Trans-craft-inental

Challenge: One letter a day for the month of February

2012-02-01T06:36:00.003-06:00

Dear Shayne,

A bit last minute on this one, but if you can squeeze one out today, there's still time to join this challenge -- write (and send!) one piece of mail every day the Post Office is open in February.

This idea brought to you by Mary Robinette Kowal, who has created a site where participants can sign up and interact with one another.

That's only 24 days. You in? Go!

love,
kelly

Mitt-y Christmas!

2012-01-24T00:39:00.006-06:00

Dear Shayne,

Thanks for clearing out the cobwebs around here! Can't believe we have not posted since November -- wow. There's been crafty stuff going on, but I just have not made time to post. So here's a start!

For Christmas (only a month late -- who's counting?) I made... well, hardly anything at all! With our upcoming move looming, I just don't have as much time as I'd like for making stuff.

But you, my dear, are one of the few lucky recipients of a Kelly Handmade Gift this past year... your mitts:

(Wish I had gotten a hand model for those -- they look weird.)

Hope you like 'em -- they're cotton and not super thick, so I don't know how warm they are, but the colors are gorgeous! (Good job on buying that yarn...)

My other handmade gift? More mitts! My BFF Jenny has been freezing in her new office, so she got a thick warm pair made in super-soft Cashmerino Chunky. It's like buttah! (If you're not allergic to wool, that is...)

They're a little more blue-greeny in person, but my camera would not co-operate the day I took this and I wanted to get them out the door.

Here's to a crafty (and post-y) 2012!

love,
kelly

Car Modifications

2012-01-23T12:53:00.000-06:00

Dear Kelly,

Scott's car died last week and he made a quick decision to buy a used Suburu Outback (he's in two bands, so having space to haul equipment was a must-have). Because we are very immature, we made a few modifications to the back.

Outback before:

Outback after:

AllWheelDrive before:

AllWheelDrive after:

Assumably, you read Sam's Christmas story which provides a bit of context for "Lawdy." I can't wait to show him tomorrow. (And for you readers, I'll post a link to Sam's story soon -- just don't read it if you're easily offended.)

So, yes, my boyfriend is driving around in a station wagon that says "Butback" and "Lawdy."

Love,

Shayne

Makin' Thanksgiving dinner

2011-11-25T12:00:00.004-06:00

Dear Shayne,

Every year, Bill and I make a complete Thanksgiving dinner just for the two of us. Then we eat leftovers for a week -- it's fantastic! This year, I snapped photos of the food we made all day. Want to see? I knew you would.

For appetizers, we had...

Deviled Eggs:

This is the only way I eat eggs. And it has got to be my grandmother's recipe. It's spicy and delicious: mayo, creamy horseradish, dry mustard, onions, salt, and white pepper. Sprinkle with paprika. Fabulous.

Crab dip:

This recipe is so easy, I once worked with a woman who said, "I make it in the car on the way to the party!" I wouldn't go quite that far, but it really is easy:

Mix together 1 package of cream cheese + 1 can of drained crab meat and form it into a brick or a ball or a square or however you want to display it. Slather it with cocktail sauce, put some Triscuits on the tray, and then move out of the way because a stampede of party-goers will mow you down for it. (Thanks to my mom for this recipe!)

Meatballs:

This one is a tradition from Bill's family. Nice at a party because you can keep 'em hot in the crockpot. The recipe is straight out of the 60s and still tastes great.

The sauce is, improbably, 1 jar of grape jelly + 1 jar of chili sauce. Sounds horrible, but tastes amazing and makes the house smell fantastic.

While eating appetizers, Bill put the bird on the grill:

Bill brines the bird using this recipe, and then bastes the heck out of it with chicken stock, butter, and white white while it's grilling. It's out there for a few hours and comes in moist and delicious!

While the turkey's a'grillin, we make the sides...

Garlic carrots:

This recipe from my grandma and is as delicious as it is easy: steam the carrots, then sauté chopped garlic (the original recipe calls for butter, but I use olive oil -- just as good and better for you!)

Then combine the garlic and the carrots and mmmm! (Added bonus: no vampires.)

Green bean casserole:

This stuff grosses me out, but Bill loves it, so here it is. The recipe is straight off the back of the can of fried onions... I suspect that this one dish is single-handedly keeping that item in production. What else are they used for?

Stuffing:

I am not really a stuffing eater, so I usually just make Stove Top for Bill. But I saw this recipe last week and thought, "If ever there was a stuffing I will like, it's this one!" So I made it. It seemed really promising: pumpkin bread, corn bread, cranberries, sausage. Mmm!

But I still wasn't wild about it. I think... I am just not a stuffing eater. And Bill didn't love it, either, so we're back to Stove Top next year (as it's also about 1000x easier!) I think that recipe would be fantastic for anyone who likes stuffing. I just... don't.

Hrm... did not get a photo of my mashed potatoes. Guess I was too busy stuffing my face!

I also missed the photo opportunity of the perfect bird coming in from the grill. By the time I turned around to take it, Bill was already this far along:

The house smelled so good, I think we were just anxious to EAT!

Here is my plate on the table:

(Note to self: Get a couple of plain white plates for food photos... every photo I take of my food has a giant tomato in the middle!)

And, finally...

Pumpkin Pie:

Which, as you can see, is really just a vehicle for whipped cream...

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

love,
kelly

New quilt for Kaesea

2011-11-23T18:46:00.004-06:00

Dear Shayne,

A couple of years ago, I made this quilt for Kaesea. It's been great -- it stays on the foot of our bed, on top of a heating pad (bonus!) and makes a great gushy-food placemat (rather than having that all over the duvet cover). Also, it looks nice with our mostly-blue duvet covers.

Recently, we got a new duvet cover that didn't quite match the old quilt. You know I don't need much of an excuse to make a quilt, so I took this opportunity to whip one up.

The new duvet cover has beiges, browns, and greys, so it's a neutral roundup. I like stripes, so this was my first design:

Once I saw that together, I decided I wanted something a bit more harmonious, so I cut more strips and laid them out in a sort of a tonal gradient. I laid them out on the couch so that I could re-visit them and verify the order.

When I returned, I found this:

Note:

Kaesea pre-approves his quilt.
The new quilt perfectly matches Kaesea's fur. As I have mentioned before on his blog, his back is becoming light brown in his old age (he used to be dark grey, and still is on his head). As you can see, Kaesea has actually arranged himself to match the stripes on his quilt here. Hilarious.

So I decided to make it two-sided -- one side is the original random stripes and the other side is the tonal gradient. It's nice to be able to mix it up!

And here's a shot of it on the bed, showing how nicely it matches the duvet cover:

And, most importantly, here is Kaesea, enjoying his new quilt:

Love that cat.

love,
kelly

QIP: Choosing a binding fabric

2011-11-22T23:39:00.006-06:00

Dear Shayne,

Do you remember the quilt-in-progress I posted about waaay back in September? (Started here, found a big problem that needed fixing here, then promptly dropped off the face of the blog...)

I fixed that blocks-too-dark problem, but then failed to take a photo of it before sending it off to the quilter. It's going to be ready any day now, so I'll post when I get it back. In the meantime, here's a little story about binding.

(Gosh, that sounds boring... but this is a craft blog, after all.)

I usually like a stripe-y binding, but I couldn't seem to find one in the right colors for this quilt. I used a polka-dot binding for my cousin's quilt and I really liked that, so when I saw these cute dots, I thought I was onto something:

However, I didn't have the fabrics from the quilt with me when I found this at the shop, so I wasn't 100% sure if it would match.

But then I noticed the name of the fabric pattern:

As I mentioned before, I bought the main fabric for this quilt because it reminded me of our little cat Biscuit's fur (Wow. I cannot believe it's been 6 months since he passed away. We still miss that little kitty every day.)

Sorry... getting all Debbie Downer there, but my point is that this is a quilt that commemorates a cat and the fabric is called "Cat Walk." So I bought it.

Got it home, put it next to some blocks I already had finished and... voila!

Looks great! Stay tuned for photos of the finished quilt...

love,
kelly

Your mitts: Need your opinion

2011-11-21T14:50:00.002-06:00

Dear Shayne,

When we were together last year, you bought some yarn for me to make you some fingerless mitts. I'm finally getting around to it (mostly because you told me that you're cold...) I've completed one, but I need some help deciding what to do for the second one.

Here's the first one:

(Gorgeous, right?)

Sooo... here's the problem: This yarn is a very slow striping yarn. As you can see from that mitt, I only covered 4 colors in just 1 mitt. Here is the remaining ball of yarn:

I am pulling from the middle, so I am going to be knitting the blue and green yarn you see around the center very soon.

Sooo... here are the options:

1. Press on. This will probably result in the next mitt being pink, green, and blue (with the same plum-y thumb as the first mitt, because I knit the thumbs before I started anything else).

2. Skip the blue and green and go to the colors that are similar to the first mitt (pink, orange, red, purple). The mitts will not be identical to one another, but they will be closer to the same "family" of colors.

I love all of these colors together, but when used on such a small project, it really divides up the colors into chunks. Sooo... do you want 2 totally mismatched mitts (the one above + a blue and green one) OR do you want me to do some color finagling to get them close to one another?

Let me know ASAP so I can send these off to you and keep your paws warm!

love,
kelly

PS - Have I mentioned lately how I hate the new Blogger interface? Just sayin'.

Woven scarf for Kate

2011-11-19T17:45:00.001-06:00

Dear Shayne,

Despite my lack of posting lately, I have been making stuff. Including this woven scarf for my cousin-in-law, Kate. I'm not 100% sure that these purple-y brown colors are her bag, but she's always so warmly appreciative of handmade gifts -- she's the best kind of person to make stuff for!

I bought the yarn at A Verb for Keeping Warm in Oakland, but I cannot find the ball band right now, so I'm not sure of the brand/fiber/colorway. When I stumble across it later, I'll update the post. For now I'll tell you that it felt great and made a lovely fabric -- I love the color variegation:

love,
kelly

Qiviut!

2011-11-18T01:26:00.001-06:00

Dear Shayne,

You know what this blog needs? Some content! Fortunately, my parents gave me a gift last week that fits the bill -- qiviut!

What is qiviut, you say? (I mean, besides a word that begins with "q" that does not have a "u" immediately following it...) It is super-soft, super-strong, super luxurious yarn (think cashmere, but even better) that comes, improbably, from musk ox. (Want more details? Wikipedia can help ya out...)

Along with an amazingly generous 400+ yards of qiviut (this stuff is like spun gold), they also gave me this great book called Arctic Lace, both purchased on their recent trip to Alaska (which sounds really cool -- have you ever been there?) The book is fascinating -- not only does it include many patterns and ideas for working with qiviut, but there is also a lot of history and cultural information about the native people of Alaska. Really great stuff.

What's the occasion? Oh, my birthday. Which isn't, technically, for another 5 weeks or so, but my mom was practically vibrating with excitement about giving me this yarn, so who am I to object -- you want to throw luxury yarn my way? Go for it!

love,
kelly

PS - The new Blogger interface bites. The Preview is vastly improved, but working on the post is an absolute pain in the behind.

QIP: Continued Evolution

2011-09-27T11:53:00.004-05:00

Dear Shayne,

As I mentioned, the original plan I had for the quilt blocks I'm working on changed once I made the first one. And now that I've completed all of the blocks, I've found that I need to change out two of them.

Here is Hipstamatic photo of all of the current blocks -- with the colors reduced by this filter (Libatique 73, if you're wondering), you can really see the problem:

It's that one super-dark block -- it's the black hole of this quilt!

