Thursday, March 23, 2006slacking? who? me? never! I know, I have been slacking a bit on the blogging and the crafting but I have a lot in my mind these days. That's why the two projects that I'm working on are so perfect because the repetitiveness of them are very soothing to my brain. First, I'm working on my very first quilt. I know is not extremely creative to use all fabrics from the same collection in the same quilt but hey, I had the charm pack, already cut in squares and it was less than $15. so I think it is a very economical and practical thing to use for a first time quilt. I'm hand piecing and hand quilting because I haven't tamed the beast that is my sewing machine and because that way I can work on it while Tino sleeps. I've been also working on socks, they started to be socks for Tino but they seemed too big. Then I decided that they were going to be socks for the Dulaan Project but I don't think they are warm enough, so now they are back to being socks for Tino, although he won't be able to wear them until he's 4 because they are too big. I am so torn about knitting for the Dulaan Project. I know if I make thrummed socks they'll be warm but I had some thrummed socks once and if you have a lot of walking to do they are sort of hard on your feet, I don't want these kids to have chafed feet. I'm also torn because Alex mentioned that maybe it would be more efficient to buy them jackets and winter stuff that we could probably find on sale this time of the year. I really want them to get as much stuff as possible to keep warm. But I really want to knit for them and, besides, handmade things have magical powers, remember? So they will keep them warmer, right? right? so it's o.k. if I only get to send them half a dozen items or so, right? Friday, March 17, 2006not the first try Here are the results of many, many, many failed embroidery attempts. Originally I wanted to make the little face bigger so I could make a pin cushion or something like that, and eventually work the design again to a pillow size. She had a name (pushi-pushi) and a story but she looks so small and insignificant floating around my old t-shirt sleeve that I'll spare you the details of her story until she can be successfully embroidered at a larger scale. Apparently drawing something cute on illustrator and playing around with the colors will not directly translate to needle and thread. My stitch vocabulary is very limited so that may have something to do with it. I do like my old t-shirt with an unexpected little something - something on the sleeve. *I posted the picture a bit larger so you could see pushi-pushi's face up close ...and my roll of back fat as an added bonus =P
Tuesday, March 14, 2006self-portrait tuesdayTime, moving, the last 10 years. 1995 Guatemala 1995 Savannah, Ga Apartment #1 1995 Savannah, Ga. Apartment #2 1996 Savannah, Ga. Apartment #3 1997 Savannah, Ga. Apartment #4 1998 Savannah, Ga. Apartment #5 1999 Treviso, Italy 1999 Savannah, Ga. Apartment #6 1999 New York City, NY 2000 Guatemala 2000 Chicago, Il. 2002 Guatemala, mom's house 2002 Guatemala, newlywed apartment 2002 Guatemala, mom's house 2002 South Bend, In. Apartment #1 2003 South Bend, In. Apartment #2 2004 South Bend, In. Apartment #3 2005 Louisville, Ky. 2006 ... More self-portrait tuesday bloggers here and here. Sunday, March 12, 2006official project #1: done! I joined angry chicken's super official mailorder club and the apple crisp was one of the projects for this edition. You not only had to make it but also eat it, which I'm still working on. It is sooooo deeelicious!!!! With a little bit of whipped cream and a strong cup of guatemalan coffee... yummy, yummy (coincidentally this is Tino's new word. Cute, no?). I have yet to earn my batch for this month because I still have another project to complete. It'll come soon. I wanted to thank everybody for their comments and e-mails about me leaving. I will miss this country and all my friends so much! We won't be moving for another 5 or 6 months, so I'll still be here for a while. And of course, even in Guatemala I shall keep on blogging and crafting. Oh yeah! Saturday, March 11, 2006finally! I'm done with this project. This is River, from the Rowan magazine # 38. Is not for me, is for my sister in law. I started knitting it at the end of last summer but I wasn't feeling it, for some reason I could not find a rhythm to the pattern. Then, the brilliant Liz from my wednesday knitting circle suggested that we did our own little knitting olympics, with different time constraints to fit our needs and so i chose this project. I did not get it done for the olympic due date, and I could've done it except I got distracted by trying to sew the 'it'll never happen' apron that never happened (from a couple of posts ago). But I'm done, I'm done, I'm done! I think is pretty. The kid silk haze is a pain! not to knit with but if you need to rip it...well, good luck! I'm not so sure about the beaded knot, beads are not really my thing. Plus, I don't think I sewed it properly because it has a piece of elastic inside but the knot itself is not stretchy...but with the kid silk haze, trying to rip it and re-sew the thing was never an option. It'll be on its way to Texas next week, and I really hope my SIL likes it. Friday, March 10, 2006excuses, excuses, excuses Tino got a bit sick a week ago (he's fine now). Then Alex got really sick a couple of days later and I was freaking out... yes, he felt that ill, but he's fine now. Then Alex and I finally admitted to ourselves and to our families the fact that in a few months we will be moving back home to Guatemala. Then I got a little bit sick myself, but I'm fine now. All I'm saying is that all this sickness and life-altering decisions can affect a girls will to craft. At least somebody is doing something around the house. The picture is one of Tino's new lego structures. I'm completely in love with them and can't stop photographing them. He used to only like the single peg blocks and use to stack them up really high, but now he's using all the blocks and creating this very interesting shapes. You probably think I'm crazy... but I think is very cool! The puppy in the background is Tino's bff, El Aquel (l-ah-kel), his laying on the ground like that pretty much sums up how I've been feeling for the past week. I promise some crafty goodness to come soon. Friday, March 03, 2006experiment No.1 Here are the results of my first experiment which I personally think was a success. I am strictly talking about the experiment, all design details will have to be work further in future attempts. I was trying to create some kind of weave with only a strand of yarn and without having to knit it. I got the idea from a beautiful Japanese scarf that I saw in New York last year at the MoMa Design Store (I looked online but they didn't have a picture of the one I saw). I laid one strand of yarn on the bubble wrap and I made like a very rough interlocking weave type of thing and then, you know? warm water and rolled the bejesus out of the thing of bubble wrap, two hours later of rolling and a few hours of drying I have this:  For being such an open weave, it is quite warm. This was just a test so it is very short, it could be worn more like a neck warmer or a funky necklace. You like?
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