Paintings and Etching

I've been experimenting with Armor Glass Etching Cream. Pretty cool stuff! I saw a tutorial on Craftster on making stencils for etching with fabric paints and tried that. It worked well for the design that wasn't highly detailed, but the really detailed ones I did needed contact paper for stencils... of course, I didn't have any contact paper, so I used Hallmark self-adhesive wrapping paper instead. It worked decently, but I think I really need to get contact paper for future projects. I also need to be more careful with the Exacto knife, as I cut myself around three times in one hour. I only bought one vase to try the etching cream on, and then after I'd used it and thought it was so neat, I started etching things like my WoodWick Candle jars and my reed diffuser bottles. I found some cool tattoo designs online to use. It was hard to get pictures of the results, but I will post the best I managed. The candle was my favorite, but I couldn't get a photo because the candle was a cream colored one (frosted cookie, mmm!), and the etching hardly shows (you have to look very closely). But here are the vase and the reed diffusers.
The first is a swallow tattoo design. The second is a fat little bird I freehanded. The last one is a phoenix tattoo design.





I also have two paintings to show! One (the Jazz Club) is a CorksnCanvas painting, and the other is only done in that style.




I'm still working on the Quilt of Doom, and have started Sylvi, although I have had little time to work on either as the semester is coming to a close and that means lots of work with little time in which to do it. Hopefully I will be able to finish the Quilt soon.

By the way, if ever again I say "How hard can it be?," refer me to the Quilt of Doom.

Even if Duct Tape Can't Fix It*, Superglue Can

The atomizer from my bottle of (discontinued! how could they!) VS Angels' Halo broke off, and I was very unhappy. I looked online to see how you could "fix" it, but all the information addressing this problem said "can't be repaired, return the bottle." Considering that I got it for Christmas 2 or 3 years ago (no, I don't wear perfume all that often), returning it was not an option. Neither was throwing it out. So, I'm looking at how it goes together and it comes to me - I could just superglue it together. So, I very carefully applied a teensy bit of Zap-A-Gap superglue (it's what we use for gluing our miniatures together and tends to hold very well) to the part of the perfume bottle that looks like an upside down screw sticking up, covering in a thin layer of translucent latex/rubber (I don't know which), with a hole in the middle (what's that piece called? I'm not familiar with perfume bottle anatomy), and laid the atomizer on top of it, being careful to line up the holes for the spray. Let sit for 12ish hours, and it works just fine! I've only used it twice since, and I'm being careful when I spray, but it is working. The thing is to make sure you don't get any superglue in the holes that spray out the perfume or you'll really clog it.

*Disclaimer: Duct Tape couldn't fix it, but only because it is too small. No offense to duct tape, as it really is all-powerful. And I didn't actually try it.

Have officially cast on for Sylvi from Twist Collective (which means I listed it as "in progress" on my Rav page). My gauge is a little off, 13stx17rows rather than the 12x16, but that's ok because I'm both smaller and shorter than the XS size. I'm making modifications, of course, and giving myself a LONG time to complete this one (though of course I've had most of my projects on hold for a long time - whoops, darn Project ADD!). I'm giving myself till late September/early October as Spring has already arrived and, here, feels more like Summer. Summer, of course, will feel more like Hell. So there won't be any chances to wear this till late Fall, but I want to have it finished by then, and knowing how I am about projects, figure starting 6 months early is the only way I've a chance to actually finish by my deadline. I love this design, but I am not knitting it with the hood, mostly because then I wouldn't be able to show off my handknit hats (haha). No, really I just think the versions of this I've seen with a collar rather than a hood are somehow much more striking. So I am going to knit it with a collar instead. Also, I am going to add pocketses at the side seams, and I may want to line it (if I can figure that out). And use clasps instead of buttons. And put (glass?) buttons in the centers of my flowers instead of bobbles.

That's all I got. Peace out!

Ideas for Face Vase?

Regarding my last post, Brie said she also hated Wuthering Heights as the characters were not compelling - I totally agree; that is the exact word I was looking for (or group of words). I, too, LOVE Jane Austen, and thought Jane Eyre was a great book, too, but not Wuthering Heights. I have a silly grudge against the Brontes anyway, since one of them said Jane Austen's writing was frivolous (to paraphrase) and I can never remember which it is. I actually think it was the one who wrote Jane Eyre, which is a great book, but which is, imho, still inferior to Miss Austen's writing - which as well as being love stories, were also clever observations on her society, while Jane Eyre just seemed to me a romance. But even if she'd said Jane was the greatest writer who ever lived, I would still not like Wuthering Heights.

