getting ready for the 21st

It’s not that horrible, at least that’s what I tell myself. I tell myself a lot of things when I’m sewing, things like “I’m never doing another craft show again.” (Lie.) Things like “This is so not worth the effort.” (Lie.) and “Next year I’m just going to buy gifts for everyone and not worry about any of this.” (Lie.) and a perennial favorite “Just one more.” (Lie.)

I’m starting to not believe anything I say when there’s a sewing needle and fabric involved.

Superstition from FiberOptic.

I just finished the two on the left (the one on the right is from before.) The new skeins are sock weight, and Navajo plied to keep the colors in solid blocks.

I am also working on buttoning up some sewing projects. First there were the needle rolls:

Even though this one has my knitting needles in it, I’m keeping one of the other ones, my needles are purely for display purposes.

I feel so organized.

And then there were my bloomers  and chemise. Those are finished now, but I’m still holding off on the hardware for a corset. Should a busk and boning magically appear on my sewing table that would be finished next, but I’m not going to count on it happening any time soon. I finished my last corset by gutting the hardware from a bustier, for better or for worse, I’m all out of bustiers that I’m willing to chop apart.

So that’s pretty much it for now, at least until I run into some more slightly less than finished projects.

I’m using a single thread in a fine needle to lay out the black lines, once those are finished then I’ll be able to go back in and flesh out the negative space using a background color (yet to be decided) and then start working on the small detail areas of the dragon. The rest can be filled in like coloring in a coloring book.

Inevitably there’s a rule of craft tools. When one, such as myself, decides she no longer has an interest in continuing with a craft and sells off all her supplies for said craft it’s just a matter of time before a major brainstorm and those supplies would have (if they were in the person’s possession) been put to good use once more.

This makes me reconsider everything. After all, that knitting machine that I’ve been not using may be the next thing. Right now it’s a cobweb decorated white buffalo, but sometime in the future it might actually become some sort of necessity. Then again, if I keep it around I may never have that stroke of genius that actually justifies it’s presence.

Dammit. There really should be a kind of reverse rental service, people could come and take my junk away until I decide I need it, then they could give it back to me. Wouldn’t that simplify things?

I digress.

This is a 3.5×3.5 inch square, I’ve run completely out of the light blue that I was using for the background. All those little loops eat a lot of embroidery floss. I’ll have to get more first thing in the morning as I’m eager to get this off of the hoop and start something new.

]]> http://yarnporn.com/2008/11/igolochkoy/feed/ 2 http://yarnporn.com/2008/08/the-pixies-are-hard-at-work/ http://yarnporn.com/2008/08/the-pixies-are-hard-at-work/#comments Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:50:49 +0000 wendy http://yarnporn.com/?p=253 The collar is now on Lexi’s dress, and the sleeves are basted on but still need to be serged. The pixies’ work ethic seems to leave a little something to be desired since they keep getting distracted by things like watching movies, making soap, taking the dogs for walks, reading books and buying holiday print fabric. Those darned pixies are much better at buying things than finishing projects.

Have you ever seen a fabric and thought “Wow that is perfect for X project, I’ll get it!” and then you pay for it and get it home and can’t effing remember what project you had in mind? Yeah, that’s exactly what I did– twice now. I have two different sets of coordinating Christmas fabrics in 1 yard, 1/2 yard and 1&1/2 yard lengths– and now I don’t know what I intended to make. But it must be good enough to make at least two– I have no clue.

I’ll probably remember, on Christmas Eve. I think the holiday stress from last year is finally catching up with me.

Whatever the project is, I know it requires quilt batting, because when I picked out the first set of fabrics, I also made a point of getting low loft poly quilt batting, which is weird because I actually have cotton quilt batting. I seem to have lost my mind, if you see it would you kindly return it to me? I miss it.

The pixies also found a nice online source for loaf molds for soap making and faster than you can clap your hands and say “I believe in fairies” they were ready to order. (I’m liking the pixies because blaming them for everything means I don’t have to take personal responsibility– pixies are awesome.) I’ll post when my order comes in, but I believe they use USPS priority mail, the prices are great; my only real complaint is that Spiritcrafts isn’t very well advertised, so I haven’t found it till now. If I’d found them sooner I would have molds and cutters already– instead I’ve been using a plastic bin for my cold pour mold (which, granted does work, but doesn’t make my soap very pretty.)

So right now I’m working on: a batch of castile soap (which is taking an agonizingly long time to saponify, typical for non-pomace olive oil), Lexi’s dress, trying to remember the mysterious forgotten intended holiday project, and reading “the Ghost Map” by Steven Johnson.

I haven’t done much that’s been yarn related, which is probably somewhat responsible for the non-blogging that has been going around here lately. Although I am starting to get my craft on again, I’m just not terribly yarny at the moment.

Or seasonably appropriate. I try to stay on top of the handmade gift making prior to the holidays, which means starting about yesterday in order to make sure that everyone that wants a handmade goody gets one.

