Shae's Random Musings

A Trip to the Apothecary

2011-10-06T12:28:00.002-04:00

This is the post that should have been done a long time ago. After I finished my y-front quilt I wanted to create a quilt using my own patterns, so I started designing. The very first pattern I ever did was this potion bottle, so I used that as the starting point of my quilt. I sort of liked how it looked, but I wanted the bottle to be all the way around the potion. I tossed around several ideas on what I wanted the bottles to look like and after a week of constantly designing I had 24 blocks.

When I was working on my y-front quilt, I found that by the end I was struggling to get more and different fabrics for it (35 blocks with 3 completely different fabrics in each). For my potion bottles, I took my time to find the fabrics. I printed out all of my patterns, went to Staples, and made all of my 5” blocks into 10” blocks. I got all of the 10” blocks done and put it away to work on at a later time, and just recently I finished my 5” blocks. I finished the two tops and sent them off to my favorite quilter, Shannon of Rock Creek Quilts.

I just got them back, so how about I quit talking and just show you the pictures? She did an amazing job and I’m simply blown away by how gorgeous it turned out. <3

I have all of the patterns for sale as a PDF in my etsy shop. Enter the code SLUGCLUB at checkout to receive 10% off of anything purchased.

Talk to me Tuesday: Long time, no see

2011-09-27T06:35:00.002-04:00

*pokes head in*

*blows dust from blog*

and here is my finished PoD quilt top (if you click through you can zoom in to see the titles)

Talk to me Tuesday: Forgot to Upload

2011-08-19T17:27:00.000-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Derby Talk

2011-08-10T18:51:00.001-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: All Caught Up!

2011-07-26T22:23:00.001-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Books and Blocks

2011-07-19T23:18:00.000-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Babbling

2011-07-12T22:11:00.001-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Magical Meeting

2011-07-05T20:53:00.001-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Stack of Patterns

2011-06-28T21:21:00.001-04:00

Things Mentioned

Talk to me Tuesday: Time for an Adventure!

2011-06-21T21:41:00.000-04:00

Happy Father's Day!!

2011-06-19T18:09:00.005-04:00

My dad is basically a super hero. Don't believe me? That's him talking on his phone without a care in the world. Chances are he probably flew up there. A year ago my dad started his own company and has done fantastic with it. Through his wonderful people skills and hard working attitude, he's turning his small company into something great. I am so proud of my dad. He's amazing.

I wanted to make him something special for Father's Day. A few years ago we both worked for the same pool/screen enclosure company and he suggested I stitch on screen. I never did, but kept the idea in my head. When I started brainstorming what to get him, I immediately knew I had to cross stitch on screen.

I came up with a general idea of what I wanted to do and asked my uncle, who works in the shop and office, if it would be possible for him to build a frame to put a cross stitch in. This weekend I spent lots and lots of hours trying to stitch as fast as possible so I could have it done by today.

John, one of the shop and office guys came over this morning to screen it in the frame

I'm ridiculously happy with how it came out, and I think my dad liked it...

Talk to me Tuesday: Raised on Games

2011-06-14T20:55:00.001-04:00

Things Mentioned

My flickr
On Craft
On Wedinator

Talk to me Tuesday: Yudu what you do

2011-06-02T06:11:00.001-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Not Much

2011-05-24T23:16:00.000-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: You're Nomming on my Neck

2011-05-18T22:23:00.003-04:00

Things Mentioned:

Talk to me Tuesday: Mischief Managed

2011-05-10T22:21:00.001-04:00

And here's last week's video. I did it late and forgot to post it.

Talk to me Tuesday: A list of things I need to do

2011-04-26T23:18:00.001-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Super Late iPad Video

2011-04-22T17:40:00.001-04:00

And as a sort of "bonus" (ha!), I recorded myself stitching earlier. I wanted to see what it looked like from the back, and I thought it was interesting enough to share. :D

Talk to me Tuesday: Hanging out on my bed

2011-04-13T23:52:00.000-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Time for a Tour!

2011-04-05T23:34:00.001-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday #100: It's a Celebration!

2011-03-30T22:06:00.001-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Warbler Style

2011-03-23T20:56:00.001-04:00

Whoops, forgot to post this last night after I uploaded it, my bad!

Talk to me Tuesday: Towels everywhere

2011-03-15T23:34:00.002-04:00

tumblr giveaway

Sunday Squee!

2011-03-13T17:59:00.005-04:00

It's Spring time, so all sorts of yard work is going on. Just a few minutes ago my dad brought a teeny tiny little bunny in his cupped hands (this is the second time we've had a wild bunny around, not to mention that bunnies are always running around at night).

This bunny was different. He was the sweetest little bunny and didn't try to run away or anything. He wasn't scared (like the last one), and just stayed nice and calm even while we pet it. Obviously, we can't keep a wild bunny, so we took it out to the front yard (so the dogs won't get to it) and set it "loose" near some bushes in the front.

For more Florida wildlife (or rather, animals that have come into our yard/house), see this flickr set

Talk to me Tuesday: Stands and Stuff

2011-03-08T05:53:00.001-05:00

Things Mentioned:

Headband Stand
Frame Holder Review

Crafty Monday: Frame Stand Review

2011-03-07T08:24:00.008-05:00

As some of you may know I'm working on a cross stitch project that can only be described as "TOO FREAKING BIG." For this project I had to buy a 24" scroll frame and have hated it this entire time.

I have two problems with my scroll frame:

There is a solution for the second problem, and that's what I want to talk about now. A few weeks ago I decided that I really had to get working on my BAP (cross stitch terminology post for the n00bs) and decided to purchase a scroll frame stand.

The wait for it was long and hard, but I finally got a chance to get it set up and use it. I've only used it for a few days, but I've got some thoughts on it already and I put them into list form!

