Home Sweet Home

Good sense would tell me to go to bed because I teach in the morning at 8am. But the next few days are going to be very stressful and busy, so goodbye good sense!
First off, I've been photographing my dollhouse before I rehab it. I wanted to get some straightforward before and after shots to highlight the changes. Here is the before:

The house has these little pictures on the walls of the previous owner's grandchildren, their boat, and a dead deer. I feel a little bad taking these off.

I've got a bunch more to edit.
I'm also in the process of repainting a bunch of thriftstore frames for another project.....

On top of those things, I've got some paintings started in the studio. I am hoping to get some images of those up soon as well. So much to do! I think I already need a vacation.

Back to the Grind

I'm grasping on to the last little bits of summer. I've got a few short days to prepare for the semester - classes start this coming Monday and there is a lot to do. There is a lot on my plate this semester, and I hope I can keep up with it all. I am both excited and intimidated by this last year of school.
As far as my studio work goes, I've been off to a productive start. I just finished this painting, part of a series of lace paintings that are framed in formerly gaudy salvaged frames.

These paintings are done from observation: hand drawn from commercially produced vintage lace. They are done in ink, with a brush and an ink pen. I draw the general layout with pencil first, and then fill in the negative areas each by each. They are part of a larger series that is exploring handmade items, and their commercial counterparts.

I am also working on a wall sculpture/installation that deals with some of the same issues, but from a different approach. I've sewn, structured, and stuffed eight little pieces so far, and I am in the midst of seaming them all together, and crocheting doily panels to cover the tops of them.

It has been a really peaceful and cool morning, and I'm hoping to make some progress on these today. I think I'll also be posting later on my garden. It has gone nuts! We've been eating so well these last few weeks!

Common Octopus from Amigurumi Knits!

Let me preface this project by saying Hansi Singh is an amazing pattern designer!

Project Details:
Yarn -- Handspun bulky 2ply llama and pink recycled yarn.
Needles -- Size 8 dpn's, yarn needle
Modifications -- went up a couple needles sizes and used a bulky yarn, used scrap yarn for stuffing, and wooden buttons for eyes.

All of the parts before assembly. I cut it close with the pink yarn - I only had about 24 inches left when I was finished!

Bottom view.

The giant squid is next on my list. :)
Also, our beans finally came up!

Sewing Project - Hand Printed Pillows

I've been loving the combination of dark blue and gray together, and I was in dire need of some new pillows for my couch. I had bought 15" pillow inserts almost two years ago, and never got around to making some covers until now.
I used gray and blue cotton, and stamped the lace design on to the front of the cushions in acrylic paint (with textile medium added in) using the lace stamp I made here. I really love how they turned out -- you can even see the brush strokes from the paintbrush if you look closely at the lace pattern.
The pillow form itself is removable from the cases, the back is two separate overlapping pieces - just like a pillow sham. It will make them really easy to wash, just in case we are ever a little sloppy with our morning coffee... :)

Haircuts, octopi, ikea, and weddings, oh my!

This last weekend Nate and I were back in Wisconsin for our good friend Jorja's wedding (which was wonderful), and I decided I wanted a haircut. Amazingly when I went in, I had enough to donate! 12 inches gone - and I love it.
We had a great time dancing the night away, but my camera died, so sadly I've got no pictures. :(
I've also started a new knitting project, it is the Common Octopus from the book Amigurumi Knits written by Hansi Singh. Hansi is one seriously amazing pattern writer - the most amazing pattern in the book is a praying mantis. Here is the progress so far on the octopus- I've finished the top of his head.
These are the yarns I'm using, the gray yarn is llama yarn that I've spun, and the pink is recycled yarn that I dyed with koolaid a long time ago. It is left over from some mittens. Nate had a couple of days off last week which was really great. He took me on a date for lunch and a movie the first day. On the second day, we met some friends in Schaumburg for trivia night at an irish pub. Seeing as there was an Ikea a couple miles away, we made a day out of it.
Ikea tourists:
Luckily, I didn't come home with too much, just some essentials that I'd had my eye on for a while. And those bell jars -- I've got plans for those.....
Hope you all are having a wonderful Monday!

Spinning Wheels!