Today my crafty goodness is centering around Christmas trees. My great-grandmother Cora used to make the most fantastic fabric centerpiece trees out of holiday calico prints. I think my mom might still have one packed away somewhere, I haven’t seen it since I was a kid. My version is scaled down (4 inches tall instead of 20 inches), all straight lines (Grandma Cora’s had zig zagging curls so that you could actually hang treats on the “branches”) and I added a little trunk.

I was only planning on making two more of these if this one turned out (I wasn’t sure it would but I think it’s kind of cute now that I’ve finished it.) I’m now sorely tempted to make a tiny saccharine sweet textile forest. I’m thinking the next one should have some strategic rickrack.

On the chance that this might turn out I took pictures of the construction process. So here are the instructions:

1) Cut six triangles of fabric. Make three pairs with fronts inside. Stitch around using only 1/8th inch allowance (if you’re going to sew with a machine give yourself 1/4 inch allowance) leave bottom open.

2)Trim corners and turn, finger pressing seams.

3)Line up triangles and stitch with a running stitch straight down the middle, turning in allowances over the bottom.

4)Stuff with filling (I used poly-fil) Stitch the bottoms closed (I used a hidden stitch, but a whip stitch will work.

5)Glue brown felt onto something round, I used the plastic lid from a spray bottle, but a little one inch pvc pipe or a wooden thread spool would also work.

6)Glue trunk to tree.

My husband said “Someone took all the sunshine and tubby toast and left these dead bodies.”

Lexi said “Ok, my kitties.”

Josey said “Why don’t they have tails?”

Greta says “…”

And that about sums it up doesn’t it?

And sometimes there’s a robot armed with my shears.

A sewing robot. Genius.

See all that stuff on my table? Other than the thread organizer and the machine, there wasn’t anything on that table when I started working. Now look at it. Look at it. Messes are a sure sign that I’m hard at work.

I managed to get through the next two steps of sewing, so my next step is filling the sachets with potpourri and then sewing the tops closed, and from there I can make the tea tags and finish this batch. This batch. Then the whole process starts over again.

What’s the rub? Well, my potpourri lady screwed up. First she tries to give me finely shredded potpourri, which would be okay if I were using something like cotton or linen for the bags themselves, but I’m using tulle, I’ve always used tulle. It’s sieve-like in nature. And sachets end up in underwear drawers. I don’t think people want finely shredded potpourri dust in their underwear– just a guess.

Now I buy enough potpourri from this lady that I should command some kind of consideration, and I buy it on a regular basis, and I recommend her to other people, which brings her additional business. I’m not asking for anything special, I don’t even ask for discounts or for her to put my orders ahead– just that when I order something and pay for it that I get exactly what I ordered. This means what I ordered, in the color and size that I ordered, with the scents that I ordered, without anything that I didn’t order.

One has to wonder (at least I do) how an order for large “white floral and citrus” potpourri turns into finely shredded “bayberry” with freakin’ glitter and bayberries. The invoice says “Lrg: wht-flr/cit” how does that turn into bayberry fairy dust?

With most mistakes I might be gentler in my opinion, but this has happened before with alarming frequency. Hopefully my Mom or one of my stepsisters will have a use for this stuff. I made a quick run to the dollar store for an acceptable replacement. I found some cinnamon spice and some mulberry in the large petal form sans glitter, both are a bit darker in color than what I’d normally prefer– at this point I’m willing to improvise.Second event for the day was a blatant disregard and violation for the “No food near Sewing Area Treaty of 2002″ Fortunately extreme military action was not required due to the prompt implementation of paper towels and the aforementioned use of ziplock bags. Temporary cookie sanctions will be in place until the violator reaches preschool or is willing to accept the conditions of, and sign, the treaty.

Now given the events of this morning is it that irrational of me to hide out in the shop, leaving the children under the close supervision of my husband so I can spin yarn for an hour before going back inside, because that’s my plan. As soon as I hit “publish” on this entry, I’m going to be wrist deep in Shetland.

First I have to clean my sewing area. Then I have to declutter and reallocate things to various crafts (knitting, sewing, book binding, embroidery, paper making, etc) then I have to wipe and dust everything. Then after the wiping and dusting there was the rearrangement of scissors, snippers, machine feet, bobbins, storage boxes, tracing paper, pattern paper, soap stone pencils, various and sundry things, the little rotary cutter and tiny cutting mat, and then the circle cutter. Then I felt the overwhelming need to press some scraps and stash them neatly folded in large zip-lock bags and hang the bags (three at a time) on some pants hangers.

I swear, I’m really not obsessive compulsive– I just don’t really feel like working today and cleaning was an easy out. I finally ran out of reasonably sane cleaning and did sit down to pin the seam of the tulle that I’m using and actually seam it. Then I cut my long tube of tulle into the individual pieces. So that’s a little something isn’t it?