The Quiet Book and The Ring

I'll be honest-- I was not expecting this project to take so long. I thought I could easily finish both this and the second felt quiet book that I cut out shortly after Christmas before my due date. With only 4 1/2 weeks to go, I don't think that's going to happen now. But I'm proud of how this turned out. I just really hope that Hobbit will enjoy playing with it, when he's a little older!

So, without further ado, I present the Lord of the Rings quiet book, in all of its thick glory. (Seriously, this thing measures over 3" thick! Though I'm sure it would compact if I put something on top of it.) And I cannot take credit for the design, it's a pattern from the juliebell shop on Etsy. (With a few minor modifications on my part here and there.) One picture-heavy post, coming up!

Page 1: The front cover. In the original pattern, it called for a brown cover, but I used maroon instead-- I'm justifying it by saying it ties in with the Red Book of Westmarch, from the books. But really, it's that I'm cheap. I couldn't quite find that "copper canyon brown" and I had a bunch of the maroon that I was able to get from my mom for free. (All of the felt in this book was either specially purchased for this project, or mooched off my mom, who wanted to get rid of it anyway in preparation for moving. All of the threads, embroidery floss, and miscellaneous notions, however, were part of my stash.)

Page 2: The Shire, with some panels you can lift and peek under. I'll admit I thought long and hard about adding the pipe, because I don't want to encourage smoking, especially given that the smell really makes me sick even when I'm not pregnant (and far, far worse when I am, apparently. Truthfully, frequent exposure to that was one of my major incentives to not go back to my old retail job this spring.). But in both the books and the movies, it's kind of unavoidable that there is pipe smoking, especially in hobbit culture, and I couldn't think of anything else to go there. So I left it.

Page 3: Rivendell, with one of my favorite--and bulkiest--features of the book...the Fellowship of the Finger Puppets! Seriously, how cute is that? I did change up some of the suggested colors for things to coincide a little more closely with the movie costumes, since a lot of the styling seemed to be based on the films anyway.





Page 4: Help Gollum find the Precious. He really is a friendly-looking Gollum here...but hey, this is basically baby's first introduction to my #1 fandom, so why scare him right off? I did end up tweaking the face a bit, because my embroidery floss was so close to the color of the felt that he just looked weird with no nose. All three of the pieces under the water snap on and off, but I only took off the one hiding the Ring for this photo.













Page 5: Try on the Ring. This was the one I changed up the most. The original page had just an embroidered Ring, and I wasn't sure what the action was here. Lay your hand over it and watch the Ring disappear? If I can't figure it out, there's no way a toddler could. So I used some wired gold ribbon in my stash to make a Ring that you can slip your fingers under. (The hand was also originally facing the other way, but that was just me making a mistake and not wanting to unpick the embroidery.)

Page 6: Help Gandalf escape. Technically, this should probably come before the Rivendell page, but this is the order the instructions had it in. And the bulk of the pages meant the eyelets I'd originally planned to use didn't work, and I ended up basically just punching holes with an awl and threading the binder rings through, so they're not the easiest to rearrange. It's just an eagle on elastic, so he can get some distance between him and Orthanc. I also made sure to machine-sew both ends down as securely as possible, in hopes that the boy won't be able to yank it off first try!
Page 7: Help Frodo and Sam through Mordor. Again, a somewhat less bleak and dreary Mordor, given that there's trees and a pond. (I'm guessing this path leads through Ithilien first.) I'm especially proud of the Eye on here--maybe I spent a little more time embroidering on it than necessary, but it didn't look as fiery and evil as I wanted it to after adding the initial embroidery. So I added more color, and I think it helped.

Page 8: Destroy the Ring in Mt. Doom. Again, I was having a little fun with the embroidery on the lava, mostly to make sure the orange showed up well. As for the Ring itself, it actually is a replica of the One Ring-- it fell off of a bookmark I had gotten back when the movies were first out, and I had left it sitting with my jewelry supplies for years. Fortunately, I actually remembered that I had this now that I had the perfect excuse to finally use it--crafty pack rat tendencies for the win! (Again, this is machine stitched on as securely as I possibly could, to try to avoid any choking hazards.)