Pros

Can use both hands when I want to (I tried the one under the fabric and one over the fabric method just for fun)
No wrist pain
No awkward and painful moments where I accidentally smack myself in the face with the heavy wooden frame
Faster stitching

Cons

No fast way to flip it over to check the back
It is insanely difficult to start and stop in places. Any time there is a floss change I have to loosen one part and work on it upside down. I think I might be missing something (see the two photos below)
Awkward placement. I'm used to having my projects at a certain angle (directly in front of my face) and that angle is impossible with the holder.

It's super awkward to start and stop pretty much anywhere. I'm thoroughly convinced there is an easier way to do this without taking it off the stand. If anyone knows please enlighten me!

Final thoughts

For all of the bother this product seems to be giving me, I think it was money well spent. It's saving me the pain of holding a heavy frame and making me learn to use both hands, which is starting to seem like a good thing. I'd love to learn what other people do when they change colors (maybe something that doesn't take several minutes), but other than that I'm really enjoying it.

Friday Project: Headband Stand

2011-03-04T23:06:00.002-05:00

I currently have a headband fixation. It might be because I can put on a headband right after taking a shower and not have to worry about drying my hair, or that no matter what I always look good with a headband, but either way I am obsessed with wearing headbands right now. Because I'm insanely disorganized and forgetful, it's sometimes a battle to find a headband in the morning. While I'd like to keep all of them in the bathroom, there simply isn't room for that. So, I decided I needed a stand to put them on.

The first step was finding something to make the stand out of. I asked my dad if he had anything in the shed or his shop that would work and he brought me an empty roll of spline (he removed the larger cardboard pieces, so it was just the center). When I put a headband on it to see how it would work, I realized I just needed some padding and it would be the perfect size!

I pulled out some supplies: cardboard from a case of ramen, batting (I only had some low loft, so I folded it until it was thick enough), my favorite black swirl fabric (as seen in almost every quilting project I've ever done), and a hot glue gun.

Note: Maybe you shouldn't use a hot glue gun when working with batting and fabric, but I wanted a fast project and I didn't mind burning my fingers

I glued the batting around the tube and glued a tiny spot of the fabric onto the batting so it could be held in place.

I wrapped the fabric around the batting and rather than glue it down (since it would look quite awful) I folded the fabric and pinned it down.

I hate hand sewing anything (but I adore cross stitching, go figure). I grabbed a needle and some heavy duty thread and in less than 5 minutes I had it all sewn together.

Now here's the part where I admit my mistake. I forgot to take pictures of one of my steps. I cut out two circles of cardboard: one for the front and one for the back. The one in the front was larger than the tube and the one in the back was smaller. I cut out some more fabric and covered the first piece of cardboard with it. The smaller piece was tricky. I was going to use a different method to secure it to my wall, but I wanted to go with something fast and easy.

Using a hole puncher, I put two holes into the cardboard and glued some pushpins on there.

And the finished product!

With an hour and a half of my time I created something that is not only functional, it is pretty spiffy looking. I won't lose my headbands and it'll keep the more fragile ones from being ruined. The best part is that I already had all of the supplies just sitting around. Here it is in my room and it fits perfectly between some shelves and my vanity.

(Super Late) Talk to me Tuesday: It's My Choice

2011-03-03T22:11:00.004-05:00

Things Mentioned

Talk to me Tuesday: The Quilt That TTMT Built

2011-02-22T06:45:00.000-05:00

Things Mentioned

Talk to me Tuesday: Playing Catch-up

2011-02-15T06:32:00.001-05:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Clutterbrained

2011-02-09T19:58:00.001-05:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Sickness and Storms

2011-02-02T22:02:00.001-05:00

Click here to see more of GiddyGirlie's amazing work!

Talk to me Tuesday: My New Gadget

2011-01-25T06:10:00.002-05:00

Things Mentioned:

Skip Stitch
Project of D00m
My flickr

Talk to me Tuesday: Let Me Rest

2011-01-18T06:47:00.000-05:00

HP_paperpiecing Project of Doom | Courtney's Buffy Blog

Whip it Real Good

2011-01-12T21:58:00.001-05:00

My Flickr | Whip My Hair music video | Know Your Meme - Whip My Hair

Late TTMT

2011-01-08T21:27:00.001-05:00

I should probably post this here, huh?

Talk to me Tuesday: Lace Crazy

2010-12-22T06:14:00.001-05:00

Things Mentioned

Skullflake on Urban Threads
Ornaments on Embroidery Library

Talk to me Tuesday: Interrupt me Tuesday

2010-12-14T23:23:00.001-05:00

Making up for last week's super short video with this week's ridiculously long one!

Crafty Monday: WoCroStiMo Pieces

2010-12-13T00:34:00.003-05:00

I've wanted to make this post for about 2 weeks, but I've been waiting until I could post both of the pieces to flickr and then share here. This is the official last post for WoCroStiMo (at least for this year). I wrote most of the post on the 30th and have had it saved, so I'm just going to post what I've got along with some new commentary.

Yesterday was the last day of November and for many people it signaled the end of NaNoWriMo. For me, it was the end of WoCroStiMo, World Cross Stitching Month. If you saw my TTMT post yesterday, you’ll know that I was a “winner” (I met my goal) for the month! My goal was 15,000 stitches, and I’m happy to report that I actually had a total of 16,056!! I did two different projects during the month.

The first project was my swap piece for the Phat Quarter Swap. I finished it early Sunday morning and mailed yesterday, so my partner hasn’t received it yet (and probably won’t for another week and a half or more since the package is going overseas). That piece is the one I’m most proud of. I’ve done a lot of other pieces really like but this one I loved and I was sad to part with it. If I had an extra ninety bajillion hours I would actually consider making another one.

The theme of the swap was OMG! The Horror! and I had a chance to combine the awesomeness of a Peeves (from Harry Potter) quote and the iconic movie cover of Poltergeist. I was a bit ambitious, but once I had the idea I couldn't let it go! The completed stitch was 13430 stitches (not including all of the back stitching) and was done on 22ct fabric using 21 different colors.

