vegkat's yarns

Sorry, y'all!

2011-01-07T07:03:00.000-08:00

Obviously, I have pretty much abandoned this poor blog. Sorry, baby! With the fam and the stuff and the things, it's difficult to keep up with everything. Good news, though! There is somewhere you can still cyber-stalk me if you so desire. Just head over to my blog on Tumblr. If you aren't familiar with Tumblr, come check it out. It's super fun. For reals, yo. Short entries, which means more posts and more free time. Well, more free time to stalk other people on Tumblr. Seriously, I don't own stock in it or anything.

But come on, head on over. We'll have lots of fun!

It's stitching in public day!

2010-09-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

So get out there! You know, out in the real world, where people can actually see you, and stitch something!

I did!

(Yes, this stitch is awfully cutsie, but it's for my BFF's new baby boy!) :-)

People are awesome.

2010-09-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want more details on my amazing weekend? OK! Well, I'm sure you all know who Mr X Stitch is, right? Yes, it's not just an amazing blog featuring the best of the best fiber artists, but he's also a real person, too! He lives in England, but for some reason, he decided to visit Chicago (my neck of the woods) last weekend, and I was all, "Can I hang out, too?"

Like, OMG you guys, it was, like, SO much fun! Not only was it Jamie (Mr X), but Beefranck, his blogging partner in crime (who I've actually met before, and who featured this lil' ol' thing of mine on the blog) was there, along with an amazing who's who of incredible stitchers, and all around awesome human beings. Here's the proof: (I'm in the red skirt standing in the front row.)
I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about what we did, but it was great. We saw some crazy people on the streets:
Had some drinks at the Signature Lounge (that's me and Jamie):
The Signature Lounge is a bar on the 96th floor of the Hancock building, and the best views were found in the women's room. It sounds dirty, but it's true. The men's room didn't even have a window, and the women's room had this view: Then the next day we went to a store that specializes in cross stitch. Thousands upon thousands of threads to choose from (or not... we mostly just stared with our mouths hanging open going, "Uh...."):
My four year old picked out some thread for Jamie, and he made her a cross stitch! She thought he was pretty cool because he had an English accent. She learned how to do one from the voice on the GPS, and got to show it off. :-)

It was a wonderful weekend, and I got to meet a bunch of people I've gotten to know over the interwebs, and I have to say, face to face is a lot more fun! I'm thrilled to call them all friends, and can't wait to hang out again!!

My weekend? I'm glad you asked.

2010-08-24T11:53:00.000-07:00

Have you missed me? I know! I've missed you, too! Big frowny face at my lack of posting.

What did I do this weekend? Oh, not much. Just hung out with Mr. X Stitch and a bunch of other stitchers/awesome human beings. No big deal. Completely normal. More later.

;-)

Treasury time!

2010-05-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

This past week, I have been lucky enough to have two of my items featured in amazing Etsy treasuries! The theme of both made me smile, and I thank the curators for picking my stuff!

First, I got an Etsy convo from Coco Island Soaps saying my skinny rainbow scarf was in a treasury titled "So Gay": How beautiful is that treasury? Who doesn't love rainbows? And who doesn't want equal rights for gays? Such a great collection.

Then I was notified yesterday that my Pulp Fiction embroidery was part of a whole Pulp Fiction themed treasury, curated by MAB Jewlry:
I love it! I like items that aren't specifically Pulp Fiction were picked, like the medical books and the foot lotion. Very clever!

On sale this week only!

2010-05-14T05:25:00.000-07:00

I recently hit 60 fans on my Facebook fan page. I have neglected that poor page for so long, but I've decided to give it some attention. So, to celebrate this milestone, I have decided to put one of my pieces on sale, and will continue the trend from here on out. If you are a fan of my Facebook fan page, you will be privy to new and exciting sales every week!

This week, check out my embroidered Pulp Fiction fan art featuring my interpretation of the Fox Force Five joke Mia Wallace tells Vincent Vega after their night of fun. I'm taking 30% off this big guy, and he's a one-of-a-kind item, so grab him before someone else does!So head on over to become a fan, and know everthing the cool kids do.

How to take a pillow from ZERO to HERO

2010-05-02T07:51:00.000-07:00

Recently, a guy I went to high school with (and junior high... and grade school... we may have even been in the same kindergarden class...) contacted me and said he had an idea for something to be stitched on a throw pillow, and immediately thought of me. See, I force my embroidered "art" on all my Facebook friends and then rub their faces in in it and say, "Look at it! LOOOOOK at it!" I guess it pays off once in a while. His idea was to have "Go balls deep" put on a pillow. Some chicks may have been put off by being thought of with this phrase, but not this gal. The only issue was he was specifically non-specific. He just gave me the phrase and some colors, and told me to go nuts. So to speak...

I sometimes have anxiety issues when it comes to making things for others. If I just make them to amuse myself, and someone else likes it, awesome. But when it comes to making it FOR someone, I get all crazy and all I can picture is rejection. Even when it's just a crocheted baby hat that I could make in my sleep. And with such little guidance on this project, I was a little frightened. But, I do love being challanged and pushed to create something I wouldn't usually come up with on my own.

I always like to pretend I have some air of mystery about myself, but I really don't. I'm a giddy spaz that can't keep anything to myself. I even modeled my wedding dress for my hubby the day I bought it, after having told him he wouldn't even see it until our actual wedding. So much for tradition and silly superstitions, right? Anyway, in the spirit of my inability to keep anything remotely mysterious, and since this was my first time doing a pillow, I thought I'd document my progress and make a little photo tutorial in case anyone else would care to make one. And the best part: No sewing machine! So here's how we take a pillow from zero (whaaa, all lonely and a tag sticking out like a putz):

To HERO (Yes, those are lady pillows. They know a winner when they see one.):

First, you take your boring pillow and look for the outside seam. Every pillow has one, because you can't sew it shut from the inside. It's usually the end with a tag sticking out, but if yours is missing the tag, just look for it. You'll know what you are looking for when you see it. Once you find said seam, rip that bitch apart. But carefully, please! You have to re-assemble later!

Hopefully your pillow stuffings will be encased in a second "case", but if not, just shove the stuffing into a bag and save for later.

Oh, yeah. You'll need something to put ON the pillow, so draw something up, use a pattern or find an image online. Just try to make sure it's public domain, ok? Don't steal stuff, cause that's just not awesome. I usually draw my own embroideries, but I couldn't quite do what I was trying to do, so I needed some help. Don't judge me. Then you just tape some tracing paper to your screen and trace the image. Then write something witty. :-)
I hope you like tracing, because you are going to have to do it again. Flip your tracing paper over and trace the back of the whole thing with a washable, iron-on fabric pencil. And push HARD on that pencil. I didn't, and had to trace it AGAIN, and some of my lines still were kind of faint on the pillow case.
Find the center of your pillow and the center of your drawing, line them up then tape your image to the pillow. Make sure it's secure and won't move at all, because you don't want your lines to be blurry or doubled. Oh, and make sure you don't iron over the tape. It melts. Luckily for me, it didn't melt into the fabric, but it could, so watch out. And, use some common sense and make sure you've got the front of the pillow (the side with the piping or ruffles or whatever), and that your open seam is on the bottom.

Once you have your image on your case, center it in an embroidery hoop and make sure it's... you got it - DRUMHEAD TIGHT! Oh, and let's put the inner ring INSIDE the case, ok kids? Otherwise you'll be embroidering through the front and the back, and good luck getting the stuffing back in that way. I thought it would be a giant pain in the rear putting my hand inside the pillow for every stitch, but it really wasn't that bad. You totally get used to it. Now that you've done all the prep work, get stitching! Mine was a big image, and there are lots and lots (and lots) of stitches, but just take them one at a time. You probably wouldn't be doing this if you didn't love to stitch. I chose to do this entirely in back stitch, because I think it's the best stitch to get around all those curvy lines. I'm not offering any tips on the actual embroidery, because I am completely self-taught and have only been doing this for about 9 months. But there are tons of great embroidery tutorials and how-to guides on line, so it would be in your best interest to check those out instead of have me try to go into it and confuse you.

In the vision I had of the finished product, it involved some satin stitching. I have done it a few times, but am by no means an expert at it. Well, I tried it on here, but since I'm a total perfectionist, I just couldn't handle that it turned out a little wonky, so I decided to take that stitching out and have the letters be open. I would have liked to fill them in, but I just don't think the fabric could have supported that many stitches in one area.
I was actually kind of sad when the stitching was done, because this was a super fun project. Ok, maybe not 'running around downtown Chicago' fun or 'hula-hooping for 40 minutes straight' fun, but a relaxing, nerdy kind of fun. But then again, I was super excited when the stitching was done because I could finally see the finished product, and it was GLORIOUS. Now you have to wash it to get the pencil marks out. I know! I was scared, too, because you never know what can happen in water. DMC floss is colorfast, so I recommend using that. Don't try to pinch pennies and use that stuff that's made in Mexico. Shell out the 38 cents per skein; it's worth it. Just fill a sink, put in a couple drops of detergent and give it a few swishes. That's it. Then hang it to dry.
Now you have to get out the ironing board, AGAIN. Yeah, yeah, I know. I won't even iron my husband's work shirts, but it's a necessity for this project. Turn it inside out, because you don't want to iron on the top of embroidery. You'll smash your stitches and it won't look cool. Slip a towel into the pillow case to absorb some heat and cushion your stitches.
Iron both sides, then make sure you press the open raw edge that you will be sewing shut. That way you don't really have too much need for pins. I hate pins.
Cram the stuffing back in then stitch him up! I sewed mine by hand. It really wasn't bad at all, but you could use a sewing machine if you want. I find hand sewing is more precise, plus I hate my sewing machine's guts. In case you, the loyal reader, haven't noticed, I really tend to only to projects that can be done soley by hand. When you get a machine involved it's like brining in another person, and my sewing machine is a bitch that speaks in tongues. I just don't get her.
Done and done.
See? It wasn't that bad. Sure, there are a lot of steps, but none are especially difficult, and it turned out SO RAD. *Sniff sniff, weep weep* I'm gonna miss him. Someone's apartment is now going to have 100% more awesome.

Prepare yourself for a nerdy joy explosion.

2010-04-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Whew! It's been a busy, busy month here at the Veg household. My little VegBoy recently turned 2 (AWWW!), so there was all the planning, cupcake baking, present wrapping and subsequent un-wrapping. And for some reason, I have like 6 projects going on at once, and they are all for other people! Busy hands are happy hands, right? Some are commissions, and some are gifts. So... can't post any pics yet. I do have some completed projects I've been working on, but today I am just going to brag about a big bag of goodies I got this weekend.