Page 9: Help Aragorn become King. I was working on this one while having a craft day/My Little Pony marathon with some friends recently, and we all had a good laugh over Aragorn in his undies! Again, I slightly altered the embroidery to do a white tree instead of dots on the king outfit, because Gondor demanded it. I know it's hard to see in this picture, but it's there.


Page 10: The End. Pretty self-explanatory. I wish that E was straighter, but the glue-tacking didn't work so well and it was already falling off by the time I got through sewing on the first two letters. It probably would have worked better if I'd been sewing on a flat surface, but I wasn't, and I was just trying to get it done by this point.

This was definitely a labor of love, and I'm completely amused by it, at least. And even though it took a lot longer this way, I'm not sorry that I took the time to sew everything instead of glue it, because I think it will be much more durable--especially given that on the occasions I did tack things down with glue, it was often peeling off before I even finished sewing the pieces! Even so, I'm thinking I might rely a little more on glue-tacking and especially machine sewing where I can for the Doctor Who one I have cut out next. After all, I'd like to start knitting again sometime this year!

Pattern Review: Butterick 5084

(#3, as promised! I finished this one, technically, last Friday, but I'm going to say I finished it yesterday because I ended up taking the seams in more at the sides to help with an issue at the empire waistband-- it's way too stiff and was sticking out funny. I think it helped.)

(Incidentally, I'm liking this Pattern Review thing--the template makes it easy to talk about!)

Pattern Description: Knit top with empire waist and bodice/sleeve/length variations. I made mostly view A.

Pattern Sizing: 6-20 (I made a 14)

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Pretty much (especially since I made it the same color!)

Were the instructions easy to follow? The part that I used was pretty simple-- I only used them for the crossover bodice and then sewed it my own way for the sleeve/side construction (sewed the sleeves in flat and then did the underarm and side seams all at once, which worked great!)

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? Like: it came together very fast (once I finished with the embroidery), and it's a good length. Dislike: There's too many layers at the lower band of the empire waist-- between the lower shirt, the bodice, the bands and the interfacing, I was sewing through something like 8 layers of fabric at the points where the crossover band met the horizontal band, and my machine/serger had a bit of trouble handling it. And it doesn't quite lay right either, because it didn't press well. I also had a bit of trouble at the shoulders where the band meets the back shoulder-- maybe it's because I used my serger for the construction and that added extra seam bulk, but I could not get it to be a smooth line!

Fabric Used: Some kind of poly-cotton knit blend from Joann's. For the embroidery, I did it by hand (and that took FOREVER! But since I was trying to copy a very specific embroidery design, it was worth it.) Extra note: I blatantly stole the design from Eowyn's white wool dress from The Two Towers. Yes, I know I'm a geek. But she's pretty much my favorite fantasy story character EVER, so I'm ok with that.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: I used the flared sleeves from views B/C instead of the straight ones that came with view A. I also took smaller seam allowances (1/4" instead of 5/8") at the shoulder and empire waist seams, because I was concerned about where exactly it would hit me. If the fabric had been thinner that probably would have been unnecessary, but with the bulk of the layers it's probably good that I did. Finally, I blind-hemmed it by machine instead of doing a regular straight stitch, and it worked well both for not being easily seen and avoiding stretching out the hems.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? It's a good basic top pattern that seems like it would be easy to modify/customize, and I like the length. So I probably will at some point. However, if you're making the crossover view with the band, I would recommend a lightweight knit-- mine was a bit on the thick side, and I think that may have been part of the issue. Or maybe either just interface half of the horizontal band, or leave the interfacing out altogether. (It's definitely stiffer there than I would prefer.) Also, if you're concerned about how low-cut it is, it's a good layering top for a camisole (that's how I wear it.)

Conclusion: While I wish that certain parts of it had gone together more smoothly, I do like this top-- it's very comfortable, and I'm thrilled that the embroidery turned out how I'd envisioned!

So here's my extra pics... they're a little dark, but you can see where things got a little bulky on me. The one on the left is a closeup of the embroidered bands (you can see that it sticks out just a bit in front on the horizontal part---fortunately, the neckline doesn't gap! Though I wouldn't wear this one without something under it anyway.) The other picture is where the shoulder seam joins the front and back... it's not very obvious in this pic at all so I feel kind of silly pointing out my mistake, but that brighter point does show where it doesn't quite line up smoothly.