The next piece came to me as a sort of favor/commission on Wednesday the 24th. The original plan was to work on my giant cross stitch of d00m for the remaining 2k stitches, but this other project fell into my lap at just the right time. I was contacted by Julie Jackson of Subversive Cross Stitch, Jamie Chalmers known in the stitchy community as Mr X Stitch, and the incredibly awesome Bridget aka Beefranck to stitch a "royal wedding memorabilia on the occasion of Prince William’s engagement" (blatantly stolen from the SCS site because my brain sucks right now).

I tried something totally new for this piece, and that was to dye my fabric. I usually stitch on 18 or 22ct fabric and my color options are pretty limited (always white, basically). Rather than try to find royal blue 22ct anywhere, I got some dye and did it myself. It turned out beautifully with only a couple of weird dye spots, and I am definitely going to dye fabric in the future. Of course, I had way too many issues while stitching but I fought through it and was able to do all 2626 stitches in two evenings.

and because I'm insanely proud of the back

The pattern for this stitch can be found on the Subversive Cross Stitch website. It's a pretty big project and I have no idea how I managed to do it all so quickly.

But yes, a very delayed post on something that ended two weeks ago, but I hope you think it was worth the wait!

Talk to me Tuesday: Low on stuff and quality

2010-12-07T22:04:00.001-05:00

I thought the quality would be better than it is (it looked mildly okay on my computer), so I apologize for how insanely dark it is!

Talk to me Tuesday: I am the winner

2010-11-30T22:32:00.003-05:00

WoCroStiMo ends today and yesterday I reached my goal! I did two different projects during the month, one with 13430 stitches and one with 2626 stitches (not counting backstitching). I surpassed my goal of 15k and got to slightly over 16k!! I'm so happy with myself, and you can see what I made this month!

Talk to me Tuesday: Not Getting Any Smarter

2010-11-23T20:01:00.001-05:00

Talk to me Tuesday: If I can find it...

2010-11-16T20:39:00.000-05:00

Crafty Monday: WoCroStiMo Update

2010-11-15T21:12:00.003-05:00

I was going to write a long post about multi-tasking, but I'm just too busy right now! I had to work later today and I'm all sorts of behind in everything, so I'm just going to post the update and get on with my evening.

For WoCroStiMo I should be at 7500 today and I am at 7875! YES! I'm still on schedule, so I don't need to worry until tomorrow (which I will be since I have etsy orders and my video to do tomorrow). I would post a photo, but it's actually starting to look like something, and I don't want any pictures floating around that might spoil my partner in this swap. But yes, back to work!

Talk to me Tuesday: Talk to me Cranky

2010-11-09T23:25:00.001-05:00

Crafty Monday: WoCroStiMo Day 8

2010-11-08T10:54:00.000-05:00

I am now 8 days into WoCroStiMo and going strong! In order to make my goal of 15,000 stitches, I will need to do 500 stitches per day.

Current cross stitch project on Saturday with 2867 stitches done

At the time of writing (Sunday night, since I won't have time on actual Monday), I have 4,419 stitches done. Only 81 stitches until I make my goal for Tuesday (which will be helpful since Talk to me Tuesday videos take time). The best thing though, is that this month includes a lot of time off from work. The 11th is Veterans day, and I get that day off. Thanksgiving is also coming up, so I'll have time off for that. If I keep up the same pace, then I should make the deadline. I just wish it were the weekend already. :P

Talk to me Tuesday: WoCroStiMo

2010-11-02T21:57:00.000-04:00

Things Mentioned:

Crafty Monday: WoCroStiMo

2010-11-02T13:09:00.004-04:00

meant to write and post this yesterday, my bad

As many of you know, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) started yesterday and people have been furiously typing away at their computers since (the real procrastination won’t begin for at least another day or so). For the last two years I’ve participated and won NaNo, but I decided not to do it this year. I simply do not have enough time with my new long work schedule, weekly videos, internetting, making music, and of course WoCroStiMo.

WoCroStiMo? No, it isn’t Judoon for something dirty, it’s World Cross Stitching Month! I do like the idea of participating in a big project in November (last year I did NaBloPoMo – National Blog Posting Month) and I have too much stitching to do, I figured I could make it into a fun activity where I don’t have to be alone!

WoCroStiMo is slightly different than NaNo. If you participate in NaNo the main goal is 50k no matter what. That is not the case with WoCroStiMo. While I think we’d all love to be able to stitch 50,000 stitches in a month, we know it is basically impossible (you would need to stitch over 1500 stitches per day, if you can do that, I say go for it!). On my speediest project I only was able to do 1000 stitches a day, and I was stitching constantly.

If you’d like to participate, set a goal. It should be a high number; higher than you think you have time for. If you only stitch about 1000 stitches in a month, go for 1500 or even 2000! With my new work schedule and all of the stuff I need to be doing, I’m setting a goal of 15k stitches. I’m currently participating in the Phat Quarter OMG! The Horror Swap, and the pattern I created is around 13,000 stitches. If you watch my Talk to me Tuesday videos and have seen the progress of my giant DH stitch over the last two months, that is about 17k stitches.

So yes, I may be crazy, but I encourage you to be crazy with me and set your own WoCroStiMo goals! And to everyone that does embroidery, quilting, scrapping, crochet, and knitting – feel free to make your own anagram, crafty goals, and get to it! You know your own work and how long it can take you to do it, so estimate what you think is a formidable goal and start working towards it. Personally, I can’t wait
for my work day to be over so I can start stitching!

Talk to me Tuesday: Distracted Crafter

2010-10-26T20:14:00.003-04:00

I was going to post this after it uploaded, but instead I took a very long nap.

edit: AND THEN I POSTED THE WRONG TTMT BECAUSE I WAS STILL HALFWAY ASLEEP. FAIL.