Regarding unfinished series: I don't mind re-reading books (I tend to miss so much in the first read), in fact, while I am nearly always reading a book, about half the time it seems that I am re-reading one of my favorites instead of a new book, so the best unfinished series are almost guaranteed a re-read anyway (although having to re-read 10! books, wow, that is a lot). For A Song of Ice and Fire, I've read each of those books at least two or three times. But I do think I'm going to finish the Death Gate Cycle before I start The Name of the Wind.

I've also been reading A Series of Unfortunate Events. I don't own them all, but I have access to them all. I'd gotten to Book 6, and I don't really know if it's worth continuing. Taken on its own, each book is pretty well-written and enjoyable enough, but as a series, it's gotten to be VERY redundant. Honestly, I think there are only 13 books in this series because 13 is an unlucky number, not because there were 13 books' worth of story to tell, if you know what I mean. I'll probably finish them anyway since leaving a series unfinished is like leaving a book unfinished, and only the very worst of books (e. g. A Million Little Pieces) deserve that.

Ok, so now, the real reason for today's blog post. I bought a Face Vase, and I don't know what to put in it. I'm going to post a picture (although the only picture I could find was of a black one, and mine is white). What would you put in this vase?


Also, I am dying to make a Rorschach Inkblot lamp like these on Craftster.

Finally, my touchpad on my laptop keeps going crazy, clicking on and selecting things when I am not even touching the touchpad OR the keyboard. And sometimes it won't click at all. It is driving me insane!

To Read or not to Read?

Of course, the answer is always "To Read," unless you're talking about one of James Frey's books. But the question is, which?

First off, thanks for the birthday wishes! They are always appreciated, as are any comments! :-)

I find myself in quite a dilemma. I've read the first book of the Death Gate Cycle (great book!), and received the rest of the series (6 books) for my birthday, BUT I also received The Name of the Wind. I've heard really, really great things about the latter, which makes me want to read it ASAP. Thing is, the sequel evidently won't be out for a while, which isn't a big deal (as there are sooo many books out there I want to read!), except that I could read the rest of the DGC first and then my waiting for The Wise Man's Fear would not be so prolonged (though my anticipation to read the NotW would be, resulting in major disappointment if the book turns out not all it's cracked up to be - somehow the longer you have to wait, the more disappointing it is for the book to turn out not as good as you expected). Of course, I'm used to waiting by now (see: A Dance With Dragons, haha). So which would you do? Read the book you're a bit more excited about but will have to wait a year or more for the next installment, or read the series that is complete and so far has been interesting, saving the other book for after you've finished?

Not that I even know when I will have time to start any new book that isn't about endocrinology. I've so much studying and so many projects to do for school, that I've had time for nothing else. Finished a sock, but haven't started the second yet. I love biology, and endocrinology in particular is turning out very interesting, but darnit, I want to knit and paint and read my fantasy novels!

By the way, which book organizing site do YOU use? I tried librarything a year or so ago (?) but they had a limit for free accounts, which I quickly surpassed and so gave up the site. Then I found Goodreads on Myspace and whatever-it-is on Facebook, but though I've been cataloging books I've read, am reading, want to read, own, and want to get, I'm not really sure which is better, if either. I don't particularly want to bother with TWO sites as I really don't even have the time to keep up with the one.

When it comes to reading materials, I find myself gravitating toward a particular type of book - fantasy novels. Not that I don't enjoy other types of book, but when I am looking for something new to read, I usually will head to the fantasy aisle first. Therefore, while I am somewhat of a prolific reader, I don't consider myself a great reader, as I'm not very well-rounded for the most part. I do also really love classic literature (everything from Beowulf to Chaucer to Shakespeare to Tolkien to Austen to Hemingway), and I'd say it's genre #2 for me (if it is indeed a genre). I'd like to branch out, but really, I never know what to read in other genres. Something's being a best-seller doesn't automatically recommend it to me. I know I enjoy other types of book - I used to be crazy about John Grisham's books, at least the first ones were really great, and Tom Clancy had some novels I liked, too. In high school I borrowed true crime books from a girl who lived next door, and devoured those. In high school I read everything I could get my hands on, but I had more free time then. Now if I'm not reading fantasy, I'm reading a book on micro or something similar.