I was at my mom's house for said birthday party, and she said, "Come here, I have something to give you," as she walked back to the spare bedroom. Usually this ends up being a cute outfit for one of the kids or something, so I was curious when she pulled out this:

Eh? Uh... thanks, Mom. I could really use an old red duffel bag. But then she opened it.

EEEEEEE!!!!!

Most of the contents were in other cases, but I knew what it was right away.

The mother load of yarn working supplies (plus a few other craft supplies like beads, a hoop and other miscellaneous items)!
Most of the knitting supplies came from a friend of my mom's who's mother died, and this friend knew my mom used to knit a lot, she gave her the collection. Since my mom doesn't really knit anymore, she decided these items would get more lovin' at my house.

A complete set of circular needles (my mom didn't even know what they were, but knew it must be good from the squeal I let loose when she unzipped the case).

In the big metal box were many, many sets of knitting needles, and there are also a bunch of longer ones that couldn't fit in the box.

There were a couple of really old sets of steel knitting pins. Super tiny. I mean, like pencil lead thin. I'm not even quite sure what you could knit with them? Any knitters out there know?

There were also a bunch of knitting patterns, most of them hand written.

Along with all the knitting supplies there were a bunch of crochet items, too. Most of these came from my own great-grandmother Vera, who was quite the crocheter. She was also an amazing embroiderer and quilter. Someday I'll have to take a pic of the Holly Hobbie quilt she made for me when I was like 8. She died when I was about 20, so I'm lucky enough to have many, many memories of this wonderful woman. She was definitely an inspiration for me when I was learning to crochet and knit at age 12, then later on when I began embroidering last year.

Here's just some of the crochet hooks in the "awesome bag":

There was a set of regular sized aluminum hooks, but these are mostly teeny tiny steel hooks for lacy crochet doilies:

Or old bone hooks.

And here's a photo of me when I was 2 with Great-Gramma at her 50th wedding anniversary party. I look at this picture now and can't believe she was around for almost another 20 years.

She was awesome.

Now, fellow nerdy yarn-workers, I have a couple more mysterious items that I need your help with.

There is a teeny crochet hook, but it has a little clasp-like barb that swings open on it, and I have no idea what you would use it for. Anyone, anyone? And what the heck is this thing? I'm thinking I should know, but I just don't. It was in the same box as all the knitting needles.

Thanks for any help anyone has to offer, and thanks also for letting me brag about my new stash of supplies! I haven't even really had a chance to go through one by one and check them out, but I can't wait to get some yarn out!

Mr X Stitch Comic Swap

2010-03-22T06:58:00.000-07:00

If you'll remember, I posted about a swap I was doing with the Phat Quarter group on Flickr. Remember? If you want to see some of the awesome things a few of the members made, check them out here. They are amazing, and I'm honored to have my piece featured with such amazing works. This was my first swap ever, and I was insanely nervous about how my piece would compare to the other artists. I think even though I've only been embroidering a fraction of the time compared to the rest, mine turned out ok. I think it's great how everyone's style and personality came through! Seriously, check them out.

M.S.M. 3.15-10 Shelf Tutorial

2010-03-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

When I moved into my house, the previous owners left a few things hanging on the walls, and in the room my son now occupies there was this ugly shelf nailed to the wall. We kept it up for a while and tried to load it up with stuff to hide it, but it's massive ugliness kept peeking through and pissing me off. So I took it down, and the hubby was going to take it to the curb, but I said, "No, wait. Let's put it in the basement, because we might find a use for it someday." He rolled his eyes and was probably picturing our house looking like a "Hoarders" house in the very near future. But I knew... I just knew that little guy would have a second chance at life.

A couple years after banishing it to the dark recesses of our basement, I came across this post over at the much loved Just Something I Made blog, and her before pic of the amazing table Cathe transformed made me think of my ugly shelf. Outdated, weird (in a bad way) wood finish, silly curves. But then she spray painted it black, and kind of roughed it up a bit, and it looked amazing! (Can you guess what happens to my ugly shelf? Well, keep reading folks!) It only took me like TWO MONTHS to for her project and my ugly shelf to swim across my brain and meet up. Then I was all, "Um, duh."

So I took ugly shelf outside and spray painted the dickens out of it. I probably should have primed it, sanded it, washed it... something... but I was too impatient (as always) and just wanted it black. It took many, many coats, and I had to make sure I got all those little nooks and crannies. It took all day since I had to wait between coats, otherwise you end up with a not-so-awesome finish. But it was worth it!

I couldn't decide if I should just leave it as-is, or distress it a bit. It looked a million times better, but a bit plain, so distressing won. But now I had to find some sand paper. Hmmm... I haven't seen sandpaper 'round these parts in a 'coon's age. [This is not a racist saying; it actually means 'racoon'.] So I sat and pouted, and picked at my hangnails for a while. Man, I could really use a manicure. Manicure. Nails. NAIL FILE! For a project like this, where all I wanted was to sand the very edges, an old emery board would be perfect! So I dug one out that was pretty worn out, and it worked like a charm!
Here's a close up without the file in the way.

I just went around the edges and sanded, but didn't make it perfect. Some spots got a bit more attention, some didn't get any. It's supposed to look like perhaps it was all black at one time, but over the years some has worn away. I was quite excited with how it turned out. And so was the hubby. He was skeptical at first, since I didn't tell him any of my plans for it. Especially when I sat down with my emery board. But when I finished, his face brightened up. I don't know if it was because it looked so nice, or if it was because he realized I now had a place to put some of my chotchkies we are constantly prying from the VegKids' fat little baby fingers. Probably some of both.

(You can tell by the date on the pic I've been meaning to get around to posting about this shelf for a while... Ugh.)
1. Adam West as Batman with Bat Girl.
2. My oldest Nancy Drew book that VegBoy is obsessed with destroying. I have a bunch from the '60s, but this is from 1940, and this is the one he goes for.
3. My super duper awesoome tea pot.
4. A set of ping pong balls signed by Broken Lizard. Who? These delicious hunks of man meat:
You know... Super Troopers? The balls were a promo for the movie Beerfest, and the tube they are in are signed by the guys. With real ink! Sigh... The hubs thinks my infatuation with a bunch of guys with a penchant for dick jokes and frat boy humor is bordering on a dangerous obsession, but he tries not to judge. Gotta love him.

Anyway, back to the shelf. I just wanted to share my little make-over with you, and maybe inspire you to look around your house and find something to change. Instead of sending that night stand to the curb and dropping a wad of cash on a new one, try spraying it with a new color. If you don't like it, you'll only be out a couple bucks. Or is your coffee table a major eye-sore? Hmmm... I may have an idea for you. Stay tuned for next week's post, and you may be inspred. Tee hee...

I'm turning into a computer geek!

2010-03-12T12:03:00.000-08:00

I spent all morning making new linky buttons for my sidebars, and I'm pleased as punch with myself. I made them to match my old background, then because I'm really not that good at computer stuff, and forgot to double check what the hell I was doing, I DELETED the html code for my background! AGH! I spent way too much time trying to find it again on the interwebs, but to no avail. I was turning into one sad Kat, but then found this background, and I think I am pretty much in love with it. I only wish the center of it had some color, but since I'm not that much of a computer geek, I'll just have to live with it. Maybe someday I'll learn to design backgrounds. But for now, we'll leave it like this. Hope you like it, since you are the ones who have to look at it! :-)

Edited to add: Dang it! I thought I did a pretty good job, and decided I was going to live with the buttons I made for a while (especially since they happen to match my new background), then I find THESE over at Just Something I Made, one of the most awesome craft blogs EVER. Dang it.

I'm featured!

2010-03-11T17:36:00.000-08:00

Two posts in one day? Whaaaa...? I just had to share that a couple of my items were featured here on the amazing stitching blog, Feeling Stitchy!!! The two items that were featured were part of my "I ♥ Nerds" series, currently in my Etsy shop: It is wonderful to know I'm not the only MST3K nerd girl out there, and maybe there are other girls who fantasize about meeting the Joel.

I hate to beat a dead horse (cause that's just cruel), but these pieces are available here and here.

Thank you, Feeling Stitchy, for this super awesome badge of honor!!! YAY!

Makin' stuff for other people.

2010-03-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

I know I missed this week's "My Stuff Monday", but I had just come home from an exhausting funeral weekend, and still needed some time to process some things. So I'll catch up next week, but for now I have some fun new projects I have been working on! I mentioned in a previous post I had been working on some surprise projects for other people. Well, they have been sent and recieved, so now I can share them with you!

I have a friend who owns and operates the most awesome bakery west of the Mississippi. Hell, I think anywhere East of the Mississippi would be hard pressed to have something this awesome. She makes caffinated baked goods. Like brownies with more buzz than two Red Bulls. Click the link for more details. (Pssst! She also ships awesomeness to you!) In the bakery is a chalkboard where the daily selections are written up, and when I visited her last, they had their take on the phenomenon "All your base are belong to us" written there (Google it), so I whipped up a little cross-stitch with their version:

I put it in a box and sent it to her without permission or knowledge. Needless to say, she was excited, and I hear my little cross stitch is hanging up in the bakery. Yay! She then contacted me and wanted my Better Off Dead embroidery to join it. Double yay!I also recently participated in an embroidery swap with members of the Phat Quarter pool on Flickr. These guys are the most amazing bunch of contemporary cross stitchers and embroiderers on the face of the planet. You won't find too many unicorn or bunny cross stitches, unless said animals are accompanied by some snarky (and usually not kid friendly) phrase. The theme for the swap was cartoon/comics, and since I don't really read comics, I started racking my brain for something awesome from my favorite cartoons I could translate to embroidery. Once I thought of Brak, I knew I had to do it. I'm not going to go into the details of who Brak is (that's what Google is for), but he was the best character on the amazing show "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast". This was my first try at tinting the fabric, and guess what I used? Crayon! I love the way it turned out and cried when I finished him because I knew I couldn't keep him: Then he even had his own spin-off show, where I found a hilarious quote (not that those are hard to find):

I was so nervous my partner wouldn't know who Brak was, or worse, would know who he was, but didn't love him like I do. Luckily he loves Brak! Win!

With this swap, we recieved a piece from a different person we sent to. I was lucky enough to recieve a piece from an amazingly talanted stitcher whose CB handle is Beefranck. She has an incredible talant to take antique fonts and borders, then add something so awesome it basically forces you to pee your pants. Remember what I said about unicorns and bunnies? Look what she made for me:It's from "Sam and Max: Freelance Police" and it's mine, ALL MINE! Mwaaahaaahaaa!