Talk to me Tuesday: Shae Shows Some Support

2010-10-20T18:59:00.001-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Done and Dyed

2010-10-12T21:49:00.003-04:00

Things Mentioned

Crafty Monday: it's to dye for!

2010-10-11T17:02:00.002-04:00

Anyone who knows me is familiar with my t-shirt obsession. I have a closet full of black t-shirts and a growing number of funky art shirts from Teefury, a site known for selling one shirt a day and then never selling it again. An irresistible day on the site is the day they do the grab bag. With the grab bag you can purchase a shirt for only $5; the only catch is that while you can choose the size, you have no control over which shirt you get.

This is both good and bad. I've gotten shirts that I love, some shirts that I grew to love, and a few that I didn't like. The most often course of action with designs I didn't care for is to give them to a family member who loves the design. My most recent grab bag I got had a design that I loved, but the shirt color was white. Since I do not wear white I knew the only solution was to dye the shirt. Below are before, during, and after shots. You can also see my post on the teefury forum (which has been made into a sticky!! This is very exciting for me, lol).

Talk to me Tuesday: So much to say!

2010-10-05T22:29:00.002-04:00

Things Mentioned

Sewhooked Shop
My flickr

Crafty Monday: Tree Trimmings

2010-10-04T08:38:00.004-04:00

I'm a big fan of procrastination. It's just one of those lovely things I do. I like to wait until the very last minute to get anything done. This project is kind of like that. In my recent TTMT, Challenging Myself, I challenged myself to finish the top of the Tree Trimming pattern (available at Sewhooked) by Tuesday. Not only did I finish the top, I finished the whole thing!

I'm insanely proud of it and myself, and I adore the colors. I'm not a big fan of x-mas (except my own family's celebrations) or the decorations, so this is a nice alternative to a tree because when I live by myself there is no way I'll ever buy one.

Also, note of squee - I am featured in a post on MrXStitch.com today! :D

Talk to me Tuesday: Challenging Myself

2010-09-28T18:01:00.000-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Needs Moar Stitches

2010-09-21T22:54:00.000-04:00

Storytime Saturday: Eggs

2010-09-18T00:55:00.005-04:00

click to see more hilarious comics by Natalie Dee

I want to tell you a story about how I quit eggs*.

All three times.

The first time was in middle school and a girl thought it would be interesting to bring a bloody egg in. Her mom had been making scrambled eggs and when she cracked the egg into the bowl it was bloody and gross. So of course, you bring that in to school to gross out all of the other kids and have the teacher explain it all.

I didn't eat eggs for about 6-8 months after that.

The second time was in 9th grade and somehow one of the funniest things to tell people became "Did you know that an egg is a chicken's period?" I imagine it was funny because by that time all of the girls were dealing with their periods and in an Idaho town with only 2,500 people, the jokes were most likely scarce. So this was the thing to tell people, and it was the thing to keep me from eating eggs.

I didn't eat eggs for about 2 years.

We moved to Florida before my junior year and maybe about a year or so after we moved, my parents decided it was a good idea to have chickens. I was fine with the chickens, but kind of leery about the eggs since the incident in middle school. Then one day it all changed. My dad brought in an egg that a chicken had just produced. He told me to hold out my hand and when I did he plopped the warm egg into it. The egg was warm. Not warm from the sun, but warm in a way that said THIS JUST CAME FROM A CHICKEN'S INNARDS, CAN'T YOU FEEL THE WARMTH?!

I didn't eat eggs for 3 years.

Despite my on and off relationship with eggs, I'm pretty okay with eating them now. I have weird feelings about most foods and usually make up stories that allow me to stomach them (for example: chicken comes from the chicken tree, eggs from the egg tree, and ground beef is harvested like potatoes). I have lots of issues with food if you can't tell (and don't even get me started on my specific silverware, cups, bowls, and knives that I use, I'm more neurotic about those kinds of things than Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory).

*I should note that when I say I quit eggs and didn't eat them, that doesn't include eggs that were used in recipes or cooked in foods without my knowledge. My body was fine with eggs as long as I didn't know they were there, but if I did smell or eat eggs by themselves I gagged.

Talk to me Tuesday: TIME TO LOOK AT MY FACE

2010-09-14T19:08:00.003-04:00

Things Mentioned

TARDIS Pattern
Hp_paperpiecing Shrinking Solution Challenge
Movie Swap Post
This is Handmade

And as promised, last week's video

Crafty Monday: Phat Quarter Movie Swap

2010-09-13T06:55:00.000-04:00

I just realized I forgot to post last week's ttmt on this blog, you can see it here or wait for the next TTMT which will have both videos.

I love swaps. I was never much of a swappy person, but once the Phat Quarter Flickr Group started having them, I became addicted. I love having embroidery, cross stitch, and all sorts of lovely fiber crafts as decorations. In the past I participated in the NSFW Swap and the Comic Swap, so it was a no-brainer to sign up for the Movie Swap (anyone familiar with the Phat Quarter would notice that I didn't mention the Zen Swap, I couldn't think of anything to make for it so I didn't sign up).

One of the best things about the Phat Quarter swaps is the fact that there is a broad theme and each person can do whatever they wish with it. Everyone has their own style and their own interpretation of the theme. For the movie swap, the possibilities were endless. I have a deep and intense love for movies, so I've already done several movie related projects. No, really, these are just the stitchy things; I didn't even post purses or stenciled things or books that are also movies.

For the swap I chose to do a stitch of one of my most favorite movies of all time (it was hard, because I have about 30 most favorite movies of all time): Party Monster. Party Monster is an amazing movie. If you haven't heard of it, you can watch the trailer here. In the scene I stitched, Seth Green plays James St. James who is dressed as a Troll for a talk show. I spoke about this stitch in a past Talk to me Tuesday video, but here are the stats: 5x4 on 22 ct, 31 colors, 8748 stitches. I was actually pretty sad it send it on its way because it turned out better than I expected. I made it for Carrie_76 and she wrote a post about it.

