bit every day, but getting started is hard. I tried to start with painting fruit, because I buy a lot of paintings with fruit, especially pears and lemons. But I don't want to paint fruit. It's boring. And it's hard. And so I quit and put it away a few years ago and have moved the materials around my home with only an occasional twitch of longing. Until now, because now sewing is hard and painting looks interesting and less painful, theoretically.

I think I have to finish the damned shirt even though I'm afraid I'll never get the fit right and that the fabric I bought won't drape right and what if I put in all this work and then lose a ton of weight real fast.*

*It could happen! If I took action on this it could. I'll think about that some more and get back to you. After all this damned sewing project would not be in the works if I hadn't gained back 50 pounds after giving away my good summer fat clothes. If I suddenly dropped enough weight to make a new shirt look bad I'd have plenty of shirts in my closet that would fit again. (Cue my bratty, Bill-the-Cat-style raspberry reaction.)

Someday I may make a shirt

So far, I'm only making pattern adjustments and muslins that do not fit. Too depressed to take pictures. I'm close. 

The current version of the bodice needs narrower shoulders, larger arm holes, smaller neck opening and just a tad more room in the bust. The bust darts appear to be in the correct spot if I don't mess it up when I make the other adjustments. I should put a dart or something in the small of the back. I'm just not sure it if should be vertical darts or horizontal something. I maybe should add neck darts too. 

So yeah, a hell of a lot of work for uncertain results. 

Can I get an Amen sister!

I've been reading Posie gets Cozy for years now. I have her book and look forward to getting the next one. Her work inspires me, but mostly leaves me in a state of awe. Today I feel we're more kindred spirits than I ever had before. It's like she pulled these words out of my head:

"Apparently also my favorite part of "sewing" seems to be the picking out of the fabric and the pattern more than any of the actual sewing itself, since I have a stack of fabric-and-patterns two feet high."

Go read the whole post now.

This explains a lot about my list of projects I've bought supplies for but never started. The potential object is perfect but destined to be less-than-perfect once it is begun.