I also made a crayon/embroidery project to sell in my Etsy shop. I came up with the idea one night while I was lying in bed, not sleeping as usual. I envisioned this, and actually had to get up and sketch it out before I forgot. As with most ideas that come to me in the middle of the night (or while inebriated), I assume it's not going to be as sweet after a few hours of head-clearing sleep. This one still made me giggle, so I got to work. In case you don't know what it is, and you've been living under a rock for like 15 years, it's from Pulp Fiction. Uma Thurman admits she had been part of a TV pilot for a show called "Fox Force Five" (fox as in we're a bunch of foxes, force as in we're a force to be reckoned with, and five as in there's one, two, three, four, five of us), and in each episode her character was to tell one bad (as in REALLY bad) joke. This one went something like, "Three tomatoes were walking down the street: papa tomato, mama tomato and baby tomato. The baby tomato starts lagging behind, so papa tomato squishes baby tomato and says, 'Ketchup.'" Awesome, huh? So I sketched out this adorable little cartoon, colored it with my daughter's crayons again and did some stitching. Voila! If you just gotta have it, it will be up in my shop soon, I promise.

I also stitched out part two of my mean ol' coaster set:

You'll remeber the first one:Haven't quite figured out what the other two will say, but I'm sure they'll be spectacular.

My stuff Monday 3.1.10

2010-03-01T09:33:00.000-08:00

Craftiness runs in my family. I know this is almost to cutesy for words, but my mommy made me this when I was 9.
I had it hanging in my bedroom for nine years, then when I got my own place with my then fiance (now hubby), I hung it up there. He always made fun of me because it's kind of a funny thing to have hanging in an adult apartment, but I didn't care. Eventually we bought a house and while it's been hanging out in our basement the poor thing has suffered some damage. Nothing too major, but the matting and frame have some scratches, and the cloth has gotten kind of dusty and discolored.

But the stitches are all still in great shape, and looking at it closely today, for the first time I really appreciate the work that went into it. It's the first time I've even seen it since I've started doing cross stitch.

I plan on taking out of the frame and cleaning it, then re-framing it and hanging it in my daughter's room.

My mom rocks.

New Etsy listings and a WIP

2010-02-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to framing and listing my "Chubby Funster" cross stitch in my Etsy shop. If you still don't know what this is referring to, watch the amazing Ricky Gervais in action:

I like to get my picture frames at thrift stores, then spray paint them because they are usually incredibly ugly. But this one just reminded me of wood paneling from the 70s, and I thought it just went with the porn name theme. There was no way I could bring myself to spray it black.

I also knitted my first cowl! I had this super soft yarn that does this cool self-striping thing, and those kinds of yarns work up ok in crochet, but they really look great when you knit in the round, so I was saving it for a hat or something else I could do on the double pointed needles. I had seen cowls before and thought they were kind of cool, so I thought I'd try my hand at one. I cast on without any real plan (and no pattern, because I never follow one, especially for knitting), but I knew I didn't want the edges to curl that much. So instead of doing a straight knit, I purled every 4th stitch, and accidentally wound up with this cool ribbing on the other side!So I'm calling this wonderful little thing reversable, because I can't decide which is the "right" side, and I love them both.

I have been busy with a few embroidery projects as of late, too, but still have to keep a couple secret. But I'll share a WIP (for those crafters in the know, that means "work in progress"), because I just can't wait until the whole project is done do share. It's gonna take forever.Whenever a pair of jeans in the Veg household gets too worn out to wear in public, I cut them up and try to salvage the good denim left in them. Most of the denim is getting cut into 8x8 squares that (I'm telling myself) I'll eventually quilt together and make into an awesome bedspread of our worn out clothes, kind of like the Amish. Only denim and kind of punky. But once you cut 8x8 squares out of the legs, there is still tons of good denim left that I would hate to throw away. So I have been saving it, thinking I would someday think of something. Well, that someday has come. I'm using the smaller leftover squares to make coasters, and this is the first. Well, the begining of the first, because I'll still have to pick a fabric for the back, put some waterproof fabric in the middle and drag out that damn sewing machine. I got a bunch of fun sewing notions at my local thrift store the other day for 29 cents each (ric-rac, lace, etc.), and I would like to incorporate those into this project, too. Make them as cute as possible and as offensive as possible at the same time. They will probably end up in my shop, so if you are interested, stay tuned!

I won awesome stuff! Yay!

2010-02-25T10:05:00.000-08:00

During the week, I have a sweet "job" of taking care of some adorable dogs. I load the kids up, run over to my husband's aunt & uncle's house and let their beagle and Jack Russel/pug out to pee. Oh, and give them little doggie biscuits. As I came home from said errand today, I noticed there was a box on my stoop. YAY! I love getting stuff, but today I was extra excited. Almost as excited as I get when I see a package from my gramma (that's pretty damn excited). Why? Because I knew it was from Krista at Look Ma No Patterns! See, she makes awesome stuff, and decided to hold a giveaway, and I won! Here's what was in my box of goodies this morning:

A sweet tote bag, that I'm probably going to use for EVERYTHING, all the time. That is, if I can tear it away from the VegKids. They are already playing mailman with it.

I think she should sell these. It is sturdy, very well made and FREAKISHLY adorable.

There was also an awesome embroidery with an Oscar Wilde quote. If he were alive today, I would stalk him and try to marry him. Yeah, I know he was gay. Doesn't matter. After slapping a restraining order on me, I'd get all crazy giddy and yell, "He knows who I am!"

It's already hanging on my awesome wall of embroidery, and has the honored distiction of being the first piece that's not made by me!

Looks fantastic and the other pieces have already let it join their clique of awesomeness. Now play nice you guys.

Pinned to the bag were four lovely buttons. I don't think it's public knowledge yet, but I am a button junkie. My purse (ok, giant bag) have a bunch on it, and I have a denim jacket that is just covered. Percentage wise, there is probably more hardware than denim. It just so happens that three of the buttons on my purse were made by Krista.

See, my creepy stalkerish obsession with her began one day when I was just cruising through the forums at Etsy, and there was a post that had a title about someone closing their shop. I peeked in and saw it was a shop with buttons. Ok, control yourself, I said. You don't need anymore buttons. But then I actually read some of them and thought, screw it. I need a few more. I got the three pictured above. I mean, really. How many times are you going to come across buttons that are both vegetarian AND zombie related?!?

So I think, now, what needs to happen, is everyone needs to go visit her blog and pester the crap out of her until she gives in and makes more.

Thank you, Krista!!! You made my day! And stay tuned, readers, because I may just be brewing up a few ideas for a giveaway myself. I held a giveaway long, long ago to (ok, last July) kick this blog off, but it seems like it might just be time for another.

My stuff Monday (ok... Tuesday) 2.23.10

2010-02-22T06:58:00.000-08:00

Wow, only the second week in and I already missed a post. I have been busy toughening up my fingers, trying to get that "embroiderer's callus" on my middle finger. The projects I have been working on are for other people, so I can't post anything more about them until they have been recieved. (Shh, they're surpises!)

Besides embroidering, I love making baby blankets. I have a daughter who is 3 1/2 and a son who will be two in April, so over the past few years I have spent lots and lots of time making them blankets. When I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, we decided we didn't want to know the gender. So instead of getting frilly, girly pinks or masculine blues and browns, I made a gender neutral blanket for her out of the softest, most amazing cotton yarn I could find. She still loves the heck out of this blanket and sleeps with it every night. Of course, none of the blankets I've made her are her absolute favorite (figures, right?), but more on that later.

When I found out I was pregnant with my son, we didn't know if we were going to find out the gender, and I was just to eager to wait to start on a new blanket. So I made him this green, orange and grey one. It's very detailed, so here's a close-up.
Then we decided to find out what we were actually going to have, and we were delighted to find out we were having a boy. Actually, I was super cool with either. Two little girls would be adorable, but one of each would be awesome, too. But I say delighted, because the hubby really wanted one of each. He came from a family of only boys, and was jazzed our first was a girl. But, being a guy, he had dreams of doing boy stuff with a little boy. He kept saying, "If this one's a girl, we can always try for a boy for the third kid." UM, NO. While I love my kids to death and would do anything for them, I could never handle 3. Initially, I only wanted one, then he changed my mind and I I'm glad because my kids are freaking awesome. But 3... Nope. I have two hands, therefore, two kids. Anyhoo... So we had the ultrasound to see, and since he was a boy, obviously I had to make a "boy" colored blankie.Once my daughter grew too big for her crib, we put her in a toddler bed. The matress is the same one from her crib, and the sight of that teeny tiny bed just kills me. Soooo cute. But she needed some more "grown up" bedding, and since I'm cheap, crafty and picky, I wound up making all the bedding. It started with a flowered sheet that is basically just a huge piece of flowery flannel, with the edges sewn down. And a big, grown-up sized pillow on that bed just looked rediculous, so I had to make her some teeny pillows! Once in a while I like to pretend I'm a sewer and I get out the machine. Not a big fan of it, though, because working with a sewing machine is like working with another person, and sometimes I hate that person. I prefer hand crafts where it's just my hands and the material, but not all projects are apropriate for that. These are machine sewn, but not very well.The two shown above are pillow cases I made out of vintage fabric I found on Ebay - Holly Hobby-esque rainy day scenes and elephants blowing bubbles (the umbrella one below looks wonky, but it does have perfect 90 degree angles. I may not be the best sewer, but I am a perfectionist, and crooked lines are not my thing). The 2 original pillowcases I made are like the botton one here: The edges are the same as the sheet fabric, and the rest is a super soft tan cotton I had lying around. The actual pillows are just some old flannel sheets we had that didn't fit our new bed, so I cut them up and stuffed them with filling from an old throw pillow. (The exterior fabric was re-purposed into a completely different, awesome project.) I was thinking for a while of making these to sell, but I don't know if anyone would even be interested in something like this. Oh, and if I ever did make them to sell, they would obviously be made with all new fabric and filling. But it was a great project to recycle some stuff around the house! Then I thought, well, she needs me to crochet her a new blanket for a bedspread! She can't just get by with the dozens of baby blankets I made her. One of my favorite artists is Mondrian, with bold geometric shapes and bright colors. (Think: Partridge Family bus.)

