Mondog #1 : Join the revolution.

Most people (read: craft bloggers) are aware of the term "Caturday." Well, I don't have a cat. Besides I like dogs. My friend Contessa asked if she could feature my dog on a Monday post and thus "Mondog" was born. Do you prefer dogs to cats as well? or do you like/have both?

Come Mondog with me!

This is Esme. She is seven years old and a cocker spaniel poodle mix (cockapoo). She is sweet and loves cuddles, and tearing a part plushies. Other questions?

Join me in the Mondog revolution.

To submit your dog as guest doggy for mondog please email me at Chen.AD@gmail.com

(PS: I'll do my YOP update tomorrow)

FO: Friday FINALLY

Back in April when my sewing machine broke I was just about the sew the binding together for my "Who's Hungry?" quilt. Now finally in August I finally finally got a working sewing machine. And not the first thing, but one of the first things I did, was get my binding all together and on my quilt.

You've seen the quilt top (quite a while ago) but now I can finally show you the entire thing.

I was supposed to borrow my friend Tanya's baby for the photo shoot. But he lives a little far away and I was unable to get him. Babies lead very busy lives you know. He's almost ready to learn how to walk.

So instead of a baby model I took my quilt home and got the next best (better?) thing. A puppy model. Every time I feature Esme on my blog she always has her tongue sticking out and looks so derpy. I don't know why. I swear she doesn't always look like this. Oh well at lease she is happy.

The finished quilt size is about 61 x 70 and was made with fat quarters that were my Christmas present from my sister. Which is exciting because that means I get to keep it. Cause it was a present. Yay.
For other FO: Friday posts be sure to check out Tami's Blog for the Mr. Linky

WIP: Wednesday or is it?

Iam never sure what to call quilt tops. Are the a finished object? Are they a work in progress. The top is finished and it's not like the finished quilt will be much different from the finished top? Then again there is a lot more work that has to go in it before it is actually done.

Since this particular quilt is currently covered in basting pins I feel comfortable calling this a work in progress.

You saw the beginnings of it while it was still in its half square triangle form. But now it is all grown up and even has a backing. it is the Kona solids challenge that requires the use of half square triangles.

I even started quilting it. I have quickly gave up though because right now all I have is a walking foot. And walking feet don't do very well with all the turning that is necessary for these stars. I will wait until I have a hopping foot again. It will be much easier with a hopping foot... Which I should maybe next week. YAY

Here is sort of the idea of what it will look like. I like the negative space of sorts. and the way that the colors flow from one ladder to the other. Whoo!

I Blame the Puppy.

No, not that puppy.

This one. Look at her cuddling and being a total yarn hog. No, that is not why. Esme is a yarn snuggler, but she is also people snuggler. But she is a plushie destroyer. Doesn't like to cuddle up to them. don't know why.

I have no movement on my potpourri socks. At all. I brought them home with me to my parents for the week and haven't even taken them out of the bag. Actually, I am currently not sure where they are. I should really go look for them.

On my Jade Escher socks I am almost ready to turn the heel on the second sock. my goal was to have them done by now. I have 21 socks in my book. That means that I have to finish one or two pairs a month. Last month I finished one pair. Because it was the Tour de Fleece I said that was okay as long as I made two pairs in August. Weeelll... I should get cracking!

But it's hard to get cracking when there is a puppy who wants her chin scratched!

Also remember the yarn walk I went on that I told you about last week? I found my picture hidden on my computer!

That was the yarn after I picked it all up. Pardon the messy room.

Embers and Envelopes

This post actually has nothing to do with embers, just a song I like. I am feeling uncreative.

But this post has to do with an envelope. Specifically a 6x9 envelopes I receive in the mail.

Over at the My Other Hobby Swap group on Ravelry we are doing envelope swaps in rounds. First round I received a delightful package from Susan that I love and have been putting the pins to good use. And the pez are very nearly gone. And look at how cute my new pin cushion is!

This round I swapped with Kay who you may remember as the nice former owner of my new sewing machine.

And I LOVE it!

I got:

• A crab Beanie baby (I used to collect these!)
• A recipe for chocolate crack that sounds delicious
• Mints in a cute tin
• Clover tapestry needles (I am always loosing mine)
• A squished penny from stitch and pitch that we both attended
• Some yarny spiny buttons
• a row counter I've never had one like this before!
• a Pillsbury dough-boy key chain because I like to bake
• And the cutest ruffly fun wrist warmers. They are so soft and squish-y it makes me glad that I live in a cold weather state

My mom saw me wearing them the other day, even though it is around 75 degrees out at night. She called me silly and then in the same breath said that I should make four for Esme.