This weekend I received my piece from miaumau and could not be more excited about it. She asked me if it was okay if she posted the photo before I got it and I said that was fine. I'm really glad she did post it, because it gave me time to watch the movie. Her inspiration was My Neighbor Totoro, a modern classic that was made in 1988 and re-released by Disney in 1993. Because I basically live on the internet, I couldn't miss seeing Totoro everywhere, but I had never watched the movie. Since I would be getting a piece from the movie in the mail I watched it...and it was amazing.

I am not a big fan of cartoons or Disney, but this movie blew me away. I think a large part of what made it so touching to me was the fact that the girls were able to escape into a bit of fantasy while their mother was in the hospital. I believe I mentioned last week that my mom was in the hospital, and watching the movie during that time was good. I loved Totoro, and I love this piece. Thank you miaumau!!

Crafty Monday: Nerding it up, food style

2010-09-06T22:12:00.003-04:00

While the last week has been really fun (my sister Kandi's family was visiting), the last few days have been awful. My mom, who blogs about her experiences with Lupus here, was admitted to the hospital on Saturday the 4th and checked herself out today AMA (I'm sure once she can get out of the bed she'll be blogging about her diagnoses, the treatment she got, and her reasons for checking herself out of the hospital. I don't want to stick my foot in my mouth or get any details wrong so I won't be talking about it here).

The house has been pretty tense and quiet, so yesterday my brother and I decided to marathon The Big Bang Theory and toast some marshmallows. Of course, we are nerds, so instead of using a microwave, oven, or a normal fire, we used the crème brûlée torch (we had just had crème brûlée the night before, so it had recently been filled up). We had delicious giant marshmallows and had a bit of fun.

and a video, just for fun

Talk to me Tuesday: Stuck in a Sim Hole

2010-08-31T17:31:00.001-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Potion bottles everywhere and not a drop to drink

2010-08-24T22:19:00.001-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: A Sewing State of Mind

2010-08-17T21:45:00.002-04:00

Things Mentioned

Crafty Monday: RNGG Contest Entry

2010-08-16T02:23:00.003-04:00

image made by me

So this week I've been relaxing (see: lazy), and one of the things I wanted to accomplish was making my entry for the Robot, Ninja, and Gay Guy video contest. RNGG is a really funny series on youtube, and I think the actors and creators are doing a great job. So last week when a contest was announced, I knew I wanted to participate in it. The object of the contest was to create a video of some sort that used the episodes of RNGG in some way. I knew what I wanted to do within 5 seconds: use the audio from the Twilight trailer with video from the show.

I'm a Twilight fan (the books, not the movies), so I'd only seen the trailer once before. After working on this video, I never ever have to see it again because I know it by heart. About 7 or so hours of work went into making this, and I'm still not 100% pleased (I don't know why, but some of the clips weren't widescreen? It bugs me, but there's no way I'm going to go through and fix them now). It turned out pretty neat anyway, so please watch and enjoy! :D

Talk to me Tuesday: Queen of Dorks

2010-08-10T22:47:00.003-04:00

I will have the photos of my Phat Quarter swap piece up on flickr once my partner receives it (which should be Thursday if I can trust the post office). If you want to make a hat like I made, I used this handy tutorial, except I'm super lazy and didn't bother with a brad or punching a hold in it. I used packing tape and tacky glue (the things that were less than 5 inches from my hands).

Talk to me Tuesday: The Gleeful Stitcher

2010-08-03T18:05:00.000-04:00

Saturday Show-Off: Quiberon Quafflepunchers

2010-07-31T04:32:00.005-04:00

I was going to save this for a future Crafty Monday post, but I'm awake right now, so I might as well post it, right? First of all, today is the birthday of Harry Potter & JK Rowling!! Usually I go to the Orlando HP Club's party, but I might have to skip out this year since I don't feel like I'm well enough to drive and be out of the house for several hours. I'll be there in spirit though (I'll just imagine myself surrounded by 10 different cakes, because that is what it's always like).

Anyway, today's Saturday Show-Off (which might become a thing?) is a commission I worked on in the first week of July for a friend for her costumes for Infinitus. It started out with an idea around February, but we both sort of forgot about it until the last week in June, when I was already in a mad rush of crafting and getting ready for the con. Obviously, I was really excited to do the commission and there was absolutely no way I was going to say no.

What she wanted was 28 patches: 2 seeker patches, 2 keeper patches, 6 chaser patches, 4 beater patches, and 14 team patches. Sasha is a fantastic artist and she drew a mock-up of what the patches could be like and the Quidditch team's logo. She wanted 28 of them so each member of the team would get to keep a team and player patch for themselves as a souvenir. She sent me her drawings and I digitized them with a program I have.

Once I had the supplies (Sasha sent me the pink fabric to stitch the larger patches on and included a modified corn painting that was mentioned in my first corn post) I got my embroidery machine to start making patches. Making patches is a bit of long process and since I'm kind of lazy I'll just link to this tutorial on Urban Threads because it is how I learned how to make patches.

The team patches went by really fast because of the size. They were all about 2" so I was able to do 4 on the hoop at a time. I stitched all 14 of them and then made them into patches. I think it took under 8 hours to make them.

It was the logo patches that took an age and a half. They had to be much bigger than 2". I think the final measurements for each of them were about 5.25", the largest thing I've stitched. The logo was 4.75" and took 86 minutes to stitch on my machine. Eighty-six minutes of my machine just working on one design! With the patch border and all that goes into making it work, each of the 14 team patches took a little over 2 hours each. The second I got home from work (and sometimes before work), I had my machine running and working on the patches. Even when my machine wasn't running I could hear it stitching. I did get done though!