I also adore Librivox for the free audiobooks. I've been listening to Wuthering Heights recently, for the first time. Honestly, I'm not crazy about this particular book thus far, but audiobooks are amazing and I wish they were less expensive. Seriously though, how in the world did Heathcliff come to be considered some sort of beloved dream-guy? Sandor Clegane is nicer and more of a dreamboat than this guy (at least he does semi-nice things for one person, well maybe two). I really can't stand any of the characters, and can't bring myself to care about what happens to them. I'm at the point of wishing that Heathcliff and Catherine would just run away together and save me having to read the rest of this book (or in my case, listen to). I usually love gray characters, and it's fun to read about people who aren't perfect heroes, but Catherine and Heathcliff are so dark gray, it seems like there is no depth to them at all (which I suppose is the point - they are both shallow people), and the kind of selfish love they share is not romantic at all. Seriously, I cannot find ONE thing to recommend them. Also, someone on one of those sites (was it Goodreads?) commented that HC and Cat could not marry because at the time it was illegal for an unrelated man and woman who had been raised in the same house as brother and sister to marry. I wondered about the accuracy of this, as in Mansfield Park (which is not from the same time period but is only about 30ish years earlier) Edmund and Fanny are raised in the same house and ARE related, and marry.

Finally, I find that I've become quite obsessed with fig scents. I want to find that perfect perfume that is figgy, a bit sweet, a teensy bit floral, very fresh, and woodsy, a bit musky. Sigh.

It's past bedtime. Goodnight!

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my birthday, and it's really been a great one. Friday I was able to visit with my mom and see my family. Saturday Dusty took me to Albasha's for some delicious Greek/Lebanese food, and Sunday he grilled steak, mmmm. Then today, his mom cooked crawfish pasta for me, one of my favorite entrees, and made the most delicious chocolate cake! I received the rest of the Death Gate Cycle books, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, a lovely lamp, a really cute purse, and a new laptop! All in all, a great birthday.

I really want to try my hand at making my own perfume and lamp oils. Anyone have any tips on finding the oils to do this? I'm looking everywhere for fig-scented oil and having no luck.

Nana-nana-nana-nana-dicebag!

I finished Dusty's Batman dicebag, and it is a huge hit - he and all his friends think it's awesome! So yay!



Mardi Gras was fun - we usually go to the FQ, but only during the day; we left at 4pm. We ate chargrilled oysters at Acme (yum!!!! - best part of MG!) and walked around, particularly enjoying the costumes on St. Ann's Street. Got some great pictures!

Oh, I finally learned the named of my favorite flower - odd, as it's been my favorite my entire life, and I see it yearly, since they grow wild here. But I never thought to ask before, since I had my own name for them anyway. My friend Jenny is a plant person and she enlightened me when I was talking about how I want a garden full of them and daffodils (though I don't think they bloom at the same time, also I think daffodils don't grow so well around here as we don't have the cold weather they require, so they apparently get refrigerated). Anyway, it's Lycoris radiata, also called "Hurricane Lilies" and "Spider Lilies" (but not the Spider Lilies I think of when I think of spider lilies).



Beautiful, no?

Still working on the quilt. Tying is supposed to be quick, but I am finding it very tedious.

I MUST stop getting bored with my knitting projects. Sigh...

How are all these people on Craftster and Ravelry so amazingly creative and talented?!

Anthropolification Boyer Cream Cardi

How awesome is this Anthropologie knock-off cardigan at Grosgain? I would never have thought of so simple an idea that looks so fabulous!

FO: Eiffel Flower Painting

I finished a painting yesterday - one for myself(!) this time. This is a painting I just dubbed "Eiffel Flower" because "flower" rhymes with "tower." It's done on 16x20" canvas with acrylics (sadly, cheap craft paints because that's really all I can afford), spray paint, and a fine-line purple Sharpie. The idea of this painting came to me as I decided I wanted to do a painting of the Eiffel tower, but I did not want it to be just a normal painting. I wanted a different angle than the one we are mostly used to seeing, and I really liked the idea of a collage painting. The birds are borrowed from a cool photo my mom took of some birds on a power line, that I wanted to incorporate into the painting. The flowers are from photos of Dusty's trip to Hawaii; I think his dad took that photo. This was my first attempt at painting flowers, and I think it turned out pretty well. The lace was actually a strip of fabric lace I bought and laid on top of the canvas, and spray painted. I was a bit hasty and didn't spray the middle of the lace as well as I should have, but I still think it came out great. All in all, I am really pleased with this painting and it is going on the wall asap!