I tried moving it around, but it just doesn't play well with others. It's harder to see, but the one in the lower left hand corner is also awfully dark, so it's also getting remade.

My other option would to be to make some additional darker blocks, but I'm worried about things getting too Halloween-y. So I'm going to replace these two with medium grey versions.

I hate to waste blocks I've made, so I'm thinking of making these two into Halloween pillows. First, I gotta finish this quilt. Wish me luck!

love,
kelly

Evolution of a Quilt Block

2011-09-24T11:40:00.009-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Well! After a big spurt of posts in July, we fell silent once again. And, once again, I'm going to end our blog break with... a quilt! This one is still in progress, but I thought I'd post along the way.

So... the day after Biscuit died, I found a fabric that reminded me of the color and pattern of his fur. I fell in love with it and knew I had to make a little Biscuit-inspired lap quilt:

(Moda Fabrics' Central Park Carousel Sunshine by Kate Spain.)

I was also buying some grey fabric for this quilt and the orange and grey looked great together, so I was set!

I've never used a "feature fabric" in a quilt before, as I am a very patchwork-y girl, but I really do love this one, so I decided to give it a shot.

I have loved this quilt from Denyse Schmidt Quilts for awhile (Denyse Schmidt is a goddess, by the way -- that book is awesome):

And I recently saw this antique quilt in Modern Log Cabin Quilting by Susan Beal (another goddess and another fabulous book):

So I drew this:

However, once I made the first block...

I realized that the strips were all too wide and uniform for my liking. I think my error was that the center square needed to be larger, but... it wasn't.

Since I didn't really want to re-make that block, I decided to trim down the final grey border and then funk up the other blocks with a variety of thinner and thicker strips. Like so:

(The lower left block in that group is the one from above, but with the final grey border trimmed down.)

I have been second-guessing my decision to use a single grey fabric for each block -- I'm a patchwork-y gal and it would have been more interesting to mix 'em up -- but I've been thinking a lot about Biscuit as I make this quilt and he was always a scaredy cat, so he probably would have preferred this "safer" choice.

You know, if a cat could talk about his quilt preferences.

All right. I think this quilt is going to be 16 blocks. I've got 10 done, so there's 6 more to go. I'll post again when they're finished.

And what have you been up to?

love,
kelly

Portlandia: Sock Summit edition (Put a bead on it!)

2011-07-30T16:25:00.002-05:00

Dear Shayne,

One of the classes I took at Sock Summit was all about beaded knitting. The absolute highlight of the class was the instructor, Sivia Harding. I feel silly to use this adjective, but it's the first one that comes to mind... Shayne, she is magical. Just magical.

Over the course of three hours, she managed to pull from her bag roughly 40 or so beaded knit samples (including, but not limited to: shawls, socks, mittens, gloves, sweaters, scarves and legwarmers) that simply blew the crowd away. And Shayne, these were all her own designs. Not only is she prolific, but I just love the way she gently encouraged us: "It's easy," she said softly, "Just try it -- it's not hard."

That's Sivia for you, quietly encouraging everyone to simply add some beads to our knitting. As if it's no trouble at all. She convinces the class with her gentle style and her magical bag of tricks. Yes! I can add beading to my knitting! Yes, I absolutely can!

We learned to make a pattern for some gorgeous beaded mitts in class, and we received a pre-beaded skein to start the project:

I'm not sure I'll make those exact mitts, but I do feel empowered to put some beads on my knitting! The biggest hit in the class was her pattern for a gorgeous pair of gloves called Fluency. A. May. Zing. If you click that link, you'll see the fingerless version in the bottom photo -- I am totally making those. I've already bought the pattern and have the yarn... now I just need the beads.

As for the title of this post and the joke I just could not get out of my head... have you seen the show Portlandia? Totally hilarious. One episode makes fun of the current craft trend to put birds on everything: Put a bird on it! During class, I kept thinking, "Put a bead on it!"

Put. A. Bead. On. It!

And I will! Stay tuned...

love,
kelly

I can read charts now!

2011-07-29T16:09:00.002-05:00

Dear Shayne,

When I started the day, I could not knit from a chart. Thanks to an amazing class with JC Briar this morning, I now can!

Using this:

I knit this:

Yay!

love,
kelly

Sock Summit Day 1: Awesome!

2011-07-28T23:08:00.001-05:00

Dear Shayne,

First day of Sock Summit was great! I took that self-striping yarn class and learned a lot. I also started a little project... which I've ripped out a few times so far... it's been a rough start, but I'll stick with it. I think.

There was, of course, some shopping. Yay! I bought a very cute knitting bag, a knitting related comic book, and, of course, a bit of yarn.

We also walked around Portland (aka "Craftyland") some and hit up a few crafty shops, including a darling boutique called Redux and the groovy Bartleby's Letterpress Emporium.

And then we finished the day the way every day should end... with yarn and wine!

Tomorrow, I learn to read charts (in theory...) and take a class called "3-2-1 Roundabout". Wish me luck!

love,
kelly

Live from the Sock Summit!

2011-07-28T10:52:00.002-05:00

Dear Shayne,

I'm at the Sock Summit right now, using my phone to post (apologies if this ends up looking horrible -- haven't tested it much.)

As you know, I don't actually knit socks. As one charming lady said to me in the Registration line this morning, "You're here for the yarn, aren't you?" Yup. I sure am!

Also, the classes. I'll learn techniques that can be used for non-sock knits. And, of course, the knitters! My friend Katie got checked in this morning by the Yarn Harlot!! WOW!

Plus, I do love to make fingerless mitts, which are basically socks without the bend. So there ya go!

Ok. Off to my first class -- all about self-striping yarn. You'd love the yarn I've got -- it's purple and pink and non-wool. Photos coming soon!

love,
kelly

In the Mood for NYC

2011-07-26T21:47:00.000-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Last week, I went on a whirlwind trip to New York. Seriously. My friend and I left on the red-eye Wednesday night and came home on Friday evening. We were on the ground for 36 hours!

The purpose of our trip was to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met. If you haven't heard or read about this show at all, click this link, watch the video, and look at the images. Go ahead. I'll wait.

It was... amazing. There is no other word to describe it. Absolutely amazing. That video is great, but nothing compares to seeing the work in person. Just... did I say "amazing" already? Oh, yeah. I did. Cause it was.

After the exhibit, we did a bit of Crafty Shopping in New York. One place I had to hit was Purl Soho. I read the blog and I've heard nothing but good things about it. It did not disappoint. My only regret is that I was so exhausted when we got there that I could barely focus on everything in the store. Check out this awesome display of knitted swatches:

I've been eyeing the Lap Duvet project on their blog and it was great to see it in person -- I totally need to make that!

I bought one thing while I was there -- a stack of wool fabrics, dyed as a single lot. It was called "Tomato," so how could I resist? I think these will become a quilt:

(Photo taken from the Purl Soho site. Theirs were waaay better than mine!)

We also went to M&J Trimmings and I did not snap a photo, but WOW, Shayne. The selection is astounding, the displays are fantastic, and the shop itself is So. Well. Kept! The whole time we were there, the folks working were straightening things and keeping everything in order. If you've ever been to a fabric store and seen the trims and ribbons all over the place, you know how great this is.

And the stuff! The stuff they had there! Nailheads, ribbon, sequins, rhinestones, lace, silk flowers, hardware and more... it was impressive. I was actually too overwhelmed to buy anything, but I'll be keeping this place in mind for upcoming projects. It was just... wow.

And on Friday, we hit Mood. Do you watch Project Runway? I've seen this shop tons of times on the show, but never realized how HUGE it is. And, again, the selection was just tremendous. This is a typical shot you see on the show:

In reality, multiply that same shot by 100 and you have the entire three floors of Mood. And it's all good stuff! Look -- here is a selection of just striped jersey fabrics:

Just striped jersey! This isn't even the tip of the iceburg! Lace, brocade, upholstery, a whole room for leather! Here is a shot of some gorgeous upholstery fabrics:

I bought one thing here -- a gorgeous piece of fabric that I am supposed to make into a skirt, but I'm not sure if I can ever cut into. For one, I cannot decide which side I like better:

It's taffeta with a lace overlay and embroidery. I love it so. Maybe I'll just hang it on a wall and be done with it.

The best part of Mood? The people who worked there -- everyone was so nice! We feared a snooty sales staff, but were so pleasantly surprised by how friendly everyone was.

The only thing that was less-than-perfect about the trip was the weather. Gah. The HEAT! But the air-conditioning worked everywhere we went, so it was like there were Crafty Oases throughout the City. Whew!

I want to go back to NYC again soon when I have more time to spend.
Also, when it's cooler. ;)

love,
kelly

2011: The Year of the Quilt

2011-07-24T18:33:00.002-05:00

Dear Shayne,

I hereby dub 2011 The Year of the Quilt. And that's not a bad year, is it? ;)

In the past year, I've made quilts for the twins (technically 2010, but within the past 12 months...), a quilt for my mom-in-law, and a group-made quilt for a good friend's baby.

And now... a quilt I made for my cousin:

This past year has been a rough one for her, so I thought she could use a quilt (who couldn't, really?)

This is the first time I've bought a "collection" of fabrics to make into a quilt. These were by Moda and the collection is called "Prayer Flag," but I can't find it on their site now. I did that to make things easier, but I ended augmenting the selection with fabrics from my stash (of course).

Once again, I had it machine quilted at New Pieces Quilt Shop in Berkeley. I selected a heart pattern and they had an awesome variegated thread that matched the colors in the quilt beautifully (click to see it close up):

It looked especially great on the back:

For signing the quilt, I am currently hooked on the permanent fabric markers. I guess the embroidery is nicer, but by the time I feel like I am "done" with a quilt, the last thing I want to do is spend several more hours embroidering it.

So for this one, I just signed it with the marker:

I have already run it through the washing machine and dryer and it didn't come off, so I have faith that it will last for quite some time.

I took a bit of a risk with that binding -- I was nervous about the polka dot fabric -- but I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

I've got two more quilts currently brewing in my mind, so you can expect to see more before the year is over... perhaps I'll even make one for myself! (What a concept, eh?)

love,
kelly

Miniature Dinner

2011-07-23T13:55:00.000-05:00

Dear Kelly,

My oldest nephew is the pickiest eater on earth. The very pickiest! In an effort to get him to try something new, I made him this miniature Italian dinner:

salad on the left, bread on the right

He ate it, but I also had to pay him a buck fifty.

Love,
Shayne

Just pretty!

2011-07-20T13:52:00.000-05:00

Dear Kelly,

Here's a little swatch of Martha Stewart glitter markers:

I think the ink keeps the glitter well-contained so that you could have them in your house :)

Love,
Shayne

Fun with rub-on letters

2011-07-16T17:52:00.000-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Of all the crafts we do, I find the rub-on to just be so... satisfying! I think you bought some print-your-own rub-on paper when you were here last -- did you ever try it? I may need to get some.

At any rate, here's a quick-n-easy project, but I was pretty pleased with the result.

I bought these rub-on letters on sale for $1 at Flax awhile back (remember that place? We went there when you were here -- you got overwhelmed by the giant paper room):

And then I pulled out a little postcard book I got at the Chronicle Books warehouse sale (you may have to time your next visit to coincide with that event, Shayne -- totally awesome!)

And then? I rubbed some letters onto one of the postcards! (You saw that coming, didn't you?)