I thought a design like that would be easy to replicate in a needle arts project, so I spent a bit of time mapping out a color chart using bright, girly colors, and just started crocheting. And crocheting. And more crocheting. It felt like I would still be crocheting this blanket when VegGirl was going off to college. I didn't use any kind of pattern except the color chart I made and my knowledge of crochet. I chose to do it in a half-double stitch, and while it's not the smallest stitch you can choose, a double crochet would have been a bit smarter choice. And since I used kind of a small stitch and heavy yarn, it turned out quite weighty. But warm, so I guess that's good. I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out:

The only thing is that she's just about out grown her toddler bed and will be getting a twin bed this year for her birthday. So... Looks like I'm gonna have to get to work again!

Instead of featuring something that is a favorite of mine, I'm going to show you VegGirl's favorite thing in the whole world. With all the work I've done making blankets for her, the one blanket she can't live without isn't one I've made. It's still super sentimental, though. My aunt made me this blanket when I was a baby, and gave it to my daughter when she was born. I didn't even know she still had it until she showed up with it, and my girl just took it and ran. She calls it her "cozy nap" and is just in love with it.Every time I put it in the washing machine, I just pray to the washing machine gods that it comes out in one piece. The poor thing is so old, and if you hold it up to the light, you can see nearly all the batting inside has pretty much disintegrated. But there's something about it that is just amazingly comforting. Even little VegBoy loves it, and if he starts crying, his big sister brings him her "cozy nap". Awwwwww.

How to help others if you are broke.

2010-02-19T08:34:00.000-08:00

Since I have a budget and am trying to get out of credit card debt and save for a bigger house, blah blah blah, I feel bad that I can't make monitary donations to charities. I do, however, have the supplies, skills and time to help out in other ways. I also have a soft spot in my heart for children's charities. I have run a couple promotions in my Etsy shop where I would give something for every sale I made. One year, for every hat I sold, I crocheted a baby hat for premies for Knit One Save One , and this winter I made afghan squares for AIDS orpahns in Africa. I also have a big box of (33) more hats for premies I've been sitting on forever to be donated to a hospital, but first I just need to find one that will accept them. If you know of one that is accepting them, just drop me a line with the info. I also knitted a scarf and donated it to a veteran through a charity called Knit Your Bit, which has been around since WWII.
I have also cut my hair and donated it to Locks of Love, twice.
A while ago I heard about a blogger who was asking for 50 people do donate some time to make a little square representing their state, which would later be sewn into a quilt and donated to a children's hospital. You can read all about it here. So I contacted Danielle and told her I would gladly take Illinois, and she promptly sent me a little white square to decorate however I saw fit. I had no idea what to do, so I started scouring the interwebs for images that would spark some creativity and finally came up with this:

I had no idea what the other squares would look like, and wanted to contact other people involved to see what they were doing. But I think mine turned out ok, and I am really in love with my little Chicago skyline. Danielle recently did a post where she featured mine with some other squares, and I'm not sure how I feel about the way mine looks next to the others. Everyone else's are so fun and colorful! Oh, well. A done bun can't be undone. I'm glad I participated, though, and can't wait to see a pic of the completed project!

See, you just have to get creative and look for interesting ways to help others, instead of just throwing money around. Of course, lots of charities need money, and if you can help that way, that's super awesome. But don't feel like you can't help others if your wallet is a little flat (like mine).

My stuff Monday 2.15.10

2010-02-15T07:13:00.000-08:00

In an effort to be a little more consistant in my posting, Mondays are now "My Stuff Mondays"! I will be posting about things I've made in the past, maybe a tutorial here or there (but I'm not promising anything!), and just things that I love that you may love, too!

Kicking it off is this blanket I made for my nephew's 6th birthday. He is a... well, a boy, and like many boys his age is obsessed with super heros. I had seen blankets similar to this one all over the interwebs and thought it might be kind of fun. I did a variation on the pattern found here. It starts in the center and works out like a giant granny square, and it was fun for the first, oh... 12 rounds or so. Then it got big (oh, so big) and each round took an eternity. By the time I got around to the last few rounds, I was so sick of this thing I couldn't wait to start on the 3D "web" that is crocheted on top. Well... that wasn't so fun, either. It was hard to get the hook in the right place, and holding all that fabric was a challange. But, when I completed the web, wove in all the ends and held it up to examine my work, I was sooooo happy I stuck with it! My nephew's birthday is in October, but we were waiting to give him gifts until Christmas because they live one state over, and that was the soonest we would see him. It's a good thing, too. Upon starting this thing, I thought it would take me a couple weeks to complete and I'd have it done like a month before his birthday. I didn't finish until after Thanksgiving! Phew! That's a lot of crocheting, people. Plus once it got big, I dreaded picking it up, so I didn't work as diligently on it as I could (should) have.

Anyway, I was so excited to give it to him, but then I thought... Oh, man... I'm that crazy aunt who always (gasp!) makes gifts. I was so afraid of rejection that we gave in and bought him a Darth Vader helmet that changes your voice to give to him for Christmas, so he'd have one crazy homemade gift, and one cool, store-bought peice of battery powered plastic. When he opened the blanket, he just kind of went, "Oh, neat," and threw it aside. :-( Sad, sad Katie. BUT... the next day when we went over to their house, he goes, "Aunt Katie, I want to show you something!" He then took my hand and dragged me upstairs to his room and showed me that he had layed his new blanket out over the chair in his room, almost as if to display it. "It even matches my bed!" Awwwww! I got a little teary-eyed. (I do wonder, however, if his mom spread it out like that and told him to act excited... As I said, I have a major fear of rejection and constantly think people are rejecting me. Yes, even 6 year-olds...)

I was just going to leave my post at that, but then I got a craving for a snack. Something juicy, sweet and yummy. Then I remembered what I had waiting for me in my fridge:
Looks like an orange, right? Well, yeah... Take a look at what's inside:

Look at that dark, yummy flesh.
And when I peel an orange, I like to strip it all the way down:

That's a moro orange, folks, and if you've never tried one, go get one. I had my first one about 4 years ago. I was pregnant with my daughter, and craved oranges my entire pregnancy. I was shopping one day and was looking to see if any oranges were on sale, and saw there was one kind, so I just got a bunch of those. I took one to work (this was back when I had a real job and had not become a SAHM yet) and started peeling it for my afternoon snack. I peeled a big piece away and instead of a whitish-yellowy fruit inside, I saw a dark purpley red, and it scared the crap out of me! I immediately walked over to a co-worker who was mere months from retirement, and I knew she was much more "worldly" than me. I thrust it in her face and was all, "What is THIS?!? Can I eat this? Is this ok to eat while pregnant?!?" Then she laughed and laughed. Then laughed some more. When she finally composed herself, she said, yes, they were totally safe to eat, and they're called blood oranges. Or moro oranges. Then she said they are even better than regular oranges. Boy howdy was she right about that.
Honestly, I can't even bear to eat a regular yellow/orange orange. They are just too fiber-y and stringy and gag-y. It's moro or nothing. Not only are moros not gag-y, but they somehow aren't sticky, and that purple juice remarkably doesn't stain! And they are way easier to peel. Unfortunately, they aren't available all the time, so if you see some in your store, get some! You'll love them.

"Better Off Dead" fan art.

2010-02-09T13:48:00.000-08:00

Around Christmas, people always like to talk about their favorite Christmas movie. Lots of boring people (including my husband) like to pick It's a Wonderful Life. No offence if this is your favorite. I suppose it's ok, but I like a little more fun in my movies. Another super popular one (and a whole lot more fun) is A Christmas Story. Love it! Silly, nostalgic, comfortable. Very nice. But my favorite is one that is way too often overlooked and under appreciated. Better Off Dead. John Cusack, Curtis Armstrong, and a whole hell of a lot of delicious 80's goodness. I know... It's not a "Christmas" movie, per-se, but it takes place in the winter, involves Christmas to a certain degree, and is full of classic scenes. Totally worth watching over and over. And over. And over again until you wear out your VHS copy and you start crying, then your husband tells you he thinks you need some professional help.

You know the part where he gets called to the blackboard in that creepy math class, and he has no idea what he's doing? Then he gets up there and starts flashbacking (is that a word?) the first time he and Beth did "it" and the condom broke? Then he ends up drawing, with a chalk compass, a pregnant chick who doesn't look very happy, and yells, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" at the class? Let me refresh your memory. It looked something like this: I even did it with white thread on black fabric so it looks like a blackboard. Hee hee. And I originally made it to put in my Etsy shop, but then I decided I love it too much to part with it. But if you would like one, I would definately make it again and list it for you!

Speaking of my Etsy shop, I just made my 50th sale!!! Woo hoo! I'm very excited, in case you can't tell. Bonus - my 50th sale was my first sale of an embroidered/cross stitch piece! So I bid a fond farewell to this little guy:
Yes, I have a thing for 80's movies, and I don't care who knows. And as with all my other stuff, if you were just going to buy it, but someone bought it right out from under you, I would gladly make another. Cause that's what I do. ♥

Too many dicks on the dancefloor.

2010-02-03T10:07:00.001-08:00

One of my all-time favorite shows EVER is "Flight of the Conchords". Netflix suggested this show to us based on our ratings and what we already love, and they were spot on. Silly, quirky, and the definition of AWESOME. There have only been two seasons so far, and we are just plowing through them. Every time a FOTC disc comes in the mail, we watch all 6 (or so) episodes the very first night we have it. I'm not so good at savoring things. Kind of like with cookies. I bought a package of cookies this weekend that had 8 cookies. I ate 4 the first night. The hubby said, "Wouldn't you like to have one tonight, and then have cookies to enjoy the rest of the week?" I replied, "No. That's not my thing. My thing is to devour them in one night, then spend the rest of the week wallowing in self loathing and regret." See, it's my thing. Don't try to change me.

So we got disk 1 of season 2 this weekend, and jumped right in. I was enjoying a Bombay Sapphire gin and tonic with waaay too much lime (delish), and was about half way through (my second one) when Bret and Jemaine ended up in a club, and their pal Dave (the awesome Arj Barker) says there are too many dicks on the dancefloor. Cue the best FOTC song EVER!

I like how they look right into the camera, because it makes me feel like they are serenading me in my living room. Sigh. By the time I finished my G+T, I had already started mapping out my "Dicks" cross stitch pattern. I was hoping that in the morning, my more sober mind would still think this was just as sweet of an idea. Turns out, it was. I'm thinking I need to do more drunk cross-stitching.
Want one of your own?

Some new awesome embroidered stuff

2010-02-01T10:10:00.000-08:00

I know you all have been waiting for it, and the nerd love cross stitch series is now available for purchase in my Etsy shop!