An update and a knitting experiment

The good news first: the stain seems to be gone! That's where it was, on the left--the whiter spots around the embroidery are where the tear-away stabilizer stuff still is. And the next picture is all three pieces, finished--the one on the right is the one that got the lotion on it. I'm thinking the Oxy-Clean may have bleached it a little bit, since it looks a little brighter than the other two pieces. Or maybe it's just the crappy lighting in here. But I don't think it'll be too noticeable. Either way, I'd rather have that than a big glob of coconut-lotion yellow!





Also, the pendant was found on my driveway, minus a leaf. But that's an easier fix than making an all-new one!


So once I got the embroidery done this morning, went out for a walk (needed sunshine and exercise) and had a late lunch, I played around with the knitting machine some more to see if I could get some workable sweater fabric out of it. I was having a hard time with it today, really-- the yarn-pushing thingy got stuck several times, the clamps eventually stopped staying on the card table so I had to try and hold it in place and move the yarn-pusher at the same time, lots of dropped stitches and latches staying closed/having to knock them open before continuing. So for about 5-6 hours of work, I got a whopping 7 or 8 inches to show for it. Plus, now that it's off the machine, there's all these weird ridges (probably where it was getting stuck and dropping stitches) and it's a really stiff fabric. Which, admittedly, could be the yarn, but there's not really any options to make the stitches looser or whatever it is that would need to be done there. So I'm thinking this isn't going to really be worth it--in that same amount of time, I could have sewed together that entire embroidered shirt and then some. I don't regret trying it, but that leaves me with the option of either learning how to crochet or knit (blech-- I really have not enjoyed it on any of my multiple attempts), or trying to find some sources online for non-wool sweater fabric/chopping up thrift store sweaters. Or maybe trying to hunt down something handmade on Etsy the next time I get the urge for a new sweater.

In the meantime, need to come up with some options for my summer wardrobe shrug. I wonder if this is the right color brown? Though I don't really need 3 yards of it. Or I could go with this...though my inner hippie is protesting vehemently at the idea of a polyester knit. Especially for the humidity that is mid-Atlantic summer. Or I could just keep hitting up my local Goodwills and Joanns and hope that something crops up in the right color (I really want to go with that light tannish-taupish color, since it's a neutral and that would give maximum versatility). Decisions, decisions....

I think I might cry.

Seriously, I'm kind of devastated right now. I had determined to finish the embroidery for this shirt I'm making, since I've been working on and off on it for at least the last six months. And since I currently don't have work on Fridays, I actually got a huge chunk of it done today-- about 30-45 minutes' work would finish it.

I was out with some friends tonight, and just got home, and was clearing some stuff off my bed so I can sleep, only to discover that somehow, a bottle of lotion got left open enough on there that a big glob of it was able to spill out--entirely contained on one of the three embroidered pieces. I immediately washed as much as I could of it out with soap, and I currently have it soaking in detergent-and-Oxy-clean treated water. But I have no way of knowing how many hours it's been sitting there--at least 8, since I left here just after 4. And the stain is quite obviously yellow, right on my cream shirt. And, go figure, closer to the shoulder than the part that would overlap in the front, so there's no concealing it. So unless soaking it in all this stuff and maybe the Tide-to-Go pen can work a miracle, I'm seriously doubting I can salvage this. Which means I'm most likely going to have to embroider an entirely new piece.

I was so excited about finishing this embroidery tomorrow--if I did, I could probably sew the entire thing together on Sunday and then have it to wear for the rest of the cold season. I'm quite badly in need of a cream-colored shirt. But if I have to re-embroider this, there is no way I'm going to finish this even by the end of the month-- I'm so horribly slow at it!

ETA, 12:20 AM--And to top it all off, I just discovered that the pendant of the necklace that I was wearing (which happens to be one of my favorite necklaces at the moment since it goes with tons of stuff, and it's better suited to the season than the brown-and-cream seashell one I wear all the time in the summer) fell off again. And since it's not tangled in the scarf I was wearing, that means it could be anywhere between here and a random Starbucks in the middle of Philadelphia (the last place I know it was there, since the necklace got twisted off to the side and I had to fix that). Technically, I can make a new one, I do have leftover supplies from it, but after the shirt, I really don't need this tonight. So, yeah. I think I'm going to go cry now. :(

This is not my best day ever.

