p.s.

yay youtube!

alone on halloween

Leila is asleep, Wes is at work, the trick-or-treaters have stopped ... I'm sitting here watching Game 3 of the World Series (mad I forgot to turn it on earlier because I heard the cast of Glee sang the National Anthem) with a mug of hot apple cider (let it simmer on my stove top all evening while I handed out candy) and some funfetti cookies debating what project to get started on with a whole night ahead of me!

Last night I started on an embroidery project that will be a Christmas gift, so I could continue that project, but it's a continuing repeat of the same pattern over and over. Yesterday I did six repeats and I'm feeling the need for a break before I finish it.

I need to make Leila a Christmas stocking to hang with the two I made for Wes and myself for our first Christmas together, but that would involve going into a room with no lights (on Halloween, eek!) to dig through lots of yarn before I can start.

For a new swap I need to create two Alice In Wonderland-themed ATCs. I have my design in mind, it's just a matter of putting it together.

My mom is on the board of a preschool and I promised to put something together for their silent auction next month. My plan is to create a dream craft kit (one of the projects from RVA Autumn class) but I need a carrying case to really get started on this, so I could troll etsy for something vintage.

But to be perfectly honest, all I want to do is read through this stack of cookbooks I got at the library this afternoon :) The baseball game's almost over ... I know what I'm going to do once the last out is made!

p.s. Happy Halloween!

ready for Halloween!

I haven't even started any of the projects mentioned in the last post, but Leila and I are ready for Halloween! Last Monday Wes and I took Leila to the pumpkin patch at Underwood Family Farms in her cute onesie (one of my art projects from the RVA class!):

and this afternoon, I finished mine!

planning for next week

It's Saturday afternoon and I am busy making a menu for next week's dinners (carne asada from TJ's on Monday, egg mcmuffins on Tuesday, tuna and white bean salad for lunches!) so I can go to the grocery store. Planning the meals also requires me to look at our activities for next week and it looks like if both the NLCS and ALCS go 7 games, we'll have baseball every night this week!! yay!
So I realized that with all this baseball watching, I might have some time to do some crafty goodness in the evenings too ... here is my current "to make" list:

Arm Warmers: I haven't knitted in a long long time, and this is a good new (fast!) project to reintroduce myself to my needles and also clear out some of my yarn stash ... (photo credit: holly at RVA)

Guest room pillow: I have decided to do an Alice in Wonderland themed guest room and I really want to make a cute throw pillow for the bed covered in felt flowers like this one. (photo credit from idotakeu on etsy) This project will be more challenging than the arm warmers because I don't have a pattern for it ... I'll have to eyeball the flowers and figure out some way to attach them to fabric before (or after?) sewing said fabric into a pocket for stuffing to make a pillow ... I don't know yet.

Embroidered Totes: I am also so so so far behind on all the cute projects from the RVA Autumn class, but one of the projects I am most excited about is to make cute (reusable) totes, embroidered with autumn-themed patterns ... I saw new totes at Michael's that would work just fine, but in keeping with the "reusable" theme, I really want to check out a few thrift stores to find some totes that I can clean up and add cuteness to. Haven't had time to do that kind of shopping yet ... but maybe soon! (photo credit: elsie flannigan)

So, it's unlikely that I'll get even one of those projects done in the next week, but it's always fun to dream! It's about time to start thinking about Christmas projects too ... maybe next week!

cookie monster

Wes has been hard at work the last few weekends fixing up the master bath shower so that we can actually use it ... while he's busy and Leila is sleeping, I have been making cookies! Last week I made your standard peanut butter and today I got a little crazy with some mini-peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's. I made the Nestle Tollhouse recipe, but subbed in these little cups of goodness. They taste delicious but look a little funky, so no picture to share :)