One of the only problems I have with the project was that the pink material was a bit slippery and tended to gather and pucker, which slightly messed up the designs on some of them. They still looked nice, and some of them even looked like it was intentional. Although fun fact: you can't even tell from far away.

A week after sending the patches to Sasha, I got to see the Quiberon Quafflepunchers in person! I was super excited and asked to have my picture with them. I almost died of embarrassment when Sasha had them all yell, "WE LOVE YOU SHAE!"

Here is a better picture that I shamelessly stole from Sasha. If you want to see some excellent costuming, I highly suggest looking around her Deviant Art page (Neapolitan Bonaparte is one of the greatest costumes ever made) or track her down at Dragon*Con, the Quafflepunchers will be there!

Talk to me Tuesday: makes zombie sounds

2010-07-27T18:52:00.000-04:00

Crafty Monday: This is Handmade

2010-07-26T21:45:00.003-04:00

I think I'm going to start another Tumblr blog and all it's going to be is 5 minute videos of me or other people weaving, knitting, spinning, embroidering, sewing... whatever. If you can't sit through 5 minutes of mind-numbingly boring ass handwork, then you don't get to whine about how much it costs. Because we have to do this shit for hours and hours and hours and hours. Not even like 6 hours, more like 50 to 100+ hours. And really, it's just as boring for me as it is for the viewer. It really is. - Penny Nickels

This post was published months and months ago, but I thought it was an amazing idea. Two months after seeing the video, I recorded my own five minutes, and then another two months after that I uploaded the video.

Can't make it through mine? I don't blame you! Want to see other examples of super tedious artistry? Of course you do!

This is Handmade

Record yours today and submit it! Penny Nickels has one! And so does Jennifer Ofenstein, and Gigglymama! I know you want to be one of the cool kids!

Click here to see the full post about this awesome project including video rules and how to submit.

Talk to me Tuesday: Ready to Drop

2010-07-21T16:16:00.001-04:00

Things Mentioned:

Photos on flickr

Infinitus Part 1

Infinitus Part 2

Talk to me Tuesday: Bad Hair Blues

2010-07-13T20:48:00.000-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Just about brain dead...

2010-07-06T20:45:00.000-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: More Stuff I Can't Show You

2010-06-29T19:33:00.000-04:00

Crafty Monday: First Corn

2010-06-26T08:51:00.005-04:00

Everything you never wanted to know about First Corn!

I'm going to tell you a story that has spawned some awesome crafts made by friends of mine (sadly, I haven't made any because I suck). This is the story of First Corn and the most awesome vacation I've ever had. It was August 2008 and I was at Terminus, a Harry Potter symposium taking place in Chicago. As is the case with Harry Potter conferences, everyone was a bit silly and totally able to be themselves because they were around fellow Potter-fiends. With nothing else to do, Victor, Laci, Jenn, and I wandered into one of the "Craftable" activities to see what was going on. The current project was, "Make a Magical Feast." Victor was making corn and asked the question that changed the entire rest of the con for us.

"Did you guys ever play First Corn when you were younger?"

We all said that we had never played it and asked Victor to explain. He told us that First Corn was played like this: Corn is ingested during a meal, and one person challenges the other to a game of First Corn. The first person to pass the corn is the winner.

It all went crazy from there. We adopted corn names (I became First Corn, Jenn was Second Corn, Laci was Epic Corn, and Victor was Original Corn), we were Corn Eaters and drew Corn Marks on our arms (like a Dark Mark of the Death Eaters), and we told everyone about First Corn (The first rule of First Corn is that you tell everyone about First Corn).

As is the case with crafty people, it was only inevitable that there would be corn crafts, and in the last month I have been gifted with two insanely awesome corn-related pieces.

Laci's first cross stitch

Made for me by Sasha, aka Internets Corn

Made for me by Jenn

I love corn!

taken while visiting Jenn in Ohio at the end of May

Talk to me Tuesday: A Really Big Candle

2010-06-22T18:32:00.001-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Crafting for Others

2010-06-16T07:07:00.001-04:00

My Wizarding World of HP photoset

Talk to me Tuesday: Subverting Some Patterns

2010-06-09T21:05:00.001-04:00

Things Mentioned:

My tweet
The fan art
Frottage piece

Talk to me Tuesday: My Trip

2010-06-01T22:30:00.002-04:00

In which I talk about my recent trip to Ohio!

Things Mentioned:

Pictures from my trip
Dalek pattern

Crafty Monday: Dalek Victory Propaganda Poster

2010-06-01T08:45:00.003-04:00

I got home from the airport around 2am last night, so I wasn't able to make my Monday post on Monday. It is worth the wait though...

My friend Jenn, who was the one who convinced me to start watching Doctor Who, sent me this image, and I couldn't help but want to cross stitch it. I've already stitched one propaganda poster (see my luigi largo stitch here), and it is fun to realize how much I adore them.

Lots of people requested the pattern for this, so as soon as I got home I uploaded the pattern and the information for it. :D

Talk to me Tuesday: Frustrating

2010-05-27T08:12:00.000-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Yeah, that's gonna hurt

2010-05-18T23:41:00.001-04:00

- My stenciled shirts on flickr

Talk to me Tuesday: Progress

2010-05-12T21:59:00.000-04:00

TTMT Anniversary

2010-05-04T16:46:00.001-04:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Stitchy Goodness

2010-04-27T22:20:00.000-04:00

Things Mentioned:

Crafty Monday: Printed Fabric

2010-04-26T17:11:00.008-04:00

I really love embroidery, but the fact of the matter is, I'm horrible at transferring designs to the fabric. It's just like this video of stupid people in infomercials. I accidentally eat the carbon transfer paper, my face is doodled on with the embroidery markers and pens à la Liar, Liar, and I somehow iron a pattern transfer onto the ironing board rather than my fabric. Seriously, I'm at that point, so a little help is more than welcome.