Aside from the kerning issues and my trepidation that this will not make it through the mail unscathed, I pretty much love it:

Since the Letter Writing Social, I have been writing more mail. Yay!

love,
kelly

Christmas in July (and skip this if you're easily offended)

2011-07-16T13:49:00.000-05:00

Dear Kelly,

I have a dear co-worker who is actually a big freak and hates Christmas, so I made her this ornament:

Love,
Shayne

Super cool envelope

2011-07-14T22:55:00.002-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Remember when we scored on $1 calendars a couple of years ago at Chronicle Books and then made envelopes out of them?

I just found my old blog post about it and realized... I've already posted this envelope -- it's one of my favorites!

Made from the Art of Modern Rock calendar, I loved this one. Finally sent it to someone who really appreciated it, so it found a good home this week.

It's cracking me up that my other favorite envelope also included a Lisa Simpson stamp. That little gal makes everything better!

love,
kelly

Long-awaited Light Fixture

2011-07-12T13:41:00.003-05:00

Dear Kelly,

We had been living with this:

for about five years. The bulb blew and Randy was just able to reach the light fixture to change it and then it just fell out of the ceiling.

We *finally* were able to have someone out to change the fixture (super tall stairwell requires special ladder) and I fully intended on choosing an inexpensive light. Honest! Until I saw this:

The picture really doesn't do it justice. The inner glass is modern and frosted. The outer glass is rustic and full of tiny bubbles. Next stop - paint the stairwell and hallway!

Love,
Shayne

Renegade re-cap

2011-07-11T21:31:00.000-05:00

Dear Shayne,

On Sunday, I went to Renegade Craft Fair in SF.

Of all of the craft fairs, Renegade is my favorite. Fort Mason can be a bitch for parking, but the building is really cool:

And whoever selects the vendors does a great job -- nice variety and really high quality stuff. I didn't buy much... sometimes I experience a sort of "purchase paralysis" when confronted with so many awesome things to buy. Does that ever happen to you? It definitely happened to me yesterday.

In fact, I only bought these vintage letters (K for me, B for Bill):

Oh, bummer! I've just combed the Renegade site, but I cannot figure out where I bought these. I did not get a card from these folks and I paid in cash, so no receipt. Extra bummer because they had a ton of great stuff. I has a sad.

The good news is that I saw lots great other stuff. There were some amazing decoupaged globes by ImagineNations. My favorites were "Peace" and "Rock My World." They were totally gorgeous and so well executed. Loved them.

Had a great experience at The Poster List's booth. I saw this poster there and said, "Hey! That's my phone case!" Just a few weeks ago, I bought a phone case from Uncommon. You can upload your own design, but I got paralyzed by the possibilities (apparently a theme for me right now), so I chose the Poster List's "Don't Waste Time" design:

When I showed it to the guy at the booth, he was super excited to see it and was so very genuine. It was really nice -- you could tell he was just thrilled to see his design out "in the wild." He even took a photo of it. Yay!

Lisa Swerling was there with her beautiful Glass Cathedrals -- shadow boxes, many of them glitter covered, with tiny figurines living inside and a clever caption floating above them. I am not doing them justice, but you can get some idea at her site -- go over there and click around. If you ever get a chance to see this work in person, Shayne, do it. We could not stop smiling at this booth!

Speaking of smiling, have you seen Fomato Cards? Hilarious, nutty, and brilliant. Total chuckle-fest here. Love, love, LOVE the Tarjé card -- she nailed it!

I was sorely tempted by the fascinators at Poppyhearts. I think I might need this one in purple. Like, now. I was also enthralled by the gorgeous giant clips, but could not decide on a color... decisions, decisions!

Venice_eQ was selling laser cut fleece scarves with song lyrics cut into them. Here are a bunch in their Etsy shop and they had even more at the show. The awesomeness of this knows no bounds. I didn't see a song that I just had to have, but I think these would make a great gift.

As I mentioned yesterday, I met Sass&Peril, creator of my foxy print. Very sweet and friendly.

Loved the fabric wall decals from Petit Collage -- especially the pennants. So darling!

Aaaand... I am most certainly going to need a copy of Evil... or Coffee? by Paul Friedrich for my workspace. (In fact, I would have bought that there, but the artist was absent when we stopped by.)

As I write this re-cap, I am clicking through the vendor list and I think next time I go to one of these shows, I should get a look at who will be there before I go. I am definitely having the "Aww... I missed that?!" feeling right now that I think would be alleviated by studying ahead.

Also...this re-cap could also be called "A Journey of Indecision." Odd for me, as I am usually pretty decisive. Guess I just couldn't pull it together this time. Good news is that the Renegade Holiday Market will be back here in December. And, of course, there's always the Internet. :)

love,
kelly

Letter Writing Social with LWA

2011-07-10T23:36:00.004-05:00

Dear Shayne,

On Friday, I attended a Letter Writing Social put on by those postally-gifted gals at the Letter Writers Alliance. I got there late, but had time to type up a couple of letters:

It was very fun -- the clackity-clack-clacks and Ding!s of the typewriters were super cool.

And then, of course, I had to shop a bit, as the event was held at Rare Device -- that awesome little shop where you bought me my oh-so-perfect coin purse. They always have great stuff there.

I got this print by Sass&Peril:

I then met the artist at Renegade on Sunday! Small crafty world, eh? (Full Renegade report coming shortly, I promise.)

Fox-ay!

love,
kelly

Cross-stitched Cupcake

2011-07-09T13:37:00.000-05:00

Dear Kelly,

(Can you tell I'm going through photos to find crafts I've yet to post?)

I cross-stitched this cupcake (pattern from bombastitch) for my sister for her birthday:

I made a swirl at the top instead of the cherry and framed it in the hoop, which I covered with pink ribbon. Now I want a cupcake.

Love,
Shayne

Portland = Craftyland

2011-07-06T23:12:00.004-05:00

Dear Shayne,

As I mentioned in my last post, Portland Oregon is super crafty. Love. It! Here are just a few ways that Portland spoke to my crafty soul this past weekend...

At Powell's City of Books (a book lover's dream, I tell ya -- it's a city block of books, four stories tall. No joke.) they had marked certain books in the knitting aisle with a little tag:

What is it, you ask? Well... it's an indicator that that author (as well as many others in the aisle) is a teacher at the upcoming Sock Summit:

(If "Sock Summit" sounds familiar, it's because I've raved about this event before... here, here, here, and here! I actually never finished that original sock and I'm pretty much resigned to never being an actual "sock knitter," but it's a really cool event for anyone who knits... even if they don't knit socks!)

The coolest part about it? Sock Summit does not start for another 3 weeks. And they're already marking books for it at Powell's. I'm super excited about Sock Summit and this just fueled my fire even more. Thanks, Powell's!

Beyond Powell's, when we walked the lovely streets of Portland, we were simply bombarded by crafty happenings. We walked by Oblation Papers & Press and saw this amazing display of ribbons:

They have giant letterpress machines in back, churning away all the time. Let's see some more of those ribbons:

(Sorry, Shayne, didn't get a shot of the other side with the pinks and purples -- you'll just have to go there yourself!)

We continued to walk around and stumbled upon... Crafty Wonderland!

Last time I posted about Crafty Wonderland, it was a monthly craft show. And now it's an all-the-time shop! It's crammed full of good stuff, Shayne. It's like walking into Etsy.

I bought this fabulous tote bag there, made by Snap Design out of Portland (of course):

It's vinyl and I absolutely love the stitching:

Check out this awesome quilt that was hanging in the window:

B E A U T I F U L !

When we were walking another day, we saw the Button Emporium and Ribbonry:

(Sorry about the crappy photo. Trust me when I say it looked super sweet.)

Unfortunately, they weren't yet open for the day. But I'll be in Portland again at the end of the month, so I'll be sure to stop by when I'm there.

As we continued walking just a bit further, we also saw Knit Purl. A yarn shop, of course. Again, we were too early for them and no photo this time but you gotta trust me: everywhere you go, it's Craft! Craft! Craft! in PDX.

love,
kelly

You're famoose!

2011-07-05T22:50:00.001-05:00

Dear Shayne,

As you are already well aware, you are sooper famoose! I rarely go to physical bookstores anymore but I was in Portland, OR this past weekend, so I had to hit Powell's City of Books (the bestest ever bookstore in the whole wide world.) (Seriously.)

Portland is a super crafty city, so Powell's is a super crafty bookstore! Of course I spent some quality time in the craft book aisles. (There are several aisles, Shayne. That place so rocks.) And look what I found -- You!

First, in Craft Corps:

And then in World of Geekcraft:

Yay! It's you! In print!

In my next post, I'll share more details about the amazing crafty goodness that is Portland. Right now, I need to rest up from our trip!

love,
kelly

Potter Puppet Pals on a Plane

2011-07-05T13:30:00.000-05:00

Dear Kelly,

Are you familiar with Potter Puppet Pals? If you're not, go check them out. The skits will make you lul.

Last summer, while we were on our way to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, I had the pouch of craft supplies you sent me for my birthday in my carry-on bag. When I pulled it out and grabbed a barf bag (is there a nicer term for those?), Sam and my nephew Dylan demanded puppets. Behold, my five-minute Potter Puppet Pals:

Then they proceeded to make fun of me for having the craft supplies with me in the first place :/

Love,
Shayne

Pssst!

2011-07-03T13:26:00.000-05:00

Dear Kelly,

I was on Craft last month!

Love,
Shayne

Linen Closet

2011-07-02T13:25:00.000-05:00

Dear Kelly,

I have the world's smallest linen closet. Seriously, it's so pointlessly small, I don't know why the builders bothered. The amazing thing is that it was still fitted with a miniature folding door that was old and hideous (sorry no before pic!).

Finally sick of it, I took the door off, had Randy shove it in the attic just in case, and went through my fabric stash. I found this great length of bright floral, decorator weight fabric that happened to be just as tall as the closet. All I had to do was hem the bottom and make a pocket at the top for a tension rod because the width was also perfect - selvedge edges are good enough for me.

The closet is still too small, but at least it's pretty now:

I plan on doing this to the rest of the closets in the house.

Love,
Shayne

Putting my Bedazzler to good (?) use

2011-06-30T21:25:00.002-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Last month was our company's User Conference and there were shirts for us to wear with our names printed on them (they were "mechanics" shirts, so it worked). But mine didn't have my name.

So I fixed it:

With the Bedazzler!

Ha -- looking at that old post, I wrote "The #1 rule is: Don't use the Bedazzler on clothing." And then... I went and did it! The Bedazzler is a seductress.

love,
kelly

Dill-icious potato salad

2011-06-28T18:08:00.000-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Despite my well documented black thumb (That plant died soon after that post. Who kills catnip, Shayne? Me. I do.) I decided to attempt to grow dill this year. There is a local cafe that makes the best potato salad I have ever had -- super dill-y. Riding high on that experience, I decided to try it myself.

Amazingly, my dill plant has almost doubled in height since I bought it five weeks ago! I sent my mom this photo two days ago and asked her what to do:

She told me that I needed to trim it down before it gets too tall and goes to seed. She knows about plants, so I did that. And then I chopped up all of that dill and made:

Potato salad!

I googled "dill" and "potato salad" and found this recipe. It uses sour cream instead of mayo, which I love and it's very, very basic, which I also love. I'm a very picky eater, so I can't stand a bunch of junk in my food.

I've never made potato salad, so I did screw up two parts: not enough potatoes and they were slightly overcooked. Sooo... it was kind of mushy. A little. Not super gross, but just a bit mushy. But the dressing was dill-icious and my screw ups are easy fixes for next time.

Meanwhile, any time the words "potato salad" are uttered in our house, we are compelled to say, "Made it a thousand times, and I've still got a lot to learn!" If you are unfamiliar with this, it's from this Kids in the Hall sketch, which is hilarious:

"Mix, mix, stir, stir. I married young, it's all a blur."