Well, it's pretty much official.... I'm not going to be able to complete the BurdaStyle minichallenge in time now. I tried, but machines are not cooperating with me today. I've tried two different sewing machines, broken two leather needles, nearly killed my fingers attempting to handsew through the holes, and punched a bunch of obvious holes in the leather that the thread wouldn't catch in while trying to topstitch it. And this was after spending a couple of hours fighting with the straps, trying to get enough stitches for them to stay on. The topstitching, frankly, looks awful. And I'm not sure if I can fix this one.

And, to cap it off, I can't upload the pictures anyway. One of my friends inadvertently gave me a computer virus, so the last 20 hours or so have been spent scanning, rescanning, restarting my computer, watching my computer restart itself, and getting generally frustrated. So while I could take pictures of the finished product (if I could actually finish it), we're also supposed to show what we made it from. And those pictures are no longer on my memory card--they're on my computer. Which I can't access until this mess straightens out, because I had to unplug the network cable lest I infect all of my family's computers as well.

The one crafty bright spot this weekend: You know that shirt I'm embroidering trim for? Since two of my friends were hanging out here yesterday (we were supposed to go to the Renaissance Faire, but got rained out, so we ended up hanging out at my place instead), and I needed something to occupy my hands while we binged on Stargate Atlantis and they crocheted, I finished an entire piece! So now I just have the under-bust band to go, and I can actually get this thing together. Which will hopefully go quickly, because I have a scary number of projects that need to get done in, oh, the next month and a half.

Costumes, embroidery, and recons, oh my!

First off... watching Project Runway as I write, and heehee, fashion inspired by music!! I'm cracking up that Korto has to dress like a country star. That is so not her!





Anyway.



Had a good weekend hanging out with N. She's an avid swing dancer, and enlisted my help for a costume for a Halloween dance.


This was mostly all her, but I thought it turned out really great, so hopefully if she ever finds this blog, she won't mind that I posted a picture! She wanted to do a swing dress inspired by Marie Antoinette (she looks a lot like Kirsten Dunst, and therefore likes to dress up as her characters-- she makes a mean MJ from the recent Spiderman movies!) So she got the 80s prom dress from the thrift store and made the decision to fold the ruffle down to make a better neckline. I helped her figure out what length to shorten it to. And then the next day we went to Walmart (because we couldn't find a Joanns), got the light blue fabric, the white lace and the flowers. She inserted the blue panel, I did the teal ruffle down the front and covered the buttons, and then we figured out where to put the white trim. She added some darker lace and the flowers later, and then the lighter neck ribbon to tie it all together. I think she did great, and I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures of her wearing it! Plus now she's thinking about a New Year's Eve costume party, and I hope she does, because I'm feeling bitten by the costume bug again!


I didn't spend the entire time working on the costume-- while she was working on machine stuff, I worked on my little embroidery project. One piece of three now done!







I wanted a quick project tonight, so decided to do a recon. Remember this skirt from my little dyefest?
Now it looks like this. I'm still not sure if it's done...still kind of feels like it needs something. But the border is a huge improvement over what it was. I spent the night with my serger, and the variagated thread really made it. Didn't really have to add trim at the top like I was originally going to do, but I'm glad I serged that edge.

I hope I don't need to add more fabric higher up... I really don't have much of that sheer left.

And now, since I haven't done it this season, PR runway show commentary!! I'm on commercial break now, and my personal opinion at the moment is that Kenley is going down in flames. Also, I think my brother owns Jerrell's boots that I borrowed for my fairy costume.

And now, on with the show!

Leanne: Wow, what did she do to Korto's hair? I can definitely see the country influence, though I'm not sure about the peacock feather earrings.

Jerrell: He definitely got the pop thing down. I hate that genre so much.

Kenley: last time I checked, Princess Leia buns were not hip hop.

Korto: The bleached jeans are pretty cool. And Suede has the personality for it!

Suede: Not really over the top enough.

Judging time! With LL Cool J as a judge, Kenley is so screwed.

Korto's up first. The chain lacing is a nice upgrade to the safety pins.

Suede's turn. The leather pants are so stereotypical rock. The vest is pretty cool. The shirt looks like every shirt Jerrell always wears though.

Jerrell's turn. Brave girl... I would never walk out on national tv dressed like that! But he did nail it.

