Arts 'n' Crafts for 2009

This year, I'm trying to make at least one new thing per month. Either for myself, the kids or to sell at Etsy. The idea is to make up all the fabric and yarn I currently have into something before bringing more into my tiny home. The other thing I'm trying to do is re-purpose things and recycle more.

Two projects that I've been working on so far in '09 are a fleece jacket for myself since I haven't had a jacket in about 6 years. With the record lows we've experienced lately, it was imperative I get something other than a long-sleeved t-shirt. So with my 40% off coupon in hand, I headed to JoAnn's and came home with a lovely fleece in ivory and two shades of green. Using McCall's 5252

I ended up with this

Originally it wasn't going to be lined, but the fleece turned out to be insufficient alone. It's lined with a nice organic cotton knit and features an MP3 player pocket on the left side.

My current project is a lacy tunic sweater by Patons Classics

I'm very pleased with the outcome thus far. I've been working on the body for a few days and I'm ready to begin the back. This is by far the most agressive crochet work I've ever done in my life. And I've only had to rip out a few rows and start over a few times. Here's the progress so far

As a side note, these photos were taken with a Nikon D70 in daylight and barely corrected in Photoshop.

Brief Update

As I'm sure you've noticed, the look of this blog has changed dramatically. Instead of the frenetic and sometimes psychotic color and theme changes of the past, I've moved to a more stylish, sleek and "less is more" look since I just don't have the time - or inclination - to keep up with the other way. I hope you enjoy it!

In other news, I've joined the Iron Cupcake: Earth challenge and though I missed out on the last one (Coffee), I'm excited to get involved in the next challenge. Check it out here. I'm proud to display the badge on my sidebar.

Also, please do check out the links under the heading of My Cafe' Press Shops. I have a lot of fun designing stuff and it warms the cockles of my heart when I see people order things I made. I'm an artist at last!

On addition to art, I've been working on screenplays and that has taken a lot of my time churning out pages like there's no tomorrow. I imagine that in the next few weeks, I'll be back at it again working on the rewrite.

On a more personal level, we're almost 2/3 through first grade homeschooling. I'd like to say that it's easy and fun and whatever. But it's been difficult and emotionally draining. Partly because the child in question has emotional outbursts that we're working on with a counselor and partly because my patience level has been at -10 for a VERY long time due to chronic health issues. Thankfully, we're weathering those with a great pain management specialist and regular injections into the affected joints.

We're also in the midst of putting in a vegetable and herb garden. This was inspired by last year's 100 Foot Diet challenge. I never was able to get in on it then, but I did a lot of reasearch and finally was able to make the investment out of this year's tax return. Thanks in part to Ray at GardenWeb and other online friends, I was able to plot out what I wanted and where I wanted it to go. I'll blog that adventure separately.

The Younger Princess Ella turned 5 on the 20th and I'm wondering where the time went. All she wanted for her birthday was a "Rapunzel" cake like her "Sleeping Beauty" cake. I'll blog it separately, too. Prince Lorenzo is slated to turn 3 on St. Patrick's Day and has requested either a "pincess" cake or a "thomas" cake. Three guesses which one he gets.

One more thing - a stream of consciousness list so that I don't forget the things I want to blog later:

Yatta!
Cats
Gardening
Cooking Vegetarian
PurseBuzz
Health