Test 2

This is my little cat named Fiti. She likes to sleep on my lap. Like most cats, Fiti hates going to the vet. One thing Fiti is really good at is sneaking out and coming back, pretending like she never left.

 

Test

Jabberwocky

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
-Lewis Carroll


'Twas bitter, and the rocky slopes
Did dance and tremble in the rain;
All sunken were the hopes,
And the dead leaves remain.
-Judith Rodriguez

Posted with Blogsy

Tool Boxing

Right after I organized last Spring, I treated myself to a few new things. I got a new Janome DC4030 PR sewing machine! The 'DC' stands for Décor Computer. Sweet. This bad girl can sew through multiple layers of fabric like denim or canvas. So far I've made a dress, more seat belt cozies and other stuff I still have to photograph. I got it at Ray's Sewing Machine Center where I learned how various feet for your machine can help make sewing so much easier and closer to perfection... yeah I went foot shopping and needless to say, I'm looking forward to being able to sew whatever I want.



I also invested in some large spool threads to make use of the old overlock, which I discovered is CLOSE to impossible for me to thread at night! It was getting late and I kept thinking to myself, "THIS is why they've invented 'easy-thread' machines". It's ok though... I finally serged my way through the 'alterations' pile and I made a little black top, among other things. Since I've never actually threaded one of those newer easy to thread serger machines, I completely forget about what I might be missing once I start sewing with this robust bad boy.



Last, but not least, I finally got a set of Denise Interchangeables... a very large Denise in a Della Q Double, to be precise. I thought about purchasing the knitting set by itself and then getting the Tunisian crochet set at a later time, but you get a few extras with this big set that you can't get if you buy them separately. I have not been able to put down my needles since I got it!!! I tend to knit tightly in the round, so I really appreciate the smoothness when transitioning my stitches around these circular needles. I've already finished two things and am on my third project. A neat trick I discovered is that 'picking up stitches' is 1000X easier when you swap your knitting needle tip with a crochet hook tip of the same size, pull your new stitches through and then switch it back to a needle tip when you're ready to knit them... Take that, you stitches!

Craft Area Organization

I got organized last weekend! Living in a small condo, I've resorted to storing my supplies throughout the place - a little of this here and a little of that there. I'm lucky enough that my living room has a nice sized corner with a view for me to have the things I use most close by.

Beads everywhere.


To the left...


the right...


and the rest of the room...

Seat Belt Covers for Grownups

I've been in need of a seat belt cover for quite sometime. I looked around on Etsy and could only find cutesie ones for children or ones made out of sheepskins - not really my thing! How hard could they be to make? Hmmm...not difficult at all, actually. I had a remnant of this fuzzy white fabric which is softer than kittens and a cotton fabric which matches my car's interior...some Velcro squares and I just added a hundred and one comfort points to my commute!

In other news, I finally threaded my serger sewing machine this month. I made a few headbands with scrap fabric while adjusting the thread tensions. I also managed to make a top. I don't have pictures of that yet, though I did get some shots of some necklaces I made last month...

Now I just need a vacation so I can have time to make more of everything :o)

Old Product in New Color... a Challenge

The last time I went to Joann, I found these row counters that appear to be purple! I bought all of the ones that I saw and they were not enough. They match my beads beautifully! The problem is that since the supply is limited and costs more, I'm having to jack up the price of these sets. Even worse, the item number of the ones that come in this color is the same as the red ones.

I'm hoping to contact some suppliers to find out when they will be getting these row counters in this color. What I need to do is invade the makers of these gizmos and tell them to have these row counters made in colorful sets of two: one pink and one purple, one yellow green with one aqua blue, one baby blue with one chocolate brown, one hunter green with a burgundy red, black and biege...you get the picture. I've been making bright red and royal blue row counters look good for too long!

Chemistry Saves!

Last month I made a few stitch marker sets using these filigree bead caps on the larger beads. I have a large supply of the Dragonfly Drone charms and the fancy little hearts which are both gunmetal in color, but after making all of these I was down to one pair of the matching bead caps. I also started running out of the gunmetal clasps. The bead caps were purchased from a bargain bin some time ago and I wasn't able to find more in the usual places.

Stitch marker quality lobster claw clasps are also hard to find. You have to buy some, test them and then make sure you can buy them in large quantities for as long as you need them. After giving up on the search for the bead caps, I moved on to the search for the perfect clasps in gunmetal finish. I ended up finding some gunmetal and antique brass clasps that I approved of and to my amazement, this shop also had the bead caps that I needed plated in bright silver!

Though I had never used it, I had a small amount of Liver of Sulfur. So late one night, when I probably should have been heading to bed, I decided to darken some of my bright and shiny filigree bead caps.


Far Left: the pair of bead caps I had left next to two bright ones Right: DIY antique silver bead caps

I was very pleased with the results! I applied this to some silver plated jump rings and it turned them copper to grayish blue, so I'll need to experiment more with that. It's a fun albeit smelly process and though I'm thrilled about my new supply of gunmetal filigree bead caps, I'll be waiting until I run out of something else "gunmetal" before I do this again.