There's the "I ♥ Jamie Hyneman":
Or the ever popular "I'm your density", just in time for Valentine's Day:
I also made a couple of new pieces, perfect for that MST3K fan in your life. You a Joel kind of girl (or guy)? I'm a Joel girl, for sure. Oh, yeah, and I met him once. Sigh...

More of a Mike fan? No problemo. I gotcha covered (even though Joel is my fave, I'm an equal opportunity MST3K fan). In other embroidery news, a while ago Krista over at Look Ma No Patterns! served up an embroidered clock throwdown, and never being one to turn down a challenge, I accepted. My bathroom needed a clock, and since that room is red, black and grey, so is my clock. It's not a whimsical as Krista's clock, and actually turned out a bit too "Twilight-y", but in the context of the room, it looks pretty sweet. Since it is kind of darkish in there, I had to take pics of the clock in the only wall in the house that gets decent light this time of year. A couple of numbers are a bit wonky, but that's ok. I think it rocks. Thanks for the inspiration, Krista! Yay!
The black backgroud is fabric from an old decorative throw pillow I used to have floating around, but then ripped it open so I could use the stuffing for another project. I thought the fabric would be good for something else later on, so I kept it. The hubby makes fun of me for keeping stuff like that, but SEE?!? I eventually get to it. Plus, the only thing from that old pillow that wound up in the landfill was the cording around the edges. Then I had to slap on some grey felt so the hands could be seen against the back. Oh, and I spray painted the hoop black, too. Crafty, crafty Katie

I made something just for you! (Well, it's kind of for me, too.)

2010-01-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

I've added a couple of links on the left side of my blog, sharing my favorite blogs with you. When I come across a blog I really love, I get all sad when I see they don't have a button for me to grab. Sad, sad Katie. I think, "Boy, this blogger should really make a button I can put it on my blog."

The other day, I realized maybe, just maybe, other people would like to have a link to my li'l ol' blog. So I made one for you! YAY! You can grab the html on the left side of my blog.

P.S. Krista was right on the last post. Kumquat ---> Vagina. Yesssssss.

Kumquat. What?

2010-01-13T12:59:00.001-08:00

Why kumquat? Here's are your options:

A. Kumquats are my favorite fruit. I'm in love with their... kumquatiness. Even though I've never eaten one.
B. My kitchen is done in black and orange, and I thought this would work with the nightmarish Halloween decor.
C. I like to use "kumquat" in place of "vagina" when I speak of the female anatomy.

Tell me what you think, and I'll reveal the correct answer in my next post.

It was my first filled piece, and my first project on black fabric. I loooooove it.
Sure, the fill may look kind of amateur-ish, but that's cause it is.

Mythbusters lovin'.

2010-01-06T13:33:00.001-08:00

Where my Mythbuster nerds and nerdettes at?

I used steely grey to represent his steely gaze.

And if you think you can out-nerd me, just try:
Yes, I'm watching Bob Ross.

OK, I'm officially sold on cross-stitch and am now obsessed with these mini pieces. Stay tuned for more. Oh, and this will soon be for sale in my Etsy store as well, so hold on to your panties, Jamie fans.

Some excitement, and NEW stuff!

2010-01-05T06:34:00.000-08:00

You read my last entry about my newest embroidery, right? Right?!? If not, go ahead and check it out. It's short. It won't take you long. OK, know what I'm talking about? $240 worth of puddin'? Well, when I came up with that idea and finally got it down on cloth, I had no idea that little embroidery would propel me into world fame.

After I posted that entry, I hopped on over to Twitter and just sent a link to Michael Ian Black (Barry) and Thomas Lennon (Levon, Sagitarius). Obviously I didn't think anything would come of it, but it was something I felt I needed to do. Shortly after my original Tweet, I hit my @ link to see if anyone had been talking about me, and I see THIS. Then a bunch of awesome people RTed his post, and my count on this blog went from around 630 to 2422 (as of my writing this). Awwwwesome. I'm totally jazzed freaking LEVON actually looked at it! EEEEEEEE! (And if you're still not totally sure who he is, he was also Lt. Dangle on "Reno 911".) Have you had enough of my bragging yet? No? Good, because there's more. I frequently read a blog called "Mr. XStitch" and it's the most amazing contemporary embroidery blog EVER; they feature the most incredible stitchy projects. One of the main reasons I even got in to embroidery was because of this blog. So imagine my giddiness when I opened my Google reader deal yesterday afternoon and saw I was featured!!! Yeah, ME! I had to contain my spaz out because both babies were sleeping, but it was the most insane (silent) happy dance ever.

Now, for something fresh and new. I know I said previously that I'm not a super fan of cross stitch, but it's growing on me. Especially since I have all these hilarious quotes written down in my handy dandy notebook that I carry around with me at all times. Cross stitch is the perfect medium to share them with the world. First, I present this:
It's taken from Ricky Gervais' spcial, "Out of England". Apparently a critic called him a "chubby funster" and I thought that was hilarious. Also thought it would make a great piece of stitch art, and I was right.

Then there's this:
Seriously, if you need an explination, you need to come out of your cave once in a while.

These two items WILL be for sale soon in my Etsy store! I just need to find some cute little picture frames so the lucky future owner can proudly display them with class. I love them, but I have a feeling if I keep everything I do, my husband might move out. I did, however, hang all my favorites yesterday, and am getting quite the kitschy menagerie in my entry way. OK, it's not really a proper entry way, just sort of an extension of my living room. But people coming and going will be forced to admire my exhibit.

I cook. And then I chill. Awwww yeah.

2010-01-02T06:46:00.001-08:00

There was a period of time in the '90s where MTV didn't quite know what it wanted to be when it grew up. They still played music, as was the original vision, but they started branching out and tried to find goofy little shows they thought their viewers would enjoy. "Beavis and Butthead" was probably the most popular, and paved the way for shows featuring real life losers; e.g. "Jackass" and the like. There was also "Singled Out", of which I hate to admit I was a fan. Chris Hardwick was yummy (and can now be found on "Web Soup"... Sigh...), and Jenny McCarthy was one of those awesome hot chicks that didn't just rely on her hotness. She also relied on fart jokes and boogers. Awesome. However, MTV obviously found a winning formula with that show and have been driving that into the groud ever since: Horny young man + Nasty skanky whore = ratings GOLD!

There was one show that really stood out and was a key part of developing the sense of humor I have today: "The State". BEST skit show. EVER. There have been others that are crowding "The State" in my top five; "The Kids in the Hall", "The Whitest Kids U Know", and of course "Monty Python's Flying Circus". (Ok, rounding out the top 5 would have to be "Mr. Show", obviously. ) But my number 1 is "The State". Nearly all the members of that troop have gone on to bigger and better things, and you can still see a good number of them while flipping through cable late at night. My favorite was Michael Ian Black. Tall, dark and sarcastic. Perfectly adorable winning combination. And my favorite State skit: $240 worth of puddin. No question. Michael Ian Black and Thomas Lennon and a big pile of puddin. Awww yeah. Watch this, then go to YouTube and find some more. You'll thank me later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpuUemDBz-8

I'm sorry I couldn't embed it, but apparently that option was disabled. But it's so worth clicking on the link. Because then you'll understand my newest work of art, paying homage to the best skit ever.

I'm thinking of doing a whole series of State artwork. Then next one, although a little obvious and broad, will probably say "I want to dip my balls in it."

I was featured on another blog!

2009-12-09T06:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to it if you want to check it out. It's short and sweet and awesome. Thanks, Beth!!!

http://wildedesigns.blogspot.com/2009/12/manic-monday-feature.html

If you're gonna cross-stitch something, it'd better be awesome.

2009-12-08T12:20:00.001-08:00

I know this pattern has been done to death, but it's wasn't hanging on my wall. So obviously I had to do it.
I've never been a mega fan of cross-stitch. It always looks so "country crafts", and while that's not a super bad thing, it's just not my bag. I have a super cute cross-stitch my mom made for me when I was 9, but I couldn't find it (it's in storage right now; when I find it I'll hang it in my daughter's room). When I do locate it in my massively messy basement, I'll share a pic.

Anyhoo, having said I'm not really a fan of it, I figured if I was going to throw myself into embroidery, I'd have to at least try it. I was ok. I'm more of a fan of the free-form embroidery, and what's more awesome than designing your own? I know I could have designed something for cross-stitch, but more work goes into it. It's not just sketching a silly drawing and stitching over it. There's counting. And mistakes don't make it "unique", they just look like crap. It was easy in a different way, in a very non-creative way. But I did have fun with this, and now I just have to find a smaller hoop or frame for it and it will be on my wall soon! The hubby thinks it's hilarious.

Katie's Christmas cuteness.

2009-12-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

This post was meant to be published much earlier, but I got Dan Brown's newest book from the library, and I wanted to read it before it was due, which meant all free time (of which I don't gte much) was spent with my nose in that book. Quick book review: Meh. It suffers from the same thing all Dan Brown books do: The 3 Cs. Cheesy, Contrived, [tries to be too] Clever. Yet I keep reading them. Sometimes it's fun to just give myself to a book and enjoy some cheesiness. Now I feel like I have to read some Chuck Palahniuk to cleanse my palate.

I did manage to decorate for Christmas and squeeze in a craft with the VegKids. Here's our super fun popcorn garland! Well, it was fun for me to make, and fun for VegGirl to eat half the popcorn.
Get yourself some AIR POPPED popcorn. DO NOT use that nasty microwave stuff. And don't use oil. You don't want rancid popcorn oil stinking up your house and staining your walls (or whatever you decide to hang it on). You will also need some string. I used crochet thread, because it was the perfect weight. Not too thick, not too flimsy. You will see I have a couple big needles there. Yeah, you're gonna need a thin, sharp pointy needle. I thought I could thread up a blunt yarn needle for the girl, but it just crumbled the popcorn to bits. She was sad, but tried to keep her spirits raised with a belly full of corn. I had a sheet of red felt, so I cut it up into little squares, and let her pick when to add those to our garland.

I think it looks fabulous!

Here is some random Christmas cuteness from my house. A bell from my first Christmas: (it's WAY up high to little children fingers can't smash it.)
An ornament from my second Christmas:

This is the only religious symbol I allow in my house. It is from my awesome Grandma and sits under the tiny tree in my daughter's bedroom. She is the only one I'm super openly atheist around, and she always kids me about it, but never rags on me. She thinks the kids should have some kind of religious influence, but never forces it on them. So for my daughter's first Christmas, Gramma gave her this:
I only bring it out because I love, love, love my Gramma, and it's not overtly religious. My daughter likes it because of Santa (obviously) and she thinks the "little baby" is cute. I also think it's kind of funny to have Santa and baby Jesus together.