On the knitting front, I've been making a dice bag for Dusty, with the Batman symbol on it. I also started working on the Sideways Grande Cloche from Boutique Knits for a bit of mindless knitting, and I'm still working on the Drops Sweater. I got the yarn for Sylvi and it is oh-so-vibrantly purple and lovely!

Today I am going to work on finally getting my quilt sewn, and of course, the daily dose of study. I think we are going to eat at Acme Oyster House for V-day, yumm!

FOs: Verity and St. Vincent Cloche

Yes, I know... I haven't even mentioned these projects on here, and now I'm posting them as FOs. Sorry, I suck.

The St. Vincent Cloche is a free pattern I started on last year. I actually finished it before Christmas, but just now stitched the ribbon down to the hat. This hat was inspired by the hat that Anne Darrow wore in Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong. I loved that hat so much. Of course, mine doesn't look much like it, but I still think it turned out well.

This hat is knit and felted. I used Paton's Classic Merino in natural. It took over one skein but well under two. The hat came out HUGE. I am not sure how many times I had to felt it to get the right fit, but it was a lot. After I'd finally gotten the crown to fit my head, I had to cut the brim to make it just the length I wanted (about the length of the inspiration hat). It is waterproof. Very much so. To shape it, I had to wet it, and it took a lot of water to accomplish that. I need to reshape the brim, I think; it looks a bit squished.

I found the ribbon for around one dollar at Michael's. It is Christmas ribbon, white with silvery-gray snowflakes. I machine stitched it onto the hat.





Verity is a project I started and finished last week, in just a couple of days. It's a hat by the super-talented Ysolda Teague. It's available on Ravelry. I had a skein of Malabrigo that I'd bought from someone's stash on Ravelry (it seems all the online stores that sell Malabrigo charge flat-rate shipping and that's usually good for big orders, but I can rarely afford to make large orders, though when I get rich, I am buying so much Malabrigo!). Malabrigo is my very favorite yarn. I love the current trend of slouchy hats. I will probably be wearing them even when the trend ends. This one is really not that slouchy (I made a M), but I like the fit of it. I made the M because I was worried I'd run out of yarn with the L, otherwise I would have liked to do the L hat and M brim. But no worries, I still love the hat! And I didn't have a button lying around, and I really wanted to go ahead and wear the hat, so I found this old (fake) gold brooch whose origins I do not know. It is a little heavy for the hat, but it looks cute imo.




Tomorrow I am going to try to have the nerve to finally sew up my quilt. The Drops sweater is still going - I've finished and blocked the front and have just started the back.

I have become obsessed with Sylvi from Twist Collective. It is so striking! My birthday is next month, and as one of my gifts, I asked for yarn to knit Sylvi. I found a purple color I love, Phantom in Louet Riverstone Chunky. I've read that this yarn is thin for a bulky, but even if it is, that's ok... I think this sweater-coat calls for much more ease than I'd ever need or want. It was also a great price, from WEBS Yarn. So I didn't really splurge in asking for that, as even the Knitpicks' Wool of the Andes Bulky would not have been much cheaper, and they didn't have a purple that I loved. I wish they carried it in the color Hyacinth like their worsted WOTA. LOVE that color so!

I bought both Vogue and IK for Winter 2008 and now I don't think I'm going to knit anything from either. Maybe the Victoria Yoke Pullover from IK; it looks surprisingly good on curvier women.

Anyway, that's it for now! Cheers!

Drops Sweater Update

Just a note to say that the Drops pullover seems to be going... not too badly. I wasn't sure about this project because the pullover is designed for a yarn with a halo, which I do not have. But the Shadow, while not haloed, is... halo-y. There is a (very small) bit of fuzziness to it which works. The teal color is lovely, and the yarn surprisingly soft, considering how inexpensive it is. I'm almost to the waistband, which is a bit of a dilemma. Do I go out and buy a skein of Paton's in the closest thing to teal I can find? Or do I use something I already have? I've some leftovers in brown, natural, green, gold, and purple. I think I'm going to try to find some teal yarn, because I like the monochromaticness of the photo on the Drops site. Then again, the purple might be cute and Anthropologie-esque.