One of my current favorite ways to embroidery is to print a photo and what I want to embroider directly on the fabric. I've been printing on fabric for a few years thanks to this tutorial on instructables, and have actually broken two printers because I just had to print a couple of 5 foot scrolls (I should have learned my lesson after the first one, but it was a couple of years later and I forgot). The first time I used this technique for embroidery was for the Shut Up Woman Get On My Horse post.

I thought I would share a quick tutorial/process of making one of these super easy embroidery pieces. First of all, I choose my image. I'm majorly into Doctor Who right now, so the TARDIS was a natural choice.

I was suffering a major creative block, so I went with the first thing I could think of, "Fantastic!" and put the text in. I used the font Assiduous (aka - the Doctor Who font) in an outliney way to make it easier for embroidering

Now that I've got the image I want, now it's time to gather the supplies. For this project you'll need:

Freezer Paper
Fabric
Felt
A sheet of paper
An embroidery hoop
Embroidery floss & needle
Scissors (I used both my normal cutting scissors and my stitch scissors)
Hoop for holding the project (I use Q-Snaps)
Tacky glue

Next comes the parts in the instructables tutorial. Cut your freezer paper the size of a normal sheet of paper, iron the shiny side to a piece of fabric, trim as needed, and put it in your printer. Make sure that the fabric is the side you'll be printing on.

So you're all ready for printing. I've made a couple of these before, so I know roughly what size I need. The project will be put into a 5" hoop when it's done, so I printed it slightly under that size. If you aren't sure and don't want to waste fabric, just print the image (Tip: grayscale will save ink!) on a piece of paper and hold your hoop over it to see how the image will look.

Here is my design straight out of the printer

Remove the freezer paper and hoop the fabric. You're ready to stitch!

If you're using a very thin fabric like I do, the appearance will look kind of wonky until you get it into the tight hoop.

To provide a nice bit of backing to hide the back of your project, you can cut out a circle of felt to stick in the back. I just put the hoop over the felt, draw a circle, and cut the circle out.

Place your fabric into the embroidery hoop and place it how you want. Tighten the hoop as much as you can without causing too much strain on it.

Flip it over and trim the excess fabric, leaving about 1/2" all around. Add the felt circle during this time.

Get out the tacky glue and start gluing! Spread the glue over the hoop and start folding the fabric down.

Turn it over and you're done!

Here are a few of my other projects using the same technique:

Talk to me Tuesday: Blocks Galore!

2010-04-21T20:10:00.003-04:00

Things Mentioned:

Batiks on Black group
The place where awesome patterns live

Crafty Monday: Needle Felting!

2010-04-19T01:41:00.003-04:00

This is the post that was meant for last Monday. When Friday rolled around and I still hadn't posted it, I decided I might as well wait until it was actually the right day. I'm always eager to try a new craft (see: Finding My Banjo), and when I found out that both my sister Laci and my mom wanted to try needle felting, I started looking more closely at the kits I'd been eying for a while. I got a magical mushroom kit from fancytiger and we started needle felting!

mom's was sort of square for a while

laci's impromptu earrings

laci's was a bit wonky

laci, me, and mom with our magic mushrooms

mom - laci - me

Needle felting is not at all what I thought it would be like, but I think it is really interesting. It's been almost two weeks and I still haven't picked it up again (I'm working on another neat project at the moment), but I definitely do see more needle felting in my future! My mom also wrote a blog post about it, which you can see here.

Talk to me Tuesday: Failed Experiment (kinda)

2010-04-14T08:40:00.002-04:00

I completely forgot to do my Crafty Monday post, but I will hopefully get to it tonight (a bit late, but better late than never).

Talk to me Tuesday: Yay TTMT!

2010-04-06T22:38:00.000-04:00

Things Mentioned

Talk to me Tuesday: Yes, it is really me!

2010-03-31T09:37:00.003-04:00

Not wearing makeup. Next week we'll pretend it never happened.

Things Mentioned

Talk to me Tuesday: Yay ATCs

2010-03-25T18:57:00.001-04:00

I don't know how, but I completely forgot to post this. My bad.

Crafty Monday: Finding My Banjo

2010-03-22T21:03:00.003-04:00

the video was supposed to be uploaded to youtube, but it was being a jerk, so it is now on blogger instead

If you know me or have been reading this blog for a good amount of time, you'll know that I love to try out all sorts of new crafts. The main reason I am doing this is because I want to find my banjo. What does that mean? Watch the clip below, to see what I'm talking about.

The amazing Eddie Izzard

Finding your banjo is finding that one thing that you are inherently good at. The one craft or talent that you can just pick up and be a master in seconds. I know my banjo is not: a musical instrument, scrapbooking, drawing (damn it!), writing, cosmetology, cooking, and a bunch of other things! The ones I listed are things that I'm terrible at, but there are so many things where I am just mediocre.

My mother has found her banjo with her bead work, my sister Kandi's banjo is card making, and Jennifer O's banjo is paper piecing. No matter what, I'm going to keep looking for my banjo. If you know your banjo - what is it? If you haven't found yours, keep looking!

Talk to me Tuesday: Go Ninja Go!

2010-03-17T23:36:00.001-04:00

Things Mentioned:

Crafty Monday: Read

2010-03-15T17:59:00.004-04:00

Recently I took part in an ATC (artist trading card) swap, and I got to make something that I'm ridiculously proud of, and kind of sad to see gone. But first, here are the 4 cards that I did.

I'm very proud of all of them, but I have to say the one I call "Read" is my favorite. it took the most time out of all of them, and is simply gorgeous. I can just look at it and see my most favorite things represented. The orignal size is up on flickr if you want to click through to see all of the numbers.

See more ATCs that I've done here

Giveaway Winners!

2010-03-11T08:15:00.003-05:00

There were 35 comments in all, so I put that number into random.org to generate the two winners.

The first winner was Seida Bacon, a completely awesome drag queen, and commenter Maryam.