When I was a kid, we never had store bought stockings. We all had these awesome Bucilla felt applique stockings, and each one was different, so we all knew which stocking was ours before we knew how to read. I had one at my Gramma's house that hung with all my cousins' stockings:

And then my mom made one for me, too, but never got around to putting my name on it. That's cool, because it got passed down and is now my daughter's. I just need to get around to putting her name on it...

The first Christmas the hubby and I lived together (well, he wasn't the hubby then, he was just some dude I was living with... ok, we were engaged), he didn't have a stocking, so I had to get him one to match mine. I had never embroidered or appliqued or sequined anything, so I think I did a damn good job! And when I found the one of Santa watching football, I knew it was meant to be. (Hubs waited until I moved in with him to spring it on me he was a major sports fan... Ugh.)

Still working on one for the VegBoy... I'm glad he's still a baby and won't really know the difference, because I don't think he's going to have one of his own this year. It WILL be done by next Christmas, though! I mean it!

Now that I'm done with my book and Christmas decorations are up, it's time to catch up on laundry and my DVR before the kids wake up.

Good clean fun on a rainy day

2009-11-25T13:36:00.000-08:00

It's so incredibly yucky out. Cold, rainy, dark. Makes me want to barf. SUMMER!! I miss you! Please come back. I take back what I said about the bugs and humidity... Well... maybe not. I guess we can enjoy some inside time for a little bit longer.

When it's icky like this, I have to think of things for the VegKids to do so we don't all go insane. We had 3 projects today:

1. Do something with the broken crayons.

2. Build a cake.

3. Do something with paper.

Specific, huh?

1. I've been putting up with those gross, broken, paperless crayons forever because I've seen you can melt them down and make awesome multi-colored giant crayons, and we finally did it today. You unwrap those yucky stubs, then make sure you break them as small as you can.

Then you spray a mini-muffin/tart pan with a bit of non-stick spray. Don't worry, they won't be as greasy as you think they'll be. And make sure you don't fill them to full... I learned that today.
Then stick them in an oven (I just used my toaster oven) at 250 for 5-10 minutes. Keep an eye on them, and take them out as soon as you have little puddles of crayon soup. Here's the VegGirl wondering what the heck is going on. See? I filled the blue/green one too full. Not fun.

You can stick them in the fridge to hasten the cooling process. Then just bang the crap out of your pan and they should pop right out.

2. Since VegBoy is only 19 months old and unable to help bake a cake, I kept his hands busy with the new crayon discs. Then I had to tear VegGirl away from them, so she could "help". We made a cake with a new igloo Bundt pan I recieved as a gift a few weeks ago. I'm not going to get a fancy decorating it, though. I'm just going to pour some icing over the top.

3. Paper... something. I wanted to do a craft with my daughter using some cardstock I've had sitting around forever, and since we are all total bookworks around here, I figured bookmarks would be perfect! But... she was getting cranky. So off she went to take a nap, but I still wanted to make some. I whipped these up using the cardstock and some cheap scrapbook paper and ribbon I got at Target for $1.00. Then I stamped "read" on them with some cute little alphabet stampers I got off Etsy. Cute, huh? Only one has a ribbon so far, because I keep my craft stuff in the closet in VegBoy's room, and he's sleeping, too. Shhhh...

I'm thinking I may include a FREE bookmark with my future Etsy orders. I know, they suggest you give freebies that acually have something to do with your products, and I crochet and knit. Oh, well. I think people should read more, and maybe, just maybe my bookmarks would encourage people to pick up a book once in a while. Maybe?

Embroidery that makes me giggle.

2009-11-25T07:20:00.000-08:00

Seriously, 8 track, what the eff?!?
And, no, I'm not a Cheap Trick fan.

I'm in a treasury!

2009-11-22T19:53:00.000-08:00

My hot pink and orange crochet flower is featured in a treasury, in the top row! I love being in treasuries. It's my favorite.

My purdy flower:

If you wanna visit, click the address below. It will be up for a few days. (And I haven't quite learned how to make a clickable link yet, so be nice.)

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=95927&show_panel=true

Tattoo embroidery

2009-11-21T12:27:00.000-08:00

I used to want a tattoo. I mean I REALLY wanted one. When I was 18, my best friend and I were planning on going and getting one together, and we were both going to get our Astrological glyph. I'm a Virgo: I got a call one evening from her that went something like this:

Her: "Hey! Guess what I'm doing right now!"

Me: "I have no idea. What?"

Her: "I'm getting a tattoo!"

Me: "With who?!?"

Her: "With [GirlX] and [GirlY!]"

Me: Click.

I was LIVID. But... it was probably a good thing I didn't go with. I have since realized astrology is for the birds (even though I am pretty much the embodiment of a Virgo, but whatever). After that episode, I still wanted a tattoo. I was going to get Duran Duran tattoo, if it was the last thing I ever did! Oh, a little background. I was in 7th grade, sitting in my living room watching MTV. You know, when they actually played music and not these incredibly trashy, disgusting shows they broadcast today. Anyhoo, "Ordinary World" came on, and my first thought was, "What? Is this really Duran Duran? Aren't they like, really old now?" I loved "Rio" and "Hungry Like the Wolf" when I was really little, and now, here they were, making their tripmphant comeback, and all I could think was, "Old men." But I couldn't tear my eyes from the screen. Within about a week, the song was everywhere and I was OBSESSED. Remember recording songs off the radio on your recordable cassette tapes? I had one tape that I used ONLY for "Ordinary World" and everytime I heard the opening chords on the radio, I would hold down the "record" and "play" buttons together and soon I had a full, uninterupted 90 minutes of nothing but "Ordinary World". And my obsession never waned. For 15 years. I saw them in concert twice, and both times I was in the 3rd row. Oh, it was a glorious time. I thought, I've loved them for 15 years. That's longer than I've known my husband. I can totally get a DD tattoo, because I'm going to love them forever. And ever. I just never got around to it. THEN.... Red Carped Massacre came out 2 years ago and it SUCKED. I won't go into details, but I was devistated. It took me a while, but I realized we had to break up. Pretty glad I didn't get that tattoo. Once we were separated, though, I realized I was free to be with other bands, and my relationship with the sexier and musically superior Depeche Mode has blossomed.

I still wanted a tattoo, though, but couldn't think of anything I would want on me forever. Then my good friend L said she wanted a tattoo, too, but hadn't gotten one yet. She is mostly Italian, and said she wanted an Italian flag with hands together in prayer (she's also Catholic). I thought that was a fantastic idea, and very representative of who she was. So, since I can be a copy-cat sometimes, I thought, a German flag would be kind of awesome! I'm about as German as you can get without having been born in Deutschland. I've traced my family tree back, and nearly all branches end (begin?) in Germany. And since I'm not so much a religious type, I would leave off any kind of prayer symbol, obviously. But then I started thinking, the German flag is 1/3 yellow. I don't know about you, but yellow on a pale white girl is not a becoming color option. But I liked the idea of representing my heritage. Maybe something written in German, in the old fraktur style. I thought Vegetarian would be awesome, but Vegetarian in german is Vegetarier, and that's not as exotic as I was hoping. I thought of a few others, but finally came up with "Free thinker". I love to use this term to describe myself because I am always questioning what people tell me, and am always "blazing my own trails". I don't eat what people tell me to eat, I didn't birth my children the way the doctors told me to, and I don't believe what people tell me to believe just because I'm told to believe it. The phrase fits me perfectly. Awesome. I just hope it looks cool in German. YES! It does!

So, I decided for my 30th birthday, which is coming up sooner than I'd like to admit, I'm getting it on my left forearm. Yes.... The only thing is, the hubs isn't a super fan of tattoos, but he seems cool with me getting one. In fact, he even came up with a super sweet idea for one for him representing his heritage and his inclination to question everything. But I'm not going to share, because if he does get it, I don't want anyone to get it first. :-)

What does all this have to do with my craftiness? Because I thought my tat idea would make a sweet ass embroidery. And it does!

I love punk embroidery.

I outlined it first in a single thread with a super teeny needle.

Then I filled it in with very uneven, unprofessional stitches, but you can't really tell, since it's in black. Plus, I'm a beginner. I think it rocks. Stay tuned for tat pics.

The big unveiling!

2009-11-20T10:10:00.000-08:00

After seeing some other blogs, and realizing you can actually change your layout (!!), I decided to make some changes 'round these parts. I don't get tons of computer time, what with the kids liking to spend time with me (and obviously I love spending all day plaing "Thomas the Train"), but over the course of a week, during nap times and after the fam was all tucked in for the night, I started reading tutorials for changing a 2 column blog to a 3 column. Good thing I'm an insomniac. Now that I've done it, it's really not that complicated, but it took me forever to figure it out! Then I tried out about 47 backgrounds. THEN... I made my banner from an image in an old crochet book from the 40s.

I actually have Photoshop CS4, but can't for the life of me figure it out. So I just used some basic programs to change it and came up with the banner you now see. I know it's not the most professional thing, but I made it and I think it's rad.

Nearly all the cute little buttons on the sidebar come from one of my favorite crafty blogs ever - Just Something I Made. Click on the link on the left sidebar to check out Cathe's super mega awesome craftiness. Seriously, she rocks. Thanks, Cathe!

Hopefully this new layout will not get on my nerves too soon. It was way too much work to change it, and I don't want to do it again. But for now, I love it!

Cure for a dangerous kitchen. Kind of.

2009-11-20T06:30:00.000-08:00

My house is a 1935 almost Craftsman bungalow. It has heavy wood trim and square lines, and I love it. It's kind of on the small side, but whatever. Anyway, the people who lived here before us had had the house since the 40s, and they kept the place in pretty darn good shape. However, they re-modeled in the 60s, and when we moved in, it was obvious that was the last time anything had been updated. The Jack-and-Jill bathroom had this awesome Brady Bunch walpaper in hot pink, green and yellow, but it didn't go with the tile, so I sadly took it down. The hubby was more than happy to see it go. Then I painted it RED with BLACK trim. Meow. Now my bathroom looks like a glorious White Stripes dream.
There is a shelf lined in said Brady Bunch wallpaper, and I haven't had the heart to remove it.
But the kitchen... The kitchen is still a glorious mid-century exhibit, worthy of being in a museum somewhere. And everything still works! Well, mostly. What I love about it is that it's not "retro" but truly vintage. It's not a poser kitchen. It's not going to outgrow it's hipster phase and suddenly decide to be emo. It even has metal cabinets! I kind of hated them at first because I had only ever seen wood cabinets, but then I realized how freaking awesome they are. Way easier to clean, and when I'm cooking, I can just stick my recipe up with a magnet anywhere I want!