Projects and FO: Mysteriously Green Slippers

I used to be pretty good about updating on my projects, but I've really been slacking there. It only matters because then I forget what I've going on and what was frustrating me most about a project.

I now know why Rapunzel was given that name (the sweater, not the princess). It is because this sweater is never-ending, just like her hair... well, at least really, really long like her hair. I've restarted it about three times and am getting nowhere. I am beginning to think I really need to choose a different yarn for the sweater. Thing is, can't really afford to buy new yarn right now. So, for now I am calling this sweater "Aurora" after the Sleeping Beauty princess (or Rosie, if you're a Robin McKinley fan like me), since it has been sleeping quite a while. But fear not, fair maidens, for I am determined that this fairy tale shall have a happy ending!

I've been working on an entrelac hat, but it, too, has been discouraging. I love the idea of this hat in this yarn, but seeing it knit up... it's just not working for me. The colors keep trying to pool, the hat itself is too large, and the yarn is too heavy. So I cast it aside, too. I think this is going to be a "loser" project. I don't really know quite what to do with it.

Fortunately for me, Drops Design released this pullover pattern. I didn't have any Kidsilk-like yarn, and again, couldn't buy any, but I did have some Knitpicks Shadow in Snorkel lying around, that was originally going to be for a shawl. I needed a quick-and-easy knit; something to get me motivated on knitting again. Why yes, those ARE size 10 needles. As many projects that I've completed and been not quite satisfied with, I need something that will, hopefully, help me get my knitting mojo back. Fingers crossed!



One thing I did finish on my trip to western Kansas for Christmas was a pair of green Mystery Slippers, from the Yahoo Holiday Mystery Knits group. This pattern was great! I love the finished slippers and have already worn them so much that I've had to shave them once or twice to get rid of pilling. They are warm, cute (although they make my feet look HUGE), and the green color is great. My only complaint is that they get rather loose, and being in 100% wool, can't be dried to tighten them up. (well, I suppose they COULD, since felting does have that effect...)



I also finished a pair of short ankle socks (western Kansas is a long ride) that had been lying around for a bit. They're really not worth posting, since they are just plain gray, from KP Palette, but they are very comfy. I ran out of the gray and had to finish one of them in black. I really love handknit socks, even if I do have to hand wash them.



Earlier in the week, I went out to Hobby Lobby to find some things for my quilt and some buttons for the slippers. I ran across a new magazine called Stitch. It's a publication by Quilt Arts and... wow! Really loving this magazine! There are two skirts I am definitely making, and soon - warm weather will be here in LA before we know it (and by warm, I mean unbearably hot - people around here say Hell is where New Orleanians go to cool off). The cover skirt is my favorite. I am going to have to finish up at least my quilt and the two paintings I am working on before I can even seriously think about these skirts, but it's never too early to look around for fabric. Fabric suggestions, anyone?





The quilt top is entirely sewn together, and now I need to do the quilting. So far I love how it looks (it has been covering my bed for the past few days), but the real challenges are coming up now. Wish me luck!

Also, Brisingr has gotten much better. It took almost a hundred pages to get me really interested, but this book is really easy reading, so that's not too bad actually. I'm enjoying reading the book now.

Last, I re-arranged my sidebar by craft, rather than by year as I had it before, though past projects are still separated by year. Is this an improvement? Please let me know! I have little time to work on things such as my blog's format, but I know how irritating a poorly set-up web page can be. I'd like to have it look nice, but I honestly just don't know how.

Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans was a very good movie. It had the advantage of being only an hour and a half, which was nice in this era of needlessly long movies. I have probably ranted about this before, but: yes, some stories (such as LOTR) take two or three hours to tell. SOME, not ALL. Most movies do not need to be two hours or two and a half long! Thank you, Underworld writers, for making a great movie that was not needlessly long.

That said, the writers of the A Song of Ice and Fire TV show that is in pre-production for HBO can take as long as they need or like to tell the story, so long as the tell it RIGHT. I have never been excited about a TV show before... but YES!

How Time Flies!

Seriously! I have been so busy with life that a month has passed, and I have forgotten to update. Well, I ought to say I've neglected to update. I thought of posting a couple of times, but I never got around to doing so.