HAHAHA. Bruce McCulloch kills me.

love,
kelly

Baby blanket

2011-06-26T13:10:00.003-05:00

Dear Shayne,

As I mentioned yesterday, my good friend Hollie is having a baby. I've been dying to knit this baby blanket (OpArt on Knitty) for several years, so I took this opportunity to go ahead and do it!

I knew the baby's room was going to be grey and Hollie's favorite color is green, so that's how I chose these colors.

The style is really more mine that Hollie's, but I hope she'll get some use out of it. Babies always seem to need a lot of blankets, right?

As recommended in the pattern, I used KnitPicks Swish DK yarn. It's superwash wool, so it's pretty easy to care for when the baby pukes on it. It's also really squishy, which is great. It didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped, but I'm pretty happy with it overall.

love,
kelly

Group-made baby quilt

2011-06-25T12:47:00.003-05:00

Dear Shayne,

I belong to a little crafty group at work that meets every Tuesday for lunch to hang out and... well, craft. Most of us knit, but we've also got a cross-stitcher and a hooker (that is, crochet) (yup, we're 12). Over the years, we've had various other crafts show up -- as long as it doesn't involve power tools (too noisy), everyone is welcome to join us and craft.

Almost everyone in the group also sews, so when one member of the group got pregnant (Hi, Hollie!) we decided to make her a baby quilt.

It was super fun! Like an old-fashioned sewing bee. I love to craft and group crafting is even better. FUN.

Most of the crew hadn't made a quilt before, so we started the day with lessons. We picked blocks from the awesome-est quilt block book ever, Marsha McCloskey's Block Party (sadly, out of print) and then we went to town.

Our most prolific seamstress (Hi, Jocelyn!) made three blocks and our little hungover bunny (I won't call you out on the blog, bunny -- you know who you are) even managed to make one. Everyone else made 2 and it all worked out perfectly!

(If you click through to view that image on Flickr, you can hover over each block to see who made it.)

Came out beautifully, didn't it?

Our cross-stitcher made a beautiful letter M (the baby's last name begins with M) from my Cross Stitch Letters Bible. It came out so beautifully that I thought maybe we should just frame it, but I went ahead and put it into the block you see in the middle:

Other than that one, I made this block -- called, appropriately, the "Friendship block":

Once it was finished, I wrestled with how to "sign" the quilt. I tried embroidery, but my embroidery mojo just was not with me last week. Ugh. So I used a permanent fabric marker and I wrote all of our initials on the back, in the leaves of the fabric:

(I love that backing fabric. I bought more of it so I can make my own quilt and use it on the back. Loves. It.)

We gave the quilt to the expectant mom yesterday -- she's due within the next few days, so we got it done just in the nick of time! Go, Team Crafty!

love,
kelly

Table runner: it's mine, all mine!

2011-06-24T19:10:00.001-05:00

Dear Shayne,

It's been SIX months since Christmas, and I am finally getting around to posting this -- remember when I was drooling over this table runner waaay back in September?

Not long after I posted my desire, I went back to see if it was still available and, to my chagrin, someone else had beat me to it. Awww.

As it turns out, it was my parents who bought it... for me! AWE-SOME. They gave it to me for Christmas and, well, you probably heard the squealing in Maryland, right?

It's perfect on our table -- it's like it was meant to go under our candle holder:

And look at this amazing quilting -- Victoria is a truly talented artist (click to see this larger, cause it's stunning):

I've admired her work for several years (you might remember that I won this fantastic little quilt in her blog giveaway in 2008) and I am so absolutely thrilled to have a piece of her work in our house. Thrilled!

love,
kelly

I declare this Blog Break officially OVER... with a quilt!

2011-06-23T22:47:00.009-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Whew! Guess we took a blog break, there! It's been 2 months since our last post -- by far the longest we have gone without posting here. I know you've been a busy little beaver with your geeky craft happenin's (both the book and the site) and with getting this darling little mascot a name.

But now that she's officially Pixel, let's get back to reportin' our crafty goodness around here. I'm kicking it off with a quilt that I have been working on forever and finally finished this past April.

This is a quilt I made from Bill's dad's shirts. John passed away in February 2007 and I started this quilt in June 2008. At that time, I planned to hand quilt it, so I showed you my hand quilting practice, and then the basting process. That was in August 2008. And then... STALL.

I just couldn't bring myself to finish it. This was the most difficult project I have ever worked on. It took me over a year to even begin cutting the fabrics. Nothing says "This person is never coming back" like cutting up their clothes. That was really, really tough.

So flash forward to 2011, three years later. This thing is hanging over my head, and it's clear to me that I need help. So I gave up on the hand quilting and had it machine quilted at my favorite quilt shop, New Pieces. They had it finished in three weeks. Versus three years. So, you know, that was good.

I had them do a heart pattern in the quilting -- predictable, but appropriate:

After it was quilted, I cut the binding from John's old robe (another tough process) and laid it out on the bed with help from my little overseer:

Here is the entire finished quilt:

Here is a detail of one of the shirt parts that I kept in the quilt -- they did a great job of quilting around these -- you can unbutton this and feel the batting inside!

And this pocket could still be used for a pen:

I did a little home-y embroidery on the back:

And this project is DONE, Shayne. DONE! And I am far more pleased with it than I thought I would be. It turned out great. I'm really proud of it and I'm so happy it's finally in my mother-in-law's hands. Only 4 years late but, well... better late than never, right?

love,
kelly

Fuzzy Bumble Bee

2011-04-25T13:40:00.001-05:00

Dear Kelly,

I made something and actually remembered to take pictures before sending it off!

I found a good needlework store nearby (as in it didn't just sell expensive painted canvases) and bought this cute little bee pattern by Bent Creek:

I decided this would be a nice little birthday present for my mom, but I made some changes. I dropped "inspire" because it's just not my style or hers, I used fuzzy yellow and black threads, gave him black bead eyes, and made the swirls aqua instead of off white so they'd pop a bit more:

Here's a close-up of the fuzziness:

And then I glued it to a folded piece of scrapbook paper to make a card:

The fuzzy threads were a pain to work with, the black especially, but it was a small project and totally worth it!

Love,
Shayne

I made a B!

2011-03-21T20:00:00.001-05:00

Dear Shayne,

As promised, I had a date with my new Cross Stitch Letters Bible this past weekend and I made... a B!

I am soooo happy with it! I see many more letters in my future!

Meanwhile... now I've got to decide how to frame it. Ah, that mythical Final Step. Heh.

love,
kelly

Cross Stitch Letters BIBLE!

2011-03-17T21:06:00.001-05:00

Dear Shayne,

I found a super-fantastic awesome book last week: The Cross Stitch Letters BIBLE. Not only does it have a ton of freakin' awesome letters to cross stitch, but it also turned out to contain my own personal Holy Grail.

But I'll tell you all about that in a minute.

First, a bunch of photos. (Seriously -- a bunch. Do you have a few minutes? Get ready...)

Here's the cover (Ooh la la! It's French!)

And just so you can grasp the sheer cram-packed AWESOMENESS of this thing, check out the thickness:

It's a BIBLE, Shayne. A bible.

It ranges from tiny letters to large. Here are some small ones (there are also some that are super tiny -- like, 1 or 2 ... [what do you call the smallest unit of measurement in cross-stitch? Not a pica... a thread? A count? Whatever. The smallest square unit.] tall!)

But these are a little taller than that -- and kah-yute!

I like this extended one at the top of the page...

Each alphabet is numbered, and that number goes up to [flips through many pages...] 739. Wow. And that does not include the numbers!

Here are a couple of medium-sized ones:

And some that are little bigger:

This one is kind of a cool dual color -- hard to see in the photo, but the red is outlined by black:

I am a sucker for one really ornate single letter. I foresee some monogram-y gifts in my near future. Like this:

Or this:

This one would be great for a little girl -- or someone who loves butterflies (so sweet!):

This one is kind of fun, but perhaps for whole words:

And I think this one is my favorite one in the whole book -- I love how it looks like there's a string of pearls intertwined with the letters:

As I mentioned, there are also numbers:

And even a bunch of alphabets on the bias, which is really neat:

But, Shayne, remember about 4000 photos ago, when I mentioned that this book contains my personal Holy Grail? Are you still there? And interested in hearing this story?

A couple of years ago, I cut out an image from a magazine of a cross-stitched letter A and I hung it on the Inspiration Board I made a few years back. Here's the clipping:

(Looking at it now, I realize it's probably from Chez Sucre Chez -- she sure does make great stuff!)

At the time, I thought, "Wow. I would like to make a 'B' [the first initial of my last name] in this font!" So I poked around the internet and... never found it. Since then, I have checked out decorative letters in various books and still... never found it.

As I was flipping through this Bible in the store, the skies opened up and a ray of sun shone down upon me. Look what I found:

It's within a few stitches of the one I had at home! Yesss! And right next to it? Why, yes, that would be a B!

I don't know why I've been so enamored with that exact font, Shayne, but I have. And it is now in my very own hands! So you know what I'll be doing this weekend... (photos coming soon!)

love,
kelly

Wine not?

2011-03-08T23:06:00.000-06:00

Dear Shayne,

Since we're already making liqueurs and beers, why not round it off with an Alcoholic Hat Trick, right? Yup, we're also making... wine!

Can't take too much credit for this, as we are involved with 2 other couples who have waaaay more wine-making experience than we do, so we were really along for the ride, contributing money, muscle, and plenty of tasting to the cause.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos during the pressing. Such a bummer. While we did not do it Ethel and Lucy style, it was still pretty cool.

But here are a few other photos...

In October, we transferred the wine from the steel barrels to the oak barrels for the final few months. This is the last part of the transfer:

Right before bottling, we had to clean and sterilize all of our bottles. Since we did not have a bottle rack, we drilled a bunch of holes in a sheet of plywood and put it between two sawhorses. Worked great:

We bottled the wine a few weeks ago -- here it is, coming out of the barrel:

And here it is, filling the bottles:

We got about 8 cases of wine out of the deal. Here they are, filling the Mini:

(Heh. Mini full o' wine. Pretty great!)

I'm pleased to report that the wine is... GOOD! As with all of these crazy alcohol endeavors, it's hard to know how things are going to turn out as we invest many months into making the final product. So I'm happy it worked out!

Now I need to work on making labels... :)

love,
kelly

Bill makes beer

2011-03-07T19:06:00.000-06:00

Dear Shayne,

For Christmas, I bought Bill a beer making kit from MoreBeer (which is a super fun place to visit). Over the past month or so, he... made beer! This is my not-at-all-technical observation of what happened along the way...

First, boil stuff in a big ol' kettle (this makes the house into a hop-py sauna):

Then get it going into a big jug:

Let the jug sit for awhile. During that time, use a fancy chemistry set to check stuff:

Then bottle the beer (this day is very exciting):

Use a super cool tool to secure bottle caps on the bottles (which I am a little bit in love with, I must admit):

After two weeks of letting it sit in the bottles, pour that bad boy:

Look! It's beer!

(That's the cool glass that Bill's brother Bob had made for his Bachelor Party in 2009 -- the "Billchelor" Party. Get it? Heh.)

And it tastes GOOD!! (Go, Bill!)

love,
kelly

Limoncello

2011-03-04T18:40:00.001-06:00

Dear Shayne,

As I reported in October and January, we wanted to make limoncello for Christmas gifts, but our lime tree ended up being more prolific than the lemon tree, so we made "lime-cello."