Here's my vintage oven wall unit:And my older than dirt dishwasher (painted to match the cabinets!):And my dear stove top and hood:

Looks kind of unassuming, right? Little did I know when I bought this house that the range hood would constantly try to kill me. It's true. That sharp little corner is just the right height, so whenever I lean in to taste something, or reach up to the cupboard above it to retreive spices or peanut butter, it jams right into my head, trying to rip my scalp from my skull. It's actually drawn blood a couple of times. After about the 85th time of hitting it and yelling, "Son of a B!TCH!! OWW!!" I started thinking of ways to maybe prevent the excruciating pain. I'm crafty, right? I could make a quilted corner cover. Or maybe hang a giant glittery sign saying, "BEWARE!" But that would be tacky.

So I crocheted a tiny little saftey cone, and glued a magnet to the bottom. And since my entire kitchen is a giant electrical conductor, it sticks anywhere!

If you look close, you may be able to see some hair and blood on that sharp pointy corner.

What was the point of this post? I don't know. But isn't that little cone just adorable? I'm thinking of embroidering a little smiley face on it.

Bear with me!

2009-11-15T14:28:00.000-08:00

And that isn't an awesome new dance akin to the Mashed Potato. Hang in there while I completely re-vamp the (look of the) blog. It's taking me forever, because the VegKids can only sleep so much, and my windows of opportunity are small. Plus I've been tackling a MONSTER huge heap of laundry, and for some reason the VegHubs thinks wearing clean clothes to work is more important than my blog layout.

Fluffernutter!

2009-11-13T20:47:00.000-08:00

Here's my newest embroidery! I'm so in love with it I might leave my husband and marry this towel.

Who doesn't freaking love a fluffernutter?!? And yes, marshmallow fluff is vegetarian. Regular marshmallows, not (BOOOO), but the fluff is safe. If you don't know what a fluffernutter is, don't worry. It only sounds dirty. Deliciously, deliciously dirty...

Forgive the poor photo quality. I usually take my pics in natural sunlight, but I just finished this baby up at 10:30pm and had to share it with the world. Hence the crappy lighting. They are on a tan organic dish towel that I will never, ever use. I'm actually thinking of trimming it up and framing it. Honestly. It's too damn cute to wipe my dirty hands on, and would look much nicer on my kitchen wall. Plus, it's part of a series. Uh, huh.

I was sitting at the table having lunch with the VegKids about a month ago, and I just started doodling. Weird for me, because I haven't drawn anything in years. I used to draw all the time, and I was really good at it. Maybe I'll post some pics later, but for now you'll just have to trust me. Oh, and I painted. Boy, did I paint. But then I grew up and realized I'm not going to be the next Kadinsky, so I pretty much gave it all up. However, that fateful day at the lunch table, I was just sitting there, and there was a piece of paper in front of me. And a pencil. How convenient! Drew PB with his lady friend Grape Jelly, and was simply tickled. So was the VegGirl. So I thought, what other relationships does PB have. Then I realized, he's a whore! So many lovers.

And don't worry. The VegKids can't read. I wouldn't use that language around my babies. (Oh, and they are 1 and 3, not morons.) I was so tickled, in fact, that I had to whip out VegGirl's colored pencils and give them some life.
A few minor adjustments and some arm amputations, and I came up with my final patterns. You'll notice I had one where PB was courting a scrumpious bar of chocolate, but I really wanted to keep them all sammiches. I told my totally radical Gramma about my plans, and she said, "How about PB and honey?" Oh, my god, Gramma. You rock the casbah. How could I forget about Miss Honey? So when I finish all 4, I'll post the results! I do, however, have about 4 projects in line before I start the other towel/wall art.

Knit-a-Square charity donation

2009-11-08T07:20:00.000-08:00

From August 1 through November 1, I held a charity promotion in my Etsy shop. For every item I sold I made a square to be sent in for blankets. The charity is through http://www.knit-a-square.com/, and the squares will be fitted together to make blankets for AIDS orphans. I wound up selling 11 hats, therefore sending 11 squares.

They will soon be on their way to South Africa. They make blankets for children of all ages, from infant to teen, and the baby blanket is made with 12 squares. That means the squares I made will make nearly a whole baby blanket. I didn't realize this until I had the package all wrapped up and ready to go, otherwise I would have just made one more.

I am still happy with the amount I'm sending in, and am now browsing through charities, trying to choose where my next donations will go. Thanks to everyone who bought a hat from me! I appreciate the business, and enjoyed making these squares.

My new(est) nerdy hobby

2009-11-05T19:49:00.000-08:00

So you'll remember from a previous post I got a boat load of embroidery floss for practically free from my local Freecycle group, right? Well, I wanted to get my feet wet with a little project, and I would up stripping everything off and doing a massive canonball. I freaking LOVE embroidery!

I took an old pattern I had lying around that felt... inapropriate for me to use. But I thought it was cute as hell, and figured I could do something with it.

So I copied just the basic shape and the cake, did a little free-hand doodling and came up with my design. I found a super cute 1950's font online and used that for this: (Pssst: It's going to hang in my kitchen.)Needless to say I'm obsessed. I've already started on a new project depicting how much of a whore peanut butter is. Oh, yeah. You read that correctly. Dirty, dirty whore. And I have a few other ideas, too. But you'll just have to wait and see...

OK, so I kind of have a problem...

2009-10-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

I am obsessed with buying tea, but for some reason I prefer to drink coffee. I love tea, don't get me wrong, but it's just so... subtle. I like a drink to punch me in the face. And tea is just too dignified to do that. I would love to be a tea person over a coffee person, because it just seems cooler. There are so many exotic blends, herbal or black (or green or white...), caffinated or not, fruity, floral, etc. How do I know all this? Well... because I have some of each in my kitchen right now.
I actually do enjoy a yummy cup of tea. I don't just buy this stuff and then let it go to waste. I just don't drink it very quickly. But I decided a couple of weeks ago that I was going to become more of a tea drinker this winter and use up some of this tea! Whatever is left by the first time the thermostat reaches 60 degrees again is turning into fertilizer for next year's tomatoes. (Some of this tea has been in my kitchen for so long I don't remeber buying it...) Then after I've purged my home of tea, it will be time to buy more! YES!

Shortly after I had made my decision to drink up all that tea, I was contacted by a fellow Etsyan about possibly doing a trade. I've been contacted a couple of times before, but for one reason or another I passed them up. Nothing personal to the sellers, there was just nothing that tripped my trigger. But this one looked promising. VERY promising! She had a kick-ass vintage shop with like NINE PAGES of great stuff to browse through. I was getting very excited. The shop is called Sunny Day Vintage and you can find it here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7678004 Her shop is chock full of fantastic mid-century items, and looking over there just now to grab her shop address, I noticed a few brand new items... Hmmm... Maybe VegKat will be doing some early Christmas shopping for herself... Anyway, turquoise is a favorite color in the Veg house, and I noticed several turquoise items. One really stood out, though. This exceptional piece of pure, unadulterated super awesome kitschy-ness. I HAD to have it. NOW.The top is a tea cup! AGH!
So we worked out a trade (she got two hats and two bookmarks), and before I knew it, this lovely lady was at my house and is waiting for a steamy cup o' tea to be brewed in her lovely head. I think this will motivate me to drink all that tea by April.

I was featured... twice!

2009-09-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

The kiddos are full of raisin toast and pineapple and are now playing with their Duplo blocks at my feet (got a whole bag of them at a garage sale for a buck! SCORE!). Since I'm surrounded by ankle-breaking fun and therefore stuck in my computer chair, I thought I would catch up with some shout-outs that are long, long overdue. If this blog entry were a library book, I'd owe like four dollars. While my blog took a short break (ok, I took a break and was just extremely lazy...), my Etsy shop was featured in TWO blogs! I will be "paying it forward" and doing some features very soon, but for now, I'm getting the word out on these two awesome bloggers!

First, Jen Ell posted an interview about my crafting with fun, random questions on her blog:

http://diyjenellstyle.blogspot.com/2009/09/who-what-wednesday_09.html

She has an awesome Etsy store, too! Kick-ass printed tees, funky clothes... all around kitschy goodness.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5294054

The second post was over at Foxy G's blog, and we discuss my charity donations. Didn't know I did that? Well... then you should go read her blog!

http://foxygknits.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/art-from-the-%e2%99%a5-22/
She regularly features people who do something good for others, and that's rad.

Oh, and did I mention she has an Etsy store, too? Well, just so happens she does! She makes beautiful one-of-a-kind scarves and shawls with all different kinds of yarn. There is honestly something for everyone, and it's getting colder out there... I'm just sayin'...

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6293095&page=4

Go send some love to these awesome bloggers, and leave a comment to let them know you visited. I'm sure they love tourists!

Freecycle RULES!

2009-09-16T12:46:00.000-07:00

After my daughter was born 3 years ago, my mom pulled out a quilt my great-gramma had hand embroidered so my baby girl would have something to cuddle with in the crib at gramma's house. It was so freakin' beautiful, and I immediately wanted to make something like it. Ooops. I don't know how to embroider. It always annoys me when people say, "Oh, your crochet is so nice. Boy howdy, I wish I knew how to do that..." Well, honey, it's not something you are going up wake up one morning and know how to do. I always say, "Then learn!" Not in a mean way, of course, but encouragingly. I taught myself when I was like 12, you can certainly learn now. But for a while, I was one of those annoying chicks with embroidery. "Oh, so pretty. Gee, I wish I knew how to do that... Blah, blah, blah..." And for some reason, I never woke up with a needle and thread working a perfect satin stitch. So I started working on some simpler projects. Yeah, right. Many years ago I made my husband one of those felt Christmas stockings, you know, the ones with all the appliques and sequins? Well, I had a baby boy a year and a half ago, and he needed a stocking, so I started in on one for him with Santa being quite overwhelmed with sports equipment. A year and a half later, here's where I'm at:

I guess one could say I'm a bit overwhelmed. I know it's something I can do, and I'm doing a really good job at it, it's just taking FOREVER!

Then I started embroidering on my crochet items. See previous blog entry: Excuse me, you got some herpes on my crochet. That's pretty easy, it couldn't be too much more difficult to embroider on fabric, right?