Yesterday I was given the amazingly generous gift of two saxony spinning wheels.
The second wheel came in pieces, and was missing a few, but with a little improvisation and elbow grease, I've got it up and running.

Both wheels still have a few kinks to work out, but I think I'll be able to have them fully functional with some more work. For now I've thoroughly cleaned and oiled both wheels, and have started to spin some lace weight singles on each one. Having a saxony wheel along with my louet is wonderful because it spins lace weight yarn so much more efficiently than the louet which is better suited for spinning worsted weight and heavier yarn.Today I met the girls for some coffee and then did a little thrifting on my way home. I found this wonderful 3/4 sleeve cardigan from banana republic that still had it's tags on it (originally $60!) for $1. It fits perfectly, and I am a cardigan-a-holic, so I'm sure it will get lots of use. You can't see it in the picture, but it has pretty golden sheen. I also picked up these sandals, they are leather, and they were marked as my size, but I think they are a little on the small side. :( Maybe I'll stick them up in my Etsy Shop. I also picked up these lovelies. The large ceramic ikat planter was $1 and the lotus bowls were 50 cents each. It was a good thrifting day. Now I'm off to do less fun things such as cleaning my room so I can actually see the floor.
My friend Ann and I were talking aout blogging a few weeks ago and how we rarely focus on the things that are going wrong, or the 'less glamourous' parts of our lives. Well, I can assure you that my house is messy 85% of the time, and that many of my dinners consist of frozen pizza and a PBR. I just didn't want to be fooling any of you. :)

Repetition

I've been busy cleaning the apartment the last few days, but I've managed to fit in some 'project time' between folding massive amounts of clothes and vacuuming all of the forgotten nooks and crannies. I've been wanting to make some stamps for a while now, and finally sat down and did it.
This is the same lace pattern that I'm painting in oil. It is burned into my memory now, so recreating it again was fairly easy.
I also made some other stamps as well. My goal is to use them with fabric paint on scarves and handbags. I'm doing a small craft fair at the end of the month, so I wanted to have some easy-to-make items to whip up for it. I think the fishes are cute. They remind me of illustrations from the 40's. I used both some EZ-cut rubber stamp stuff from Blick, and part of a 4x4" sheet of Mastercarve, the Blick stuff was a lot harder to use, the mastercarve rocked my socks off. :)
I tried them on paper first with some old ink pads. That's why the stamps are so light.
We'll see where this leads. :)
Also, I sewed a really cute scarf yesterday. I've got to iron it so I can show you, but for now, you'll have to take my word for it.
Sorry about the lack of garden pics too, as of now the plot is sitting empty. Our landlord had promised us it would be tilled by the beginning of this month. It is still not tilled, so I can't plant anything yet or they will go over what I plant. I am kind of sad because by the time they get it done, I don't think my spinach and radishes will take because it will be too warm. :(

Tying Up Loose Ends

I am so glad summer break is here despite feeling a little bit under the weather. It was a rough end of the year, I'm not really sure why, but it seemed like there were a bunch of little things that were bogging me down. I'm ready to get past that now, and move on to happier things!
I've been cleaning my apartment the last few days, along with trying to relax and finish up some projects that have been on hold for quite some time. The first thing I wanted to finish was my Ripple Blanket. I love how it turned out.
I only modified a few things. I used a larger hook size and made it a lot larger than the original. Also, I thought it looked a little boring with the straight edge, so I crocheted the two rounds around the outside through the back of the loop only, and then for the last row, I decided to add a little picot edging.
I also started working on some quick little projects for baby shower gifts. These are simple garter stitch bibs loosely based on KrisKnits' pattern. I made three of them with one skein of kitchen cotton yarn. I used size 8 needles instead of size 6, and cast on 25 stitches for the base. Also, the strap is thinner, and I added two button holes so they can be adjusted.
I still haven't figured out how I want to decorate them, or if I even want to decorate them...
Lastly, I picked up this fabric shaver yesterday, and I LOVE it!! I had been really frustrated with our couch because it had been getting little pills all over it from our cat's hair, and we had been trying everything to get rid of them. I was so sad because it is a pretty new couch and it looked like crud with all of the little pills on it. So I found the fabric shaver at the grocery store, and figured for $5 it was worth a try. It worked amazingly!! Our couch looks brand new. I know it sounds corny, but it was such a relief to have it looking nice again. I also took all of my ratty old handknits and totally rejuvenated them! I could not believe how awesome it made my old knits look. I should have taken a before picture, becuase these things were really ratty looking, now they look brand new. Seriously, every knitter should have one.
In other-than-knitting news, I am excited to have a social life again this summer! Although I am a little freaked out about going in to my last year of grad school. Lets not think about that just yet....

