The Thirteen Project- 1 and 2

I was so pumped about getting going on The Thirteen Project, that I've done two hoops for this month.

 Hoop #1- The granny hoop

 I made this one because

1. I love to crochet.
2. It's a variation of a granny square, in this case a granny circle. Almost all of my friends make fun of me for being like a grandma. I call it granny chique.
3. Blues, greens, and yellows are my favorite colors.

Hoop #2- The vintage tie hoop

 I made this one because

1. I've always had a thing for vintage ties, and I have quite a collection of them.
2. Ties remind me of funny old men, and I love funny old men.
3. Justin is kinda like an old man, which works out since everyone calls me a grandma. We go bird watching together, lol.
4. Again you will see blues, greens and yellows... Justin's favorite color is orange, and we both like brown.

YAY! this is going to be sooo fun. I think my next hoop is going to be Journey themed.

Thrift Store find

I went to the thrift store by my work for the first time and forever, and I hit the jack pot.

 13 embroidery hoops

for $2

Now you might be wondering what I'm going to do with 13 embroidery hoops, and how it applies to a home renovating/ decorating blog.... well, check out the art installations that have been popping up everywhere lately.

 

So yeah, pretty awesome. I really like doing embroidery, so I am going to start a new topic in my blog called "The Thirteen Project". I will try to get one hoop done a month. My theme is all about us. I'm going to do things that remind me of Justin and I, and maybe Journey too. I've already started on one for this month, so you should be seeing that very soon.

All you need is Love :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Sadly, I didn't get these all the way done, but enough that Justin can't see the imperfections. I'll fix them later :)

 His favorite color is orange, and mine is yellow. Our wedding colors were turquoise, yellow, and orange.

Here's some process photos...

First, I picked a font and made stencils on my computer. Then I traced the letters in pencil.

 Then came the process of outline, fill, outline, fill, outline fill.... for what seemed like forever.

 It took a few coats :)

But he's worth it. I've never known anyone like Justin. He really loves me, and he has since he met me. There's nothing I could do to make him stop loving me. Thanks to this wonderful man, I know what it is to love and be loved. I never thought unconditional love could be real, but he has shown it to me. It is real. Justin is my best friend, and the best thing in my life. I can conquer the world single handed as long as he is holding my other hand. Yes, I'm being sappy... I'm getting it in before midnight on Valentine's day... I love this man!

 Oh, and he really liked the paintings :) Which made all that work completely worth while :)

upcycled winter pillow

A few weeks ago, I bought this fabulous 70's pillow. The only problem with it is it's sooo summery. The constant snow cover outside, just makes me feel silly about it, so I gave it a wintery make-over.

This is another thing I thrifted a few weeks ago. It's a cute little knit top from Old Navy. (And when I say little, I mean it'd be tight on a pre-schooler, lol) I fell in love with the subtle snowflakes on it, and decided I would use it for upcycling.

 

Here's a close-up of those fab snow flakes.

 And here's the finished project, complete with my favorite photo creeper.

 I hand sewed the whole thing. First I cut the shirt apart, and sewed it to some gray fabric. I used a variegated yarn instead of thread or embroidery floss.

I blanket stitched the edges shut.

.

 Then I got uber crafty and crocheted 11 button loops to close the bottom.

I'm so pleased with how it came out :) Winter is almost over though, I know, so there should be a spring edition of pillow make-over coming soon. In summer, I'll be lazy and just enjoy the original cover, which is pretty rad :) Still working on Justin's Valentine's present, but had to step away for a minute.

I need a quick opinion!

Ok... which is better/ more visually pleasing?

This is Justin's Valentine's gift, and I just realized Valentine's Day is TOMORROW!!! All the words are going to be grey, except "love" which will be orange on one canvas and yellow on the other.

Ok, so opinions... GO!

snow+organization= happy Journey and happy Clare

I guess snow isn't all bad. Our little husky mutt LOVES it. She comes alive when there is snow on the ground. Here are a few shameless "love my dog" pictures.