Kenley's up. Isn't expensive in hip-hop usually in the form of massive amounts of bling? I know the judges aren't happy with Suede, but Kenley's arguing just might push them over the line.

Now that I'm looking at Leanne's outfit more closely, it doesn't look very well-made. At least the skirt doesn't. Though it definitely looks more country than Leanne looks hip-hop...

So it's basically between Suede and Kenley getting the chopping block, it seems. Which I wouldn't really be sorry to see either go. Suede's gotten described as boring for several challenges in a row, and that's pretty much the kiss of death. And Kenley really doesn't know how to do anything outside of the 50s.

Hurrah, Korto won! That makes me really happy, since she hasn't won in awhile and she is my favorite of the remaining designers. Plus Jarrell was being so cocky that I think he needed to be taken down a notch.

I wonder how long it takes Heidi to concoct these speeches? Turning up the volume and silence... nice metaphors.

And Suede is now out. Though I still believe that unless something drastic happens next week, there is no way Kenley's making final three.

I can't help but find it ironic that the auf'ed designer was wearing the winning designer's outfit. And wow, next week looks like the week of mental breakdowns on the runway!

Friday Favorites, Episode 23 (and a craft quickie)

Ah, Fridays... all sorts of various goodies this week!

First off, I loved these cards that angry chicken posted on her blog. I believe they're a takeoff of something (though I've never seen cards like that in the store), but the combination of the simple design and the snarky phrases are just so fun.

Over at Cramzy, there was this really neat "shisha" embroidery. At first glance, I thought it was a necklace. I still kind of wish it was. Or that I had the patience to try that, because that would look so cool on a skirt or something! But I think one embroidery project at a time is enough for me!

Crafting a Green World pick of the week: a link list of all the organic/eco-friendly fabrics they've featured so far. So now I know where to look the next time I want to fabric-shop! (And that reminds me, I really need to start working on another article...)

My Half of the Brain had a link to a tutorial for a "pinch pouch". Kind of reminds me of these plastic canvas thingys that my mom and grandmother would make when I was a kid, where you pinched the corners and you could fit a Hershey's Kiss inside. Only it's fabric, and without the pipe-cleaner antlers to give it that reindeer look...

Over at Recycled Crafts, there was a feature on recycling tin cans into candle holders. I absolutely love the one pictured-- it has this kind of Moroccan/Middle-East feel to it that I really like.

And finally, the fourth Carnival of Green Crafts is up at Whip Up. I've already emailed my two crocheter friends a link to the star-shaped dishcloths with recycled bag plastic in the center for scrubbing purposes. And my cd jewelry article was in there, so that was a surprise!

From sew and so

Also made this drawstring pouch last night. There's a wipe-off board in the room I'm teaching band in, and the school gave me a pack of markers/eraser/board cleaner. So I'm going to keep them in this bag. The fabric was from some free samples that my mom was given. There were all sorts of fun tropical prints and such... I'll admit the reason I chose this particular one was so I wouldn't have to bother changing the thread after the Eva jacket!

And, since this is one of the first Friday afternoons I haven't had to work in a really long time that I didn't take off for traveling purposes or weddings (no students at the one music school yet for me, so I'm going to enjoy the free time while it lasts!), I am off to the sewing room. I'm hoping I can finish my blouse today. And maybe also pasting down the pics for my road trip scrapbook. My tentative plan for tomorrow, provided that almost-Hurricane Hanna doesn't knock the power out (as has been threatened), is to spend the day working on machine-stitching on pages while watching the DVD-ROM for my defensive driving insurance discount. I mean, I have to do something to keep my brain from checking out for that, right? :-P

Eva Jacket progress

Made some good progress on my "muslin" for the jacket over the weekend at T's house. I got the entire rest of

the body basted together, and was pleased to find that it looks like it's going to fit me very well with no adjustments. Where I'm running into a little trouble right now is the sleeves-- I don't know if it's the lack of illustrations in the directions, or that I was trying to do it without the instructions at T's, or what, but I am having a heck of a time getting this in!

This was my first attempt over the weekend. No, this sleeve is not supposed to be gathered.

Last night's attempt went a lot better, in that I know the armhole fits the sleeve well and the sleeve, which I lengthened, should be long enough to accomodate my chimp arms. However, upon trying this on, I learned that it's in backwards! Good thing I'm hand-basting this, or this corduroy would be a mess at the top of the sleeve!