School has started again, and that will be keeping me busy for the semester. I am also working on a slouchy entrelac hat, two paintings - one a gift and one for myself, and my quilt... I mean comforter. I made the mistake of saying once I was going to make a quilt to Dusty, and got called "grandma" for the next week because of it. So I've been saying "blanket" or "comforter" around him. Haha.

For the quilt, I've more than a third of the squares sewn together. I don't know if anyone will recall my earlier posts regarding making a quilt, but I was inspired by all those cute quilts at Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie to make my own. So, I bought a bunch of different fabrics over a period of several months, and cut 8" squares of them, and now I'm stitching them together. I'm also going to "cheat" on the whole quilt-making thing, because I'm not using batting, well not the normal kind. Considering that this is going to fit a queen-sized bed, I didn't think it a good idea since this is my first quilted anything, after all. So, I went to T. J. Maxx and, for around $15, picked up a nice, plush microfiber full/queen-sized (90"x90") blanket. I do wish it was a little longer, because it limits my "comforter" to being 90"x90" rather than the 90"x96" I would prefer, but it will be easier (I think) to use a blanket as batting than trying to get nice, even batting on my first try, on a queen-sized quilt that I don't intend to quilt heavily. The blanket does cover the bed as well as the comforter currently in use. I may only "tie" it, which I'm told can be done with embroidery floss.

For the backing, I cheated again. Urban Outfitters sells these tapestry-bedspreads, which are basically bed-sized (108"x90") lengths of fabric, a bit on the thin side, but very cute and, when on sale, affordable (I paid ~$20), too. So my backing is a bright bird print (called "Mod Birdies" or something like that), with lots of pink and green, brown and blue, and orange, too. Should go nicely with the rest of the fabrics. The only thing that concerns me with this is that somewhere on the packaging it said something about the dye possibly running, but I washed this with all my other fabrics, and I didn't notice anything afterward. I've washed it twice already because of that warning, and so far, I've had no problems. Hopefully, it will turn out fine.

So far, I love how it's coming along. I adore each fabric I am using, and I think (read: hope) it's going to turn out fun, bright, and funky without being obnoxious. Which is pretty much my style.

After I finish the quilt, I am going to add a big, black bird applique to the bottom edge of it. Should be fun.

Oh! A while ago, I posted about the neat Garnethill Mirror Plates. Well, a kind Raveler messaged me with ideas on how to make them. So now I am going to try that soon.

I'm also reading Brisingr. So far... eh. I need to stop comparing it to George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, because that's really being unfair. No one alive can compare to the quality of those books. Hopefully the story will get better, though. I've heard this book is better than the last two in the Inheritance series, Eragon and Eldest. There are things I liked and disliked about each of those books. But really... if you want talking dragons, go read Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern stuff.

By the way, I want IK Winter 2008. I am kinda in love with the Manchester Jacket. I want to make it in a leaf-green.

More painting, yay!

While I'm not that great at making jewelry, I still like to try on occasion. "But the title of this post is about painting. What," you ask, "has that with making jewelry?,"


At Michael's (arts and crafts chain store), they have some great finds. Among them were these black plastic pendants with birds and flowers on them, in a set of four. You could hardly make out the birds when they were black, but the design of them is fabulous even if the color sucked, so I thought it would be fun to try painting them. As I had enough to make 2 pairs of earrings, I tried two vastly different styles.

I can't take credit for this idea - a friend did it first, though not in multiple colors as I used.

Here, I dry-brushed gold and a dull, dusty brown over the black. It made the earrings turn out looking antiqued.



Here, I went a bit wild with color. The design is of a bird in a tree, with branches, leaves, and flowers, so I painted the branches brown and the leaves green, the flowers red on one side and purple on the other. For the bird, as far as I know peacocks don't hang out in trees, but I painted them to look like peacocks anyway since the shape of the birds themselves made me think of peacocks. I used blue, green, and gold for that. I really love how they turned out!


I'm posting the painting I did of the shrimp boat again, because I touched it up - mostly by thinning out the "wires" and outlining the white rigging bits of the boat. I think it is just what was needed for me to be happy with it.


This is a painting I just completed, of a Nawlins French Quarter balcony during Mardi Gras. This took quite a while to do, what with all the fine detail and all. Like my other Louisiana-inspired paintings, this one is 8x10".