Some of the lemons have since showed up, and I have also gotten contributions from my friends Jan (Hi, Jan!) and Hollie (Hi, Hollie!) so I currently have 3 batches in progress. The first of which will be ready to bottle next week. Whee!

Meanwhile, let me tell you all about my potential Limoncello Fail...

I wanted to experiment using two different kinds of vodka: Smirnoff (which I used in the original lime-cello) and Absolut. A full batch is 2 bottles of vodka, so I split up my lemons and made two half-batches: one Absolut, and one Smirnoff. (I'm so clever.)

Once the lemon zest gets mixed in with the vodka, that concoction sits for 45 days before the simple syrup is added.

Turns out, 45 days is enough time for me to completely forget that I was making half of a batch, so I made a full batch of simple syrup and dumped that right on into one of my half-batches! (Did you hear me yelling "FUUUUDGGGEE" from there?) (Only, it was not "fudge.")

What to do? What to do? I could not remove the syrup and I didn't want to waste that batch, so I went ahead and mixed both of my half-batches together. Kind of destroys my little experiment, but I'm sure it will all turn out. I mean, it's vodka, lemons, and sugar -- how bad could it be? (I am hoping these are not words to regret...)

Meanwhile, I should have anticipated this, as it's a chronic problem of mine: "Oh, I'll just make half the batch... half of this, half of that... what was I doing? Right... cooking! Recipe says 1 cup? Okay! In it goes!" Grrr.

love,
kelly

Happy V Day!

2011-02-14T20:19:00.000-06:00

Dear Shayne,

Oooh... quiet around here,isn't it? I just realized I never finished reporting about my Crafty Christmas. Where has 2011 gone? Oh, well. Time to get back to it!

For Valentine's Day, I made cookies and very simple little valentines.

The oh-so-delicious cookies:

And the oh-so-late (just mailed today -- whoops) and oh-so-simple valentines:

I cut out the "LOVE" with the Cricut (of course) and I had big plans for something way fancier, but it just didn't happen. So I just stuck it to cardboard, wrote a note, and sent it out in very cute envelopes. Done!

In other news, Bill has been making beer, we're bottling wine next weekend, and I've got a batch of limoncello going right now. So we've been making stuff, but we're too drunk on it to post. Heh.

love,
kelly

Crafty gifts from my husband

2011-01-10T20:47:00.001-06:00

Dear Shayne,

Bill really hit it out of the park this year with his Christmas gifts to me -- lots of Esty goodness!

First up is this amazing zippered bag made from a vintage Canadian mailbag by seller Yahee's Place. It's sooo cool:

He also bought me these gorgeous earrings from jersey608.

Shayne, I love these so much I have worn them nearly every day since I got them. Bill did an amazing job of picking these out.

Aaaand... squeee! Bill bought me one of the CA-YUTE bunnies that I posted about back in August by seller Zygopsyche.

(Note: photo from Zygopsyche's listing.)

Since Biscuit is evil and eats stuffed animals, this little cutie lives in my closet, where I am greeted every morning by her smiling bunny face. Yay!

How about you? Did Santa bring you any crafty goodness this year?

love,
kelly

New Crafty Books

2011-01-09T20:23:00.004-06:00

Dear Shayne,

In addition to the crafty gifts I gave this past Christmas, I also received a bunch (Yay!) First up: the books.

For the past two years, my Craft Group at work has had a Secret Santa exchange -- it's really fun and crafty-themed, so it's gotta be good, right? My awesome Santa bought me Appliqué Your Way by Kayte Terry. I've had my eye on this book for awhile, so this is very exciting -- super inspirational, spiral bound so it lays flat, and an envelope for patterns. Love that!

My friend Katie (Hi, Katie!) gave me the latest Debbie Stoller Stitch n' Bitch book, Superstar Knitting. There's a pattern in there for mittens with squirrels on them! Yes, please!

And, for when I need a break from crafting and I want to hold my sides from laughter, my friend Jan (Hi, Jan!) gave me Amy Sedaris's latest masterpiece, Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People. Have you seen this book? That woman is a comedic genius. Jan keeps saying she wants to see some crafts out of it, but I'm not sure if I can stomach any of 'em. But it is really funny -- check out some of the projects at Amy Sedaris's site. (I also have her first book, I Like You, and it's fantastic!)

Whew! Plenty to keep me occupied in 2011, eh?

love,
kelly

Twin Quilts

2011-01-09T08:03:00.001-06:00

Dear Shayne,

As I mentioned in November, I made quilts for our niece and nephew for Christmas this year. Here is Jack's quilt:

and here is Emily's:

On each of the quilts, I used some fabric from shirts that belonged to their grandpa. On Jack's quilt, it's this blue plaid:

On Emily's, it's a plain yellow oxford -- the lighter yellow in this corner block:

The quilts were a big hit and both kids immediately started cuddling with them. Look at this cutie-pie Jack playing hide-n-seek:

Additionally, their older brother CJ went and got the quilt I made for him before he was born and we had a Super-awww moment:

Cute kids and quilts! Merry Adorable Christmas!

love,
kelly

Scarf for Katie

2011-01-09T01:03:00.000-06:00

Dear Shayne,

Since knitting it a time-consuming craft, I try to limit my knitted gifts for Christmas. This year, I only made one: a scarf for Katie. (Hi, Katie!) Miraculously, I began in October, so there wasn't too much of a last-minute scramble.

It's the Color Change Scarf from The Purl Bee. For some reason, I was mesmerized by it the instant I saw it. So I chose colors that were near and dear to Katie (a green girl, that one) and whipped it up.

The pattern is easy, but lace can be a pain -- if you make a mistake, there's no going back. So there are a few errors, but I am pleased with it for the most part. Katie wore it on Thursday and it looks great on her, so yay!

Meanwhile, I have a lot of this yarn leftover, so I am going to have to figure out a large project that calls for lace weight yarn. Or make several more of these scarves. Or, well... give the yarn away. We'll see.

love,
kelly

Happy New Year! (AKA: Let's Start the Holiday Re-cap!)

2011-01-08T13:01:00.000-06:00

Dear Shayne,

As always, December was a crazy busy month for crafters like us and not much got posted around these parts. Hope there are still some folks checking in, but if not, well... we always have each other. :)

How were your holidays? My Christmas was satisfyingly crafty, both in giving and receiving. (Yay!) Per usual, the first few posts of the year will be all about the Christmas Craftin' Goodness.

Up first: We made lime-cello! I mentioned this undertaking to you back in October and I am so pleased to report that the lime-cello was a complete and utter success! It tasted delicious and was well received by many folks on our checkin-it-twice list.

(I had a lot of fun making those labels, too...)

Have you tried yours yet? It's verrrry potent, so be sure you don't have plans for later in the night when you drink yours, but it is really tasty. I love it on its own, but last week, we tried it in some Sprite. Mmmm!

A friend of ours has a recipe for it that also involves tequila, but that sounds like Black Out Juice to me. Oof!

love,
kelly

Winner

2011-01-01T20:36:00.000-06:00

Dear Aimee,

You won! Send your address to me at pandora75@gmail.com and I'll send you the Miss Woolly's kit.

Love,
Shayne

A giveaway!!!

2010-12-26T14:52:00.003-06:00

Dear Readers,

Kelly was kind enough to send me Miss Woolly's Mini Cross-stitch kit for Christmas, but guess what? I already have it. Great minds think a like :) I can tell you that this kit is awesome and comes with supplies as well as some really cute patterns. It's great for beginning stitchers.

Leave a comment here between now and Friday at midnight telling us about the craftiest part of your holidays and I'll pick a random winner.

Love,
Shayne

Christmas Owls and a Very Good Cause

2010-11-24T21:59:00.003-06:00

Dear Kelly,

My friend Meaghan has been super busy raising money for her friend Nicole, who unfortunately is fighting stage 3 ovarian cancer without insurance, with The Fiercegrrl Fund. Meaghan has an amazing ornament shop going where all proceeds go to purchase Nicole a super comfy, hot pink recliner so she can sleep more comfortably. I sent in this:

The owls are by Mochimochiland. I added the Santa hats and am quite proud of myself for finishing the whole thing properly; there's felt on the back to hide the mess of threads and the sides of the hoop are covered in pink ribbon (Nicole's favorite color).

I was super excited to hear that it sold right away, so I'm finishing up a second one to be sold and thinking of what else I can stitch up - the only requirement is that the ornament include hot pink :)

Love,
Shayne

Dear Readers,

Please, please, please go take a look at the ornament shop and buy an ornament to help out Nicole. She is a very cool, crafty lady and deserves the best while going through this ordeal. If you're crafty and would like to contribute an ornament, send an email to Meaghan to get the details. You could also help out by buying one of Nicole's adorable aprons from her Etsy shop, Fancy Bolts.

Love,
Shayne

Sippy Cups

2010-11-13T00:07:00.002-06:00

Dear Kelly,

My friend Renee recently (eek, 9 months ago!) had a gorgeous baby girl. Since I was late getting to make a baby gift, I decided to go with sippy cups that come with these plastic-y inserts for cross-stitching. I made a set of three - breakfast, lunch and dinner:

They didn't photograph well, but you get the idea :)

Love,
Shayne

Crafting Mama!

2010-11-12T21:20:00.000-06:00

Dear Shayne,

Aw, yeah! Craft + Video Game = Awesome!

I'm not much of a gamer, but when I stumbled across Crafting Mama, my eyes glazed over and I said, "Must... have..."

Fortunately, my husband is awesome, saw the drool, and bought it for me!

This game is super fun! I had two fears about it, both of which were dispelled as soon as I started playing it.

Fear #1: I would not be able to play it.
I usually suck at video games. Even ones meant for children. But I can play this game! Yay! If you're a very good gamer, this one will probably be boring for you. But I am not good, so it's fun for me, and I love it.

Fear #2: I would feel like I was wasting valuable crafting time.
I worried that I would feel like, "I could be actually making this craft in the time I am virtually making it!" No worries -- the game allows you to make crafts waaaaay faster than you do in real life (and with less mess!) So it satisfies the Crafty Urge at times when you are not able to craft (I can finally make candles while waiting in line at the Post Office. Yesss!)

Further, I've actually learned about making some crafts by playing this game. It's edu-tainment! I've made candles, earrings, pinwheels, a xylophone, and pressed flowers and that's just the tip of the iceburg. I've unlocked several more crafts so far -- there are a lot of different crafts in this game.

The graphics a pretty great, too. Mama is really cute, but if you do screw up, she gets flames in her eyes and yet cheerfully tells you to "Try again!" which cracks me up. Love. It!

Okay... back to the game!

love,
kelly

Quilt 1, Quilt 2

2010-11-11T06:48:00.001-06:00

Dear Shayne,

As you know, we have niece and nephew twins. Know what twins means? Two of everything! Including... quilts!

They're toddlers now, but since their older brother wasn't too interested in the quilt I made him before he was born, we waited to see if they were blankie babies before whipping out the needle and thread.

Good news! They are! I've been promising to make these quilts for... oh, over a year now. Nice to finally be getting them done. They're at the shop right now getting quilted and bound. Here are the in progress shots...

For our niece:

I still had a lot of green and yellow fabrics leftover from their brother's quilt, so I used those. I think it's cool that they'll have some common fabrics.

For our nephew (photo taken before they were even sewn together):

I'll post the completed quilts when I get 'em back in a few weeks. Yay!

love,
kelly

Braaainz...

2010-11-10T23:31:00.002-06:00

Dear Shayne,

Things have been kinda hectic around here, so I'm late in my yearly "What I did on skates for Halloween" post.