craft corner

when we moved into our new house, I was so excited for the extra room downstairs ... I immediately decided I wanted it to be the place to house all my craft supplies, extra yarn and sewing machine. This was a welcome suggestion to Wes because he's been living with my projects spread out over our apartment living room since we got married four years ago.
The room has a long way to go (it's still sharing space with boxes of stuff that I'm not going to unpack until we have our kitchen remodel next spring), but I especially love the work table I got super on sale at IKEA this summer.
Wes and I just got new dressers in our room to match our new bed so we moved Wes' old dresser down to the craft room to hold lots of supplies. It's also a good spot to rest my laptop while I'm working on projects from the RVA Autumn Craft Class. Once the boxes are unpacked I'll be able to spread out a little bit more, but for now this is great. I like being able to look out the window into our backyard too. I'll have to move the folded-up ping-pong table to expand my view!
This afternoon with Leila napping I took advantage of the quiet time to work on her Halloween costume. The pattern came from one of our class projects and I am excited to make it for her. I had to order the black onesie online (black isn't a common color for infants, I guess) but I found the fabric paint at Michael's. I need to do another coat of paint in a couple hours, then I'll stitch on a felt heart to make it extra cute. She's going to be the sweetest little skeleton ever :)

pumpkin deliciousness

It was my turn to bring snack to Bible study last night so I made these cute pumpkin pie bites from Bakerella. Mine didn't turn out quite as cute as hers ... I didn't have time to put the faces on to make them jack-o-lanterns, and I think next time I make these I won't have so much of the crust over the lip of the mini-muffin cup. But they were so delicious! There is cream cheese in the batter, so they were a little cheesecake-y too. yum yum. They were a big hit with the group and not too terribly hard to make. The hardest part was fitting the crust in the cups, I got frozen crust and even though I defrosted it thoroughly, it was still sort of brittle.
I had leftover crust scraps and some pie batter too, so I just layered the crust bits in an oven proof bowl and poured in the leftover batter and had a delicious bowl of pumpkin to snack on today.

More new favorite things: Poladroid!

oh my goodness, just found this web application that makes your photos look like polaroids! so cute!!! here is one of Leila and I at the beach last weekend and also a funny one of Luke and Kristen ... so easy to get this effect, just drag and drop and the photos slowly appear on the screen, just like a real Polaroid, but no shaking necessary!

new fun stuff: swap-bot!

while reading through comments and posts for my online art class, someone mentioned swap-bot. I had never heard of swap-bot, so I looked it up on google and found a whole new community of fun arty people and ideas!
The "bot" is an automated system that randomly assigns partners for a "swap" set up by various moderators throughout the world. Swaps are quick and inexpensive (Favorite Candy Bar) or elaborate and expensive (Disney Scavenger Hunt) with specific themes and requirements. Some swaps allow the participants to share handcrafted items while others are designed to clean out stashes of art supplies. One trait is common among many of the swaps - participants must be "rated" in order to participate. It's sort of the catch-22 of looking for work right out of college where no one will hire someone without experience, but how do you get experience without first being hired? Since you must participate in swaps to be rated (the partner you send to gives a rating after receiving their packages to show that you completed the swap in a timely manner and according to the directions of the swap), there are some swaps aimed specifically at "newbies" to try out the swapping system and get ratings in order to join some of the more fun and serious swaps.
I decided to join one of these "newbie" swaps in order to see if I have time to participate in something like this between caring for sweet Leila, keeping the house somewhat clean (ha) and completing projects for art class. The requirement of the swap was to send one item of each color - red, blue, yellow, green and black - and also one "surprise" item based on what my partners shared in their user profiles. I was floored by the detail that some people gave in their profiles to share their interests, likes and dislikes, but I guess if you want to like what you receive in the mail, you need to be specific.
I sent one of my partners the five colors of embroidery floss and also two fat quarters of fabric in designs I hope she likes! My other partner had specifics in her profile that were unusual, but fun to strive for. She collects bottle caps of unusual beverages so I took a trip to Rocket Fizz (my new favorite place, more about that later!) and picked out sodas based purely on the color of their bottle caps. As I enjoyed the sodas, I saved the caps to send to my partner. She also indicated that she loves kitchen accessories such as hand towels and aprons, so I was excited about the opportunity to embroider a towel for her. Here are pictures of the finished product:

The pattern is from Sublime Stitching, one of my favorite places to find patterns. The picture on the left shows a cupcake with two battered spoons crossed underneath. I thought it looks like the skull and crossbones of pirates :) On the right is a clumsy waitress spilling cups and bowls off of her tray.

