Pretty Little Patchwork

Dear Shayne,

A few weeks back, you and I talked about doing a craft-along. You suggested we make projects from the book Pretty Little Patchwork and, since I had some credit in my Powell's account, I went ahead and ordered it (send them your used books [they pay the shipping!] and they'll give you credit to use for more books -- love that!)

When I got the book, I sat down and looked through every project, thinking about what fabrics I would use to make some of them -- I'm pretty excited about it! (We'll need to figure out a Project Timeline at some point, but I know we've both got other stuff going on right at this moment, so it can wait... perhaps we can begin in the fall?)

At any rate, the reason I am posting here is to say that I like this book and many of the projects in it. In fact, I like most of them, which is pretty impressive for a craft book.

But I was blown away by this weirdness that I just have to share. Check out this hat:

The hat's okay, but I probably wouldn't make it. I glanced at the list of supplies and it included interfacing and fusible webbing and realized that I would make an absolute mess of it. I'm useless with fusible webbing on a large scale. Pucker, pucker, pucker, blech.

You can see the list of "What you need" right here:

I was a little confused about where it says "Notions, such as interfacing and fusible web, based on pattern," because I thought, "Don't they know how much I'll need to use their pattern?" And then I thought, "Oh, maybe it's a different amount for different sizes..."

So I poked around to find the pattern (I don't know why, since I probably won't make this hat anyway... just curious, I guess) and I couldn't find it. So I looked again more carefully at the "What you need" list and...

What you need to make the hat shown in this book is... a pattern for the hat. Whaaaa---?

Isn't this a book of projects? I don't understand. I guess this project is actually "How to incorporate patchwork into a hat pattern you already have." Which I... guess... is... okay. Sort of. Still seems weird though.

Even if you can get past that, they do not tell you what pattern they used to make this hat. Now that just seems super strange to me. What if I wanted to make that hat? They have not given me nearly enough information.

Not that I was going to anyway, but still! I wonder if anyone has bought this book intending to make that hat. And I really wonder how well that went for them. My guess? Not well.

love,
kelly

Huh.

Dear Shayne,

Have you ever seen a tutorial and thought, "Wow! That is so simple! I want to try this simple thing and get the same fantastic results that person got!"(Or something to that effect?)

Well, that happened to me with a "simple" tutorial to make a lovely flower out of paper. (Go -- check it out. I'll wait here. Really... go on!)

Does that look simple and lovely? I mean, really! How hard could that be?

Well, gah.

I tried it out yesterday night and mine are... not nearly as lovely. Mine just look like boring spirals of paper -- hers look like lovely little roses! Bill says it's the photos, which I guess may be true, since mine also look better in photos than they look in real life, but still.

Here's one from cardstock (ignore my pencil marks):


I guess it does look all right in the photo, but in person, it really does just look like a spiral of paper. Here it is from the top down:

Bo-ring.

And here is one made with regular paper. It didn't hold together nearly as well:


And here's the final cardstock one I tried before giving up:

I feel like the originals kind of fan out more as they finish up. The entire flower seems... I don't know... more flat in the tutorial than mine are. Do you see what I mean?

Anyone else want to give this a whirl and tell me how yours came out?

love,
kelly

Bear-in-progress

Dear Shayne,

I've been working on this little bear for the Mother Bear Project, which is an organization "dedicated to providing comfort and hope to children affected by HIV/AIDS in emerging nations, by giving them a gift of love in the form of a hand-knit or crocheted bear." (That's from their site.)

He's not quite done yet -- need to finish the head, make him some arms and a face, and stuff him. But here's what I've got so far:


We're doing a little "bear-along" at work, so I'll be sure to post a photo of our Bear Family before we send them. Despite mine not looking so great here, they are really cute when finished. (Jan has already made one -- you can see her finished bear here.)

love,
kelly

Anniversary card for Bill

Dear Shayne,

Yesterday, Bill and I celebrated the five year anniversary of our first date. And, as you know, we got also engaged earlier this month. (Yay!)

So I incorporated our upcoming nuptials (that's a funny word) into the anniversary card I made for him:


I thought that the grim look was hilarious, especially when paired with what I put inside:


After I finished, I realized the message was similar to the Valentine's Day card I made for him this past February. I guess I have a bit of a sick sense of humor. Thank goodness Bill does too!

love,
kelly

Cool folks I met at Renegade

Dear Shayne,

Besides the cool stuff to buy, there were many cool people to meet at Renegade.

One such lovely person was Wexford Girl. You might remember that I won twine in her giveaway last month (we still need to do one of those!) She has a great personality and does fantastic work -- check out her shop here. (Psst... all of her bears are here.)

Her husband is also a talented artist and has been generating a lot of online buzz lately with his fantastic Prez print (click on that link -- it's the first item in his shop). Together they make up a very friendly team, as well as a sweet business: 3 Fish Studios. It was very nice meeting Annie and Eric and I imagine that I'll be seeing them around, since they are soon moving to my little town. Yay!

As I was motoring through the fair, I put on the brakes when I saw a sign for The Sweetie Pie Press. I said, "I think I sent you something in a swap once through Craftster!" It took us both awhile to remember what it was-- I just went digging through archives and realized it was October 2005!

When we finally did remember, I was sad because it took me forever to make the thing and I was soooo late sending it that I did not take photos. I wish I did, because I could show you it to you right now. It was a soldered pendant that I had the worst time making (sort of like this one for sale on Etsy, only that one is way better). I even took a class at the Craft Gym with my friend Micki and, well, we both swore a lot during that period of time. Have you ever soldered? Ugh. I really need to try again. I think it's one of those things that takes lots of practice...

Oh, well (tangent there -- sorry). The point of this is that I met someone I had previously "met" online and she was just a doll! She keeps a blog and I am really enjoying her stories from the road, as she is traveling to various craft shows this summer. Check it out here.

I also met the artist who created a print we have in our house. I bought it at Reform School in LA (awesome shop). When I saw her booth, I thought, "Hey -- this looks familiar!" (Funny side note: she is a collage artist and her booth totally smelled like Mod Podge. I love that!) Her name is Michelle Caplan and she does amazing work.

This is the print we have -- it's called Jeremy:
(click for a more detailed view)

(I am embarrassed that I could not remember the name of the print when I met Michelle. I could only remember that the text of that page in the upper left hand corner says "The Two Brothers." Michelle, if you ever read this post, I apologize for that awkward encounter. I'm a dork and you are lovely.)

One week later, this concludes my Renegade roundup. I probably should have taken photos, but I really just enjoyed looking around. Can't wait to go again next year when I have a bit more time to spend there!

love,
kelly