Now playing: 02.29.2012

Well, hello there! Sorry about the silence - I didn't really plan on taking a break from the blog, but it just sort of happened. February has felt like a quiet month to me - I've just had my head down, going through the days, doing lots of things but not really feeling the need to talk all about them. But now I'm back, so here's what I've been enjoying lately!

Eating:
I didn't remember to take a picture, but on Friday I cooked roasted tofu and vegetables, mostly following this recipe from Vegan Dad. We're not vegan, but this is a blog I enjoy quite a bit - I either will get ideas from his recipes or will make them but just de-veganize them if I don't have the vegan options on hand. I've made several of his recipes, always with success, and this was no different. I chose to marinate my tofu in veggie broth and some seasonings, but otherwise I followed this pretty much straight through. It was pretty tasty! I think I would have preferred it with seitan for a bit more texture, but otherwise it was quite delicious. I love pot roasts, so it's nice to find a suitable vegetarian replacement.

Reading:

I am sort of simul-reading White Noise by Don DeLillo and Bossypants by Tina Fey - essentially, I turn to the Tina Fey book whenever White Noise starts getting kind of heavy, which is frequent. This is a book that one of my co-workers lent me in a book swap that we're doing, and I know I tried reading it years ago but couldn't really get into it, so I'm trying again. Bossypants is quite cute though.

Listening:

My new favorite song has got to be this: "You, Me & the Boatman" by Quiet Company from Austin, Texas. The handsome gent singing is the husband of Leah Muse of Vacant.cc, a blog I've been reading for literally years and years and years. This is one hell of a catchy tune, and I have enjoyed dancing to it in my kitchen quite a bit. You can get a digital download of their album, We Are All Where We Belong, for only $8 - and it is super worth it.

Crafting:

I haven't been doing much embroidery lately - I've been really trying to make dresses for the Dress A Girl Around The World program. Here are four I made on Saturday in the very uncooperative wind. I love the little fake patchwork fabric - I got that from the thrift store a while back in a random fabric bag.

I've also been working on a big chevron quilt for our bed. I've never done a quilt with triangles before, and I'm already discovering my lack of precision sewing skills are making them match up a little wonky, but I think I've just decided to accept that.

Crafting/Watching:

When I do feel like embroidering again, I sketched up this little design, inspired by Eric watching Twin Peaks for the first time last week. Or, at least he watched it until he found out who killed Laura Palmer, causing him to declare the show stupid and stop watching.

I've got good news! That gum you like is going to come back in style.

Are we going to prom or to hell?

So, as a little Valentine's gift, I have pictures of my two newest finished pieces:

Do I look like Mother Theresa?" I was recently watching Heathers, and man, there are just so many good quotes in it. Like this one:

(which also creates an incredibly smooth segue into my next piece...)

Everyone's favorite chaos theorist, Dr. Ian Malcolm! And his best pal, a terrible velociraptor!

I decided to try out a new technique for the shading of Malcolm - originally I was just going to leave it blank, but I felt like the black clothes/hair/sunglasses are such an iconic part of the character that it just didn't work. I used a single thread to just make long straight lines, a little bit like cross-hatching, or I guess since it doesn't cross, just hatching? Either way, this was really fun to make, and then I spilled coffee on it, because I am good at things.

I hope you all enjoy your Valentine's Day and are not eaten by velociraptors!

A Photo an Hour: Saturday

12:00 AM: So, this photo-an-hour actually starts at midnight - Eric and I both typically work second shift, so we're night owls - I'm usually awake until about 3am everyday. So Saturday started with me ironing some fabric I picked up on Friday for a new quilt.

1:00 AM: Cutting fabric, but now I have some company. After watching the newest episode of The Office (which I just can't stop watching, even if it's not that great these days), we actually went to bed a little early around 2:00.

10:00 AM: Wake up to take Eric to work, discover some of the most snow we've had this winter. Balls!

11:00 AM: Breakfast.

12:00 PM: Getting my oil changed. Yes, I live the type of exciting life that can only be read in internet blogs.

1:00 PM: Lunch. Black bean soup left over from Thursday night's dinner.

2:00 PM: I went over to my friend Heather's house for Dress A Girl Around The World mini-sewing party, where I got to hang out with some of my old derby leaguemates.

3:00 PM: Dress #1 (the green one) finished! Under it are some other dresses I made at my house and brought over - Heather's aunt is trying to get together 200 dresses to send overseas soon, so we've been working together and teaching friends to make them too!

4:00 PM: Dress #2 finished! I also snapped my picture for the day, a sneaky shot of Heather's super crafting utility belt she made for herself:

Sneaky elf!

5:00 PM: Cutting triangles to make a chevron quilt.

6:00 PM: Planning!

7:00 PM: Dinner! Eric made couscous with a vegetable stew.

8:00 PM: FRUIT NINJA

10:00 PM: We tried to go to a local bar that has karaoke to sing commemorative Whitney Houston songs, but the karaoke guy didn't show up due to the snow (which, quite frankly is bullshit, because the weather is never too bad as to stop karaoke from happening... they should be like mailmen...), and then the jukebox only had this ONE song on it. For shame!

Aaaand, that was my day!

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Today's embroidery showcase features a few interesting pieces that have come from the thrift store:

This was actually a gift from my Mom for Christmas - from the thrift store, mind you - my Mom is a crafty lady herself but does not cross stitch. I have to say, between this and the vintage cookbook my Dad gave me, I had a really warm and fuzzy "Awww, my parents really get me" moment this year. Of course, this hangs in our kitchen, where it is clearly most relevant.

I found this awesome sheepdog a few years ago back in Dayton. It's pretty big - The frame is probably about 12" x 12". Also, check out that sunshine. The last few days have been beautiful, I'm swoooooning.

Nyehhhhh!

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So, in honor of National Embroidery Month, I thought I'd show off a couple past cross stitch projects today!

First up is a Star Wars project...

(Hey, nice dusty frame!) So, I stitched this up as a gift for Eric a while back, but the creative genius behind this pattern is Sherezada Windham-Kent of Hand/Eye/Mind/Mouth. I tweaked a couple things - the colors of the lightsabers, mostly. It was really fun to stitch up, and always gets a lot of smiles when people see it. It also always leads to the awkward conversation I have when people ask about it - I generally try to give credit when I'm wearing handmade things made by other people or if I follow a pattern for something versus making something from scratch. So people will look and say, "Wow! Did you make that??" And I say, "Yes, but it's actually a pattern made by this girl on the internet and blah blah blah..." and spend five minutes answering a question when they probably expected a simple yes/no.

Next, a lovely sentiment from Jay-Z. This might be one of my earliest cross stitch projects, I think. This is also often a visitor favorite in the house. Sadly, it fell off the wall recently and the frame cracked. Everything I own is broken or dirty: Welcome to my blog.

Picture a day: 01.28 - 02.03

01.28 - 01.29 - 01.30 - 01.31 - 02.02 - 02.03

It's been another busy week here over in real life, so again sorry for the quiet. It is National Embroidery Month, apparently, so maybe I'll use that as an opportunity to showcase some of my past embroidery projects too! Also, my friend Heather and I are working on making dresses for Dress A Girl Around The World, so I'll have some of those to show off too. Enjoy your weekend!