It was fun to participate in this swap and send off packages and also receive things (I got some great stickers, stamps and also a really pretty bracelet!) but since I have so little free time to myself these days, I don't think I'll be joining too many more swaps right now. Though I did sign up for the candy swap! I couldn't resist :)

ahhh!

been waiting all week for online art class login and it just came ... right as it's time to feed Leila and get ready for Bible study! argh! I don't think I'll mind waking up early tomorrow ... I'll get my supply list ready before I head north for lunch with Kristen and shopping at The Treasure Hunt in Carpinteria! yay :)

there are two projects already posted ... both would make adorable Christmas presents, I just need to decide who the recipients will be :)

Back to "School"

this morning I enrolled in an online craft class put on by Elsie, creator of my favorite embroidery patterns! It is an eight-week class and by the end we'll finish 30 projects! Thankfully, the instructions and class outlines will be available oneline for a year, since I am still very busy being Leila's Mom and Wesley's Wife every day, so I'm not sure if I could get everything done in the eight weeks. However, I have so missed being crafty and now that I am getting some energy back (recovered from giving birth and regularly getting 6-7 hours of sleep at night) these projects will give me motivation and inspiration to make some cute projects and get back into the swing of creativity. I am so excited!

back again!

lots of changes since February ... and lots of UFOs too ... after Lola's jumper I started a Dale of Norway hat for the baby, but had trouble reading the pattern and in the crankiness of my pregnancy, didn't really have the patience to figure out what exactly went wrong. Same with my other projects ... but now baby Leila is here AND we've moved into a new house with lots of rooms to decorate and projects to work on! The nursery is painted green and mostly finished except for curtains. I also want to make a bed skirt for the crib so we can store still-too-big clothes in spacebags underneath. But my main focus now is for the guest room ... we just painted an accent wall in that room "Fairy Tale Blue" and the bedspread is Nautica's Huntington pattern. A while back I bought elsiecake's Wonderland craft kit and plan to use that as inspiration ... there are a few cute prints that I'll put on the wall and also scraps to make a great collage. Pictures to come as I make progress! Warren and Jasmine are coming to stay with us in a few weeks, so I have some good motivation to get it done!

Eventually, I'll get back to knitting, but it's too hot to really think about yarn at this point anyway :)

how the blanket came to be

A few months ago, Grandma mentioned that she was ready for a new project and may want to pick up knitting again. I had seen this blanket pattern on Knit & Tonic, and suggested it to her since it was pretty simple knitting for the body of the blanket and then crochet edging. However, it had been so long since Grandma picked up knitting needles that even the simple decreases to create the "seam" up the middle of each square seemed difficult, however, the triple crochet edging (foreign to me!) sounded interesting, so I said that I would work on the body of the blanket (I cast on 10 extra stitches per square and also used size 8 needles to make this a little larger for a non-premie baby) and then pass it along to Grandma to finish the edging. I decided I would keep this blanket for myself to use whenever I have babies someday ... I liked the idea of having something that Grandma and I worked on together. Even though she helped me talk me through through lots of difficult patterns and stitches, I don't have anything that both she and I stiched on together.
Sadly, Grandma started failing before I could get my part completed. I don't know how to crochet more than the most basic of beginning steps and I don't feel right asking someone else to complete it for me, so the blanket will remain as it is now. And in July, Wes and I will welcome our firstborn home in this blanket and know that Grandma is loving her greatgrandbaby from heaven.

