Under a Blue Moon

What to do, what to do

What is she up to now.

I wanted to go back a post and talk about this habit of buying materials and never quite doing anything with them. I have an entire closet full of things – bits of paper, glitter, fancy hole punches, ribbons, assorted buttons and embellishments.

I also have this vague idea that I will make something out of it all – someday. Some mythical day when I have a proper studio set up, spare time, creative inspiration. So basically – never. I don’t think the stars are going to be so perfectly aligned.

So I obviously need a plan. A to do list. I saw, on another blog, a list of all the projects the author wanted to accomplish. Out there for all the world to see and keep her on task. I love that idea. So I am going to make a list and post it permanently on my sidebar. Cross things off as they are accomplished. Let’s see if that lights a fire under me.

So, for those that are curious – the crystal beads were for cellphone charms and the bit or origami paper for a kimono wrapping paper theme.

The first thing on my to do list is to create the list. Check back in a day or two and see what I have come up with.

Hearts and split stitches

Here’s an example of me just buying stuff because I have a vague notion of what I want to do with it. Somewhere, out in the universe, I saw a tassel made with a cinnabar heart and of course other than the fact it had a heart like this I can’t remember anything else about it. Just that it was really pretty and I thought I could make one like it.

Maybe I’ll stumble across it again.

Still working on the macro settings with the new camera – I wanted the heart to be in sharp focus, not the lace.

I’m making some headway with the tea cozy. I really like using a split stitch for outlining. I get a smoother looking line, especially around the curves with it.

All the tutorials that say the satin stitch takes some practice – totally true. I’m thinking "how hard can it be.." but it’s hard to get a nice, even edge. Lucky for me the petals on the flowers are thin and pretty forgiving.

I wish I had seen Danielle’s comment before I got started about embroidering through a thin backing since I’m going to be making a tea cozy anyway. Well hopefully the threads hopping from one flower to the next won’t show too much.

You can see how well the transfer pencil works – or doesn’t work. Not a nice crisp line to follow, is it?

Well I better get back to it – while I’m still motivated. Like I thought it’s a lot more fun to use multiple colors.

Embroidery

Remember way back when and the world’s ugliest tea pot – I never finished my tea cozy embroidery project (I see you all rolling your eyes and thinking ‘when has she EVER finished something…’) because I made a poor choice in my fabric selection. I was thinking I needed a loose weave so the embroidery part would be easier. But it was too loose and not stable enough to effectively embroider.

Plus, let’s face it, my embroidery skills ~~were~~ are very rusty and the stitches are very wobbly. I also made a tactical error in thinking I wanted all yellow stitches on a white background which gets really boring. Fast.

So I decided to start over – still planning on the end result being a tea cozy for the poor, maligned tea pot.

New design, new colors. New fabric. I found the design on www.needlecrafter.com. Seriously – a treasure trove of designs. For free! I bought a transfer pencil and painstakingly drew over the design. I set my iron to the highest temperature and pressed away on my newly purchase embroidery linen.

And nothing. It didn’t transfer at ALL. Okay. So I got an old white napkin and tried again but it’s too faint. So I’ll try retracing and trying again. Embroidery should not be this hard.

I will persevere though – the colors are too pretty not to.

Crackers

I picked up the camera yesterday afternoon. So far this is the only picture not of a person that has been taken so far.

And I have absolutely no idea what I am doing. I’m amazed I was able to turn it on. Fortunately my brother in law has the exact same camera and he’s a techy guy so he’s figured out all the tricks and tips. I’m going to make him spend 45 minutes showing me stuff.

It’s a little frustrating because I want to instantly be wowing everyone with my amazing shots and I see there is a bit of a learning curve.

Have you ever noticed that animal crackers are not shaped like any kind of recognizable animal? They should call them amoeba crackers.

Okay – one more. I’m playing around and want to see how they look posted… bear with me.

Happy Mother’s Day

Meme

I just realized I have no idea what the word meme means, exactly. I get the idea but I don’t know the word.

I’ve been tagged by Cin at Notare with the following meme:

Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So here’s the thing. I’ll follow the first two rules but I’m feeling weird about tagging others. You just never know if people like it or not and I don’t want to make anyone feel obligated.

But on the flip side, you do all know I like to blather on about myself so you are subjected rule number one.

1. I am left handed.

2. I don’t mind feet, like some other people I know :o) , but I do have some pretty frightful looking ones myself. They don’t bother me though – if a body part is going to be ugly it might as well be your feet.

3. I count things, constantly. So does my dad so it must be hereditory.

4. I took four languages in high school. I remember one of them. Mostly.

5. My hair is dark brown and my eyes are blue (Ha! Most people don’t know that because the most recent picture of me posted here was taken in 1969. And it’s in black and white).

6. I played the clarinet in a high school marching band and still find it mystifying and kind of insulting that people think that is the height of dorkdom. YOU try playing Louie Louie while keeping in step with 80 other musicians. And keep your spats on straight.

7. I have lived in 14 different homes, in three different countries, three different states and eight different towns or cities.

8. I am hopelessly Pollyanna-ish but I can have a mean sense of humor.

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