Unless I'm hanging out with one of my friends tonight, which is still up in the air, I should have some time to work on this. At this point, though this isn't the fabric I was planning on using for my BurdaStyle sewalong jacket, I'm thinking I might just continue on this one. After all, it's already cut out, except for the lining, and I do still need to test the lining with the shell. And that'll keep the edges of the cord from getting too badly frayed before I get to it again. Besides, this jacket just happens to be a perfect layering piece with the blouse I just started last week, color and everything!

This was the other project I worked on over the weekend, once I started having trouble with the sleeves and decided to set it aside. This is going to be the trim on a knit shirt (basted to stabilizer since the pieces were cut.) Had a bit of a setback at first-- I had metallic embroidery floss, and it became apparent within half an hour that it was going to be way too hard to work with. So with a little help from my friends, the next day I got some regular embroidery floss at the local Michael's. The colors aren't entirely accurate in this photo, but I like the way it's turning out so far-- visible, but subtle, which means it'll go with lots of clothes!

Ok, I need to finish getting ready-- open house for my upcoming band teaching job today!

Friday Favorites, Episode 20 (and some belated Project Runway thoughts)

A short edition today, but that's ok.

1. My friends J, C and I used to do this thing on occasion where we'd get together our clothes that were destined for the thrift store anyway and dig through each other's stuff to see if there was anything we wanted to take. I think they call them "Naked Lady parties" around the interweb. It was kind of fun, and it always amuses me to see one of them wearing a shirt that used to be mine. The point of this story: Crafting A Green World had a post about a site called Dig N' Swap, which is basically the same thing, on a larger and more anonymous scale. It's a neat concept-- you post your clothes, if someone wants it they offer you an article of clothing in exchange, and it's free. I like free.

2. Mirela at Cutting Edge Stitches N' Seams consistently turns out all this beautiful, professional-looking stuff. And she posted a nice list of tips for working with stretch fabrics. Including avoiding those awful wavy seam lines that are a dead giveaway that it's a homemade outfit.

3. Just in time for me to be wanting to work on an embroidery project, I found a tutorial for transferring patterns to fabric. It's at a blog called Elemental Stitches, but I found it through My Half of the Brain.

Regarding PR...

Oh, Blayne. All the UV rays from your tanning addiction must have done unspeakably awful things to your brain. How else could you have NOT heard of one of the most quintessential rock albums from one of the most famous bands in the history of recorded music?!? The Beatles fan in me is appalled. Especially since I'm not that much older than you.

Didn't like either of the bottom two's outfits this week. With the hairstyle, Daniel's outfit made me think of Betty Boop, while the first thing I thought of when I saw Jennifer's sketch was Japanese anime schoolgirl. Wasn't really a fan of Jarell's either-- the mix of prints was well-done, but the outfit itself looked straight out of Titanic and that is not one of my favorite movies ever. I actually liked Joe's the best-- it just looked cute and sporty, and the most "Olympic" to me. And I agreed with Heidi that the two-tone zipper was very clever. I'm not sure how he did it, because I've never been able to put a zipper back together once it busts apart. I am glad that Korto won, though, because I just like her for some reason I haven't been able to put my finger on yet. I did really like Terri's as well--while I hate officewear and am glad I'm in a career where I can avoid it, jackets are one of my favorite fall/winter layering looks, and I really liked hers.

And now, off to finish dinner, because I'm hoping to sew some tonight. And I have a little hippie craft extravaganza planned for myself tomorrow, so we'll see how my plan works out!

Also, no pics of Sadie yet. Hopefully also tomorrow.

Just a song...er, post...before I go...

Have to keep this brief, as I'm leaving for the beach tonight and still need to eat dinner and finish packing. I just got done work. But here's what's going on in my crafty life right now, sans pictures:

1. Yes, Mom2fur, I did get the Sadie done on Friday night. More details will be forthcoming, as will pictures. For now, I will say that it fits me perfectly (no alterations! Yay!), and that organic bamboo jersey is so comfortable it's like running around naked, but without getting arrested for indecent exposure. I want some more. The tricky part will be finding it, since I bought it at a going out of buisness sale at Hancock Fabrics, and Joann's is totally behind the eco-friendly times on this. At least it is here.

