finished projects and thursday night knits!

oh blogland, i have been absent for so long! class, work, and life in general has gotten to be very hectic, though i've stolen a few moments right now to post for you!

yesterday was quite a day for finishing up projects! it put me on cloud nine!

first up is izzy's giraffe! this is a susan b. anderson pattern from itty bitty toys, and my goodness, was this a quick and easy knit! i hope izzy likes it, i can't wait to give it to her in a few weeks.

i used berocco comfort, and only just had enough of the orange; hooray for not having to break into another skein!

next, it was the 21st birthday of two of my great friends over the past few weeks, and as they are big futurama buffs like myself, when i saw this on feeling stitchy, i just had to try it for myself! and when i saw this fill stitch technique on jenny hart's sublime stitching blog, i knew i could use that style and get it finished for Alyssa's birthday yesterday when chris and i gave them their presents!

close up! sorry it's blurry...and upside down...

also for their birthday, a play on the 300 quote. it just came to me one day after a long day at work. man that final game was a mess (11 yellow cards!!)...HOORAY ESPANA! of the final four, i'm glad you got your first cup (though a germany/spain game would have been great....at least spain shut down the netherlands, with all their dirty tactics)

and speaking of things that inspire me: thursday night knits are always so fantastic, the women that come in the shop are great people, so creative, and come up with the most beautiful ideas! i love working at my lys, i can imagine little better for me right now.

(pictures from July 15)

Hot, Hot July

Holy Wow! How did it get to be July?!?! I am almost sad that it's July because I have only managed to finish ONE of my craft goals :( I am disappointed in myself. But there are still many more days of summer to go and I vow to make one project a week from here on out. Yes, I am ambitious!

A little update as to how we are doing: I celebrated my 24th birthday a couple of weeks ago and Stitch will celebrate her 20th birthday in a few weeks! We are also very excited because we get to see each other at the end of July! I know today that Stitch picked out some adorable yarn for an adorable giraffe to knit for our adorable second cousin. I have lots of projects in the works, of course, just need to woman up and finish a few! :)

Be back later this week with more fun and I leave you now with a pretty quilt from Red Pepper Quilts

farmer's market finds and recent stitchings!

I love going to the farmer's market! Every Saturday, vendors fill the Square in downtown Fayetteville with their wares. I go to get a bouquet of flowers, fresh fruit and vegetables (whatever's in season, really), people-watch and occasionally sketch what I see! Here's some photos from my last few trips!

flowers, blueberries, and raspberries!one of the farmers, selling cucumbers and onions!a band called 'cletus got shot!' unfortunately, i didn't get to finish my sketch before they finished their set (poor mandolin player...). the bassist on the right had a base that looked to be made of an oil drum...and look at this! my order from Sublime Stitching arrived in the mail a short while ago! I got a mini tool case and a pair of wicked step-scissors!

i am so in love with this! it's adorable, and so functional!

I emailed Sublime Stitching soon after I got my package (complete with sweet thank-you notes inside!) to thank Jenny Hart and her crew for being so fabulous and providing such an excellent product and patterns, and she emailed me back! I am so impressed, not just with the items and patterns she offers for sale, but with the way she treats her customers, I can't wait to order more from them!Here it is, folks: my first embroidery project! It's a little personal note from me to Chris that I sent home with him last time he went back to Mountain Home before he'll be moving back to Fayetteville for good this July. I had so much fun embroidering this piece, and I think Chris was really touched by it. I've already got plans for other projects I want to do!And these fingerless mittens I finished a while ago, but needed a button embellishment to be considered 'officially' complete!I used the Welted Fingerless Gloves pattern by Kit Hutchin for Churchmouse Patterns and Teas, and Manos del Uruguay silk blend. (for more details see my ravelry). They were so quick (I finished both in one shift at Hand Held), and you can substitute hundreds of different types of yarn to make them! They're a great stash buster as well (one skein of silk blend makes three gloves), and I had about 2/3 a skein of silk blend from the Flora Hat left, so it worked out perfectly! Also, I think I'm going to cross fingerless gloves off my list of summer-to-do (from one of our first posts), even if they're not the ones I had in mind (I have decided to completely discontinue making the Queen of Diamonds gloves, there's just too many errors in that pattern).
one last thing! sorry i missed etsy faves Friday, but check out this Union Jack Hoody from charlieandsarah. I decided to post it this as my one fave this week because I've decided to throw my support behind Great Britain this World Cup! Final 16 begins today!