As you know, I wear skates every year to work and make my costume around that. I've been a Mini Cooper (that's a link to Craftster -- pre-blog!), Holy Roller (gotta scroll down for that one), Rolling Stones, Rolling PIN.

Hmm... I've also done Hell on Wheels, but cannot seem to find a photo of that. (I think the costume is still in the basement, though -- I should dig it up and take photos. The flames were great.)

This year, the theme at work was Zombie Halloween (or a "Zomberee," if you will...) so I bought a bunch of rubber brains and glued them to a big tray, dressed as a waitperson, slapped on my skates and...

Meals on Wheels!

Heh. Gross, eh? Here's the Brain Tray:

Mmm... delicious brains!

love,
kelly

So Subversive This Week

2010-10-23T20:52:00.006-05:00

Dear Kelly,

I completed two Subversive Cross Stitch designs this week. Rather than submit you and our dear readers to my crappy camera phone shots or sticking stuff in the scanner, I'm using photos from Julie's site.

I made"Candy Is Dandy But Liquor Is Quicker" for my dining room:

And "Shut Your Whore Mouth" for a co-worker friend:

Mine are framed in black, though. I'm thinking of buying some fancy molding, painting it gold and making my own fancy frames. This kind is so expensive!

Love,
Shayne

Word 1 : neighborhood

2010-10-21T22:25:00.002-05:00

Dear Readers,

It's the first day of the The Not-at-all Random Random Journal Project and Shayne has selected the first word from the Random Word Generator. The word is:

neighborhood

We have also both received the first "random object" (see rules for details) to incorporate into our spreads.

Let the games begin!

Love,
Shayne and Kelly

The Not-at-all Random Random Journal Project begins!

2010-10-21T22:21:00.000-05:00

Dear Readers,

As originally mentioned in this post, we have decided to do a little cross-craftinental journal exchange. It took us a few weeks to work out the kinks (and send each other a random object -- see below for more on that) but here's how it is going to go:

1. We each have one copy of the exact same journal.

2. Every other Thursday (starting tonight!), one of us will use the Random Word Generator to choose a word and post it to the site.

3. We have 10 days to create a double page spread based on the chosen word, then ship the journal to the other person (ideally hitting the next 2 week mark).

4. Included with the journal is a random object for the other person to incorporate into the next spread.

5. On the 2 week mark, the person who did not choose last chooses a new word and posts it to the site.

6. Again, we have 10 days to create a double page spread based on the word and ship the journal off to each other in time to make the 2 week mark.

Repeat until the book is full.

We have created a special page to track our progress: The Not-at-all Random Random Journal Project page (with easy access from the button in the sidebar to the right -- >).

Ready for the action? Let's go!

Love,
Shayne and Kelly

Tater Tot

2010-10-20T23:02:00.004-05:00

Dear Kelly,

I tend to say "later tater" when saying goodbye to people and that has turned into affectionately calling a co-worker "Tot." When I owed her a present (she chose to receive a mystery present) for helping me out with this stupid table of contents in a manual, I of course had to cross-stitch a tater tot. I have to admit--I'm impressed with myself and my realistic tater tot :)

(As usual, instead of taking a good picture, I stuck it in the scanner, but you get the idea :) )

Love,
Shayne

Super fun hat for Jocelyn

2010-10-17T23:56:00.003-05:00

Dear Shayne,

My friend Jocelyn (Hi, Jocelyn!) got married last year. I was supposed to host her bachelorette party then, but 2009 kind of fell apart on me, so it didn't happen. A year later, we had a "Jocelyn's Not a Bachelorette Party" for her instead. (She was very surprised.)

I cannot breathe without a theme, so I came up with one -- when she changed her name, she lost her previous middle name, so the party was "funeral" for that name.

Everyone wore black and, in the tradition of making bachelorettes wear a goofy hat/veil at these parties, I made Jocelyn a goofy hat/veil:

(It's hard to see, but there actually is a tiny little top hat buried in all of the feathers and tulle there -- click to see it larger.)

I had SO much fun making this hat, Shayne. I cannot even begin to tell you how fun it was. I giggled the entire time I was working on this. I think I may need to make a bunch of crazy little hats for myself and wear a different one every day of the week. It was that much fun. And it looked absolutely adorable on her.

I finished the back with a black veil and big black bow:

So. Much. FUN!

love,
kelly

Little blackwork piece

2010-10-15T18:31:00.000-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Love a quick cross stitch project -- here is the finished piece I showed you in this post.

It fit perfectly in this frame... that I already had! (Love it when that happens.) I've already hung it up and everything. Whee! Completed project!

love,
kelly

Lime-tastic!

2010-10-12T17:45:00.002-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Last year, we planted a lime tree and a lemon tree in our yard. I've always wanted to make limoncello, so that was the plan for the lemons. For the limes... margaritas, guacamole, gin & tonics... honestly, I didn't have a concrete plan for the limes.

This year, our lemon tree has produced a handful of fruit. Sadly, not enough for limoncello. Our lime tree on the other hand... it's having LIMES!

Although I had wanted to make limoncello, I figure... when life gives you limes, make lime-cello. (I'm not sure what to call it, actually. The Italian word for "lemon" is "limone" resulting in "limoncello," but the Italian word for "lime" is "calce" and "calcecello" seems weird to me, so I'm just saying "lime-cello" or maybe "lime-n-cello?" I'll take input on this -- comments welcomed.)

Since we had so many limes, we bought a bunch of 100 proof vodka and went to town. We have three large jars, so we divided the limes into 3 groups:

(Some of the baby limes were not much bigger than an acorn! So cute!)

Then I... zested!
And zested and zested and zested...

(Note that I am also using a lime in my gin & tonic while zesting. Mmmm.)

While I was zesting, Bill was busy filtering the vodka through a Brita pitcher (and we joked about things getting dangerous if we were to mistake it for our regular water pitcher):

(I have never smelled 100 proof vodka -- it smells like rubbing alcohol! Bill suggested I drive around town after I spilled some on myself. I declined.)

I used the recipe from LimoncelloQuest -- an amazing blog with true dedication to a perfect limoncello. He's got a recipe for lime-cello right here.

Here it is after I had dumped the lime zest into the vodka...

Shake it up and get... VERY green vodka!

(We did this on Sunday and it has already faded in color, so it won't be that toxic looking when we finish!)

It will have to sit for a few weeks, then we'll mix in simple syrup, let it sit some more, bottle the stuff, and cross our fingers. (We are hoping to give some of this away as gifts, but if it sucks, guess we'll have to keep it for home consumption.)

Of course, we couldn't let all that juice go to waste, so Bill worked hard squeezing all 80 (yes, 80) limes -- he got a full quart of lime juice!

We put it in ice cube trays and froze it. Did someone say margaritas? Mmmm!

love,
kelly

The Itch to Stitch

2010-10-11T18:01:00.000-05:00

Dear Shayne,

My very favorite blogger, the amazing Alicia Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy, has done it again with her latest book Embroidery Companion. There is so much to see in this book that I cannot even begin to sum it up.

The first time I flipped through it, one particular project absolutely entranced me. This blackwork sampler:

I'm not entirely sure why I found it so mesmerizing, but I sure did. The project calls for 28 count evenweave, but I was absolutely itching to try one of those patterns out, so I cut a square of 14 count Aida cloth I had on hand and went to town:

Love, love, LOVE this. So simple, yet so perfect. Perhaps I'll do each one separately and frame each one their own? Not sure yet. Just had to get stitchin'.

love,
kelly

I've been coloring!

2010-10-10T16:42:00.000-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Whee! I've been coloring! I bought these notecards at Target during the recent Liberty of London craze. They were just begging to be colored, dontcha think?

And now I have pressed my trusty Sharpies into service! Here are a couple of cards I've colored...

Happy Sunflower!

I enjoyed this rainbow one...

And got even more excited when I found I could also color the back:

I got a tad elaborate with this next one and then realized I could also do the back. Not sure if I'll continue the wacky or cut it into two and mount it on two additional cards:

Gratuitous Hipstamatic shot of Sharpies:

Gotta say... coloring is FUN.

love,
kelly

Creativity is...

2010-09-30T23:42:00.001-05:00

Dear Shayne,

I am taking Kal Barteski's online class, Nurture Your Creativity + Be Bulletproof. This was the first project and I really enjoyed it. We were challenged to come up with a simple definition for "creativity" and boy, did that get my mind racing! Seems like there are a million ways to sum that up.

In the end, I defined creativity as "original thought." Once I got it down on paper, it sort of reminds me of "original sin," so maybe I should have said "thoughts," but then my mind went to "Original Gangster" so it's all good. (And kind of weird. Yeah!)

At any rate, we were supposed to write down our definition three times, using three different media in three different sizes, then hang them around the house.

I made the first one using my beloved Cricut:

The second one was scrawled with silver Sharpie on a catalog photo of skeins of yarn:

That was a little flimsy for hanging, so I mounted it to some cardboard and embellished it a bit:

Now it's tucked right above the mirror where I get ready every morning:

(Oooh... moody night shots!)

I used letter stencils for the final one...

And then clipped this guy to the squirrel tray:

I must admit that posting these around the house does, in fact, remind me to seek out original thoughts. Yay!

love,
kelly

Mitts for Kate [2010]

2010-09-24T23:42:00.000-05:00

Dear Shayne,

This time last year, I posted some mitts I made as a birthday gift for my cousin-in-law, Kate. Kate really likes fingerless mitts, so I made her another pair this year. Maybe it will be an annual tradition! (If Kate is reading this, she just said "Yay!") (Kate really likes mitts.)

Sort of a vanilla pattern, but in a very soft Royan Cashsoft DK (colorway: 518 Thunder). It's a lovely blend of merino, microfiber, and cashmere. To spice it up a little, I sewed on six different thrifted black buttons with red floss:

My friend Katie (Hi, Katie!) graciously agreed to be my hand model. It is waaaay easier to take photos of mitts on someone other than yourself, I gotta say:

I gave them to Kate yesterday and she loves 'em, so I'd call these a success.

love,
kelly

HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY!

2010-09-20T23:52:00.003-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Four years ago, this blog started with humble beginnings. Who would have thought then that we'd make it this far? :) Sometimes we post more often and sometimes we post less frequently, but through it all, I'm glad we've kept posting. (And crafting!)

I guess we should do a retrospective or a giveaway or something to commemorate this day, but I'm exhausted, so I just wanted to check in and wish you a Happy Blogiversary. Here's to another 4 years. (At least!)

love,
kelly

Home Ec Project #3: Tote bag

2010-09-19T23:35:00.002-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Here is my third project in Home Ec (that online sewing class I told you about). This one came out waaaay different from the original pattern. Part of that was intentional and part accidental.

First of all, I screwed up and cut my fabric so the orientation was more horizontal than than vertical. And maybe not even the right measurements -- it's unclear. Not a huge deal, except it is a little... "gappy" at the top now. Might need a closure or something:

(It looks way larger in this photo than it does in real life. Odd.)

Another "accidental" mod wasn't really my fault. The straps are kind of wide and I didn't realize that when they said "1/4 inch seam," they actually wanted me to sew a 1/2 inch seam and then trim back the extra 1/4 of an inch. So I sewed a 1/4 inch seam, making the straps about 1/2 inch wider than they should be. Whatevs.

Some mods I made on purpose -- they wanted us to leave the fabric edges unfinished inside. First... yuck. Second, my fabric is Sup-ah Fray-y, so my bag would unravel if I did that. I knew how French seams work in theory, but had never actually tried them, so this was a good opportunity to experiment. They came out great!