Baby Otis

My old college roommate and running partner, Tia, is having a baby next month! They aren't finding out if it's a boy or a girl, but the nursery is jungle-themed so for the shower a couple weeks ago I made some generic animal onesies and wrapped them up with bibs from her registery and some all-purpose pads to look like a sushi roll ... something Tia's had to do without over the course of her pregnancy and I know she misses it!! I got the sushi idea from etsy a while ago and hung onto it since I knew I could make it for Tia myself with homemade goodies :)

Charlotte Rose

my boss, Christie, had a little girl in October named Charlotte Rose so I used my new Alice in Wonderland-themed embroidery patterns to make her a onesie with a rose theme ... The front has "painting the roses red" and the back has a rose on the butt, like Lola's pirate :)

I also made an Alice tank for Charlotte's big sister, Kate:
with Alice and the Cheshire Cat on the front and a "bread & butterfly" on the back"

Lola Pearl Murphy

when my friend Heather said she was pregnant with a little girl, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for her ... anything with pirates on it!! :) Since I am totally in love with all things elsiecake, I first went to work on embroidering a onesie with a cute skull on the lower back, because I knew Lola would be sassy.

next I revisited a favorite pattern (Taylor's Jumper!) and altered it a bit to be 100% pink with just one skull pocket. I took the skull pattern from a patch in Son of Stitch 'N Bitch and it fit perfectly! The buttons also have skulls on them - I found them at The Treasure Hunt in Carpinteria!

I know Heather will love it ... what do you expect from someone who throws a Dia De Los Muertos baby shower?? :)

Never Neverland

A little more embroidery to show off. These Neverland patterns are from elsiecake on etsy. I love the towel to show all the different Neverland aspects and will be using the pirates on baby stuff for Lola too. I just started on Wonderland (like Alice in...) embroidery this weekend and will share pictures when I have more to show. For now, here is a little more detail on Neverland.

embroidery!

been spending more time embroidering than knitting recently ... shown here is a towel I stitched using "Krazy Kitchen" from sublime stitching, which has been my favorite place to find embroidery patterns for a long time. However, I recently discovered elsiecake on etsy, and might have a new favorite!! I am currently working on a neverland-themed towel and plan to use the same patterns on some items for soon-to-be-here baby Lola Pearl Murphy!! I also recently purchased alice in wonderland-themed patterns and can't wait to get to work on those!! thanks to Monday Night Football, I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot more crafting/knitting/embroidering now, and I'm so excited!!! :)
so anyway, about this kitchen towel: the two spoons are on opposite corners on one side and along the opposite edge is a row of all the other kitchen appliances ... there were too many to show in one long picture. but i think it turned out really cute and I am so proud of the french knots on the stand mixer!! a new first for me!! after embroidering so much for other people, I am glad to have some embroidery that I can use in my own kitchen! after I finish the neverland towel, I will get back to work on presents for others, but I have to admit I am enjoying this little bit of selfishness ...

Taylor, part 2

Wes and I took a little road trip to AZ last weekend. I was so excited about all that time in the car for some knitting, I started a new project for Miss Taylor. The adorable Girl's Skinny Tank by Wendy Bernard from Blue Sky Alpaca. I thought I could finish it all in the car on the way out there, ha ha ha ... forgot about how long it takes me to cast on (hours, apparently) and dinner breaks (greasy fingers aren't good for knitting) and the inevitable darkness that comes when you drive from LA to Arizona and don't leave LA until after 4pm. But I got a good start and made really good progress on the way home (actually stopping for dinner and being able to wash my hands after makes all the difference!) and now I am just about finished on this cute thing. It does call for an i-cord bind off which I haven't ever done before, so I am excited about the chance to learn something new!
Also, as a bonus, I am making the tank in navy blue, which I bought new, but for the stripes I am using the leftover sky blue and magenta from Taylor's jumper! so cute!!

awake

so Wes has been in his new position of DETECTIVE for a few months now and I have gotten used to having him around at night and on the weekends and looooove it! I love it so much that I forget he is on call 24 hours a day, which means when something goes down in Carp. at 3 in the morning, he gets a call and has to report ASAP ... which is what happened today. and of course now I can't get back to sleep - so I have a little unexpected time to work on the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan. I have been working on it more this week and I am really enjoying it after a little break. Of course, I would not trade in time with my husband for more knitting time, but I am glad to have something to fill the time without him, even if I should be asleep!
but this seems like an appropriate time to recommend Power of A Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. When Wes was on night shift, I'd read a chapter a night in the chronological order in which they were written. Now, I flip right to the chapter that I think Wes needs the most at the time. Today's chapter: Protection.