Pages

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

I need a few weeks.....

Well. There have been a LOT of changes here recently. I am going to be leaving Boston and moving home to Maine. It's just too hard to make it in Boston as a single mom, and I need a nice safe place to be whole again. I promise as soon as I arrive (should be the 15th, I will hook my computer up first thing and get a good blog post in. What Maine holds for me..... lots and lots and lots of crafting. I'll be living with the most crafty lady I know (my mom) and seeing the second most crafty lady I know (my sister) on a very regular basis. So... you'll hear from me soon with lots of updates and photos and good stuff.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Craft area reorganization...

Well. Due to a completely out of the blue break-up, my craft area will no longer be the messiest in the country for a little while at least. I have to move EVERYTHING from the living room, where it currently lives, into the walk-in pantry, which will be the new home of my craftiness. (I will be renting the living room out, once it is converted into a bedroom) So, I spent most of yesterday hauling everything out. Now I have to organize it so it doesn't just sit in piles. I actually like the new space, my table fits perfectly in there and there is good natural light. There's enough room for craft stuff and plates, dishes, etc. I'll get pictures up soon... I seem to have misplaced my camera in yesterday's moving. *sigh* I've been thinking of putting up peg-board to hang stuff on. Like it is used here. That would work well, I think.
I could also just get rid of stuff for once!!!
Well, pictures will be coming soon. I also got a ton of Japanese craft books that I ordered before I knew I was going to be dumped and broke. At least I have something to while away the days with now! I need to get some pictures up... I hope tonight, we'll see if I can get my computer hooked up again.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Whew!

Well, I am done with Bazaars for the summer. I *think* I have recovered. I am absolutely exhausted. I took 3 days off from everything to sleep and rest. Didn't get much done in the whole craft arena, but did manage to sand matte my Blythe doll, and get some new eyeshadow on her. I need to repaint her lips now and buff her a bit, but she looks a LOT better.

I will, since I have no real craft news to report, give you a link to one of my favorite blogs run by one of the nicest people I have talked to via email lately. Lava Means Love. By all means, do visit.

I also got a great zine in the mail from a mail art friends Serendipity. Just out of the blue, and very exciting. It is packed with fun stuff, mail art calls, and ramblings. Her website is here. She also has the most amazing mail art zine called Postal Press, which after a bit of a hiatus is in the planning stages for the next round! I'm excited.... Check it out.

That's it for now....

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Oooh! Check this out!

My sister just called me and told me about this site. It's great. Apparently this woman is crocheting or knitting everything in an old lady's house. The site is in Dutch, but the pictures are just great.
http://www.annereijse.nl/index-vries.html

Fabric yumminess....




So... we had one of our Bazaars this weekend. I good a bit of fabric from one of my favorite vendors. Her business is called Mombasa Moose, and she works with Fair Trade crafts co-operatives all over Eastern Africa. One of the many wonderful things she carries is fabric from Tanzania... 100% Tanzanian cotton, and hand batiked. Gorgeous. Here are some pictures. She'll have a website soon, which I will link as soon as it is up!




Here are some pictures of what I purchased. Mostly I just got enough to start making some clothes for Blythe.

Blythe is here!

Yippee. That made my day. She is just an Ashton Drake Gallery doll, but I want a good practice doll for customization, and I need a model for the clothes that I intend to make. I'm just calling her Dollie right now. No name really. My daughter is intrigued and horrified.
Here's a picture of her, begging me to make her new clothes from the lovely fabric I got this weekend.
I need to sand matte her and fix her makeup too. And eventually, new eye chips. The list goes on and on. But first... a new outfit.
Without further ado.... here she is....

Chaos

It's been an incredibly crazy week, but here is what you can expect posted, hopefully tonight!

* a review of this book.












* an update on my super fantastic fabric purchases this weekend, from Caroline of Mombasa Moose with pictures. I wish I'd had more $$$ as the fabric was drool worthy!

So stay tuned!!!

