Making and waiting, coffee and rain. (Seven Quick Takes (9))

1. God is already using these twins to make me grow and stretch as a person. I am super unorganized and I procrastinate horribly, and unless I get things done right away they can take me forever. Things like setting up doctor's appointments. And what do you have with a twin pregnancy? TONS of doctor's appointments, that's what. That need to be coordinated with tons of ultrasounds and earlier-than-average glucose tests and etc, not to mention trying to get medical records to transfer smoothly from one office to another and ... wowza. But God is good, and despite the fact I waited a week to try and call and make an ultrasound appointment that needs to be the same day that I visit the OB, it all worked out, and I got a very friendly and helpful receptionist to help me through it.


2. I made a thing.

In case you need help identifying it, that's a floor cushion, made from this tutorial. With awesome elephant fabric. Michael loves it, and he loves the elephants. He points at them and says "doo doo doo!" Which is his rendition of this song. I have no idea how other people on the internet have stuffed this with polyfill and had it come out looking so awesome and not-lumpy, though. I stuffed and stuffed until I couldn't fit any more in and still it has saggy spots. Am I missing something? Can anyone give me tips?


3. A friend recommended to me that I start out sewing things that only had straight lines. Obviously I ignored her advice, because I like to dive into the deep end when it comes to crafts. I think my lack of circular-sewing-skills shows, but. :-P I am looking forward to more sewing for the twins' room ... except that my nesting has to be put on hold until September 1, when I can start buying yarn and fabric again. SO FRUSTRATING. But I am pretty much set on a "theme" for the nursery, and it involves foxes and other woodsy creatures.



Seriously, how cute is that fabric?! And I love the colors.


4. Another way that God has been stretching me via this pregnancy? I don't even have the illusion of control over so many things. Their birth and when and how it happens; the amount of time I have to prepare for them (I am pretending that they are arriving at 36 weeks; everything must be ready by then!); the inability to even start preparing in some ways, since we are moving in a little more than a month, but in the meantime all I can do is sit and wait ... I can't even start packing. I am in a space of waiting, and I can't even fill that space with anything right now ... except trust.


5. It is rainy today and I love it. But it does effect my energy levels. All I want to do is curl up with a cup of coffee and look out the window and watch the rain falling. And maybe knit.


6. Yep, that does it, I am making myself a second cup of coffee. How decadent, right?


7. Speaking of decadence, I am going to be making a trip to Anthropologie with a friend this evening and I am so. excited. I could furnish my house and wardrobe from that store if I were a little richer. And yes, I can't spend money there right now anymore than I can spend it on yarn and fabric ... but you know ... that might be for the best. ;)

Attention, those who sew!

I have a sewing machine ... and I kind of am afraid to use it.

Well, not afraid exactly, but at a loss as to where to begin.

I was looking at baby blanket patterns today on Ravelry (I have my list narrowed down to six seven ... it's kind of nice that I get to choose two patterns ;)), and was thinking about bedrooms in our new (mystery) house, and it has kicked off some serious nesting. I discovered this awesome Etsy shop and she has some beautiful fat quarter collections that are quite suitable for little boys.

But what on earth do I make with them?

This is where you come in. You, and you alone, can save me from dumping hours of my time into Pinterest. What cute things can I make with fabric like this, or this (baby boy argyle, I am dying!), or this? What baby items have you sewn, and where do you find your patterns? I am thinking more along the lines of nursery items than clothing, although maybe cute pajama-like pants are in order. I also really, really love that Shelly over at Wool and Chocolate sewed tops and knit matching shorties.

The truth is that I am sitting here collecting ideas from the internet and it is making me excited and overambitious. So I may not break out the sewing machine at all. But if so it will not be from lack of planning. ;)

Both of these babies are awake and kicking right now, while the oldest baby takes his nap. I'm hoping this isn't the way it will go once they are all on the outside.

birthday crown

I loosely followed this tutorial, using the instructions but not the pattern and a ribbon instead of elastic. (I also skipped the interfacing, although I'd bought some.) I had visions of sewing on felt leaves, but I realized that the crown pictured in the tutorial looked quite nice with its simple squares, so I imitated it.

A third of the time making this was spent setting up and then trying to figure out the darn sewing machine. (Stitch selection doesn't work the way the instructions tell you, apparently! Or maybe I was just reading them wrong.)

Also, I can't sew in a straight line.

But that's okay. I'm still pretty happy about this. We'll see if he actually cooperates and wears it. :)

Crafty Resolutions: 2012

I'm not usually the type to make resolutions, mostly because I'm not good at it. My goals are always too abstract, or too big. (Praying the rosary every day? Realistically, that habit is not going to happen by the end of this month, and if it's not going to happen within a month, I will forget about it.)

But this year, I am trying to make some concrete resolutions that I can actually tackle. Some of them are things I pretty much have to do anyways (graduate, give birth to a baby ...), but maybe those are the best kind for me. ;)

I also think I'll have smaller resolutions month by month ... in other words a monthly "to do" list. But I'd rather think of these things as resolutions. :)

Recently I joined Pinterest, and I started a board there for my craft-specific resolutions, which I will now post here. (Non-crafty resolutions will come in another post so this doesn't get too terribly long!)


Knitting

In 2012, I want to knit:

-baby sweaters
-a baby blanket
-a sweater for myself
-a shawl for Nicole
-lots of hexipuffs
-an afghan

I also want to learn brioche, and possibly entrelac.

I imagine/hope I shall knit more than just these things, but those are the resolutions. :)


Crochet

I want to learn to crochet this year. I am pretty sure that knitting will always be my first love, because I simply like the way it looks better, I feel that it can produce things that crochet can't (crocheted socks just look odd to me!), and because I am fairly good at it (I can't lie--this is an important factor). But knitting cannot reproduce the structural quality of granny squares:



or pretty lace-covered rocks (believe me I've thought a lot about this and I don't think it's possible with knitting):



so obviously I must learn to crochet.

The problem is, see, that I am a perfectionist. I have always loved taking on new crafts (scrapbooking, polymer clay, beading, wire jewelry), and I will love them for a while and then leave them. Knitting hasn't been like this for me, and if I try to psychoanalyze myself--apart from the need to create something tactile and beautiful, and the feel of yarn and needles in my hands--I think it's because I knit and can make mistakes and it still looks good.

Beginner-level projects bore me. I know that I won't be able to make those lovely rocks right away; I've had to make some crochet chains for a few projects and they haven't exactly been pretty. But my mom picked me up some crochet hooks of varying sizes at an estate sale ... so I'm resolved to be patient with myself and really try to learn.


Sewing

I GOT A SEWING MACHINE FOR CHRISTMAS. I have no idea how to thread it and set it up yet, but this year I will learn to use it, and I will MAKE THINGS. Specifically:

-curtains
-knitting needle cases
-a mobile?



I may be getting ahead of myself.


Other crafty possibilities:

-I would like to work with felt, make something simple but pretty like these leaves.(Or these--but again, I am too ambitious.) One of my many loved-then-left hobbies was needle felting, which I wasn't very good at; but this year I'd like to buy some nice, wool felt and make things with it.

-I also keep seeing these awesome embroidery projects. Here is another case of perfectionism: I used to do cross-stitch (one of my projects is hanging in my parents' house), but the thought of taking that up simply doesn't grab my interest. It's all these beautiful things I see online that are way out of my range of talent. So perhaps my embroidery will be limited to things like the leaves. We'll see!