 Justin hates the snow... but he loves our puppy, so he played with her a little even though he'd just come off a 24 hour shift and needed sleep. Lol, I can't tell you how much he loves that silly dog.



Ok, on to the main event. I cleaned and reorganized my sewing/crafting room. (I wish I could call it a studio, but as it stands now, it's mostly just all my stuff jammed into a tiny room. I can't wait til we start on the basement, and I will finally have the space I've been dreaming of!) But anyway, I'm doing my best with what I have, and here are some pictures of what I've done.

 I found this idea in a magazine. It's a spice rack. You can organize your beads and still see them. It's totally brilliant, and it looks really nice! I picked up this spice rack (with the jars already empty and cleaned out) for $2 at my thrift store. It was a steal! Usually these things don't go for under $10 at thrift stores and that's with 50 year old ganky spices caked in the bottoms of all the jars. I was so happy I almost skipped to the register, lol.

 This is called amigurumi. It's the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting toys. It's one of my favorite types of crafting. I completely made up the patterns for both the robot and the hamburger. If anyone is interested, I can put up pictures of the pieces of the hamburger parts. There is a tomato slice and some onions you can't really see. The robot is basically my favorite thing ever. I can't pass him without booping his little buttons :)

 My little library. I acquired this book rack when a daycare I used to work at closed down. It is awesome. I wish I could acquire two more! There's some more amigurumi in there. I call these two "Peanut butter jelly time!" and yes, I sing the song every time I see them.

 Yarn, yarn, yarn...

 yarn, yarn, yarn... can you tell I love it?! I'm only showing you about a third of my stash in these pictures. I crochet :) I also sew, but since I haven't sewed (because Justin used my sewing room for storage) in months my pile of sewing is huge! No pictures of my sewing desk and machine until that pile is significantly smaller!

 This is a project I am working on right now. It's gonna be Justin's Valentine's present. He has no idea, lol. I have been working on them on the kitchen table and he still has no idea. men....

This is another project I am working on. This is what happens when you reorganize your beads. It makes you crazy to make some jewelry. The metal bits are from an old earring. I love them juxtaposed against the shell pendant. I'm going to combine the chain with a cotton or leather cord with wood and shell beads. It may end up being a gift for one of my friends. It really looks like something she would like. (But it also is something I would like, so I might be selfish and keep it, lol)

There ya go. Hope you enjoyed your little peak into my crafty space. It's not ready for a full scale photo shoot, but in it's current space it probably never will be. There's just too much stuff in that tiny room to make it look nice enough to show off fully. When we finally do get to the basement, and I finally have a legit studio, you'll be the first to know!

Eerie ice...

Tonight as I was walking Journey before bed, I noticed the trees were completely covered in ice. It was beautiful until the wind started to blow through them. The ice was making crackling sounds, and it sounded as if the trees would shatter into a billion pieces. I've been very uneasy about this massive storm since it started. I probably don't have anything to fear, but fear plus winter time depression has dwindled me down to a frightened and paranoid child. I know I need to snap out of it, so I decided to make a list of things to do tomorrow. (I will most likely be off of work. I went in today, but there were only two kids from my class today. My boss's have already told me if it is bad to stay home since I live thirty minutes away. It took an hour to get home today... a horrifying hour.)

If I am blessed and able to stay home tomorrow. Here's the game plan.

• hang up the remainder of my clean laundry
• clean the guest bedroom for Miriam and Allan's visit
• organize my sewing room again (this is the fun one!)
• do the dishes
• play with Journey til she quits (also a fun one)
• curl up with my husband and talk about anything and everything (also fun)
• let Justin play x-box and I'll crochet
• if the laundry mat is open, I'm gonna go up and wash all our sheets and pillowcases with that yummy smelling lavender effects soap :)

There's an 80% chance I'll be home tomorrow, and as much as I don't want to miss anymore work, I am going to be productive at home tomorrow :) Anyone else bummed about this storm? Spring... I want Spring. I want to wear flip flops again.

P.S. I will take pictures of the sewing room redo if I get to work on it. I'll also take pictures of any crocheting I get done :)