Only problem is, I need to get a whole boat load of supplies for a new hobby. The husband is VERY excited about that. Really, he is. I already had 4 organic cotton dish towels that bought and haven't used because I just knew eventually they would need something embroidered on them. I had it in my mind that I would make them cute and sell them in my Etsy shop. So once the bee in my bonnet really got buzzing, I drew out some cute little drawings to transfer to the towels. I won't ruin the surprise and show you yet... you'll have to check back when I'm done. (But they won't be for sale.) Then my awesome step-bro got me a gift certificate to Hobby Lobby for my birthday this past weekend. Sweet! Now I can get a hoop and some floss and get started! I got just the very bare minimum that I would need to do one towel (and with not much detail).

Boo. That's no way to get a rip-roaring start on a new hobby.

So I put a notice out to my local Freecylce group that I was looking for embroidery stuff. Anything that anyone wanted to give away: floss, hoops, patterns (though I want to do mostly my own art), whatever. A few days went by with no response, and that usually means people read your question and say, "Yeah, right. Like I'm gonna just give her that." But yesterday I got an e-mail from someone saying she had gone to a garage sale after reading my notice, and found a bag of embroidery stuff for $5. She offered them $2.50, and they said ok. So this sweet old lady bought them for me, without ever having met me! How awesome is she?!? I wrote up a quick thank you note and put in the $2.50, cause I wasn't just gonna take it from her. This morning she dropped this off, along with 3 tubes of cross stitch fabric and a bunch of old-fashioned cross stitch pattern books:

I had no idea what was in there, so I started sorting it. And, holy CRAP, looky what was in there!!Most of that is like 3 deep. Awesome. Here's a prettier shot, just because...

I' m still left with some loose floss that I need to wind up and organize, but I'm totally up to the challenge.
So, get ready for this blog to expand past yarn as a whole new world of crafting is opened up at VegKat's house! And, if you haven't joined your local Freecycle group, DO IT. You can get rid of the crap that is sitting around your house without filling a landfil. And, you never know what someone will offer. Plus, you can ask for things without ever thinking anybody will have it, and some awesome old lady will drop a giant bag of craft supplies off at your doorstep. (Usually it's all free, hence FREEcycle, but this was a special circumstance.) Save the earth, save money, and get stuff! Can't beat it with a stick.

Bonus: Go here for some KICK ASS embroidery, and just try to not want to embroider. I dare you. http://www.feelingstitchy.com/

Oh, and if you do embroidery and have any tips, do share. Don't hog all the knowledge!

Excuse me, you got some herpes on my crochet.

2009-08-11T12:40:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back, I made a pilgrimage to the small Iowa town I where I was born and raised. It's a little touristy town (in IOWA? I know...) set on a little lake. I seriously could not get out of there quickly enough once I was able to spread my wings and leave the nest, but coming back after years of living many, many miles away, I was able to get together with a couple good friends from high school to walk along the beach, then got some drinks. We went to the VFW for a rousing good time. It was totally rad. Almost. OK, it wasn't really rad at all, but we got these hands stamps that said "OK", you know, just in case we went bar hopping to the other 2 bars in town and decided that yes, in fact, the VFW really is the place we want to be, we could get back in. Wait, there was no cover. WHAT? It just this second hit me how absurd it was to get a hand stamp. But, it's a good thing we did, because it was our sole source of entertainment. Since we were all liquored up from our one and a half drinks, we wrote on each others' hands a sentance which included the "OK". Here's what my BFF wrote on mine (and I had to walk around like this the rest of the night):

This got us started on a discussion about how awesome venereal disease names are. Chlamidya, Syphilis, Herpes, etc... You can't help but smile when you say them. Especially "THE CLAP". I almost want to catch it just so I can say I have "THE CLAP". I had just started making my fun little iPod cozies and was showing off mine with a martini embroidered on it when someone (my drunken stupor makes it impossible to remember who) came up with the idea of an iPod cozy with the name of a VD embroidered on it all pretty. I tried "THE CLAP", but it just didn't turn out super awesome, to I wound up making this:

This project is the result of drinking almost 3 drinks in about 6 hours. Nice, huh? I'm sure if I make these for my shop they'll sell like hotcakes. Say you have herpes and you just don't know how to tell your date without it being akward? Whip this baby out. Ice broken. Or maybe you just want a night out with the girls and you don't want skanky men (or ladies) hitting on you? Problem solved. And you're welcome.

One problem I had while making this, however, was the fact that she has an iPod touch (lucky bitch) and I have an iPod mini. I needed something with the same dimensions to make sure I got this the right size, so I MADE an iPod touch.

Maybe I'll sell these, too. How awesome would it be if I put my earbuds in and carried this around. It would no doubt catch a few glances, and people would be all, "What, uh, is THAT?" And I'd proudly hold it up and say, "HELLO? iPod touch? Ever hear of technology? Welcome to the 21st century, LOSER."

The big unveiling...

2009-08-11T06:29:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth W. was the big winner in my AWESOME CUSTOM IPOD GIVEAWAY, and I quickly contacted her so we could become best friends. I mean, so I could collaborate with her and create the perfect iPod/cell phone cozy that would just scream, "ELIZABETH!!!" She said she loves turquoise... Good thing I had just bought some turquoise yarn like two days before. It's almost like I knew. She also said she loves cupcakes, and would like that embroidered on it. Hmmm... Sounds hard. I've never done anything like that before. I've mostly just done simple little stars or flowers. Oh, and the word, "Rad". But I was totally up to the challange, and started seeing cute little cupcakes everywhere, and the ideas were flying. So was the crochet hook. And this is what happened... TAH DAH!!!

I hope it's everything Elizabeth W could ever dream it would be. Thanks to everyone who entered, and thanks to Elizabeth for challenging me to make something freaking adorable.

And the winner is...

2009-08-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

I threw all the names in a bowl (yes, I know I said I would use a hat, but I couldn't find one with enough structure to work)...

And I drew...

Congratulations, Elizabeth! I'll be getting a hold of you and we'll figure out what you want your cozy to look like! Thanks to all who participated!! Stay tuned for more yarn adventures, and there just might be more giveaways to come. Mwaaa haaa haaa! Oh, yeah, and I'll be posting pics of the winner's iPod cozy, too, so if you're interested how it's going to turn out, check back soon. I'm sure it's going to be awesome.

Buy my stuff and save the world.

2009-08-03T10:03:00.000-07:00

I have a huge stash of yarn, and it's making me crazy. I hear it calling to me in the middle of the night sometimes... "Use us. Make us into something useful. Or if not useful than something freaking cute and totally useless." I feel bad for the less attractive colors that get overlooked for the newer, trendier colors. Poor dated yarn. I inherited a giant collection from a family friend who was a knitting fiend. I feel I must carry on her legacy and do something with her stuff, but honestly, some of it's... not so cute. Maybe it was in 1972 when she bought it. Most of the items in my shop were made with yarn I purchased, and the old yarn just sits there, all sad and lonely. So I decided to start doing something with it, and using my crocheting powers for good, not evil. I'm slowly working my way through the yarn, making useful and charitable items that can actually save a life. Sure, they may not be the most beautiful, trendy creations, but they help keep people warm and alive. I suppose I could just keep them stock-piled in my closet until they come back into fashion... But this feels better.

Last year I held a promotion in my shop: You buy a hat, I donate a hat to a charity that helps 3rd world babies. They donated hats to premature babies, along with a safety and education kit for the mother to help the poor, tiny baby survive. So when a hat was purchased from my store, I would make one for a premie, and when I sent in my package, I had 10 itty-bitty hats to send away. If you go to my shop and look under my sent feedback, you can see the pics of the hats I made attached to the feedback. You can read about the charity here: http://www.savethechildren.org/programs/health/child-survival/survive-to-5/knit-one-save-one.html

Starting today, I am starting a new charity promotion. For every item I sell (anything: iPod cozy, hat, blanket... whatever), I will be making a square to be sent in for blankets. The charity is through http://www.knit-a-square.com/, and the squares will be fitted together to make blankets for AIDS orphans. I will be sending my package November 1, 2009, and I'm hoping to send a heavy, monster box of squares! As with my last charity work, I will be adding a picture of the square with the feedback. So not only will you be recieving something super rad in the mail from me, but so will an orphan who lost his or her parents to AIDS.

Kicking off the new blog with a BANG!

2009-07-28T20:48:00.001-07:00

After some deliberation, I have decided not to mix business and pleasure. If you are a devoted follower of my other blog (www.vegkat.blogspot.com), congratulations! You obviously have great taste. If you haven't read anything over there, check it out. That blog is like the fun-loving (but not annoyingly drunk) girl at the party everyone wants to be around. Kind of crazy, politically savvy, a little kooky but well-read, and totally rad. OK, maybe I'm over selling it, but it is a fun read. Everyone tells me so. Think if this as Vegkat's Confessions' dorky half sister who pries herself away from watching Nova on PBS and crocheting doilies only to spend hours searching through the pages of Etsy for nothing in particular. But she's still awesome.

Yeah, I knit and crochet, and I rock. I'm bringing it back, great-gramma style with my hooks and double pointed needles. I've got a big closet full of yarn, and I'm not afraid who knows it.

So, to kick off the BIG NEW BLOG, I'm having a BIG FAT GIVEAWAY!!! Oh, yeah, my friends. You read that right! We need to get the ball rolling here with a free, CUSTOM made iPod cozy. Or sock. Or whatever you want to call it. And it doesn't have to be iPod, either. I'm no snob. If you are chosen as the BIG WINNER, I will hand crochet a cozy to fit your gadget in any color(s) you want, and I can even go crazy and embroider something awesome on it. As mentioned before, I have a huge stash of yarn, so the cozy will be made from an acrylic yarn I already have. Don't worry. I have any color you could want, mostly. You won't be stuck with avacado green with harvest gold accents. Unless that's what you want. I don't judge. I'll work with you to make sure you get what you want. Just take a look at my Etsy store at www.vegkat.etsy.com and make sure you like my style before entering.

Oh, yeah, and shipping will be free, too!

Now, how to enter? Just become a follower of this blog and comment on this post letting me know what your favorite thing in my shop is. Again, that address is: www.vegkat.etsy.com You can heart the shop, too, but that's not required. Shameless, aren't I? I will pick a winner at random (I'll literally put names in a hat and draw) on August 8th, and will contact you via email. We'll become best friends and with your help I'll design your CUSTOM iPod cozy!