The pattern also called for attaching the straps inside the bag, but mine kept coming out looking all janky on the front, so I decided to make the strap attachment a "feature" and put them on the outside.

I also took a cue from my friend Hollie (Hi, Hollie!) who said she likes to use contrasting thread for topstitching fun, which I never do. I didn't have any that matched the fabric this time, so I gave it a whirl and... I really like it! The orange thread matches the leopards' spots:

My final mod was to square off the corners, rather than leaving the bag flat. I inserted a piece fabric covered plastic in the bottom to keep it sort of rigid. I just did this because... well, 'cause I prefer it like that.

So this bag... wasn't even remotely close to the bag in class. :) But the class helped me get off of my butt to make a new bag, so that's a good thing.

love,
kelly

A Challenge

2010-09-17T14:39:00.004-05:00

Dear Kelly,

Are you up for a long-term challenge? I just bought a Moleskine Watercolour Notebook - the kind that's bound horizontally and has the nice, thick, creamy paper - with 35 double-page spreads. Here's what I propose (partly taken from a challenge we've both read about on the blogs of Kal Barteski and Elise Blaha):

We each pick eight words to act as a theme, plus one "anything goes" theme.
We have one of the husbands pick the words at random to determine the order we use them.
We each have two weeks (including mailing time) to create a double-page spread based on the theme word. Any medium. Any interpretation. Directly on the page. Glue in. Whatever.
After 17 months (!), we will have an amazing, joint work of art. 17 spreads each, 34 total. (We'll just figure something out for that odd leftover spread.)
Then we fight over who gets to keep it.

You in?

Love,
Shayne

I want: this gorgeous table runner

2010-09-15T21:13:00.004-05:00

Dear Shayne,

You may have seen Victoria's work before -- she's a reader of our blog (hi, Victoria!) and I even won her blog giveaway a couple of years back (you can read my rave about her work back then). I am constantly amazed and inspired by the lovely things she makes.

But today, Shayne, I saw this latest piece in her Etsy shop and my jaw just dropped. I am in love with this table runner:

I cannot bring myself to buy such an exquisite piece of art for the abuse we put our dining room table through, but... but... I can't help the "My preccciouuusss" feeling that overtook me when I saw this. So I had to share it with you. Isn't it gorgeous?

Look at her stitches. Just look at them:

Sigh. Perfection.

Keep up the beautiful work, Victoria. You are truly an inspiration to sloppy amateur quilters like myself everywhere.

love,
kelly

PS - Images are, of course, from Silly BooDilly's Etsy shop where you can find other beautiful items like this awesome quilt.

Fa(i)lalala...

2010-09-05T15:30:00.000-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Wow. Talk about your fabric printing fail. I bought this cute Christmas-y fabric this week:

It's cuter in person, as the background is more of a cream color. So I got it home and it's sitting on the table and all of a sudden...

[cue the needle screeching on the record]

What the &*#@?

Is that "LA" printed... backwards?!

Why yes, yes it is.

Oh, well -- I'm planning to use this fabric to make gift bags, so it's not a huge deal, but I'm glad I didn't use it for a quilt (or another project that I really care about) before noticing. Sheesh.

love,
kelly

Hey, TJ! You've won!

2010-09-01T18:55:00.001-05:00

Dear Shayne,

We have a winner of our blog giveaway! The random number generator chose "6," so TJ is our winner.

TJ, I'm going to take a wild guess that you'd like your Scrabble earrings to be "T" and "J" but contact me (onetomatotwo [at] gmail [dot] com) and we can work out the details.

I love giving stuff away! Congrats, TJ!

love,
kelly

Holy 500!

2010-08-29T22:24:00.003-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Holy crap! This is our 503rd post -- we missed celebrating #500! That's a lot of posts, girlfriend. Glad we've kept at it. :)

Let's have a giveaway for our readers. Yeah!

love,
kelly

Dear Readers,

Leave a comment on this post before Wednesday, Sept 1 at 5pm Pacific time. Using the Random Number Generator, I'll pick a winner from the comments that night.

If you win, I will make you a pair of Scrabble tile earrings using two letters of your choosing (could be your initials, XO, or any other combo you wish) like these:

Good luck to everyone entering and thanks so much for stopping by our little corner of the internet!

love,
kelly

Home Ec Project #2: Gift bag

2010-08-29T15:03:00.003-05:00

Dear Shayne,

The second project in the Home Ec online sewing class is a drawstring gift bag. I was very excited about this project because I've been thinking for the past couple of years about making reusable gift wrapping. It seems so wasteful every Christmas when there's a big pile o' paper on the floor after the gift exchange.

This project was surprisingly challenging, with some unexpected turns. Now that I've done it once, I know what changes I'll make next time. The pattern wasn't difficult, but not everything went the way I thought it was going to.

First of all, I was surprised by the size. By the original photos, I thought this bag would hold something maybe the size of a grapefruit. In reality, it's big enough for a shoebox:

(It's funny -- in this photo, it looks like it could even be as large as a pillowcase. Guess it just needs something next to it for perspective.)

So that was odd. A friend of mine who is taking the class (Hi, Jan!) said, "Oh, did you change the size of yours?" when she saw mine (she hadn't made hers yet), so I know I'm not the only one surprised by the size of it. It's not really a problem. It was just... unexpected.

When I first saw the tutorial, I had some trepidation about the way it deals with the hole for the drawstring to come through. Of course, you want that hole to be strong and you don't want that fabric to fray. To that end, they used hand embroidery and I knew I'd botch that. (To see the original for yourself, go to Home Ec and scroll down to the second project.)

I went ahead with the pattern as described, knowing I wasn't going to do the embroidery but not 100% sure about what I was going to do. When I finally got to that point, it was too late (it's the last step) to do what I think would be the perfect thing there, which is to make a buttonhole with your machine.

It requires planning, because you cannot tack the buttonhole on at the end, but next time I make the bag, I'll know where the hole is going and I'll make a buttonhole right from the start. This time, however, I had to think of something else to do with the project already complete.

So I used eyelets:

(Unfortunately, mine are uneven, but you get the idea.)

That photo also highlights something that confused me when making the bag -- can you see the parallel stitching lines on either side of the eyelet? I thought those were going to create the channel for the drawstring. As it turns out, the drawstring actually goes around the top of the bag as its "channel" and then it comes out where grommets are. It works fine, it's just not what I thought it would be.

When I make this again, I'm going to make those lines the channel, so that the bag has a bit of a ruffle at the top when it's pulled closed (which it currently does not, even though it kind of looks like it in my photo at the top. That's an optical illusion.)

The final problem I had with the pattern didn't really show up until I was done, which is that the edges on the inside are all raw and fairly visible from the outside of the bag:

I guess the thinking is that this is a replacement for wrapping paper, so it's just got to be one-step-above-disposable. But my thinking is that, if I'm going to replace wrapping paper with these things, I'm going to want to re-use them again and again and I want something neat and solid that will last.

All this to say, I'm going to line future gift bags I make. Plus, if the gift recipient wants to use them for something else, they'll hold up to that.

I fear this post sounds negative, because it outlines my struggles along the way, but I am happy with this project and look forward to making more. Now I know exactly how to make it, I'll modify my future bags.

Also, the class is great in that there are a ton of photos, lots of descriptions of what's going on, and really great responses to questions (that's how I found out about the drawstring channel -- someone else posted a question about it and they got the correct answer. Yay for support!)

The next lesson is a tote bag. And you know how I love me some tote bag!

love,
kelly

Project Pouches

2010-08-28T14:49:00.005-05:00

Dear Kelly,

I've been doing a whole lot of cross-stitching lately (pictures to come soon), and decided that I needed zipper pouches to hold each project. Of course, I could have sewn my own, but I do love shopping too, so I went on a crazed 2-hour local hunt that turned up nothing - Walmart, Target, Borders, Joann, Michaels and Staples - nothing. Defeated, I went home and started looking online and found these adorable 7" x 9" vinyl pouches at Pearl River. And they were only $7 each! These are the four I got, although I may order some more:

Love,
Shayne

Home Ec Project #1: Napkins!

2010-08-27T17:22:00.002-05:00

Dear Shayne,

As I mentioned in this post, I am taking an online sewing class right now called Home Ec. Our first project was napkins:

These are double-sided, which makes them really nice and a little heavy (which I like in a napkin -- I want to feel it there on my lap).

If this fabric looks familiar to you, it's because I originally bought it for a back of a baby quilt, but then I ended up using a different fabric and this fabric has just languished. I love it -- it's really nice quality and a great design from Amy Butler.

The project had instructions for doing two kinds of napkins: either single sided with a zig-zag sewn edge and double sided with a ric-rac trim. The ric-rac trim is cute, but since I share napkins with a man, I skipped that addition.

Instead, I used the zig-zag sewn edge and I like how it turned out:

We use cloth napkins in our house, so I thought this would be a great project, but they came out so beautifully, that I think I'll barf the first time someone goes to mop up some spilled marinara.

I'm usually pretty good with the "Just use it!" philosophy on handmade items, but this one's been a bit of a hurdle for me. I'm sure I'll get over it, but I'm still a little "My precious..." about the whole thing right now. Does that ever happen to you?

love,
kelly

Little brother to the crazy a** scarf

2010-08-26T20:45:00.000-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Do you remember this crazy-a** super-long, nutso scarf? After I made that, I still had enough leftover orange and brown yarn to make a normal sized one for my mom and one for my grandma (normal sized = 6 feet long, rather than 14).

Believe it or not, after finishing those, I still had some of this yarn left (yes, yes, I may have A Problem). I was going to make yet another one in the same colors, but then I thought I would mix it up a bit.

So I went stash diving to find something to go with the brown yarn and found plenty o' purple. I put them together and I think it came out pretty well:

It's much smaller than the original one, but how many 14 foot scarves do I need? The best part about this scarf is that it is reeeeeally soft. Mmmm.

Here's a closeup of some of the craziness:

For the leftover orange yarn, I think I will mix in pinks. And then maybe be done with this particular scarf craze. Maybe.

love,
kelly

Ack! Fuzzy cuteness!

2010-08-19T23:06:00.000-05:00

Dear Shayne,

I saw this guy on the front page of Etsy this week and I just had to share the cuteness:

ACK! Fuzzy green cute! His name is Herb!

Etsy seller Zygopsyche makes many adorable fluffy cuties, including guinea pigs and more bunnies. She also makes versions in colors that occur in nature, but I find myself drawn to these fun ones.

Just LOOK at this fluffy pink bunny:

Oh, wait... this purple guinea pig?
Yeah. He's killin' me:

Sadly, I cannot have such fun in my life because Biscuit would eat them (jerk), but I had to share in case you or anyone else reading our blog has room for a fuzzy cuteness in your life.

love,
kelly

PS - These photos are, of course, from Zygopsyche's Etsy shop. Check it out for even more of the cute!

Delicious dishcloth

2010-08-18T21:15:00.000-05:00

Dear Shayne,

I've made a ton of dishcloths/washcloths this year, but this is one of my favorites:

Neapolitan ice cream! Yeah!

love,
kelly

Dishcloths for you

2010-08-17T06:03:00.001-05:00

Dear Shayne,

I realize that you have already seen these in person, but in the interest of documenting my Dishcloth Obsession of '10, I gotta post the ones I sent to you:

In pink, of course, the Color of Shayne. ;)

love,
kelly

Pink woven scarf

2010-08-16T22:26:00.004-05:00

Dear Shayne,

I know you'll love this one because it's pink but it's not at all Shayne Friendly (it's wool). I made this scarf out of crazy yarn I bought 2 years ago at Stitches West. It's woven --weaving rocks!