2. Speaking of eco-friendly, I've been asked to consider being a writer for Crafting A Green World. Which is both exciting and scary--exciting, because I guess that means they think my writing style is solid enough for a blog that gets wider exposure than my humble abode here, plus then I'll get to research all sorts of crafty fun. The scary part is trying to figure out what on earth I'd write about, at least to get me started! (Suggestions welcome...)

3. I haven't really had any time to sew this week yet. But I'm not being a bum, really! I spent some time on Sunday afternoon and evening sticking down a few more pages of photos for my road trip scrapbook. And last night, I started work on cutting out a stencil-- one of the knit shirts I'll be making soon calls for embroidery on the neckline trim, and since I'm making it in a plain cream, it kind of needs something to keep it from boring me when it's done. So I'm adding some embroidery to it, and the stencil is to help me position the designs. I don't want to freehand it, because, typically, the design I saw and liked is complicated. (Ok, I'll admit it... I blatantly stole it from one of the Lord of the Rings costumes. But most people probably won't get that, so I can just revel in my secret geekiness.) I could do the machine embroidery, but then I would have needed more fabric to sew those pieces before cutting the rest of it out, and this was stuff in my stash, so not happening.

Next post, hopefully: an actual picture of that oh-so-comfy new tank top!

Friday Favorites, Episode 4

Can't really categorize this week's offering-- it's really random.

1. As most of you who actually read this probably know, I love ThreadBanger. I grew up with craft shows, since my mom is also a very crafty lady, but have often found the projects on them to be kind of lame for my tastes (I'm way more rock n' roll than country.) So if this had been around when I was a teenager, I would have been probably making everything featured on this show. Of course, as it is, I generally watch this more for the entertainment value, since a lot of the projects are rather easy for me by this point. That, and though I can get away with a lot more than, say, someone who worked in the buisness world, I do feel it's important to try to maintain some form of professionalism in my dress while I'm teaching (albeit funky, artsy professional.) After all, this is my buisness. And while a lot of what they show is great for teenagers and college students, doesn't work so well for an older 20-something in the working world.

That being said, I was really excited about this past week's new episode. It's a technique I've never tried (freehand machine embroidery), I've had that foot sitting in my box unused for years, and this is something that I could actually use. My head is reeling with the possibilities of custom-embroidered bags, jeans pockets, etc. (I just have to try it first.)

2. Creative Kismet showed some lineoleum block-carved stamping that she made for some notecards. This is another one of those art forms that I've had some exposure to (we did a bit of that in my high school art class too-- I still have one of my more intricate stamps down in the basement with my other crafty stuff), but I never got this involved on it. I love all the layering and the colors (and the design, of course, because I really love tree-based designs).

3. Laura gets the most practical application award this week, thanks to this well-written and illustrated how-to on underlining and finishing a garment with Hong Kong seams. I've been wanting to try the underlining technique as part of my resolution to learn how to finish the insides of my clothes better. I just haven't found the right project to attempt it yet, since pretty much all I've been sewing this year so far are simple tunics and skirts and the like. But once I do, like next time I make a jacket or something, I will certainly be returning to this.

4. The craziest item of the week, as seen through Crafting a Green World: a musical dress. I kid you not. Somebody wove this "sonic fabric" out of the innards of old tape cassettes, designed a hand-held device that allows one to "play" it (like the same thing that's inside a tape player that reads the tape), and made a dress out of it, gave it to the lead singer of Phish, and he "played" it on stage.

5. Also through Crafting a Green World: vinyl wrist cuffs. Being the music junkie that I am, I have long admired crafts that recycled things like records and cds. And since I really have no reason to try the record bowl that everyone's made by this point anyway, I really like this (and I don't think it would clash with the "funky professional" aesthetic I mentioned earlier in the post). This one they show is extra-cool because of the vinyl color, but either way it gives me another reason to reconsider browsing the record section of the thrift store....

6. Not a craft, but I still really enjoyed two posts over at Beadlust this week. In the first post, she instructs you to draw five symbols, and then number them in order of what visually appeals to you most to least. (She got this from a psychologist friend.) Then, in the second post, she reveals what each symbol stands for, and what their placement in the 1-5 order means. Surprisingly insightful, and since I love personality tests anyway, it was fun to have one art-related.