Both of these paintings are Christmas gifts. I still have one more to do. I hope the recipients love them!

Windows Shopping

... Because I use Windows. Hahaha, I love puns, don't you?

See, back when I had more time to do things and bothered to write in this blog more regularly, I would mention other things, such as my opinions of the patterns in the newest IK (not that anyone cares) or point out cute things that OMGILUVZIT!

Of course, life got in the way and so I didn't blog for a rather long period of time, and now, when I have been able to blog, it's been only about things I've made. But since it's Christmas season(for many of us, shopping season), and I've done almost all my shopping online this year, I thought I'd point to some things I am digging now. Who knows, maybe I'll help someone with Christmas shopping!

I don't have my own place right now, but I really wish I did, as I love the current decorating trends. I know they are probably all things that will look dated soon, and that sucks because I adore the vivid and dramatic colors that are popular. I believe I've mentioned before how I little I like neutrals, but let me reiterate. I don't particularly care for neutrals ("What makes a good man go neutral?"). Yes, they are necessary, I suppose, and of course you can't avoid them, but I am not an "all neutral" type of person. White walls make me cringe and always have, but I suppose beige or some variation of it is alright as long as there is color SOMEWHERE... plenty of it. With that said, a good deal of what I am about to post is actually neutral... go figure.

At Garnethill, these plate mirrors. They come in three sizes; I particularly adore the Large.



Dusty's mom actually has the Patchwork Rose Hooked Wool Rug hanging as a tapestry in her house. It is much prettier and more vivid in person than online.



A rug with less color but just as much appeal is the Dharma rug. I love the chocolate brown and pink together.



The Wendy's Garden Hooked Wool Rug is another fun, bright rug. If only they showed a photo of the entire thing! Edited Jan 2009 to say: Dusty's mom bought this rug for her laundry room and it is FAB!



I'm digging everything "birdy" right now, especially these Ceramic Pigeon Vases at Threepotatofour.



If wishes were horses and pennies were hundred dollar bills, I'd possess the Cleopatra Neoclassical Chaise, available at Design Toscano. I just love this site. They have some very unique (and some very weird) things.



I've been dying to make an afghan using this Haverhill Afghan Throw as inspiration. Once I finish some of these projects that have been sitting around for a year or more, I am going to start on it. I like the pillow, too... maybe I'll make a matching pillow as well.



This Mademoiselle Haute Couture Floor Lamp is just too awesome for words. I love the dress form lamps I've seen online, and this is even cooler.



From Garnethill, this White Coral Lamp is gorgeous, though I'd like it better if it were the actual color of coral.



If you're looking for artwork, a great piece is Apple Tree with Red Fruit by Paul Ranson. I purchased this print from Allposters, and though the size is odd, so I haven't been able to find a frame for it, the print itself is fantastic.



Another great art print is Rain on Royal Street by Dianne Millsap. ALL of her Nawlins paintings are fantastic! The wonderful thing about these paintings is that you can enjoy the life and energy of the French Quarter without the smell.



Another artist with amazing Nawlins art is James Michalopoulas. Every time I walk into Barnes and Noble, I pick up his ($100) book (that I can't afford) to look through it. It would be such a great addition to my collection. One of these days...
A print of his I particularly like is Bisecting Balconies.



I'm loving the Vitruvian Collection, in particular the Peace, Warm Hands, and Kissing the Hand. "Kissing the Hand" makes me think of Mr. Knightley, literature's finest gentleman.




Finally, these Agate Coasters look like great fun, even if agate doesn't naturally come in blue or green.

Paintings

If there is anything I love, it is painting. Granted, I am no true artist, but I enjoy it and that's all that matters. Here are the paintings I've done thus far this year.

The first two paintings are not "originals." They were done at CorksnCanvas, a place where you do a painting in an evening. There is an instructor who tells you what to do, and everyone in the class does the same painting, but they all come out remarkably different. I went with a couple of people, and we had a blast. We really liked the New Orleans house paintings, so we did two of them (on two separate occasions).


This pink house was my favorite of all the paintings they offer. I just love how mine turned out, but I forgot to add some potted plants, which I still need to do.


We go saltwater fishing, usually once or twice a year. I have taken some great photos on these trips, and I always wanted to do paintings of them. Well, I finally did, at least started my "series" of Louisiana wetlands paintings. I did the red tugboat first, and then the shrimping boat. More will follow.