Cheers, mate!

etsy faves friday, round two!!

i know that i haven't posted here recently (it's been crazy buys at work, and studying for a test in Russian history class). i've done quite a bit of crafting since my last post, but i'll share that later ;)
for now, here are my five favorite faves on etsy this week!first up, this AMAZING print from the wheatfield. the quote and the depiction of it truly inspire me! there are so many great prints up on etsy, it's hard to just choose a few, but this is definitely one i'd like for my apartment...maybe in the kitchen...i love finding funky iphone cases, like this one from Crank Cases! i found this one from EgoorEngland during the winter, and now i enjoy (thinking about) collecting one for different occasions (like this shamrock one from GadgetGear)this Audrey Top by Device is not only eco-friendly and Canadian, it's feminine, graceful, and spunky! Everything i love in my clothing...(maybe not the graceful part, we all know i can't pull that off...)who doesn't like dinosaurs and bicycles?! and why not combine them? DarkCycleClothing does this fantastically, don't you think?and now for something completely different! man, if i played the ukulele...if i had an extra $300...But Celentano Woodworks makes it all look so worth it! you can also contact him to make a custom instrument in the shape of your choice! you should really check his page out, it's jaw-dropping.

i'll be back tomorrow or sunday with something stitched and/or zoomed!

One Project Down, at least 11 to Go!

I finished one of my goals for my summer scrapbook projects: the Week in the Life minialbum!



As I mentioned before, I participated in Ali Edwards challenge: Week in the Life. Where you pick a week out of the year to document the normal part of everyday life. I was so proud I took pictures throughout the whole week and then put the pictures into an album! I have been wanting to scrap a little more "artsy" so that was my focus with this project!

etsy faves friday!

i decided recently that it'd be fun to do a round up every week of five new things that made it to my faves on etsy this week! there are so many fabulous handmade goods out there, it's almost impossible to choose only five! but here we go, round one!first up, this fantastic print from razorberries! i would love to hang this in my apartment, isn't it inventive and inspiring?

next up are these moccasins from darlingtonia! they look like they'd be crazy comfy!


like gayle's last post said, she's making me a quilt this summer! i've been scouring etsy for inspiration, and i happened upon this from moonspiritstudios! it looks great and summery, and inspirational during the winter months!
these earrings are so unique! and i love that TribalStyle has made these from recycled water buffalo bone!

and finally, there is this dress! i have been lusting after it for months, Salme's work looks fantastic! i would soooo love to have this dress, and it's such a great price for a handmade dress!

this past week+ has been hectic, i've been studying for my History of Russia test (coming up on Monday!), and working every day while Joy and Colleen are at Market in Columbus, Ohio! I feel so proud that they trust me enough to take care of their shop while they're gone, I hope nothing happens while they're gone. Wish me luck!

here's a little preview of what i've been working on:

~K

big hopes, big goals

Like Karen shared before, I am here to share my summer crafty goals! It is almost the middle of June so I am happy to report that I have already gotten started or finished some of them! But here they are in no particular order!

* Week in the Life scrapbook
* Hilton Head scrapbook (from a trip in May 2009)
* Beer-fest mini book (from an event May 2009)
* Faulty Hearts Art Journal class (by Rachel Denbow) *
* Spray ink focused class (by Vee Jennings) *
* Kelly Purkey Sketchbook Class
* a mini book to build on based on my love of Jcrew and their catalog
* Alphabet Inspiration - based on an old, old post on Jamaica's blog
* A quilt for Karen
* A quilt from my old college tshirts for me
* Jessica Sprague photo editing class
* Take Donna Downey class locally- she's opening her studio in my town and offering classes- I'm so lucky and excited that she lives in the same town as me!!

** These classes were offered in the past and I was part of them then but never finished all the project or what have you.

Yeah and there are like a billion other ideas and inspiration from others rolling around in my head. So we will see what the summer brings! But hopefully I can make it through at least the things that I've listed here!

What are your summer goals?