Seida loved Rupaul's quote of - "If you don't love yourself, how in the he'll you gonna love somebody else? Can I get an Amen up in here?"

And Maryam chose something from Jessica Wild - "It is a cream for I don't know what it is?"

Talk to me Tuesday: Popped Collar Weirdo

2010-03-10T08:51:00.000-05:00

Talk to me Tuesday: I feel safest of all

2010-03-03T09:17:00.002-05:00

I had a really super awesome song playing at the beginning of the end (and I'm sure you can guess what it was), but youtube is a meanie and wouldn't let me use it. I substituted another, and it doesn't work as well, but it isn't horrid.

Crafty Monday: A Fabulous Giveaway!

2010-03-01T07:22:00.005-05:00

RuPaul's Drag Race is my inspiration for this giveaway and Crafty Monday post. This show is the most ridiculously quotable hour of television that has ever been created, and I wanted to salute that with a few cross stitched pieces and their patterns. Above is something that all drag queens must possess: Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent!

I can't possibly part with the C.U.N.T. stitch, so I decided to do something else. Last night I stitched up two other RuPaul quotes that I really love and am giving away!

So what do you have to do to win one of these two 2x3" stitches? The rules are easy!
- Leave a comment with your favorite quote from RuPaul's Drag Race
- Make sure your comment has your email address
- Deadline is 3/10/2010

I will be emailing the winners for their shipping address on March 10th, and chances are I will have made something extra just for fun.

And I don't think I could make this post and not share some awesome Drag Race related cross stitch patterns. Click each image to go to the charted pattern.

Tammie Brown quote from S1 reunion show

color chart

color chart

So just to refresh, to win one of the two framed cross stitched pieces below, just leave a comment with your favorite quote from RuPaul's Drag Race!

Talk to me Tuesday: Artists' Indecision

2010-02-24T08:08:00.001-05:00

Talk to me Tuesday: Show Off

2010-02-17T16:24:00.001-05:00

Not showing my own crafts, just showing off things that others have made.

Shae's Random Musings

A Trip to the Apothecary

Talk to me Tuesday: Long time, no see

Talk to me Tuesday: Forgot to Upload

Talk to me Tuesday: Derby Talk

Talk to me Tuesday: All Caught Up!

Talk to me Tuesday: Books and Blocks

Talk to me Tuesday: Babbling

Talk to me Tuesday: Magical Meeting

Talk to me Tuesday: Stack of Patterns

Talk to me Tuesday: Time for an Adventure!

Happy Father's Day!!

Talk to me Tuesday: Raised on Games

Talk to me Tuesday: Yudu what you do

Talk to me Tuesday: Not Much

Talk to me Tuesday: You're Nomming on my Neck

Talk to me Tuesday: Mischief Managed

Talk to me Tuesday: A list of things I need to do

Talk to me Tuesday: Super Late iPad Video

Talk to me Tuesday: Hanging out on my bed

Talk to me Tuesday: Time for a Tour!

Talk to me Tuesday #100: It's a Celebration!

Talk to me Tuesday: Warbler Style

Talk to me Tuesday: Towels everywhere

Sunday Squee!

Talk to me Tuesday: Stands and Stuff

Crafty Monday: Frame Stand Review

Friday Project: Headband Stand

(Super Late) Talk to me Tuesday: It's My Choice

Talk to me Tuesday: The Quilt That TTMT Built

Talk to me Tuesday: Playing Catch-up

Talk to me Tuesday: Clutterbrained

Talk to me Tuesday: Sickness and Storms

Talk to me Tuesday: My New Gadget

Talk to me Tuesday: Let Me Rest

Whip it Real Good

Late TTMT

Talk to me Tuesday: Lace Crazy

Talk to me Tuesday: Interrupt me Tuesday

Crafty Monday: WoCroStiMo Pieces

Talk to me Tuesday: Low on stuff and quality

Talk to me Tuesday: I am the winner

Talk to me Tuesday: Not Getting Any Smarter

Talk to me Tuesday: If I can find it...

Crafty Monday: WoCroStiMo Update

Talk to me Tuesday: Talk to me Cranky

Crafty Monday: WoCroStiMo Day 8

Talk to me Tuesday: WoCroStiMo

Crafty Monday: WoCroStiMo

Talk to me Tuesday: Distracted Crafter

Talk to me Tuesday: Shae Shows Some Support

Talk to me Tuesday: Done and Dyed

Crafty Monday: it's to dye for!

Talk to me Tuesday: So much to say!

Crafty Monday: Tree Trimmings

Talk to me Tuesday: Challenging Myself

Talk to me Tuesday: Needs Moar Stitches

Storytime Saturday: Eggs

Talk to me Tuesday: TIME TO LOOK AT MY FACE

Crafty Monday: Phat Quarter Movie Swap

Crafty Monday: Nerding it up, food style

Talk to me Tuesday: Stuck in a Sim Hole

Talk to me Tuesday: Potion bottles everywhere and not a drop to drink

Talk to me Tuesday: A Sewing State of Mind

Crafty Monday: RNGG Contest Entry

Talk to me Tuesday: Queen of Dorks

Talk to me Tuesday: The Gleeful Stitcher

Saturday Show-Off: Quiberon Quafflepunchers

Talk to me Tuesday: *makes zombie sounds*

Crafty Monday: This is Handmade

Talk to me Tuesday: Ready to Drop

Talk to me Tuesday: Bad Hair Blues

Talk to me Tuesday: Just about brain dead...

Talk to me Tuesday: More Stuff I Can't Show You

Crafty Monday: First Corn

Talk to me Tuesday: A Really Big Candle

Talk to me Tuesday: Crafting for Others

Talk to me Tuesday: Subverting Some Patterns

Talk to me Tuesday: My Trip

Crafty Monday: Dalek Victory Propaganda Poster

Talk to me Tuesday: makes zombie sounds