Also, I am so sad that no one has left comments. So... I will do a drawing. The first 3 people to leave a comment will get something handmade by me! Make sure you email me you address too, or contact info. I'm not sure what the gifts will be... probably something in the felt food variety. I just found a GREAT pattern to make cute felt cupcakes. Yummers.

More later.....

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Another Donut... last one, I promise. : )




This is my first donut. I won't post any more unless there is an an extremely exceptional one. This is not the donut blog. I can't write much today because I am in the throes of a Bazaar inspired nervous breakdown. More after this weekend, I guess. *sigh*

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Oy. What a day....

Busy, busy day at work. My full time job is working at an indigenous rights organization. I help organize indigenous arts, crafts, music and cultural festivals. They are really fun, like being in a circus really. But exhausting. We are in the midst of three weekends in a row. So, Friday through Sunday I work the festivals, Monday I collapse and sleep until 3pm usually, and the rest of the week is full of tying up loose ends from the prior festival and preparing for the next one.

Our next 2 will will in Portland, ME and Provincetown, MA. Here's the link to the info, just in case anyone reads this. Bazaars!!! I am most excited about this coming one, because my favorite vendor, Caroline, will be there. She works with a number of fair trade cooperatives in various countries in Africa and has fabric that is out of this world! I am going to get some and put pictures in this blog. Probably on Monday! She does a fabric of the month club too.... I really might sign up. It's great batik fabric that is hand made. She used to be a fashion designer and has a really great eye for pattern/design.

I have to restrain myself from shopping too much, because there are so many neat things there. I did get a great necklace at the last Bazaar, made by the San in Botswana of eggshell beads. I got that from an organization called Women's Work, and they sell lots of great jewelry.

I really need to find my camera.

Anyway, today at work was chaos entering new members and sending out our magazine. Then we had lunch with the members of a band called Indige Femme. Tash and Elena are Navajo and Maori/Samoan and they do great, really powerful folky music. It was a great lunch and they are great women.

OK. I need to relax now, because I have another full day ahead of me for the next four days. I mght get a post in tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Another good mail day!

I got some more yummy goodies in the mail from other swaps. Sadly I seem to have put my camera somewhere weird, so I can't add pictures. : ( Very sad. I'll hunt for it. Needless to say, I got about a yard of fabulous Moomintroll fabric from Finland, and a great Moomin mousepad.

I also got a great new book called Organic Body Care Recipes by Storey Publishing. I can not wait to go through it and try out the recipes. I love using essential oils and aromatherapy in natural body care products, so I know this will get heavy rotation.

Matt loved, loved, loved his donut. Now I have to make another big one for my friend Dave's puppy. Donut puppy toy!

Also, I just found that Burda has free patterns online to download. The link is here. I'm going to make the cell phone bag first.

OK. I have to go finish getting some swap packages together. I love swaps.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Donut!!!!



Yay... a donut. I just made it for my friend Matt..... here it is....

Before Pics of my Horrible crafty space


These are the picture of my crafting area BEFORE. My big goal is too get this area organized and usable. I am aware that there is a VCR on my craft table. That is because Tim has been telling me for four weeks that he will get it hooked up. He has one more week and then I am going to start nagging.



I will post some other picture of the other problem areas. I live in a 4 room apartment, so this space is one third of my living room. Any suggestions? Actually looking at these... now I want to cry.

Yay! Mail!

I got 2 swaps while I was gone of fun goodies from Finland. I do a lot of swaps through postcrossing. I love Moomintroll books... my grandmother is Swedish and they were my favorite books growing up as a child. So I love to swap with people in Finland for Moomintroll goodies. Here are some pictures.

The first picture is some fun goodies from Tiina... bandaids, lollis, a cell phone charm, lip gloss and sweets. Yummy!















This is a great envy of goodies from Jussi. A magnet, a moomin something, really yummy licorice candy and the best of all... a Little My tea towel. I am going to turn th
at into a purse! I'll post the completed picture when I am done. Little My is my favorite character. My next tattoo will be an image of her. She's sort of my power symbol... feisty, strong willed and eccentric. Those licorice candies are insanely yummy.