But she can't have mine. They're too big on her.

Besides. I like wearing them too much.

Two awesome envelopes. I can't wait for the third one!

Hide under a blanket and cry

Sorry about missing last weeks post. I managed to be a little too busy for it as I was throwing a birthday party and then on Sunday I went to go see a super awesome concert for a band called The Head and The Heart. The were amazing and here are some of my poor attempts at pictures.

Last week I had a kind of experience that really made me throw my hands up in the air and want to scream in frustration. Walking home from the bus stop my cake of yarn fell out of my bag, but the WIP part of it stayed in the bag. And I didn't notice until I was in the front door of my house. INSIDE the front door. I had walked nearly a block and had yarn trailing behind me the entire time. The entire time. The. Entire. Time. Took a long while and a lot of cursing to pick it up. I unfortunately deleted my post walk picture by accident

But in good news I have a sock finished! Look isn't it nice? I have no progress on my potpourri sock so no pictures of it. But I did finish one of my Jade Escher socks! yay!

Truth be told since I got my sewing machine back I have been quilting a lot. I have a quilt top to show for it. But it is going to be a surprise.

Something you may not know (actually definitely don't know because I didn't blog about it). is that I started the split toe sweethearts a little while ago, knit them for an entire day, learned a new way to cast, and then realized that the sock was entirely too big and ripped it out. This week, I was prepared sat down at my LYS and swatched so i would buy the right needles. This gauge is way off of my normal one. I usually use size three needles. For this sock the size 1's were too big, and the size 0's were too small. What to do in this case? people don't make a needle size 1.5. Ready to scream and rip hair out part two.

But right now I am home with my puppy.

And sewing machineless. But that is okay.

Results!

So sorry everyone I know I missed last Sunday's Year of projects update. And that I haven't posted all week. But I've been having some camera problems. I need a new memory card this one has basically been limping along and has finally decided to give up. So until that is fixed I will not be taking too many pictures.

But in better news! Remember my new friend Alica? Well, after having her survey open for the summer she has gotten 483 results. WOW. I took political science stats last summer. And I had a hard enough time with that. I can't imagine trying to use primary data and coming up with everything. Of course I'm terrible at research, probably why I will never become a grad student.

But how did these break down?

Look! There is me in the Minnesota group along with 10 others! (note there were also international bloggers so these numbers don't add up to 483)

For a better look at this break down. Along with really great information about the project. Make sure you go hop on over to look at the full official results. And don't forget to drop Alica a comment!

More about my own crafting when I get my camera up and running again. Also, cross your fingers for me their might be a new computer in my future!

WIP Wednesday: Guild edition

I have joined a Guild. And not a WoW one either. The nerd in me is jumping up and down for joy right now. Last month I decided to attend a meeting of the Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild. They meet once a month and talk and plan and have a show and tell of quilts. It is hosted at Sewtropolis and a lot of fun.


And boy did I choose a good month to come! In July they decided to start TWO that is right TWO challenges. At the time I could only pick one. I went with the rainbow-y one (big surprise) But today I stopped by and picked up the fabric for the second one. That is a lot of free fabric for this very happy little girl!

The First one which I started planning and cutting immediately is the Kona Soilds challenge where you are given a charm pack of Kona solids to do with what you please. You can only add other Kona solids into the mix. I picked out the ones I am planning on using and getting to work. As a Guild we decided to impose another challenge on ourselves and that is that we must use half square triangles to make these.

Oh you notice something? That my half square triangles are already stitched? Well that is because I JUST got my sewing machine back! (YAY!) For those of you who aren't ravelry friends with me. After the awesome Kay gave me a sewing machine I managed to/ It broke on me. In about 10 minutes. turns out it had a broken part that needed to be ordered. But I just got it back in time for happy quilting times YAY!

The other challenge that I picked up today is the Jay McCarol challenge. I received a fat eighth of eight of his fabrics from his line to make something out of. Aren't they pretty? The guild imposed challenge on this one is "wonky" I have an idea in my head. And just randomly cut strips out of my fat eights and I am about to go work on them now as soon as I am done making this blog post.
The more I look at these fabrics the more I like them. They don't all exactly match but I think that is part of the charm right? AND Jay McCarol is the season 1 winner of Project Runway! I had no idea he was designing fabric now. But he definitely has a flair for it.


I'M SO EXCITED TO BE QUILTING AGAIN! AHHHH

PS: I'm trying the Mr. Linky on Tami's blog for the first time today! check out other WIP