Monday, September 16, 2013

A Knitted Minion

Do you love the minions from Despicable Me? Who doesn't?!! So when I saw this free minion pattern that someone pinned, I instantly repinned! But I didn't just repin! I actually knitted, and made one for Laura's birthday that was Monday, the 9th.


If you click on the pattern link above, you'll notice that I made some changes. Some were intentional, some were probably a knitting gauge thing, or knitting inexperience thing. Like I'm not sure why his feet look like he's wearing elf shoes.

I made his goggles removable, and one change was to make the eyes out of felt with painted eyes instead of knitting them.
His overalls also come off, so theoretically, I could knit him more outfits. Or maybe I'll sew him some... that would definitely be faster.

The birthday girl was happy!

She named him Frank.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Witches and Widows and Bad Guys, Oh My

Or... how I feel about wearing all black to work...

It feels negative and stifling. Keep in mind these are my feelings, and one could certainly make an argument for slimming and chic, but that's just not what I'm feeling.


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Our dress code is pretty straight forward. All black. No print, polka dots or stripes. We can get away with some color in our accessories, i.e., scarves, necklaces, belts and shoes.


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It is definitely a unifying look, and customers can find us without having to do that embarrassing "excuse me, do you work here?" thing. We stay reasonably clean. I spilled my lunch all over my skirt one day, and after just a little dabbing and wiping, you couldn't even tell.

And the bad guys?
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Suffice it to say that I do not like the dress code. It's a pretty common one for some retail and restaurant workers. It's practical on many levels. And while I've made a handful of things to wear, but there's not a lot of creativity involved and that's what I love about sewing. And that's why you'll be seeing my creative side coming out in a few other mediums. Maybe even a little sewing. ;)

Thursday, September 12, 2013

The Avocado Project Continues

The 3 avocado seedlings are continuing to grow. The first, Buck, has been planted and is probably almost 2 feet tall now! (I haven't actually measured... that would be too scientific of me!)

The second one, Austin 2, has finally sprouted a root.

And the 3rd seed, Austin2, is going like gangbusters. I'm going to try HGTV's method. This method instructs you to pinch off the stem about halfway when it reaches 6".
I've tried this pinching off thing twice before, but each time once the tree had already been planted. The first time was a success, though, like all things avocado, I had to be very patient and endure a summer of the stick plant. The second time resulted in death. Yeah. That wasn't really the plan. Let's hope this time it results in a bushier, less stick-like plant.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

A Little Painting

I haven't been sewing lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been creating. Sometimes, I fear that I am afflicted with what I like to call "crafter's ADD". Always dabbling, never perfecting. Maybe that should be my motto.

Last year about this time, I took a painting class. It was called something like landscape painting with acrylics and collage. It was really fun, but shortly thereafter I found myself to be employed (you know that story), and, well, no more painting. But I've had a couple of ideas floating around my head, and had to get them out!

I did 2 last week. Both with acrylic paints, and photographs (personal or otherwise noted) printed on tracing paper. Mixed media. The first was based on this personal photograph (I don't remember where it was taken):
And this drawing, scanned from an original drawing that my father made in 1952. (I happened on a stack of these on a recent visit to my mom's):
And here is my interpretation:
A collaboration of sorts. The red was drawn with a marker which ran when I decided to top the whole thing with an acrylic glazing liquid. Oops. I'm leaving it for now.

The second one was based on this photo of my dad (photographer unknown).
And my collage:
You can see these and the other paintings that I did in my class here on flickr.

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