Hope you all had a great week!

Workspace Revamp - New (to me) Mirrors

My workspace in our apartment was in dire condition, so dire that I am not showing any before pictures! It was dark in the corner that I work in, so I revamped some mirrors I found at the thrift store to reflect some of the light from our one set of windows in the living room.
They were super dirty, and cost me a whole $1.50 for the three of them. I loved the shape, but not their gaudy gold color...So, two coats of dark blue acrylic paint later.....
New snazzy mirrors. They really do bring a lot of light to my formerly sad and lonely corner. I also hung a little string with some clothespins attached to hang prints from. I have an ever expanding little print collection, and I like to rotate them in and out, so this was the perfect solution for me.

Lastly, I love my secretary desk!! My Gma and Gpa C gave it to me when we moved in. It is my favorite piece of furniture. Plenty of storage in the drawers, and I can hide away all of my messes when I'm not working on something. Have a great weekend!!

Old Sheet to New Rug!

We needed a new bathroom rug, so I looked around online and found a bunch of people making rugs from old t-shirts, but I didn't really want to take all of the time to cut all of the shirts. I thought I would try this with a bed sheet instead. Here is the finished project! I love it, it is super cushy and the texture is really fun.
The sheet I got was a king size flat sheet (for $1!) and it was 100% cotton. To get it into a continuous strip, I cut off all f the edges, and then I cut a notch about 1" from the side and tore it almost to the end of the sheet. Then I cut another notch and tore it in the opposite direction making one really long zig-zag strip. Then I crocheted it into a big rectangle until I ran out of yarn. I love the texture!!I had a little bit of the sheet left over and so I decided to make a little pot holder. I also got a little wooden box at the thrift store. I love tiny boxes and containers. I always fill them with buttons or beads.Tomorrow the show that I'm in opens at the Jack Olson Gallery on campus. The opening is at 4:30pm! I have two pieces in the show, so if you come out, make sure to say hello!

Thrifted Bag Redo and a Continuation of the Sweater Project

I had been looking for a nice leather bag for a while. I have a few stipulations when it comes to bags. First, they've got to have a long strap. I am always doing stuff with my hands, and I hate having to keep a handbag on my arm. Also, it can't be too big. I hate huge bags-- that's what backpacks are for. So I went to the thrifting Tuesday and found this pretty:
But, it needed something. Lace!! I sewed some of my vintage lace onto the purse on the train into Chicago yesterday. End result = LOVE!It was the perfect size for walking around the city all day. I could fit my sketchbook, wallet, small digital camera, and my cell phone perfectly.
I also made some progress on the Sweater Project. I spun these up this weekend, and they are drying - they take sooo long to dry because they are bulky and cotton.
I'm going to post some pics of our Chicago adventure later today or early tomorrow. The lecture we went to was amazing as well, I'll post a link to the podcast once it is posted on the art institute's blog. :)

Goodbye Winter, Llama Hats, and Yarny Goodness

This is what I woke up to this last Sunday Morning.
It was so beautiful with the snow, it stuck to all of the trees, and when the sun finally came out they all started to sparkle. I decided to pull on my boots for what will probably be the last time this winter, and head outside to take some pictures. I wandered around the outside of the farm that is next to our apartments.
With all of the cold weather these last few days, I finished a hat I had started last week. It is made from the Llama yarn that I had spun about a month ago. I love it, it is warm and lightweight at the same time.
I've also been taking apart more sweaters for yarn. I love the tweedy green yarn. It is 100% wool from a J Crew sweater. The yarn on the right is a cotton/acrylic blend that is buttery soft.I am really excited for tomorrow. Nate and I are heading into Chicago to attend the 'From Trash to Spectacle' lecture series that is going on at the School of the Art Institute (it is free and open to the public if you are in the area!) Tomorrow's lecture covers issues related to contemporary fiber and craft. Up my alley? I think so!