Jewelry at its worst

Oops! 2008 is almost gone, and I have a few things I've made that I've not posted. Mostly in the form of jewelry, which I am posting now, but I have a couple of paintings as well, which I will post later, when I get around to taking pictures of them.

Honestly, jewelry-making is one of those hobbies I wish I could indulge in more frequently, but just cannot afford to (without giving up pretty much all of my other hobbies). Plus, for those of you who make jewelry on a regular basis, how do you decide to buy your supplies? Namely beads and stuff. Do you just buy stuff you like, or wait until you have an idea? Also, are there any websites you frequent?

Anyway, so the main point of all this being that I do not make elaborate jewelry. I am aware of this, and most of what I have made is nothing special.

First, we have two pairs of earrings I made for my Secret Santa partner. We are doing several small gifts, then a big gift. These were two small gifts. The shells are just beads put on earring hooks, and the leopard print was a set of pendants that I simply put on hooks. So, nothing complex, but I think they are cute.



Next, I made these seahorses from beads that came out of the same pack of beads as the shells. I loved these little seahorses, and really, so much could have been done with this pack of beads (in fact, I have some left over and hopefully later can try something more elborate), but really I didn't think it NEEDED that much as the beads were so cute.


This pendant is a gift. I couldn't resist, as the person who is going to receive it for Christmas has the last name of Lucky.


I made these peacock feather earrings earlier in the year, but they are probably still my favorite pair of earrings right now. I saw the idea for these on some website; they were $99, which I could not afford no matter how well I liked them. But they were so simple, I figured they'd be easy to recreate, and they were. They were hard to photograph; when being worn, they do not look raggedy as they do in the picture. Additionally, I love the closures I used for these - I don't have to worry about losing an earring or an earring back.


I love these little jewelry-sized bottles. I wanted to use the green sand for something, and I thought this was perfect. Then I found the little green shell beads, and voila! I think the necklace turned out really cute.

2 FOs: Serrano and Goddess Halloween Costume M4954

So, I've been a busy little bumblebee, and though most of that has been with school and work, I did manage to finally finish Serrano and make a Halloween costume as well. So, here's that stuff.

M4954:
For Halloween, I was attending a party that was (months ago) originally supposed to be a toga party. The theme changed to just plain ol' costume party, but as I already had the stuff for this, I stuck to it. It's a Roman/Greek/Egyptian "goddess costume," in quotes because I doubt the design could be much less historically accurate. At any rate, it was cuter than a toga because I look awful in a toga. I didn't do white because there wasn't any cheap white satin at Hancock fabrics, and this lavender stuff was cheap. I wore this to two parties and made it the day of the first one. I did all the cutting one day and then all the sewing the day of the party. It took most of the day, but I finished in time and that's that. Excuse these pictures, they were taken after the party when I actually thought to take a picture, so I look like crap. Really like crap. In fact, I can't believe I am posting such bad photos on the internet, and I will probably regret it someday. And I can't even blame it on being drunk.





As always, there is a review for this at PatternReview.

Serrano:
This thing took for-ev-er and two days. Mainly because I quit knitting for almost a year, and only haphazardly picked it back up a couple of months ago. Then, I couldn't find the zipper I wanted (and never did), and I couldn't decide what else to do with it because, as it turns out, a plain black cardigan is just not me. So I crocheted an edging (out of gray I was using for a pair of socks, which will now be finished in leftover black) and made an applique out of interfacing,(note to self: always check the interfacing before buying - make certain it is fusible! This is the second time I have bought the wrong kind of interfacing), scraps from my Leg Lamp costume, and a scrap of quilting cotton. I added a button on the applique, too, from God-knows what project that I probably didn't finish, but hopefully will someday. Then I painstakingly hand-stitched it on there (and let me tell you, my hand-stitching is a fright. Martha Stewart would have a stroke if she saw it. Actually, does she sew? I know she's Martha Stewart and all, but do you think she sews stuff by hand?). I chose a fleur-de-lys because I realized I live in south La and had nothing with fleur-de-lys on it, and I think you get arrested for that here. Or at least mobbed.

So, without further adieu, the pictures! The usual disclaimer of how un-photogenic I am, but my boyfriend took these and he wasn't going to stand there all day taking photos till we got one I liked, since that probably would have taken hours.





And finally, a photo of Dusty's Halloween costume. Can you guess who he is?