Sorry Neglected Blog

Sorry blog and loyal readers. I would like to say that I have been drinking those. Moijtos with fresh mint from the garden and brown sugar simple syrup. Try it, I like it a lot better than white sugar simple syrup, there is a much better depth to the flavor.

But really I've been working very hard doing my very first craft show. You can read all about it here. It looked something like this:



Besides the show I was also doing some freelance work and working full time at an amusement park. So I think a little R and R with some mojitos is next on my to do list. And then I will get back to more regular blog posts.

Book of the Ever So Often

School is finally out. So that means I have some free time for some relaxing summer reading. On of the first books I picked up was Orange is New Black, by Piper Kerman. This is a really interesting look into what life is like in prison. Kerman shares all the details of her life before and during her sentence and conveys all the fear and shame she feels. But the story is not all black, the highs of the generosity of her fellow prisoners and the sense of community keep Kerman supported throughout her stay.

The book also offers an interesting look at the justice system and raises some questions about punishment. As well, the Kerman questions the transition program out of prison and how few resources ex-prisoners are given once they get out. Its hard enough to find a job, let alone if you have few skills and a criminal record.

This unique look into life on the inside, makes you all the more glad for life on the outside.

Summer Bake Off

I don't believe in baking in the summer. If the outside temperature feels like an oven I just can't bring myself to turn on my oven indoors. It just seems wrong. So every year before the summer off-season, I bake as much as I can to stock the freezer and my stomach with as many carbs as possible. This year I've made muffins (some actually made it to freezing) and bagels (all eaten before freezing) and am making banana bread today. But with the warm weather fast approaching, I am expecting to crank it out over the next two weeks or so.

I will spend my off-season doing cross-training with other equipment, like the BBQ. I hear good things about BBQ'ed pies. I'll also spend time in the sauna, ie gardening outdoors which will help train my respiratory system. And I'll probably add in some strength training to round out my program. This should involve carrying the food to the BBQ and lifting the cover. And then I'll be back stronger than ever for the regular season, starting in Fall 2011.

I am not a crazy cat lady - Part 2

I am not a crazy cat lady but if I were, which I have already established I am not... But if I were I would make all the toys for my cats. So with a little spare time this afternoon and some scrap fabric and embroidery thread, I got to work.

The first two are made by cutting a rectangle out of leftover wool felt and a quick embroidery stitch around the edges. Before finishing the edges I stuffed the toys with scrap batting to give some shape and catnip. Both toys no longer look this good after a little bit of this:


And a little bit more of this:


So then I made a fish cutting out the shape out of two different colors of of felt and again a quick stitch around the edges. I trimmed the edges with pinking shears and I stuffed the toys with scrap batting to give some shape and catnip. It used to looks nice like this:





I made one more toy, this one also out of craft felt but stuffed with rice. The rice adds nice weight to cat toys which makes it easier to throw. Key if your cats like to chase toys like mine do.



But not to worry all of the toys will survive for a little while longer because all of the hard work playing led to this:


And I am pretty sure my Art Student owl would say how a year studying textiles would qualify me to do nothing except make cat toys.

And Now with Ns

Despite a few minor technical issues, my keyboard is now working again. The N key took a brief vacation. I tried to write without using many N's but that wad a lot more trouble than it was worth. And there are a lot of N's in a lot of words... But now thankfully to my IT support (my husband) all the letters are back. More school projects to come and check out Quilt Kitchen www.quiltkitchen.com to see how I spent my weekend.

I am not a crazy cat lady

But if I were a crazy cat lady I would make art for my cats. And just in case I head down that road in the future, I decided to sneak in a little practice now. Its my back up plan. Actually its more like Plan F, but let's not get technical.

So here is my cat Oscar posing for his camera portrait:



And here he is made out of felt:


Sometimes with school projects, you just have to make something. And after my first attempt with felted pockets for a variation on this project bombed completely, I had to start fresh. So I decided to go with something I thought would be quick (it wasn't) and easy (it wasn't). But in the end his little fluffy head translated nicely onto the fluffy felt.

Another project

This project was for a book assignment in one of my design classes. And if there is ever an opportunity, I will try and work quilting into at least one project per class. So I made a quilted book. The book follows the pieces of a log cabin pattern falling into place over the course of 16 panels. Each panel is 16 cm square and there are a total of 16 pieces, for a nice play on numbers. The log cabin pieces are made of felt and were quilted onto the pages. The pages were made using the same technique as I did for my previous book, were you make a pouch and then flip it right side out and quilt around the edges.

Then out of felt, I made a quick cover for the book to tie the whole thing together. The cover took the least amount of time out of the project but really finished the piece nicely. As you can see here,




It was a nice overall look and a good challenge, I never made a quilted book before.