Here's the tea towel laid out....














I am so happy. I have one Moomin purse half done, made from a pillowcase from a prior swap. I am looking forward to making this one though.

I love doing swaps. I do them through postcrossing and gimme your stuff. I have a bunch in the works right now.

Yes. I am obsessed with Moomins. I made a moomin cell phone cozy recently. It was my first attempt, and I have to redo it, but here's a pic. It's Snuffkin. It is a prototype.... needs to be redone. It's scraps from the pillowcase bag.















And finally.... I made a bird for my friend Tree on Friday. One of my felty things. I will post the patten soon. It was quick and easy and fun.














In case you can't tell, I have re-confiscated my camera from Misha. : ) Coming soon... before pics of my grizzly craft area.... sigh.... so much tidying, so little time. And some long awaited photos of my donut goodness.

I have the day off today, because I worked all weekend. So I am just hanging around watching Styleicious and other craft shows and getting swaps together for people.

Bye.....

Friday, July 27, 2007

Happy Friday!

Well... for most people there is a nice weekend ahead. I have to go to Maine for work though. Not a lot of free time and fun. But I get to raid my mom's craft room and fabric stash when I stay at her house! So, there is something to look forward to.

I made a craft donut last night for my friend Sarah, I forgot to take a picture of it before I sent it down to the bazaar for her. Maybe I can get her to take a picture so I can post it. She asked for orange icing and she got it! I can't wait to find out how she likes it. I want to get a bunch of them made, but I keep giving them away as soon as I make them.

Well... I won't post anything this weekend, because I'll be working hard promoting Cultural Survival's Bazaar in Portland, ME next weekend.

I want to put more pictures up, but Misha has taken my digital camera to Maine. When I get it back I will take pictures of a bunch of things. The memory card is probably full of pictures of her... she is at the height of pre-teen narcissism.

Have a good weekend.......

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Hooray. YesAsia coupon code...

I have to credit a comment by Hannah on the Wee Wonderfuls blog for this... it works and is great. If you type US in the coupon code box at YesAsia, during check out, you will get $5 off your order! It's only valid until July 31, 2007, but with the free shipping it is a help! Hannah, I don't know you, but I thank you!!!!

I ordered three books. One of them is this one:














It is ISBN 4834724522 . The title is (roughly translated): 235 Small Specials Mode From Recycled Fabrics.

I also ordered 2 other books, which I will post when they come.

My bank called me as soon as I'd placed the order, because they thought someone had stolen my bank card. Heh heh. Nope. It's legit. Nice to know they pay attention though. They called literally 30 seconds after the order went through.

I just found out that my sister's school is doing a craft fair as a fundraiser in October, so I think I might get a table. Better get busy making stuff. As soon as I reclaim my living room (which is where the couchsurfers sleep). The living room in our apartment doubles as my crafty area. My craft table is a mess right now though. I'll have to do before/after pics, because that is my #1 goal when the couchsurfers head off.... get that table clean.

I also want to spif up this blog, but that will come in time. No one reads it yet anyway. : )

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

First post. Yippee.

Well.... after becoming enamored with about a half a million other blogs, crafty and noncrafty, I have decided to start my own. Just for the fun of it. I am calling it Fits and Starts because that is what crafting is like in my life.... I do it in fits and starts.


Lately I am obsessed with making felt donuts, acquiring more Japanese craft books, and making clothes for Blythe dolls. And lots of other things. Though often in the summer I spend more time obsessing over crafting than actually doing it. I get a lot of gardening done, and I work a LOT during the summer. Fall and winter are my nice quiet down times. Summer is just chaos.

I work for an indigenous rights organization and we put on a traveling festival of indigenous arts, handicrafts, music, food, etc. all summer long. I travel from town to town, only 5 this summer, and work them. It is fun, kind of like being in a circus. But exhausting. We have three more to go, over the next 3 weekends, and I think I might collapse as soon as the last one is done.

Anyway. That's a little bit about me. I'll start adding links and stuff soon. I have to clean now because we have couchsurfers coming tonight from Germany.