I used that crazy yarn (Pagewood Farm handspun) for the weft. For the warp, I used Juniper Moon worsted weight in colorway Little Women. Here they both are, pre-weaving:

Once again, I did not do the best job of calculating how much yarn I would need. Not because it's difficult or because I cannot do it... just because I was lazy and over-confident. Whoops. So after I got about 4 feet out of that handspun, I realized I was going to run out before the scarf was long enough.

So I got creative and went stash diving. I found some gorgeous leftover Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk (so soft -- it's like clouds) and I put it together with the Juniper Moon yarn so that it was bulkier and I made... weird stripes!

Here's a close-up shot of the two different yarns together as the weft:

And here's a close-up of some of the handspun woven into the scarf -- love this yarn, as the fluffy bits are verrrry soft wool:

So it ended up being another one of my misfit projects -- the good news is that I looove my misfit projects, particularly this one!

This is a very thick, dense scarf. Won't be able to wear it until winter time, although it actually still feels rather wintery here in the Bay Area, so I might be able to break it out now. Out here, 2010 will be remembered as The Year Summer Never Came. Brrr!

love,
kelly

Online class, redux

2010-08-16T20:45:00.004-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Great minds think alike! You mentioned you're taking a couple of online classes, just as I was about to tell you about the online class I'm taking: Home Ec Sewing Class.

It says "for beginners," but there's something for everyone here (and a great motivator to make stuff). It's a whirlwind of information -- 26 projects in 5.5 weeks! -- BUT the projects (which are super cool -- click on that link and see the goodness) are going to be available for a year, so a little group of my crafty buds and I are going to work through them over the next 52 weeks.

They say on their site that they're taking registrations through yesterday, August 15, but my friend (Hi, Katie!) signed up today successfully, so you might still be able to.

If you're feeling frisky, please join us! Meanwhile, you'll see plenty of projects from me here over the next year. First up: Cloth napkins. (Which we use in our house, so that's exciting!)

love,
kelly

Happy Birthday to Me

2010-08-16T14:24:00.006-05:00

Dear Kelly,

Thank you for the awesome birthday presents! I will put them to good use.

Love,
Shayne

Dear Readers,

Kelly sent me the most amazing birthday presents! She sent me this book:

This adorable stationary:

And this amazing pouch full of goodies for making mail art on the fly:

Lucky me!!!

Love,
Shayne

Online Classes

2010-08-16T14:22:00.003-05:00

Dear Kelly,

I just signed up for these two online classes:

the big mini workshop - an online class for minibook beginners
with Elise Blaha (found her blog through Kal Barteski's)

and

The Art of Silliness
with Carla Sonheim

Care to join me for either?

Love,
Shayne

Unicorns

2010-08-08T11:16:00.000-05:00

Dear Kelly,

I have a running joke with someone I work with about how when things get lost in cyberspace, they're somewhere with the unicorns and kittens. I decided I need to cross-stitch unicorns:

Love,
Shayne

PS I must stop being lazy and get out my real camera instead of using the one on my phone!

Harry Potter Letters

2010-08-07T11:04:00.003-05:00

Dear Kelly,

Later this month, my sister and I are taking Sam and my oldest nephew, Dylan, to Universal Studios Orlando, which includes the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We are all super excited and I decided to make us all official Hogwarts acceptance letters like the ones Harry gets in the first book/movie.

At first I thought I would need paper and envelopes that were or looked like parchment, but I watched the begining of the movie and decided that some cream cardstock would be fine. I found that in the stationery section at Joann's. It took me about a billion years to get the right settings in Word to print on the envelopes, but I now have the A2 settings saved for future use.

For the envelope seals, I couldn't find a brass H, so I bought a fun rubber stamp alphabet stamp set which worked just as good. I already had dark red wax seals, but it took awhile to melt them because I couldn't find my heat gun and had to use a hair dryer instead.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out and hope the boys think they're fun.

Love,
Shayne

LWA at Renegade SF

2010-08-03T22:52:00.002-05:00

Dear Shayne,

This past weekend, I went to Renegade SF. As always, it was truly amazing -- I think it's my favorite craft fair. I saw many of my favorite bloggers and artists -- so great to see work in person that I've only seen online before.

I didn't buy too much -- perhaps I was overwhelmed at all the goodness. (Sometimes I get like that and cannot focus enough to buy things -- is that weird?)

But I did stop in at 16 Sparrows, home of the Letter Writers Alliance and I met the lovely and charming duo behind those endeavors, Donovan and Kathy. They were just as great in person as they seem online (and via real mail!)

They were giving out little envelopes of goodies for LWA members:

Inside was a sweet message and fun ephemera:

I also bought a little box of stickers from them -- you'll be seeing some of this in your mailbox at some point, I'm sure:

The other items I bought were also mailables and probably coming your way soon, so I'll hold off on showing them to you.

In mail-related news, I recently got a PO box of my very own. I don't know why, but I've always wanted one. And now I have one! So if you (or anyone else who reads this blog) wants to write to me, I promise I'll write ya back:

PO Box 6591
Alameda CA 94501

It's so cool -- here's a pic:

After Renegade on Saturday, I had a fun crafternoon with my crafty buddies on Sunday (Hi, Jan, Jocelyn, and Hollie!) so it was an all-around craft-astic weekend. Whee!

love,
kelly

A little giveaway

2010-07-28T16:13:00.005-05:00

Dear Readers,

I got this book, didn't care for it and can't return it.

Create personalized mementos for your favorite people
Turn favorite pictures and objects into one-of-a-kind gifts to treasure
13 fun projects easy enough to complete in a day or a weekend
Personalize your projects the easy way with your digital camera, scanner, printer, or all-in-one

If you'd like it, leave a comment and I'll pick a winner at random on Monday.

Love,
Shayne

Hole-y Scarf!

2010-07-26T23:31:00.003-05:00

Dear Shayne,

WOW. This week, I finally finished knitting a scarf that I have been fooling around with for... oh, at least 3 years (!!!) I posted an in-progress shot of it on our blog back in Sept '07, and it looks like I first mentioned it on Ravelry in July of that year.

I say again: WOW.

I have, of course, completed many other projects during that time. I just couldn't get into working on this one -- tiny needles and a somewhat tedious pattern. But now that it's done, I'm happy with it. (And, also, happy to be done with it.)

What are you working on these days?

love,
kelly

Awesome backyard project

2010-07-14T21:02:00.001-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Unfortunately, I don't think we have the room for this in our backyard (since the trampoline takes up most of the room back there), but I just had to share it with you because, well it's Pure Awesome:

Aw, yeah! Outdoor larger-than-life Scrabble set! You could sort of get exercise while playing this thing!

I got these photos from this article in at the Sunset website, where you can find the DIY details if you have the room to make this in your backyard. Check out the tiles:

Swoon.

Perhaps I need a smaller trampoline?

love,
kelly

Happy Birthday, Jan!

2010-06-24T21:16:00.002-05:00

Dear Shayne,

Yesterday was my friend Jan's birthday (Hi, Jan!) and she is now...

Well, perhaps you can guess how old Jan is.

In fact, you might think you know what it's going to say inside of the card, right?

Hee hee. Maybe not!

I cracked myself while making this card, but boy did that ink drive me nuts! After giving it 24 hours, I thought for sure it would be dry and it was most certainly not. To get the card in the mail on time, I had to put a piece of vellum inside to keep things from getting too smudgy.

As it was, it was still a little smudgy.

But that's the beauty of handmade, right? You won't find a wacky smudgy card like this in any Hallmark store!

Meanwhile... got any tips for making ink-that-refuses-to-dry dry?

love,
kelly

PS -- The cute little calendar inside was from Etsy seller Elle's Studio. I got a whole year's worth and they're really fun for personalizing cards!

A case for a very cool new toy

2010-06-21T18:33:00.002-05:00

Dear Shayne,

I got a very cool new toy last week, so I had to make a case for it:

And the cool toy? An iPad! Wheeee!

(Love. It.)

I used a very soft flannel for the lining:

So I could pull it out to polish the shiny, shiny screen:

The case isn't perfect, but it does the trick -- it protects my precious baby from the harsh cruel outside world.

love,
kelly

And then I'm 7.

2010-06-20T00:09:00.003-05:00

Dear Kelly,

I saw this kit in the craft store the other day:

And since I can't knit, have forgotten how to crochet and Randy loves pandas, I used my 40% coupon and bought the kit. It took one episode of True Blood to stitch him (now named "Harold") together with the 5-inch plastic needle and yarn. Harold pretty much looks like the picture on the box - his head is a little squishier. I decided against recording my own message because really, what do pandas say anyway?

Love,
Shayne

I'm 12.

2010-06-18T00:38:00.005-05:00

Dear Kelly,

Remember this? Well, I also did these last fall, but just got around to scanning them now.

I still have a list of more spam subject lines - I may have to revisit this project soon. Except I don't know what to actually do with these. They just amuse me to make.

Love,
Shayne

More Cross-stitchin'

2010-06-18T00:31:00.005-05:00

Dear Kelly,

There was this restaurant called Fritzbee's that my family went to all the time when I was a kid. They had really good chicken fingers and strangely were not a chain and we lived in chain-land. In the ladies room, they had a sign that said "Please wait for our hostess to seat you." My mom thought this was hilarious and on our Apple IIe using Print Shop version 1, I printed that with a nice border on our first color dot matrix printer. She hung it in the powder room where it stayed for many years. For whatever reason, probably it faded, it didn't make it through several moves and she was just saying again how much that cracked her up, so since I'm in a cross-stitchin' mood, I did it up for her:

I'm going to let her frame it because I don't know which bathroom she plans to put it in.

Cross-stitchin's fun :)

Love,
Shayne

Awesome envelope for a goofy gift

2010-06-14T22:39:00.000-05:00

Dear Shayne,

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm sending my nephew a dishcloth for his 7th birthday. Hopefully this cool envelope will add an element awesomeness:

(Note the Batman stamp. Sah-weeet!)

I also invited him to be my penpal. I hope he accepts!

love,
kelly

Goofy gift for a 7 year old

2010-06-13T17:13:00.000-05:00

Dear Shayne,

I have gotten a report that my nephew is enamored with some of the dishcloths I have been making as of late.

Armed with the knowledge that he likes the color orange and his name begins with "D", I made him the following custom dishcloth for his upcoming 7th birthday:

As I packaged this thing up, I thought, "I am going to go down in history as the weirdest aunt in the world."

At least it wasn't a bunny suit.

love,
kelly

Flyin' Chucks, finally framed!

2010-06-07T01:00:00.005-05:00

Dear Shayne,

I cannot even remember when I bought this card -- last year sometime. All I know is that it's been waiting to be framed for quite awhile.

This weekend, I finally dug out a frame and used some scrapbook paper to give it its due:

I love Chuck Taylors and I love Victorian era buildings, so this print is a total win. Yay!

You can find this card and other fantastic work at the Etsy shop of Two Guitars. In fact, this card is right here, but you should check out the rest of the shop, too -- lots of good stuff.

love,
kelly

Guess what? Dishcloths!

2010-06-05T20:58:00.004-05:00

Dear Shayne,

My mother-in-law got married a couple of weeks ago, so what did we give the happy couple? You guessed it! Dishcloths!

(And theatre tickets, lest you think we are cheapskates.)

(But when that show is but a memory, these here dishcloths will still be going strong. Am I right?)

(Hrm. Suddenly, dishcloths seem like such a lame wedding gift.)

(And yet I'm posting this on the Internet! Go, me!)

Yes! Dishcloths!
[insert "jazz hands" motion here]

love,
kelly